章 10: Chapter 10

I put my ear to the door, and so did Katie. We held our breath and listened.

The noises were faint but ominous. It sounded like a struggle was taking place, with muted grunts interspersed with louder bangs and thumps.

“We’re too late!” I whispered. “She’s attacking them already.”

“I guess the time for subtlety has passed,” Katie whispered back. “We’re going to have to break the door down. It looks flimsy enough that a good bash with a heavy object should do the trick.”

“Okay.” I scanned round the almost-empty meditation hall. “Step one—find a heavy object.”

“What about that?” Katie indicated the life-size statue of the Goddess.

“It looks like it’s solid bronze,” I pointed out. “That would be tooheavy.”

“But looks can be deceptive. Maybe it’s hollow.” She went over to the statue and rapped on the surface. It gave a gratifyingly hollow-sounding ring. “Just as I thought—come on, give me a hand.”