“If I concentrate, I can hear something,” Joe murmured, and both Amber and Stephen turned to him. “What can you hear?” Stephen asked.
“Is it a voice?” Amber added.
Joe shook his head. “It sounds like something being slowly ripped apart. As if there’s a deep hole being made in the world, and something’s pouring into it, or out of it.” He shrugged, suddenly embarrassed. “I don’t know what I’m talking about. I can’t even describe it properly.”
Stephen removed his backpack and sat on a nearby boulder. He looked thoughtful. “A deep hole in the world,” he said. It sounded as if he was trying to work out what that might mean. “Do you think you can tell how near or how far it might be, or even what direction it might be in from here?” he asked after a moment.
“Near,” Joe said hesitantly, “but I’m not sure how near. Anyway, that’s just what it sounds like or feels like in my head. Maybe it’s just my imagination.”
“I doubt that, Joe. Stand closer to the middle of the cavern and concentrate on what you can hear. Take your time.” As Joe walked towards the pool, Stephen motioned for Amber to be quiet. She nodded but kept an eye on Joe, who had stopped short of the pool and was staring at the cavern wall opposite.
Eventually he turned to look at them, and shook his head. “It’s not working. I can’t tell where it is, never mind what it is.”
“Give it time,” Stephen said. “Give it time and maybe it will come to you. And if that gives a clue as to why you’re here, maybe that points to a path home for you both. Maybe.” He looked apologetically at them both. “I’m sorry. Don’t get your hopes up too much. But it is a possibility.”
Joe knelt on the ground, his head slightly forward. I hope he doesn’t tip forward into that pool, Amber thought at first, but then reckoned he wasn’t quite near enough to it. She stood and watched him, trying to be patient even though patience was not something that came easily to her. Not for the first time, she began to worry about the passage of time in this world. Stephen seemed to think that it passed more quickly here- at least, that was the impression she got when he mentioned his family. So how much time had already passed in their world? Days? Weeks, even months? Amber tried not to panic at that thought, but she found it almost impossible. She started to pace up and down, which probably didn’t help Joe’s concentration, but she couldn’t help herself.
“It doesn’t go anywhere,” Joe said suddenly.
“What doesn’t?” Stephen asked.
“The hole. The gateway. It doesn’t go anywhere. It’s as if it’s a place where the world pours into... I don’t know, space I suppose. Like a black hole or something. Although that can’t be possible. I mean, a black hole would destroy everything near it, wouldn’t it? It would swallow up the whole world.”
He stood up then, and staggered slightly. Stephen ran over to hold him up. “Joe, what is it?”
“They’re coming,” he whispered. “The Lost. They know we’re here...”
Stephen helped him back to where Amber stood. “Which way?” he demanded. Joe pointed to the tunnel entrance which they had come into the cavern from. “Behind us.”
“I thought you said this was a place where they fear to tread!” Amber almost shouted.
Stephen looked away from her and said nothing. “So is that not true after all?” Amber demanded. “Answer me!”
He didn’t reply to her, but pointed to another exit on the other side of the cavern. “Listen. I want the two of you to go that way. Carry on until you reach another, smaller cave, and stay there in the shadows if you can. I’ll keep them busy here for as long as I can.”
“We can’t go alone!” Amber exclaimed. “We don’t know the way. We’ll just get lost. Come with us!”
“I’ll follow as soon as I’ve dealt with the Lost,” he said. “Go. Believe me, you don’t want to see what’s going to happen here.”
Still they stood there, too frightened to move. “I can’t watch over you if they arrive and you’re still here!” Stephen hissed. “Get out of here now!”
Maybe it was that sudden anger in his voice that stirred them into action. They ran over to the other tunnel entrance and just about remembered to turn their torches on before heading into the darkness inside.
They made their way as fast as they dared, which was not quickly. In places the roof of the tunnel became lower so they had to duck their heads while still peering ahead with the torches to see by. All they could hear were their shoes crunching in the loose rubble underfoot, and their own fast and panicky breathing. Amber listened out for sounds of a fight back in the Light Cavern but she could hear nothing.
How many of them were coming after us? she wondered. I know Stephen is more than a match for one of them, maybe more than one, but what if there’s a dozen or more? He won’t be able to stop them. They’ll just kill him and then they’ll come running after us. And I bet they’re much quicker through these tunnels than we are. They probably know their way off by heart.
Amber almost stopped as a sudden thought occurred to her. Maybe they live here. Maybe this is their home. But if that’s true, why did Stephen lead us here?!
She carried on, but felt numb inside. None of this made any sense. It felt as if they had been tricked somehow.
At one point she thought she could hear footsteps behind them, but when she turned and shone the torch back the way they had fled all she could see were the rough walls and crevices- nothing but rock, torchlight and shadow.
But there is something, she thought then, staring at the furthest area of the tunnel that she could make out, where the torchlight faded. It looked as if one of the shadows was moving slightly.
Suddenly aware of how silent the tunnel had become, Amber whirled round. “Joe...” she began, but she could say nothing else except a faint “No...”
Joe was no longer there.
Chapter 12
Amber stood in shock, turning her torch one way and then another. He’s hiding in one of the crevices, she thought madly, knowing perfectly well that he wasn’t. That would have been the last thing on either of their minds.
He’s run on ahead, she thought then, but she knew that that wasn’t true either. She would have heard him, no matter what had distracted her in the shadows of the tunnel. And he wouldn’t have gone without her. Even if he had gone a little way he would have realised and waited, or come back. She knew that for a fact.
“Joe,” she whispered, not daring to raise her voice any further, even though he wouldn’t hear her unless he was somewhere really close by. “Joe, where are you?”
Amber heard soft footsteps behind her- someone’s walking barefoot, she thought suddenly- and she turned, shining the torch directly back the way they had come.
And directly into the face of a creature from her worst nightmares.
Amber’s scream died in her throat as she stared into the black, glassy eyes set into the leathery, twisted face that leered at her. She was almost grateful when the torch was grabbed roughly from her hands and smashed against the wall, and utter darkness descended.
Amber woke to the sound of faint tapping and scratching. She sat up, and cried out as she found herself in a small stone room with on wall made entirely of metal bars through which she could see a huge, dimly-lit room. It was just like a prison cell.
I’ve been captured, she thought numbly. The Lost have captured me.
Someone was coming down the wide corridor towards her cell, dressed in ragged, dirty clothing. Amber almost screamed when she recognised the face that leered at her through the bars.
“Well, you must be Amber,” he grinned. “What a pleasure to have met you!”
Amber stared in horror at the creature. “Weren’t you ever told how rude it is to stare?” he asked.
“Wh... what are you?” she asked faintly.
“What am I? What kind of question is that? One with too many answers, for a start. I’m not from your sorry world, that’s for certain. No, I died in a far better place. I
miss my home, Amber. I’d like to go back. What about you? Do you miss your home?”
“Of course I do,” she said quietly.
“Well, as we seem to be on speaking terms, and I know your name, I’ll give you mine. I am Arik. I have other names- eight of them to be precise- but one will do, don’t you think? Besides, I don’t reckon your vocal chords allow you to pronounce the others.”
Amber just stared at him.
Arik fixed her with a contemptuous look. “Tell me, Amber,” he said quietly, “what did your daddy tell you about what happens to people when they die?”
“We’ve never talked about that,” Amber said. She forced herself to look him in the eyes, and then immediately wished she hadn’t. They looked entirely without mercy. I’m talking with a monster, she reminded herself, and I’ve no idea how long he will keep me alive. Maybe I should keep talking with him. Maybe I can find something out about him that might be helpful.
But deep down she knew that all the information in the world wouldn’t be able to save her. She was trapped here and nothing could change that fact.
Don’t think about what might happen, she told herself. Just keep talking if you can. What else can you do?
“You’ve never talked about Hell?” Arik seemed amused by that.
“No? Why would I?” she retorted. Then she asked, “Why are you so interested in where people go when they die?”
“Oh, I’m not. I already know where people go when they die. Some people, at any rate. Those who the moral guardians in the Order decide to kill and send away. I’m only curious because there are so many theories about it.”
He grinned at her. “So many theories, but so few about this place. The Emptiness is a kind of Hell, you know. The other side- where you’re from and where I came from before- that place is teeming with people. But here... well, aside from those others who found their way in, it’s... strangely empty. We don’t know why and how this place even exists and how it works even after all these years. Some of us have been here for a very long time. Centuries, even. And then there are others who are newcomers, more or less. Like Stephen, for example.”
That grabbed Amber’s attention. “Where is he?”
“Oh, you care about him? How touching. And how strange, given that he brought you here for his own selfish reasons. He’s that desperate to find his way home.”
“Where is he?” Amber repeated.
Arik dismissed the question with a wave of his claw-like hand. “He’s being held captive somewhere else. You know, I’d say the Emptiness is Hell for Stephen more than anyone else. He never died in the old world. He just disappeared, or rather the Order made him disappear. Yes, we know all about that. That was nice of them, wasn’t it? They tore the man away from his family and banished him to this place. The Order are not as nice as you think, Amber.”
Amber couldn’t think of anything to say. The idea that she might actually agree with this creature about something made her feel sick.
“Ah, but then what happened?” Arik murmured, looming a little closer and pressing his hideous face against the cold metal bars. Amber moved herself further into her cell, trying to get away from the smell of rancid sweat coming from him. “A Guardian, a special servant of the Order, finds his way here, pulling his friend with him. That’s never happened before.”
“Maybe others from the Order will find their way through and come here to destroy you all,” Amber said. “Maybe we’re just the first.”
Arik laughed loudly at that, and the sound echoed harshly around the vast hall. “Really? Do you think so? If that was even possible, if they knew how to do it then they’d already be knocking at our door.” He looked at her. “They still call us the Lost, don’t they?”
“Because you are. You’re lost here.”
“Hmm. That’s not actually why they originally called us Lost, but I see your point. We’re here in this strange world, yes, but they believe that our minds and our souls are lost. We don’t think of ourselves as lost, Amber.”
“I don’t suppose you do.”
“We’re free. Free from the rules and laws that the powers in the old world use to control everyone. In a way, we have a freedom here that we could never properly have there. But despite that, most of us still want to go back- back anywhere. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Most of us died on the other side of our worlds to get here. So imagine what it would be like to return!”
“I can’t,” Amber said faintly.
“I’m sure you can try,” he invited her, scratching the bars of her cell.
Amber wondered how it was that the Lost could organise themselves like this and work together to try and open their gateway. Wouldn’t evil people- which they certainly were- just try and harm and kill each other? What was stopping them from doing that? Was it something about the Emptiness that was doing it? Something to do with the strange magic that ran everywhere through this world? But why would it do such a thing? She recalled Stephen saying something just like that.
Remembering her promise to herself to keep him talking- although she knew that she would run out of things to say soon, and she hated talking to this monster anyway- Amber asked, “How did you die back on the other side?”
“You’re an inquisitive child.” He pointed to a jagged scar on his chest. “One of your Order sent a glass dagger through my heart. This wasn’t in your world by the way, but mine. The Order have found their way there. No one invited them. They decided that my world needed their rules, their laws. Anyway, they then went through their usual ceremony, to send me here as I lay paralysed with the poison that they flooded my veins with. It was a poisoned dagger, you see. How ironic that they can send us, the Free, but they can’t send themselves.”
“Joe could,” Amber pointed out.
“That’s because he’s special.” Arik smiled. “We’ve been waiting a long time for someone like him- a Guardian so powerful that he can force a way between the worlds. You see, we’ve been building our gateway back to the other side for decades. It’s difficult to say how long exactly because time passes a little differently here. But it’s never really worked properly. It needs someone to control it and keep it open, we believe. Someone who understands it without even knowing he understands it.”
“You mean Joe.”
“Clever girl! Of course I mean Joe. That’s why he was pulled here. There’s usually a reason for something as extraordinary as that happening. And he’ll be found sooner or later, no matter where he’s hiding. Don’t forget, this is our home, and we know its tunnels and corners and nooks and crannies better than anyone. There’s no escape for him. It’s just a matter of time.”
Arik looked as if he might be about to leave. He said just one more thing beforehand. “You know, if you think about it Joe’s the one who’s lost, somewhere deep in the dark warren of tunnels, wandering helplessly until we find him. So tired. So afraid. Maybe still thinking it’s just a nightmare after all this time. Maybe he’ll curl up in a rocky crevice somewhere and go to sleep, hoping that he’ll wake up safe at home.”
Once Arik had left, Amber took a deep breath and closed her eyes, despair getting the better of her again. All she could see in her mind was a vision of the Lost stepping through the gateway and back into whichever world they came from, hers or Arik’s or some other place, to do all sorts of terrible things. It was like something out of one of those horror films that she wasn’t allowed to watch but had seen a few times round friends’ houses. The dead walking the earth again.
After a while she cried out and kicked at the bars of her cell, wishing she could still believe that this was all some terrible dream.
Chapter 13
Joe opened his eyes and for a moment thought he hadn’t opened them at all. Eventually they adjusted to the darkness.
He was lying on the floor of a small cave cut into the side of a tunnel. His left leg and right arm both hurt. What happened? he thought desperately. I just touched the side of the tunnel and it was as if I suddenly p
assed through to the other side of it...
For a moment he thought about calling out to Amber, but he stopped himself, thinking that the Lost were more likely to hear him than she was.
After a short while he found his torch lying nearby, but when he picked it up it made a rattling sound as if some bits had come loose inside. He pressed the switch twice, but it wouldn’t come back on.
He gasped in pain as he got to his feet and carefully began to walk. His left leg was in agony, and he could hardly put any pressure on it. Gritting his teeth, he hobbled along the passageway where he had found himself after falling, making his way slowly towards a reddish-coloured light in the distance.
He could sense that some of the Lost were nearby- there might even be hundreds of them. Somehow he could feel their movements, and if he stopped for a moment he thought perhaps he could hear them as well- faint rustling and footsteps, echoing through the rock and the darkness.
Occasionally he could also hear what sounded like faint whispers of conversation from a distant place. He knew that these sounds were were made by the Lost or creatures that worked for them. They wandered around this place. They were all sorts of shapes and sizes, he reckoned; but the worst ones of all would be those that looked like people, perhaps because they used to be people, so they weren’t just mad and violent and evil- they were intelligent as well. Joe reckoned there couldn’t be anything worse than evil and intelligence working together.
He passed cracks in the stone walls of the passageway through which faint light poured. He didn’t dare to look through them; they weren’t big enough to get through but they were certainly big enough for him to be noticed peering in if the creatures he was trying to avoid lurked somewhere beyond them.
This passageway was smoother than the other one, and it curved gradually around, heading slowly downwards. Joe stopped once or twice, wondering if he should have headed this way or instead turned and gone in the other direction, which presumably went upwards and maybe eventually outside. But he carried on. I have to find Amber, he reminded himself. Wherever she is.
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