A green glow brought him back to the present. The cave. Lover’s Point. The acolytes.
Dax.
His new… friend? Boyfriend? Lover?
Dax.
Dax was asleep, leaned up against the smooth cavern wall, his head rolled off to the side. Poor guy was going to have a sore neck when he woke up.
Kiryn stood carefully and stretched, trying not to wake Dax. He could almost touch the ceiling with his arms extended.
Something had woken him.
He strode to the cavern entrance, looking out into the silvered night. The lake’s waves rolled into the shore gently below, reflecting the light of the spindle as they peaked and fell. In the distance, a few lights marked human habitations along the coast where it curved to the west.
A warm breeze caressed his face.
He sniffed the air. It smelled like rain, though the spindle above was still clear. They’d have to leave the cave soon.
Kiryn.
Belynn’s voice sounded desperate. What?
We’re coming. They’re after us. We have to run.
Where?
Into the cave.
Rain’s coming.
I know. No choice. I’ll explain when we get there. Two minutes.
Kiryn turned to wake Dax.
He was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. He looked adorable, like a five-year-old just up from his nap. “What’s wrong?”
That was easy enough to read, even in the dim light.
Kiryn wished he had his sister’s gift to just reach into Dax’s mind and explain. “Belynn’s coming. Get ready to run.”
Dax’s face went white. “What happened?”
Kiryn shook his head. “Into the cave.” He pointed.
“Okay.” Dax relaxed. He knelt and packed up his carry sack.
Kiryn grabbed his own. He scribbled out a note on his pad. I’m sorry for getting you into this.
“It’s okay.” Dax pulled him close and kissed him. “You’re worth it.”
Belynn slipped around the roots of the mallow tree. “Run!”
Gordy was right behind her.
They ran.
The cavern led back up under Micavery. He’d never explored very far inside. These places were dangerous when it rained, and sometimes a storm came up faster than expected. Nevertheless, it seemed they had little choice.
The cavern ran in a single direction with no branches, making the choice easy.
Sorry for the rush. Belynn’s thoughts touched his.
What happened up there?
Tim’s a maskie.
A what? Kiryn’s feet splashed in a puddle of water, soaking his pant legs.
One of them. An acolyte of the intifada.
An image flashed through Kiryn’s head, Timothy with a strange ethereal mask. Ah, maskie. He grinned. They… all look like that to you?
Yes and no. Tim didn’t when we first saw him.
Kiryn puzzled over that. What did it mean?
That would seem to put the lie to Gordy being from Earth. You couldn’t just flicker in and out of a person from so far away, could you? Is Gordy… like them?
Belynn was silent for a minute.
Well?
I don’t know. They seem to have some connection to him. But I don’t think he’s one of them. And I don’t think it works when we’re underground.
Unless they’re down here too.
Maybe.
There was so much they didn’t know.
Kiryn touched the wall for balance, and something like an electrical shock went up his arm. An image flashed through his head, like a glowing grid.
When he opened his eyes, he was lying on the ground. His companions were all looking down at him, concerned.
“You okay?” Belynn’s hands were uncertain, worried.
“I think so.” He closed his eyes and saw the grid again. He reached out to touch the stone of the cavern wall.
There was no spark this time, but something flowed into him.
He let go.
“I can feel it,” he said in wonder.
His mother had told him about this, an ability she had, that his grandfather had. They’d been able to navigate the world, even underground, by accessing the subnet.
Before the new world mind had blocked so many of the Liminals’ abilities.
“Feel what?” Belynn put her hand on his forehead and shot a worried glance back the way they had come.
“It’s okay. I’m fine.” He brushed her away gently. “Better than fine, actually. I can tell where we are.”
“Like…?”
“Like Andy and Aaron. Yes.”
Dax was staring at him. “What’s happening?”
“Sorry. Belynn, explain it to him?”
As she did, he touched the wall again. He frowned. “It’s raining outside. A good storm.” His eyes narrowed. “Company’s coming. Let’s go.”
DAX RAN after the others, glancing over his shoulder every few minutes at the darkness of the tunnel behind them.
He didn’t like closed-in spaces like this all that much, but he had to admit they were better than heights. Especially unprotected heights along crumbling cliffsides. He was glad they didn’t have to leave this place the same way they had come in. That had been nerve-racking enough.
Despite his brave words to Kiryn, he was beginning to regret their meeting. Just a little.
Kiryn was amazing, someone he was glad he’d gotten to know. But just the day before, his life had been quiet, normal—school, work at the hatchery in his spare time, and at night, out for some fun. It was a student’s life, and it had been enough for him, even if it was boring sometimes.
Now he was trapped underground being pursued by strangers—weird strangers from a planet he didn’t even believe in—and his chances of going back to his normal life anytime soon seemed slim at best.
The flow of water at their feet had already increased from a trickle to a small coursing rivulet, and it was still growing steadily.
They were running toward a flood. I hope you have a plan.
Kiryn looked back at him and grinned, almost as if he’d heard Dax’s forlorn plea. The green moss lent his skin a sickly pallor.
Soon they reached a juncture. They stopped for a few seconds while Kiryn touched the wall again.
Dax looked back and saw shadows racing toward them from behind. He tapped Kiryn’s shoulder.
Kiryn turned, a quizzical look on his face.
“They’re almost here!” He said it as slowly and clearly as he could manage.
He got that unnerving grin again. Why was Kiryn so confident?
They ran. He wondered if Kiryn and Belynn were speaking in their Liminal way, mind to mind. He wished he had that ability.
Even Gordy could talk to the two of them via sign language.
Sometimes there were flashes. Like he connected to Kiryn on a deeper level. Like he could read some of his thoughts. But then it went away.
He glanced back and could see their faces now in the dim green light of the cavern. There were two of them, a man and a woman, and they were closing the gap.
The water had risen to his shins and was slowing them all down. Fortunately it slowed their pursuers too.
They reached another fork and switched directions again.
There was a distant roar.
It struck Dax like the wall of water racing their way. He was going to die down here. He grabbed Kiryn’s arm. “Turn back!”
Kiryn shook his head. “Trust.”
Trust.
So much packed into that single word. So much to ask of him after such a short acquaintance.
There was something in Kiryn’s eyes, though, that pled with Dax to do just that. “Okay.” If he was going to die, at least he’d take his pursuers with him. It was a small comfort.
Kiryn stopped a few seconds later and thrust his hand into a darker patch of the wall.
It spiraled open. Holy Ariadne. Dax stared at the hole, dumbfounded.
“G
et in!”
Belynn climbed inside and took Gordy’s arm, pulling him in after her.
Dax glanced back at their pursuers. They were less than ten meters away.
“Go!”
Dax leapt through the opening and almost fell forward into a pit.
Gordy hauled him back, and then Kiryn was beside him too.
Dax had just enough time to see the face of one of their pursuers appear at the opening. Then a wall of water slammed into her, carrying her off as the entrance to this new place spiraled closed.
GORDY’S HEART was pounding, and he felt like he might hyperventilate.
This place is sleeking insane! Glowing plants, a world that bent over your head, and now this—tunnels that could fill with water at any moment and just sweep you away.
He’d seen the shock and fear and horror on Zanna and Edrien’s faces. His fellow acolytes had been carried off by the flood.
He hardly knew them—here or on the other side—but still.
It could have been me. This world, for all its charms, was just as dangerous as the Earth he’d come from.
“You okay?” Belynn squeezed his hand, bringing him back to the present.
“Not really. It’s… all so much.”
“Just close your eyes and breathe for a moment.”
He nodded and closed them, taking in a deep breath and letting it out, and then another and another. His heartbeat slowed.
“Better?”
“Yeah. Think so.” They stood on the rim of a wide pit, looking down into a pool of golden liquid.
Rain fell, the droplets setting up a patter on the surface of the pond. “What is this place?”
“One of the dissolution pits.” She pointed at the pool. “It’s where we send our garbage to be reconstituted into new things.”
“Among other things. Think of it like a big stomach.” Dax grinned. “Forever is a hungry beast.”
“Forever… is alive?” Holy shit.
“Of course. What did you think the world mind was?” Belynn pulled him gently along the rim.
Kiryn was grinning too. Belynn must be sharing this with him.
Gordy shot him a dirty sign.
Kiryn’s eyes went wide, and then he laughed.
“What?” Dax looked from one to another. “What are you guys saying about me?”
“It’s not about you.” Kiryn kissed Dax’s cheek, which seemed to mollify him. For the moment.
As they reached the far side of the pit, golden light flared overhead as morning passed them by.
Gordy yawned. He was tired. It had been a long day and an even longer night.
“Can they tell where you are down here?” Belynn didn’t say it, but it was clear who she meant.
“I don’t think so. At least not once we’re fully underground again.”
She nodded. “Kiryn, want to do the honors?”
The pool bubbled and belched.
Gordy decided he didn’t like being in anyone’s stomach. “Yes, please get us out of here.”
The wall on the far side from where they’d entered held another valve like the one they’d stepped through before.
They shuffled out of the way, and Kiryn put his hand on the valve.
Nothing happened.
He tried again, sharing a nervous look with his sister.
“Everything okay?” Gordy asked. His heartbeat was rising again.
Kiryn frowned. “I don’t know.”
Something fell from above.
“Everyone back against the wall!” Belynn’s hand pushed him flat as bits of refuse fell into the pond. A large something struck the water right in front of him, splashing his shirt with the liquid.
“Take it off!”
He stared at Belynn blankly.
“Your shirt. Take it off! It’s already dissolving!”
Panicked, he pulled it off over his head as quickly as he could, trying to keep the acid off his skin. Some of it touched his chest and burned.
He threw the shirt into the water, reaching for the spot that hurt.
“Don’t touch it!” Belynn pulled out a canteen and poured water over his chest.
The pain eased to a dull ache.
“You okay?”
He nodded, shaken. “I think so.”
“You clean up nice.” She winked at him.
He laughed nervously. “Thanks. I think. What was that?”
“Garbage dump. We need to get out of here before the next one.” She looked at their companions. “Everyone else okay?”
“Yeah, think so.” Dax looked shaken too.
“Little help here?” Kiryn pointed at the valve.
“Sure. What can I do?”
He took Belynn’s hand, and they closed their eyes and touched the valve together.
After a moment, it finally opened grudgingly.
“Let’s go.” Belynn climbed though, and Gordy and the others followed.
The other side revealed a tunnel similar to the one they’d come through before, but there was no water.
“Will this one flood too?” He looked back nervously at the valve as it closed.
Then they were in profound darkness.
“Kiryn says yes, when the stomach needs to disgorge its digested meal. But we have a little time before that happens.”
Gordy shuddered in the dark. “How much is a little?”
“Come on. Everyone hold hands. Go slow. Kiryn is taking us somewhere safe.”
Somewhere safe. Gordy wasn’t sure such a place still existed down here.
I wish I’d stayed at home.
Chapter Eight: Imposter
THEY CREPT down the tunnel in the absolute darkness, Kiryn leading and Belynn bringing up the rear.
Dax found the darkness oppressive, a grim reminder of the weight of the world that hung over his head. Literally and figuratively.
“Wait!” He pulled Kiryn back gently. Then he rummaged through his carry sack until he found the sprig of red fern. It was dimmer than it had been when he’d first plucked it, but it lit the space around them with a rosy glow.
Kiryn grinned, his teeth pink.
“Here.” Dax handed it over to him.
“That’s better.” Gordy was grinning too. “Amazing how much a little light helps.”
Belynn relayed that to Kiryn, and he nodded.
They followed Kiryn at a brisker pace now. The tunnel was a straight shot, though in which direction Dax could no longer say.
After maybe fifteen minutes, they reached a spot where the tunnel walls were interrupted by an open fissure. It looked too smooth to be natural.
Was anything really natural, down here? Or anywhere on Forever?
Kiryn climbed into it, bracing his arms on either side, and they ascended through it together, using their arms and legs.
It led up into the rock above.
It was hard work, and Dax sweated profusely.
At last the opening leveled out into a wide room.
Well, maybe “room” was too formal a word for the oddly shaped space. It was oblong, roughly oval. The floor was mostly smooth, and at the back were a series of dark slots.
Dax dropped his pack and knelt to put his hand in front of one. Cool air was flowing from it. He pulled off his shirt and let the air flow across his damp skin. It felt divine. “What’s this?” he gestured, using both signs and his expression and pointing at the slots.
“Ventilation pocket.” Belynn dropped her carry sack. “Kiryn says we should be safe up here.”
Dax shook his head. It was weird, asking Kiryn a question and getting his answer from Belynn. Part of the package, I guess.
He pulled a shirt out of his pack and handed it to Gordy to replace the one he’d lost in the pit.
“Thanks, man.”
“Don’t mention it.” Dax sank down to the ground with his back against the wall. He was exhausted. He was going to miss class today. Of course, at the moment that seemed like the least of his worries. “I wish we had something
to eat.” He mimed hunger, and Kiryn nodded.
“Me too.”
“I can help with that.” Belynn rummaged through her carry sack and pulled out a wrapped package. She opened it and handed them each a small bar.
Dax took his and sniffed at it. It smelled sweet and good. “What is it?”
“I call them hangover bars. They are good for… well, when you’re tired. Lots of good energy.” Belynn glanced at her brother, who was frowning. “What?”
He just shook his head.
Dax took a bite of his bar, wondering what that had been about.
The bar was good—nuts and fruit in a chewy combination that whetted his appetite for more.
He ate his slowly, enjoying it, and took a sip of water from the canteen Belynn passed around to wash it down.
The canteen was getting low. They couldn’t stay down here too long or they’d run out of food and water. He wondered if the water in the rivulet on the other side of the pit was safe to drink.
Of course, if there was another storm, too little water wouldn’t be the problem.
He missed home.
Micavery was new and big and full of people he’d never met before, but he missed the frontier ways of Thyre.
He closed his eyes, just to rest them for a minute.
DAX CLIMBED the Wall, as his father called it—the capital letter always implied. It wasn’t much of one yet. It was maybe half a kilometer long and just four meters high in the middle, tapering off to either side. One day, Da said, it would circle the world.
It was being built brick by brick, cut from the world-stone in a quarry to the north of the city. The world’s skin was thick there, and the Old City manager, Aaron Hammond, had gotten approval for it from the world mind before he’d died a few years earlier.
Dax didn’t care much about any of that. He just liked to climb the Wall with his brother Raldo, the sibling he was closest to.
There were ten kids, not uncommon for a frontier family. The people had a whole world to fill, after all, one that was getting bigger all the time. At night in bed with his siblings, he could hear the world’s growing pains coming from the north.
Dax reached the top of the highest part of the Wall, Raldo close behind him, and stood to take in the view.
The Shoreless Sea Page 8