Chapter Nineteen
Krista woke up lying on the floor of the mine. The ground beneath her was cold, damp stone, and there was water trickling down the walls—she could hear it. She could also hear soft breathing, and now she could scent lion cub.
Ethan.
She sat up slowly, blinking. The room was dark, but there was a small, flickering kerosene lantern sitting on a wooden crate and throwing dim light over their corner of the cave-like room.
She looked around and spotted the source of the breathing. Ethan was alive, curled up against the wall on the damp floor, fast asleep.
He was wearing a dirty t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. He looked small and pale and fragile, and her heart soared. He hadn’t been chased down in some sick, child-murdering hunt.
Someone had dressed her in a big plaid shirt, she realized. It was long enough to be a dress, and it had no scent at all, which meant it had been sprayed with noscentium. She hadn’t been molested at all.
She reached out to Ethan. He made a grumbling sound, swatted vaguely and rolled away from her. “I don’t wanna go to school. Five more minutes, Dad,” he muttered.
Then she heard a sound that made her hair stand on end: heavy footsteps thudding towards her.
She could just barely smell Gummi through noscentium that was wearing off.
He rounded a tunnel and headed towards them. He began to shift into human form. Bones cracked and reset, and his fur seemed to crawl over his skin before receding altogether. He shrank down on himself and his broad muzzle drew in, turning into a human face. He straightened until he was standing upright and lifted his head, looking directly at her. Instinctively, she flinched and moved in front of Ethan.
“You made noise out there. You can’t make noise. Mama might find us.” His voice was rusty, like he didn’t talk very often.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, sliding back a few inches.
“Don’t be scared,” Gummi said. “You’re safe here. You want food? I got food.”
“No, thank you. Gummi, we can’t stay here.” She kept her voice low and soothing. “We’ve got to get Ethan back to his father.”
“No!” Gummi let out a growl and his eyes glowed with a scary light. “Mama would be mad with me! We stay right here!”
Now Ethan was awake; Krista could hear him rustling around behind her.
“Gummi, it’s me, Krista. I have friends who can protect you.”
Gummi glowered at her sullenly. “I know who you are. I ain’tsimple.”
He turned and lumbered off, his heavy footsteps pounding on the dirt floor. She started to protest, but Ethan tugged on her arm urgently. She glanced at him, and he did a quick head-shake.
She fell silent and waited until Gummi vanished around a corner and the footsteps faded. Then she whispered to Ethan, “Do you know the way out of here? I could distract him while you run.”
He shook his head. “There’s only one way out, and he’s blocking it,” he whispered back, pointing in the direction that Gummi had just gone. “I tried to get out a couple of times, but he went crazy and chased me back in. I thought he’d kill me. You can’t argue with him, it’ll just make him mad.”
Her heart sank. She recalled from her time living with the Reeds that Gummi was a very light sleeper. Poor guy was terrified. Percy used to taunt him by bursting into his room and screaming at him in the middle of the night, sending Gummi into a shrieking panic. Dawnie would fly into a rage, she’d beat Percy until he bled, but she never could beat the meanness out of him.
“Are you hurt?” She kept very voice very low.
He shook his head. “No. He’s nice to me as long as I don’t try to leave. We play checkers with rocks.”
Krista nodded slowly. “So Percy snatched you, and Gummi here… rescued you. Is that right?”
“Yep.”
“Your father’s been worried to death about you,” Krista told him. “He hired people to find you. He’s been hunting all over the holler.”
“Is he mad at me?” Ethan’s worried little face broke her heart.
“No, not at all. He’s desperate to get you back.”
