Read Dark Nights for Free Online

live in a city. I’ve got the same genes as the two of you. I just like to have money, you know. I need it for the two of you, to bail you out of all the trouble you get into.”
    “You idiot,” Joie said affectionately, although she didn’t look at him. “You have enough money to retire from that silly job of yours and do something useful with your life. Something humanitarian . There’s a small crack running the length of the rock here. There’s something funny about this, Jubal, come look at it. It just isn’t right the way it is and you’re exceptionally good with puzzles.”
    “My humanitarian contribution to the world is looking after you two thrill seekers,” Jubal pointed out as he got lazily to his feet. “Without me to curb your antics, the world would be a frightening place.” He looked up at the strange, moving mist. “Rather like this place.” He sauntered slowly over to examine the surface of the outcropping.
    “We’re in the Apuseni Mountains, part of the Carpathians, you heathen,” Gabrielle informed her brother. “If you paid even the slightest attention to anything we said, you’d know that. And you could no more give up your luxury condo and live in the mountains than you could swim the English Channel. And, I might add, we take care of you.”
    “Here,” Joie said triumphantly. “I feel the cave’s breath on my face. It’s here. I just can’t figure out how to get in.”
    “Hey! I can swim,” Jubal objected. He ran his hand over the rocks, frowning as he did so. “Just because I don’t like to swim doesn’t mean I can’t. I wasn’t born with gills like the two of you. She’s found something, Gabrielle. This is a pattern, but it needs to be . . .” He trailed off, dug his fingers around several of the smaller rocks, and began to rearrange them.
    “There’s a surprise,” Gabrielle said and rose to her feet also. The cool mountain air fairly vibrated with excitement. “You could always come and research hot viruses with me,” she invited, slinging her arm around her brother.
    “Yeah, I’ll get right on that, Gabrielle, because I’m a crazy man and want to die a miserable, but noble, death,” Jubal said, ruffling his sister’s dark hair. “I think I’ll stick to my stocks and bonds and let you do your wacko research all by yourself.”
    “Feel that,” Joie spun around to face her brother. “The mountain is exhaling into the cave’s entrance.”
    Jubal nodded in satisfaction. “There it goes. Wow, look at that. As usual, Joie finds the entrance and this one is damned strange.”
    The mountain shivered. Creaked. He placed the last rock in the sequence he saw as a pattern. The crack widened, the rock grinding with a loud groan. Ice cold air rushed out as if the mountain had exhaled.
    “This is man-made, not natural. Damn it, Joie, don’t go in.” He snagged his backpack and pulled out a logbook, carefully entering the time. “We’re just doing a cursory exploration, and it’s nearly sunset. No one knows where we are.”
    It was too late. Joie was too driven to wait for anything, ignoring the time-honored rules they always followed for safety. She squeezed into the crack, dragging her gear behind her.
    Cursing, Jubal hastily anchored the logbook near the crack with a couple of rocks, marking the entrance for a rescue team to find should they get lost inside the network of caves he was certain they were about to descend into.
    Gabrielle shouldered her gear and followed. “It’s extremely tight, Jubal,” she cautioned. “Pass me your gear; it’s the only way you’re going to get through.”
    Jubal took one last look at the sky, noting that the clouds that had been floating so lazily overhead were spinning ominously, a gathering of a great force. Mist now shrouded the entire upper half of the mountain, looking for all the world like a great white veil slowly being drawn over the entire towering mass. They were in the clouds, cut off from below. The mist