"Whatever it is, let's not bother," Chester proposed. He became nervous, darting cautious glances around him so that he appeared a little like a strutting pigeon. "I really don't want to meet those Coprolite things."
Cal turned to him. "Look, how many times do I have to tell you? They're completely harmless. People in the Colony say you can take what you like from them, if you can find them in the first place."
Since Chester didn't make any sort of response, Cal continued. "We have to investigate anything unusual. If we've noticed it, Will's father might've, too, and that's what we're sort of here for, isn't it?" he finished sarcastically. "In any case, we had to stay on this side of the canal because you didn't want to get your feet wet." Cal bent to pick up a stone, which he threw aggressively. It hit the water with a loud splash!
"You never let up, or shut up, do you?" Chester groaned.
"Oh, yeah?" Cal replied.
"Well, it's funny, but I didn't see you stripping off and jumping in the canal headfirst." Chester glared at the younger boy. "What's the saying — lead by example? "
"What do you mean, lead? We don't have a leader; we're all in this together, remember?"
"Could've fooled me."
"C'mon, guys," Will pleaded. "Knock it off. We don't need this."
The trio lapsed into an aggrieved silence as they set off again, the bickering between Cal and Chester suspended for the moment.
Then Cal peeled away from Will and Chester, taking a route perpendicular to the canal.
"It's coming from over here."
He stopped as the beam of his lantern caught a rocky outcrop. Next to this was an opening, a naturally formed slit in the ground, like a large letterbox.
As the other two peered into the opening, Will happened to catch sight of a cross staked into the earth by the side of the outcrop. The cross was fashioned from two pieces of wood, bleached as white as bone and somehow bound together.
"What does that mean?" he asked, pointing it out to Cal.
"Bet it's a Coprolite marker," his brother replied, nodding enthusiastically. "If we're in luck, there could be a settlement down there, and they're certain to have some food. We can help ourselves to all we want."
"I'm not too sure about this," Will shook his head.
"Will, let's just forget it and keep going," Chester urged his friend, staring into the hole apprehensively. "I don't like the look of it, either."
"You don't like the look of anything," Cal spat at him. "Why don't you stay here while I take a look," he said, and scuttled down into the opening. After a few seconds, he shouted up to them that he'd found a passageway.
Will and Chester were too weary to say anything to stop him, knowing full well they'd get into another fight. With reluctance, they both followed him in. Clambering down, they found themselves in a horizontal gallery. Cal hadn't waited for them and was already some distance farther into it. They went after him, but it wasn't easy going. As the gallery pinched down to a small passageway, Will was forced to dump his backpack, next to where Cal had already shed his.
"I hate this," Chester groaned. Both he and Will were breathing hard as they pulled themselves along, sometimes dropping onto their chests to squeeze through the places where the passage ceiling lowered.
Chester was struggling. Will could hear his friend's labored breathing as he wormed his way along. He still hadn't recovered from the months of incarceration in the Hold, despite the brief rests on the Miners' Train and at the old Styx house.
"Why don't you turn around? We'll meet you back at the entrance," Will suggested.
"Nah, it's OK," Chester puffed, grunting with the effort as he forced himself through a particularly narrow gap. "Got this far, haven't I?" he added.
"OK, if you're sure."
After a couple of minutes, Will was relieved to find that the height of the ceiling was increasing, and they were able to stand once again.
And there was Cal, some fifty feet away, poised before the entrance to another long cavern. As Will and Chester stretched their limbs, he waved to them. Then he was off, brandishing his lantern before him. Will and Chester watched him go.
"He's fast, I'll give him that. I reckon he's got some rabbit in him," Chester said, breathing more steadily.
"Are you feeling better?" Will asked him, noticing the pained way Chester was rubbing his arms and how the perspiration was running down his face.
"Sure."
"We'd better catch up to him, then," Will said. "I don't like this smell at all. Really sickly," he added, wrinkling his nose.
They came to the spot where Cal had been standing and looked in.
They could feel the dryness in the air and the smell had become even more intense. It wasn't pleasant; there was an insubstantiality to it, and warning bells were beginning to ring in Will's head. He knew instinctively there was something false about it, something saccharine.
Cal was now exploring an area of the floor that was dotted with many large, rounded boulders. On these were clusters of pipelike structures protruding upward, some reaching several feet in height. Each cluster had a few larger pipes in its center, each about five inches in diameter, and around these were groupings of smaller ones, all radiating outward.
The pipes were slightly lighter in color than the rocks on which they stood, and from where he was standing, Will could see that the outsides of these pipes had definite rings circumscribing them every inch or so. To his eye, this suggested that the extensions secreted their casings as they grew. He also observed that they were anchored to the boulders by some sort of resinous secretion, like an organic glue.
They were living creatures.
Fascinated, he took a step closer.
"Will, do you think this is safe?" Chester said, grabbing his arm to hold him back.
Will just shrugged, and was peering back into the cavern when they both saw Cal lose his footing. He grabbed at the top of one of the tubes to steady himself, but withdrew his hand quickly. There was a sound, as if someone had snapped their fingers, but sharper. Cal recovered his balance and straightened up.
"Ouch," he said quietly, looking at his hand with a mystified expression.
"Cal?" Will called.
For a heartbeat the boy stood there, his back to them, still examining his hand.
Then he simply crumpled to the ground.
"CAL!"
Will and Chester exchanged frantic glances, and Will started to move forward but found Chester was still gripping his arm.
"Let me go!" he said, trying to detach himself.
"No!" Chester shouted at him.
"I have to!" Will said, struggling.
Chester released him, but Will halted after a few steps.
"What the…" Chester gasped.
They could hear it. More snaps, growing louder and more frequent. Muted, dry-sounding clicks, getting faster and faster until they merged into one resounding barrage. The terrified boys turned this way and that, trying to figure out where the throbbing percussive cacophony was coming from. But they couldn't tell; nothing appeared to have changed in the cavern where Cal lay.
"We have to get him out!" Will yelled, and started forward.
They both rushed to Cal's side. Chester eyed the columns around them with caution as Will squatted down to roll the boy over onto his back. He was limp and unresponsive, his eyes open and staring.
At first they thought he had just been stunned, but even as they watched, livid purple lines, accenting the network of capillaries beneath his skin, spread from under each of his eyes, much as ink permeates through water. With terrifying rapidity, the bruises grew larger, until they were encroaching upon his cheeks. It looked as though he had two huge black eyes.