The Lost Heir (Book I)- The Violet City

Fun House

A warm, comforting presence soon surrounded her. Seth. "Shh," he said, throwing a big, warm towel over her shoulders. He sat her up and stroked her arms.

"Where'd you get a towel?" She said as her voice broke through the shivers.

"It's okay. We're in some kind of underground amusement park, I think. They have a shelf full of towels inside that building over there," he said, hooking thumb over his shoulder toward a stone walled building. "The weird thing, is that this place still seems active. The lights are all off though, so it's obviously not open. Who would build an amusement park this far underground?"

"Where were you?" she asked, teeth chattering.

"I couldn't see you. I thought maybe you'd gotten out first, so I went looking," he explained.

"Did you find Micah and the others?"

He put his chin on top of her head, and the darkness that had been clutching her heart faded away. "No," he whispered. "Can you walk?"

For some reason, this question infuriated her, and she pushed him away. "Of course, I can walk." She got up on coltish legs and rejected any further help. Her body still shivered, but Seth had helped to warm her, so she mumbled a short, "Thanks." She didn't want to seem like what her grandmother called an ingrate. Not that it mattered what Seth thought. "We have to find the lost heir."

"We have to find the others," he reminded her.

What she didn't say was she still believed the lost heir might be Robert's brother Jack. Stupid maybe, but for some reason, she felt closer to him down here--a thought that both frightened and emboldened her. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah," he said, eyes raw and red. "We can go."

Isabella turned from Seth. "Let's see if there's anyone here, or something in here that might give us a clue as to where we are," she said. Looking around, darkness engulfed most of the area. Shadows cast along the stone wall. The floors squeaked as they walked and the big freakhouse pool still loomed beside them. There were park benches and tall waste baskets lining the big walls of the building. She thought it looked like a community swimming pool recreation area, if they had such things in Hell.

"I think saw a couple of doors that lead into the building over there." Seth said quietly.

 "Should we check them out?"

"Yeah, okay," said Isabella.

"Hey, wait, look," Seth said, jogging over to the place where several towels were stacked. "Rubber shoes." He looked through a barrel labled footwear, wading through a big heap of shoes. He threw a pair onto the ground and slipped his feet in. "They fit."

Isabella walked over and eyed his new find with trepidation. "I don't mean to sound like Cleo, but I'm not wearing used shoes."

"They're clean."

"How do you know that?"

Seth shrugged. "They don't smell, and they seem new."

Isabella looked inside the barrel. The shoes were different shades of very dark colors and had a strap going over the top of them.

"They're warm too," Seth commented. 

"And they fit," Isabella repeated what he'd said earlier before warily reaching into the barrel. She pulled out a pair of dark purple shoes. She dropped them onto the ground and stepped into them. They were warm and to her surprise, they fit. "I'm just going to accept this as not..."

"Weird?" supplied Seth.

"Yeah."

"Let's try to see what's through those doors now, okay?"