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The High Road
ATT WAS FALLING The ground had opened up beneath him and as he plummeted headlong through a narrow tunnel arms and legs flailing there was no ending just falling falling falling When he tried to scream the roaring wind filled his throat and only a sob escaped his lips His mind was a blur His panic was so intense that he couldn’t concentrate on anything but the certainty that he was going to die A heartbeat later he heard someone screaming She plunged past him bouncing off the milk-white walls of the tunnel Becky Matt cried Matt she shrieked tumbling head over heels her voice raw with fear Matt Matt Suddenly the boy and his sister hurtled around a curve and a ragged figure brushed past them followed by another and another and another Pale faces with huge gleaming eyes and pointed ears stared then shot out of sight With a sudden burst of shock and relief Matt realized that he wasn’t falling after all It wasn’t gravity pulling him down it was something else some unknown force pulling him and his sister forward in a vast tunnel parallel to the ground but beneath it They were in the Cord They were traveling the Low Road the Faerie passage hidden in the earth and Matt and his sister weren’t falling they were flying Becky Matt cried Hold your hands out in front of you keep your body straight and your eyes ahead Look where you’re going I can’t Becky sobbed and bounced off another wall Yes you can If I can do it so can you
I can’t Becky insisted as Matt drew alongside her and took her hand in his Then stay with me he said trying to keep his sister steady as they hurtled together through the tunnel Even though Matt’s heart was pounding confidence welled up inside him he felt a crazy certainty that he could do this that he could navigate the Faerie passage that he could lead himself and his sister to safety somewhere up ahead We’re flying The words burst from him fragile and explosive Becky we’re flying Then in the distance he saw a dark line spread along the wall of the Cord like an ink mark drawn by an invisible hand There was a ripping sound Dozens of tiny filthy fingers reached into the tunnel and grabbed Becky by her hair They yanked her from the Cord as Matt hurtled forward unable to turn back In despair he clutched at the walls with his fingernails trying to slow the insane velocity His grip gave way Then his perspective shifted again and in horror he saw that he wasn’t flying after all He was falling down down down Silence Matt opened his eyes and sat up in the darkness He was breathing so hard that he felt dizzy In the seconds it took to orient himself a glimmer of hope welled up inside then vanished leaving him in a place blacker than he could ever have imagined in his brief fourteen years of life As he left the realm of dreams behind and entered the waking world Matt had no doubt that this was the real nightmare He wasn’t at home in bed He was in a cramped moldy space beneath the roots of some enormous tree in the woods where he had spent the night sleeping fitfully next to his sister on a pile of damp leaves He brushed a leaf from his face and peered into the darkness to see if Becky was still lying asleep beside him He heard her quiet breath regular and calm and he decided to leave her alone She was only nine It wasn’t fair to subject her to this insanity Daytime would come too soon Matt crawled out from under the tree roots into the dark forest His jeans and T-shirt were filthy caked with dirt even though he had turned his clothes inside out like the Elves asked him to Evil spirits they said would be less able to recognize someone with their clothes turned inside out Around his neck hung a tangle of beads amulets and charms designed to protect him from spells or at least that’s what the Elves told him All superstitious garbage all of it Matt thought There was a soggy lump of herbs tucked between his teeth and gums He spit it out into the foliage All night long he had kept the bitter
