He looks around quickly. I see what he sees—forest growth so thick that one of those black things could be five feet away and we wouldn’t know it. We could be surrounded.
Bishop is overwhelmed, doesn’t know what to do. His hand squeezes harder; it hurts. I don’t think he knows how strong he is.
“Bishop, let go of me!”
He does, then shakes his head. “We can’t go after Bello yet—we have to warn the others.”
The others…are there more monsters in this sprawling room, closing in on Spingate and Gaston, O’Malley and Aramovsky?
I hear heavy things plowing through underbrush: more monsters coming to take us away. My chest turns to liquid and I cannot move.
Bishop spins to face the oncoming noise, blood-slick spear pointed out in front of him.
Farrar and Visca erupt from the tangled branches. Farrar sees us, moves to us, his eyes wide and his fists clenched tight.
“Bishop, what happened?”
Visca sees the fallen monster, takes a step away from it as if it were a spider about to strike.
A choked breath finally forces itself into my chest. I did it again—fear consumed me, and I froze.
Visca rushes to my side, his eyes flashing in all directions, searching for threats. “Em, I saw Bello come in here with you—where is she? And what is that thing on the ground?”
That thing is a monster, and Bishop is right: there could be more of them. Hundreds more, hiding in the shadows around us, slinking through the trees.
Visca and Farrar look to Bishop, waiting to see what he does, but Bishop is a mess. His hands flutter on the spear shaft. He can’t stop glancing at the horrid corpse, at the red-gray fluid oozing onto the brown leaves and rotted fruit.
When Bishop doesn’t answer them, Visca and Farrar turn to me.
They are waiting for someone to tell them what to do.
We either run blindly through the shadows and underbrush, hoping to find Bello, or we return to the others, warn them, maybe get more circle-stars and come back here with better numbers.
I have to make a decision, and I have to make it now.
“Come with me,” I say, then I turn and run, away from the shadows and toward the clearing’s light. I hear the circle-stars following close behind.
The trees thin. Leaf-strewn ground gives way to vines and creepers, then knee-high grass.
At the end of the overgrown pond, close to our thicket tunnel, I see people clustered together, terrified by the screams. O’Malley stands in front, knife in hand, flanked by Bawden and Coyotl on one side, El-Saffani on the other. O’Malley is clearly afraid, but ready to protect D’souza, Smith, Beckett, Borjigin and the others, people who cower behind this line of defenders.
I sprint along the pond’s grassy edge, reeds whipping by on my left. As I run, I look to the woods lining either side of the Garden—so many trees, so many places for the monsters to hide, to sneak in, to grab more of us.
I can fight, so can the circle-stars, but what about everyone else? What if they can be taken as easily as Bello was? I need fighters by my side, not more victims to rescue. I need to get the weak ones out of here, get them out of the way.
After I found Latu’s body, I swore I would never leave anyone alone again. When I reach O’Malley and the others, I know I am about to go back on that promise. I already hate myself for it, but I’ve made my decision.
“Everyone, to the thicket tunnel. Right now!”
They don’t know what’s happening, but they move just the same. As we run to the thicket, I call out more orders.
“Farrar, El-Saffani, go through and make sure nothing is waiting to surprise us in that room. We’ll all gather there before we go into the hallway.”
The three circle-stars instantly sprint ahead. Farrar throws himself to the ground first and starts in. By the time the rest of us reach the thicket mouth, the twins are already well on their way.
Do we have torches? I almost call out and ask Bello, but she’s gone.
“Okereke, how many torches are left?”
“Seven,” the boy shouts back.
That will have to do.
“Gaston, Spingate, you go in next,” I say. “You’ll be out front in the hallway, with me.”
Spingate shakes her head.
“Seven torches isn’t enough to get us back to the broken door,” she says. “We’ll be stuck in the dark.”
“We’re not going back. We’re going to the archway you and Gaston found.”
“But we don’t know what’s there,” she says. “We told you, we didn’t go past the door.”
“Light is there, and that’s enough for now.”
I can’t help but give Gaston a look that tells him he did well—his decision to explore might wind up saving lives. He sees the nod, understands it, gives me a firm one in return. Just as his respect is important to me, mine is important to him.
He crawls into the thicket tunnel. Spingate follows.
I point to the last four circle-stars in turn. “Bishop, Visca, Bawden, Coyotl, watch our backs. Make sure nothing comes after us. Everyone else, into the thicket tunnel and stay in the room until I get there. Move!”