He stopped and held his hand out, inviting me to look. I squinted in the direction he gestured, but my eyes kept darting around the room as I waited for them to adjust. It took a moment, but then I saw what he was talking about. I also saw that there were maybe fifteen people here today, all of them regarding me with hostile eyes. But they were busy with something else, too.

The wide, dark square that took up the center of the big cavern was no longer dark. Half of it was fuzzy with spring green, just as Jeb had said. It was pretty. And amazing.

No wonder no one stood on this space. It was a garden.

“Carrots?” I whispered.

He answered at normal volume. “This half that’s greening up. The other half is spinach. Should be up in a few days.”

The people in the room had gone back to work, still peeking at me now and then but mostly concentrating on what they were doing. It was easy enough to understand their actions—and the big barrel on wheels, and the hoses—now that I recognized the garden.

“Irrigating?” I whispered again.

“That’s right. Dries out pretty quick in this heat.”

I nodded in agreement. It was still early, I guessed, but I was already sweaty. The heat from the intense radiance overhead was stifling in the caves. I tried to examine the ceiling again, but it was too bright to stare at.

I tugged Jeb’s sleeve and squinted up at the dazzling light. “How?”

Jeb smiled, seeming thrilled with my curiosity. “Same way the magicians do it—with mirrors, kid. Hundreds of ’em. Took me long enough to get them all up there. It’s nice to have extra hands around here when they need cleaning. See, there’s only four small vents in the ceiling here, and that wasn’t enough light for what I had in mind. What do you think of it?”

He pulled his shoulders back, proud again.

“Brilliant,” I whispered. “Astonishing.”

Jeb grinned and nodded, enjoying my reaction.

“Let’s keep on,” he suggested. “Got a lot to do today.”

He led me to a new tunnel, a wide, naturally shaped tube that ran off from the big cave. This was new territory. My muscles all locked up; I moved forward with stiff legs, unbending knees.

Jeb patted my hand but otherwise ignored my nerves. “This is mostly sleeping quarters and some storage. The tubes are closer to the surface here, so it was easier to get some light.”

He pointed up at a bright, slender crack in the tunnel ceiling overhead. It threw a hand-sized spot of white onto the floor.

We reached a broad fork—not really a fork, because there were too many tines. It was an octopus-like branching of passageways.

“Third from the left,” he said, and looked at me expectantly.

“Third from the left?” I repeated.