Neversink by Barry Wolverton

Author:Barry Wolverton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2012-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

What little light filtered from above quickly disappeared once they entered the tunnel. This was familiar territory for the mole, who was used to crawling underground, navigating with his nose. For Lockley and Ruby, it was downright spooky. Lockley, who lived in a burrow and hunted fish in the ocean’s twilight zone, had expected to have more use of his senses, but this was something else.

“I think I just discovered that I’m afraid of the dark,” said Ruby.

“Oh, dear me,” said the mole. “I forget you two aren’t diggers.” And he scampered back up out of the hole and was gone for several minutes, forcing Lockley to conclude that moles left something to be desired as guides. But eventually he did return, carrying with him a large wad of what appeared to be glow-in-the-dark moss.

“It’s fox fire,” he explained. “It’s a bioluminescent fungus.”

“Ewww, fungus,” said Ruby.

“Brilliant!” said Lockley, and turning back down the tunnel, he admired the dim light created by the fox fire. “There are sea creatures like this in the twilight zone. Come on then.”

The mole led them through a maze of winding passageways, and occasionally Lockley noticed recesses in the earthen walls, often stacked with bones. He held the fox fire torch up to one of the crypts, the amber glow illuminating a fierce skull baring its teeth.

“Ancient remains,” said the mole, when Lockley jumped back. “Most from the Weasel Wars. The badgers didn’t have the luxury of burying their dead on the battlefields, as was their custom at the time. So they buried them in the walls of their secret tunnels. As the battles got bloodier, these tunnels became extensive underground tombs.”

Lockley heard Ruby hovering closer to his head.

“Don’t worry, Ruby. I don’t believe in ghosts.”

“Really?” said the mole. “Badgers sure do. They believe that if the bones are missing from any of these chambers, the spirit of the warrior has been disturbed and roams again.”

“Probably just carried off by some other creature. Or decomposed,” said Lockley. Still, he felt a prickling sensation as he wandered through the badger catacombs. First the thick woods, now this. He was used to wide-open landscapes with a view for miles, and the fluid boundaries of the sea. Here he felt the tunnel walls closing on him, constricting him, as if he had been swallowed by a giant serpent.

“Are you okay, Lockley?” Ruby wondered, noticing that Lockley seemed to be wobbling worse than usual.

“Fine.”

“Want to see something interesting?” said the mole. “A little off the track I was taking you, but what’s the difference, as long as you’re not up there with the owls?”

Lockley didn’t like the sound of it, but his breath was coming in gulps and he couldn’t object before the mole steered them left, descending even lower into the earth. The lower they went, the narrower the tunnel felt to Lockley, who feared he would pass out. To his great relief, however, the tunnel soon opened up into an enormous underground cavern, and the cold, clammy air suddenly seemed fresher and more breathable.

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