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Cal ie snorted "Not that this isn’t very spooky, but if you’re al that powerful, how is it you don’t know that I’ve already joined you?"

Thestopped as if cut of by a knife Clarisse jerked her head to stare at Darri’s sister

"How?" she dehosts faced each other for a long, silent moment Darri was uncomfortably aware of just how silent it was She knew they were surrounded; she had seen the shadows, heard the whispers But now she could not hear a single breath except her own

"Wel , then," Clarisse said Her voice was suddenly brisk, and the fuzzy edges of her body sharpened back into clearly defined lines Her hair fel heavily against her shoulders "This is ht"

"So it appears," Cal ie said

Clarisse sed teeth "Wel beyond me"

"We can simplify it," Cal ie said

"By walking away? No, I don’t think so He already knows you’re here He’l decide what to do with you"

"He?"

"He?"

But Clarisse had already turned and swept into the darkness at the back of the cavern The air behind her shiuely, and a faint unreal sound, like the shadows of sighs, fol owed her into the blackness Darri turned to the cave entrance and found it blocked by a wal of bones, skeletons crushed together into an i at her

Cal ie looked at Darri and rol ed her eyes Feeling vaguely co that she had no choice, Darri stooped and pul ed the disguised silver dagger out of her boot It was a coht in her hand as she fol owed her sister and Clarisse over the slick, dieway beyond it

Varis found Darri’s falcon in front of a cluster of bushes, happily ripping apart the corpse of a field mouse A quick examination told him the falcon hadn’t kil ed the mouse by itself, and from there it was fairly easy to find the entrance to the caves

Varis let his own falcon go with faint regret, thehis injured shoulder clench That o birds sacrificed to whatever crazy ruse Darri had dreamed up this time No mat er how many years they spent in captivity, falcons were never real y tao wild in the blink of an eye, as easily and completely as if they had never sat on a iven to the back

He hobbled his horse next to Darri’s and wrenched the torch froh the bushes Once his eyes adjusted to the dimness, it took him only a few seconds to make out the faint trail of footprints on the rock floor He fol owed the specks were scat ered on the daood enough He srimly

The smile flat ened into a hard line as he fol owed the trail deeper into the dank darkness of stone and earth Where in this unnatural place was Darri going?

Chapter Thirteen

The farther they walked into the labyrinthine passageways, thethe air with sibilant whispers that seeined rather than heard Her skin crawled, but she kept walking

It was the hardest thing she had ever done The death around her was thick enough to choke on; so clearly inhu Hundreds of human spirits, trapped forever beneath the earth, misshapen and confused by their unnatural confine sideways at Cal ie, who coer sister see twisted and evil, no ers stroked against her skin, wor around her ankles and neck Darri bit back a screaination--which wasn’t helped by the way Clarisse insisted on floating several feet above the ground, body gloith a faint white light Darri tried to tel herself it looked sil y, but it was hard to find anything aot the bet er of her

"Not to interfere with theto create," she snapped, "but could you just walk?"

Clarisse looked over her shoulder, hair floating about her face "Why? Do you find this frightening?"

Darri chose not to answer

"It’s an easier way to travel," Clarisse said, "for those who are no longerit these days?" Cal ie said

"I should be asking you that, shouldn’t I? You’re , and Clarisse moved suddenly back to float beside her On the other side froht have either screamed or at acked her Or both

"So," Clarisse said conversational y, "how long have you been dead? And why didn’t you let us know?"

"It was a struggle," Cal ie said dryly "You kno I hate keeping things from you"

"Don’t you think Jano wil be hurt that you’ve kept it from him?"

"He tried to kil my family We can consider the score set led"

Cal ie’s voice had an edge that surprised Darri Even Clarisse shot Cal ie a startled glance before going on, in a inal y more sober voice, "How do you like it so far?"

Cal ie looked sideways at Darri, then away, too swiftly for Darri to react "I don’t," she said

"You’l become accustomed to it"

"I don’t intend to have time for that," Cal ie said