Page 364 of Hidden Depths
“All these years.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You never gave me the chance.”
“I thought you needed time.”
“I did.”
“And then?”
“You disappeared.”
“I was protecting you.”
Mom shook her head.
“No, Nathan. You were hiding.”
A mechanical click came from the gate.
Grandpa’s key remained inside the wheel.
Mom stepped toward it.
“That isn’t right.”
Ward immediately moved in front of me.
“What?”
“The key should have been destroyed when the gate closed.”
A narrow seam appeared in the rock behind the wheel.
Stone scraped against stone.
A hidden door slowly opened.
Cold air flowed from the darkness beyond it.
On the opposite wall, words had been carved into the rock.
I lifted my flashlight.
The letters were faded.
Mom read them aloud.
“Blood opens the first gate.”
Nathan stepped beside her.
Ward lifted his light toward the final line.
I felt him go still.
Because beneath Grandpa’s warning were four words that changed everything.
