"SOL!"
"I'M HERE!"
His voice came from below, much farther away now.
Then another sound followed.
A soft, rhythmic tapping.
Three taps.
A pause.
Three more.
Jude stared into the darkness.
The tapping continued.
Three.
Pause.
Three.
It was coming from somewhere beneath Sol.
Layla slowly raised the lantern.
"That's not the platform."
Serena looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"The sound is coming from the walls. From much deeper."
"Can you understand it?" Sophie asked.
Layla shook her head.
"No. But I've seen that pattern before."
She pointed towards the stone wall.
The silver lines had rearranged themselves.
The three curved lines of the symbol were no longer separate. They had joined into a continuous spiral, and at the centre of each carving was a tiny glowing point.
Layla moved closer.
"Look."
Beneath the largest symbol, a new line had appeared.
It was made of tiny marks, arranged in a row.
Jude had never seen those markings before.
