▌Chapter 13 ─ A Dumbwaiter System ▌

      ━━━━━ CLARA WALKED IN front of Abigail and Riley as they walked into the church. One man was in the front leading them, and the other was behind them. He pushed through the doors and the other's followed behind him. Clara's eyes landed on Ben who turned looking at her as well as Riley and Abigail. Clara turned walking between the benches soon sitting down. Riley and Abigail doing the same while Ian's men sat behind them.

Moments later they watched Ben and Ian sit down as well. Clara watched intently as the two discussed, she knew they were getting close she could feel it. Ben and Ian stood up and soon they stood up. Riley and Abigail followed behind the other's while Clara was behind them with Ian's men still behind her. They came to the back of the church, Clara placed her eyes on Ben who had been waiting at the door for her.

She walked up to him, turning to stare at him. "I'm so sorry, Ben." Clara apologized.

"None of this is your fault. I could..."

"Come on."

The man pushed Clara away from Ben causing her to turn around and walk down the steps. They came down to what looked like the boiler room. Clara stood near Riley and Abigail looking at the words that laid on the stones.

"Hey! Par... Hey, I found it! Him!" Riley called out, gaining Ian's attention.

Ian walked over to Riley taking a look at what he had found. "Ben! It's a name." Ian announced just as Ben walked over to him to examine it.

"Parkington Lane. He was a third-degree master mason of the Blue... Hey! Stop!" Ben shouted, as one of Ian's men came up running with a large wrench.

He swung forward swinging it into the stone to break it apart to see what was there. Clara moved back slightly as they all watched him break the stone. All the men including Ben pulled the casket out, soon holding it in front of them. Clara watched as the corpse of Parkington Lane broke free from the wood and fell towards the ground.

"Whoa!"

"Careful no one steps in him. All right, put it down." They proceeded to do just that, once they finished they turned towards the entrance looking into it.

"Okay. Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?" Riley asked everyone.

"I'll go." Clara said, causing them to all look back at her.

"Right. McGregor, Viktor, you stay here. And if anyone should come out without me, well, use your imagination. Shall we?" Ian questioned looking back at Ben.

Ben climbed in first, holding onto the light he led the way. Riley helped Clara climb into the small tunnel, she looked back to see Abigail and Riley soon following behind her. One of Ian's men held his hand out to her, helping her out of the tunnel. She turned back towards it holding her hand out for Abigail who came out of the tunnel shortly after. Clara allowed Abigail to walk up behind Riley who passed Ben. Abigail soon passed him following behind Riley.

Clara went to follow behind Abigail however, Ben grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him. He then placed his lips on hers kissing her passionately. Clara closed her eyes and kissed him back. Then pulled apart, Clara smiled at him as he looked at her. Clara turned around walking down the steps Ben followed behind her. They continued forward until they were eventually stopped. Clara placed her eyes on what was in front of her and the others.

"It's a chandelier." Both Ben and Clara said, causing Ben to smile at her. He proceeded to move the torch towards it, lighting it up allowing there to be more light for them. He then handed the torch over to Ian.

Ian took the torch in his hands, while Ben moved over to Riley and Abigail. He grabbed onto the rope and proceeded to move it allowing the chandelier to move away from them. Once it was in the center he tied the rope making sure it wouldn't fall down.

"Wow." Riley breathed out in amazement.

"Look at the elevators." Ben announced.

"A dumbwaiter system." Patrick added on.

"How do a bunch of guys with tools build all this?"

"Same way they built the pyramids and the Great Wall of China."

"Yeah, the aliens helped them." Riley said, causing Clara to smirk at him.

"Right, let's go. What are we waiting for?" Ian asked, looking around at everyone.

"I'm not going out on that thing. 200 years of termite damage and rot." Patrick said, looking at it.

"Dad, do what he says."

Ben looked at his father as he looked back at him, he then nodded his head placing the torch in his other hand and walking hesitantly down the wooden steps. They continued down the steps, Patrick moving a piece of wood causing it to fall down.

"Watch your steps. We're right under the Trinity graveyard. That's probably why no one ever found this."

Suddenly everything started to shake and Clara became slightly worried as she looked around. Dust fell around them, Ben looked around as the shaking came to a stop.

"Subway." Ian said, looking back at Ben.

One of Ian's men went to step forward however when he did the wood collapsed beneath him causing him to fall to his death. Shock rested on Clara as he screamed out, she held her hand above her mouth hoping that this wasn't her end.

"Oh, my god." Abigail said, feeling the same amount of shock.

The steps that they were on began to give away. Riley jumped to the other side as it started to break, soon Abigail followed behind him. He turned around making sure that she was okay. Clara became panicked watching Ben slide down the steps.

"Hold on! Hold on!" She called out moving to the edge. She looked down, seeing him struggling to hold his grip and climb up at the same time. "Ben! Grab my hand."

Ben found his grip and pulled himself up soon grabbing a hold of Clara's hand. Holding onto the old wood Clara picked herself up pulling Ben up with her.

"Come on!" She breathed out, placing her other hand on his after she had picked herself up.

"Clara! Get on!" Ben shouted, moving over to another section of the wood.

Clara moved over to Ben who held his hand on the side of her arm while looking around. Clara watched Patrick jump to the wooden elevator, leaving Ian on the falling wood. He soon jumped over, barely making it. Riley and Abigail picked themselves up and looked at Ben and Clara. Riley picked his arm up holding it out for the document.

"Here." Riley called out.

Ben went to hand it over to Riley, however before he could the wood beneath Ben and Clara collapsed and proceeded to plummet. Clara screamed, eventually it came to a stop and the one side broke. With it slanted Clara slid down the wood not able to catch herself on the wood. She knew she was going to fall.

"Ben!" Clara called out, just as he grabbed a hold of her hand.

It started to swing around, Clara placed her eyes on the document watching as it rolled to the edge but didn't go anywhere just yet. Ben also looked back at it, but soon placed his eyes back on Clara.

"The Declaration." Clara said, causing Ben to look back at it.

He looked back at Clara who switched her eye contact between Ben and the Declaration. "Do you trust me?" He asked her.

"Yes." She simply replied, knowing very well what he was going to do.

With a sadden look on Ben's face when he swung forward Ben let go of her hand, catching the Declaration before it fell. Clara groaned upon hitting the wood causing dust to jump up. She picked herself up slightly, looking at Ben who looked at her as the wood swung away from her. The wood lost more of its string causing Ben to lose his grip and break a small piece of the wood off. He was now holding onto the edge of the wooden palette.

He once again lost his grip and was holding onto the last piece of wood on the palette closest to him. "Hang on!" Clara shouted, even though she knew that wasn't something he could do.

Clara watched as rope was thrown down to him. Ben grabbed onto it and swung over to the other side of the steps. Still holding onto her arm, she moved down the steps as Ben climbed over to the other side.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I dropped you. I had to save the Declaration." Ben said, as she walked up to him. He placed his hands on her arm briefly looking at their hands.

"No, don't be. I would have done exactly the same thing to you. Abigail probably would have done it too." Clara said, staring at him.

"Really?" Ben seemed to be a little confused by what she had said.

"I would have dropped you both." Riley announced, walking down the steps with Abigail behind him. "Freaks."