n his mind, wanting to take the anxiety from her.

their eyes met and his heart slammed inside his chest in reaction. his belly knotted at the intensity of his love for her. the emotion seemed to grow each rising, filling him so completely, he barely recognized himself anymore. there was a gentleness in lara he was drawn to. maybe because he felt there was little in him. maybe she brought out the best in him-made him a better man. whatever it was, he ached inside for her. he thought of her, watched for every expression to chase across her face. he didn't even know exactly when it had happened to him-the growing love and need of her-but he accepted that it was only going to get stronger.

"what?" she asked, a small smile chasing away some of the shadows in her eyes.

he smiled back. "just looking at you."

she blushed and looked down at the claw marks, running her palm over the area to get a feel for what had made the gouges. at once she felt the taint of darkness. gasping, she scrambled back. "it's a trap. don't touch it. get away from there."

nicolas caught her hand and pulled her to her feet. vikirnoff and natalya turned back to back so they faced outward, looking for an enemy.

large icicles rained down on them from the ceiling. others hurled themselves like spears from the walls. the men threw up shields to prevent injury or even death from the heavy, sharp, daggerlike ice formations.

the ice cave rumbled and shook. water gushed from a crack on the wall above them, pouring down with a roar. the ice splintered and a spiderweb of tiny lines spread from ceiling to floor. water seeped, began to trickle and then pour from the cracks, widening them into deeper crevasses. the ice quivered and then sloughed off in great chunks, crashing to the floor. the grinding and cracking noises increased, as if the walls were moving closer together.

"this chamber is mutating. we have to get out now," lara warned.

"they do that?" nicolas asked, already running toward his right where a long, narrow tunnel looked more hospitable.

"this one does," lara said and rushed after him with vikirnoff and natalya close behind.

as the water filled the chamber and began to leak into the tunnel, lara turned back and murmured her own safeguard. let xavier deal with a solid wall of ice several feet thick in his torture chamber.

water that runs, shift and grow, rise high now to fill these walls. the water began to form layer after layer, growing quickly into a block of ice as big as a tower.

satisfied that the water had halted at the entrance to the tunnel and began refreezing, she turned and ran after the others. as she ran, she heard the steady drip of water again, the same monotonous pattern she'd noted earlier. she could actually hear each individual drop plop into a puddle. a shiver went down her spine.

something isn't right, nicolas. xavier's chambers know we're intruders and we're in for a fight. watch everything, no matter how trivial. that's his specialty-the subtle, creeping up on you before you notice anything.

out of the narrow tunnel they found themselves in a much larger room, this one intensely beautiful with ice sculptures and prisms and many orbs. lara halted, her heart pounding. she had been in this room many times. she glanced over at the tall pillars, terrified she would see xavier standing there with his grotesque mask of a face, his fierce eyes and the twisted smug smirk he always seemed to wear.

shadows moved and stretched. she gasped and stepped back.

"what is it, lara?" natalya asked. "what do you feel?"

lara shook her head, twisting and turning, spinning in a circle to see everything-everywhere. "apparitions. shadows. we shouldn't be here. through there," she gestured toward another narrow

tube, "is his laboratory."

"we need to take a look at it," vikirnoff said, moving toward it.

"stop!" desperation was in her voice. "don't take another step. don't breathe hard."

the others looked warily around the room. water dripped, a steady plop into the puddle forming at the base of the wall beside a wide column. lara turned toward the sound. another loud drop hit a second puddle, this one closer to her, right near the tallest pillar. she stared into the water as rings expanded outward toward the edges of the small pool of water.

"elements. water. he's all around us. he's everywhere."

nicolas glanced at her, alarmed by her rambling. "lara!" he said her name sharply to snap her out of it. "he isn't here."

"you don't understand," lara said. "he's here. he locks himself into things, into elements. he can travel that way. you don't know him."

nicolas moved cautiously to wrap his arm around her. he was worried about her and it showed on his face. "lara, monsters always appear larger and much more indestructible when you are a child. he may have been here recently..."

"i smell his tobacco."

natalya inhaled, shook her head and shrugged. "if he is, lara, he's hiding from us."

the men were cautious as they made their way across the open floor. natalya and lara followed, both watching above and around them. the water dripped monotonously. as they approached the archway leading to the next series of open caverns, they could see just inside the entrance. water sprayed from the ceiling, the droplets falling into a series of pools. each pool was a bit lower than the first and each was a different color.

tiny frogs croaked, the notes mournful. a dark red stain dripped down from the ice and dropped into one of the pools, staining it a deep crimson. several of the frogs stuck to the side of the wall, long tongues dipping in the blood, licking at it as it ran down. although there was no breeze, each pool of water rippled slightly, as if something lived in them. the scent of blood and bodily fluids was heavy in the air.

"this is it," lara said. "this is what you've been looking for, nicolas. he mutates them here. he's experimenting with extremophiles and this is where he tests and corrupts them for his own purpose. we've found his laboratory."