Royal Institute of Magic: The Shadowseeker (Book 2) (26 page)

“Doesn't he have anything better to do?” Ben asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

Five painful minutes later, Draven finally walked – stomped might be a better word – back into the Institute and for a moment, at least, the courtyard was empty.

They walked quickly round to the back of the Institute and hurried to the little outbuilding. After a quick look around to make sure nobody was watching, they went down the steps and stopped at the stone door.

“Now what?” Charlie said.

Ben pressed a gentle hand against the stone. He felt the door's presence immediately, almost like touching a tree brimming with life.

“Touch there,” Ben said, retreating his own hand.

Charlie did so, his face a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. After a moment he retreated his hand and shook his head.

“I don't feel anything,” he said.

“Really? How's that possible? You're more sensitive than I am to these things.”

Natalie extended her slender arm. “Let me try.”

Her hand stayed on the door for even less time than Charlie's.

“Nothing for me either,” she said.

Ben felt a moment of alarm. He touched it again himself, and once again felt its life pulsing through him, if anything, stronger than before.

“It's still there,” Ben said, with a sigh of relief. “I don't understand how you're not feeling it.”

“Maybe it's a Guardian thing,” Natalie suggested.

Ben hadn't thought of that. Charlie clearly thought Natalie might be on to something, for his face lit up.

“That would make sense,” Charlie said. “Maybe this is another one of those passages that only Guardians can access, just like the one that led to the common room.”

“Well, let's see if I can still get it open,” Ben said.

His hand went slowly down the door, feeling the texture of the stone, just like last time. And just like last time, the door's consciousness became more significant the further down he went. He got onto his hands and knees, feeling the stone, looking for the edges of the little door.

This time he saw it clearly. Even the handle, which he could previously detect only by touch, was visible. Ben turned it carefully. The door clicked, and opened. Ben turned round and grinned at Natalie and Charlie, whose excitement mirrored his own.

Inside was a set of stairs that descended steeply into an inky blackness. Ben crawled through the doorway and clambered onto the stairs. He stood up and grazed his head on the ceiling. The passageway was so narrow he could reach out and touch both walls with his hands. The air felt stale and it was cold enough to make him shiver. He went down a couple of steps, giving Charlie and Natalie enough room to squeeze in. Charlie shut the little door behind them and they were instantly plunged into darkness. Ben put his hand on the wall for fear of losing his balance.

“Sorry,” Charlie said, his voice echoing from behind. “I don't suppose anyone brought a torch?”

“I did actually,” Natalie said. She fired her spellshooter and a beam of light shone forth. The darkness was so intense that the light only penetrated a couple of steps, but it was enough for Ben to make his way slowly down. The stairs led them to a long, wide passageway with old torch lamps hanging from the walls, giving the place a dim, gloomy ambience.

“The dungeon,” Charlie said softly.

At regular intervals along the passageway were prison cells, their doors ajar. Ben walked slowly, inspecting each cell. They were uniformly empty, save for one, which contained a pile of old bones. At the end of the passageway was a set of keys hanging from the wall; they looked like they were for the cell doors.

“Twenty cells,” Natalie said. “Most in need of a good spring clean.”

Ben surveyed the dungeon, hands on hips. “There's nothing here.”

“I wouldn't expect there to be,” Charlie said. “Lornor said the boots and the forreck were in a cavern, not a dungeon.”

“So now what?”

“If there is a cavern underneath the Institute, there's a good chance it’s connected to this dungeon. We just have to find it.”

They spent the next hour inspecting every inch of the dungeon, searching for clues. Each cell looked as though it had been cleaned out before it had been abandoned. Ben even took to inspecting the walls of each cell, searching for a possible secret entrance to the cavern. Finally, the three of them sank down against the wall, exhausted.

“I was sure we'd find the cavern entrance here,” Natalie said.

So had Ben. He had been so sure, he hadn't even considered that they might make it underneath the Institute and still fail. He wanted to get up and search the place again, but he knew it would be pointless.

Charlie's thoughtful face was in contrast to Ben’s and Natalie's dejected ones. He was tapping a chubby finger against his lip.

“I think we're doing this wrong,” Charlie said. “We've been stuck like this before and you, Ben, have always managed to get us through because of your unique position.”

“That's right,” Natalie said, sitting up straighter. “I completely forgot about that. As a Guardian, you're able to access hidden parts of the Institute.”

Ben felt a glimmer of hope, but it didn't quite match Natalie's sudden exuberance. “Normally that happens when we hit a barrier or a wall that we can't get past. How would that work here? I can't go around feeling every inch of surface – we'd be here all week.”

“Who says you always need a wall?” Charlie said. “Why don't you try it now and see what happens?”

“Try what?”

Charlie gave a vague wave. “You know, your Guardian thing, whatever it is you do that results in suddenly finding a hidden passageway.”

“Right. Well, normally I spin around, tap my head three times and sacrifice a goat to Fortuna, the god of luck.”

Charlie made a show of looking around. “We might have an issue with the goat.”

“Guys, come on,” Natalie said. “Really, Ben, is there nothing you can do? I know it's different from other times, but we're kind of desperate. In case you've forgotten, the solar eclipse is tomorrow.”

“I haven't forgotten,” Ben said. He got to his feet, and started pacing the dungeon slowly. Joking aside, the Guardian aspect was a good idea; it was how they got into the dungeon in the first place. Ben took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Where hadn't they looked? The answer came to him so suddenly his eyes jolted open.

The floor.

“What are you doing?” Charlie asked.

“Shh, let him concentrate.”

Ben had got onto his hands and knees. He knew immediately he had done the right thing. A subtle vibration ran up his limbs, into his chest, making his hairs stand on end. He crawled forwards. The vibrations increased. He crawled a bit further, and they receded. Left? No. Right? Yes, the vibrations increased further. He crawled forwards again. It was slow, painstaking progress, but gradually he homed in on the floor slabs producing the greatest vibrations. It was here, somewhere – though he still wasn't sure what he was looking for. He was dimly aware that Charlie and Natalie were staring at him, but he blanked them out. Ben's eyes locked on the slabs – some were no bigger than a brick; others could have held a car. They were solid, unmoving, built by a master craftsman many centuries ago.

Ben wasn't sure how he spotted it, but he knew when his eyes ran over a small, perfectly square slab that this one was special. He put his hand on the centre of it, and gently pressed down.

There was a loud click, followed by the rumble of cogs moving.

Natalie screamed.

A giant slab was moving, creating a large black hole in the ground. Natalie was on that slab. She leapt to safety, landing next to a stunned Charlie.

Ben got up and hurried over to the hole, and the three of them peered into it. Blackness, total and complete. Natalie pointed her spellshooter into the hole, but the light was too weak to penetrate.

“You did it,” Charlie said. “Now, any volunteers to jump into the black, bottomless pit?”

“I'll do it,” Ben said.

“What a surprise.”

“Be careful, Ben,” Natalie said. “You have absolutely no idea how far the drop is.”

Ben was very aware of that. Just looking into the blackness made his stomach do unpleasant things.

“This is obviously a way in,” Ben said, trying to convince himself as much as anyone. “I can't see how they would make a drop that would kill someone.”

Ben sat down so that his legs were dangling over the edge. It really was black down there; he felt like he was jumping into space. Several times he tried dropping down, but his body's natural desire to survive kept holding him back.

“Do you want me to push you?” Charlie asked, with a perfectly straight face.

“No, I'm fine.”

Ben counted down in his head. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

With a cry, he leapt off the edge, into the black hole. He extended his arms and bent his legs. The fall seemed to take forever, but it was only seconds before Ben saw the ground rise to meet him. He landed painfully and rolled, his knees absorbing most of the fall. The rock was hard beneath his body, scratching and bruising his exposed skin. He lay there for a moment, heart hammering, until his ragged breathing slowed. Then he stood up and dusted himself down. The fall had been less than ten feet. He could see the faces of Charlie and Natalie peering down, but from their anxious faces it was clear they couldn't see him.

“I'm fine!” he shouted up to them. Their expressions didn't alter; so they couldn't hear him either. Ben cursed. He would have to be quick, in order not to worry them. He appeared to be on some sort of ledge. There was a dim light that permeated the place, though Ben couldn't identify its source. Ben walked tentatively to the edge. The sight that greeted him took his breath away. It was a cavern so vast that it looked like an underground mountain range. Cliffs, rocks and caves descended as far as the eye could see. There were small plateaus at various points, providing brief breaks for anyone trying to climb down. Ben loved climbing. He used to seek out the biggest trees he could find and even belonged to a rock climbing club. But this was something else; this was a hundred times bigger than anything he'd ever encountered.

A sudden thump and a curse broke Ben's hypnotic gaze. He turned and saw Charlie lying flat on his back.

“Oh, that hurt!” he said, sitting up and rubbing his backside.

“What are you doing down here?” Ben asked, with surprise.

Charlie gave him an angry look. “I didn't have a choice, did I? You vanished, and you weren't responding to our calls. We had no idea what had happened to you.”

Ben felt a sudden rush of gratitude towards Charlie, knowing just how dangerous that jump was. For all he knew, Ben had jumped to his death, and yet Charlie had still followed him.

“I'm sorry,” Ben said. “I could hear you, but you couldn't hear me.”

“That's inconvenient,” Charlie said, standing up.

Ben realised the danger they were in. The opening above was too high to reach without assistance. If Natalie joined them, they would be in deep trouble.

“We need to get back up, quick,” Ben said, urgently.

Too late. Natalie jumped, and landed with a good deal more grace than either Ben or Charlie.

“Oh, that wasn't too bad,” she said, dusting her hands off. Then she spotted Ben’s and Charlie's horrified looks. “What is it?”

“We can't get back up,” Charlie said, his voice numb.

Natalie paled and looked up at the hole above her. She jumped with surprising height, but her hands were still a good two feet short of the ledge. She got her spellshooter out, and fired a pellet into her chest. Nothing happened. Magic, it seemed, didn't work down here.

“What's that?”

Charlie was pointing to a dark spot at the other end of the ledge. Whatever it was, it seemed to deflect light, and they couldn't make it out until they were almost upon it.

It was a rope, neatly curled. Ben picked it up. It felt soft in his hands, almost silk-like.

“Useful if we're going down, but not for going up,” Ben said ruefully.

But Natalie snatched the rope from him with excitement.

“That might not be true,” she said. She ran over to the hole, and threw one end of the rope upwards. The rope gained purchase from somewhere. To Ben's astonishment, when Natalie tugged it, the rope became taut, instead of falling back down.

“I knew it!” she said. “This is a magical rope. Someone must have left the rope down here, so they could get back up again.”

“I wonder who,” Ben mused.

Charlie tested the rope. “Who knows? Can we get out of here? I don't trust this rope.”

As he was climbing up, Ben took one last glance back at the abyss. They would be back tomorrow.

Ben found sleep difficult that night; his mind clearly had no intention of taking a break. But, knowing how important rest could be, Ben forced himself to stay in bed as long as possible the following morning.

Breakfast too was important. Though he didn't feel like eating, he didn't know when his next meal would come and he needed the energy for the long climb down the cavern. His grandma had eaten all the eggs (though she had kindly left the shells scattered across the kitchen top), so Ben settled for a big bowl of corn flakes. He dipped his hand into his money box and was dismayed to find that he was down to his last twenty-pound note. Was he really that low? The Institute had been giving him a small weekly wage, but somehow he seemed to spend it all. Ben was starting to suspect that his grandma had found his hiding spot again. He would have to find another place for it.

Charlie was surprisingly lacking in his usual gear when Ben met him on the road outside the house.

“No backpack and sleeping bag?” Ben asked, with a playful nudge on the shoulder.

“I thought about it, but I have a feeling we'll either be in and out in short order, or we'll be dead.”

“Full of optimism as always,” Ben said, as they headed towards the Croydon headquarters.

Neither of them talked a great deal on their journey to the Institute. Partly because they didn't want to be overheard, and partly because they had already ironed out all the details yesterday. The solar eclipse would occur at 12:17pm and would last for roughly nine minutes. Their best chance of getting round the forreck would be in that time frame, but according to Lornor there was a two-hour window where the forreck would theoretically be weakened. Because they didn't know how long it would take to find the boots, their plan was to get into the cavern as early as possible.