Read Chapters 1-2

Chapter 1- DARKNESS
Clang! Clink! Clang!...Clang! Clink! Clang! 

Fin’s ears echoed with the sharp rhythm of metal striking stone as he paused, his hands aching. He let his pickaxe rest heavily on the jagged floor, cold sweat streaking down his face. “All this work and what’ve I got to show for it?” he muttered, glaring at the crack he had been chipping at for what felt like forever. He focused the pale blue light of his glowlamp on the rock as he ran his calloused fingers along the fracture, searching for a soft spot. “Come on, I know you’re around here somewhere,” he mumbled to the rock.

Suddenly, the glowlamp on his forehead flickered off and he was instantly immersed in complete darkness.

Panicking for a moment, Fin quickly tapped his lamp a few times with his knuckles. “Wake up!” he cried, before it blinked back to life. Time for a new stone, he thought, breathing a sigh of relief.

He returned to his task as his hands continued to feel along the rock wall.  Then they stopped.  “Gotcha!” he exclaimed as his fingers found a weak spot in the rock.

Fin’s task was to connect his new tunnel to what he hoped might be a cavern or some sort of glowstone seam on the other side. By this point Fin thought he would have made

much better progress, but the rock was stubborn and seemed to mock his attempts. On top of that, Fin wasn’t feeling particularly motivated as he stared at the cold stone in front of him. “There better be a big fat glowstone on the other side of you,” he said, as he planted his feet and hoisted the pickaxe over his shoulder. “Day after day I dig, and I scrape and I dig, and I scratch, for what?” he asked. But other than his voice echoing in the darkness he was met by silence. 

The tunnel around him groaned softly, reminding him how dangerous this was and how the stone didn't care about him at all. He'd grown accustomed to the groaning earth and stone, though never comfortable with it.

Part of the reason for the shifting of earth in the tunnel was that support beams were always spread thin, especially for the smaller tunnels like the one Fin now toiled in. He’d already stolen a few from nearby passages. They were probably as close to collapse as this one. Everything underground was spread thin, and Fin felt it daily. All that stone and dirt above pressed down on him, a constant reminder of how dangerous life was in the underground.

“Okay, back at it,” he sighed as he gave a halfhearted swing at the stone.

Clink!

A few small sparks flared in the dim, flickering light of his glowlamp. The pack straps dug into his shoulders, so he shifted his weight. He swung the pickaxe again.

Clank!

The rock quivered slightly under the impact and a few larger chunks broke off. “Just break through already and let me find a glowstone!” he pleaded through gritted teeth. Wanting to get a fuller swing this time he removed his pack and tossed it behind him before raising the pickaxe for another blow.

Crack!

The fracture widened, splitting jaggedly like a spider’s web, revealing what appeared to be a small opening. “Yes!” he cried. Then the tunnel around him shuddered. “No!” he gasped as he reached at his side for a cord to pull that he hoped would be his salvation. Where is it? He thought desperately as his hand came up empty. Then he remembered with frustration. My pack!

The air grew thick. The walls trembled violently around him. Fin barely had time to suck in a breath before the earth roared to life. He felt the first shift of the rocks above and dove for his pack, but the ceiling caved faster than he could move.

CRASH!

The world slammed down around him.

Dust and debris exploded into the air, choking him as the collapse bore down. He hit the cold stone floor hard, his breath knocked clean out of him. Then came the crushing pressure, as a pile of earth and stone pinned his body to the floor. He was trapped.

Oh no! His mind screamed.

The silence was deafening, broken only by the faint sound of falling rubble settling into place. Fin struggled to draw air into his lungs, each breath shallow and labored.  Dust filled his nose and throat, scratching and stinging with every gasp.

Everything was black—utterly and completely black. Of course, my glowlamp is dead, he thought in a panic. He tried to reach his hands towards the lamp, but they were both pinned down. Its dim light flickered weakly on and off several times. “Come on! Come on!” he pleaded under his breath. “I need light!”

The soft blue glow held steady for a moment, then blackness again. No! Come on! he pleaded to the lifeless lamp. No luck.

It's dead and I'm next, thought Fin morbidly. His emergency air pouch—what was supposed to be his salvation—lay just feet away, useless. He'd been digging for glowstones, and now his own had died. Perfect. Story of my life. Trapped.

This is bad—really bad. Fin strained against the crushing weight, but the rocks wouldn't budge. His muscles burned as he pushed and twisted, but it was no use. Other than being able to slightly shift his left hand, everything else was pinned to the cold floor. His heart hammered against his ribs. Stay calm. Don’t panic. Think! But the thoughts in his head were starting to spiral out of control. Is this the end? He felt his chest tightening, the rocks pressing harder, and his breaths coming faster and faster.

Even worse than the weight of the rocks was the heaviness of thick darkness that enveloped him. For most undergrounders, the darkness wasn’t something to fear. Undergrounders were born in darkness—it was their constant companion, as natural as air. But Fin wasn’t like most undergrounders; he was terrified of complete and utter darkness. Always had been. And here it was, all around him, and it was suffocating him. 

Fin closed his eyes and tried focusing on his breathing, fighting the panic that now clawed at his chest. “Help,” he tried to scream, but his voice barely rose above a whisper, muffled by the cold dirt and stone, and by the darkness.

For a moment, he stilled, listening desperately for a sound—any sound—but there was only black silence.

Thirteen collapses, he thought. This is the thirteenth. Unlucky thirteen. Why is thirteen unlucky? Why couldn’t it be unlucky one-hundred and thirteen? If only my dad were here. His thoughts scattered, grabbing at anything to keep the fear down. He squeezed his eyes shut. Okay Fin, think. Focus. How did you get out last time? The memories came in fragments—cold stone, darkness, all alone—alone! “Where’s Sky?!”

His voice cracked as he tried to shout. The rocks pressed tighter, stealing his breath and silencing him completely. He could only mouth a weak, “Skyyy.”

Then from the silent darkness came a wonderful, familiar voice: “Fin!”

Sky! Her voice echoed down the tunnel and broke through his dark thoughts like a beam of light. Sky was Fin’s digging partner, and they'd worked together since both started as stone hunters. Sky was also Fin's best friend. Though only six months older—turning thirteen soon—she reminded him endlessly of that insurmountable age gap. It also didn’t help that Sky was currently five inches taller than him. Sky had been digging at the far end of the tunnel before the latest collapse.

“Where are you? Fin! Are you okay?” cried Sky.

“Here,” responded Fin, in a low rasping whimper as the clatter of boots on rubble and stone grew closer. 

"Almost there, hang on!" Sky shouted, clawing through the pile with bare hands. Gravel flew in all directions. The tunnel groaned, showering dirt. 

"It's not safe," Fin tried to warn, but his voice failed. 

"You think I would leave you here?" With a grunt, she braced her shoulder against the boulder wedged against his back. The weight shifted. His lungs filled with desperate air as the pressure eased. 

"Almost—got it—" Sky panted, heaving the rock aside. It tumbled away with a dull thud. She shoved another chunk of debris off his arm, her hands scraped raw and bleeding. “There!”

With the weight gone, Fin gasped as cool air hit his face. His muscles screamed in protest as he pushed himself upright, still holding firmly to his pickaxe. Before he could say a word, Sky lunged forward and threw her arms around him.

“You’re alive!” she cried, her voice breaking. Her hug was as fierce as her digging, and Fin barely held back a groan as her grip pressed his battered ribs.

When she pulled back, she looked him over with wide, relieved eyes. “And you look awful!” she laughed.  Dust covered his face, his dirty blonde hair clung to his forehead with sweat, and blood dripped from a scrape near his eye.

Fin shrugged, a faint grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “You don’t look much better.”

Sky chuckled. “Come on,” she said, gripping his arm. “We need to get out of here before this whole tunnel comes down.”

The tunnel creaked ominously, as if agreeing with her. Fin spotted a strap from his pack in the rubble and quickly retrieved it, before they darted out of the smaller tunnel and into a main shaft, eager to get out of the immediate danger.

“Didn’t get a chance to try out your emergency pouch, did you?” asked Sky as she noticed the cord trailing out of Fin’s pack.

“No,” muttered Fin in frustration. “It probably wouldn’t have worked anyway.”

“I bet it would have,” remarked Sky. “You are a genius you know.”

Fin let out a sigh. A genius who took his emergency pack off right before he needed it.

“Your glowlamp broken?” questioned Sky, examining the lamp on Fin’s forehead.

“Yeah,” coughed Fin as he pulled off his glowlamp and gave it a few hard shakes. “The stone must be dead.”

“Well, better the stone then you,” she chuckled. “Sorry it took me so long. There was a big pile between us that I had to get through.”

“How do you constantly manage to escape unscathed and I’m always the unlucky one?” asked Fin, furrowing his dark eyebrows. 

Sky shrugged. “I consider us both pretty lucky to be alive.”

“I just hope our luck hasn’t run out,” responded Fin. “You know eventually one of these rockfalls is bound to—” but his voice trailed off as he saw the look of pain in Sky’s bright blue eyes.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I’ll see them again. Someday. Anyway, there’s not much more we can do up in this pile of rubble today. You’ve made quite the mess!” she grinned widely as she looked at Fin. “We should head home,” offered Sky.

Fin shook his head. “Another day empty handed though. That’s two weeks straight.”

Sky held up her hands. “Fin, it’s late. Don’t worry about it. There’s always tomorrow.”

Fin breathed out deeply and nodded. There really wasn’t much more they could do, especially with the cave-in.

“Alright let’s go,” he said, and they began making their way towards the old tunnel that would take them home. Sky’s glowlamp cast a soft blue light down the tunnel, catching the million little flecks of dust still hanging in the air like smoke.

Chapter 2- THE SHAFT

 

The two tired tunnelers made their way along a narrow passage they had painstakingly carved out over the past year. It had been grueling work, like all digging in the underground. Most of the tunnelling was through rock and stone, and it was a welcome relief when a stone hunter was able to dig through dirt. The tunnel they had dug was barely wide enough for them to walk single file with stooped shoulders. Even though Sky and Fin were young, their tunnel’s dimensions were near perfect as its width and height remained the same through its entire span. They may not have enjoyed digging, but they did take pride in their craft.

As they rounded a little corner Fin suddenly cried out in frustration. “Oh, come on!” 

The object of his frustration? A massive boulder blocking their path home. 

Sky shrugged and bit her lip. “Maybe we can dig around it.” 

Fin glanced at her sideways with an exaggerated frown. “Suuure, we can. In ten years! This thing isn’t going anywhere,” he muttered as he pressed his shoulder into the immovable wall of stone.

Undeterred by Fin’s sarcasm, Sky slid her iron pick out of its sheath and slammed it into the face of the giant boulder. The metallic clang! resonated through the air and a few sparks scattered in the darkness. She paused to examine her work. A few white scrapes on the black rock were all that showed from her efforts.

“Try the sides,” ordered Sky as she began to attack the rock wall with her pick.

Fin reluctantly followed suit on the opposite side, making a few halfhearted swings at the rock with his pick. Thud. Thud.

“It’s not working,” he said, pitifully.

Sky turned towards Fin. “Really? That’s all you’ve got?”

Fin shook his head. “Face it, Sky. It’s useless. We’re trapped and—”

Sky held up a hand which cut Fin off. She then put her finger to her lips.

“What is it?” whispered Fin. “Did you hear something?”

Sky scrunched her face and breathed out heavily through her nose as she looked from side to side and then back at Fin. “Do you feel that?” she asked.

“Feel what?” asked Fin.

“That—feeling,” responded Sky as she turned to the side and began to scratch at the wall with her pick. “I wonder—” 

“Are you serious?” asked Fin. “Here?”

Sky ignored him as she slung her pickaxe over her shoulder and then gave a heavy blow to the rock. Clank! It sank into a little seam, and when she tried to pull it out, it wouldn’t budge.  She turned to look at Fin. “A little help, please,” she asked as she began yanking on the pickaxe. Fin stepped forward and gripped tightly to the top of the handle while Sky held firmly to the bottom.

“One, two, three,” counted Fin, before they both yanked hard on the handle. The pick flew backwards and so did the two friends, who each ended up on their backs.  

“Ouch!” groaned Fin as he rubbed his already sore back. “What was the point of all—” but Sky cut him off as she exclaimed, “there you are!” She beamed widely and turned to Fin. 

Fin looked at her in disbelief. “Unbelievable.” 

“Believe it,” responded Sky sarcastically as she pointed toward the gash in the rock. A narrow beam of blue light emerged from the seam. They jumped up to examine the crack and found a shiny little glowstone nestled inside.

 

Oh yes. Now before we keep pressing onward with this story, I should probably pause a minute to get you up to speed on glowstones, since Sky and Fin are glowstone hunters, and the precious stones play quite an important role in this story. Now that I think of it, there’s quite a lot to get you up to speed on! But let’s start with the glowstones shall we? 

****

Glowstones

 ****

Undergrounders, as you might imagine, live in a world of perpetual night. Their two greatest treasures—light and heat—come from only two sources: fire and glowstones. Now, I trust you’re already familiar with fire. It’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? It cooks your food, keeps you warm, and makes excellent marshmallows—though it has a dreadful habit of incinerating them at the precise moment you think they’re about to turn a perfect golden brown!

But fire, as wonderful as it is, has its flaws. Down in the underground, it’s not always the friendly campfire you might know. If a fire isn’t hot enough, it smokes up a room faster than you can say “pass the marshmallows,” fills tunnels with thick, suffocating clouds, and casts a wobbly, flickering light that makes it nearly impossible to see anything more than a few steps ahead. And let’s not forget—if your fire goes out while you’re deep in a tunnel, you’ll find yourself groping your way home in the dark and wishing you’d brought a glowstone instead!

Ah, glowstones! Now there’s a marvel. Glowstones are everything fire isn’t: steady, bright, and utterly smokeless (because, honestly, who likes smoke in their eyes?) They’re also cool to the touch—not icy, mind you, but pleasantly chill, like a stone plucked from a brisk mountain stream. What’s more, they’re downright beautiful. Picture glittering gems of every shade: deep sapphire blues, fiery oranges, gentle emerald greens, and even the occasional ruby-red glowstone. They come in all sizes, too—some no bigger than your thumbnail, others as large as a cottage. And while the bigger ones may seem more impressive, it’s not always about size. Sometimes, a small but perfectly formed glowstone can outshine its hulking cousins by a hundredfold.

Undergrounders have become quite clever at making the most of these treasures. With a bit of polished stone or shiny metal, they can focus a glowstone’s light into a beam that cuts through the darkness like a sword through a leaf. It’s a handy trick for glowstone hunters like Fin and Sky, who spend their days exploring and mining the endless labyrinth of tunnels in search of these precious stones.

However, glowstones aren’t only for seeing. Oh no, they’re vital for growing food in the underground farms, where the vegetables grow to truly ridiculous sizes. Imagine broccoli trees towering as high as oaks or spinach leaves so large you could use them as a blanket (not that I’d recommend it—they’re dreadfully damp). Glowstone light, combined with the cool air, rich black soil, and crystal-clear water of the underground, turns ordinary crops into giants. Farmers often need axes or two-man saws to harvest them. You’d better step aside if you hear a farmer shouting, “Broccoli coming down!”—because when those colossal trees fall, they hit the ground with a crash that’ll rattle your teeth!

Of course, there’s a catch. “Nothing gold can stay” as they say, and glowstones don’t last forever. Even the brightest ones eventually fade, and finding new ones has become harder with each passing year. Once upon a time, you could stumble across glowstones on a casual stroll, plucking them from streambeds or kicking them loose from the cave floor. Now, even the most dedicated stone hunters, like Fin and Sky, can spend weeks searching without finding so much as a glimmer. Which was exactly their circumstance until just a few moments ago.

Oh dear! I’ve gone on far too long about glowstones, haven’t I? Poor Fin and Sky have been standing in that tunnel this whole time, waiting for us to catch up. Let’s not keep them waiting a moment longer!

 

****

 

Fin stared at Sky and then back to the glowstone. How does she find so many glowstones? He thought, and not for the first time. He shook his head. Fin had always felt he was cursed with a serious lack of glowstone finding skills which always left him feeling somewhat out of place. Whoever heard of a glowstone hunter who couldn’t find glowstones? he thought. And it didn’t help that his father was a well-known stone hunter, and his best friend Sky seemed to have a sixth sense for finding them. While Sky’s sense for finding glowstones was certainly exceptional, there was an expectation that all glowstone hunters had a basic knack for finding them. 

Maybe I just wasn’t meant to be a stone hunter, thought Fin. But what else is there? It’s supposed to be in my blood. And it’s not like I have a choice. I was born a stone hunter. Born to dig and sweat and scrape and scratch. He stared at the precious little stone. All this work for stinkin’ stones. How long do I have to do this? He answered his own question. Forever, probably. My whole life crawling around in the dark.

Fin’s shoulders slumped. But if we don’t keep finding them—we’re doomed.

“So, are you gonna get it?” asked Sky as she looked at Fin, who was still deep in thought. 

Fin stirred. “Me?” 

“No silly,” responded Sky sarcastically. “The other person that’s been secretly digging with me all day. Yes you! After all, you helped me pull the pick out. I therefore dub you co-finder of this glorious little blue glowstone.” 

“But it was your crazy glowstone senses or whatever it is you have that helps you find these things that made you stick your pick in this rock in the first place,” protested Fin.

“We both found it, and you're better with the long pole anyway, end of discussion,” said Sky firmly.

Fin rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said as he turned to retrieve his long pole from his pack. He didn’t like her giving him pity, but she was right about him being better with the long pole. The day was getting late and the sooner they got the stone out and figured out a way to get home the better. 

He began to carefully slide and maneuver the long pole into the crack and towards the glowstone. His slight, wiry frame helped him squeeze his arms into the crevice while his scarred fingers gripped the pole tightly. After some careful poking and prodding, Fin managed to loosen the glowstone which sat in a deep crevice with the corkscrew end of the pole. If he didn’t use the long pole correctly the stone would fall deeper into the slit and be lost. Or at the very least require another day's work to retrieve it.  

“You’ve got this!” encouraged Sky from behind.

“I hope so,” responded Fin as he slowly and carefully twisted the corkscrew, one half turn at a time. “Right—there!” he said as the corkscrew twisted over the top of the glowstone, popping it into the leather netting. Fin gingerly pulled the long pole back, carrying the little prize towards him.  The glowstone was about the size of a big brass button on a pair of trousers and they both gazed at its simple beauty for a moment, letting its pale blue light warm their faces. Fin took out his cleaning towel and wiped off the dust covering the stone, which made its light even stronger. He held it in his hand for a moment and felt its cool shimmer, before wrapping it in the towel and gently placing it into his pouch. 

“I told you not to worry,” smiled Sky.

Fin shook his head. “Okay, okay. So now what?”

Sky gave a half smile. “Now, we go home.” 

“And how do you suggest we do that?” inquired Fin, raising his eyebrows and nodding towards the giant stone.

Sky stared at Fin, unblinking. “I think you know.”

Fin narrowed his eyes as he looked back at her. “I don’t think I do.”

Sky breathed in deep through her nose and slowly exhaled. “The shaft,” she continued with a nod of her head back in the direction they had come from.

Fin looked at Sky wide-eyed and sputtered. “The shaft? Are you crazy?”

Sky tilted her head as she stared back at him and shrugged.

Fin stammered. “But—but it’s closed—because of the—well—you know—it’s sealed off! We can’t go that way!”

“Oh, come on, Fin,” implored Sky. “That was months ago. Breaking through a few chains won’t take long. And you yourself said it would take ten years to dig past this big boulder. Or we could just sit here and wait for who knows how long. Is that what you want to do?”

No, thought Fin. I don’t. But I also can’t go down the shaft. I—I won’t—Fin was caught between a rock and a hard place. Story of my life, he thought.  Stuck between rocks and hard places. Why is everything so hard?

“Come on!” beckoned Sky. “It’s not too far back to the shaft.” She turned and began making her way along the tunnel away from the boulder. “It has to have moved on!” she called over her shoulder. 

Fin's mind raced, already calculating their options. He tried to gather his thoughts and shuddered at the thought of going down the shaft. Is there any other way?

The horrible memory from last year lurched into the front of his mind. He remembered every detail.

It had been the end of a long day when the screams shattered the tunnel's quiet—raw, blood-curdling screams that seemed to come from everywhere at once. They originated from the dark shaft nearby, the same one they were about to enter.

"This way!" Sky had shouted, sprinting toward the screams. When they reached the shaft's edge, a lone figure clawed his way up the ladder—pale, streaked with blood, gasping for air.

"Is there anyone else?" Sky had asked.

The man's eyes went wide, reflecting their glowlamps like two full moons. "It was monstrous," he stammered. "I didn't hear it coming! None of us did. It just came flying down the tunnel—there wasn't time—"

His words dissolved into choking sobs. Fin had never seen a man cry like that—not from sadness, but from pure terror. The look in those haunted eyes would stay with Fin forever. The man had seen something so horrific it had completely unraveled him.

For months afterward, Fin woke up drenched in sweat, the screams echoing in his head, the man's terror-stricken face burned behind his eyelids.

And now they were about to return to that very same shaft. Fin's stomach churned at the thought.

Then he snapped back to reality, trying to shake the memory.

This is the underground, he thought. This is your lot in life. Death and darkness lurk around every corner.

Nobody ever called Fin brave, and he knew it. But he was intelligent and grounded in facts. And the fact was the way home was blocked. They had one choice left: the shaft.

He took a deep breath and then began walking back down the tunnel towards Sky, doing his best to muster up some inner courage and block out his memories, and a single, terrifying thought. What if it’s still down there?

Fin caught up to Sky and found her standing before the sealed door of the shaft. Her hands rested on her hips and her glowlamp cast long, jagged shadows on the rock walls. The door to the shaft loomed in front of them like a tombstone, while its rusted chains glinted faintly in the pale light of Sky’s glowlamp.

“It’ll be fine,” Sky said with her usual confidence, her voice bright and unwavering. “We’ll drop down the shaft, dash through the tunnel to the next ladder, climb up, and we’re on the other side of the boulder and home free. A few minutes tops. Easy-peasy.”

Fin tried to smile, but it felt more like a grimace. “Easy-peasy,” he repeated, his voice hollow and his mind far from easy as the memory of the stone hunter’s wide, terrified eyes and trembling hands swirled in his mind.

“Alright then,” Sky said, hefting her pickaxe. “Let’s deal with these chains.” She swung the pick, and the clang of metal-on-metal reverberated through the tunnel like a bell.

Clang!

Fin joined her, his strikes slower and heavier. Each swing weighed down by his unease. Finally, the chains gave way with a snap, and together they shoved the lid aside.

The shaft gaped open before them; its darkness felt impossibly deep. Sky leaned over the shaft, aiming her glowlamp’s beam into the void. The light barely reached twenty feet down before it was swallowed up in darkness.

“It doesn’t look too far,” she said, forcing a cheerful smile.

Fin stared into the abyss, imagining it stretching forever, endless and hungry. It looks like a mouth, he thought.

Sky nudged him. “No use delaying the inevitable,” she said, stepping to the edge. “I’ll go first since I’ve got the light.” Without hesitation, she grabbed the top rung of the ladder and swung herself over the edge.

Fin opened his mouth to protest, but no sound came out. His tongue felt glued to the roof of his mouth. Instead, he nodded stiffly and watched her light bounce off the walls of the shaft as she moved farther and farther down.

He had grown accustomed to her fearlessness. Nothing seemed to deter her. At times it made him jealous, but mostly he admired her for it. And right now, he wished he had a little bit of her carefree courage.

“Come on!” Sky called, her voice faint but insistent.

Fin gripped the first rung. If Sky can do it—he hesitated. Come on, move, he told himself. But his muscles felt sluggish, and the safe ground beneath him held him like an anchor. Taking a deep breath, he forced his trembling hands and feet to obey. One rung at a time, he thought as he climbed over the ledge and descended the ladder, down into the blackness.

The ladder seemed endless, and the air grew cooler and heavier. Sweat slicked his hands, and his heart thundered in his chest. It’s a lot farther than it looked, he thought as he stared at the glow of Sky’s lamp far below him.

When he finally reached Sky near the bottom of the ladder, she was waiting, her eyes scanning the tunnel ahead. She held up a hand, signaling him to stop.

It’s quiet, thought Fin. Quiet is good, right? Or is it bad?

Sky turned to him, her voice barely a whisper. “I’m sure the dust-breather’s long gone. We’ll be through the tunnel in no time.”

She dropped from the ladder onto the tunnel floor, her movements deliberate and confident. Fin stayed frozen on the last rung, his body refusing to follow. Every shadow seemed alive, whispering of what waited for him below.

The tunnel is a trap, his mind told him. The moment you drop, it’ll come for you.

“Fin,” Sky whispered urgently. “What’s the hold-up?”

Her voice cut through the web of fear tightening around him. He looked down at her, her face illuminated by the steady glow of her lamp.

“Nothing,” he croaked as he forced himself down the last few rungs, his jaw set with determination.

They set off into the tunnel, Sky leading with her glowlamp bobbing in a steady rhythm. Their footsteps echoed unnervingly loud. Fin heard every sound they made as it bounced off the tunnel walls ahead and behind, magnifying the feeling of being watched.

Every step felt like a lifetime. Fin’s heart pounded in his chest, drowning out everything else. Then Sky’s light caught the glint of the next ladder, still a few hundred feet ahead.

“Almost there,” said Sky with a smile as she picked up her pace.

Fin's hand shot out protectively, pulling Sky behind him. “Wait,” he whispered, his voice sharp with panic. “What was that? Did you see it? Something moved.”

Sky stopped, her breath catching. “What? I didn’t—”

Then it came—the faintest scrape, like something heavy dragging across the stone floor in front of them. The sound slithered through the darkness, freezing them both.

Suddenly, two glowing, beady eyes emerged from the black, catching the light of Sky’s glowlamp.

“RUN!” Fin yelled, as he grabbed Sky’s arm, spun and bolted.

Sky pulled back on Fin’s arm, releasing his grip. “Fin, wait!” she called, her voice sharp. “It’s okay!”

Fin skidded to a halt, his chest heaving, the blood roaring in his ears.

“It’s just a roly-moly,” Sky said, laughing softly. “And I think it’s more scared of us than we are of it.”

Fin’s heart still raced as he cautiously stepped back towards Sky, and sure enough, there was a trembling, fat roly-moly whose round body quivered as its long whiskers twitched nervously.

“Poor little guy,” Sky murmured, pulling a cracker from her pouch and tossing it gently toward the creature.

The roly-moly hesitated, then darted forward. Its long whiskers brushed the stone before snatching up the treat with surprising speed. Fin exhaled a shaky breath as his fear slowly retreated.

“Not too bad, is it?” assured Sky. “My grandmother makes them. Here, take another one.” Sky turned to Fin. “Aren’t they just the cutest things ever?”

“I think we should get moving,” replied Fin nervously.

“Okay,” replied Sky as she tossed another cracker towards the roly-moly. It reached out to grab the cracker, but then unexpectantly gave out a shrill “squeak!” curled into a ball and rolled lightning fast into the shadows at the edge of the tunnel.

“What’s the matter?” asked Sky, in confusion, but Fin was already urging her forward, pushing her after the roly-moly.  

“GO SKY GO!” he cried as they both began sprinting after the roly-moly. “Something’s coming!”

Behind them, grating and sliding noises reverberated off the walls, sending shivers down Fin’s spine. The sound grew in intensity with each passing moment, filling every inch of the tunnel now trembling around them. Adrenaline surged through his veins, and yet somehow everything seemed to be in slow motion. He could make out individual pebbles as they danced and skittered across the floor beneath his feet as he ran. Is this a dream? His mind felt like it was in some sort of a trance.

Then he heard Sky cry out, “This way!” as she darted into a smooth tunnel that Fin saw had not been carved by any undergrounder. Fin was right on her heels, not daring to look back at the danger that pursued them.  As he ran on, the words, you’re finished, assailed him from somewhere deep within. Fin tried to shake the thought as he forced himself to focus instead on the guiding light of Sky's glowlamp and her silhouette leading the way through the darkness as they hurtled forward. The tunnel soon came to a fork and Sky’s keen eyes caught a flicker of fur disappearing down a passage.

“Left!” she cried out.

 They turned and ran on for a few hundred feet before their worst fears were realized. Dead end!

We’re doomed! thought Fin, as the blood chilling sound all undergrounders feared came echoing down the chamber.

“Hisssssssss!”

 The cold grip of despair tightened around Fin's heart like a vice. He gritted his teeth and clutched tightly to his pickaxe. This is it. In a moment he knew it would all be over. He looked at Sky, who scanned the walls around them, desperate for a way out. He wanted to save her but felt so small and helpless as the darkness seemed to cave in around them and a thick shadow rushed towards them.

Then Fin thought he heard a voice, barely a whisper, utter a few simple words—I am with you. Fin was startled as well as comforted by the words, and a small part of him suddenly wanted to turn and face the inevitable head on. To make a desperate last stand like legends of old.

Fin squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will his body to turn and fight. Be brave, he told himself. But the fear was too strong. He was frozen.

Just then, he felt something bounce off of his head and he opened his eyes to see a few pebbles bouncing down the wall in front them.

            “Fin look!” cried Sky as she shone her light above them. Fin whipped his head up and saw the long, pink tail of the roly-moly hanging out over a high ledge. With swift determination Sky lunged towards the tail and grabbed it tightly with both hands. “Grab on!” she urged as Fin leapt forward and clung to her dangling legs right as the roly-moly’s sturdy tail carried her upward. 

            The loud hissing sound screamed down the tunnel and Fin knew the beast was close as the walls of the tunnel trembled violently.

            He dared not look, but he could feel the giant snake lunging towards them. His feet had just slipped over the ledge when a thunderous CRACK! sent shockwaves rippling through the dark as the massive creature collided with the stone wall below, a mere moment after they were pulled into a smaller tunnel.

“The snake can’t fit in here, right?!” cried Fin, but they didn’t wait to find out as they quickly scrambled into the smaller tunnel, desperate to get further from their pursuer. The tunnel grew narrower and narrower and soon they were sliding on their bellies. Fin thought he heard something behind them.

“Faster!” he cried.

Sky watched the roly-moly nearly flatten his round little body, as its furry interlocking plates folded flat. It continued scurrying on ahead of them while they panted and gasped in desperate pursuit. The rock around them pressed tighter against their bodies and they were forced to take their packs off and shove them in front.

“It’s too tight,” gasped Fin, suddenly aware that they might get stuck.

“Keep moving, I can see the end!” cried Sky.

 Just when Fin thought he couldn’t squeeze any further he saw Sky slip out of the tunnel. Fin wriggled his way behind her, for once grateful of his wiry frame.

“We made it!” gasped Sky as she lay on her stomach, taking in deep gulps of air. Fin crawled next to her and let his face rest against the cool, stone floor. He looked up when he heard soft rustling. It was the roly-moly.

It turned to look at them both as its long whiskers flicked up and down. It too was breathing heavily.

“Thank you,” offered Sky. “For saving us.”

The creature blinked several times in the light of her glowlamp, with its dark, beady eyes, as if to say, “you’re welcome,” and then turned, curled itself into a tight ball and quickly rolled away into the darkness.  Sky and Fin both rolled over onto their backs, completely spent. 

       “Well—that was intense,” gasped Sky with a bit of a grin on her face. “I did say we would get out of there, though.” She turned her head and looked at Fin. “Easy-peasy.”

Fin quietly shook his head and stared up towards the roof of the cavern; still in shock from the harrowing flight, and the thought of what could have been.

I can’t believe that just happened. We made it! But this thought was quickly countered by doubt. But for how long? You won’t escape the next time. He tried to take solace in those simple words he thought he had heard when the snake was almost upon them. “I am with you.” But now they felt faint, and he suddenly wasn’t even sure he had heard them. Did I just imagine it?

To clear his mind, he turned towards Sky. “Sky?” 

“What’s up?” she replied, with her eyes now closed.

“Do you ever feel like the darkness is—” he paused. Do I tell her?

“Is?” pressed Sky.

“Well,” stammered Fin as he struggled to find the words. “It’s just. It seems like the darkness is—” he wanted to say it. To speak his fears out loud, but he stopped. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”

‘You sure?” asked Sky.

“Yeah.”

They lay there in silence. Just tell her! Thought Fin. Get it out and be done with it. Tell her that the darkness is suffocating you. Like that tunnel we barely squeezed through. And eventually it’s going to crush us to death. And then what? More darkness? Nothing? I’m scared. I’m scared of all of it. The darkness. Being trapped and alone. Forever?

Then Sky broke the quiet. “I’m sorry Fin.”

Fin turned to face her. “Sorry? For what?”

“I was the one who made us go down that shaft and it almost got us killed,” she stated.

“No,” said Fin, shaking his head. “You were right. It was the only way. And we made it, right? Easy-peasy.”

Sky laughed. “Yeah. Easy-peasy,” she said before beginning to softly hum a little tune. It was another habit Sky had. Fin was used to it. She would sing or hum, especially when things were hard or difficult. Nothing ever seemed to phase her. She always seemed to find a way to stay positive. It was as if she came from another world and was merely visiting the dark underground; a traveler on her way to someplace better.

Fin listened to Sky humming and turned to look at her. She seemed completely unaffected by the terrifying snake attack they had barely escaped or the darkness that surrounded them.

“How are you always so positive?” asked Fin.

“What do you mean?” replied Sky, turning to face him.

“What do you mean, what do I mean?” gasped Fin. “We almost just died and you’re humming a tune without a care in the world!”

Sky furrowed her brows. “I have plenty of cares Fin.”

“But you don’t seem,” he paused. “Affected by it all. Even when it seems hopeless. I mean, we don’t even know where we are or how we will get home. And if we do get home, who knows what tomorrow might bring!”

“Oh Fin, you think too much sometimes,” smiled Sky. “And you’re wrong.”

“Wrong about what?” questioned Fin.

“I do get affected by it all. I just— I just keep it in that’s all.” She paused. “But I don’t believe that it’s ever hopeless,” stated Sky matter-of-factly. “I can’t. I have to believe that as long as we’re alive there’s always hope. Because, if we don’t have hope well, then, what do we have?”

Fin pondered her words in silence. It was a good question, he simply didn’t have an answer for her.

“But you are right that we don’t know where we are,” continued Sky. “So, the question is, what are we gonna do about it?” she asked as she stood up and brushed herself off.

Fin stood up as well and reached into his pocket to pull out his timestone.[1] “It’s pretty late,” he stated as he looked at the timestone.

“Well, then we better get going,” said Sky. “So why don’t you use that big brain of yours and help find us a way home!”

 

[1]  I almost forgot to tell you! Another remarkable gift that some glowstones possess is the ability to tell time. The time telling glowstones, called timestones, get brighter and brighter until the peak of the day, and then begin to dim and go dark in the evening. Undergrounders carry small timestones around with marks on them to tell the time. When the entire stone is lit up it is lunch, and when it is a quarter of the way lit it’s the end of the workday.