I was glad he was on our side.
I took a step, but Lu was quicker and slipped in front of me. I would argue, but it would be out of pride more than sense. Lu could fight the Hush as well, or frankly, better than me. Her reflexes were faster, her strength possibly greater than mine.
She had spent nearly a hundred years hunting and fighting dangerous things.
“Don’t get distracted,” Val said from next to me, which should be impossible in the narrow tunnel, except he was a ghost and could pass through rock. “Pay attention.”
I didn’t waste my breath telling him I was plenty aware of the stink of damp, of the dust, and the uneven rise and fall of the stone beneath my soles.
I didn’t tell him every connection flashed through my mind, so I felt like I was dozens of people, dozens of feet, hands, eyes.
Panic, maybe mine, maybe ours, stirred my gut.
This darkness was where I’d lost Abbi. This darkness was where I’d almost lost Lu. This darkness was where the Hush had dragged my sleeping mind to stitch my mouth closed. To force me to bow to their demands.
To find the book, the Strange weave, and bring it to them.
“Got your back,” Val whispered.
It helped, knowing he was there. “Still not my friend,” I managed, and was relieved when he chuckled.
“This way,” Lu reached back, her hand finding mine.
This was where the tunnel diverged. I felt connections spool off to the right, like a dozen kite strings pulling taut on a choppy breeze, and then another set of strings unraveled to the left.
Lu continued forward. I could hear Elmer’s strides behind me, but the stone and darkness muffled Pamela and Josie, just behind him.
The hint of the hunters’ red flashlights reminded me that Josie had given me a flashlight.
I dug it out of my pocket, leaving the bottle of Rooroo dust behind, clicked the light, and exhaled when it cast ruby light over stone.
Lu turned sideways through a tight space, and I did the same. Cold stone scratched at my chest and belly. I blew out a breath and pressed through the narrow passage.
The other side of that tight space opened into branching paths. We had two choices.
Lu tipped her head, and Val spooked by me, splitting into two, man and wolf, each moving quickly down the paths ahead of us.
“Val,” I whispered to Lu. She nodded.
Val and his wolf returned together from the right path.
“This way.”
We followed the tunnel to the right, which slanted at a hard angle downward. I braced my descent with one hand pressed against the wall, the other holding the flashlight.
Someone, maybe Pamela, cursed behind me, her flashlight swinging sharply before steadying.
The footing grew more treacherous. Lu moved nimbly and quickly ahead of me, ducking when the ceiling lowered, staying on her feet over the slippery rubble.
“Here, here,” Val whispered. “Right up here.”
Then there was darkness, snuffing all light. I took a blind step and was pulled back, hard. A hand clamped over my mouth, another around my neck. I hit something solid behind me—too soft to be stone, but only barely—something familiar.
“Be silent,” the male voice said. The same voice from my dream that had guided me out of the caverns. Thrum.
“We know what you seek. We know who you are. But you are marked,two-soul. You must stay while they go.”
My heart hammered so loudly I was amazed it wasn’t echoing back from the walls.
