As Gram pulled items from the donkey-golem’s saddle bags, Sully brought out two inflatable rafts and two air pumps. Elliot joined Gram separating needed items from those that would stay behind. So, Roni inferred where they expected her to work. Grabbing a raft, she got busy unrolling it, attaching the air pump nozzle, and then pumping over and over to inflate the raft.
“Everybody gets to keep one change of clothes,” Gram announced.
Roni kept pumping. “Just pick something from my bag. It doesn’t matter.”
At length, she and Sully finished the rafts and set them in the water. All four helped load their limited supplies on the two rafts. Then Gram pointed at Sully. “You and I will take the back. Elliot and Roni, take the lead.”
As Roni climbed into the front boat and Gram took the back, Sully and Elliot picked up the supplies staying behind and put them on the donkey-golem. Sully leaned over and whispered to the creature. Snorting, the donkey-golem turned around and clambered up into the dark.
When Sully climbed in his raft, he said, “Our things will be waiting for us back at the bookstore.”
“Is everyone ready?” Elliot said, taking the front position. “Then let us begin.”
Pushing off the shore, Roni had the urge to point out that they had begun days ago, but instead, she used an orange, plastic paddle to help guide them along the river. Unlike hiking through the caverns, traveling upon the water filled the air with constant sounds. The simplest babble of water over stone echoed and amplified. Paddle strokes and subtle splashes became long-lasting noise. Even the groups’ breathing played back upon them.
“Be careful ahead. Duck,” Elliot said.
Roni scooted lower in the back of the raft, and a moment later, they passed under a rock bridge that reached close to the water at parts. If she hadn’t listened, she would have cracked her head against the stone. The current picked up as they curved off to the right. The next section opened wider, and to Roni’s surprise, there were numerous chained books to be found.
“How did these get here? I mean, do you guys regularly use rafts to find places to chain these books?”
From behind, Gram said, “Not our doing. Possibly not even our Society. Don’t forget that the odds favor there being other Societies from other universes.” She gestured with her oar. “You can see some pathways going off, so this river isn’t the only way to get in here.”
Something in the air above squeaked. Roni popped on her flashlight and caught a glimpse of a bat-like creature flapping its way from one stalactite to another. Once it came to rest, it stretched out its wings — all four of them.
“I guess you can’t really catch those relics,” Roni said.
Sully chuckled. “You’d be surprised what we can accomplish.”
“Should we stop, then, and take care of those things?”
“Oh, so now you want to throw relics into books?”
“I only want to do our job. And I doubt those creatures want to end up like the dead ones we saw yesterday.”
“No,” Elliot said. “We must keep going. Relics like those have their own fates to follow.”
Gram said, “C’mon, Roni. You’re the one keeping the journal. Make a note, and we’ll come back someday to take care of it. There’s only so many problems we can handle at once.”
Roni agreed — partially because she understood how difficult it would be to catch flying creatures so far above them, partially because she knew Elliot needed to keep on track, and partially because by the time they had finished chatting about it, the river had already pushed them towards a new section of the caverns. Roni noticed the current had strengthened, and Elliot concentrated on steering. They bumped hard against something — a rock, most likely — and Elliot shoved them off to the right. The noise level increased, too. The constant echo doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled the river’s growing rage.
“Left! Left!” Elliot bellowed over his shoulder.
Roni tried to paddle the way he wanted, but the raft heaved upward and splashed down like hitting cold steel. The jolt sent electric sparks up her spine. Her fingers clenched involuntarily, and for two seconds, she could not get her body to follow her commands.
“Your other left!” Elliot said, not having time to look back.
They smacked into an outcrop of stones. The hit spun them until they were facing Gram and Sully while zipping backwards down the river. Sully’s flashlight jittered across their faces, and Roni saw how ghost pale they both looked. Water flooded over the edges of the raft, soaking her as she fought the current to turn them around — she needed to get them going in the right direction, and she didn’t want to see Gram’s fear any longer than necessary.
The bottom dropped out from under her. One moment, she dug her paddle into the water, and the next, the water disappeared and they fell. Only a few feet, but her stomach rose straight up her throat. This time, she had the luck to raise her body before slamming into the water. Though this saved her from another spine-wrenching jolt, the action also left her unbalanced. Her body fell sideways, folding over the edge of the raft. As she raised her head to get back, she saw the cavern wall — right before it smacked her in the forehead.
Bright lights flashed before her eyes as the pain radiated across her face, down her back, and through her legs. The metallic taste of blood wet her mouth, and the side of her tongue throbbed. Something grabbed hold of her and yanked her back into the raft. She gazed upward. The dark image of Elliot with the darkness of the cavern behind him tilted as he looked upon her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She had no idea how many times he asked the question, but her head finally cleared enough for her to nod. “I will be,” she said, reaching for her plastic oar. “Get back up front. We need to watch where —”
The front of the raft flew upward as if it skied along a ramp. Elliot tumbled onto Roni as a loud pop burst out followed by the hissing of air leaking from their raft.
“Quickly,” Elliot said as he scrambled toward the front. He wrapped the head of the raft in his arms, hugging it tightly as he attempted to slow the loss of air. “Grab what you can. Toss it to Sully.”
Roni threw her backpack onto her shoulders and picked up a box of food. She looked back, but didn’t see Gram and Sully. The floor of the raft dipped deeper into the river and the fast-moving waters pooled in.
“It is of no use,” Elliot said, letting the front go. He gathered two boxes, one on each shoulder, stuck his cane under one arm, and hopped into the water. It went up to his chest, but he managed to hold his ground.
Roni had no choice but to follow. Her head only came up to his chest under normal conditions, so she held her breath as she jumped in. The box broke free from her grasp as if a giant tore it away. Water rushed up her nose. Sputtering, she thrust her hands outward and attempt to spin around so that she floated on her back with her feet leading the way.
Too dark to see anybody, too noisy to hear anything clearly, she rode the river until the current eased off. When the waters no longer threatened to pulverize her against the rocks, she rolled over and swam to the shore. Coughing, she crawled out. Then the cool air sent shivers across her skin.
“Elliot?” she gasped. “Gram?” From her water-logged backpack, she pulled out a penlight and flashed it upriver. “Sully?”
“Over here,” a voice called out — Gram!
The Old Gang paddled to the shore with Elliot hanging on the side. They all climbed out and flopped onto the gravel edge.
“Well,” Sully said, “that definitely didn’t go well. Remind me, no whitewater rafting with you lot.”
Gram chuckled. “We still have the one raft. That’s good.”
“And we lost half of our supplies — including my change of clothes, I might add.”
“Complain all you want once we get back on the water. Come on. Help me with Roni. She’s been through a lot.”
Roni waved them off. “I’m fine. Soaked, but fine. Just give me a few minutes.”
“We can’t stay here.”
Gram’s odd tone sent a different shiver across Roni’s skin. Sully reached toward Elliot to help him reorganize the raft. As they made room for all four, Roni used her penlight to scan the cavern. She didn’t smell or hear anything irregular, but her skin continued prickling long after it should have eased back.
“Is something out there?” she whispered.
A pale red light formed on the cavern walls. Roni snapped off her penlight as the red grew brighter. The walls themselves appeared to thin — as if they were flesh with lights behind the skin. Chained books swung from these skin walls and a deep rumbling rose on the air. Roni and Gram hustled to help with the raft, and in less than a minute they were ready.
As they pushed off, Roni caught sight of several chains without books. Gram noticed it, too. She then pointed near where they had stopped. Holes big enough to fit a kid’s plastic pool dotted the ground. In the distance, Roni saw a shadowy form stretching up towards the ceiling. She swore it moved, and she wondered if those holes in the ground had been made by the shadow’s feet. What kind of creature could make such a mark?
Shaking off the winding path her mind had taken her, she looked again. Yes, there was a shadow, but it did not move. Perhaps no more than a flicker of light, but it was no creature. It couldn’t have been.
Sully paddled in the back while Elliot steered up front. Moments later, the river curved off and the horrid sight disappeared behind them.
Roni stared at the dying red embers in the distance. “Will one of you explain that to me?”
Digging a blanket out of their meager supplies and handing it to Roni, Gram said, “That was another universe. From the looks of it, not a place I’d like to visit.”
“Are you serious?”
Keeping his focus forward, Elliot said, “Do you really think this is a time we would choose to joke with you?”
“I meant that ... well, I don’t know. How could that have been a separate universe?”
“We do not know how any of this cavern works exactly, but from what I have read and seen, I believe this river acts as a conduit between caverns. In other words, the caverns that hold the books are not all one endless structure but rather, it is a connection of structures spread over many universes. The river is one method of traveling between them.”
“You’re saying we’re not in our own universe anymore?”
Sully said, “Our cavern isn’t even in our universe. I thought you knew that already.”
“I did. I do. I just — this is a bit much to take in.” Her body wobbled, and Gram held her to make sure she didn’t flop backward into the river. “So, we saw part of a universe in that section of cave, and we’re now in another universe? And this whole cavern system is several universes?”
Sully grinned. “See that? You’re smart, after all.”
Gram said, “It’s another reason we don’t worry about contaminating the caverns too much. They are a mixture of universes by their very nature. Though it’s still good practice to keep our end of things as clean as possible.”
Holding the blanket on her shoulders a bit closer, Roni said, “How do you know all this? From what I saw in the Grand Library, none of you have spent much time down there.”
“We did when we were younger, back when we had a librarian. And as far as we know, well, it’s what’s written in the books. I’ve often thought that much of it all is educated guesswork.”
Elliot added, “There have been some attempts at using the scientific method to test out our ideas. While nothing conclusive has been determined, this is the best explanation we have so far.”
“Best thing is to remember that the caverns are dangerous on more levels than we even know. Don’t explore it lightly.”
Roni looked up at Elliot. He knew how difficult this journey could become, yet he not only offered to help Roni, but he encouraged her. She opened her mouth to ask him directly or to point out this fact, but then her mouth closed. Elliot had turned back with a broad smile.
“We have arrived,” he said.