Toby scooted across the ledge and looked down. Beneath him was the entrance to the Palace, where Simper had greeted them earlier.
Mitt’s bald head shone below. Toby was tempted, like most boys would be, to hit the target with a spit ball.
A few fragments of glass gleamed on the concrete around Mitts. Amazingly, the man hadn’t seemed to notice.
Leafy branches shaded the porch and reached almost to Toby’s perch. The tree would provide the perfect means of escape, but not with Mitts so close. I need a distraction. What can I do to get him away from the door?
Mitts stared down the street and put up a hand to shield his head from sun spotting through the branches.
Toby’s ears swiveled. A crowd of people appraoched from a distant lane.
Simper’s gray head bobbed over the threshold to join Mitts. His dry voice floated up. “What’s going on?”
“Some kinda fight, I guess, Boss.” Mitts turned back to the door. “I’m going in to do that thing... I need ta’ finish.”
Simper pulled him back around. “Nice try. You’re coming with me to find out what’s going on.” He rubbed his hands together. “Maybe someone found a treasure. We’d better hurry, I don’t want it damaged.”
“Thank you, Father!” Toby prayed as the two men disappeared in the direction of the crowd noises.
He waited another minute, then leapt to the nearest branch. His claws slipped on the smooth bark, but then caught and held firm. He hung for an instant, then wrapped his body around the limb. Branch by branch, he worked his way down to the ground.
A quick look around. No one nearby. He darted to the door. In the rush to discover the loot headed his way, Simper had failed to remove the key from the lock. One twist and Toby was in.
Through the darkened hall again. Into the lighted office. Toby rushed to the desk and flipped back the rug beneath it.
I knew it. A trap door cut into the wood, with a metal ring in the center. This has to lead to Simper’s hoard. Toby wasn’t interested in random treasures, but it might have an entrance to the water system as well.
“Toby,” a voice whispered.
He dropped the rug and scrambled up the back of a chair.
“Didn’t mean to scare you.” Jurn grinned.
Toby wiped sweat off his forehead. “I have to stop letting my curiosity distract me from keeping watch!”
“Aw, I’m good at sneaking. Hey, where did that mean guy lock you up, anyway? How’d you get out?”
“Tell you later.” Toby picked up the rug again. “Look what I found.”
Jurn stared at the door. “Can you move it?”
Toby grabbed the ring, but Jurn had to help him pull up the solid wooden panel and place it to the side.
Jurn pulled a flashlight from his pocket. “Shall we?”
“Isn’t that my flashlight?” Toby eyed the device.
Jurn shrugged. “Yeah, you left it in the roamer.”
“Would have come in handy a few minutes ago.”
“Uh-huh.” Jurn made no move to return the flashlight, just snapped it on and shone the light down in the hole.
“There’s a ladder here, but I can’t see the bottom.” Toby peered down into the darkness.
“Hopefully there’s no gorillas down there,” Jurn said.
“Yeah, that might be bad.”
The two boys descended into the darkness.
Toby drummed the ladder rung in an impatient rhythm. Jurn could only use one hand because of the flashlight, and he did not have Toby’s climbing skills. “Jurn, we need to hurry. Simper and Mitts will come back and find the door open.”
Jurn turned his face up, blinking when dust blew into his eyes. “Well, we couldn’t exactly close it behind us! This whole idea is crazy.”
I know. Toby stepped down, rung by rung, as soon as Jurn’s hands moved further below him.
Toby reached the bottom and shivered in the sudden chill. “All right, let me have my flashlight.”
Jurn handed it over.
Toby swept the room with light.
This area was a true cavern, hollowed out by thousands of years of flowing water, just like the caves Toby had lived in for his first twelve years.
“Wow!” breathed Jurn.
Rows and rows of shelves, cabinets and other furniture lined the wall. Jewelry, photographs, dishes, and figurines covered every surface. The cavern storage areas in Toby’s home held useful things, tools and beds and tents, items to aid in survival. The trinkets surrounding him were objects people valued because they brought back...
“Memories.” A knick-knack caught Toby’s eye, and he picked the item up and held it to the light. A craftsman from long ago had shaped the blue glass into the form of a small bird. It seemed miraculous that something so delicate and fragile could survive decades of violence. Mia would love this bird. He placed it back on the shelf. To take the figurine would be stealing. Besides, I’d never get it home in one piece.
“What’s this, Toby?” Jurn held up a large ball with hundreds of mirrors embedded in its surface. The surfaces reflected the light from the flashlight, causing tiny rainbows to dance over the shelves.
Toby looked back from the wall. “I think it’s a disco ball. Come on, Jurn, I found a door. We don’t have time to look at this stuff. The town’s water supply is far more valuable.”
A row of deadbolts were embedded in the door. “Good thing we can open these from this side.” Toby slid them out, one by one. “Hopefully we can find the water source through here.”
Jurn pulled himself away from the mounds of treasure and joined Toby. “Or Simper could trap us if there’s not another way out.”
“We’ll be caught for sure if we go back up the ladder. We just have to take the chance.” Toby pushed open the door.
Toby’s shoes slid as the ground tipped sharply and then ended on a ledge. His head spun a little when he looked over the side. They were standing eighty, maybe a hundred feet up on the edge of a giant tunnel. Below them, a wide river ran through the cavern.
Torches in the walls lit up the other bank of the river, where dozens of children milled around. Because of the distance, Toby couldn’t tell what they were doing, but the kids seemed focused and organized.
“Can you believe this is all under the Palace?” Jurn whispered behind him.
“The ground keeps secrets well. No one would ever guess the grambles' caverns were there, just by standing above them,” Toby replied. “We’d better figure out how to get down to the bottom before anyone sees us.”
“Climb down?” Jurn’s face turned white. “From here?”
Toby pointed to a narrow path, carved into the side of the wall. “I think that’s the route, over there.”
“Yeah, looks like a great way for you.” Jurn flattened himself back against the wall.
“Aw, it’s a piece of cake.” Toby swung himself over the ledge and landed on the path. “The climb isn’t too steep. I’ll help you.”
They crept down. Every placement of hand or foot had to be thought out. A loose stone might betray their presence or cause them to plunge to their deaths.
“Toby, I don’t know if I can do this.” Jurn’s eyes were squeezed shut, and he trembled.
“Jurn, we’re half way down. Do you want to get closer to the ground or go back up higher?”
Jurn opened his eyes and began to move again with tiny steps.
Toby could see what the kids were doing now. Some of them swiped the sides of the cavern wall with thin, flat boards, collecting a slimy substance to dump into jars. A separate team of children took the filled jars. Toby couldn’t quite see the process but it looked like they were filtering the goop to mix with water in jars. These finished jars were then carried through another door Toby assumed must lead to the Palace.
Of course there’s another exit. Simper would never let the children into his treasure room.
“I wonder they are gathering and mixing with the water?” Toby said.
“I
think this might be it.” Jurn pulled a piece of moss from a crack in the rocks. “It looks different when it’s dry like this, but I bet when you mix it with water it gets all slimy. It’s the same color.”
How had Simper found this place and learned how to make the moss into Vibrance?
A grating noise came from above them.
“What was that?” Jurn looked up. Cracks snaked through the rock ceiling.
Screams erupted from the other side of the river, and children darted up the banks like minnows fleeing from a shark.
A huge piece of rock crashed to the ground below, exploding into fragments and dust.
8
LIGHT AT THE END
“Was anyone hurt?” Toby strained to see through the white dust settling on the rocks below.
“Don’t think so.” Jurn pointed toward faces peeking out from openings in the wall.
“The ceiling is full of holes. The kids are probably used to rocks falling.” Toby frowned. “I think we’re still under the Palace. No wonder the walls are so cracked. It’s amazing the whole place didn’t fall through the ground years ago. Simper has to know of the danger, why does he still let people come in?”
They finally reached the bottom of the cliff. Toby darted across an open area and crouched behind a boulder.
Jurn followed, but tripped on a rock and rolled in the dust. He lay there for a moment, holding his knee and grimacing.
He crawled over to Toby and settled in, saying words under his breath he would never have used around the grambles.
“Are you all right?” Toby flashed the light on Jurn’s knee. The cloth was torn and a small spot of blood soaked through.
“Yes,” Jurn sighed. “I’m just glad to be done with that climb. Let’s keep moving.”
A trickle of rocks bounced down the wall from the ledge. Toby thought for a moment that another boulder had loosened, but a gravelly voice from above shouted out, “Children, spies have invaded our cave. Find them!”
Toby froze. Where can we go now?
“The river flows into town, so we might be able to find a way out if we follow the current,” he whispered to Jurn.
Jurn nodded and they scampered down along the rock bank, slipping and sliding on bright blue moss.
“There they are!” A child on the opposite shore yelled and pointed.
The children ran for the river and jumped in, their heads bobbing in the water.
“Why does it always have to be crazy children chasing after me?” Toby muttered. He pushed his way onto a small area of the bank where the ledge between water and wall was less than a foot wide.
The children reached the opposite bank. They climbed out and rushed towards them.
“We have got to move!” Jurn squeezed in with Toby. “This moss is so slick.”
“Just follow the river.” Toby reached behind him to grab Jurn’s shirt sleeve. “Stay close behind me. Step where I step and I’ll try to shine the light for both of us.
The passage cut a sharp right and for a moment the boys were alone. The cavern split into two tunnels. One continued to border the river, and the other slanted upwards.
“I vote for dry ground,” said Toby.
“But we don’t know where the passage leads. Let’s stick to the plan.” Jurn slid past Toby.
“Stop, it’s too dangerous!” Toby ran after his friend, but the boy moved quickly, and Toby could only train the light on his vanishing figure.
The space between wall and river narrowed again, and soon the boys splashed through ankle-deep water.
Toby caught up with Jurn. “Watch out for drop-offs, The cavern river back home has some nasty ones.”
They scampered around another turn. Toby stopped short. “Oh no, the tunnel’s almost closed up!” He shone the flashlight across the room.
Much of the ceiling had collapsed, and rocks almost blocked the water flow.
“Maybe these cut off the town’s supply.” Jurn ran to the pile of rocks. “How do we get out? It would take weeks to move all of this!”
More cries from behind them.
Toby shone his light on the dark liquid’s surface. Boulders held the water back to create a deep pool. “If this water was stagnant, algae would be floating on it. Besides, I can hear it flowing on the other side, so there has to be a way through.” Toby followed the faint tinkling and stopped. “It’s coming from this area.”
He shone the light towards the pool. A large log was jammed in a pile of stones, causing an open wedge. The water gushed through in joyous freedom.
“It’s big enough for us to fit through.” Jurn threw himself into the deep pool and began to swim for the log.
“I hate water.” Toby groaned. But there was no other way, so he pulled off his coat, threw it to the side, and plunged into the icy stream after his friend.
Now Jurn was the one to call back words of encouragement. “Come on, Toby, plenty of room here. You can make it.”
Toby’s flashlight made crazy patterns in the water as it swung from his teeth.
The shouts of the children died away, and Toby could only hope they thought the boys had taken the dry path.
“The water’s almost stopped here, Toby.” Jurn’s voice echoed back. “Hey, lights!
Faint voices called out, and Toby’s heart sank. Had Simper and the children circled around by a different tunnel to catch them?
Toby plunged under a particularly tight spot, and for one nasty instant his tail caught in the rocks. Water choked him while he screamed and thrashed wildly. I’m going to die. I’m never going to see the grambles or Mia again. With a mighty, painful jerk, he pulled it free. A moment of desperate paddling, and he pushed to the other side. The water splashed over a steep bank and trickled down to a small stream. He rounded the corner, ready for a fight.
Jurn leaned against a huge iron fence that covered the mouth of the tunnel from floor to ceiling.
The flashlight beam brightened with Mr. Malachi’s smile. “Hey, you made it. Wow. Did not notice those ears. And look at your tail. Incredible!”
“Mr. Malachi, what are you doing here?” Toby yelled above the clang of metal. Several elderly men banged on the fence with broken metal pipes and other makeshift tools.
Mr. Malachi wiped his forehead with a rag. “Some of the vibrant ones created a bit of a disturbance. It took me some time to break it up and get people calmed down. Afterwards, I went into the Palace and couldn’t find you two, so I figured you must have discovered a way to get down here. And how were you going to push through this big fence?” He peered into the darkness. “I’m sorry, son. Did you find another tunnel out?”
“No.” Jurn gestured behind them. “There’s a huge pile of rocks, and the river’s barely flowing. I don’t think we can go back, and even if we did, Simper’s after us.”
Toby gave the fence a shake. “It looks pretty stuck.”
“I know. We’re trying.” Mr. Malachi’s knuckles whitened around the handle of his crude hammer.
A rumbling sound came from behind the wall. “This place isn’t stable!” Toby shouted. “We really need to move out.”
Tiny bits of dust and gravel showered down on Jurn’s face. “Please hurry.” He pushed against the fence.
Toby banged his small body against the bars.
“We won’t leave you, Toby,” Mr. Malachi wedged a metal rod into a space. “I’ll get you out of here.”
“No, I will!” Marabella flew into the light of Mr. Malachi’s torches. She ran to the fence. “Everyone, move outta the way!” She pulled out the metal saw Jurn had been using to repair the roamer.
“You sneaky thief!” Jurn shrieked. “I wondered where that went! Give it to me!”
“No way!” Marabella’s fingers fumbled with the switch, then the blade was moving. She pressed it against the fence. A shower of sparks lit up the cave. One bar, then two… the saw bit into the metal like toast.
The men worked to push the bars out of the way. Stones continued to fall and bounc
e around them, but no one stopped until Toby and Jurn wiggled through to the other side. They all grabbed torches and the precious tools and ran.
Mr. Malachi led them through a short passage. A cookie-shaped patch of daylight grew bigger, until they all stumbled into the fresh air, blinking in the haze of the city streets.
The pastor counted heads. “Praise Jesus, we are all safe.” He grabbed Marabella in one of his giant hugs. “Thanks to you, young lady.”
Marabella stiffened and turned red. “Okay, yeah. Whatever.” She waited until the big man released his hold and stepped back a few feet.
Jurn gave her a hug of his own. “We’d probably be dead if not for you!”
“Well, I guess it was pretty great.” A smile spread across her face. “But I’m keeping this.” She held up her saw.
“I can’t believe we didn’t remember the saw. We could have skipped the whole trip through the palace,” Toby said.
“But then we wouldn’t know how the Vibrance was made,” Jurn reminded him.
“Besides, I had it.” Marabella said.
While Toby squeezed the water out of his tail, he told Mr. Malachi about Simper, the children, and the wild chase through the tunnels.
“Don’t you worry,” Mr. Malachi frowned. “Simper has more important things to deal with right now besides running after you. I just hope the children didn’t get hurt.”
“The river is choked by rocks, right past the fence where it bends.” Toby sat on a broken wall. “The ceiling has been crumbling in, a little at a time. The Palace could fall into the ground at any moment, and your water supply would disappear with it.”
Malachi rubbed his chin. “Bad news indeed, and no simple answers.” He picked up a bag of tools. “The area with the gate is over there, under those buildings. No one lives in that area, so I think we’re safe to get supper and discuss what to do next.”
9
HOPE
Emory poked at his peas with his spoon and tried to catch them before they rolled off his plate. He still wasn’t very hungry, but he needed to stay strong and keep fighting for Sonda. He would try each day, until every idea had been exhausted. But the mood at dinner had dribbled more worry into his heart. The tiniest bite stuck in his throat and expanded until it was impossible to force down.
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