“Yeah.” I try to examine her face in the dim light to see if I can determine which one I’m talking to. “My fault. I wasn’t paying attention. I should have been. I shouldn’t have let you wander out of my sight.”
“I was following some rabbit tracks.”
“Well, the rabbit was probably looking for water.”
“Do we have any water?”
“Yeah.” I shove my hand back inside my parka and bring out a small bottle. “There isn’t a lot, so go easy on it.”
“We could just melt snow if we run out, couldn’t we?”
“We could,” I say, “but it’s easier said than done. Melting snow means either going outside to get some or melting our shelter. Melting snow actually takes a decent amount of effort, and we should conserve energy as long as we can.”
We both take a short drink, and she closes her eyes for a moment. Her head bobs forward slightly, and for a second, I think she’s falling asleep. Then she sits up suddenly, opens her eyes, and blinks a few times.
“What about Solo?” she cries as she knocks her head into the low ceiling.
“He’ll be all right.” I coax her back down onto the coat below us. “It’s warm enough in the cabin. The coals will burn for a long time, and he has access to water. He’ll be fine.”
“What if we never make it back?”
All right, this is obviously not calm Netti anymore. Seri is back and panicked. I can barely keep track of the transformations.
“We are going to make it back,” I say definitively. “We just have to wait for the storm to blow over so I can see where I’m going.”
“Why don’t you have a compass?”
“I’ve never needed one before.” I reach over to adjust the small candle.
“Don’t blow the candle out!”
“I won’t. It actually provides a little heat, you know.” I grip her hand. “It’s just a little one though, and it won’t last long. When it goes out, it will be dark. Lie down. I’m going to pile the parkas on top of us. We’ll just huddle up until the storm passes, and then we can reach the cabin.”
Seri goes quiet for a while. She shivers, and I slide my arm underneath her head, giving her a place to rest. She presses her shoulder against me, and I watch her watching the small candle as it burns lower.
The candle flickers and dims. We both stare at the flame as it goes out, leaving us in total darkness. Seri stiffens next to me, holding her breath for a moment.
“Bishop?” she whispers.
“Yeah?”
“I’m scared.” Her voice is barely audible, even in the enclosed space.
“It’s all right,” I say as I shift to get as close to her as I can. “Everything is going to be fine.”
“Everything is going to be fine.” She repeats the words exactly and in a cold, emotionless voice.
“Netti?” I whisper.
“Yes?”
My heart beats faster. If Netti stays a little longer, I’ll have my chance to talk to one of the others for the first time since I started figuring all this out. I’m fairly certain Netti knows about Seri, and she might very well be able to answer a lot of questions for me.
Now that I’ve established which of them I’m talking to, I have no idea where to begin with the deluge of questions I have. She came and went so quickly a few minutes ago—I have no idea how long I will have to talk to her. With so many questions crowding my brain, I don’t know where to start. Why is Netti here? Why now? Does Seri ask her to take over, or does she just show up when she feels like it? What about Iris? How does she fit in?
As it is, I can only stare into the darkness, as frozen as the cave around us.
Chapter 16