Ascension by Sophia Sharp Read Free Book Online Page B

starting up the stairs.  “I didn’t expect these stairs to be here, though.”
    “You have to be careful,” Logan said gravely when she arrived.  “We don’t know what might be in here.”
    “I know,” Laura said.  Light streamed in from behind them.  “We should cover the window.  I don’t want anybody outside noticing that the board is broken.”
    “Good idea,” Alexander replied.  “But with what?”
    Laura looked around her.  The window they came through opened to a hallway, with the stairs leading down to a lower level.  A thick coat of dust covered the floor, and Laura could see the impression she made in it when she fell down the stairs.  But otherwise, the entire space was barren of anything useful.  “We’ll need to look for something suitable.” 
    Logan went a few paces down the hall.  He turned to a doorway, and Laura heard a piercing groan as he ripped the door from its frame. 
    “That’ll do,” Laura said sardonically as Logan came back carrying the door.  He placed it over the window, blocking most of the light that came from outside.  Some still streamed in on the sides. 
    “It won’t fool an attentive eye from the ground,” Logan said, “but I doubt there’s going to be anybody looking up here anyway.”
    “And besides,” Laura added, “you said all the entrances are barricaded off.  Even if somebody did notice, it’s not like they could do anything.”
    “Unless they had the keys,” Logan said.  “But we should be safe for now.”
    Laura noticed Alexander shifting his weight on his feet.  He looked… uncomfortable.
    “Is everything alright?” she asked him.
    Alexander looked at her.  “Something about this place is off.”
    “Off?  What do you mean?”
    “I don’t know.  But I can’t shake the feeling that our entrance has been… noted.”  He glanced at Logan.  “Let’s hope it doesn’t have anything to do with your watchers.”  He barked an uneasy laugh.  “Maybe it’s just my imagination getting the better of me.”
    “No,” Laura replied.  “It’s too much of a coincidence for that.  We’d better hurry.”
    Alexander nodded.  “If we split up, we can search the building faster.”
    “But if we stay together, we’re stronger,” Logan said.  “In case anything happens.”
    Alexander frowned.  “What do you think, Laura?”
    “We stay together,” she said.  “I don’t want to take any unnecessary risk.”
    “Alright,” Alexander agreed.  “Together it is.”
    “Let’s start on the lower level and work our way up,” Laura said.  “We’ll need to check every room.  If the repository is in here it’ll probably be hidden or locked away.”
    Laura started down the stairs, but Logan stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
    “Let me be the one to go first this time,” he said simply.  Laura nodded, and fell in behind him.
    They followed the stairs all the way to the bottom level.  There, they began their search.  The entire building was dirty and old.  Rats and other vermin left trails that still showed in the dust on the floor, even though the animals had long since disappeared.  Laura knew that since she couldn’t hear any of them in between the walls or under the floors.  Usually, her hearing was sharp enough to pick out sounds like that.
    They went from room to room methodically, tracing out every square inch so that nothing would be overlooked.  Most of the rooms were empty.  The ones that weren’t, however, were mostly filled with old, rotting pieces of furniture covered by musty fabric.  Laura wondered what purpose this building had served before.  There was nothing to suggest that it was ever inhabited as a home.  Maybe it had been a storehouse or something of the like.
    There was nothing on the first level, or the second, or the third.  As they got higher and higher up, the air became thicker, and, for some reason, dustier.  The heat from the powerful sun penetrated the walls and