“Stay here and wait for us,” Gries barks at the alarmed scientists, finally returning to his senses. “Darren? Lamarr? Damn it.” He slaps at the walkie-talkie, but it responds only in bursts of static. “See if any of you can reach the others. Tell them we need backup.” He looks at me. “You’re free to stay here, if you like.”

But I am already shaking my head. “I’m going after him.”

We make into the new cavern by forcing ourselves through the opening in the rock sideways; the tightness feels oppressive, like the walls could crush us at a moment’s notice, the ceiling flatten us. Somehow we make it through and find ourselves standing before another tunnel, larger than any we’ve gone through so far. There are several forks in the path leading to three different passageways, all similar in size. Hemslock stands at the crux where they all meet, unsure of which one to enter. His bodyguards crowd behind him, their hands on their guns.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Goatee bursts out, finally catching up. “Reuben, you’re the last person to lose your head like this, what do you think you’re—”

Hemslock lifts a finger to his lips to silence him. We wait, but we hear no other sound.

“I know what I saw,” Hemslock says, as if trying to convince himself. “No way she—”

He breaks off. When he speaks again, his voice is calm and controlled once more. “You’re right, Karl. Bad of me to have come in without thinking. Denny, do you still copy?”

Apparently outside communication now works despite having traveled deeper into the cave, because he continues talking. “Yeah, thought I saw something and wanted to verify. No, not exactly a ghost—more like a bad memory. Look, that’s not the point. We’ll head back to the first cavern. I—wait. What’s this?”

He crouches down over what looks to be a large briar patch of thorns, his mouth hanging open as he makes another find. “Goddamn. Look at this, Karl. These aren’t rocks. There are remains here. Parts of them, at least. Can’t see a skull, but these bones are human, all right.”

Makahiya plants from within the patch are blooming over the bits of bone, opening and closing, contributing to the blanket of moss.

“No shit,” Goatee says again. “Let me see.”

He leans forward. One of the makahiya plants turns slowly toward him. Its leaves open.

Within, a wide eye stares back.

Goatee rears back with a shout.

Another cry bursts upon us without warning. “Leo!”

“Elena?” Gries spins in a circle, trying to discern where the sound is coming from.

A sob comes from somewhere to my left. “Leo, I’m so sorry.”

I see blonde hair, a flash of a blue dress at the end of one of the tunnels; everything else is obscured by shadows. Without thinking, Leo sprints toward her.

I give chase and grab his arm before he makes it halfway through.

Gries fights me. “What are you doing? I need to get to her!”