The Dragon's Descent (27 page)

“Sure?”

“Yeah, but what about me?”

Clover then shone her headlight over the front of his body.

“Turn.”

Tack turned his backside to her. She ran the light from his neck down to his shoes.

“I don't see anything,” Clover said, strapping her headlight back on.

“Thanks,” Tack said.

“Ahh!” Clover shouted with frustration. “That was my first kiss ever . . . and with my little brother's best friend!”

“Your first? Really?”

“You sound surprised.”

“As pretty as you are, I just thought for sure someone would have kissed you by now.” Tack shyly smiled.

“Thanks, but no,” Clover said. She began to chuckle.

“What?”

“It's kind of funny. I never thought my first kiss would involve a guy pulling a blood-sucking leech off my neck.”

Tack smiled and let out a little laugh.

“But thank you,” Clover said, blushing. “Thanks for kissing me.”

Kane and Vero arrived just in time to overhear Clover. Vero looked at Tack, dumbfounded.

Tack smiled and shrugged to him. “Tack the Magnificent strikes again!”

“You still think it's through there?” Kane asked, pointing to the rock wall.

“Yeah,” Tack answered. “And the feeling just keeps growing stronger.”

“The sun will be coming up soon,” Kane said, looking into the night sky.

“Mom's gonna really panic when we're not there,” Clover said with sadness in her voice.

Tack stood. “Look, maybe I'm wrong, but I really don't think so. But if you don't trust my dowsing ability and want to go on without me, I'll totally get it.”

“No, we stay together,” Vero said. “Just try again. There's got to be something we're not seeing. C'mon, Tack, try to concentrate as hard as you can.”

Tack nodded. He turned off his headlight.

“Why are you doing that?” Clover asked.

“I want to rely totally on my feelings,” Tack answered. “Turn yours off too so I won't get distracted by anything.”

Kane looked to Vero. “Really?”

Vero nodded. He turned off his headlight, as did Clover. Bowing to peer pressure, Kane huffed then also turned his off. Tack held his palms over the terrain and began to walk. No longer having any light to see with, the others followed closely behind him. Clover held on to the back of Tack's shirt, and Vero and Kane held on to Clover so as not to become separated. Vero watched as Tack closed his eyes, allowing himself to be guided solely by his hands. He walked a few feet to his left then stepped over an old tree stump that housed growing fungi. Vero, Kane, and Clover stayed right on his tail, holding on. Vero could feel his thighs working hard; he knew they were walking up a steep slope. Tack walked up even higher, when Vero felt hard rock underneath his feet. They had reached some sort of plateau. They walked a few feet ahead on the flat surface, and Vero heard Clover scream.

Soon everyone began to scream. They had walked straight off the plateau . . . sinking into . . . something really mushy and thick. Vero began to flap his arms around, but only felt himself getting stuck further. A light shone on him. He looked over. Kane had managed to turn on his headlight.

“What is this?” Clover yelled.

Vero's heart sunk. Looking out over the terrain, he knew exactly what it was.

“It's dry quicksand,” he said, with dread in his voice.

As Kane turned his head around, Vero saw Clover and Tack up to their waists in the quicksand.

“Thanks, Tack, now we're really stuck,” Kane said.

Panicked, Clover began to thrash around in the dry, loose sand. “I have to get out of here!”

“Clover, you're making it worse!” Vero shouted. “You'll only sink faster that way!”

Clover stopped moving, but she was now covered up to her chest. She took labored breaths of air.

“Guys, I'm having a hard time breathing,” she said.

“Take slow breaths,” Vero said. “Stay calm.”

Clover closed her eyes and began to breathe more normally.

“How are we going to get out of this?” Kane asked. “There's no one to pull us out!”

“Guys, this is the way in,” Tack said, looking down at the fluffy sand below him.

And then Vero remembered. He had once slid through a similar sinkhole with the fledglings when they had been looking for Kane during an early training exercise in the Ether.

“Forget what I said! Fight! Fight as hard as you can,” Vero shouted. “It will speed up the inevitable.”

Kane's head whipped around toward Vero. “Are you crazy?”

“Tack's right. We're supposed to be here. This is the way through the rock,” Vero said, feeling the sand tighten around his chest. “When you were in the pit of acid, and we were looking for you, we had to jump through a sinkhole just like this sand. We slid right through it and landed safely in a tunnel beneath.”

“But that was the Ether! This is earth. Big difference!” Kane shouted nastily.

“Dude, you can argue all you want, but it's not gonna change a thing,” Tack said. “You're going down whether you like it or not.”

“You're nothing but a fake!” Kane shouted at Tack. “We put our trust in you!”

“And I'm right.” Tack glared at Kane.

“Tack, are you sure?” Clover asked, her eyes trusting.

“One hundred percent.”

“Tack's right,” Vero said to Clover, the sand up to his neck. “You said it yourself—why else would your panther have led us here?”

Clover nodded.

“Just hold your breath when the moment arrives,” Tack said, as he sunk farther down into the fluffy, porous sand. He was disappearing like a little kid in a bounce house filled with plastic balls.

“This is insane,” Kane shouted. “Vero, you can't be serious!”

Kane looked over to Vero, but he could only see a sliver of his friend as Vero allowed the sand to cover his eyes, and soon his hairline. Seconds later, he was gone.

21

BENAIAH'S CAVE

V
ero landed in a frigid pool of water, accompanied by some of the dry quicksand, which rained down all around him from above. His headlamp revealed he was in a subterranean pond in an ovoid cavern. Tack was the next to fall through the ceiling, and landed belly-first into the pool, spraying Vero with an icy wave. Clover then fell through the dry quicksand and into the water. Her head quickly broke through the surface, and she sucked a huge breath of air into her lungs.

“Told you.” Tack smiled. “Looks like Tack the Magnificent is on a roll today!”

“We're never going to hear the end of this.” Clover rolled her eyes.

“Any sign of Kane?” Tack asked.

“Not yet,” Vero answered. “He's probably still trying to resist.”

“This water is freezing,” Clover said. “Can we get out of here?”

She swam with her backpack still strapped around her shoulders over to a ledge of rock jutting out into the lake. Tack and Vero followed. When Clover reached the ledge, she placed her palms onto the rock's surface and pushed the rest of her body out of the water. Tack and Vero climbed up next to her. The three sat for a moment, taking in the sight.

“Thank goodness Mom bought waterproof flashlights,” Clover said. “Or else we'd miss this.” Her voice was full of wonder.

The water was a beautiful emerald-green color. Ornate stalactites and stalagmites grew out of the sheer rock, decorating the cavern. They looked magical, but Clover knew from her science classes they were the result of thousands of years of dripping water. Yet it was the deep silence of the cavern that Clover found most intriguing. It felt almost sacred.

“It is beautiful in here,” Clover said, looking around. “Nature's art.”

“Yeah,” Vero added.

“Where is Kane?” Tack asked.

“Give him a few minutes,” Vero said. “It's not like he's going anywhere else.”

“I don't know what you see in that guy,” Tack said.

“He can be kind of intense,” Vero said. “But overall he's a good guy. And trust me, it's not an accident that I happened to run into him here in Sri Lanka—remember, he is the one who got us to Sri Pada. There are bigger forces at play here.”

“Guys, I'm still freezing,” Clover said, her teeth chattering.

“Did you bring any extra clothes in your backpack?” Vero asked.

“No—but if I did, they'd be soaking wet as well!”

Vero reached around and touched his backpack.

“Mine's wet too,” he said.

“Good thing Ding Dongs are waterproof,” Tack announced as he opened his pack and pulled out a Ding Dong. He tore open the plastic wrapper and shoved the cake into his mouth. “Want one? They're still good.”

Both Clover and Vero shook their heads. Clover unzipped her backpack and pulled out two power bars and handed one to Vero. As they ate their bars, Kane fell into the water without warning, splashing them. He swam to the surface then toward the rock ledge. Vero stood, extending his hand to Kane and pulling him up on the ledge.

“That's okay,” Tack said as Kane looked in his direction. “I don't need an apology. I'm not the type of guy who says I told you so.”

“Sorry,” Kane said. “I just lost it. But you've got to cut me some slack. It's not every day I get trapped in quicksand.”

Tack considered for a moment. “We're cool,” Tack said.

“Cool? Freezing is more like it,” Clover said as she stood. “Can we go find somewhere warm?”

“Any idea?” Kane asked Tack.

“We need to follow the ledge that way . . .” Tack pointed directly ahead of him.

“Be careful,” Vero said. “The rock is slippery.”

Tack stood, staring at the jewel-toned water beside them. “This isn't a lake. There is a current running through it—watch.” With that, Tack took the plastic wrapper from
his Ding Dong and turned the bottom edge inside out so the packaging stood upright in his hand. He placed it on the water's surface, and it started to move with the small current.

“That's weird,” Vero said with a curious grin. “I didn't feel any current when I was swimming.”

“Well, it's there. This isn't a stagnant pond,” Tack said. “It's a pool that's fed by an underground river. I think we should follow the current and see where it takes us.”

They set off in the direction Tack's makeshift boat had set sail. It was a vast cavern, and after only a few minutes Vero counted at least five separate pools. He knew Tack was doing his best, but he was growing impatient. Where would they wind up? And how could they find a single stone in the massive, complex cavern? What if—

“Hold up.” Tack raised his hand.

Vero looked out over the ledge. They stood before another pool in the subterranean river. It was the same sparkling green color as the others.

“This pool,” Tack said. “I'm feeling it in this pool.”

“Don't even think about it. I was just starting to feel dry again,” Clover said.

“You think it's in the water?” Vero asked.

“Yeah.” One side of Tack's mouth edged up in pride.

“Not in the walls or ceiling?” Vero said, eyeballing the stalactites hanging down from the ceiling.

“Nope.”

“Okay,” Vero said, taking off his sneakers and socks.

“I'll go look for it,” Kane said, also taking off his shoes. “I was being kind of a jerk, so I guess I have it coming to me.”

“No,” Vero said. “I need to do it.”

“I'll go with you,” Kane insisted. “I don't want you down there alone.”

Vero considered his fellow fledgling. “Okay, but let's see how deep it is.” Vero picked up a rock and dropped it into the water. He leaned over the ledge to see if he could see or hear it hit bottom. The rock never made a sound.

“Guess it's pretty deep,” Vero said.

Kane nodded. “Let's do it,” he said, removing his backpack.