Gergő ruminated on the words.

‘You’re right,’ he said finally. ‘They don’t exist, but their elements, their pieces, are already there. That’s why we feed the land all year round. The bait only makes them come together. It lures them into life.’

Emese sat down beside the radio; when all the other kids were sent to bed she had managed to get her parents to let her stay. She wanted to see what happened; they had already ruined her summer with this trip, she at least wanted to see everything.

The radio droned on, airing a program called ‘Hit Parade’: they started with a Wings song, then a rock standard by local band Edda, and then Blondie. It happened during the second chorus of ‘Heart of Glass’; Emese felt like she had been punched, she had to hold on to the edge of the table to keep from falling. Her nose started bleeding. From the radio there was nothing but static for a few seconds before Blondie emerged again from the noise.

‘It’s a catch,’ someone said in the dark, and that very moment a mirror broke.

‘Here! This one!’ Gergő shouted. ‘Hold the chain tight!’

The mirror broke in two, its distorted surface reflecting the silhouettes of men as they bent over for the chain. They all grabbed the metal, and Hugó’s heart started to race; he was scared he was about to have a heart attack, this close to experiencing the heart of the harvest.

Gergő shouted, ‘Heave-ho!’

The men were pulling the chain as one, but it barely yielded.

‘Harder!’ one of the men screamed.

‘Heave-ho!’

Hugó gave it his all, he didn’t even care if his hernia came out again; he only heard from far off, through the sound of his own struggling, that another mirror shattered. He felt that whatever was hiding in the depths was slowly giving in to the men’s raw strength, and this only made him strain himself even more; he no longer pulled with just his muscles, but with his mind, his thoughts as well. At last the earth moved, and in the light of the lanterns the larva burst forth from the depths. It pushed itself forward on its short, articulated legs. There was no need to pull any longer.

It was a catch.

The men let go of the chain; one of them jumped on the larva, while two men on each side tied up the legs with plastic cords. Hugó was panting but felt like laughing. He saw the larva as a fruit of his physical exertion and felt instant gratification.

A third mirror broke in the distance.

‘To the chain!’ shouted Gergő, and the men set out to drag the next larva from underground, from nothingness to life.