Tunnels

'I have to get Chester out,' Will blurted.

'Shhh!' Tam hissed. He glanced nervously around. They all drew together to encircle him in a secretive huddle.

'Have you any idea what you're asking?' Tam said under his breath.

Will looked at him blankly, not sure how to respond.

'And where would you go? Back to Highfield? Think you'd ever be safe there again, with the Styx hunting you? You wouldn't last a week. Who'd protect you?'

'I could go to the police,' Will suggested. 'They'd—'

'You're not listening. They have people everywhere.' Tam reiterated forcefully.

'And not just in Highfield,' Imago interjected in a low voice. 'You can't trust anyone Topsoil, not the police… not anyone.'

Tam nodded in agreement. 'You'd need to lose yourself somewhere they'll never think of looking for you. Do you know where you might go?'

Will didn't know whether it was fatigue or the effect of the alcohol, but he was finding it hard to fight back the tears. 'But I can't just do nothing. When I needed help to find my dad,' he said hoarsely, his throat tightening with emotion, 'the one person I could rely on was Chester, and now he's stuck in the Hold… because of me. I owe it to him.'

'Have you any idea what it's like to be a fugitive?' Tam asked. 'To spend the rest of your years running from every shadow, without a single friend to help you because you're a danger to anyone you're around?'

Will swallowed noisily as Tam's words sank in, aware that all eyes in their little group were on him.

'If I were you, I'd forget about Chester,' Tam said harshly.

'I… just… can't,' Will said in a strained voice, looking into his drink. 'No…'

'It's the way things are down here, Will… you'll get used to it,' Tam said, shaking his head emphatically.

The high spirits of only a few minutes earlier had completely evaporated, and now Cal 's face and those of Tam's men, gathered closely around Will, were stern and unsympathetic. He didn't know if he'd put his foot in it and said totally the wrong thing, but he couldn't just leave it at that — his feelings were too strong. He lifted his head and looked Tam straight in the eye.

'But why do you all stay down here?' he asked. 'Why doesn't everyone just get out… escape?'

'Because,' Tam began slowly, 'all said and done, this is home. It might not be much, but it's all most people know.'

'Our families are here,' Joe Waites put in forcefully. 'Do you think we could just take off and leave them? Have you any idea what would happen if we did?'

'Reprisals,' Imago said in a voice that was barely a croak. 'The Styx would slaughter the lot them.'

'Rivers of blood,' Tam whispered.

Joe Waites pressed even closer to Will. 'Do you really think we'd be happy living in a strange place where everything is so completely foreign to us? Where would we go? What would we do?' he gushed, trembling with agitation as he spoke. It was obvious he was extremely upset by Will's questions, only beginning to regain his composure when Tam laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

'We'd be out of place… out of time,' Jesse Shingles said.

Will could only nod, cowed by the sheer intensity of emotion he'd aroused in the group. He sighed shakily.

'Well, whatever, I have to get Chester out. Even if I have to do it myself,' he said.

Tam regarded him for a moment and then shook his head. 'Stubborn as a mule. Talk about like mother, like son,' he said, a grin returning to his face. 'D'you know, it's uncanny how much you sound like her. Once Sarah set her mind on something there was no budging her.' He ruffled Will's hair with his large hand. 'Stubborn as a bloody mule.'

Imago tapped Tam's arm. 'It's him again.'

Relieved that he was no longer the center of attention, Will was a little slow to catch on, but when he did he observed that across the street a Styx was talking to a hefty man who had wiry white hair and long sideburns and wore a shiny brown coat with a grimy red neckerchief coiled around his stubby neck. As he watched, the Styx nodded, turned, and walked away.

'That Styx has been dogging Tam for a long time now,' Cal whispered to Will.

'Who is he?' Will asked.

'Nobody knows their names, but we call him the Crawfly, on account he can't so easily be shaken off. He's on a personal vendetta to bring down Uncle Tam.'

Will watched as the figure of the Crawfly dissolved into the shadows.

'He's had it infor your family since your ma gave the White Necks the slip and went Topsoil,' Imago said to Will and Cal.

'And till my dying day I'll swear he did in my pa,' Tam said, his voice flat and oddly lacking in any emotion. 'He killed him, all right… that was no accident.'

Imago shook his head slowly. 'That was a horrible thing,' he agreed. 'A horrible thing.'

'So what's he cooking up with that scum over there?' Tam said, frowning as he turned to Imago.

'Who was he talking to?' Will asked, peering at the other man, who was now crossing the road toward the crowd outside the tavern.

'Don't look at him… that's Heraldo Walsh. A cutthroat… nasty piece of work,' Cal warned.

'A burglar, lowest of the low,' Tam growled.

'But what's he doing talking to a Styx, then?' Will said, totally confused.

'Wheels within wheels,' Tam muttered. 'The Styx are a devious bunch. A belt becomes a snake with them.' He turned to Will. 'Look, I may be able to help you with Chester, but you've got to promise me one thing,' he whispered.

'What's that?'

'If you get caught, you'll never implicate Cal, me, or any of us. Our lives and our families are here and, like it or not, we have to stay in this place with the White Necks… the Styx. That's our lot. And I'll say it again: They'll never let it rest if you cross them… they will do everything they can to catch up with you—' Suddenly, Tam broke off.

Will saw the alarm in Cal 's eyes. He spun around. Heraldo Walsh was standing not five feet away. And behind him a throng of drunkards had parted fearfully to allow a phalanx of brutish-looking Colonists through. They were clearly Walsh's gang — Will saw the fiery hatred in their faces. His blood ran cold. Tam immediately stepped to Will's side.

'What do you want, Walsh?' Tam said, his eyes narrowed and his fists clenched.

'Ah, my old friend, Tamfoolery,' Heraldo Walsh said with a vile, gappy grin. 'I just wanted to see this Topsoiler for myself.'

Will wished the ground would open up and swallow him.

'So you're the type of scum that chokes our air channels and pollutes our houses with your foul sewage. My daughter died because of your kind.' He took a step closer to Will, raising his hand threateningly, as if he was going to grab at the pertrified boy. 'Come 'ere, you stinking filth!'

Will cowered. His first impulse was to run, but he knew his uncle wasn't about to let anything happen to him.

'That's far enough, Walsh.' Tam took a step toward the man to block his approach.

'You're fraternizing with the godless, Macaulay,' Walsh yelled, his eyes never leaving Will's face.

'And what do you know of God?' Tam retorted, stepping fully in front of Will to shield him. 'Now, you drop it! He's family!'

But Heraldo was like a dog with a bone — he wasn't about to let go. Behind him, his supporters were egging him on and cursing.

'You call that family?' He thrust a dirt-stained finger at Will. 'Sarah Jerome's mongrel?'

At this, several of his men let out wild howls and whoops.