“Yeah, you’re right about that,” Brad acknowledged. “If you want to wait here, I’ll make a fast foray in to see what I can learn.”
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Dan retorted. “It was my idea, so I’m the one to go in.”
“We’ll both go,” Brad decided suddenly. “It’s safer that way. Let’s be quick about it, and cautious.”
Having made up their minds, the boys stepped inside the hallway, closing the door behind them. The silence of the empty building was disturbing. Into their thoughts came a recollection that upon their last visit here, a door had been mysteriously locked.
Dan could feel his heart pounding against his ribs. He was scared, and unashamed of it.
Although it was still daylight, the musty church interior already was shrouded in shadow. Every cracked marble pillar stood out in the dim light as a fearful sentinel.
Dan nervously tested the door through which they had entered to make certain that it had not locked behind them.
Satisfied that the exit remained free, he then followed Brad deeper into the church.
A-tiptoe, the pair moved toward the iron stairway leading up to the belfry. The treads, they noted, were remarkably free of dust, though it lay heavy elsewhere. Cobwebs festooned other ironwork in the corridor.
Dan grasped the railing and began the steep ascent. His chest felt constricted. His breath became short, and he knew it wasn’t from exertion.