Read Online The Box by Brian Harmon - Free Book Online Page A

shit.”
    Albert smiled. “Sometimes stories like that are comforting. Some people have a hard time believing that there aren’t any more mysteries left in the world. I guess I’m one of them.”
    Brandy looked at him and smiled. “That’s kind of romantic.”
    “Is it?”
    “Yeah.” She turned and looked down the dark tunnel ahead. “But right now I’d rather not believe that there are secret tunnels built by centuries-old witches, if you don’t mind.”
    Albert laughed. “Of course. I won’t bring it up again. But you have to promise to tell me more about those stories when we get out of here.”
    “It’s a deal.” She smiled at him and he felt a sort of warmth flow from her. He couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking.
    They turned right and found a set of concrete steps descending deeper into the earth. At the bottom was another iron gate, this one different from those back in the university steam tunnels. Instead of a chain, it was secured by a simple latch and a place for a padlock. There was no lock present, however, and the gate stood ajar, as though waiting for them. Beyond the gate was a small room. There were a number of discarded soda cans and an old furnace filter lying among a scattering of cigarette butts, yellow insulation shreds and twisted strips of rusty metal. There were holes in the walls varying in size from one to eight inches in diameter, suggesting that there used to be pipes running through this room, perhaps even a heating system of some kind. Directly across from them was a heavy door with no handle.
    “Where do you suppose that goes?” Brandy wondered aloud.
    Some basement was Albert’s guess. Or maybe the basement of a basement. But he wasn’t interested in the door. There was obviously no way to open it and it wasn’t on the map. He shrugged and set his eyes on the left side of the room, where a rusty railing separated them from a twelve-foot drop. Another rusty ladder led down into the lower space where another open gate waited.
    Brandy crossed the room and studied the door. It was bolted shut so tightly that it didn’t even rattle when she pushed on it. It could have been nailed shut, for all she knew. She put her ear to it and listened for a moment, but it was silent on the other side.
    “It’s one o’clock in the morning,” Albert said. “Unless it opens right into the party room at one of the frat houses, I doubt you’ll hear anything.”
    Brandy shot him a curt look. “There might have been machines or something.”
    “That’s true,” he admitted.
    “Thank you.”
    “Come on. We’re getting closer.”
    They descended the ladder and continued on. Left at the bottom of the ladder. Right some distance beyond that, past one intersection and then right again at the next.
    “So what do you think we’re going to find down here, anyway?” Brandy asked as she lit a cigarette.
    Albert shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    “You haven’t even imagined?”
    “Not really.” It was the truth. He spent so much time trying to solve the puzzles and figuring out how to follow the map, that he really hadn’t thought much about where it might lead them, only that it must lead somewhere . He hoped it would be something fantastic enough to make all this worth it.
    Brandy paused to mark the wall again and Albert glanced back at her. “You’re the one who was so intent on coming down here. Tell me what you think we’ll find when we get there.”
    “I really don’t know.”
    “Humor me.” She turned and set her soft eyes on his. There was playfulness in her expression, but there was something else there as well. Albert thought she was testing him, trying to feel him out for something. A lie, perhaps.
    “A treasure chest?” he offered. “Some ancient scrolls? A big X and a shovel? Regis Philbin and a studio audience?”
    Brandy smiled, but he could tell she wasn’t really amused. “Come on. What is it you really want to find down here?”
    Albert frowned.