And if the coffin really led to the blade somehow, then this was Sky's last chance to find it, no matter the risks. "Sky, what's going on?" T-Bone asked.
"It's nothing," said Sky, shoving the crumpled note in his pocket. "You guys wait here."
Hands scoffed. "Yeah. Right."
Sky filled his pockets with canisters from his backpack and the duffel bag. ''I'm serious," Sky insisted, shoving the package into a pocket inside the coat to open on the way. "They need help here. I'm just going out for a bit. Nothing dangerous."
"The fact that you feel the need to assure us that nothing's dangerous means that something is dangerous," Andrew observed.
Mom glanced up at Sky, narrowing her eyes.
"It's fine! Really. I'll be back in an hour, two hours tops, well before dark."
Beau shook his head. "I don't know what's going on here, but someone had better explain it to me." Cassandra moaned.
Beau glanced over at her, and Sky slipped out while every- one was distracted.
"Sky!" Mom called after him. "Be back soon!"
The front door opened just as Sky reached it and Dad walked through. "Sky! Just the son I've been looking for! You look horrible. Did you burn down the bowling alley?"
"I didn't burn down the bowling alley!" Sky exclaimed, slipping past Dad and out the door.
"Oh. That's good," said Dad. "Where are you going?"
Sky ran down the porch steps. "Out! Mom's waiting for you in the kitchen!"
"She is?" Dad asked, looking confused.
"Oh, and Dad-Morton's hunters are about to abandon Exile to Bedlam's army," Sky said, pausing.
"What?" Dad exclaimed. "How do you know that?"
"Call it a hunch," Sky replied. "Also, in an hour or two Morton's going to try to break into our house to free the Arkhon, who's really Solomon Rose, his former apprentice."
"I know who Solomon Rose is," Dad said, sounding far less surprised than Sky would have expected. "We'll be ready for him."
"I-" Sky started, choking up, not sure what he intended to say, but feeling the need to say something. ''I'll be back in a little while. Good-bye."
"Good-bye? Sky! Sky! Where are you going?" Dad yelled after him.
But Sky kept running.
Chapter 22: Erfskin Biscuits
Sky slowed as he approached Crenshaw’s family crypt on the edge of the Sleeping Lands. ARGRAVE IS YOUR GRAVE the plaque read. But he hadn’t slowed because of the plaque. Unlike last night when he had passed this place, the giant stone door was now open.
He was in a hurry- he needed to get to the Grove of the Fallen- but he also knew that Nackles and Rauschtlot were hiding in the Sleeping Lands and that they preferred dry places to wet places, and this area was about as dry as it got in the Sleeping Lands. He didn't know exactly what Morton had planned, but he felt fairly sure that this "matter of grave importance" involved burying him. "With Hunter's Mark the buried dead shall shimmering blade hold in my stead." Sky was the only one besides Errand, wherever he was, who had a Hunter's Mark, and thus the only one besides Errand who could truly solve the riddle. The question was: Once Morton buried him, would he dig him up again?
Morton's message was vague. He'd told Sky to pack, which implied that he intended to take Sky to the Academy of Legend and subject him to further humiliation. But Morton had also told him to say good-bye to his family and friends. That could imply that Morton meant to kill him. Either way, Sky could use an ally, and a Gnomon who could burrow through the earth seemed like the perfect choice.
Sky crept into the Argraves' family tomb. Inside, he found a room that might once have looked stately and impressive but now was old and moth-ridden. Stained paintings hung askew on the walls, and the fixtures were tarnished, the stones cracked and moldy.
In the center of the room he saw a giant stone coffin a sarcophagus-the top of which had been carved into the shape of a grumpy man who appeared very much put out by his death.
"Well, I can see where Crenshaw got his looks," Sky muttered.
He crouched down, put his hand on the stone floor, and tuned his Hunter's Mark to Earthspeak. Rauschtlot's voice came through as a faint whisper, too quiet to make out, but nearby. Beyond that, Sky felt the earth rumbling strangely to the southeast near Arkhon Academy, like thousands of feet stomping on bleachers to "We Will Rock You."
With a pang of guilt, Sky realized that the homecoming game had begun. Of course, even if he could have kept his promise to Mr. Dibble and attended, he didn't have an instrument to play; Nikola had stolen his tuba.
Sky started to pull his hand away, but then he noticed one more vibration coming from deep, deep below. At that moment, he realized how Bedlam's army was coming to Exile without anyone noticing: They were coming from under the earth.
Sky shivered. The tremor felt as if it was still far away, but there were so many vibrations ... thousands of them. He was running out of time.
Sky took a deep breath and surveyed the stone floor of the Argraves' tomb, noticing that the mold was slightly discolored and worn, as if someone had walked upon it recently. He followed the discolored path and found himself standing in front of a tarnished torch holder on the far wall.
"You've got to be joking." He reached up and turned the torch holder sideways. The top of the sarcophagus opened, revealing a ladder within.
Sky laughed. "Real clever. No one ever would've figured that one out," he said sarcastically. "Rest assured, dead Argraves, your trap-building expertise has been passed on."
Sky crossed to the open tomb, listening for voices, but his ears couldn't detect anything.
He climbed down the ladder into the darkened catacombs below. He found water at the bottom that came up to his knees and a tunnel leading into the dark. Sky's eyes adjusted and he saw that the passage was broken and branching, with bits caved in and other parts sloping down ward into pools of water and, beyond, the burial rooms of the pickled dead.
Placing his Hunter's Mark on the wall, Sky felt his way toward the nearby vibrations, which he could make out as voices now. The sound traveled through the earth to his Hunter's Mark, and he heard it as if he was standing next to the speakers, listening with his ears.
"I think our break is about over. We should relieve Nackles and the others," said a familiar voice. Sky hesitated for a moment: The man was speaking Gnomon. With a British accent. Almost no one spoke Gnomon, or any monster language, for that matter.
"Yesss, Winston," Rauschtlot replied. She made a hissing, popping sound and Sky realized she was laughing.
"Oh, don't laugh!" snapped Winston Snavely, the hunter who had appeared so dramatically during training that morning. "Winston's a fine chap. A fine chap with a fine first name and Snavely's not a whit behind it, so don't call me anything else unless you intend to get me into trouble. These biscuits are delicious, by the way! Wherever did you get them?"
"I maaade themmm," Rauschtlot hissed.
Something fishy was going on, and Sky suspected that whatever it was had little to do with the creepy one-eyed fish circling him. He veered into a sloping passage that led upward and out of the water, which now reached his waist. A faint light flickered up ahead.
"Really? I had no idea you baked! And you just mixed the erfskin right in?" asked Winston.
"Yesss," said Rauschtlot. "Nacklesss gatherrred the erfssskin before the collapssse."
Sky remembered what Andrew had said, about how Nackles had only come to the east cemetery last night to gather some sort of baking fungus- erfskin, by the sounds of it, whatever that was.
"Ah, yes ... last night," said Winston quietly, a note of sadness in his voice. "I really wish I could have arrived in time, but I was unfortunately detained below. Sky performed exceptionally well, wouldn't you agree? Beyond what I could have imagined. And, as they say, all's well that ends with biscuits." Sky heard crunching sounds, and then Winston started up again. "These biscuits really are remarkable, and I can hardly taste the erfskin at all! It should really come in handy n
ext time a tunnel decides to collapse on me. Thank you for the gift, Rauschtlot."
"My pleasssure, Winssston," said Rauschtlot, sounding pleased at the compliment.
Sky reached the end of the passage and peeked into a small burial room. He gawked at what he saw. Rauschtlot and Winston sat on two large rocks, one on each side of a sunken sarcophagus. A woman was carved into the top of the stone coffin, hands resting on her chest, and within those hands, Rauschtlot and Winston had placed a pot of tea. They each drank from dainty ceramic cups while snacking on cookies, or biscuits, as Winston had called them.
Winston gobbled up the last of his cookies and drained his tea. His clothes were a mess; it looked like a tunnel really had collapsed on him.
"Well, Ubiquitous," said Winston, patting the stone woman's stomach as he stood, "you were a horrible hunter, but you make an exceptional table."
Rauschtlot picked up the pot of tea, the cups, and the plate with the remaining cookies, and swallowed it all in one big gulp, storing it, Sky knew, in one of her stomachs for later use.
Winston glanced over and Sky ducked back into the shadows, but it was too late. "I see Morton has already taught you to be sneaky-a useful skill, all in all. It must be nice to have such a fine master."
Sky exhaled and stepped into the room. "I wasn't being sneaky-I was being cautious."
"An interesting way of putting it," said Winston.
"You and Morton don't seem to get along," said Sky, slowly walking into the room, his eyes drifting from Winston to Rauschtlot and back again.
"You could say that," said Winston calmly. "Things have been a bit peckish between us since he murdered my son."
Sky stopped where he stood. "Morton Thresher killed your son?"
"Not in a way anyone could prove," Winston replied. "What exactly is it that you want here, Sky? It seems to me that there are safer places you could be at the moment. Of course, if you were looking for safety, you could have heeded Chase's warning to flee Exile last night and saved us all a spot of bother."
"How did you know Chase warned me?" Sky asked. "Because he told me," Winston replied. "And now you've put yourself in Morton's hands and given him the keys to the Arkhon's prison."
"I didn't have a choice," said Sky defensively.
"That's the way traps work," said Winston. "If it gave you a choice, it wouldn't be a trap. Now, what is it you wanted?"
"I saw the door open," Sky replied. "I thought I might find Rauschtlot and Nackles here."
"Of course," said Winston. "How rude of me. Rauschtlot, are there any biscuits left?"
Rauschtlot opened her mouth and pulled out the plate of cookies. Sky looked at .the cookies, curling his lip in distaste. "No thanks. I'm good."
"Here, take some for later, then," said Winston, giving Sky several large handfuls. "They might come in handy if you find yourself in a tight spot- a not altogether unusual circumstance for you, from what I hear. Erfskin is quite a rarity. It can make you as strong and resilient as a Gnomon, if you take my meaning."
"I think I do- take your meaning, that is," said Sky, shoving the cookies into a coat pocket. "Thanks."
'That's a smashing coat," said Winston admiringly. "I used to own one just like it. Bit scratchy."
"Yeah," said Sky. "It's less itchy if you wash it."
"Ah ... that's the secret then," said Winston, smiling.
"Would you mind if I talked to Rauschtlot in private?" Sky asked.
"Not at all," Winston replied. ''I'll just wait over here." Winston strolled off down the tunnel, whistling to himself. Sky rushed over to Rauschtlot. "Rauschtlot, are you all right? Is Nackles okay?"
"Yesss," she hissed in Gnomon. "Winssston and I are old friendsss."
"What are you doing here?" Sky asked.
"Collapsssing tunnelsss," Rauschtlot hissed. "Bedlam's army comesss. We lead them to Erachnusss to face huntersss. Keep Exile sssafe."
Sky nodded. It made sense. The area where the hunters trained was familiar, out of the way, and full of traps. It was the only place where they might have an advantage against what ever monsters were coming through the earth.
"Smart," said Sky appreciatively. He was glad someone else was thinking about saving Exile, because right now all he really cared about was Crystal. Fortunately, finding the blade and freeing Bedlam saved Crystal and Exile-but Crystal first. "So you've been here the whole time?" "Deeeeper," Rauschtlot replied. "Tunnelsss of earrrth eeeater."
"The earth eater? You mean Paragoth?"
Rauschtlot nodded fearfully, her eyes darting around as if saying Paragoth's name would make her magically appear. No hunter, as far as Sky knew, had ever seen Paragoth and lived. All they'd ever found was evidence of her passing and the gargantuan otherworldly tunnels she had left in her wake far, far below.
"She is clossse," Rauschtlot hissed. "She makesss the tunnels for Bedlam's arrrmy."
"Is she working with Bedlam?"
"Yesss," Rauschtlot replied. "But they fearrr her. They ssstay far away or die."
Sky frowned. Paragoth, according to the stories, lived deep down where it was warm and dark, and where she could eat the molten earth to fuel her fires and heat her belly. She left behind tunnels that were hundreds of feet across and teeming with strange life. It was even rumored that Paragoth was the mother of the Gnomon, though Sky wasn't about to ask Rauschtlot if that was true; she looked frightened enough as it was.
The news complicated matters because it meant Rauschtlot had more important things to do than help him.
Sky glanced back at Winston to make sure he wasn't listening. Winston was whistling happily, a tune Sky recognized from the song "There Once Was a Flowering Botanist." He'd heard it many times while growing up. Winston did a little jig to his whistling, ending it with a twirl.
From the minute Winston had appeared that morning Sky had been suspicious of him. Like Hands and T-Bone, Sky just assumed that anyone he met was a fraud or a shifter of some sort, until proven otherwise. Winston's strange conversation with Rauschtlot had heightened Sky's suspicions, but that song-sung to him so often when he was young-confirmed it: Winston wasn't who he appeared to be. And now Sky knew exactly who he was. Part of him was thrilled beyond belief, but another part of him-the more vocal part- was swelling with anger at the deception and the pain it had caused. For now, at least, Sky was content to let Winston keep up his charade since Winston didn't seem to care enough to end it. But Sky wasn't going to make it easy for him.
"I need your help," Sky continued, ignoring his anger and pain as he turned back to Rauschtlot. "Crystal's hurt and-"
The whistling stopped. Sky glanced over and saw Winston standing right next to him. "How did you-"
"What happened?" Winston cut in, his voice stern, demanding an answer.
"Harrow Wights," Sky replied. "They threw this fiery molten ball and-"
"It's bad?" Winston asked, cutting him off again.
Sky nodded and wiped away a tear he didn't remember crying. "Very. She only has a few hours."
Winston appeared grief-stricken. "That poor girl. Rauschtlot, can you continue without me?"
Rauschtlot hesitated. "Perhapsss."
"Do your best," Winston stated. "Send word to the manor if you locate Morton's allies and Bedlam's body."
"Yesss," Rauschtlot hissed. Then, turning, she dove into the wall as if it were water rather than hardened stone and earth. She filled the hole in behind her-dirt and gravel shooting out of mouths that suddenly appeared on her legs and feet. Idly, Sky wondered what the process would look like in reverse. He shivered and decided he really didn't want to know.
Winston stared after Rauschtlot, looking forlorn. "She was my ride...”
Winston spun and strode down the tunnel.
Sky scrambled to catch up. "Who are Morton's allies?"
"The Whisper and the Wargarou: Ambrosia and Gourmand," Winston replied. "They've been working with Morton since their failed attempt to open the prison last year. They haven't given up, though Mo
rton has kept them ignorant as to who they'll find should they succeed."
"And yet somehow you know exactly who they'll find. How is that?" Sky asked, raising an eyebrow.
Winston glanced at him. "The Arkhon has been telling hunters that he was Solomon Rose for years; it's not my fault if no one else believed him."
Sky harrumphed. That was a bad answer, but he wasn't going to press. "So Ambrosia and Gourmand have Bedlam's body? I thought Bedlam's army had it."
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