CHAPTER III
CELESTE
There was a musty smell about this place, and it was deathly still. Beyond that—
I sighed, a sigh that was almost a groan, and shifted. My groping hand slid over something rough, like a coarse fabric. Dust rose and eddied to my nostrils.
It made my head ache even worse. Yet I moved again, and this time caught the faint, half-whispered sounds of friction and of creaking.
Another sigh. Slowly, painfully, uncertainly, I opened my eyes.
Blackness, utter and complete.
The very circumscription of it seemed to freeze me. I lay ever so still, running my tongue-tip along dry lips ... tasting the grittiness of my teeth. Slowly, recollection began to flow back through me. My mind picked up a faster beat.
Where was I? How had I come here? What had happened?
Again, I reached out, groping.