23 The Catacombs

Chapter 23 The Catacombs Between the two of them, Peanut and Rockwell managed to slide the heavy manhole cover to one side, revealing a deep, dark shaft and releasing a strong smell of damp into the warm night air. 'I'll go first,' said Peanut, turning around and carefully placing her foot on the first of the cast-iron rungs welded to the shaft's wall. 'Oh, so we're climbing into drains now, are we?' said Rockwell, as Peanut slowly descended into the void. 'You're not scared, are you?' she said, smiling as she looked up out of the hole. 'Scared? Yeah, right!' said Rockwell, swallowing hard. 'If anything, I'm looking forward to it.

After a wobbly and considerably longer than expected descent, the three of them arrived at the bottom of the ladder, jumped the short distance from the final rung and landed with a splash. 'UGH! It's wet!' shrieked Rockwell. 'Ssssh!' said Peanut. 'We don't want Mr White to hear us. They were standing in a small, circular brickwork chamber with a very low ceiling, a slow, repetitive dripping noise ramping up the creepiness factor nicely. The dim light coming through the manhole high above their heads was just bright enough for them to be able to see five exits evenly distributed around the chamber's walls. 'OK, Sherlock, which way do we go now?' said Rockwell, who, being so tall, was having to stand with a slight bend in his knees. 'I'm not sure,' said Peanut. 'Maybe I should try drawing a torch or something.' 'We're not in Chroma now. You can't draw stuff that becomes real here. Not without Little Tail.' 'Good point.' Peanut was annoyed with herself for forgetting. 'OK, anyone have any ideas?' 'Well, speaking of torches,' said Little-Bit, staring at a large iron bracket bolted to the wet brick wall, 'I think there used to be one here.' Really? What, like, one of those flaming-stick things that

you see in old Robin Hood films?' asked Rockwell. 'Exactly like one of those,' she replied. And what's more, I'd say it's only been removed very recently.' 'Oh, come on, we might have gone through a couple of portals, but we haven't travelled five hundred years back in time!' Little-Bit started to slowly pace around the room, sniffing the air. ' Er, so you're some sort of bloodhound now, are you?' said Rockwell. Suddenly, the little girl stopped in front of one of the passageway entrances. 'He went this way!' she said confidently, before disappearing down it. Rockwell and Peanut looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed her into the darkness.