by Wesley King
“You said something earlier,” Carlos said, tying the last vines. “You said you hoped we were more than the blood of our fathers. Why?”
Eric shrugged. “My father left a few years ago. I haven’t seen him since.”
“He left your family? Why would he do that?”
“To start a new one,” Eric said, sounding bitter. “A family he liked more, I guess.”
Carlos finished with the vines and sat back on his haunches. “I am sorry.”
“Its fine,” Eric said, gingerly pulling his shoe on. “He’s a jerk.”
Carlos stared at him for a moment. “I . . . we are supposed to be like our fathers.”
“No thanks,” Eric said. “I don’t want to be anything like that guy. How is your dad?”
Carlos looked away. “He died.”
“Sorry.”
“He . . . he was a great man. Everyone says it. I have always tried to be like him.”
Eric tested his ankle, wincing. “And how’s that going for you?”
“It’s not always easy,” Carlos admitted. “I feel like I am failing him more than not.”
“You know why?” Eric said.
Carlos turned to him, frowning. “Why?”
“Because you’re not him,” Eric said simply. “I spent a long time trying to be more like my dad, and it didn’t work. It doesn’t work, I think. I would just worry about being yourself.”
He tried to stand, and Carlos helped him up. Soon they were standing eye to eye.
“It’s not that easy,” Carlos said. “People expect me to be like him.”
Eric took a few careful steps. “People expect lots of things. I gave up on that a while ago.” He turned back and grinned. “This stuff works pretty well. It feels like a brace.”
“Good,” Carlos said, thinking about Eric’s words. No one spoke like that in the Realm. “Come on. Keep your light on . . . I will listen for any Worms. We don’t need you falling again.”
Eric nodded, and the two of them set off down the tunnel once more.
“I fear your friends may have gone to the Forbidden Lake,” Carlos said.
“That sounds bad,” Eric said weakly. “Why is it forbidden?”
Carlos paused. “There are things living in there. Big things.”
Fourteen Hours After
* * *
SILVIA WATCHED WITH A MIXTURE of horror and fascination as the monstrous creature glided beneath them. It was at least twenty feet long and shaped like a whale, though it was also glowing brightly enough to illuminate the silhouette of her legs, and its tail floated out behind it like two dangling ribbons.
The creature swept right past their raft and then started to turn, as if preparing to circle back for them. It looked large enough to swallow them all in a single, gaping bite.
“What . . . what is that?” Ashley said, her voice cracking and weak.
“Swim!” Tom shouted.
Silvia started to kick furiously, taking one hand off the raft to paddle with that as well. She had never been a great swimmer, but now she pushed with everything she had. Ashley and Tom did the same, until the spray was kicking up over their heads and dripping down her face.
More and more screams filled the chamber as the rest of the class spotted the huge, luminescent sea creature, and Silvia heard frantic splashing and kicking as they started to panic.
“Just keep s-swimming!” she said loudly.
The creature continued to glide around them. The nightmarish race through the lake felt like hours, and she began to wonder if she had just imagined the shore on the other side. What if the lake stretched on for miles? What if they didn’t make it?
Finally, when her arms and legs were burning with exhaustion, her foot kicked solid ground. She grabbed her bag and raced up the shore, Tom and Ashley close behind. Ashley flung herself onto the ground, crying, but Silvia quickly climbed onto a rock and perched there like a seagull, shining her flashlight back out over the lake for the others.
Nine terrified faces stared back at her, swimming and thrashing wildly. But that was all she could see. The water was dark again—the creature must have descended back into the deep.
“It’s okay,” she said, looking around the lake with her light. “It’s gone.”
Silvia considered the creature now that the panic had subsided. Truthfully, it had been incredibly beautiful. A shark species like the basking shark was more likely to thrive down here in the dark. She wondered if they would ever have the chance to tell anyone about the new species.
“The Spirit Shark,” she whispered. She liked the sound of it.
Soon the class was ashore again, and they huddled together, shivering. Some began to wring out clothes or empty shoes, while others just stood there quietly. Silvia joined them.
“Let’s take a break,” she said. “Dry out and stuff. Jordan, how about some food?”
Jordan paused. “Yeah, we can have some snacks.”
The class gathered around in a broken circle, taking off their shoes and letting the water splash out onto the rocks. Jordan began passing out morsels of food: granola bars and pieces of banana. Everyone dug into them hungrily. Silvia hadn’t even realized how hungry she was.
“This is the best banana of my life,” Naj said, savoring each bite.
Greg laughed. “I don’t even like granola bars, but this is pretty good.”
“I want pizza,” Tom said longingly. “From Rico’s.”
“Why would you say that?” Ashley moaned. “That’s all I can think about now.”
“I am going to eat so much when we get home,” Mary said. “Just TV and food. It’s going to be amazing.”
“I hope that’s soon,” Marta said. “I am so sick of this place.”
Jordan was sitting cross-legged with his map. “You have to admit . . . it’s kind of cool.”
“Cool?” Derek asked incredulously.
“We’re exploring a new world,” Jordan said. “You don’t get to do that often.”
“I’ll just stick to World of Warcraft, thanks,” Naj said.
Shannon finished her piece of granola bar and sighed. “You know . . . I was worried about exams next week. Like . . . stressing about them. They seemed like the most important things ever.”
“Well, they are forty percent of your grade,” Jordan pointed out.
Shannon rolled her eyes. “The point is, they don’t seem very important anymore.”
“Think they’ll be cancelled?” Mary asked hopefully.
“We don’t know where our teacher is,” Silvia said. “I think that’s a bit of an issue.” Silence fell over the class again, and Silvia felt a bit guilty. “But it’s Mr. Baker we’re talking about,” she said. “Knowing him, he’s probably skipping along taking plant samples on the other side of the caverns.”
Everyone laughed.
“Definitely,” Tom said. “He is loving this. And then he can tell everybody about it when we get out. No one is going to believe us.”
“I’m not sure I do either,” Silvia said, pushing back her sopping wet hair.
“Think we might be famous after this?” he asked.
Jordan snorted. “Either famous or dead.”
Tom laughed. “Well, they seem to go hand in hand sometimes.” He forlornly put his shoes back on, grimacing at the cold and wiping his runny nose. “No more swimming?”
“Agreed,” Silvia said. “You think we should get moving or should we take a—”
She stopped when she saw the look on Tom’s face.
Silvia slowly turned around. “What . . . ?” she whispered
Torches had suddenly flared to life behind them, illuminating a line of filthy men and women—ten in all. They were lean and muscular; the men had scraggly black beards and big eyes, while the women had long, knotted hair that spilled down past their waists and over clothes made of fur. There was only one with short hair, and she stood at the front—a teenager, with the darkest eyes Silvia had ever seen and a jagged knife in her hand.<
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The knife was held to Brian’s throat, while her free arm was wrapped around his chest.
The girl looked at them, her eyes flashing in the lights.
“Do not move, surface demons, or this one will die.”
Fourteen and a Half Hours After
* * *
THE TWO BOYS MOVED AS quickly as possible through the maze of tunnels. Eric’s ankle was still throbbing, but the wrap Carlos made allowed him to put weight on it without rolling it again. Carlos was clearly impatient to go faster. He kept hurrying ahead, glancing back, and returning.
“You can leave me behind, you know,” Eric said.
Carlos shook his head. “No. It is too dangerous. The Worms could find you too.”
“I don’t understand,” Eric said, slowly picking his way around a crevice. “Why don’t you guys just invite these Worms to live with you again and end this whole war? It sounds like Jana is angry your people sent her family away and had her father and brother killed for breaking laws because they were sent away . . . not to mention you call them Worms. That’s a bit insulting.”
Carlos snorted. “The Worms have become their own people. Dirty and violent and cruel. You cannot just . . . invite them back. They do not belong there.”
“Well . . . it sounds like you did some bad stuff too. No offence.”
Carlos glanced at him, scowling. “We are the King’s People.”
“Maybe you should tell your King to lighten up.”
Eric instantly regretted his words. He tensed, wondering if Carlos would turn on him to defend his King’s honor. The cave-dwelling boy was taller, more muscular, and carrying his knife and long, deadly sword again. Eric would have no chance if he attacked.
Instead, Carlos just laughed. “Yes,” he said, “maybe I should.” He turned ahead and kept walking. “But you must understand, these matters are from our fathers.”
Eric shined his light over a patch of yellowish moss growing out of a deep crack. He wondered if they were getting near a forest again. They were definitely heading downward.
“I keep hearing a lot about your father and his father and so on. Who cares what they did?”
“They are our ancestors . . . ,” Carlos said, looking at him in surprise.
“And my ancestors lived in caves and—” Eric stopped, horrified. “Sorry.”
Carlos frowned. “Your ancestors lived in caves?”
“Sort of. Our ancestors, by the way. When you get down to it, you and I have the same ones. The point is, we don’t have to listen to our dads.”
Carlos stopped and met Eric’s eyes. “You don’t understand. It is the Law.”
“And who made the Law?”
Carlos paused. “Juarez Santi. The first—”
“King,” Eric finished. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
This time he had gone too far. Carlos stiffened and pointed a finger hard against his chest.
“You don’t know the Midnight Realm,” he said quietly.
Eric recoiled a little, flushing. “No . . . I don’t. I just—”
“You don’t know us,” Carlos cut in. “You come from the surface. How could you?”
Eric didn’t know what to say. He turned away from the boy’s intense gaze, and Carlos dropped his finger and started down the tunnel again, his hand resting on his knife. Eric hurried to catch up, wincing as he did, and made a mental note not to talk about the King anymore. They walked in silence for a while, and then Carlos abruptly stopped.
They had come to a sharp ledge that dropped about twenty feet. It was pockmarked with cracks and crevices for handholds. Still, it was a long fall if they slipped.
Eric stared at the drop hesitantly. He wasn’t a big fan of heights.
“We need to descend here,” Carlos said, his tone still a bit chilly. “Can you make it?”
“Yeah,” Eric said reluctantly. “Sure.”
Carlos started down the ledge, gripping the cracks with his hands and using his feet to carefully pick out the way below him. He moved easily, never slowing. Eric grimaced, put the cell phone in his teeth for light, and started down the ledge after him. Sam would not be afraid.
The ledge was steeper than it had looked at first, and Eric was careful to grab firm handholds as he went, since his left ankle was sore. He was moving very slowly.
Carlos reached the bottom and looked up.
“Come on,” he called. “You’re almost there.”
“Easy for you to say,” Eric muttered.
He grabbed onto a jutting rock, balancing his right foot and taking a cautious step down, always feeling with his toes. He hated climbing. Eric took another short step, finding a crevice for his right hand. He grabbed onto it and gingerly felt for another hold with his shoe. He had just settled on a half-decent spot when he felt something big moving on his hand.
Eric turned, pointing the cell phone in his teeth, and the light fell on a huge black scorpion sitting on his right hand, watching him. Its tail was curled up over its body, the venomous, glistening stinger poised to strike. Eric shouted and instinctively yanked his right hand away, flinging the scorpion, and he felt his left hand slip from its perilous handhold.
Then he was falling, and he felt the ground slam into his spine.
Fifteen Hours After
* * *
SILVIA STARED AT THE STRANGE, dark-eyed girl, wondering where she had come from. The fur-clad men and women adjusted their crude weapons, looking uneasy. Brian just stood there, trembling and white-faced.
“Speak, demons,” the girl snapped.
Her blade was dangerously close to Brian’s throat. Silvia saw tears stream down his face, and the girl pulled him in, gripping the stone knife tightly.
“Let him go!” Silvia said, stepping forward. Her knees were shaking.
“Are you the leader, demon?” the girl asked sharply.
Silva took another tentative step forward. “I guess. And I go by Silvia, thank you.”
The girl seemed to consider that. “Fine. Why have you come here?” She gestured to Brian again. “This one can barely speak, he quivers so much. He is a like a fish on the line.”
Silvia watched as the other people behind her shifted again. They almost looked . . . afraid.
“Do you . . . live down here?” Silvia asked, meeting the girl’s coal-black eyes.
“Of course, demon,” she spat. “And you are from the surface. We know this.”
“What is your name?”
“Lower your weapon,” the girl said, pulling the knife tighter against Brian’s throat.
Silvia realized she was talking about her flashlight. They were scared of the flashlights.
“It’s not—” Jordan started behind her.
“Quiet,” Silvia said sharply. “We’ll lower our weapons, but we want our friend back.”
She lowered her flashlight a little, and the girl eased the knife on Brian’s throat.
“Now,” Silvia said, taking another step forward, “what is your name?”
The girl stared at her, as if weighing her options. “My name is Jana. Why are you here?”
“Jana,” Silvia said slowly. “Okay. We were touring the caverns with our teacher, and the floor gave out in the earthquake. We’re just trying to get out again. If you can just let him go and show us—”
“You lie,” Jana said. “If I let him go you will turn your weapons on us. You will destroy the Mother and bring death to us all.”
Silvia exchanged a look with Tom beside her, frowning. “We don’t even know you.”
“But we know you,” Jana snarled. “Have you seen anyone else down here?”
“Like who?”
“Men . . . women . . . a boy,” she said. “Have you seen any of them?”
“No,” Silvia said. “You’re the first ones.”
She saw the cave-dwelling men and women muttering among themselves behind Jana, their dark eyes fixated nervously on the flashlights. They seemed ready to run at the first hint of a threat. Ja
na glanced at her people, and then turned back to the class, pulling the black stone knife flush against Brian’s throat again. He whimpered and lifted his chin away from the blade.
“They are a deadly people,” Jana said softly. “They look like us, but they are beasts. They are armed. Do not let them get close to you. If you see them, turn your weapons on them immediately, or you will surely die.”
Silvia heard the rest of the class whispering now, and their lights flicked around the dark.
“What about Brian?” Silvia said. “We want him back.”
Jana hesitated, her eyes darting between Silvia and Brian like a cornered tiger.
She needs a little incentive, Silvia thought. She wracked her brain.
“How about a trade?” she said. “You know, in good faith.”
Jana looked up at her. “A trade for what?”
Silvia tried to think. She couldn’t give up a flashlight or they would figure out they weren’t weapons. If they realized that, they might decide to attack and take them all prisoner. She needed something else . . . something they still might find interesting. The knife.
Silvia took off her bag and dug into her front pocket, pulling out the Swiss Army knife.
“This is a special tool,” she said, opening it up. “A knife, scissors, screwdriver . . .”
Jana narrowed her eyes. “What would such a small knife do? I have better ones.”
Silvia paused, taking a chance. “My father gave the knife to me. It means a lot to me.”
That wasn’t entirely true, since it was technically still his knife, but it was worth a try.
“It’s a . . . family heirloom?” Jana asked slowly.
“Exactly. Yes.”
Jana thought about that for a moment, and then nodded. “Bring it here.”
Silvia walked forward, extending the knife with one hand. She held the flashlight in the other, ready to shine it at them and make a break for it. It wouldn’t take long for these people to realize they were completely harmless. She reached Jana, eyeing the girl now that they were closer.
