“Hurry,” he shouted over his shoulder and inadvertently breathed in another lungful of the spoors. “We have to make it to the cave entrance where they can’t follow us!”
“Coming!” V’rone bellowed behind him. He still had Terra over one broad shoulder and was running flat-out, no doubt breathing in the spoors as well. Tem had a hand over his nose and mouth as he ran, but it was doubtful he could filter out all the brown flecks floating in the air, Rive thought darkly. There was no way around it—they were all going to be affected.
But there was no time to worry about that now. The Froozle guards were right behind Tem, reaching out for him with their long, leafy arms and frond-like fingers. Because their stems were so slender, they were weaving their way through the Chirrips easily, gaining with frightening speed.
“Tem, watch behind you!” Rive shouted and then he had to face front again and race for the end of the Chirrips’ valley. He got past it at last and then he came to the huge green hill, which was really more of a mountain.
He was afraid at first that the opening he’d seen in the hill was a shallow one—maybe just a trick of the shadows and light. But to his relief, Rive found it was deep enough—possibly extending through the entire hill. Not only that, but the golden path that lit their way between the worlds went directly into it.
He ran inside, noting that the ceiling was only about a foot above his head. Which made the space slightly claustrophobic but hopefully too low for the Froozle guards to enter.
V’rone came next, still carrying Terra and then Tem barely made it in before the Froozles were there at the entrance.
“Hey! Come back here!” The two guards were bending nearly double, trying to see into, what for them, was an extremely low entrance. “Get out here!” one of them demanded, his petaled face blocking the entrance.
“What, so you can roast us and eat us at your feast today? Don’t fucking think so,” V’rone growled, putting Terra down and pushing her protectively behind him. “If you think we’re gonna let you tie us up and…and stick us on a spit and…and…”
But to Rive’s surprise, the Brawn of their colony suddenly burst out laughing.
“Oh my Goddess!” he gasped, holding his flat stomach as he bellowed laughter. “Oh, the idea of all of us all tied up on a stick like that…too…too funny!”
Rive didn’t think the idea was funny at all. In fact, his colony-mate’s words brought horror to his mind. The idea of all their headless bodies roasted and served on a giant spit like the tiny skinkles had been at the Froozle dinner they had attended filled him with terror like dark water.
“Come,” he said, trying to push the awful images away. “Come, we must…we must go deeper. We must follow the path!”
“They can’t get to us, can they?” Terra asked anxiously, still looking at the Froozle guards who were stopped at the entrance of the cave.
“No, my Lady.” Tem’s voice sounded slow and dreamy. “They have…no power here.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Terra asked. “And you, V’rone? Can’t you stop laughing?”
“N-n-no!” V’rone was still chuckling but Terra’s words seemed to strike him as funny because the chuckling turned into more bellows of laughter that echoed from the rock walls, making Rive jump and flinch as they turned into bats and flew at his head.
No, wait—that’s not true! Sounds can’t turn into animals—can they?
He had no answer for this strange question and he knew he should move deeper into the cave, but somehow he felt stuck to the spot. He didn’t know what to do—his brain felt as though someone had locked it with a key or maybe frozen it in a block of ice. And because his brain wouldn’t work, neither would his legs. He looked around but his colony-mates were gone.
All Rive could see was darkness and despair.
THIRTY-FIVE
“Okay, what the hell is going on around here?” Terra looked at her guys with mounting concern.
The Froozle guards were still outside shouting for them to come out but nobody was paying them any attention. For one thing, it was clear that they were too tall and their stalks weren’t supple enough for them to bend down and get into the cave entrance. But for another, none of the Monstrum seemed to be all the way there at the moment.
Rive was frozen in place, a look of existential horror on his face, Tem was staring at his hand in a wondering way as though it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen, and V’rone…well, the Brawn of the colony was possibly the worst of the three. He was holding his stomach and giggling—actually giggling like a little girl!
“What’s so funny?” Terra demanded, but he only shook his head.