The fall was only a few feet, but it was enough to daze both of them and give their pursuers the slip. The wooden bat clattered against the rock floor and rolled out of Graham's reach. He let his head tilt to the side to face Gio.

The slender man was lying with his eyes closed. His breathing was steady and he looked to be in one piece. His left hand was still reached out to loosely grip Graham's right hand. "We fell down, and I don't want to get up," Gio whispered. The words echoed like rainfall in the cavern.

Graham snorted and reluctantly sat up. Every muscle protested but he knew how to push past the pain. "Wonder where we are," Graham muttered. He reached out with both hands to get an idea of the room they had. A bright light washed over him and he saw Gio holding his phone up, flashlight on.

"Dark in here," Gio commented. He swung the light side to side, craning his neck when he pointed it up the way they'd come. They could just make out a branch swaying in the breeze above the hole. There was no way for them to pull themselves back up. To either side of them the light showed only continued darkness. "I guess we pick a way and just go."

"We really shouldn't be here," Graham whispered with a shaky breath. He took Gio's wrist and aimed it at the nearest wall. It was covered top to bottom in red and orange hand prints. Abstract images of birds fanned out to either side. They grew in number until they all formed a cyclone of abstract feathers hovering above what looked like a scaled hand reaching up.

They turned left, walking quickly but as quietly as they could. Only the sound of their breathing filled the empty darkness. Gio sped up as the dark began to lighten up the tiniest amount. They could hear the trees again. A large hole opened up in front of them but the steep drop off down the cliff face kept them from running any further forward. "Dammit, how are we going to-" Gio cut himself off when he shouted.

Graham followed his pointing finger to a pile of bones. A clean skull sat on top of them laying on its side. An orange backpack lay on the ground behind it. "It's just bones," Graham said. He pushed past Gio and lifted the rope coiled and attached to the top of the bag. "I think I can get you down."

"What about you?"

"I'll figure that out after you're out," Graham leaned over the edge and looked down. The drop was only fifteen feet but it was further than he could safely fall. He began to measure out the rope and made a makeshift harness. "This should get you close to the bottom. Once I run out of rope just slip out and I'll see if I can loop a branch."

"What if they're down there when I reach the bottom?" Gio asked nervously. He never got his answer. As Graham was securing him, a strong wind bent the branches they could see. A single black feather drifted to their feet and Graham grabbed Gio to pull him to the side out of sight behind a jutting boulder.

The bird landed at the mouth of the cave, wings dragging behind it. A foul smell like rotting leaves in the hot sun wafted from its feathers. Gio pressed his face into Graham's shoulder and they huddled together. They heard a quiet whimper as it shuffled down the darkening tunnel. Graham chanced a glance over the top of the boulder.

Nora was clutched in its talons and her face was pulled along the ground as it walked. Blood dribbled down her cheek and forehead. A steady stream of profanities and pleading fell from her lips.

Once they were gone, Graham helped Gio to his feet. He stared at the dark passageway she'd been dragged into. "They must be back the other way," he muttered. A long sigh slowly came from him. "We can't just leave them."

"I am so glad you said that because I don't know how I was going to convince you to come with me," Gio said, sounding relieved. He took Graham's free hand and gripped it tightly. "This is the sort of thing they'll owe us for the rest of their lives, right?" He stayed close to Graham's side.

"The rest of their lives isn't exactly a concrete thing right now," Graham joked. A brief circle of light on the ground came and went as they passed the spot they'd originally fell. They noticed the deep furrows on the ground leading in the direction they were headed.

As they continued, the faint sound of screaming and screeching began to echo off the walls. Chanting seemed to come from every corner from hundreds of voices. A large cavern stood at the end of the passageway. Three of the giant birds circled overhead above the crowd of those things.

Graham tugged Gio's hand and nodded at an entrance across the way. It was dark now but the moon cast enough light to give it a silver glow. Two antlereds stood guard of not only the entry but the small group of bedraggled prisoners to the left of it. They counted four of them huddled together.

"If we can just grab them and run we could make it," Graham whispered. Their friends were at the top of a narrow walkway that led to a ledge that overlooked the pit where the screeching was coming from. Another ledge ran the outer edge giving them direct access to the exit. If they were fast they could slip by the writhing crowd below.

The problem came with the birds. There were few areas of cover between them and the group. Most of them weren't big enough for two. Graham pulled Gio back out of earshot and sighed. "I'll go first, you follow behind once I'm across. If they spot me, you have to run back to where we found the rope." He shushed Gio's protests and began knotting the rope so that one end formed a heavy ball. The other end he fixed into a loose loop. "Hook this around your wrist and throw the other end so it wraps around a branch. It'll hold you long enough for you to reach the bottom."

"I'm supposed to just leave you?" Gio scoffed. The loop was tight around his wrist.

"Someone should get out to tell them where we are when Phoebe gets back," Graham said. He pressed Gio back as a bird made a lazy dive before going back up. It rejoined the other two circling above. "But it won't be a problem because we're going to get to the other side and get them out."

Gio placed a hand on Graham's cheek and turned him back so they were facing each other. The kiss was quick, barely a brush of his lips on Graham's, but it was there all the same. "For luck?" he explained with a shrug.

"I'll need more luck once we're out of here," Graham teased. He reluctantly let him go and began the slow walk along the ledge. The stone wall scraped along his back with each slow crouched step. Every shriek made him freeze, thinking he'd been seen. Graham didn't dare look back to check his progress.

The first low boulder came just in time and he ducked behind it as a bird dove into the crowd in front of his ledge. Its cries reverberated in his head like a broken whistle. He could barely breathe until it flew back up. At least when it was in the air he could see where it was.

Graham sidled around the final boulder and looked at the empty stretch of ground between him and the others. Now that he was close enough, it was easy to see that Moira was missing and Spencer had both hands clamped down on Brian's leg. They were whispering among themselves, looking at the sliver of outside they could see.

The antlereds hadn't moved in his entire approach and Graham wondered if they would move if they saw him. He tightened his grip on the bat and leaned forward in a crouch.

Run.

Hit.

Escape.

The words bounced around his head like a ping pong ball. A pebble smacked his nose. Nora was staring directly at him with a small smile tugging up the corner of her mouth. She glanced behind her at their two guards and back at him. Her shoulders shrugged and she raised an eyebrow.

Graham mirrored her shrug and nodded to Gio who had successfully navigated to meet him. They crouched together desperately trying to communicate some sort of plan with Nora when luck struck. Both of the antlered turned to face outside and one even stepped halfway out of the cave.

It happened so fast Graham might have missed it if he hadn't been the one sprinting forward. He slammed the bat into the one still fully in the cave while Gio helped Spencer get Brian to his feet. The second guard turned and came face to face with the bat on its second swing. Graham and Nora supported Cass between them and the six of them ran for fresh air.

It had been so easy.

The bird waiting outside was a surprise.