Unspeakable, Part 20

They had several weeks of quiet. Everyone settled into their own corners of the cavern. Mander started swimming in the magma pools, scaring Sally half to death as he emerged one day.

Unspeakable, Part 19

Miles lay quietly in the niche of stone, feeling curiously at peace. He listened to the lava flow and Shylock breathe in his sleep, and he waited. The others came one by one, to talk.

Unspeakable, Part 18

Miles woke flat on his back in a stone shelf, Boy bending over him. He tried to move and thought better of it. How long? he asked. A long while was Boy’s reply. How do you feel?

Unspeakable, Part 17

We’ve got to keep moving, Ivan said at last. Where? Mander asked. We’re sealed in. Ivan looked around at them in the nonexistent light and said finally we’ll find something.

Unspeakable, Part 16

Mander woke in the night with a start as a hissing, scrabbling noise slid past his head through the wall. He shot off his slab and into the room, breathing hard. The noise passed by.

Unspeakable, Part 15

They didn’t dare take much time to celebrate their improved fortunes. Before long, they were hearing scratching and scrabbling behind the walls, stalking around the sealed door.

Unspeakable, Part 14

Who? Miles demanded. Can we trust them? Absolutely? Sally nodded. Yes. Definitely. Boy and I were in the same classes together for ages, I know him.

Unspeakable, Part 13

She whirled around in terror, and found herself looking into a familiarly nondescript face. Sally? he said inquiringly. He tilted his head. What did you do to your hair?

Unspeakable, Part 12

The chute was a bit of a squeeze but she slid through like water through a pipe. She just kept moving, hand foot hand foot, eyes turned upward. She thought of Miles calling her Spider-man and smiled. It wasn’t like that at all.

Unspeakable, Part 11

When he woke, Miles was suddenly terrified that he would find Shylock dead beside him, gone silently while he’d slept. For a moment he couldn’t bear to open his eyes, and face that.

But he managed it, peering with one eye, and only daring to open the other when he was sure Shylock’s chest was still moving up and down. Then he took a very careful look.

Shylock was still very pale. Miles hated the look of his bared body, the ugliness of the bright red handprints. His face was haggard and drawn. But he was alive.