Vol 2 Chapter 10 (1/2)

Chapter 10: Sounds

“What’re you going to do, Lia?” Larry asked as he watched Natalia confidently step forward

Meg tilted her head, and Nick and Seron watched in silence

“Just leave this to ht”

“Hey… don’t tell e?” Larry squawked, dead serious Natalia burst into laughter

“Pffft! Hahah! Close, but no cigar Does anyone have anything big and solid? Check your backpack, Larry I need so like a club”

“Huh? I have a folding spade, if that works for you”

“Sure Hand it over”

“Okay”

Confused, Larry pulled out aspade froreen wooden shaft, and a foldable black metallic head

Larry expertly unfolded and secured the spade open Then he handed it to Natalia by the shaft

“Here”

“Thanks Nohere do I start? I think Seron’s on to what I’ to do”

“Yeah” Seron nodded

“Oh! I think that I a her hand

Larry and Nick seemed to be in the dark still Seron answered Natalia’s question

“You can leave the north side for the end The caht there, and beyond that’s an apart And I think we can save the eastern and western sides for later, since there’s not asas there aren’t any more basements around here, anyway Please start with the south”

“All right I’onna need all of you to stay quiet for a bit No footsteps, you hear?”

“What are you—”

“Shaddap and let ” Natalia cut Larry off, and headed for the south ith a spade in hand instead of a violin

Seron followed at a slight distance as though to guard her

The others thought for aafter Natalia and Seron Natalia stopped a little before the wall The others stopped about 3 meters behind her and Seron

“All righty”

Holding the spade by the shaft, Natalia raised the blade to neck-level and pointed itat the wall

“Percussion’s fine by me”

She struck the ith the end of the spade

Clang A dull, heavy sound resounded through the basement and faded

“Hm”

Natalia repeated the action with the wall above and under the first spot The shovel made the same sound

“Mhm”

Then, Natalia took a big step to the left

Standing about 1 ain struck the center of the wall, and then above and below the spot

Then she took another step to the left and repeated the process

Of the others, Jenny and Nick realized what Natalia was doing the moment she struck the wall

“C’an, but Jenny and Nick held up their fingers to silence him

Twelve heavy impacts later, Natalia took yet another step to the left And she struck the wall again

“…”

She struck the same place for the second time Then she struck the space below that The impact sounded the same as the others

“So with a smile

“You can figure that out with just the sound, Lia?” Larry gasped, having finally understood Natalia responded as nonchalantly as though she were rattling off what she had eaten for breakfast

“Yeah This spot right here and the space under it sound totally different”

“I can’t tell What about you, Seron?”

Seron shook his head

“It all sounded the same to me”

“I did not know the different sound I did my best, but…”

“Nor did I Hats off to you, Natalia”

“Yeah I didn’t hear a difference”

Meg, Nick, and Jenny admitted in turn

“I see So I’m not just dense, then” Larry mumbled

“It was just a subtle reverberation Anyway, I’m pretty sure there’s souarantees It’s your turn, musclehead”

Natalia stepped away from the ith the spade in hand Seron approached the wall Larry gave Natalia a curious look as he passed her by and joined Seron

Seron cast light on the wall He and Larry carefully scrutinized every detail

They examined the wall for some time, but they could not find any difference in this section

“You really think it’s here, Seron?”

“It’s worth a shot Let’s give this spot a push Don’t go all-in froentle so you don’t accidentally jae”

“Right”

Seron put his hands on the middle level of the wall, where Natalia had pointed, and Larry crouched down to put his hands on the lower part of the wall

“All right One, two, three!”

Thesqueaked

“Hm?”

“Whoa!”

The wallease The section they had been pushi+ng against sunk several centimeters into the wall

Seron and Larry stepped back and cast light on the wall Part of the as sunken, from the floor to about Seron’s waist-level

Larry continued to push alone, and the hidden door sunk in further

Larry’s eyes widened even as he pushed the door open

“I don’t believe it…”

“I expected nothing less from you, Nat Larry, let’s keep this up”

“Yeah”

Seron and Larry resuether The door finally came to a stop once it had moved about 40 centimeters

Once Seron was sure that the door was firmly open, he turned to Larry

“I think we’ll have to push the door sideways now Can you give it a shot?”

“I’m on it”

Larry waited for Seron to ap on the right side of the door He pulled

The narrow slab of stonedoor

“Whoa This is really well-made” Larry exclaimed as he pulled the door all the way open It finally stopped coh for one person to pass through, and only a sliver of the door remained in the doorway

Seron pointed his flashlight at the stone hallway beyond

The hallas about 2 e person to pass through comfortably It was about 1 ular intervals

The light froht hit a wall about 5 meters down the hall, which led to a left turn There were no people or objects in sight

“Wow!” Larry cried “So there really is a passage here! And judging fro! You’re actually pretty good, Lia!” He said, turning around

“Hey, I take offense to the ‘actually’” Natalia said, though she sounded at least 70 percent happy

“I give you ratulations, Natalia!”

“Meght expression there, but thanks”

“That was a that we all decided to coether”

“Sure is Teas in life Yep”

“Can I cover this story sometime? Let’s see… the title should be ‘Master Listener Understands Animal Speech?’!”

“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves”

While the others heaped praises on Natalia, Seron crouched down and examined the base of the stone door

Soon, he stepped away and asked Larry for so small and solid

“Huh? …Well, I’ve got some canned food if that works”

“Yeah Please”

“Right Are you gonna tap on the walls with it?”

“No, I’ to use it as a doorjamb And I need tape too, if you have any” Seron said, as terse as ever

“Aha! Makes sense” Larry said, this time quick on the uptake Seron nodded

Larry pulled out a large roll of tape from his backpack, and a rather small tin can

The tin was colored a reen, and was simply labeled ‘Corned beef Serve warm for better flavor’

Seron took the things with a word of thanks and placed the tin can beside the door Then he cut off a long length of tape and secured the tin so it wouldn’t roll away

“Now the door won’t close behind us What next?” Larry asked

“We’ll have to go further inside”

“That’s the spirit And what about you guys?”

“I’!” Natalia replied Seron turned

“I guess I can’t leave you guys behind at this point Let’s take our tio”

“Let’s You can never be too careful”

Seron led the way, turning on his flashlight and stepping into the doorway Larry followed, pulling on his backpack

“Watch your head, Lia”

“Thanks for the concern, shortie”

Natalia touched her gloved hands to the floor as she passed through Then she turned around and helped Meg through

Seron sloalked forward Jenny and Nick safely e as well

Seron and Larry kept their lights on the floor ahead as they walked

“It’s nice and cool in here Perfect for su followed close behind her, tightly gripping Natalia’s sleeve

“This place ht warrant an article or two, even without the case of the mysterious face” Nick noted froreed

“You guys aren’t scared at all, are you?” Larry mumbled

Slowly, they approached the first corner Seron and Larry were ready for someone to pop out from behind it

“hello? Is anyone here?” Seron yelled into the passage Larry followed

“Is anybody down here? We’re on our way!”

They exchanged glances and nodded Then—

“Let’s go!”

They lunged around the corner

“…”

“…”

And they sighed in unison

“Well?” Asked Natalia

“The passage keeps going For another 10ahead

When Natalia and the others turned the corner, they saw that the passage continued unchanged But this ti as the previous stretch The end of the passage led to another corner, this one turning to the right

“Well, Seron?” Larry asked

“…”

Seron had to think for a moment The others waited for an answer

Natalia pointed her flashlight at Seron’s chest The name ‘Maxwell’ embroidered on his jacket shone in the darkness His face was vaguely outlined in the light

“…We can’t just keep going without a plan” Seron finally said “We’ll need more rope if ant to undertake a full-scale exploration We’ll need to hts and a lot more water”