your fault. He was going to get rid of us anyway. He was just making sure Rift wasn’t with us.” He glanced at Moon. “He must really like Rift. That’s very creepy.”
Esom said, slowly, “He wouldn’t be afraid of the people. He’s too powerful.” He sounded better, calmer, though his voice was still shaky. “It’s the other magisters, like Lethen. They must not realize he can send the leviathan anywhere he wants. He’s doing it to keep control of the traders, moving it so the ones who don’t pay him off can’t find it.”
Too bad we can’t tell them about it, Moon thought bitterly. The resulting battle would be interesting to watch, but not much help to them. The other magisters wouldn’t want to give the seed back, either.
Then Stone said, “Chime, how did you know this passage was here? Did you feel it?”
“Yes. As we got closer, I just knew it was there in the wall. It hurt, like a—” Chime waved a hand beside his head. “I can’t describe it.”
“I thought you weren’t a mentor anymore,” River said, making it sound like an accusation. “That’s what you told Pearl.”
“I know what I told Pearl. I’m not a mentor anymore.” Chime’s spines flicked in irritation. “This is different. It’s not augury, it’s… flashes of insight.”
Stone said, “Can you tell if that big spider thing is coming down here after us?”
“The one we landed on?” Chime shook his spines uneasily. “No, I can’t tell.”
“But it’s too big to get into these passages,” Esom protested, stumbling after them.
Moon wasn’t going to explain, but River said, darkly, “It could eat its way through here, just like the things that made this tunnel.”
Esom didn’t reply for a moment. Then he said, bleakly, “Of course it could.”
It was hard to judge the passage of time, but Moon didn’t think they had traveled much of a distance when Stone said, “Here we go.” He stopped and held the light high. It fell on an irregular hole in the top of the passage that led upward. “That could go all the way to the outer skin.”
“It’s worth a try,” Moon said in relief. It might be the way this particular set of parasites had gotten down here in the first place. Even if it didn’t go all the way through the outer skin, if there was room for Stone to shift, he might be able to tear an opening for them to slip through.
“Wait.” Esom’s expression was pained and reluctant. “As much as I want to get out of here… there’s a magical source that way.” He pointed down the bigger tunnel that wound off through the leviathan’s flesh. “If it’s your seed, I don’t know how or why it would be down here, but—”
No, Moon wanted to say, we need to get out now, we need to go after Jade and Flower. “Are you sure?”
Esom winced in resignation. “Unfortunately, yes. Believe me, I’d rather go up.”
Stone turned to Chime. “Is he right? Can you feel it?”
Chime’s spines ruffled again. “No. I’m not a mentor anymore.”
Stone eyed him deliberately. “You knew there was a barrier over the outer door.”
A muscle worked in Chime’s jaw. He said, flatly, “I can’t do magic like Esom does.”
“How do you know you can’t?” Esom challenged. “Did you ever try?”
Chime hissed at him, and Esom drew back, affronted.
“I hate trusting the groundling, but we have to look.” River faced Stone. “We can’t come all this way and—”
“We know,” Moon snapped. He looked at Stone. “We’ll take the other tunnel.”
Stone gave him a grim nod.
They followed the bigger tunnel, passing two more passages that led directly upward. Moon gritted his back teeth and resisted the urge to alter their course.
Moon sensed the change ahead before he saw or heard anything. He halted abruptly. The others froze in place behind him, but Esom stumbled. It didn’t matter. Moon had the feeling that whatever blocked the airflow ahead already knew they were here. Nothing came at them, but after a moment he heard movement, scraping, a low grunt.
Moon eased forward. As the tunnel curved, he saw another narrow passage that intersected with it at a sharp angle. A group of beings climbed up it toward them.
They had mottled gray-white bodies, heavily muscled, with oblong heads, eyes protected by heavy folds, and wide mouths. Their skin was made up of tough armor plates, overlapping like scales. Moon realized these were the same pallid creatures he had seen in the space below the city, that bore