The box

“I wondered what changed your mind.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I still thinkthis is kind of stupid.”

It was stupid. If anyone caught themdown here there’d be hell to pay one way or another.

“What do you suppose this tu

“Steam tu

“I’m sure the university doesn’t really wantto advertise its tu

Albert nodded. “Yeah. These things aredangerous. I didn’t find anything about Briar Hills, but I foundsome information on other steam tu

Brandy was looking around nervously now.“Will we be in trouble if somebody catches us?”

“Probably.”

“You could’ve told me about thisbefore we came down here.”

“Would it have changed your mind?”

“Yes.” But she realized even as she repliedthat it probably wouldn’t have. In fact, it probably would havemade the adventure even more appealing. Although sheprobably would have dressed differently.

“I’m sorry.” Albert looked back down at themap, turning it this way and that, trying to read it. “Hopefullythis will keep us away from all the really dangerous areas.” IfI can figure out how to read it, he thought. It was made upentirely of straight lines. A single line stretched around thecorner of the box, making sudden sharp turns as it went. Most ofthe time, another line continued forward a short distance from eachturn and then stopped, suggesting that the tu

Brandy nodded. She couldn’t stop thinkingabout what might happen if somebody caught them down here. How muchtrouble would they be in? What would her parents say?

“Let’s try this way.” He nodded toward thepower plant and then handed her the spray paint can. “That’s formarking the walls as we go. It’ll help us find our way back out ifwe get lost.”

“Good idea.” Brandy took the can and shookit.

“Sorry. I’d carry it, but the map’s a littleawkward.”

“I understand.”

They began to walk east through the tu

“There should be a left right up here.”

The light did not penetrate far in the darktu

“Great.” Brandy removed the lid from thespray paint can and shook it.

“Make it subtle. No sense advertising to themaintenance crews that we were here.”

She marked the wall with a soft curvingline, a sort of subtle arrow indicating the turn. “How far do youthink it is?”

“Hard to say. The map’s not really wellscaled.” He shined his flashlight farther up the tu

The next tu

About forty feet ahead, Albert spied acrevice in the left wall. As they approached it, he realized thatthere was a square hole in this crevice and a steel ladder to carrythem down. He peered into the hole and saw that the tu

“Looks like we go down,” he said, shininghis light into the darkness below.

“You sure?” Brandy was gazing down into thehole. Dusty white cobwebs crisscrossed the narrow passage. Shewatched with disgust as a particularly fat spider scurried beneathone of the ladder rungs.

“I’m not really sure about anything, to beperfectly honest.”

Chapter 7

The tu

There was water everywhere. A perpetualdampness permeated the concrete around them, so that soon the kneesof their jeans were soaked through. Shallow pools of standing waterstretched along the floor in many of the tu

But nothing down here was constant, not eventhe sounds. At times there was a strumming of machinery echoingaround them and at other times the tu

At one point they stepped out into a large,open tu

From here, the floors became muddier, thewalls slimier, and soon it became apparent to Albert that they wereno longer in the university steam tu