The new tunnel, at least, was less claustrophobic than the ones before it. Ellie tried not to contemplate what sort of creature it had been built to accommodate. The drumming was louder: at least two instruments, she guessed. She could hear another noise, too: a kind of whistling or piping, like a flute or recorder. A tune of sorts, but atonal and discordant. Something about it seemed to seep into Ellie’s bones, chill as liquid nitrogen.

Madeleine stopped and raised a hand. “Here.”

The tunnel opened into a low cavern containing three other entrances. How had Madeleine led them down here? Some heightened awareness brought on by the hallucinatory intensity of her fever? Had the knowledge been passed on by the germs or poison that were slowly killing her? Or was her God guiding her? If so, had it been only accident they’d walked so quickly into a trap, when otherwise they’d been guided, as far as Ellie could tell, clear of danger?

Or, given how quickly Madeleine had led them from the blocked shaft to here, had it been intentional, to provide a short cut? In which case, what had Jess been? Bad luck? Collateral damage? A sacrifice? Maybe she hadn’t mattered to Madeleine’s God, being tainted by association with her family.

Ellie reminded herself she didn’t believe in Madeleine’s God. Still: even dead, Jess couldn’t catch a break. For her body to be left down here, too, after so long fighting to get clear of Barrowman Farm’s gravity well, seemed like injustice piled on injustice, cruelty piled on cruelty. Not that there’d been any real alternative to leaving her behind. Even so, if they somehow made it back out and passed the way they’d come, Ellie would bring her back to the surface. Get her away from Thursdale in death at least.

“Turn your lights off,” Madeleine said.

“What?”

“Just do it. Trust me.”

Ellie clicked off her torch, expecting the blackness to fall in on them with the density and force of collapsing earth. Instead, there was light: a cold, silvery glow, unlike any light she remembered seeing. It limned the walls of one tunnel, shining up from around a bend where it angled down.

Madeleine switched her torch back on; Ellie and the others did the same. “Nearly there,” said Madeleine. “Get ready.”

She made for the tunnel entrance. Charlotte unslung her shotgun and took off the safety catch. Ellie did the same, then stepped forward and caught Madeleine’s arm. “I should probably go first, mate.”

“Your choice, Ell. It’s just a straight run from here, I think. But I might make a better human shield. I’m dying anyway.”