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Keira kept her body flat against the wall as she slid her way down the small corridor that led out to the open space. The best route to where she needed to go would be straight across the communal area. But as far as she could see, the villagers hadn’t moved since she left. The whole cave was completely still, other than the rain that was now drizzling in through the openings. She still couldn’t see their faces, so she wasn’t sure if they were in some type of trance, a coma, or had simply switched off.

Either way, she wasn’t going to risk it.

As she came out of the corridor, she ducked down behind the clay pots and clambered up the stone steps to the second layer. She could hide better up there, since a wooden banister ran along the edge. Shadow seemed to understand the urgency and kept a low profile next to Keira. Every time Keira moved into a patch of darkness, the cat would rub against her, and for those brief moments, she would disappear into the shadows. She ducked and dived along the catwalk, weaving behind pots and barrels, occasionally slipping in and out of empty rooms as they followed the curvature of the outer cave wall.

Shadow went rigid at one point, and Keira instinctively followed her cat’s lead. She ducked down and pressed herself into the cold clay wall of the room she was next to. She heard heavy footsteps below and doors being slammed shut. Either Eric or Susan was down there searching. She waited until the noises faded into the distance before carrying on with her journey.

She was close now to where the heavy doors stood. But between her and the entrance was one of the raging waterfalls pouring in from the upper ledge. She was going to have to wade through or find a way across. From her elevated height, she could see that the waterfall’s pool only ran a few meters deep before disappearing under the solid rock. It probably fed into some underground river system that popped out at the bottom of the mountain to join the main river below.

The idea of going down into the water appealed to her for a split second, but she doubted she would be able to hold her breath that long. There were undoubtedly sharp rocks and fallen branches blocking the submerged path, or the tunnel would narrow until she got wedged tight.

No. It sounded horrific. She didn’t want to get stuck between rocks in a pitch-black hole, with crushing water pressure pushing on her while she struggled to breathe. She would see if she could squeeze behind the sheet of the waterfall instead. There was likely some type of narrow rock ledge she could balance her way across.

Keira slowly made her way down the stone steps back to the first floor. She could see frantic movement at the far end of the cave where Eric and Susan were searching. As she watched them slide in and out of rooms and peer behind boulders, she quickly ducked and dashed across the barren stretch toward the waterfall. All the villagers sitting static with their backs turned provided a wall of protection, hiding her movements.

The fine spray from the cascading water was cooling; all the scrambling and raw anxiety of avoiding capture had made Keira overheat. She squatted and used her hands to balance as she crawled over to the edge of the water. She couldn’t hear anything over the deafening roar, and there was no way to know if Eric or Susan had spotted her.

The rocks were slick with moss and algae. Thin slivers of green slime made every footing precarious. She had to navigate carefully toward the thunderous curtain of water crashing from above. As she neared the spray, she saw that there was indeed a narrow recess behind the torrent.

She turned to look one last time and saw Eric and Susan running back and forth across the main exit tunnel. Keira disappeared behind the roaring wall of water, out of their line of sight. She was grateful for the barrier—there was no way she could have balanced on these rocks while keeping an eye out for pursuers at the same time. Once or twice, she had to freeze and carefully regain her balance as her feet slipped on the wet stone.

Keira could feel her mind struggling against sheer fatigue and the overwhelming pressure of deciding which rocks were safe, which were slippery, and which were a deadly mistake. Shadow stayed close behind her, letting out the occasional soft meow of encouragement. Using the slick back wall for balance, Keira navigated the final section and emerged back into the light on the other side.

She leaped from rock to rock, finding solid stone flooring under her boots once more—forgetting in her haste that the waterfall was no longer there to hide her.

She turned. Across the cavern, Eric and Susan were staring directly at her.

For a few suspended seconds, the only sound in the cavern was the roar of the waterfall. Then, a horrid, distorted noise erupted from Eric’s throat. At the sound, every single villager sitting on the benches sat bolt upright as one single unit. Slowly, terrifyingly, they turned their heads around to face her. For the first time since Katal had started her story, Keira saw their faces.

She screamed.

She screamed until her voice cracked and her throat felt as though it were tearing from the inside out. Keira spun on her heel and sprinted straight for the inner stone doors.

Behind her, the villagers began rising from their seats like broken puppets. Their faces were sagging, their skin having lost all elasticity and structure. Keira remembered how they had all appeared as similarly aged adults when she had sat among them, but now, deep, ghastly creases were etched into their cheeks. Dark lines carved across their foreheads, and their eyes had turned solid, liquid black—the exact same tar-like substance left in the wake of the monster.

Keira threw herself against the heavy doors, pushing with all her weight, but they didn’t budge. She slammed her fists against the thick wood and shoved her fingers into the carved grooves and patterns, but the doors remained stubbornly shut. They were locked firmly from the inside where Katal was hiding.

The villagers were all on their feet now, shuffling toward her. They were actively disintegrating as they moved. Dark, viscous blood dribbled from the corners of their eyes, and their skin was turning bruised and black in patches. She had seen something similar once before, when she and her older brother Chris had found a frozen body in the snow during winter.

What was happening to them?

Keira stared at the advancing horde, tears streaming down her face as her bloody palms clawed uselessly at the wood behind her. Her hands were bruised and raw from trying to pry the door open, but it was no use. She turned back to the wood once more, her eyes catching old, jagged gouges in the surface—five deep groove marks scratched together into the timber. Someone else had tried to claw their way through this exact door before.

She turned slowly and looked back at the waterfall. It was the only way left.

Keira forced herself away from the door, her trembling legs protesting every movement. She pushed into a full sprint. The villagers were closing in, their breathing ragged and wet. Their mouths rasped and groaned as they staggered toward her.

Keira took one final, deep breath, leaped into the air, and tucked her legs together. Crossing her arms tight over her chest, she squeezed her eyes shut as the freezing water slammed into her all at once.

She plunged deep into the pool beneath the waterfall. Instantly, the powerful underground current seized her, dragging her down into the dark tunnel—a path that would lead either to her death or to the only way out of this nightmare.