Drake Sisters 02 - The Twilight Before Christmas

supposed to have learned. Do you think this is a wel of some kind?”
    Matt continued to dig around the edges of the thick lid. “It can’t be a wel , Kate. Maybe some kind of memorial?” He pushed at the heavy slab. It crumbled around the edges but slid slightly.
    “No!” Kate caught Matt’s arm, tugging hard. “We don’t know what’s inside. Something about this doesn’t feel right to me. Can’t you feel the malevolence pouring out of the crack?” She stumbled back, taking him with her, nearly sprawling on the ground so that he had to catch her as a noxious gas poured from the slit that had opened.
    “It’s just gas created from decomposed matter that’s been trapped for a long time,” Matt said, dragging her as far from the crevice as he could get them. He pushed her toward the stairs. “Sometimes the gases can make you sick or worse, Kate. Don’t breathe it in.” She looked pale, her eyes wide with horror. She stared at the lid without moving, one hand pressed to her mouth. Matt could see that her entire body was trembling.
    At once he wrapped his arms around her and drew her close to him. He practical y enveloped her entire body, yet she never looked away from the oddity in the basement, mesmerized by the yel ow-black vapor streaming from the crack. “It’s nothing Kate, just a hole in the ground. It’s probably a couple of hundred years old.” He remained calm in order to reassure her, but al of his senses had gone on alert.
    Matthew obviously couldn’t feel the malicious triumph pouring out of the ground, a wel ing-up of victory, a coup of sorts. She couldn’t identify it, had no idea what it was, but she was terrified they might have unleashed something dangerous. Horrified, she watched the dark, ugly vapor swirl around the room, then stream up the stairs toward freedom, leaving behind an icy cold that chil ed her to her bones.
    “Stop shaking, Kate. It’s gas. It happens al the time in these old vents.” Matt couldn’t bear that she was so frightened. “We find pockets al over the place. You haven’t gone into the tunnel, have you? That could have al sorts of gas pockets as wel as cave-ins.”
    “Have you ever seen gas do that? Travel around the room?”
    “We’re getting some kind of wind off the ocean, Kate. Can’t you feel the draft in here? It’s very strong.”
    “I have to take a look at those symbols, Matthew. I think something was sealed beneath that lid, and the earthquake disturbed it.” She knew she sounded utterly ridiculous. She probably appeared a crackpot to him, but she was certain she was right. Something had slid out of that vent, something not meant to inhabit the world.
    Matt studied her serious face, the fear in her eyes. “Let me make certain it’s safe, Kate.” He gently set her aside and made his way across the uneven dirt floor to the crumbling rock lid.
    “Be careful, Matthew.” When he looked at her, she wished she’d kept her mouth shut. She was sounding more and more paranoid.
    He sniffed the air cautiously. The odor was foul, but he could breathe easily without coughing. “I think it’s safe enough, Kate. I’m not keeling over, and I don’t feel faint. I don’t know what the hel you think just happened, but if it has you so afraid, I’m going to believe it. Jonas says never to doubt any of you Drakes.”
    She was grateful that he was trying to understand, but she knew he couldn’t. Kate ducked her head, avoiding his gaze, afraid to see the way he was looking at her. She sank down beside the lid and dusted lightly with her fingers, afraid of crumbling the old rock even more.
    Matt waited silently as long as he could. There was the sound of the sea booming in the background. The echo of it pounded off the wal s eerily.
    “Does it mean anything to you?” He tried to keep impatience from his voice when al he wanted to do was snatch Kate up and carry her out of the place.
    Kate peered closer to decipher the words. Seven sisters. Seven Drake sisters. Her ancestors. They had bound something to earth, committed its spirit to the vent hole to protect something. She couldn’t read it exactly as parts of the letters were smashed and worn away, but she was afraid it was the townspeople who needed to be protected. She could also make out something to do with Christmas and fire and one who would be born who could bring peace. Kate looked up at Matt. There was no way to hide the terror in her eyes, and she didn’t bother to try. “I need