But as she skidded and slid her way down, Leelo saw no poison ivy, and when she finally reached the mouth of the grotto, she was a little disappointed to find there were no special rocks here, either. It was just a shallow recess swathed in shadow, with dust and pebbles along the ground.

Leelo paused and took a long drag from her waterskin, then poured some on her neck beneath her braid. It was humid down here, and her dress was already soaked through at the back. Fortunately, it was not one of her nicer garments, just a simple dress that wouldn’t be missed if it disappeared at the end of this excursion.

Leelo ducked her head and entered the cave, wishing she’d brought a lantern with her. Or better yet, that her brother was here to help. Tate was a quiet, sensitive boy, but he was always brave when it came to Leelo. She hoped that wherever he was now, he was being brave for himself.

The cave was only about twenty feet deep, and she didn’t see any sign of bat droppings or bats themselves. Her hope dwindling, Leelo left the cave and sat on a log, draining the last of her water. If the boat wasn’t here, where else could it be? She kicked at a rock near her foot and was surprised to hear a crack.

Leelo’s hand flew to her mouth when she realized it was a bone. A human mandible. She rose and spun. Among the ferns and saplings struggling to grow in the filtered light, the ground was littered with bones, all disturbingly human. Was this what had happened to the outsiders Mama told her about last night?

Leelo looked at the cave again and gritted her teeth. This time, she went straight for the back, feeling around with her hands instead of relying solely on her eyesight. There. A gap in the stone, just large enough for a person to squeeze through...

Leelo emerged in a much larger cave. Light streamed in from above; there must be holes in the Forest floor, another good reason to tell the children to avoid this area. If anyone fell through, the drop was at least twenty feet, and the water on the cave floor didn’t look more than a few feet deep. The boat was propped against the cave wall, the hole at the bottom still unrepaired. There were ropes and a pulley nearby. That must be how they got the boat into the cave.

“Damn it,” she swore. She didn’t know how to repair a boat, and she had no idea where the substance was that the council members used to protect the hull and the rope from the lake water. She walked closer to the water and peered through the dim light. Something was floating on the surface.