I pressed my forehead with the heel of my hand. I didn’t even know for sure which way was which, not after my fall.

Then both are as good as each other.

“Might be the best way of looking at it,” I said.

When the light of the hole faded behind me, the path ahead was black as tar. I should have thought to make a torch of some kind when I’d had the fire, instead of just sitting there like a fool watching it burn. I fumbled along the uneven curve of the tunnel wall, stubbing my toes and grazing my feet on the rough floor. This was useless. But as I was preparing to turn back, there was a slice of light up ahead. I sped up in the gloom, which was about a hundred times better than pitch black, imagining the source of the light to be an exit back to the surface. I might be safe down here from the beast … I still couldn’t quite believe it—the dragon—but I was too well hidden. I would never be found by the crew … never. I peered up, and when light fell across my face I felt a burst of energy. The rays of sunlight came from a narrow crack in the ceiling. But it was way too high for me to reach, even if the gap had been big enough to wriggle through—which it was not.

I continued on, but soon the darkness was too much for me. No further cracks in the tunnel roof meant I could see nothing, no difference when my eyes were open or closed. Sakes alive! If the captain and Mr. Darwin thought the land here was hellish, these tunnels had to be purgatory. A place of darkness and waiting and not knowing what would happen next, and that awful not knowing lasting forever and ever.

I couldn’t believe I’d ever been excited at the idea of these lava tubes, or desperate to explore them. Even the sound of my own breath seemed ragged and frightening. Shapes formed deep in the dark; shadows followed me, although I knew there was nothing there. Time to turn back before I lost my mind. I stumbled on a rock and stopped. A rock? I felt around on my hands and knees. There were a few, scattered around the floor of the tunnel. I picked it up. If I could find enough of them and build them into a pile, I could climb out of the same hole I’d fallen in. I smiled for the first time, and the surge of excitement and relief at having a plan pounded in my ears.

I stood. That sound wasn’t my breath or my pounding heart. It was whispering, hissing, swishing, and getting closer … Now there were high squeaks, like a herd of panicked mice.

My heart seemed to batter its way up to my throat. I’d thought myself already scared, but when something soft brushed against my ear, I lost any sense I had left and screamed.