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I waited But nothing happened

I wiggled the end of the stake Turned it I pushed down, pulled up, but still nothing Panic began to crackle upup , but it was in there I pried and twisted, and all it did was give an to bleed out into despair Was this it? I tried to tell myself it was only a te board But such things were easy to say and hard to believe

Despair hardened into frustration Was I destined to keep failing like this? Hoas it the daet the best of me when they weren’t even around?

Frustration sharpened into anger

"Dammit" I slammed the side of my fist onto the butt of the stake "Daain, harder I’d curse all I wanted now--I didn’t care I cursed and hit "Damn damn damn all of--"

There was a sharp click

"Crap!" I ju apart

And then I giggled Putting a hand tochest, I peered closer "Holy crap" I’d done it The outer casing had been spring-loaded, and when I pounded the stake, the infinity had split in two, popping open and revealing the inner workings of the lock

Tentatively, I tried twisting the stake again, and this tile turned easily The ancient tuate cracked open

I sat for a shockedof the waves and the silence of the beckoning tunnel I smiled And then I scra that’d been chiseled through the er inside I’d s deep underground How extensive were these caverns? It was a disturbing thought

I resheathed my stakes and scrabbled forward Soon the tunnel expanded into soh to stand in hunched over, then eventually to stand up straight

I slipped ontwo of the stakes in the pockets, just in case I readjusted the wetsuit underneath, tugging the legs back into place The outfitwind, but it was starting to bum me out now Even so, it remained the best choice I’d nabbed an extra shooter of blood at lunch and had rubbed so my scent, and what the blood didn’t mask, I hoped this pesky wetsuit would Months of salt water had given it a briny odor--enough, I hoped, to hide what I was certain was the unht? After all, the vairls their prey The not knowing lodged a spike of resents to me? Why wasn’t he here now? I’d once come to his aid, in a dank tunnel not unlike this one

Then it struck me--that other tunnel had been unlike this in a very fundamental way: This tunnel wasn’t pitch black

Crap I iainst the cold stone I’d been so focused on ht and this aht was so subtle, I hadn’t considered it But aht meant there was electricity, or at least torches, soed forward, every sense so attuned to hts and sounds that weren’t there I gave rip now

Soon the torches appeared, hung in occasional sconces along the tunnel walls Just as it got too dark to see, the flickering halo of a distant torch would become visible

The first tiave ut I had the sense of the castle’s location and I followed its pull Was it the va to entertain for long

As I progressed, more and more smaller tunnels branched off theco frequently to s and that nobody was around

I also tried desperately not to think of Carden In these, what felt like er and resentment dissolved, and I just felt sad and alone I really, really missed him I wished I could’ve seen hione Why

The curve of the tunnel ahead threw sound at me, and I heard footsteps and the hip of torches A solemn procession walked by Terrified, I held my breath and waited till they ell past to exhale I sucked in a breath and soed at my nose Incense I waited a full minute after they’d passed before I followed

But then voices echoed to ht’ve been rounding the next corner or hundreds of yards away The sound bounced off the rock, i sense of individual speakers Individual words I placed one of the voices It was so familiar to me, as familiar as any other on this rock

It was Alcántara