A shaft of sunlight crept down from the hole above, the sound of the burbling stream now distant and muted. “Where are we?” Gordy’s voice echoed off the stone walls. Holding out the torch, the orange flames licking up the fuel-drenched fabric, Carlisle motioned for Gordy to follow him.

Unlike before, when they had cut through the jungle at a breakneck pace, the old man walked alongside Gordy, his gait stumbling and slow. The cavern walls were too smooth to have been hollowed out by centuries of erosion. This was an actual pathway. After several minutes of walking through darkness, Gordy caught Carlisle by his sleeve, forcing him to stop.

“No more walking until we figure this out,” Gordy said. “Do you know where we’re going?”

Carlisle swallowed and nodded solemnly.

“Are you showing me the way to find Mezzarix?”

Again, a slight nod, Carlisle’s eyes glinting in the torchlight.

“It’s a secret way,” Gordy clarified to himself. This tunnel was better than trying to ambush Ravian and the Atramenti out in the jungle, where they would have most likely been captured. A secret entrance gave Gordy the upper hand. A chance to spring his trap when Mezzarix least expected it.

“Are you going to help me defeat my grandfather?” Gordy asked.

Carlisle looked ready to nod but then dropped his eyes and started walking again. Gordy hurried to catch up with him.

“He took over your island, you know? And those people are your people, right? He’s Blotched them all. I can help you get them back if you help me. I just . . . I can’t do this by myself.” Gordy had faced off against a number of foes, but none of them frightened him as much as Mezzarix.

After another hundred yards through the tunnel, Carlisle arrived at a door. It was the same color and pattern of the stone surrounding it, and Gordy would have missed it had Carlisle not been there.

Pulling firmly on the handle, Carlisle opened the door and stepped through. Gordy peered past him into a room no bigger than a standard walk-in closet. There was a mattress shoved in the corner, but there appeared to be nothing else inside. No furniture or books. Just a bed and a few blankets covered in dust.

Reaching beneath the mattress, Carlisle felt around for a few moments before producing a box about the size of a deck of cards. He opened the box’s lid, revealing a glass vial brimming with an inky substance.

“Is that Silt?” Gordy asked.

Carlisle responded by handing him the bottle.

“What do you want me to do with it?” With this much Silt, Gordy could stay invisible for more than an hour. He’d have no trouble sneaking up on Mezzarix. Is that why Carlisle had given it to him?

Staring down at the bottle, Gordy suddenly remembered Ms. Bimini’s final warning that Silt could cause changes—possibly lasting changes. Like with Adilene’s eyesight. Should Gordy down the whole bottle, he might be in the same boat as Adilene.

Carlisle gazed at Gordy sadly and held out a shaky finger, gesturing down the corridor. He handed over his torch and then stumbled to the mattress, where he sat down heavily. Kicking off his shoes, Carlisle slipped his feet under the sheets.

“You’re not coming with me?” Gordy asked, baffled. “I don’t even know where I’m supposed to go!” How could Carlisle just abandon him?

Then Gordy looked at the old man—really looked at him—and realized how old Carlisle was. He was exhausted and weak and just wanted to rest. Would his passing be like Ms. Bimini’s? Would Carlisle simply fade out of existence right before Gordy’s eyes?

“Are you going to . . .” Gordy swallowed, not wanting to finish the question. Something in the way Carlisle looked at him, though, seemed to answer it all the same.

Gordy felt the urge to cry. Knowing this would be the last time he ever saw Carlisle, Gordy wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He entered the room and pulled the sheets up until they covered the old man’s chest, tucking him in as though he were a young child.

A few seconds slipped by of painful wheezing, and Carlisle gave a final nod.

Gordy patted his wrinkled hand in farewell, then closed the door to Carlisle’s room and walked into the cavern.