But the underground passage looked wrong at a glance. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like a very dangerous place.
Did they really have to go down?
The main problem was that there was no way back up to the surface now. Otherwise, Charles could have taken Jody back to the city and searched for a passage leading to reality there.
Charles and Jody turned at the same time to look at the underground passage.
Just as the two hesitated, Jody turned back to glance once more in the direction of the surface.
"Ah!"
Jody let out a frightened cry.
The sound put Charles on guard, and he hurriedly turned to look.
At that sight, even he was astonished.
The passage behind them, which had still held the light of the surface, had vanished.
All that remained was another underground entrance, its pitch-black mouth seeming capable of swallowing everything.
Jody stared behind them while Charles looked ahead, and both their hearts sank.
Both sides had become identical passages. Where had the path to the surface gone?
Charles said, "We can't stay where we are. We need to find a way out of here."
"Go underground?" Jody asked quietly.
Charles looked at the openings on either side. "Right now, going underground is our only option."
Jody looked at the two identical passages and asked, "Which one should we choose?"
Charles pondered for a moment. "They look exactly the same. Whichever one we choose probably won't make much difference."
"Still, since the passage that originally led upward appeared later, we'll take the passage that was originally heading downward."
The two passages were identical. Charles suspected that whichever one they took, the result would be the same.
For all he knew, the two passages might lead to the same place.