Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse

her mind. Calm. Loving.
    Nicoletta heard the pounding of Vincente's boots on the sand, spurring her to action. She rushed into the left tunnel as fast as she could. The farther she went from the sea, the darker the interior became. She was forced to slow down, walking carefully in the wet sand, unable to judge where to put her feet. Her heart was pounding, her lungs exploding. She was exhausted, even with the fresh surge of inspiration from Giovanni.
    Behind her, Nicoletta heard Vincente as he came after her. He was no longer running, but taking his time as he stalked her, making certain she could not escape him. She could hear him humming softly to himself, and it made her blood run cold. He was insane. Utterly, totally, insane. And she was trapped in a dark, damp cave with no way out, nowhere to go.
    She forced herself to press close to the cave wall. It felt damp and slimy to the touch, but it gave her a sense of stability as she pushed forward in the darkness. She nearly panicked when she ran into a dead end. She would have bumped her head if she hadn't blindly, instinctively thrown out her hands in front of her. It seemed solid rock. Her heart stilled. Had it been Giovanni's voice in her head? Or Vincente's? She tried to replay the words, terrified there in the dark with her heart pounding so loudly it sounded like thunder in her ears.
    Reach down low, and run your finger along the surface of the rock slowly until you feel a slight depression. It is very low and to your right. The instructions were a whisper this time, the voice husky and strange.
    Nicoletta hesitated for a moment, but what could she do? She was trapped, and Vincente was coming up behind her; she could hear his horrible humming. She didn't ever want to feel his hands on her again.
    She slid her fingers obediently along the face of the rock, slowly, back and forth, to cover it inch by inch.
    It seemed forever before she felt the faint depression. Her entire palm fit in the groove, and she pressed it there.
    Just as in the palazzo room, a crack began to open in the cave wall, growing wider and wider until there was a gap large enough for her to fit through. The secret passageway did lead to the sea—an escape, just as Giovanni had explained to her. When under attack and needing to retreat, the Scarletti family disappeared inside their palazzo walls with the family fortune. They would go into the passage that led to the cove, where boats were waiting to take them away to safety. Nicoletta understood now the carvings in the two "map" rooms, the stained-glass windows, and the golden boats. The reliefs and paintings looked as if serpents were carrying the hapless aristocratici into the sea, but when the morning light shone on the mural, the winged creatures were carrying them safely out to sea and the waiting boats, the soldiers—their attackers—drowning as their ships crashed onto the hidden rocks. It was there for all to see, yet no one but the reigning don would understand the significance of it.
    Vincente's father had never given Vincente the "key" to the "maps" because Nonno had never revealed Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    the significance of the carvings to his son. Vincente had discovered the "maps" but not yet the key.
    Nicoletta stared into the black, gaping hole that was the passageway. She had been in it once before. It harbored traps, rats, and it was very, very dark. The ceiling was low and the walls so close they were suffocating. Did the passageway harbor the screams of other unwary women? Women who had trusted the Scarletti men? The terrible humming was coming closer. Which was worse? To die at Vincente's hands, or die with an unseen blade slitting her throat quickly in the passageway? Biting her lip hard, Nicoletta chose the dark, damp passageway. She stepped cautiously inside, and the two halves of the rock began to slowly slide together behind her. The pounding of the sea had been loud, booming through the cave, an assault on her ears, but now the closed door entombed her in sudden silence within the narrow walls. Nicoletta squeezed her eyes shut tight like a small child. It seemed an easier way to face the blackness of the underground chamber. She could tell the passageway curved upward from the cove toward the palazzo. It was a very long distance, locked beneath the earth, with masses of rock over her head.
    Hurry, piccola. The voice was soft, persuasive, as if he knew she was