Diesel went to the tunnel and looked into the gaping hole. “It’s a long way down.”
“Do you see her?” I asked.
“No. I don’t see a body.”
“She’s very strong,” Hatchet said.
“Is this Deirdre Early we’re talking about?” I asked him.
“I only know her as Anarchy.”
“And she has the stone and the tablet?”
“Yes. I fear she does.”
I looked at Diesel and his face showed nothing, but I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. Anarchy wouldn’t know one stone from the next, and Hatchet would never give her the real stone. He’d keep the real stone on him and give her a substitute.
“There are four tunnels leading out,” Diesel said. “We know we don’t want to go in N, since it has a big hole in it. Did you try the other three?” he asked Hatchet.
“I did. And I always returned here.”
“The tunnels are labeled N, S, E, W,” I said. “The points of the compass.” I pulled a totally drenched piece of paper out of my jeans pocket and carefully unfolded it. “This is what I copied off The Key House plaque. It made no sense when I copied it, but now I’m thinking it might be the way out of this chamber.”
Diesel took the paper from me. “It starts with W.”
Hatchet rushed to the W tunnel, and the rats ran with him.
“Dude,” Diesel said to Hatchet. “You have to go last. I don’t want to be stepping on your rats.”
Hatchet retreated, and Diesel led the way into the tunnel. We turned a corner, the light disappeared, and we were plunged into darkness. I put my hand to Diesel’s back and stayed close. I could hear Hatchet stumbling behind me, the rats squealing behind him.
Diesel stopped abruptly. I bumped into him, and Hatchet bumped into me, and I could feel the rats scurrying over my feet.
“Jeez Louise,” I said, chills running down my spine, a scream lodged halfway in my throat.
Hatchet stepped back, and the rats went with him.
“A little advance notice next time you stop,” I said to Diesel.
“Sorry. I forgot you can’t see. There are two tunnel choices here. If we follow the letters on the plaque, we take SW, so here goes.”
It’s easy to lose track of time in the dark. Without a watch ticking off minutes, time either stretches on into infinity or flies, depending on your level of enjoyment. In this case, we seemed to be walking forever. Stopping while Diesel read the paper, and continuing on. We came to a small chamber where there was another crack in the high domed ceiling and weak light filtered down. I could see that there were two tunnel choices, and Diesel wasn’t moving.
“Which way do we go?” I asked him.
“I don’t know,” Diesel said. “The ink is blurry on this one from the soaking. I wouldn’t want to send us into a booby-trapped tunnel.”
Some of the rats were abandoning Hatchet and wandering off into one of the tunnels.
“Follow the rats,” I said. “Hopefully, they’re heading for food.”
In a couple beats, we were again without light. I was close behind Diesel, both hands clutching his shirt. Twice I felt something brush against my leg and I thought rat! And by this time, I was hoping it was a rat, because I didn’t want to speculate what else it could be.
“I’m stopping,” Diesel said. “We’re at a ladder. And I can see a hatch above it. Everyone stay here until I open the hatch.”
I waited in the dark, listening to Diesel climb the ladder. There was a scraping sound, and Diesel told me to follow him. I climbed the ladder and Diesel lifted me out into a small dark chamber.
“I think we’re behind a false wall,” he said.