The voice was so faint that at first they all thought they had imagined it. Then it came again. 'Help. Please.'
Brian Fellows was the first to start off up the mountain. Davy followed directly on his heels, with Candace bringing up the rear.
Tackling the mountain straight on, with no zigzagging to ease the ascent, made the going slow and difficult. From time to time they had to pause for breath, but each time they did, the voice was a little stronger. 'I'm here. In the bushes.'
'It sounds like Quentin, doesn't it?' Davy asked.
Nodding grimly, Brian Fellows drew his weapon. He was wearing a bulletproof vest. Neither Candace nor Davy were. 'You'd better drop back and let me go on by myself.'
'Like hell,' Davy said. 'Come on.'
Frozen in terror, Lani crouched against the wall. The stalagmite that had once provided shelter was now a trap. If she moved away from behind it, he would see her and shoot her. She could hear him out there, crawling ever closer to her hiding place. She could hear him breathing in the dark. Now that he had located her, he came forward without bothering to squander any more of his precious matches, trusting that she would stay exactly where he had seen her last.
And the truth was, she didn't have any choice. She was so cold and had sat in one position for so long that her legs ached with cramps. The pressure was so great that she was tempted to come flying out of her hiding place and make straight for what had to be the passage to the outside. But she didn't do it.
Even as the thought crossed her mind, she realized that the darkness in I'itoi' s sacred cave was far stronger than Mitch's matches. If he'd had plenty of them, he would have been using them by now instead of scrabbling along in the dark. And without light, the power of darkness and the power of bats was far greater than the evil Ohb' s.
Deep in the cave, Lani had met Nanakumal. By touching her, Bat had taken away Lani's fear of the darkness and had infused her with his power. From now on Dolores Lanita Walker would still be Forever Spinning to some, but in her own heart she knew that she was changed. As soon as the bat's wings grazed her skin she was also someone else. From that time on, Lani would call herself Nanakumal Namkam — Bat Meeter, knowing that Bat Strength and Ant Strength would both be part of her strength.
Suddenly Lani's spirit was alive again, like one awaking from a deep sleep or else from death itself. Something Nana Dahd had told her was called e chegitog. The cold no longer mattered. She had come into her own just the way Nana Dahd had told her she would someday. No matter what Mitch Johnson did to her, he couldn't take that away.
The song spilled into her mind without her even being aware she was thinking about it.
O little Nanakumal who lives forever in darkness,
O little Nanakumal who lives forever in I'itoi' s sacred cave
Give me your strength so I will not be frightened,
So I will stay in this safe place where the evilOhb cannot come.
For years Betraying Woman has been here with you.
For years your strength has kept her safe
Waiting until I could come and set her free
By smashing her pottery prison against the rocky wall.
Keep me safe now too, littleNanakumal
Keep me safe from this new evil Ohb.
Teach mejuhagi — to be resilient-in the coming battle,
So that thisjiawul — this devil-does not win.
O little Nanakumal who lives forever in darkness,
Whose passing wings changed me into a warrior,
Be with me now as I face this danger.
Protect me in the coming battle and keep me safe.
Brian was the one who found Quentin Walker, found him trapped faceup and helpless in a bed of manzanita. Knowing at once that his half-brother was too badly hurt to pose any danger, Brian holstered his weapon.
'What happened?' he asked.
'I didn't do it,' Quentin sobbed. 'Tell Dad I didn't do it.'
'Didn't do what?' Brian asked.
'I didn't kill Tommy. He fell. He fell in the cave. I tried to help him. I swear. But he died anyway.'
Davy, who had stopped to help Candace up a ledge, arrived just in time to hear the last sentence.
'Lani's dead?' he demanded.
When Quentin looked up at Davy, his eyes wavered as though they wouldn't quite focus. 'Lani's not dead,' he said. 'Tommy's the one who's dead. He's been dead a long, long time.'
'But where's Lani?'
'Lani? How should I know where Lani is?'
Davy reached down and grabbed the neck of Quentin's shirt. He would have shook him, too, if Candace hadn't stopped him. 'Leave him alone, David,' she gasped, fighting to regain her breath. 'Can't you see he's hurt?'
Letting go of the shirt, Davy turned and looked up the mountain. 'She has to be in the cave,' he said. 'I'll go. You two stay here with Quentin.'
'Lani! It's Davy. Where are you?'
Davy! For a moment, Lani thought she must be dreaming. It was impossible. Davy was in Chicago. He couldn't be here.
'Lani!' he called again. 'Can you hear me? Are you in here?'
She heard him then, heard the sound of movement in the passageway. It was true. Davy was here. He had come to find her, to save her. Instead, he was crawling directly into the arms of Mitch Johnson. Somehow she had to stop him.
'Davy,' she screamed. 'Go back! Don't come in here. He'll kill you. Go back.'
The cavern reverberated with a hundred echoes and then fell silent. There was no further sound of movement from the passageway.
'Thank God you're alive,' Davy called back. 'But it's okay, Lani. We found Quentin down the mountain. He can't hurt you anymore.'
Once again there was movement in the passageway. 'The killer's still in here, Davy. It's not Quentin!' Lani howled. 'Go back, Davy, before he kills us both.'
'Davy!' Mitch Johnson called out. 'Did you say Davy? Not little Davy Ladd. Come on in, Davy. I won't hurt you. I won't hurt anybody. You're right. It was all Quentin.'
Now there was movement again, but not in the passageway. Now it was in the cave itself. 'Keep talking, little girl,' Mitch Johnson whispered hoarsely. 'Just keep talking. I'll find you, you little bitch, if it's the last goddamned thing I do.'
Another match flickered to life.
'Lani,' Davy demanded. 'What's going on in there? Who's in there with you?'
For a moment Lani was quiet. Mitch Johnson was an implacable enemy-more determined to find and destroy her than he was concerned about his own capture.
Nana Dahd had told Lani more than once that the Tohono O'othham only kill to eat or to save their own lives. In relating the story of the evil Ohb, Rita had always said how proud she was that, in the moment when Diana Ladd might have killed Andrew Carlisle, she had chosen instead to spare him, trusting his punishment to the Mil-gahn system of criminal justice.
In a moment of understanding that went far beyond her years, and far beyond anything Mitch Johnson had told her, Lani understood that somehow, still alive and in prison, Andrew Carlisle had taken that piece of Tohono O'othham honor and turned it into something evil. He had used it cheawogid — to infect-someone else with the same evil that had fueled and driven him.
Nana Dahd had died too soon to know how wrong she was. But Lani knew. The telltale cheposid — the
