passages.
On the left wall, someone had painted an arrow in old white paint.
WATER SHAFT.
She took it.
The passage dropped sharply.
Cold air rushed upward.
Behind her, Mercer’s light bounced across the cavern.
“Lily,” he called.
Not shouting now.
Almost kind.
That was worse.
“I know what you think you found. Your mother thought the same thing. She didn’t understand either.”
Lily kept moving.
Mercer’s voice followed her.
“Those people were already dead. The mountain was unstable. The government would’ve shut the whole county down. Families would’ve starved.
