The Mask of Destiny by Richard Newsome Page B

brain.
    â€˜What are we going to do, Gerald?’ Ruby said.
    Gerald didn’t respond. Instead, he tried to fix the broken finger back into place.
    â€˜Gerald?’
    The fractured knuckle wouldn’t stick. Gerald clambered closer, his shoulders up against the low rock ceiling as he tried to wedge the fragment back on.
    â€˜What are you doing?’ Ruby asked.
    â€˜Strange way to lie if you’re about to cark it, don’t you think?’ Gerald said, concentrating on repairing the skeleton’s hand. ‘If I was starving to death, I’d probably curl up in a ball. There. That’s got it.’ Gerald nodded with satisfaction. ‘Good as new.’
    â€˜What are you talking about?’
    Gerald looked down at his handiwork. ‘It’s almost like he’s pointing at something.’ He then banged the back of his head on the low rock ceiling.
    Sparks filled his eyes at the pain stabbing into his brain. Gerald’s cursing filled the chamber. But it stopped abruptly when his torch lit the spot where he’d struck his head.
    â€˜Will you look at that,’ he said in wonder.
    Carved into the surface of the rock, just above Lucius’s outstretched hand, was a string of symbols:
    â€˜The number ten, a circle with a line through it, a Y, an arrow and a triangle,’ Gerald said. ‘That’s what was written on the envelope that Great Aunt Geraldine left for me. Remember? The one that the thin man stole from the house in Chelsea. This is definitely Lucius. And he’s left us a note.’
    â€˜But what does it mean?’ Ruby said.
    Gerald had no idea. But his great aunt had thought it was important enough to write down. He rubbed his hand across the lump that was now bulging out from the back of his skull. The smack against the ceiling wasn’t the only thing giving him a headache.
    â€˜Uh, Gerald,’ Sam said, his voice floating up from below the stone platform. ‘We have a problem.’
    Gerald turned to face Sam. There was something different about him, but Gerald couldn’t quite place it.
    â€˜My torch has just gone out,’ Sam said.
    There was a moment’s silence.
    â€˜Did we pack batteries?’ Ruby asked, tearing her pack from her shoulders and rifling inside.
    â€˜I don’t remember buying any,’ Gerald said. He cast the beam from his torch onto his outstretched hand. It was dimming before his eyes.
    â€˜Mine’s fading now!’ Ruby said. She looked at Gerald, lighting his face in the dying beam. ‘What are we going to do?’
    Gerald fished around inside his pack and pulled out a small box on the end of a knotted lace. ‘A flint,’ he said. ‘I knew we’d bought one.’ He pulled out a metal pin the length of a match and struck it along the side of the box. A spark burst into the air.
    â€˜We can light a fire,’ Gerald said. Relief flooded through him. It would be impossible to find a way out without any light.
    â€˜Gerald,’ Ruby said. ‘We’re in a cave. There’s nothing to burn in here.’
    In an instant, the relief that had lifted Gerald was gone. Ruby was right. They were in a dank cave that hadn’t seen the sun in a million years. He watched as his headlamp faded to nothing.
    And the cave was lost to an all-consuming darkness.

Chapter 9

    G erald tried to control his breathing. But in the black cloak of nothingness that had wrapped itself around him, it was almost impossible.
    â€˜Sit down,’ he called out to Sam and Ruby. ‘Try not to move around.’
    Gerald couldn’t see a thing. He pressed his hand to the end of his nose but his eyes couldn’t register any movement. The darkness was complete.
    He tried the flint but the spark just hurt their eyes, and revealed nothing. Gerald blinked, trying to clear the arcing burn from his retinas.
    â€˜I guess this is how Lucius sat it out.’ Sam’s voice sounded from