The tunnel opened before me. I could feel my pulse rise and my breath came fast in my throat. There was no light in the distance. No sound. No breeze. Just dead dark. My hands began to shake as the tunnel seemed to close around me and I'm sure I would have fallen if Umberto hadn't wrapped and arm around me.
"Raz? Raz? Are you ok?" he asked me. "Are you sure you wanna do this Raz? It looks kinda dark...."
Something about the stupidity of that remark shook me back on my feet. I pulled out of his grasp and rummaged in my overcoat pocket to find the gem Jules gave me.
"No shit it's dark you idiot," I grumbled, slapping the gem in my hand and watching as it flickered to life, "it's a secret tunnel. What do you think, it's going to have lighting installed?" I strode off in a huff, the eerie blue gem light casting shadows along the tunnel walls. It didn't illuminate far ahead but enough that I could see where I was going. I heard Berto shuffle behind me. When the trap door closed, the darkness fully engulfed us but I refused to let my steps falter. I kept my breathing steady and focused on Jules' gem light. I did, however, set a brisk pace. I wanted to get to the end of this passage and out as soon as possible before panic overwhelmed me.
The tunnel itself rose sightly. The ground was muddy and the sides were rough cut stones. There was enough height to stand comfortably but if I were to stretch out my arms, they would easily touch the sides of the passage. Single file was our best option. With Umberto's hulking footsteps behind me, I lead the way into the darkness. Time is a funny thing. In the dark, without any sounds or outside cues, it's easy to lose track of it. We couldn't have been walking long before I saw a bundle up ahead. I slowed as I approached. In our pathway, crumpled on the ground, was a brown coat. Never one to leave a pocket left unsearched, I knelt down and rifled through the coat. A few pence, a small notebook that was too hard to read in the gem-light, and a round silver watch with the initials ARW engraved on front. I tucked my treasure into my pockets and motioned Umberto to follow. The ground of the tunnel was damp and muddy as if a great flow of water had recently passed through. It made the going slow as our footing was questionable. But still the tunnel traveled up. After an indeterminable amount of time, I could make out a faint glow up ahead. I tapped our gem off and stood for a moment, letting my eyes adjust. The darkness began to settle about me. Again, I could feel my heart starting to seize up and my head began to spin. It was so dark. So dark.
"Raz? Um, why are we stopped?" Umberto whispered into my ear. For once, I didn't care about appearances. I reached back and grabbed his big warm hand. Together, we crept toward the glowing outline of the door before us. When we reached it, the muffled sound of voiced carried into the tunnel. I could hear clinking glasses and laughter. It sounded like a party. I had hoped the entrance to the tunnel would be in a secluded place we could just slip into. That was not going to happen. We were going to have to make a very loud entrance. Loud and fast. I stepped back from the door way to think. I wished there was some way to get a peek on the other side but we were going to have to go in blind and hope for luck. Not the way I like to operate but, truth be told, it was my usual modus operandi.
I stretched myself up on tiptoe to reach Umberto's ear. "OK brother, here's the plan....."
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