Darius scurried through the colony with his cane. During the ceremony, he had made sure to keep his distance from the others, including Elmer, out of a cautious fear that someone might suspect something.
Now, he headed to his friend's house.
He couldn't get his mind off of what he'd seen in the caves. He needed to talk with Elmer in private.
Walking up to the old, faded house he'd visited the day before, Darius found Elmer returning.
"Elmer!" he called, with enough vigor to make the man turn from the doorway.
Elmer's good eye lit up as he saw his friend. "Darius!"
"Can I come in?" Darius looked on either side of him. Everyone else was preoccupied with returning home, tending to their children, or heading off to morning chores. A handful—the Crop Tenders who lived close by—headed off to work detail.
"Sure," Elmer said, leading his friend inside.
Darius walked into the familiar hovel. Unlike Darius's house, which was filled with scraps of metal and weapons to be fixed, Elmer's house was relatively clean. The house contained only cookware, a few piles of clothing, and a tidy hearth. Darius's eyes flicked to the long, brown shawl hanging on the wall, which had belonged to Elmer's dead wife. He felt a tug of sympathy.
"I'll shut the door," Elmer said, waiting until Darius was inside before he closed it. Without the commotion of the alleys to distract them, he asked in a whisper, "How did it go last night?"
Darius looked behind him. He still couldn't convince himself that a shadow hadn't followed him from the cave's bowels, watching him scurry through the streets, to his house, and to the ceremony. And here. Maybe someone had noticed him hurrying back with his bag and unloading it. Maybe a group of Watchers waited outside to bring him to Gideon and punish him.
Keeping his voice low, he said, "I found something in the tunnels."
"What did you find?" Elmer's face grew serious as he shuffled closer.
"I was in the eastern section, past the first few intersections, and through the cave broken down by the old miners," Darius started, realizing he rambled about a place where Elmer had never been. To his credit, Elmer didn't question him. "I was halfway down that tunnel when I frightened a fox, and it ran into a hole in the wall."
"A den," Elmer assumed.
"That's what I thought, at first," Darius said, keeping his voice hushed as he got to the crux of the discovery. "Until I saw the place where it disappeared. The fox scooted into a hole in the wall, covered by rocks. I uncovered them and found a passage leading to a tunnel I've never seen."
Elmer leaned forward, listening intently.
"Even I'm not foolish enough to think there are places I haven't discovered," Darius clarified, "but there was something about this passage that made it even more intriguing." Darius paused, making sure he had the full attention of his friend's good eye. "Akron's mark was on the wall, right near it."
Wonder filled Elmer's face, as he remembered, "A triangle."
Darius nodded.
"Did you find anything else?" Elmer asked.
Darius shook his head. "I looked around a while, following the new tunnel to its end, until I reached an exit. By that time, it was late enough that I had to get back."
"You didn't want to be caught," Elmer said, knowingly.
"I still have one more side to explore," Darius told him. "I have no idea what is on the other end, or how many other passages it might reveal."
"At least you will have a place on which to focus, when you return," Elmer said.
"Maybe tonight," Darius said.
"Tonight?" Elmer seemed surprised. "That is risky. Usually you space out your visits, Darius."
"I think this is worth the risk," Darius said, unable to get his mind off of Akron. "I can't stop thinking about that tunnel, Elmer. I need to see what is in it."