We stare at the cave for a long time. A slight, cool breeze emanates from inside—it smells old, a stony, musty breath of the earth.

“She’s in there somewhere,” I whisper.

We stand there several minutes before it really sinks in that this is a place I have to enter. And one I have to enter without Germ. Who knows how much farther and longer the journey will be once I’m inside?

I turn to look at her, and by the pained, confused expression on her face, I can see she’s thinking the same thing. She opens her mouth to say something, but I say it for her.

“You can’t come with me,” I say.

Germ looks torn, like she thinks this is the truth but also doesn’t want it to be.

“This is something I have to do. Nobody else,” I say. “This is my fight, not yours.”

Germ nods, but there are tears squeezing out of her eyes.

“Will you be okay to get home on your own?” I ask.

“Oh sure,” she says, “definitely.” But she’s bluffing. I can see that a solitary, three-day hike in the woods is not exactly an easy thing to contemplate.

“Will you start back now?” I ask. She nods.

“If you need me…,” she says. “If you need anything at all, send Little One for me.”

I nod. And then I reach my arms around her neck, hugging her hard. She squeezes me back fiercely. I don’t want to let go, but finally I do.

We all stand there, waiting for someone to make a move first. And then I realize that that someone has to be me.

I take one last glance at the beautiful, full-of-life, outside world, and the sky full of stars. I look at Ebb, and he nods at me sadly. I wave good-bye to Germ, and I guess to everyone and everything else, too. And then I step across the threshold, pushing my way through the thick silk of the entrance. It gives and comes apart around me as I enter, and I brush it off me with a shiver.

Ebb puts his hand over his heart, gives a gentle smile to Germ, and then he follows me.

I turn on my flashlight and shine it down into the dark. Little One flutters ahead, though she flutters lower and slower than before, pausing here and there to perch and look around her. Even she looks scared and uncertain.

Together, we enter the cave and leave the world behind—only one of us with a beating heart that pounds as we move forward—enter the cave and leave the world behind.

CHAPTER 27

We are in a narrow tunnel of rock stretching back into the dark, on a slight tilt downward.