Valerie pulled Dex away from the wall as Sophie pushed through the bricks. She took a deep breath as she examined her surroundings.

Forkle led them forward.

They stopped at a window that looked into a small room. There was no furniture, just scorch marks on the wall in the corner.

Dex tightened his grip on Valerie's hand. "This is where they kept me." His voice shook.

Sophie covered her mouth.

Biana walked over and took his free hand.
They stood staring into the room until Mr. Forkle urged them forward.

Valerie stayed behind, eyes locked on the scorch marks.

Tam placed a hand on her shoulder, shocking her back to reality. "Are you okay?"

Valerie met his gaze. "Yeah, I'm just trying not to let my imagination fill in the blanks."

He nodded understandingly. "Come on. We're falling behind."

Valerie let him pull her away from the window and down the hallway.
————
They reached a round room with a collapsed portion where Forkle said an elevator had led to the surface.

"What's that?" Sophie pointed to a hole in the cracked ceiling.

"It looks like they jerked something out of the ceiling." Dex walked to the center of the room, directly under the hole, no longer holding Biana's hand. "Maybe some sort of light?"

Forkle stroked his pudgy chin. "I don't remember seeing anything there."

Tam squinted at the floor. "Let me try something." He waved his hands over the floor, gathering the shadows in the middle of the room. He moved his hands and the shadows morphed into an elaborate star pattern.

"What is that?" Biana stared in awe at the symbol on the floor.

Sophie studied every detail of the pattern, imprinting it into her photographic memory.

Valerie examined the symbol. Unfortunately, it didn't spark any memories.

Mr. Forkle finally snapped back to reality and ushered everyone out of the base and back through the catacombs. They climbed out of the darkness back into the rain and Forkle pulled another leaping crystal from his pocket. Joining hands, they stepped into the beam of light and leaped away.