Forbidden Coombe

Gem ran on, unaware of the terror which ‎she had unwittingly, thoughtlessly evoked; ‎she came to a stop many treads away from Jo, ‎close to the root of the mighty pillar, the arch ‎way they had passed through in their boat the ‎previous day. The wide, white stone was less ‎than three feet away from the thin edge of the ‎stairway. She stood there, shining her torch ‎on the smooth rock coated with its eternal, ‎slippery damp. She studied the pillar in ‎silence while Jo made his way up beside her; ‎somewhere close by they could hear another ‎dim rumble of thunder.‎