True to Kiypu’s word, the tunnels twisted, turned, rose, fell and converged like a rave of freshman snakes letting it all out at their first college party. Aside from tunnels, they passed through broad, open caverns the size of international airport concourse hubs, with pathways at several heights along the walls and multiple criss-crossing bridges of stone overhead. Kellen counted one such hub that they entered and exited at least five times, all at different levels and from different directions.

“How do we know we aren’t going in circles?” Shani grumbled after they last time they passed out of the cavern nucleus into a smaller tunnel.

In response, Kiypu held up the wrist where the shrunken collection of strings hung as a bracelet. “The map is never wrong, little sister. Care less about the destination and more about the journey!”

“We better hope whatever mana brought him to life doesn’t wear off,” Vex said. “I usually have a great sense of direction but I have no clue how to get out of here.”

The tunnels and caverns themselves ranged from natural formations with narrow paths through gardens of stalagmites and stalactites to square tunnels, flawlessly carved into the stone. While they saw no sign of current inhabitants, now and then Kellen spotted a broken piece of pottery or a series of paintings that suggested people had once frequented the cave system. He kept his eyes peeled for any drawing of the glowing cave openings with the strange visitors like himself that didn’t belong. So far, he had no more clues and wondered if the painted carvings in Kiypu’s hall were more mythological in nature concerning spirit travelers than actual portals to or from Earth. He certainly hadn’t seen a hole in the sky to jump back through when he woke up in Oras.

Kiypu kept us his long strides, though his balance was so bad that the regular trips and wobbles allowed Shani and Kellen to keep up now they were on the level. The mummy continued to speak nonstop as he walked with tales of the might of the Kingdom of the Sun Hawk and the Shadow Owl Alliance. At one point, it seemed, the Sun Hawk and Shadow Owl had almost all of Oras under their control. Shani had little interest in conversation or history, but filled Kiypu in enough for the mummy to realize the two mighty empires were fractions of the power they’d held during his life.

“They never conquered the Earth Tribes, though,” Kiypu said, wrapping up another story as they continued down the tunnel. “No matter how often the Moose, Otter, Bison and Horse bowed and paid tribute, the Hawk and Owl never conquered the Badger.”

Kellen thought he heard Shani’s teeth grinding at the last comment that threw the power and courage of the Storm Horse Tribes into question. Despite being appalled at the mummy’s physical conditions, Kellen found Kiypu’s personality refreshing from the often dour members of Gray Dawn. He’d already warned Vex about mentioning that out loud. Still, a change of subject was in order.

“How much farther do you think we have to go until we find an exit?” Kellen asked.

“Not much, not much, little brother,” Kiypu said. His answer had been the same for hours, even if telling time was all but impossible in the caves.

Kellen another question. “You said you were a beastcaller? What did your Mana Beast look like?”

“Oh, oh!” Vex said from his perch on Kellen’s shoulder. “Let me guess, let me guess. Was it a dolphin? It was, wasn’t it? Or a trout! I’m going with dolphin or trout. No — penguin!”

“Do you even know what a penguin is?” Kellen asked Vex.

The little fox sniffed. “I’m not going to dignify such a silly question with an answer.”

“My Shakraa was a crow,” Kiypu said. “A crow, not a raven, mind you. She didn’t like it when people got the two confused. Talked so much I’m surprised my ear wasn’t the first thing that fell off when I died.”

“I know the feeling,” Kellen said. He felt Vex’s velvet nose press into his ear.

“I’m right here.”

Out of nowhere, Kellen ran straight into Shani’s back. She stumbled forward, just missing Kiypu. Kellen wheezed. He’d run headlong into her elbow with his stomach. When she recovered, she spun around, glaring and pressed a finger to her lips. Kellen almost said something just to spite her except Kiypu was also stone still, head turned to the side down the tunnel. Then Kellen heard the voices. They drifted on an echo through the tunnel, sounding so far away that at times Kellen couldn’t hear them at all.

“It would seem we are not the only ones in the tunnels of old Xiapl after all,” the mummy said in a hushed voice. “Do you think these are the people you seek?”

Still frowning from Kellen’s accidental collision, Shani nodded. “It would make sense. If these people Ubira joined with are living in a lost city, they may be using slaves to farm or mine.”

Kiypu nodded. “The beastcaller should lead the way from here. These do not sound like people to meet in the bowels of the earth.”

“Ah, about that…” Kellen didn’t relish the idea of being their first line of defense, aside from the fact he probably wasn’t the best choice.

“I will lead,” Shani said. She brushed past Kellen and drew her knife.

“You can go in the back if you want,” Kellen said to Kiypu. He hoped he and Vex could at least support Shani if it came down to a fight.

The mummy nodded, his red eyes glowing along with the clumps of neon moss clumped to the wall. “Tread carefully.”

They moved forward at a much slower pace, pausing now and then to listen. The voices continued ahead, growing easier to follow. Soon Kellen heard individual people talking, though the echo made it hard to follow the conversation. Occasionally, the strike of metal on stone echoed, and Kellen wondered if they’d come across a group of miners. The tunnel wound up, down, left, and right, with no rhyme or reason. Offshoots appeared and Kiypu directed them with tisking sounds. Without his help, Kellen didn’t think they would have ever found their way to the voices, which echoed throughout the halls, making it impossible to choose between diverging paths.

In the dark, time passed at strange intervals. Kellen had lost track of how long it had been since they escaped the trap room and found the mummy. He thought they’d walked through the maze of tunnels for about an hour when Kiypu hissed for them to stop.

“We should proceed carefully from now on,” the mummy said. “Ahead, we will come out above a large chamber. It was ancient even when I lived, just like the rest of these caves. I do not think it will be nicer now. There is bad mana in that place.”

At his words, Kellen reached out with his sense and felt Vex stretching to do the same. Kellen let out a small gasp in surprise. It took no great skill to feel the tumultuous waves of mana radiating out from the path ahead. The only other time he’d felt anything like it had been during and after the attack of the black bird. It turned his stomach sour and spiked his anxiety. Kiypu studied Kellen’s expression, nodding in expectation.

“You feel it, yes? The elders of my day kept it sealed away and forbid anyone from going near the place. Someone has found it once more and delves into things that should be left alone.”

The voices grew louder, shouted commands mixed with the occasional scream or moan of pain. The tunnel narrow until Kellen had to duck to prevent hitting his head. Soon, they were forced down on all fours. Shani crept forward with the stealth and silence of a panther. From around her, Kellen saw the flickering lights of torches through a hole in the rock ahead.

The heavy aura pounded like a drum in the back of his head. Kellen’s chest tightened and each passing moment they drew nearer he fought to give in to a primal instinct to run. Soon the drum in his mind grew so loud he could no longer tell if it came from the aura of mana or actually existed in the physical world. Now in his fox form, Vex whimpered and laid his ears back. Kellen gritted his teeth and laid a reassuring hand on the fox. Sun mana flowed between their connection and they summoned the will to continue on.

Shani halted just inside the shadows of their tunnel. Twisting around, she beckoned Kellen forward. There was just enough space for him and Vex to fit next to her. Peering over the lip of the rock to the chamber below, Kellen froze at the horrific sight.

Allison’s head spun from the thick clove-scented incense burning in the air. She blinked and tried to focus by repeating the Coyote Lady’s instructions in her mind. It felt like pushing a snow shovel through a drift of heavy, wet snow.

Hours after her dream, Allison had been awakened by Ubira and several cultists. The masked guards dragged them from their stone cell and bound their hands behind their backs. When Allison reached for Myri to comfort her, she’d been shoved back against the wall, cracking her head hard on the rock. That had made her just as dizzy as the haze of incense. Speaking was threatened with death.

As they’d been shoved into lines, prisoners from other rock cells joined them. Some were the other captives brought by Ubira, while others she didn’t recognize. The group was diverse with men and women, old and young from all the Oras nationalities represented. Allison caught Ubira’s yellow eyes. They looked angry. On his shoulder, the diminished Shakraa hissed and clacked her beak, her talons digging in to Ubira’s shoulder, though he didn’t act bothered by the pain. The slaver glanced at the nearest guard and leaned in toward Allison and the professor.

“Do nothing and say nothing or they will kill you,” he hissed behind his scarf. “I have bought back your lives at a great cost.”

Allison’s eyes widened in shock, though not from Ubira’s words. It was exactly as the Coyote Lady had said.

Under the watch of white-masked cultists, they were led deeper into the caves. The trip was not long, but even on the short journey, Allison lost track of the numerous turns they made down the warped tunnels. Soon, they were led under an arch carved into the surrounding tunnel. A monstrous snake with a gaping mouth and long, broken upper fangs swallowed them before they passed into the chamber.

For some reason, Allison had expected it to be hot, given the ring of braziers burning around the outside of the room. She’d shivered when the plumes of incense rolled over, addling her brain and chilling her to the bone. The room was large, similar to a basketball court with plenty of room to fit about twenty cultists and almost that many prisoners.

In the center of the room, a round well of stone blocks sat. It was about ten feet around and a thick, black liquid bubbled to its surface, either oil or tar based on the sulfurous smell. Stone blocks were arrayed around the well, wide and tall enough for a person to lie down on. They had slight indents in them, like when you sat up from a mattress and your shape was left behind for a second. Channels ran down the inside of the stone, toward the well. Allison drew Myri close to her when they stopped in a long line facing the well and stone blocks. She told herself to be strong for what she had to do. A deep buzzing sensation thrummed inside her, like feeling the bass turned all the way up in a movie theater. Several prisoners started to panic. The cultists shoved them back in line, brandishing their obsidian-tipped clubs.

“Bring the first forward, one from each of the mother’s children,” the cultist leader commanded. She stood on the far side of the well, Ubira and several other masked individuals at her sides. Aside from differences in height and build, Allison could not tell the cultists apart. Their hollow, blank masks inspired a fear that no grotesque design ever could, the faces of emptiness.

Screams rang out in the cavern as the cultists grabbed seven people: an aqua-skinned, middle-aged man of the Otter Nation, a young woman near Kellen’s age with the mottled green and brown skin of the League of Moose, an old woman with the golden hue of the Sun Hawk, a bald man of Shadow Owl with deep purple skin, two tan, middle-aged women of Storm Horse and Earth Badger, and last, Kattoh.

“No!” Allison screamed, lunging for the boy’s arm.

The Coyote Lady had said nothing about this. Kattoh struggled, kicking and throwing his body from side to side, but with his arms tied behind his back, there was little he could. Cultists rushed to restrain Allison and Professor Ruggs, who was bellowing with fury and fighting to reach Kattoh, just like Allison. Two cultists grabbed Allison and threw her on the ground, then pinned her down. It took four to keep the professor down.

“Ubira!” the professor’s voice boomed in the cave. “Ubira! Their blood is on your hands!”

“Allison!” Kattoh’s voice cut through the chaos of yelling.

“Kattoh! No, no no!” Allison shrieked. She twisted her head forward but could only see the nearest stone table, where the cultists fought to hold down the bald Shadow Owl man. A moment later, one drew a knife and plunged it into the man’s chest. The old man went limp at once. Allison’s screams rose in a chorus of terror.

From their vantage point overlooking the chamber, Kellen, Shani, and Vex saw the masked people drag the victims to the altars. Unable to look away, Kellen watched them kill each one, though one of the stone tables lay empty. As the last bits of life ebbed from the victims in kicks and twitches, one of the masked people laid down on the unoccupied altar. They crossed their hands over their chest and a moment later, one of the other cultists stabbed them in the heart.

“We’ve got to do something!” Kellen hissed to Shani, emotion catching his voice. An Earth Badger woman had been one of the ones killed. Kellen prayed it wasn’t Obishi’s mother. He wanted more than anything to leap down from the hole they watched from and make the cultists pay for the murders they’d just committed. He clenched his hands, though they still shook with his fury.

“We cannot!” Shani hissed back. “Your sister has not been harmed yet. If we go down there now, we will die before we reach her.”

Kellen knew she was right. He hated he could do nothing about it, loathed the feeling of worthlessness that consumed him.

Blood ran down the channels from the bodies toward the well of black liquid. The contents of the well bubbled even more and Kellen thought he could make out an almost croaking sound rising from the oily substance. The ominous drumbeats intensified, and Kellen drew back, clutching Vex close to him. He did not know where or what form it took, but a terrible danger lurked inside the chamber below, fed by the ritual unfolding before them.

Like oil poured into water, the black sludge of the well became pure white, like a saucer of milk. The bubbles faded, replaced by ripples as the well thrummed. Moments later, a grotesque head-shape rose from the white liquid. The substance covered it, as if buckets of white paint had been poured over the shape. It rose higher and higher, revealing broad, stooped shoulders, thin, reedy arms and bulging, crouching legs as out of proportion as the head.

“What is this?” Shani asked Kiypu.

When Kellen looked behind them, he found the mummy clutching his head with leathery hands, sitting in the fetal position, rocking back and forth.

“What have they done?” he muttered, jade and obsidian teeth clicking. “What have they done?”

The screams of the captives redoubled. The masked figures, too busy staring at the form that had risen from well, did nothing to stop them. Several of the captives ran from the chamber. A piercing fear cut through Kellen’s horror. Allison had broken free and ran straight for the featureless, dripping white figure hovering above the well.