Cecile took her hands. The woman’s long silver-white hair hung in ringlets down her back. “Let me look at you.”

“I look like you.”

The woman put her hand to her mouth. “You do.”

“Touching though this little reunion is, ladies.” Althacazur was standing with Tisdale beside him, looking like Mr. Roarke and Tattoo. He motioned toward a door with a sign that read FERRIS WHEEL.

Lara stopped and turned to Cecile, remembering the entry from Cecile’s diary when Althacazur had built the Ferris wheel. “I recall this ride from your diary.”

Cecile looked down. “I don’t care for any of Father’s rides.”

“Oh, come now,” said Althacazur. “If you’re going to pout during this tour, young lady, then you should stay back.”

Cecile folded her hands and smiled, a little too warmly to be believed.

“Much better.”

As Lara contemplated getting on the ride, she couldn’t imagine what she was actually riding. You could call it a Ferris wheel, except it didn’t go up. The ceiling was quite low, almost like a basement, and as you got on the car it traveled beneath the underworld. It was as though the world were flipped.

The little monkey pulled a lever and jumped on the cart. Althacazur looked at Lara.

“It has a delay, but I wouldn’t stand there, girl. Get in. You do dawdle.”

Lara thought that somewhere in here was a bottle labeled DRINK ME. She heard the engine lurch and jumped in the gondola. Althacazur put the safety bar over their laps, which Lara thought was as curious a move as anything she’d seen given that they were in another dimension of sorts. The car descended into what seemed to be the center of the earth. There was a river of shiny black water beneath them.

“Styx,” Althacazur said, pointing. “This is a magnificent view of it, don’t you think?” It meandered past a thick forest of bare white trees that looked like birches. They reminded her of the trees near Wickelow Bend. With the white soil, white trees, and black river, Lara had to admit, it was a magnificent sight.

“That’s the White Forest,” said Althacazur.

Cecile stared at the forest blankly, her jaw tightening.

“This place gets such a horrible reputation as a destination, but I love it… especially in l’hiver. You won’t find me up there working in January.” He pointed up. “So where was I… oh yes. It all was quite messy, and that’s not even getting into the good-and-evil thing. Cecile has the uterus, but she has only one leg and one arm. And only one kidney.”

Lara lurched. She only had one kidney. She was horrified at the accounting that Althacazur was rattling off, but Cecile seemed oblivious to him, still staring with intensity at the White Forest.