AFTER GREG HAD shared his plan with Aramis, there was nothing they could do but wait. He tried to sleep, but the stony floor was too cold and uncomfortable, and besides, his mind was racing. Even with a good plan, escape would be difficult; there were a thousand things that could go wrong. To make things worse, there was no way to discuss it with the others. Greg could only hope that once he and Aramis put things in motion, the others would be quick to respond. As he lay there, he found himself thinking about his parents. It had been weeks since he’d seen them. Now, if Greg ended up dead in Les Baux, his parents would never know what had happened to him; he’d simply vanish without a trace. Similarly, he had no idea what was happening with his parents. Were they all right in Paris? Had Greg’s father found any clues to the location of the Devil’s Stone? If Greg didn’t survive, did they have any hope of making it home without him? After several hours, thinking of every eventuality in his escape plan—every possible thing that could go wrong—and how to deal with it, he finally gave in to exhaustion and fell asleep.
