Chapter 32: Can’t go over it, can’t go under it

“What now?” Kaleigh asked.

“Does it look like I have any clue?”

“Well… no,” Kaleigh answered.

“Can you boost me up so I can see over the wall?” David asked.

“Sure, I guess.” Kaleigh formed her hands into a basket, and David stepped into it.

Kaleigh pushed him up and his head disappeared over the top of the wall.

“You’re really strong!” he called down to her. “I can’t see anything but more of these godforsaken caves. Can you get up here?”

Kaleigh jumped and hooked her hands over the top of the wall, coming to rest on her elbows next to David.

“This place sucks ass.” She said.

“I know.” David answered, and swung his leg over the top of the wall. “I think we should just keep going.” He dropped to the cave floor, and Kaleigh followed him. They started walking.

“What do you think happened to the rest of the people in our town?”

“Nothing when I left.” David replied. “But that can change.”

“How did you get here? To this place, I mean.”

“Through some gate thing. I don’t know where it came from. It just kind of appeared in the middle of the football field the day after you disappeared.”

“You mean people were looking for me?”

“Of course. After your mom found that guy Keith dead in your basement, and you gone, she called the cops.”

“How did she get down in the basement?” Kaleigh asked. “That thing blew up my staircase.”

“I don’t know.” David replied. “But she was really worried about you. Do you know where we’re going?”

“New York. We can probably get home from there. Somehow.”

“Can’t we just go back?”

“I don’t think so. Stretch told me--”

“Who’s that?”

“Somebody I met down here. He could change forms and stuff.”

“Wow, like a shapeshifter?”

“He called himself a switcher, but I think it’s the same idea.”

“But he told me that the gates shifted and stuff and some of them went to different time periods.”

“Neat. And people talk about time machines, when all we needed to do was find time gates!”

“Right…”

“Sorry.” David said, looking at his feet.

They walked in silence for a while, then Kaleigh stepped in something wet.

“Ugh!” she cried, lifting up one of her feet. “There’s like, a pond or something!”

Small ripples lapped at their feet.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Kaleigh asked.

“We can try to go around it I guess.” David said. “We can’t swim across it; I can’t even see the other side.”

“We can’t see much of anything,” Kaleigh said.

“Good point.” David started walking along the shore of the lake. The ceiling of the cave sloped gradually downward and they eventually had to crouch to avoid scraping their heads on the rock. The ceiling met the surface of the lake, and David toed the water with a tennis shoe.

“I guess we’ll have to wade across.” He said.

“Oh, great.”

He grimaced as he walked into the water, and Kaleigh reluctantly followed, gasping as the icy water wrapped around her boots. They walked slowly, pushing through the dark water. Kaleigh saw a few strange white fish swim by and dart away.

They began to shiver from the cold of the water. Kaleigh’s new wings became waterlogged, and the cold ripped through her body.

David shivered, but not as violently as Kaleigh did. They grew tired, but continued to press on. Kaleigh stumbled once, sending rings of ripples racing across the water. David caught her by the arm and helped her up, then kept walking.

They reached the opposite bank after what seemed like years of wading, and they wrung out their clothes as best they could. They laid down on the rock near the lake and slept.