‘You!’ he shouted. ‘Leave! My! Sister! Alone!’
The creatures were taken by surprise, but only momentarily. For every one he dispatched, two more took its place. He felt himself grow heavy with accumulated bugs and rats. They clung to his clothes, to his hair, to his ears and fingers. He flailed and whipped his head from side to side, fighting once more for his own life.
The light flared again, and in that split instant of the brightest possible light, he glimpsed how his shadow looked against the wall of the tunnel. His arms and legs were rippling with the creatures trying to bring him down . . . but even worse than that, the shadow looked deep, and dark, and enticingly safe.
A rat crawled up over his head and its snout thrust against his left eye.
He shut his eyes, and in the darkness found a new strength.
This is it, Jack thought. They’ve got me now. But I’m not giving up.
He stopped thrashing about and stood absolutely still, though it took every ounce of self-control that he possessed, as the rats and bugs squirmed all over him, noses and paws and feelers and legs thrusting at his ears and eyes and the corners of his mouth.
‘You’ll have to kill me,’ he said quietly and with great certainty, spitting out a cockroach that swarmed across his lips. ‘Because I am not joining you, not now, not ever!’
No more bugs crawled into his mouth or nose. A rat squeaked and stopped probing at his eyes with its nose. Then all at once, the mass of creatures fell away. He heard the sodden, rolling thuds as thousands of soft bodies hit the floor of the tunnel. He heard their squeaks and chitters of complaint, individual again, not a massed noise.
He felt, more than heard, a roar of frustration off in the dark, and he braced himself, ready to defend himself against a renewed attack.
But no attack came. Slowly Jack opened his eyes.
The worm-thing was gone. The rats and insects that had made it up were scurrying away, back up the tunnel, or into cracks and holes.
The shining figure had also disappeared. Several last wisps remained, gleaming off the damp bricks and mortar of the tunnel. Like the last of the insects, they soon faded.
Then the underground world was dark, and Jack was alone.
He looked down at his feet, able to see well enough – somehow – to know that he wasn’t standing where he had been before. He was under the broken ladder now, whereas before, he was sure, he had been further along the tunnel, where he had been thrown when light and darkness had first met. Something had moved him away from the creatures that had attacked him – or he had moved himself . . .
‘Jaide,’ Jack said in a hesitant whisper. ‘Are you here?’
If the worm-thing had seen his sister, he was thinking, perhaps she was in the tunnels with him.
But there was no answer, only the scurrying sound of retreating rats.
At least he was being ignored for the moment. Whatever had happened, it had deflected everyone from looking for him. The bugs were gone, presumably searching elsewhere, and the ghostly Grandma X was gone, too.
He didn’t know how to feel about her now: he was supposed to think that she was an evil witch, as Jaide did, but instead he took a kind of comfort that someone was looking for him. He hadn’t been forgotten.
‘Jaide? Come back! Please!’
Silence.
He knew he couldn’t stand there all day, calling helplessly into the shadows. While the rats and bugs were busy getting themselves together, he had to take the chance to make another run for it, even though that meant backtracking the way he had come.
There had to be a way out of these tunnels.
He ran back, following what he hoped was a faint smell of the sea. A slight downward slope was also cause for optimism. As he ran, the tunnel widened and others joined it. The smell of salt and seaweed grew stronger while the sound of the rats and insects behind him grew fainter. If only he had followed this tunnel originally, he thought, he could have been out ages ago!
A new noise reached his ears – the booming of waves, surging and thundering against the shore. He began to run faster along a lazy bend to the left, certain now that he had found a way to freedom.
The pipe straightened, and he saw what truly lay ahead.
Water. Seawater, rippling and foamy. The pipe was submerged in the ocean, and he had no way of telling whether it came back up into the air or not. He could either swim for it and hope for the best, or turn back and try to find another way.
But the . . . the . . . whatever it was that controlled all the rats and insects and everything in the tunnel . . . was behind him. Turning back wasn’t an option.
Jack splashed into the salty water. It rose steadily up his legs as the pipe angled downward under him. When it reached his waist, he held his breath and ducked under.
There was no light at the end of this tunnel. Just more water as far as his eyes could see.
For a moment, Jack seriously considered swimming as far as he could, and he would either get lucky . . . or drown. But the moment passed.
‘Where there’s life, there’s hope,’ muttered Jack after he broke the surface and took a deep breath. It was one of the sayings his father used, and it made him feel both slightly better and intensely alone. If only his father was with him now!
A tiny wave slopped across his ankles as Jack retreated out of the water. He looked behind him and saw another slowly rolling in, and noticed that the water level was rising. The pipe did lead to the sea, and the tide was coming in. Soon the whole maze of pipes would be full of sea water.
‘I really have to get out,’ Jack muttered.
He didn’t expect an answer, but he got one.
The voice, the dark, insidious voice, was back inside his head.
+Jaaackaaaraaannn.++
‘Leave me alone!’ Jack shouted. He clenched his fist and, unable to hit anything else, punched the palm of his other hand.
+Come back, troubletwister,++ said the voice. ++We don’t want you to drown.++
‘So show me the way out!’
+Join us, and we will show you everything.++
‘I already told you, I’m never joining you!’
+Never say never, troubletwister,++ whispered the voice in his head. ++Sometimes you need to change your mind. Remember, we will tell you everything you need to know. All knowledge will be yours.++
‘Yeah, right,’ Jack said. ‘What do you really want?’
+Only to protect you, Jackaran. Only to make you safe.++
‘From who?’
+From the witch. From the Wardens. They are tricking you. Turn your back on them and join us instead. We will tell you nothing but the truth.++
Jack stood shivering at the edge of the water in wet, heavy clothes. If the mental voice had found him, he was sure the worm-creature wouldn’t be far away. A second later, he saw the first white-eyed rat, sneaking along, leading a line of others, all marching in step.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Jack shouted. ‘I don’t know who the Wardens are or who you are. I just want to find my sister and go home!’
+Your sister is with us. Come, join her. We do not mean you harm. We will be home to both of you.++
The chill Jack felt came from more than just the cold. The darkness pressed into him again, and he ground his fists into his eyes to keep it out.
‘I don’t believe you! Go away! I . . . I refuse to listen to you! I’m not . . . I’m not here!’
Bright lights flashed behind Jack’s eyelids. His voice echoed wildly in the tunnel. The invasion of his mind reached a peak, and then suddenly it fell away. When the last impressions of his cries faded, the tunnel was silent. The rats were still there, but they were no longer marching in step. They were scrambling about in confusion, turning their heads from side to side, staring bli
ndly in the gloom.
+Ah, you see, your powers grow,++ said the voice. ++But we can teach you more than simple tricks with darkness. Far more! She will never tell you who you really are. But we will.++
Jack almost answered, but just in time shut his mouth very slowly and quietly as the rats continued to look around, staring in all directions, sometimes even straight at him, but without any sign of recognition.
They can’t see me, Jack realised. They can’t see me!