INDIGO (RISE OF CRIMSON)

CHAPTER 83

Seconds become minutes, and minutes became hours as they sat in the impenetrable darkness. Suddenly, scraping noise from outside the secret room broke the silence. At first they were low, almost indistinguishable from the buzzing in Natalie’s ears.Then they grew louder and louder, until she couldn’t deny their existence.

Natalie’s body tensed and she reached out in the darkness to touch Elvis. “Come here,” she whispered. He obeyed by curling over her lap and covering the baby. Vera moved closertoo, using her body to shield the boy, so that he was completely hidden from view.

The scraping grew in volume until it echoed, a steady rhythm that Natalie’s heart pounded in time with; the sound of their demise. She wrapped her arms around Vera and, by contact, the children. Fearfully, she tucked her chin down to hide her face, and squeezed her eyes closed in an effort to shut out the terrible reality of what was coming.

The noise stopped.