Xandria put the radio away. She could tell she was getting closer to the sound. She waved the flashlight in front of her, looking for any clues as to where it might be coming from. But once again, the beam died out only a few meters in the distance. Fog. It really was fog. She was close enough to feel it now, clinging to her skin like a ghost.

The sound of rushing water grew to a low rumble. The fog closed in, enveloping her, cutting her off completely from the light of the flare. It was just her and the flashlight now. She strode ahead, hoping her movement was in a forward direction and not in circles. The only thing that guided her was the sound, which had grown to a thunder.

Xandria felt a change in the air, but whether it was from something real, like a change in the temperature, or from something unreal, like unbridled fear, she couldn’t tell. She directed the flashlight up, wondering if the actual space she was in had shifted. It had. Dimly, through the fog, she could see a ceiling not too far above her head. Too high to touch, but low enough to explain that she’d entered some kind of tunnel. She continued more confidently, feeling like she may have discovered something important.

And in fact, she had.

“Are you . . . kay?” Barber asked over the radio, his voice breaking up only slightly.

“I’m more than okay,” Xandria said. “I wish you could see what I’m looking at.”

“What . . . it?”

“A waterfall.”

“Sorry, you were . . . up. What did . . . say?”

“A waterfall! You wouldn’t believe how amazing it is!”

“You’ll have to . . . later. I can . . . you.”

Xandria tucked the radio away. She’d give them the full report soon enough. But first she had to take in the sight for herself.

She stood at the edge of an underground cliff. Across from her—pouring down from the shadowy heavens—was the most glorious waterfall she had ever seen. Its prodigious waves produced a roar that would have caused lions to tremble.

And then she saw the doors.

At first she thought they were too big to be doors. Positioned directly behind the waterfall, she could only catch a glimpse of them at a time, and only in fractured views, as she could only illuminate small portions with the flashlight. But the longer she looked, the more she was convinced. There were doors behind the crashing waters. Gold doors. Nearly twenty feet tall. And set in the center was an unmistakable image. Xandria pulled out the illuminated map and studied the woman’s profile that adorned the impression of the coin. It was a perfect match.

Agent Terrence Barber slapped the radio. “Why won’t this thing work?”

“Maybe she’s dead,” Cornelius said, ice cold.