He fights and kicks, but his movements are growing sluggish.
“You’re killing him!” I can’t use my sword without risking Tootles. “Leave him alone!” I pull and pull.
Tootles rolls onto his side, momentarily jarring the shadow. It moves from his face and wraps around his neck. Tootles takes in a deep breath, his face red, and reaches toward me, key in hand.
I stretch for it, jamming my shoulder against the bars as I try to grab the key from him. I have to get out of here and help him. Ihaveto.
He uses his other hand to claw at the shadow around his throat as his face turns purple.
My fingers graze the key. I almost have it.
Tootles kicks weakly, his eyes rolling back in his head.
“Stop!” I scream. “Please!”
The candle sputters and dies. Darkness falls so completely it seems endless.
I can’t feel Tootles anymore, not his hand or the edge of the key, even though I reach as far as I can toward him. But I hear a faint gurgling sound as he tries to get air.
Then the tunnel goes silent.
“Tootles?” I keep straining toward him. “Tootles?”
The silence is deafening as tears well in my eyes.
The shadow is still there. I can’t see it, but I canfeelit looking at me. Something brushes against my hand, the touch of ice-cold fingers.
I pull back as if burned. “Tootles?” My voice is a whisper as I grip the bars and try to peer through the deep black of the cave. “Tootles, please say something.”
He doesn’t. There’s no sound, only my breathing and the faint drip of my tears on the hard floor. I drop my sword, the sound ricocheting down the cavern as a sob catches in my throat. This can’t be happening. I can’t be caged while Tootles lies dead only a few feet away.
No. This isn’t real. It can’t be. I tell myself this as I rock back and forth. I don’t see the cinderblock wall. I see nothing. I see death in hues of impenetrable black. A curtain of it all around me. Holding my head in my hands, another sob escapes though I try to hold it in. The cave walls mock me as it echoes back.
I scream when something brushes against my face, but when I try to pull back, I realize someone’s reached through the bars and grabbed my hair. I’m yanked forward, my face pressed to the metal as I yelp.
“I’m so glad you’re home.” Peter’s voice wraps around me even more tightly than his shadow, and all I can do is scream and scream and scream into the endless dark.
Chapter
Two
“Ileft the neverberries out this time.” Slightly slides a plate of pancakes in front of me. “Want some syrup?”
“Please.” I inhale deeply. “These look amazing.”
“Eat up. Now that you can see the food, I’m going to really start showing off what I can do.” He winks and returns to the stove.
I take a bite, chewing the springy pancake. They’re sweet, the syrup still warm as it hits my tongue.
“Did you sleep well?” Peter pours me a glass of some sort of juice.
“I did.” I offer him a bite of my pancakes and don’t mention my headache. It’s not like he can do anything about it, and I don’t want to seem whiny. He hates it when I whine. “Want some?”
He smiles, that boyish charm rolling off him in waves. “Sure.” He opens his mouth for me, and I slide the pancake in. He takes it and chews, his brown eyes on mine. “Delicious.”
I can’t stop the blush that creeps into my cheeks.
Nibs clears his throat. “We’ve made all the changes you asked for, Peter. I’d be happy to take you around to do an inspection later.” He grabs a pancake-filled plate from Slightly.
