else she could do but go with the old lady. So, with a final sidelong glance at the Keeper, which was still faintly hissing, Penny followed Granny Two-two down the hall.
Ten
Penny had been wondering how the old woman had snuck up on her when the corridor was so completely empty, but she soon had her answer. Granny Two-two only walked a few steps up the vast hallway before scuttling behind an abandoned kiosk.
Following close behind, Penny saw her disappear into what appeared to be a large ventilation shaft. It was lit from within by a dull green glow that seemed to come from a kind of moss that grew along it walls.
The shaft just barely brushed the curly gray hair at the top of Granny two-two’s second head, but Penny had to duck to go into it. Though she was only 5’3, being around the little old lady made her feel positively tall.
Granny Two-two went at a quick pace, shuffling along the square ventilation shaft with surprising speed. After a moment the shaft branched and she took the right branch without hesitation and kept going. It branched again and she went left. And on and on they went until Penny was thoroughly lost.
It suddenly occurred to her that Granny Two-two might be leading her to her doom. But if that was so, why would she have saved Penny from the awful Keeper? Anyway, at this point she was committed to following the old lady—there was no possibility of finding her way back on her own. And there was nothing but the vast empty corridor, even if she could.
Reluctantly, Penny kept going.
She was just beginning to wonder when they were ever going to stop when Granny Two-two turned left again and popped suddenly out into the open.
“Careful now,” Granny Two-two said as Penny followed her out of the shaft. “This suck’s been stable for a long time but you never can tell with sucks—gotta take a caution with them.”
“Take a caution! Take a caution!” her second head agreed, blinking at Penny.
Looking around, Penny saw that they were standing on the perimeter of a huge room—as big as an airplane hangar. The room was filled with people and they seemed to be having some kind of a party—at least if the fancy clothing and the people caught in the act of what she assumed was dancing was any indication.
But everyone in the room was frozen—everyone except for her and Granny Two-two, that was.
“Oh my God,” Penny whispered, putting a hand to her chest. “What is this?”
“This, dearie, was the New Millennium party which happened nigh-on fifty cycles ago. Everybody who was anybody in Hell’s Gate was there. I would have gone myself, but I was too young. My Mam is here, so she is, and likewise my Pap.”
“Your parents are in this crowd?” Penny asked, aghast.
“Why, sure they are, dearie. Just there.”
Granny Two-two pointed at a couple in the crowd, both of which were extremely short, just like she was. Neither of them had a second head but Penny could still see the family resemblance to their daughter in their faces.
Except, the people the old lady had pointed out as her parents looked so young compared to her—they couldn’t be out of their thirties yet.
“I wasn’t but fourteen cycles myself when the two of them went.” Granny Two-two sighed. “I remember how hard I begged to be let to come. But no, my Mam said I wasn’t old enough yet. ‘Next year’ she said. But a’course, there weren’t no next year for they never did come home. And right after this almighty big suck moved in and froze the party, most people abandoned this end of the station and moved to the center and the other end—not so many sucks there, y’know.”
“Y’know! Y’know!” her second head exclaimed.
“I’m so sorry,” Penny said, really meaning it. “How awful for you to lose your parents that way!”
“Oh, I didn’t lose ‘em, did I? Right there, aren’t they?” Granny Two-two gestured again. “Hello Mam! Hello Pap!” she yelled, as though the two frozen figures could hear her. “I come an visit ‘em regular,” she said, turning to Penny. “It’s comforting-like, don’t you see. And also, a’course, I got to mine for treasures.”
“Mine for treasures?” Penny raised her eyebrows questioningly.
“Sure—treasures!” Granny Two-two patted her many pockets, making them click and clink. “I gets them from the suck, so I do.”
“So she do! So she do!” yelled her top head.
“Hush, you!” Granny swatted at it.
“You mean you’ve found