by Holly Hook
My stepfather's blood.
It must have spilled there after I stabbed him in the shoulder with the Megapede jaw.
I feel the back pocket of my pack, stomach lurching.
But it's there. Ned actually retrieved it and put it there. It doesn't make any sense.
Jaden looks at the sky. "I've been up this trial hundreds of times," he says. "It's familiar to me. I know where there's a cave we can stay in for the night, but it's down in the forest. Steven Wompitt stayed there once."
The cave.
The one where I threw the axe, killing the Megapede.
"No," I say. "Not unless we have to. There's a memory there I don't want to revisit."
“Haven't you been listening to me?” Weslie steps in front of Jaden. He snaps his gaze to her. “Antoine is back in town. He wants to come with us. I'm not going to leave him there with Ned. There's a reason Ned is guarding him like that.”
I look back. I can still see Wompitt from here. “We have to keep walking out of sight,” I say. “Even if we do go back, we have to make them think we're leaving.”
Dark clouds roll over the sun the higher we climb up the rocky hills. Soon, we'll be at the top, looking down over the forest of giant trees. I'm heading back the way I came. Closer to the mine entrance. Closer to where my friends are.
At last, we're high enough so that the giant boulders block our view of Wompitt. "So," I say. "How do we get back in and rescue Antoine? And warn everyone about what Ned's trying to do?”
"We shouldn't go too far," Weslie says. "I'm not going to leave Wompitt to the mercy of the Flamestone Society. The Dwellers are going to get in there sooner or later. Once that fire's out--"
"But you guys always keep it going," I remind her.
Weslie takes my arm. "It goes out sometimes," she says. "When it rains very hard, that is. And today doesn't look good for that."
I follow her gaze to the sky.
Dark clouds are rolling in, all right.
And then there's a faint rumble of thunder.
“Uh, oh,” Jaden says. “Tonight's when it's going to happen. And you know what I think? I think the Dwellers were just trying to weaken our defenses the other night. So they could attack on later and have an easier time. Like tonight.”
I think of the fading burnberry dye on the wall. That might be why Ned commanded his guards to pour the stuff over the side. So they would waste it all.
"This just might be a passing storm," I say, all too aware of how open we are out here. There are no trees or cover to hide under. There are open caves in the hills here, but I'm not sure where they go and Jaden sure hasn't mentioned staying in one of those. They might be dangerous. Megapede nests, even. I'm not venturing in. I'll take my chances with the elements first.
Pit walks faster. He's about pushing us up the hill now. What is with him lately? I wish he could talk. The last time Pit and I were here, he was guiding me towards Wompitt.
"Storms here in Selwyn," Weslie says, "Don't happen often, but when they do, they last a long time. Sometimes even days. We've had times where we were all confined to our houses for two or three nights. The fire couldn't get going and everything went dark. One time, the Megapede started scratching around the walls. It was the most terrifying night I've ever spent in Wompitt. Thankfully, it went after the cows instead of coming over the wall."
"Days?" I ask.
"Yes. Days." Jaden shakes his head. "It's the price to pay for mostly good weather. And that wasn't a fun night. I had to pee right in my cabin.”
"The Megapede is gone," I say.
"But we do need to worry about the Dwellers," Weslie says. "If there's a secret tunnel leading right to Ned's house, they're going to come out through that. There must be an entrance outside of Wompitt. And with no fires going..."
Her eyes water.
“We're going back,” I tell her.
“And I'm coming with you,” Jaden adds.
"Antoine might end up back in the mines and I'm never going to see him again." Weslie sits on a boulder. She hunches over and puts her face in her hands. Jaden backs away, uncomfortable. He's out of his element here.
"Hey," I say. "We're going to do something about this. I'm not giving up on Wompitt. And neither is Jaden here, right?"
"Right," he says. He's got his hands behind his back.
"We'll just have to get back in there and warn them about what Ned's planning. Some of them might figure it out on their own."
"But Ned will kill us." She's almost inconsolable now and I don't blame her.
“Then we'll have to do it behind his back.”
Weslie faces the direction of Wompitt, which I can no longer see. She catches her breath, collecting all her courage. "You're right. Let's go."
"When it's raining and dark," Jaden says. "If we go now, they'll see us coming from miles away."
I wonder how far we've walked. How far we have to go back in terrible weather. The sky's darker now on the horizon, a deep, scary blue. There's no going inside.
We're going to have to move in this storm. Sneak back towards Wompitt. The heavy rain might offer our only cover.
"But what about the gate?" I ask.
"Good question." Weslie rubs her hand over her hair. "The one hole in the fence got blocked, too."
"I know. I helped block it," I say. "We're not going to move those boulders from the outside."
"We'll have to find a way," Jaden says. "We can think of something when we get there."
"But what if we get caught?" Weslie asks.
We're silent. We all know what's going to happen. The other people in town might listen to us, but Ned...no.
Jaden looks at my axe, then up at me.
"Are you kidding me?" I ask. The night where I swung at Garrett is so far away now, so distant, like a dream. I can't swing this at someone a second time—can I? What if I'm successful?
Then I really will be like my father.
Come on, Elaine. I don't care what those jerks back home think of me anymore. I know I'm not like my father.
Maybe you are.
It's my mother's voice now, not Melissa's. And that's so much worse.
"We keep the axe," Jaden says. "We have to get in there before full dark. Before that fire goes out completely. And from the looks of this storm, it will."
My stomach rumbles. It's already finished with breakfast. Pit hears it. He turns towards me and rubs against my legs. I pet him. Pit can help us hunt, at least.
"Come on," Jaden says. "We should find a place to sit until the rain gets heavy. That's when we'll need to head back to town. They won't see us then. And we can't light any fires. We don't want them to think we're hanging around."
"But where do we sit?" I ask, looking around. The boulders have no caves between them and I don't want to repeat that experience, anyway. Not that first night. Or the third, for that matter. "Pit," I say. I make the motion of a roof over my head.
His eyes light. He's glad to be helping. He turns and shakes his head at me. Follow me.
"You get along with him really well," Weslie says.
"It was luck that I found him. Really, it was."
Pit leads us off the trail, into an army of large boulders and rocks and jagged edges. I feel like we're walking through some wasteland. Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of the giant forest below us, or a glimpse of the green valley that we're not allowed to set foot in. This is an island of nothing. Only dense weeds pop up on occasion and I spot no berries on them to eat. This isn't an area fit for habitation. But there's another loud rumble of thunder and the sky threatens to open up on us any second. Pit bounds faster.
And at last, there's a cave.
Sort of.
It's more like a strange boulder that overhangs, leaving an opening underneath just big enough for all of us to sit in. How does Pit manage to find these things? He must know the land and every little corner of it.
I crouch down and sit. The rock forms a nice little roof over my head and
I feel a little safer. At least lightning won't strike us. Yet.
Pit whimpers. Looks at us.
He's getting hungry. He might even be hungrier than I am.
"Go find something to eat," Jaden tells him. "For yourself, and then for us."
I glance at Jaden. There aren't any Dwellers here except for maybe those few dead ones at the bottoms of cliffs. They're probably so rotten that even Pit won't want to touch them. And he can't get down there, anyway. Only the crows will manage that feat.
“Does he know a lot of body language?” Jaden asks me.
“He does.”
Jaden opens his mouth and makes a chewing motion, then points in the direction of the giant forest.
Pit turns and bounds away. He vanishes in the direction of the giant forest, swallowed by the army of boulders.
Will I see him again? They said something about Harehounds leaving sometimes. Something about there not being enough food for them around here. When did Pit eat last?
“Pit!” I call. “I hope he hurries. I want him here before dark comes.”
“So do I,” Weslie says. She hasn't been speaking much. I don't like that. "Well, I suppose we wait," Weslie says. She leans against the rock, staring up at the ceiling. There are no words.
Thunder roars, making me jump. Wind blasts into our hiding place, then snaps away again. A tumbleweed rolls past us and gets stuck up against another boulder, one with the green swirls going through it. Slimestone. That's what Antoine called it. I wonder what it's used for.
Jaden remains quiet. He stares out into the boulders and the hills. I wonder what he's thinking.
The rain falls.
No. It dumps. I feel like we're sitting under the waterfall to Antoine's cave. I wonder if he's in his cave now or if Ned still has him confined somewhere.
And it's getting darker.
“It's the storm,” Weslie says. “Just the storm. We still have a lot of sitting to do.”
“Pit!” I call. My voice blends into the pouring rain, which is thunder by itself.
He doesn't come back. My stomach rumbles. This is miserable. I sit up and try not to show it. I wonder if Dwellers drown easily. If this continues, they might not come out after us tonight. I can hope.
“We should go now,” Jaden says, half standing.
I get up and almost bump my head on the stone. “I'm not looking forward to this.”
“We might get sick in this rain,” Weslie tells him. “Remember what happened? With Antoine? He stood out in this and he got that sore throat. All he could do was lie in bed. Ned was mad since he couldn't work and we were trying to set up the cooking house at that time.”
Great. The cold's not going to make us any less hungry. I pull on my backpack and step out into the rain.
It's driving. Cold. I have to search for the boulders around me and Pit isn't here to guide the way. He might not be able to see in this rain, either. Poor guy. Pit might be hiding under one of those giant trees by now or he managed to get out to that one cave, but that's almost a full days' walk away. He hasn't gotten out that far by now, has he?
“Let's go,” I say.
We head back towards town after finding the trail again, which takes us about ten minutes. It must be late afternoon by now and I still don't know exactly what we're going to do once we get there. I keep my axe close, careful not to hit Jaden who walks beside me. He keeps studying it, fascinated, though not as fascinated as he was with the notebook. Tools and work, he knows. He knows nothing else. I can't blame him for dreaming of getting back to Earth.
We're going downhill now. The dirt and stone have all turned dark, awful colors. We're dripping and I'm shuddering. I blink water from my eyes. We're wasting energy by being out in this. I can't see ten feet in front of me. The three of us remain silent. Wompitt won't see us coming. Ned won't see us coming.
We'll have to find whatever tunnel led in and out.
Ned's tunnel.
There are three of us. That's the only thought calming me down. We can't let him sell out Wompitt to any Dwellers.
Downhill.
The rain drives down harder and lightning flashes. There's nothing out here for it to hit. I cringe with each one. We're the only things out here. I walk hunched over. Weslie walks with her hand over her head and I'd keep my backpack over my head if it wasn't for all the Flamestone inside. I wonder if water does anything to it. I should ask Antoine if I ever get to see him again.
“How much longer?” I shout. It's getting even darker now. We've spent the entire day in the hills. Pit still hasn't come back. He isn't stupid and he's not going to walk around in this.
“I don't know,” Weslie says. “I think we're almost at the bottom of the hill. I can't see any sign of town. There's no way the fire will burn tonight.”
The rain gives no sign of letting up. When it rains in this world, it rains.
And then my feet meet grass.
We're back in the valley.
Closer than Ned wants us to ever come again. Without the arm of a Flamestone member, that is. And I'm not bringing him that.
I check the expanse ahead of me. I can only see twenty feet or so. There's just a cow hunkering down ahead, without any shelter. All the cows are lying down, keeping their heads low. The rain rolls right off their blue stripes. The poor things. They don't have anywhere they can go.
“Jaden,” I say. “You've been here longest. Do you know where there are any holes in the fence? Areas that we could dig under? We can't just walk up and knock.” Now I have a new fear. The rain might stop as soon as it's started, leaving us exposed. But it shows no sign of that. If Weslie's right, this will go on all night, leaving Wompitt defenseless.
“We'll try to find whichever one Ned came out of.” Jaden takes the lead now.
“The Dwellers might come up that first tunnel after all,” I say. “And hop to whatever one Ned came out of. I saw what direction he was coming from. It was from the right side of the fence. We'll check the ground over there and see if we can find any openings.”
Weslie's gone quiet again. She walks beside us, keeping her face out of the deluge.
We might be going to our deaths right now. I pat the back of my pack. The Megapede jaw's still there. Ned might kill me with that.
But I can't do nothing.
I have to be better than I was when I ran from Shawn and Travis and left them to the Dwellers.
And then I spot it.
Wompitt. The wall looks dark purple in the rain, almost brown. The rain's washing the stingberry juice right off. Removing the protective dye that keeps bad things out. If the Dwellers are going to attack it will be tonight.
I catch a glimpse of a thatched roof of a cabin that might have been mine. I wonder who's sleeping there tonight, in that glorious bed.
“Look,” I say.
There are no guards peeking over the fence. I check the entire wall, even though the catwalk only extends around the front gate. The gate's closed and forbidden. I hear no signs of life inside. Everyone's hunkered down inside their houses if they're smart.
Jaden walks along the fence, almost getting on his hands and knees. He searches for a while, pacing back and forth. I just want some shelter. The rain drives down harder, so hard that it's almost painful. It runs off the wall in mini rivers. The river behind us in the field might be getting swollen.
“Did you find anything?” I ask.
“No,” Jaden says. He ducks down lower. “Oh. I might have. Come here.”
Weslie and I walk up to where he's standing. Jaden looks down at a boulder on the ground. It's covered in dirt and clumps of grass.
“It's a rock,” I say, trying to stay quiet. “What about it?”
“We should look under it. This looks like someone tried to disguise it.” Nerves rise in Jaden's voice.
“Under it?” Weslie asks.
But then I lean closer. This is fresh dirt. The boulder's flat and not very big. Maybe small enough to move out of the way.
“Jaden, you think this is some kind of trapdoor?” Weslie asks.
“It's worth a shot,” he says. “Help me move it.”
The three of us lean over it. I hook my hands under the rock and we slide it out of the way. It's much easier than I expect. A single person could move this. Dirt falls into an open hole just big enough to let us through.
“Really,” I say. “Really. Good eyes, Jaden. I wouldn't have noticed this.”
“Who's first?” he asks. “We don't even know where this goes.” His voice shakes. This is the place, all right. This is where we saw Ned coming from last night when Weslie and I were watching.
Weslie shifts.
“I'll go,” I offer. “I have weapons.”
“No. I'll go this time,” Weslie says. “This just leads into town. Let me be the first for once.” She still feels bad about me going down into the hole first the other day and she wants to make up for that.
“But what if Ned's on the other side? This must go to the chamber under his house.”
“There's no other way in,” Jaden says. “Come on.”
And he goes down first this time.
Jaden vanishes into the hole, disappearing as darkness swallows him and mud slips down. This is going to be awful. He could drown down there in mud for all I know. “Jaden, really. Be careful.”
“I am. There's a ladder.”
And I hear it rattling. It must be another wooden ladder like the one I climbed out of when I first escaped the mines.
Weslie goes next. She climbs down and out of sight. The rain's not getting any better and we don't have any light to go by, but we don't have a choice.
I crouch down and keep my backpack with me. It's almost full dark now and I need to get out of the open.
I climb down for about ten feet or so, feet slipping on the rungs. It's the same depth that Ned's secret chamber is in, all right. This probably matches right up to it. I get my feet on the dirt floor. The rain turns into a soft roar. At least I can hear that. It means we're not too far underground.
Someone breathes on me. We're packed tight in here.
Very tight.
“Come on,” Jaden says over Weslie's breaths. “I don't think this place goes any deeper. It's just a secret passage. I think I even feel the remnants of a torch on the floor right here. I'm rolling it with my foot. Be careful that you don't step on it.”
