He used it to make a single clean cut on his forearm.
For a moment, nothing happened, and then blood, dark and red, welled up.
He knelt and let the blood drip into the dirt.
"Mother," he said.
"Hear me, your child." He put the hand of his uninjured arm into the soil and mixed his blood into the powdery earth.
In German he whispered,"Erde, geliebte Mutter, dein Kind ruft.
Schmecke mein Blut.
Erkenne deine Sch?pfung, gew?hre Einlass." Magic made my feet tingle and my nose itch--but nothing else happened.
Zee stood up and counted off four paces before he sliced his other forearm.Kneeling, he bowed his head, and this time there was power in his voice."Erde mein, lass mich ein." Blood slid over his skin and down onto the backs of his hands, which were flat on the ground."Gibst mir Mut!" he shouted-- and rolled his hands over, wiping the blood on the ground.
"Trinkst mein Blut.
Erkenne mich."He leaned forward and put his weight on his arms.
First his hands, then his arms sank into the ground until they were buried past the wounds he'd given himself.
He leaned down until his mouth was nearly in the dirt, and said quietly,"?ffne Dich." The ground under my feet vibrated, and a crack appeared between the place Zee sat and the place where he'd mixed his blood with the soil.
"Erde mein,"he said.
The ground quivered with the vibrations of his voice, which sounded darker, as if he were dragging it out of a deep cavern."Lass mich ein.
Gibst mir Glut." He put his forehead on the ground."Trinke mein Blut.
Es quillt f?r Dich hervor.
?ffne mir ein Tor!" There was a flash, and a large square of dirt just disappeared, leaving in its place a stone staircase that went straight down for eight steps, then began to turn upon its inner edge.
I couldn't see any farther because a thick fog rose from the depths of the hole and obscured the stairway about ten feet down.
Zee jerked his hands out of the ground.
There was dirt on his arms, but no wounds and no blood.
He raised one hand and held it out to Ariana, giving her a stone that glowed.
"I can hold it for about an hour," Zee told us.
"Ariana can use the stone to find the way back to me.
If you see the light begin to flicker, it means I am at the end of my strength, and you need to get back here.
So long as this door is open, the time in the Elphame will sync with the time outside.
If this door closes, you might get out, but I don't know when you'll find yourselves if you do." SAMUEL LED THE WAY DOWN, FOLLOWED BY ARIANA.
I sent Jesse ahead of me and took up the rear.
The light above us grew quickly dimmer until we were traveling in virtual darkness.
Jesse stumbled, and I caught her before she could fall.