My neck and shoulders ached, while my knees screamed at me. I couldn’t stretch out anything to full length, but I kept trying, putting weight on my wrists and contorting my legs. I let myself fall back from Gordy, who crawled in front of me. I gasped for air, not wanting him to hear. The scent of bat guano didn’t help. Neither did the fact that my hands had come down on a couple of beetles and what was probably a millipede, judging from the way it felt when I squished it. I couldn’t see my companions in front of me, but I could hear their breathing. Frodo stayed close, sometimes too close, startling me.

“What was that?” Victoria squealed.

“A cockroach,” Gordy said, and at the word Victoria squealed louder. I remembered the jail—Gordy knew his cockroaches. I heard a shell crack.

No one said what we all knew—where there was one there were hundreds more, if not thousands. The skin on my back tingled at the thought. It was one thing to face big bugs in daylight in an open room. It was something else to be in the dark where they could sneak up on you.

My claustrophobia spoke louder and louder. I longed to move freely, breathe fresh air, and see the stars. I had to try not to think about it for fear of losing my mind. My face twitched, and I attempted to calm it with my right hand, now covered with smudge and wet grime. I felt like a soldier in Nam again—the thought was actually a solace. At least soldiers had a purpose and a mission.

“We’re rats caught in a maze,” Victoria said from up ahead, as I kept pulling my hands away from cockroaches. “I can’t see anything,” she added, stating the obvious.

“You don’t have to,” Shad said. “Just stay close to us. We’re in this together.”

“I thought you said it would only be thirty minutes,” she groaned.

“I didn’t say that,” I retorted, feeling the blood rush to my face and glad the darkness covered for me. If I hadn’t said that, how did I know she was talking to me?

“Look out for sharp sticks on your left,” Gordy called back. “I cut myself.” My left hand came down on one of the sticks. Wait. This one felt smooth. What was it? I reached inside my damp coat pocket and pulled out a match, one of five I’d traded for on the road. I struck it on the wall. It lit up the stones and showed them to be white, some smooth, some jagged. I held the match up farther and saw a large white stone with holes in it. Frodo started growling.

“No!” I backed away from the thing staring at me—a human skull.

“What is it?” Victoria cried.