The Struggle Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’ve been wrong. You don’t know how wrong. Tonight, she—she tuned in to Stefan somehow and got a glimpse of where he is.”
    Matt drew a long breath. “I see. Okay …”
    “Don’t patronize me! I’m not stupid, Matt, and I’m telling you this is for real. She was there, with Stefan; she knew things only he would know. And she saw the place he’s trapped in.”
    “Trapped,” said Bonnie. “That’s it. It was definitely nothing open like a river. But there was water, water up to my neck.
His
neck. Androck walls around, covered with thick moss. The water was ice cold and still, and it smelled bad.”
    “But what did you
see?”
Elena said.
    “Nothing. It was like being blind. Somehow I knew that if there was even the faintest ray of light I would be able to see, but I couldn’t. It was black as a tomb.”
    “As a tomb …” Thin chills went through Elena. She thought about the ruined church on the hill above the graveyard. There was a tomb there, a tomb she thought had opened once.
    “But a tomb wouldn’t be that wet,” Meredith was saying.
    “No … but I don’t get any sense of where it
could
be then,” Bonnie said. “Stefan wasn’t really in his right mind; he was so weak and hurt. And so thirsty—”
    Elena opened her mouth to stop Bonnie from going on, but just then Matt broke in.
    “I’ll tell you what it sounds like to me,” he said.
    The three girls looked at him, standing slightly apart from their group like an eavesdropper. They had almost forgotten about him.
    “Well?” said Elena.
    “Exactly,” he said. “I mean, it sounds like a well.”
    Elena blinked, excitement stirring in her. “Bonnie?”
    “It
could
be,” said Bonnie slowly. “The size and the walls and everything would be right. But a well is open; I should have been able to see the stars.”
    “Not if it were covered,” said Matt. “A lot of the old farmhouses around here have wells that are no longer in use, and some farmers cover them to make sure little kids don’t fall in. My grandparents do.”
    Elena couldn’t contain her excitement any longer. “That could be it. That
must
be it. Bonnie, remember, you said it was
always
dark there.”
    “Yes, and it did have a sort of underground feeling.” Bonnie was excited, too, but Meredith interrupted with a dry question.
    “How many wells do you think there are in Fell’s Church, Matt?”
    “Dozens, probably,” he said. “But covered? Not as many. And if you’re suggesting somebody dumped Stefan in this one, then it can’t beany place where people would see it. Probably somewhere abandoned …”
    “And his car was found on this road,” said Elena.
    “The old Francher place,” said Matt.
    They all looked at one another. The Francher farmhouse had been ruined and deserted for as long as anybody could remember. It stood in the middle of the woods, and the woods had taken it over nearly a century ago.
    “Let’s go,” added Matt simply.
    Elena put a hand on his arm. “You believe—?”
    He looked away a moment. “I don’t know what to believe,” he said at last. “But I’m coming.”
    They split up and took both cars, Matt with Bonnie in the lead, and Meredith following with Elena. Matt took a disused little cart track into the woods until it petered out.
    “From here we walk,” he said.
    Elena was glad she’d thought of bringing rope; they’d need it if Stefan were really in the Francher well. And if he wasn’t …
    She wouldn’t let herself think about that.
    It was hard going through the woods,especially in the dark. The underbrush was thick, and dead branches reached out to snatch at them. Moths fluttered around them, brushing Elena’s cheek with unseen wings.
    Eventually they came to a clearing. The foundations of the old house could be seen, building stones tied to the ground now by weeds and brambles. For the most part, the chimney was still intact, with hollow places where concrete had once held it together, like a crumbling