Falls the Shadow by Daniel O'Mahony Read Free Book Online Page B

torch down the corridor. She stared briefly, swore and dropped the torch. The light went out to the sound of cracking plastic. She scrabbled round for it in the darkness, finding it quickly, not surprised to find the lens smashed and the bulb badly damaged. The light was a dim spot glowing in the dark, the torch sizzling as it shone. She swore again, louder this time.
    ‘Hello again diary,’ she said bitterly. ‘Have just vandalized the torch. It’s giving off less light than something very dark indeed, and I get the feeling it’s going to explode in my hand… I’m not bothered, I can get back though it’ll take a bit longer and I’ll be making nose‐
contact with more than one wall on the way. It’s just…’
    She paused, trying to remember what she had seen – the brief glimpse down the passageway.
    She saw the passage behind her, spreading away in a straight line back to the door where she had left the Doctor. She hadn’t exaggerated the rambling nature of the corridor, the fiddly confused turnings. So if they suddenly weren’t there any more…
    ‘What a terrible blow, the archaeological world has been robbed of the mind of its finest student,’ she said finally. ‘No, it’s nothing, a trick of the dark.’ She was talking louder now, trying to reassure herself. ‘I’ll find out soon enough.’
    She edged forward through the darkness and collided with an oak‐
panelled wall. Her confidence flooded back. Her sanity was no longer in question.
    Casting round for the right direction, she saw the light.
    It was a thin strip of brilliance, running along the ground where the floor met the wall. It didn’t illuminate the passage, but it was there. It had to be a crack; a slight gap between the wall and the floor. And if there was light coming from it, Bernice reasoned, then there had to be something more than bricks, mortar and plaster finish behind it. Since she hadn’t noticed a single door here before, there must be a hidden entrance, concealed by the panels.
    She edged along the wall to the light, hands brushing across the panels in the vain hope of finding some sort of handle. A hidden door would have a concealed opening mechanism, and that would be hard to spot
with
a torch. She was on the verge of turning away when it occurred to her that there had been no light when she’d gone past; she couldn’t have failed to notice it. Therefore, it had been turned on recently, after she had passed this section.
    Which meant that there was someone in there.
    She considered heading back to find the Doctor, but the light might be turned off in the meantime and she would have no chance of finding it again. Besides, she’d never been reliant on the Doctor to take the initiative.
    She rapped her knuckles against one of the panels.
    The wall swung open to an accompaniment of squealing hinges. Light filled the corridor from the open doorway. It framed a tall and handsome man, stooping slightly. Benny estimated that he was in his mid‐
twenties, though something worn in his face suggested he was much older. The youthful spark in his eyes and the innocent smile wouldn’t have looked out of place on a three‐
year‐
old. His appearance careered towards the unkempt, enhanced by the uncombed mess of dark hair and about two days’ worth of unchecked stubble. He was dressed plainly in fading grey trousers and a baggy, off‐
white shirt which, Benny noticed neutrally, was wrongly buttoned.
    He stared at her until she felt uncomfortable, then lost interest and began gazing distractedly round the passage.
    ‘Oh,’ he said eventually. ‘I’ve been expecting you, haven’t I? Come in.’
----
    It was an ordinary mug – decorated in blue and white stripes – cold and quite empty. Bernice could see a vague reflection of her face swimming on the smooth white surface at the bottom. Wondering what to do with it, she looked up, leant back in her wickerwork chair, and smiled questioningly at her host.
    The man raised an