12
Well, that was dumb. My self-criticism cut through the panic filling my chest. No one would hear me scream down here, not even Max.
Even so, I pounded on the ceiling. Nothing happened, of course. The flashlight beam wobbled and started to fade.
Oh, no no no no! I shook it, and it held steady. I’d changed the batteries, but it was an old flashlight, and it seemed to have a bad connection inside. s**t s**t s**t!
I shone it at the ceiling to see if there was some sort of release switch, but all I could see were the rods under the tiles, now slightly in misalignment and waiting for the tiles to be tilted in the right order to put them back and release them. I craned my neck for what must have only been a few minutes but felt like twenty. I need to conserve my energy and my light. Or I h
