Emma shuddered. “Not like this.”
“I wonder if the Darkdeep affects it.” Opal gripped the dagger tightly, pressing its handle into her palm. She was anxious to reach the tunnel, but her nerves danced, electric with warning.
What’s waiting for us?
Massive footprints remained in the grass, but there were no new signs of figments.
“It’s quiet,” Tyler whispered.
“Tooquiet,” everyone else said at once. They exchanged glances and chuckled uneasily. Emma turned in a slow 360, scanning the empty field. “They were everywhere last night, and now … nothing.”
Nothing.
The word seemed to echo. The smell of wet stone carried on the breeze.
“What if we’d never brought the quadcopter out here?” Emma wondered aloud.
Nico snorted. “I’d be wearing a radish suit right now.”
“I’d never have experienced the joy of unarmed robbery,” Tyler mused.
“I wouldn’t have gotten to see Godzilla,” Emma said dreamily.
Logan gaped at Emma. “Wait, what?”
Opal grinned. “You missed a few parts.” Opal realized she found it almost impossible to imagine life before the houseboat. Would they have to destroy the Darkdeep? Was that even possible?One step at a time.
“My parents are probably looking for me already,” Tyler said.
Logan sighed. “My dad’s going to notice the ATVs are gone.”
“Right.” Opal straightened her shoulders. “We should get going.”
But no one moved, not even Opal. A strange tensionparalyzed her, as if her subconscious mind was rebelling against entering the fog. Then she heard a curious sound.
A slow, methodical clicking echoed up from the cove.
“Guys?” Nico’s voice shook. “You hear that?”
“Sounds like chopsticks,” Tyler hissed. “It’s coming from the path.”
“No.” Opal watched the mist roil. “Not the path. The cliff.”
The fog parted as a giant shape dragged itself over the edge of the bluff. Logan staggered backward in alarm. “What the heck is that?!”
It took Opal’s mind a beat to accept what she was seeing.
Black-brown body. Clacking mandibles. Dark, enormous eyes.
“Oh no,” Emma whispered, her face draining of color.
“A freaking cockroach!” Tyler shouted. “It’s the size of a school bus!”
The insect unfolded its spindly legs and scuttled up onto the field, testing the air with its antennae. Opal stared at its clicking, dripping jaws. She lifted the dagger, but her whole body quivered as she backed away. “Maybe … maybe we let this one disappear on its own.”
The cockroach swung a feeler at Logan. He ducked the oozing appendage and darted toward the ATVs. “Time to go!” he shouted.
“Nico, let’s bail!” Tyler wiped his slick forehead. “I’m not getting eaten by a bug, man. That’s just wrong.”
