“They just never believed me. Finally they threw me into a hole in the ground, and it was always dark. There was a little… a room, I guess you’d say, with roots sticking out of the earth walls… and sometimes I could see a little sunlight about nine feet up. They’d come-their commandant, I guess he was-and he’d ask me if I was ready to talk yet. He said I was turning white down there, like a fish. That my face was getting infected, that I’d get gangrene in my face and then it would get into my brain and rot it and make me crazy and then I’d die. He’d ask me if I’d like to get out of the dark and see the sun again. And I’d plead with him… I’d beg… I’d swear on my mother’s name that I didn’t know anything. And then they’d laugh and put the boards back and cover them up with dirt. It was like being buried alive. The dark… like this…”

He made a choked sound in his throat and Charlie squeezed his hand tighter to show him that she was there.

“There was the room and there was a little tunnel about seven feet long. I had to go down to the end of the tunnel to… you know. And the air was bad and I kept thinking I’m going to smother down here in the dark, I’m going to choke on the smell of my own sh-“He groaned. “I’m sorry. This is nothing to tell a kid.”

“That’s all right. If it makes you feel better, it’s all right.”

He debated, and then decided to go just a little further.

“I was down there for five months before they exchanged me.”

“What did you eat?”

“They threw down rotted rice. And sometimes spiders. Live spiders. Great big ones-tree spiders, I guess. I’d chase after them in the dark, you know, and kill them and eat them.”

“Oh, gross!”

“They turned me into an animal,” he said, and was quiet for a moment, breathing loudly. “You got it better than me, kid, but it comes down to pretty much the same thing. A rat in a trap. You think they’ll get the lights on pretty soon?”

She didn’t say anything for a long time, and he was coldly afraid that he had gone too far. Then Charlie said, “It doesn’t matter. We’re together.”

“All right,” he said, and then in a rush: “You won’t tell, will you? They’d fire me for the.” way I been talking. I need this job. When you look the way I do, you need a good job.”

“No, I won’t tell.”

He felt the chisel slip smoothly in another notch. They had a secret between them now.

He was holding her in his hands.

In the dark, he thought how it would be to slip his hands around her neck. That was the final object in view, of course-not their stupid tests, their playground games. Her… and then perhaps himself. He liked her, he really did. He might even be falling in love with her. The time would come when he would send her over, looking carefully into her eyes all the time. And then, if her eyes gave him the signal he had looked for for so long, perhaps he would follow her. Yes. Perhaps they would go into the real darkness together.

Outside, beyond the locked door, eddies of confusion passed back and forth, sometimes near, sometimes far away.

Rainbird mentally spat on his hands and then went back to work on her.

9

Andy had no idea that they hadn’t come to get him out because the power failure had automatically locked the doors. He sat in a half-swoon of panic for some unknown time, sure the place was burning down, imagining the smell of smoke. Outside, the storm had cleared and late afternoon sunshine was slanting down toward dusk.

Quite suddenly Charlie’s face came into his mind, as clearly as if she had been standing there in front of him.

(she’s in danger charlie’s in danger)

It was one of his hunches, the first he’d had since that last day in Tashmore. He thought he had lost that along with the push, but apparently that was not so, because he had never had a hunch clearer than this one-not even on the day Vicky was killed.

Did that mean the push was still there, too? Not gone at all, but only hiding?

(charlie’s in danger!)

What sort of danger?

He didn’t know. But the thought, the fear, had brought her face clearly in front of him, outlined on this darkness in every detail. And the image of her face, her wide set blue eyes and fine-spun blond hair, brought guilt like a twin… except that guilt was too mild a word for what he. felt; it was something like horror that he felt. He had been in a craze of panic ever since the lights went out, and the panic had been completely for himself. It had never even occurred to him that Charlie must be in the dark, too.

No, they’ll come and get her out, they probably came and got her out long ago. Charlie’s the one they want. Charlie’s their meal ticket.

That made sense, but he still felt that suffocating surety that she was in some terrible danger.

His fear for her had the effect of sweeping the panic for himself away, or at least of making it more manageable. His awareness turned outward again and became more objective. The first thing he became aware of was that he was sitting in a puddle of ginger ale. His pants were wet and tacky with it, and he made a small sound of disgust.

Movement. Movement was the cure for fear.

Re got on his knees, felt for the overturned Canada Dry can, and batted it away. It went clinkrolling across the tiled floor. He got another can out of the fridge; his mouth was still dry. He pulled the tab and dropped it down into the can and then drank. The ringtab tried to escape into his mouth and he spat it back absently, not pausing to reflect that only a little while ago, that alone would have been excuse enough for another fifteen minutes of fear and trembling.

He began to feel his way out of the kitchen, trailing his free hand along the wall. This level was entirely quiet now, and although he heard an occasional faraway call, there seemed to be nothing upset or panicky about the sound. The smell of smoke had been a hallucination. The air was a bit stale because all the convectors had stopped when the power went off, but that was all.

Instead of crossing the living room, Andy turned left and crawled into his bedroom. He felt his way carefully to the bed, set his can of ginger ale on the bedtable, and then undressed. Ten minutes later he was dressed in fresh clothes and feeling much better. It occurred to him that he had done all of this with no particular trouble, whereas after the lights went out, crossing the living room had been like crossing a live minefield.

(charlie-what’s wrong with charlie?)

But it wasn’t really a feeling that something was wrong with her, just a feeling that she was in danger of something happening. If he could see her, he could ask her what He laughed bitterly in the dark. Yes, right. And pigs will whistle, beggars will ride. Might as well wish for the moon in a mason jar. Might as well For a moment his thoughts stopped entirely, and then moved on-but more slowly, and with no bitterness.

Might as well wish to think businessmen into having more self-confidence.

Might as well wish to think fat ladies thin.

Might as well wish to blind one of the goons who had kidnapped Charlie.

Might as well wish for the push to come back.

His hands were busy on the bedspread, pulling it, kneading it, feeling it-the mind’s need, nearly unconscious, for some sort of constant sensory input. There was no sense in hoping for the push to come back. The push was gone. He could no more push his way to Charlie than he could pitch for the Reds. It was gone.

(is it!)

Quite suddenly he wasn’t sure. Part of him some very deep part-had maybe just decided it didn’t buy his conscious decision to follow the path of least resistance and give them whatever they wanted. Perhaps some deep part of him had decided not to give up.