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She almost told him again what she’d heard when she’d been buried here, admitted that she’d heard it ever since, along with the uneasy feeling that the sorcerer Teo didn’t believe in was not only real but also still very much alive.
Then he grasped the rope and scooted upward with easy, coordinated movements of hands and legs and feet. She watched him all the way, ignoring the sudden increase in the chill of the air now that she was alone.
“Okay.” Teo stared at her from above, hair hanging around his face, the moon bright at his back. He wiggled the rope. “Tie the end around your waist. Walk up the wall. I’ll pull from here. Piece of cake.”
It wasn’t, but she made it, Teo hauling her in as soon as she crept close enough to haul. As his arms came around her she realized that though she’d been scared of what was down there, what she might see, what she might find, she hadn’t worried once about being trapped. Because from the instant she’d fallen in she’d known that he would get her out.
Teo released her, frowning into the cavern.
“What?” She spun, afraid she’d see more black smoke shooting out.
Teo snatched her elbow, drawing her back from the edge. “We left the lantern.”
The hole in the earth seemed to glow, golden flickers dancing around the opening like a flame.
“Probably better we did,” Teo continued. “Don’t want anyone to fall in accidentally as they run around like chickens with their heads chopped off.”
“What is it with the chickens?” Gina murmured.
The moon shone brightly, the storm that had caused this mess no longer rumbling even in the distance. The scene that spread out before them was illuminated in shades of silver—the sky gray, the mountains charcoal, the swaying grasses white. Everything that moved across the moonscape appeared etched in black.
“What happened?” she shouted.
No one bothered to answer. No one even bothered to glance her way.
The screams had stopped. Gina wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Did it mean the horror was over? Or that it was just over for whoever had been screaming.
She cast Teo a worried glance, then hurried toward the nearest outline that resembled a person.
“Hey,” Gina murmured as she approached.
The outline threw up its arms and shouted, “Fuck!”
Melda. Gina should have been able to tell by the short, squat, Mrs. Claus–shaped shadow even before the woman turned, revealing the shimmering tracks of her tears.
“Where’s Mel?” Gina asked.
“Gone,” Melda whispered. “Whoosh.”
Gina wanted to shout, Fuck! herself, but she figured that would be redundant.
Teo appeared at her side. “You heard?” she asked, and he nodded.
His gaze, gray-green in the moonlight, scanned the area. “Did you see anything, Melda?”
“The darkness took him,” she said; then she sat, right down in the dirt as if her legs could no longer hold her.
“The darkness is really starting to piss me off,” Gina muttered, and moved to the next outline.
“Derek,” she said as soon as she recognized the kid, hoping that if she used his name, she wouldn’t scare the shit out of him as she had Melda.
No such luck. He wheeled toward her, fists raised. Gina started to bring her own fists up, but before she even got them waist high Teo had inserted himself between them. “Whoa, buddy,” he murmured, his scratchy voice strangely soothing, perhaps because it was so recognizable.
The boy’s hunched shoulders relaxed, though he didn’t lower his fists until Teo set a hand on them and pushed them down.
“Where’s your dad?” Teo asked.
Gina’s own shoulders hunched as she waited for the inevitable gone. Instead, Derek pointed to two figures standing far enough out on the plain that they appeared small.
