The Broken Circle (The Book of Sight 2)

by Deborah Dunlevy

  “Was that a mountain lion?” said Alex quietly.

  No one answered. The bushes around the tunnel mouth were rustling. Dominic stepped closer to the girls and gripped his flashlight tighter, thinking of the sword Adam had hidden at home and wishing they had taken the time to go get it. He had no idea what he was going to do if a mountain lion came at them.

  Fortunately he didn’t have to find out. With one last crunch of branches, a small animal waddled out of the bushes. It had a rodent-like face and was covered in brown fur, but it was walking on what looked like four small pale hands, and if it had a tail, he couldn’t see it. It seemed harmless enough, no fangs, no claws. He relaxed just a bit. The thing walked straight toward them and stopped just a few feet away, sitting down and beginning to groom itself with its weird little hands.

  All four flashlights stayed trained on the animal for a few minutes, but as it continued to ignore them, Dominic began to relax. “I don’t think it’s going to hurt anything,” he said finally. “We should get going.”

  The others nodded, but the second they all turned to go, they heard that piercing shriek again behind them. Whipping around, they saw that the little animal was on its feet again, staring pointedly at them. There was no doubt that it was responsible for that noise, though it was hard to imagine how such a small thing made such a loud sound.

  This time when their lights landed on it, it sat up on its hind legs and waved its little hands a few times in the air. Then it turned and waddled off to the right a few steps, stopping and looking over its shoulder at them where they stood, staring. It sat up, waved its arms again, then took a few more steps.

  “I think it wants us to follow it,” said Alex slowly.

  “I am not following some strange animal off into the darkness,” Eve stated flatly.

  “I didn’t say we should,” said Alex. “I just think it wants us to.”

  The animal had turned back to them again. It cocked its head, then waved its hands again.

  “What IS it, anyway?” said Adam.

  “Who knows?” said Eve. “It’s creeping me out. We need to get out of here and find Logan.”

  “No one recognizes what kind of animal it is?”

  “Seriously, Adam, you think this is the time for…”

  “Maybe if we don’t know what it is it’s because most people can’t see it.”

  Dominic saw realization dawn on Eve’s face. She changed direction immediately. “Do you think it can talk? Do you think it knows something about Logan?” She began to walk toward the creature, holding her hand out.

  Alex pulled her back. “Careful. It’s a wild animal, no matter what it is, and we don’t know anything about it.”

  Eve raised her voice a bit. “Can you understand me?” she said to the animal. “Have you come here to tell us something?”

  The animal cocked its head again, but made no noise. It was rubbing its little hands together.

  “Can you talk?”

  More hand rubbing was the only answer.

  “I don’t know,” said Adam. “Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s just some kind of possum or something.”

  “That would be a weird looking possum,” said Alex.

  “Whatever it is, we don’t really have time to waste figuring it out,” said Dominic. “We need to move on.”

  At these words, the little animal began to frantically wave its arms again.

  “See that!” said Eve. “I think it understands us!”

  The animal turned and began to walk away again, looking over its shoulder at them the whole time.

  “I think Alex is right. It wants us to follow it.”

  “There’s no time to argue,” said Dominic again. “Let’s just vote. Which way to do we go?”

  “Follow the map,” said Adam.

  “Follow the animal,” Eve said at the same time.

  They glared at each other.

  “Alex?”

  “I have to say map.” She looked pleadingly at Eve. “That animal is just…not right.”

  “Okay, I agree,” Dominic said. “Adam, you lead the way.”

  Eve still stood, looking at the little animal with her jaw clenched and her foot tapping.

  Finally Alex reached out a hand again. “Eve…”

  “I know!” Eve snapped. She turned and said softer, “I know. Forget it. Logan got himself…got all of us…into this by not talking to us, not listening to us, not trusting us. I’m not going to make the same mistake.” She swung her light over to trace along the ridge of rocks at their feet. “Let’s go.”

  Alex looked like she wanted to say something else, but she seemed to change her mind. Silently, they all began to walk. This time when the animal screamed behind them, Eve flinched, but they all kept moving.

  They had just reached the nearest clump of trees when Dominic heard a slight rustle behind him and then felt a terrible pain in his right leg. He yelled and twisted around. Something was clinging to the back of his calf with small sharp teeth. Swinging back with his flashlight, he made contact and felt it release his leg. Dominic grabbed his leg, falling over, chaos all around him. He could hear the others yelling and something snarling and yelping and a flurry of movement. The lights were whirling in every direction, making it impossible to see anything.

  Not that Dominic could have done anything anyway. His leg felt like it was on fire. Doubled over with the pain, all he could do was hold on.

  There was a final thud and a loud cry, and then Alex was kneeling at his side, carefully shining her light to the side, so it didn’t blind him. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  “My leg,” he managed through clenched teeth.

  Her light moved down to where he was clutching his calf. To her credit, she didn’t freak out, and she didn’t try to touch it. “Okay. We’re going to take care of it.” She even managed to keep her voice steady, mostly.

  He heard more rustling on his other side and cracked one eye open to see Eve digging through someone’s bag. Bandages, he thought, and some sort of pain killer. They would have thought to bring them. Girls were so smart.

  Another loud crunch and Adam was standing over them. “It’s gone. I pegged it pretty hard with my flashlight and it flew a few feet. I saw where it landed, but it ran off. I doubt it will be back anytime soon. I think I felt some bones break there.”

  “I can’t believe I thought that thing was harmless. Dom, move your hand. I have to clean this.” Eve’s voice was shaking, but her hand was steady as she poured something onto the bite.

  Dominic braced himself for the burn, but it must have just been water because the only shock was the cold, which actually felt good. In fact, it felt surprisingly good. The burning subsided to a dull ache.

  Alex and Eve were whispering as they examined his leg.

  “I don’t know. I don’t have anything but water to wash it with. Animal bites are serious. It needs to be disinfected. What if it had…”

  “You think we need to get him back?”

  “I don’t know. Probably. It’s not bleeding too much, but we don’t know anything about that animal. Its teeth could be poison for all we know.”

  “I don’t need to go back,” Dominic said. “Just pour on some more water. It really helped.”

  “Dom, water isn’t going to…”

  “Eve, just pour the water.” Dominic felt better, but he still snarled just a little.

  She poured on some more water. Again, the pain receded.

  “Now wrap it up, and I’ll be fine.”

  “Dom…it’s pretty deep. We don’t know about infection. We don’t know if that thing had…” Eve’s face was a study of misery.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s obvious it wasn’t a normal animal. First it tries to lead us away and then it attacks us? Seems like it really doesn’t want us on this path. So we stay on the path. That water really helped. If you wrap my leg up, I’ll walk fine.”

  “But it’s just water,” Eve started.

  To Do
minic’s surprise, it was Alex who cut her off. “Let’s just wrap it up.” At Eve’s look, she said, ‘We can talk more as we’re working. It needs a bandage no matter what.”

  While Eve got to work with the bandage, Alex studied Dominic’s face. He tried to keep it blank, even when Eve pulled the bandage tight and pain flared up his leg.

  “You know we’re in the middle of nowhere. This is no time to be stupid,” Alex said quietly. “You probably need a doctor.”

  “Logan…”

  She held up a hand. “We don’t have to all go back. Someone can take you down the mountain while the other two keep looking for Logan.”

  “No! We’re not splitting up.” Now that the bandage was in place, the pain was all but gone. He was sure he could walk, maybe not fast, but he could walk.

  No one spoke for a minute. Then, “You promise to tell us honestly if it starts to get painful?”

  Dominic smiled. “I promise.”

  “Alex,” Eve protested. “I still think…”

  “It’s his choice,” said Adam, as Alex put two ibuprofen in Dominic’s hand.

  Eve looked upset as Dominic downed the pills and stood up. “I know what you’re saying, Eve. I know you are trying to be smart about this. Normally you would be right. But this isn’t normally, none of it is.” She opened her mouth, but he grabbed her hand before she could say anything. “You know we have to stick together. We can’t do this if we aren’t together.”

  At that, she crumpled, and tears started down her face. Dominic dropped her hand as Alex moved in to hug her. After a long minute, Alex straightened up, handed Eve her pack. “Come on,” she said. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can take this idiot to a doctor.”

  Eve gave a shaky laugh and hooked arms with Alex, and the two girls led the way into the trees.

  Girls, Dominic thought again, were so weird.

  15

  The Way Up

  There is no way. Adam stared up at the steep rock stairs as his heart sank. They were all tired. This would have been a killer no matter what, but with Dominic’s leg as it was, it was impossible. The stairs were rough and uneven and they led straight up forever, as far as Adam’s light could reach and beyond. Way beyond, Adam figured.

  They were standing at the bottom of a cliff so tall that Adam couldn’t even see the top in the darkness. Following the ridge of rock, they had stepped out of the trees and there it was, towering up in front of them. Huge. Impassable. The ridge led straight on, though, and as they got closer they saw the narrow opening, just wide enough for one person to climb up through the sliver in the solid rock. A few feet from the stairs, the stone ridge disappeared under ground again.

  The girls had been leading the way, and Adam had seen them arrive at the cliff face, shine their lights up, and immediately sit down next to each other. Resting up for the climb, he had thought, but only for the minute it took him to reach the bottom of the stairs himself. Now, as he played his light up, he knew better. They were never going to make this climb. Not all of them, anyway.

  “Guess we should sit down and have something to eat before we get started on that,” said Dominic quietly at his side. Adam hadn’t noticed him come up, but now he turned to him and raised his eyebrows. Dominic had to see that this wouldn’t work.

  “I could use some water,” Dominic said, turning away. He walked a few feet away to where a rock stuck out of the grass, not limping but still obviously being careful of his leg, and sat down. He had found a big stick along the way which he was using as a walking stick, and now he leaned it against the rock next to him.

  Adam turned to the girls. They were both watching Dominic with looks of worry on their faces. Eve’s eyes darted to the stairs, and she opened her mouth to say something, then snapped it shut again when Alex laid a hand on her arm.

  Adam thought of all the things he could say, should say. The thought of it made him tired, so he sat down on the ground next to the girls and reached into his own backpack. He didn’t really want anything, though, so his hand just sort of rested there as he stared listlessly at his feet stretched out in front of him.

  Alex stood up and went over to where Dominic was sitting. Whatever she said was so quiet that Adam couldn’t hear it. Dominic answered just as quietly. Alex sat back and sighed. Then she began to unwrap the bandage on Dominic’s leg. She took the bottle from his hand poured water on the wound. Dominic’s groan of relief was loud enough to reach Adam and Eve. Alex was already wrapping up the bite again. She said something else, and Dominic laughed and shook his head. Alex helped him stand up, and they both walked back to the others. It was clear that Dominic was about to insist on going on. Adam tried to summon the energy for a fight.

  “He says it doesn’t hurt that bad,” said Alex.

  “Now that it’s had some water, it doesn’t hurt at all,” Dominic said.

  “Dominic, look at those stairs,” protested Eve. “There’s no way. There’s like a thousand of them. I don’t even know if I can make it.”

  “I doubt I can carry you,” Dominic joked.

  “Ha,” said Eve with no humor.

  “I can do this,” said Dominic quietly. “I promised I would tell you if it started to hurt too bad.”

  Eve just shook her head. Adam looked a silent question at Alex.

  She raised one shoulder. “He promised,” she said.

  Apparently that settled it. Just as well, Adam thought. He wasn’t sure if he could have made it up there himself if they had to split up. As it was… He stood up before he could think about it any more.

  They started climbing.

  About forty steps in, Adam was panting, his heart pounding. Focusing on breathing, just breathing, he kept on.

  Sixty steps. Sixty-five. The pain in his legs began, a dull ache at first, but it quickly grew to a burning sensation that matched the feeling in his chest.

  He had gone first up the steps, but Dominic was close behind him. Adam could hear Dominic’s labored breathing but no complaints. Dominic’s leg must have been killing him, so if he was keeping on, Adam wasn’t about to stop. He kept moving, determinedly lifting on leg at a time and pulling himself up.

  At 100, he stopped counting the steps. Better not to know. Plus it took all his concentration to ignore the screaming in his body and just keep moving. So he had no idea what step they were on when Alex finally asked for a break. The words were no sooner out of her mouth than he slumped down on the step in front of him, his relief to be sitting almost outweighing his relief at not having been the first to give in.

  The others threw themselves down where they were, and for a long time, the sound of gasping and panting was all that could be heard. After a few minutes, the tightness in Adam’s chest and the pain in his calves had faded enough to allow his brain to work again. The sharp stabbing in his side seemed like it was there to stay, but he tried to ignore it.

  He shined his light up the steps, reaching as far as he could, but there was still no sign of the top. Ignoring the despair that came with that discovery, he turned his flashlight the other direction. He couldn’t see much past the girls, so he pulled himself higher and flashed the light over their heads. It was impossible to see the bottom.

  That’s good, he told himself as he slumped back onto the step. That means we’ve come a long way. Maybe we’re halfway there. For some reason, instead of making him feel better, that thought made him shiver. The moonlight didn’t penetrate this impossible crack in the earth. It was so dark. Their flashlights were so feeble. And his side hurt so much.

  He slid himself down two stairs to where Dominic was sitting, leaning against the stone wall with his eyes closed. He was still breathing heavily, but Adam suspected his leg was the real problem. The girls scooted themselves up a couple of stairs until they were on the step just below. Being closer together felt good.

  Alex was leaning in to examine the bandage on Dominic’s leg. A soft ugh escaped her, and she pulled back. She was glaring at Dominic.

/>   “Blood is soaking through the bandage.”

  Dominic’s eyes popped open. “Really?” He turned his own light downward and craned his neck to see the back of his leg. “Oh, come on, Alex, it’s just one little spot. I think it was like that before.”

  “No,” she said. “It wasn’t.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “It feels fine.” They all looked at him. “I mean, it doesn’t feel fine. It hurts a little. But compared to the feeling in my lungs, it’s nothing.”

  “Straining it like this can’t be good for it,” said Eve.

  “Obviously,” said Alex. “It’s making it bleed more.”

  A depressed silence followed. Adam was positive now that none of them could make it up these stairs if they weren’t together. Just the thought of trying made him feel panicky. But how were you supposed to climb stairs with a wounded leg?

  Adam thought of his grandpa after a stroke had wiped out half of his body. He had spent weeks just sitting in a chair, unable to do anything, and then he had had enough. For a week or two, he had practiced dragging his useless leg around the living room. Then he had tackled the stairs. His woodshop was in the basement, and he wanted to get back to doing something useful. All the grown ups had gone on and on about how dangerous it was, how unnecessary, what a stubborn old man he was. But Adam had always admired that. He had watched as his grandfather clung to the rail and took each stair as a separate obstacle. Down and then back up again, taking each step with his good leg and slowly lifting his bad leg up to join it.

  “What if he doesn’t strain it any more?” said Adam.

  “I’m not going back,” said Dominic at once.

  “I didn’t say that. Just only step up on your good leg, so it’s taking all the weight all the time.” Adam told them about his grandpa.

  “It will be really slow that way,” said Dominic.

  “Honestly, I don’t think any of us are feeling up to climbing very fast,” Adam said.

  “But Logan…”

  “…won’t be helped if we end up having to carry you,” snapped Eve.