Michael shrugged, even though his friends couldn’t see him. “Sure. Eyes peeled—easy enough.”
“I like a guy who can follow orders,” Bryson said with a smirk.
Sarah leaned back and turned away from Michael. “Let’s go, then. It’s this way.”
She moved forward on her hands and knees, followed by Bryson and then Michael, and they began making their way deeper into the tunnel.
Several minutes passed without anything changing. Michael felt a suffocating pressure in his chest, but every time he paused to take a deep breath, it loosened up and he was able to breathe easily again. The silence was strange as well—almost like it wasn’t silence at all but a constant buzz. For a while he assumed that the others were just quiet as they focused on the code, but then a thought crossed his mind. When he called out to them, no sound came out of his mouth. It was as if someone had pushed a mute button—and for some reason it was the most terrifying thing about the bizarre tunnel so far.
He kept moving, creeping his way forward, focused on Bryson’s legs. He was scared to death that his friend might disappear at any second, leaving him all alone. His hands and knees were beginning to hurt, his arms and legs cramping. And he was growing more disoriented and nauseated by the minute.
On and on they went, shuffling along like a line of ants. They’d gone at least a mile, maybe two. His body wasn’t used to such a thing. A whisper of panic was also starting to build within him, a claustrophobic feeling that threatened to take over. But he forced it down, took each moment, and inch, at a time, relying on his friends’ hacking and coding skills. He never thought he’d ever be so thankful for Bryson’s butt, a beacon in that purple fog.
They were still crawling in silence when something suddenly slammed down on Michael, pressing his body hard into the ground. He fell flat onto his stomach and lost his breath. His fear flared into terror, and he screamed and kicked. He was barely able to move. His mind began to cloud up, and a wild feeling crept in, like he’d lost control of his own actions.
And then it ended. All of it ended. The purple tunnel, the silence, the pressure that pushed him to the ground. He was lying on a hard gray surface. He got his hands under him and pushed up to his knees. Then he stared in wonder at what surrounded him.
He and his friends were crouched on the edge of a huge stone disk a few dozen feet wide, seemingly hanging in midair. Massive formations of dark clouds hung above their heads, growing and shrinking like living things. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed and the air was heavy with humidity, as if rain would pour down any minute.
Michael had no idea where they were—he’d never been anywhere like it in the VirtNet. Yet despite its oddness, he was relieved to leave the tunnel behind.
“Hey.” Bryson gestured with his head for Michael to look behind him.
Michael spun around to face the center of the disk. Nothing had been there when they’d arrived—he was sure of it—but now there was an old woman sitting in a rocking chair, the wood creaking as she slowly rocked back and forth. She was dressed in a shapeless length of gray wool. Michael thought she looked like a kind grandmother.
“Hello, my young friends,” she said in a hoarse croak. “Come on over and sit a spell.”
3
Michael just stared at the woman, and when neither of his friends moved, either, she stopped rocking in her chair and leaned toward them. “Gods above, you better get your rumps over here right quick or there’ll be hell to pay, I can tell you that much. Now!”
Startled by her abrupt change, Michael scrambled to his feet, Bryson and Sarah at his heels, and made his way to the center of the platform to join the woman.
“Sit,” she commanded. Her wrinkled lips were puckered as if she had no teeth, and her voice was scratchy.
They did as she said. Michael folded his legs beneath him and waited intently. Stuff like this was weird, he thought, but it wasn’t that weird—he’d spent half his life inside the Sleep, and he’d gotten used to strange characters like this appearing. Most of the time they were harmless, but still, he reminded himself, if they had made it to the Path, this lady might be linked to Kaine, and that spelled trouble.
The woman peered down at the three of them, her eyes the only thing about her that didn’t seem a hundred years old. They were sharp and bright, but the rest of her looked used up and washed out. Yellowed skin wrinkled and drooping from her frail bones. Wispy gray hair that was barely there. Two ancient hands lay folded in her lap, like gnarled tree roots twisted upon themselves.
“Where are we?” Sarah asked. “And who are you?”
The old woman’s eyes snapped into focus. “Who am I, you ask? Where are you? What’s this place, what is here, why is this, and how is that? Where’d we come from, and where will we be going? Questions tumble out of your mouth, girl. But answers hide in the mist of the clouds.”
The woman’s eyes wandered as she spoke, slowly drifting until she was gazing at something far in the distance. Michael glanced over at Bryson, who raised his eyebrows in a warning for Michael to keep his mouth shut for a change.
“You,” the old woman said. One of her hands lifted from her lap, shaking slightly, and a crooked finger pointed down at Michael. “Make one wisecrack and this will be your end.”
Her face had hardened into a scowl, and Michael knew right then that he didn’t ever want to cross this woman. For all he knew, she’d morph into a dragon and eat them. This was the Sleep after all.
“Did your brain process my words properly?” she asked, her skin wrinkling up even more around her eyes as they narrowed. “Do you understand me?”
Bryson elbowed him in the ribs. “Be good.”
“Yeah,” Michael answered her. “Loud and clear.”
The old woman nodded and leaned back in her chair, began rocking again. “You kids couldn’t even give an old woman a proper greetin’ before you started spewing questions.”
“We’re sorry,” Sarah spoke up. “Really. We went through a lot to get here, and we just want to know how to keep going. We’re looking for a place called the Hallowed Ravine.”
“Oh, I know very well what those hearts of yours are lookin’ for. The Path only leads to one destination, and that destination only has one path to it. The Hallowed Ravine is far from where you sit right now, though, I can tell you that much.”