Beautiful Darkness(81)

Link pulled the massive garden shears he stole from the bio lab out of his belt. Far be it from Link to put anything back in its rightful place. “Caster key, my ass.”

“It's not going to work.” Liv squatted next to Link in the grass. “It's a Caster lock, not something on your locker door.”

Link huffed as he worked the gardening shears into the crack. “You're not from around here. Isn't a door in this whole county that can't be opened with a set of pliers or a sharp toothbrush.”

I looked at Liv. “You realize he makes this stuff up.”

“Yeah?” Link grinned up at us as the door opened with a resentful creak. He held up his fist to me. “Pound it.”

Liv was shocked. “Well, that's not in the books.”

Link leaned over and looked inside. “It's dark, and there're no stairs. Looks like a pretty big drop.”

“Take a step.” I knew what was coming.

“Are you nuts?”

“Trust me.”

Link felt around with his foot, and a second later he was standing in the air. “Man, where do Casters get this stuff? Are there, like, Caster carpenters? A supernatural construction union?” He disappeared out of sight. A second later his voice echoed up from the hole. “It's not that far down. You two comin’, or what?”

Lucille stared into the darkness and leaped into the hole. That cat must have picked up more than a little crazy, living with my aunts all these years. I looked over the edge, and I could see the flickering light of a torch. Link was standing below us, Lucille sitting at his feet. “Ladies first.”

“Why is it men only say that when it's something horrible or dangerous?” Liv put one foot into the hole, uncertain. “No offense.”

I smiled at her. “None taken.”

Her silver sneakers dangled for a minute and she wobbled, off balance. I grabbed her hand. “You know, if we find Lena, she may be completely —”

“I know.” I looked into Liv's calm blue eyes, which would never be gold or green. The sun lit her hair, as blond as honey. She smiled at me, and I let go of her hand.

I realized she was the one steadying me.

As I disappeared into the darkness behind her, the door banged shut after me, blocking out the sky.





The entrance to the tunnel was dank and mossy, like the one that led from the Lunae Libri to Ravenwood. The ceiling over the stairs was low, and the stone walls were old and weathered like some kind of dungeon. Every drop of water and every sound echoed off the walls.

At the bottom of the stairs, we found ourselves at a crossroads. Not a proverbial one but a real one.

“So which way do we go?” Link looked down two very different tunnels. This trip was more complicated than the one to Exile. That had been a straight shot, but this time it was different, and there were choices to be made.

Choices I had to make.

The tunnel to the left looked more like a meadow than a tunnel. As it widened, there were weeping willows hanging over a dusty footpath, framed by tangles of wildflowers and tall grass. Rolling hills spread out under a cloudless blue sky. You could almost imagine the birds chirping and see the rabbits nibbling grass, if it wasn't a Caster tunnel, where nothing was ever as it seemed.

The tunnel to the right wasn't a tunnel at all but a curving city street underneath its own Caster sky. The dark street was a sharp contrast to the sunny countryside scene of the first tunnel. Liv was scribbling notes in her book. I looked over her shoulder. Asynchronous time zones in adjacent tunnels.

The only light came from a blinking motel sign at the end of the street. Tall apartment buildings with small iron balconies and fire escape ladders lined either side. Long wires crisscrossed the street from building to building, forming an intricate web with a few pieces of clothing caught in it. An abandoned trolley track was embedded in the asphalt.

“Which way do we go?” Link was anxious. Wandering around creepy Caster Tunnels wasn't agreeing with him. “I vote for the Wizard of Oz path.” He headed for the sunshine.

“I don't think we'll need to vote.” I took the Arclight out of my pocket, its heat warming my hand before I noticed the light. Its ebony surface began to glow a pale green.

Liv's eyes were wide. “Amazing.”

I took a few steps down the dark street, and the light intensified.

Link came up behind us. “Hello? I was walkin’ away over there? You're not gonna stop me?”

“Watch this.” I held the Arclight high enough for him to see and kept walking.

“Killer flashlight.”

Liv checked her selenometer. “You were right. It's guiding us like a compass. My readings confirm it. The moon's magnetic pull is stronger in this direction, which is completely wrong for this time of year.”

Link shook his head. “I should've known we'd have to go down the creepy street. We're probably gonna get killed by another one a those Vexes.”

Every time I took a step closer to the street, the Arclight glowed a brighter and deeper shade of green. “We're going this way.”

“Of course we are.”

After Link convinced himself we were headed for certain death, the dark street was nothing but a dark street. The short walk to where the motel sign was still blinking was uneventful. The street was a dead end, leading right up to a doorway under the sign. There was another street running perpendicular to it, lined with unlit doorways. Between the motel sign and the building next to it, there was a steep set of stone stairs. Another Doorwell.