Imran nodded.
“Then why didn’t anyone know she was alive?”
The old man lowered his eyes.
He seemed to be searching for an answer that would make sense to people who had just entered his world.
Finally, he said, “It is not as simple as you think.”
One explorer moved slightly closer to Layan.
“Did this man bring you here?”
She shook her head immediately.
“No.”
“Has he kept you from leaving?”
Her answer took longer.
She looked toward the passage.
Then back at Imran.
“No,” she whispered. “He saved me.”
The explorers did not know what to believe.
Layan appeared frightened at the possibility of leaving, yet she also seemed deeply attached to the man who had been living with her.
Imran showed no obvious aggression, but his explanations were incomplete.
And there was one question neither of them seemed willing to answer.
Why had no one contacted the outside world?
