Not a single menacing sound have we heard during our descent. Indeed, the caves have seemed eerily peaceful, the paintings muted. Now, as the slanted passage begins to level out, I see the skeletons on either side of the narrow chamber, exactly as they are in the real world. But when I enter the larger chamber, gone is the burial mound heaped with ornaments. Instead, in the room’s center is a huge open pit. A silent energy hovers over it.
“The skeletons are the same. Why isn’t the mound?” Elizabeth asks.
I step closer. “I don’t know.”
I have no idea what to expect. At the edge of the pit I look down and down. It is extremely deep. At the bottom lies a vast hunk of whitish stone.
I stare harder, trying to peer deeper into time, to see what was once here, but for some reason, even with a butterfly upon me, this thing defies my scrutiny.
“It’s nothing,” I say, strangely disappointed. “It’s just a piece of rock.”
“No,” Elizabeth says in amazement. “Look closer.”
She’s right. Chiseled lightly into the stone’s surface is the vaguest outline of a curled-up human figure, as though a sculptor had carelessly marked out his work and then abandoned the project.
Warily peering down, Konrad says, “It reminds me of those pictures Father once showed us of the victims of Pompeii, fossilized by volcanic ash.”
“Only this is much, much older, if the professor’s right,” I say. The stone seems so heavy and inert that it’s difficult to imagine this is the source of the strange noises we’ve been hearing. And yet, from this object emanates an unmistakable aura, like heat off a hot paving stone.
“If it’s so old, why is it still here?” Konrad says. “Why hasn’t it been gathered?”
“It’s like it’s been abandoned down here,” Elizabeth says. “There’s something pitiable about it. See how its knees are pulled up. It’s like a baby in a stone womb.”
“Babies are meant to be born,” says Konrad numbly.
The huge stone jerks slightly, as though something within has moved. At the same moment a tortured moan wells from the rock’s pores and rises to engulf us. I’m aware of Elizabeth and Konrad stepping back from the edge, but I’m frozen in place-not with fear but with fascination.
“It means to wake,” Konrad says. “That thing will wake!”
And he’s running up the passage.
“We must go with him,” Elizabeth says, hurrying after. “He might get lost.”
With reluctance I turn from the pit and follow them, so I can lead them out of the caverns.
Emerging from the secret stairwell into the library, we find Analiese waiting for us.
“I saw the door ajar,” she says, “and thought I heard your voices from below.”
“It must be killed,” Konrad says, still frantic. “Is there any way to kill it? Victor, you have special strength and power. Can you kill it?”
“What have you seen?” Analiese asks, her eyes wide.
Konrad paces. “There is a thing, a monstrous thing, in the caves beneath the house, trapped in stone. It needs to be destroyed.”
“Why do you assume it’s evil?” I ask calmly.
“The thing positively reeks of malevolence!”
“I don’t feel it,” I tell him honestly. “We don’t even know who or what it is. Who’s to say it can even be killed?”
“It could simply be a soul waiting to be gathered,” Analiese says. “Only, it’s been here a long time to atone for a very great wickedness.”
“Yes, wicked enough to be here thousands of years!” Konrad says. “I shudder to think what it will be like when it’s birthed from that stone womb.”
“You’ll be long gone by then,” Elizabeth says reassuringly. “Your new body will be ready in a matter of days.”
Konrad sags, momentarily calmed, but then shakes his head in distress. “But what of Analiese? What if it wakes before she’s gathered?” My brother looks in my direction. “Victor, can you grow a new body for her as well?”
“Oh, no, sir,” Analiese says humbly. “I would rather leave my fate in God’s hands.”
“Ana, we can’t just leave you here!”
“Ana,” I hear Elizabeth murmur, surprised by this endearment.
“No doubt it will seem old-fashioned to you, but my faith in God is absolute,” the serving girl says. “In any case too many years have passed. I have no place in the world now, no people of my own. Where would I go?”
“Well, we’d make sure you got a position in our household,” says Konrad impulsively. “It’s easily enough done, isn’t it, Victor?”
All this time I’m watching Elizabeth, seeing the jealousy that in the real world she would have ably concealed. But here it blazes on her face. She turns away and walks restlessly toward the library’s French doors.
And I see that Konrad has given me a gift, all the more wonderful because I’m not sure I would have thought of it myself. He wants me to create a rival for Elizabeth.
“Well, I hadn’t thought about any of this,” I say. I try to appear reluctant. “It’s no easy thing to achieve, but if you feel so strongly about it, I could find her grave and take-”
Analiese gives a blood-congealing scream, and I see her staring at Elizabeth. I whirl, and in shock see that Elizabeth seems to have tripped, grabbed hold of the doorknob of one of the French doors, and pulled it open.
At once crackling white mist pours itself into the room and resolves itself into a thick tentacle. With astonishing speed it slithers along the floor, aimed directly at Analiese. Thrice it winds itself around her ankle and jerks her off her feet, dragging her toward the open door. Shrieking in terror, she kicks frantically, clawing at the floorboards.
Impulsively I rush toward the open door, where Elizabeth stands frozen, watching, and throw my whole weight against it. I feel a strong, almost fleshy resistance and have to heave once more before the door squishes shut. Outside comes the shrill, enraged howl of a gale. It pounds at the glass, making the door shake.
At my feet the white tentacle thrashes about, its severed end spraying out an eerie vapor. But the thing still has abundant life in it and continues to whip Analiese about on the floor as she screams.
Konrad stabs at the middle regions of the thing repeatedly with his sword, but the tip scarcely pierces its misty skin.
“Let me!” I cry, and after only a moment’s hesitation he tosses me his saber. I seize it with both hands and drive it into the tentacle. Again and again I impale it, and quickly its thrashing weakens and it begins to dissolve before my eyes. Its tentacle grip on Analiese releases, and with a gasping sigh it all at once disintegrates.
Analiese tries to push herself from the floor but gives a whimper as her arms fail her. For just a moment her black dress flickers, and in that one blink of an eye, her beautiful figure frays and distorts, as though her spirit has forgotten its former bodily shape altogether. Even her mane of fair hair darkens, shrinking back as if burned. But she takes a deep breath, squeezes her eyes tightly shut, and is immediately herself again. It all happens so quickly, I wonder if anyone else has seen it, or if I merely imagined it.
Instantly Konrad rushes to her side and puts his arm around her shoulders to help her sit up.
“Thank God,” he says. “Are you all right, Ana?”
Shakily she replies, “Yes, I think so. Thank you, sirs… for saving me from that vile thing.”
“What happened?” Konrad looks over at Elizabeth in confusion, and I catch an almost accusing look in his eyes.
“I grabbed the doorknob to steady myself,” she says defensively. “The door just sprang open… I’m sorry.”
“No, no, miss,” says Analiese. “It was an accident. You mustn’t blame yourself.”
We all look out through the glass and see the mist coiling and uncoiling, restless, predatory.
“Such malignant power,” mutters Konrad, helping Analiese to her feet. “You’re sure you’re all right?”
“Quite fine, thank you.”
“You see how dangerous this place is, for both of us,” Konrad says pointedly. “You must make Analiese a
