Barely an hour later, I was where I needed to be. Sort of. Ella and Mel dropped me off when we could see Oliphant on the horizon, a looming black castle against a purpling early evening sky. When Henry and I had left, we'd wandered across fields and through woods, not following a road at all. I'd almost thought that there wasn't one, but I now realized how ridiculous that notion was. Of course there had to be a road to Oliphant. How would people get to and from it?

Mac was with me. I'd brought him along for several reasons. First of all, while I'd told the Hines sisters that I'd wanted to be alone, that the pipes weren't very big, I knew that Mac wouldn't be a nuisance; we'd both been underground and in dark places. What was one more, to him? But also, Mac didn't know the girls, and they didn't know him. The remaining drive to Oliphant had revealed that he felt suspicious of them, so leaving them together wouldn't benefit either. Also, Mac had an uncanny sense of direction. I'd learned that from wandering through San Judo with him. Even though he was young, he was super smart. I thought maybe he could help me through the pipes if I got lost. It wouldn't hurt to have him there, anyway. And another reason I wanted him with me (although I didn't exactly admit this one aloud) was because I wouldn't mind the company. For all my talk, I was freaked out about the prospect of trying to find my way back through those pipes. After all that had happened, returning to Oliphant seemed the scariest of all. I hated that place—the birthplace of this current nightmare—more than I could express. Going back there was stupid, and I knew that in the back of my head. So what if I got to talk to Jason? I'd get caught, and there'd be no way out. I'd be stuck there again. Or given to the Circuit so they could bury me in those underground tunnels. Whatever would happen, my stomach had dropped the moment Oliphant had appeared, so I'd asked Mac if he'd rather come with me, and of course he'd said yes.

I knew he couldn't do much besides help guide me and occupy my mind with prattle. I mean, if someone attacked us or tried to do something to us, he'd be no help. Still, just having him there, walking quietly (for once) at my side across the dark grass, kept my nerves in check.

Mac didn't ask me where we were. In fact, once we'd arrived at Oliphant, he hadn't said anything at all except for the "yes" when I'd asked whether he wanted to come with me. He just kept his eyes wide, resembling a startled rabbit as we searched for our entrance. In a way, I was glad he didn't ask me anything. I didn't exactly want to talk. But I wouldn't have minded a little of his nonsensical banter. I understood if he were too anxious, though; I felt the same myself. His presence beside me was still reassuring, even if it was a silent presence.

As we moved through the fields of overgrown grasses, grasshoppers and other winged things springing up at us with each step, I made sure to keep a good distance from Oliphant itself. I kept my eyes on the horizon, looking for a massive pipe jutting out of the earth. I knew that the pipe had to go past the gates of the building, because Henry and I hadn't encountered any barriers once we were outside. But it had been very dark when we'd escaped, and I had little understanding of where exactly the pipe was. Fortunately, the light wasn't quite so dark now, and as we rounded the side of the building, still keeping enough away that we were unlikely to be seen, I saw that on the left of Oliphant, the earth actually rose up into something of a hill, and out of the side of that mound protruded a long, large black pipe.

Smiling at Mac, I took off running toward it, never having imagined I'd be so happy to see that thing again. When I reached it, I saw beneath the tube the faintly glowing pool, producing a sickly yellow-green haze above itself. I wondered at the stuff more now than I had when I'd first seen it. I'd been so wrapped up in escaping and in Henry that I hadn't really stopped to think about anything. But now that I looked at it, I wondered what Oliphant was doing draining some noxious looking gel into a large field.

Mac caught up to me, and his panting voice seemed to scratch the quiet around us."What are you going to do?"

I huffed in slight annoyance. The truth was, I didn't really know what to do. Looking up from the pool to the pipe, I studied the gap between them. There was a good twelve-foot distance from the bottom rim of the pipe to the pool's surface; that hadn't been a big deal jumping down but was a pretty big impediment going up. There was no way that I'd be able to reach it. But then I looked along the length of the pipe, and I noticed that it went about thirty feet back before it cut into land. It basically came out of a slope of earth, because the majority of the system was underground. If Mac and I went around the pool and climbed the slope, we might be able to slide down the summit of the mound and land on top of the pipe. Then, we could walk the length of it to its opening and slide over the edge on our stomachs, somehow swinging ourselves inside. It could work. It was the only way I could see that we'd get in, anyhow.

Mac saw what I was thinking--I guess he'd followed my gaze--and he was having none of it. "No way. I am not going up there and getting on that thing. I'll break my neck if I fall off."

I ignored him and started up the slope, and he walked behind me, continuing to complain. When I abruptly stopped, he bumped into me. "What's the matter with you?" I asked, turning to look at him. "You were all bravery until we got to the Hineses'. Then you freaked, and now, you're trying to tell me you're afraid of climbing on a pipe? After everything we've been through? Mac, even if you do fall (which you probably won't because the pipe is so wide), you'd fall into the pool."

"I'll sink and drown! I can't swim!"

"No, you won't. That stuff is like a gel; you won't sink. Trust me. I've been in it."

"Oh, what? So you know everything now? First you need me helping you to do anything and now you try to act like you're in charge."

I didn't know what to make of his scolding; it was somewhat surreal. I didn't even know what to say. I just figured he was scared, so I turned around and kept walking up the hill. I heard him grunt in frustration, but his footsteps picked up again, and I knew he was following.

We reached the top in about ten minutes. It wasn't really that far of a distance, but the slope was steep and the ground was a little wet, so I kept slipping. By the time I got to the top, I was pretty dirty from falling, but I didn't care. I had to move faster. Ella and Mel were probably already trying to start their diversion; I'd told them to wait about thirty minutes and then go to the gates. So I needed to move. Gazing down, I saw that it was a few yards' slide before I would land on the top of the pipe. The pipe itself was wide enough that I wasn't afraid of slipping off of it. I knew I could get onto the thing, but what I didn't know was whether, when I reached the end, I would be able to swing myself down into the opening of it.

Trying not to think too far ahead, I sat on the ground and pushed myself over the top of the slope. The dampness of the earth soaked through my leggings. It felt awful, but when my feet hit metal, I was too happy to think much of it.

Mac was still at the top of the mound, saying something about this being a stupid idea, but I ignored him. If he wanted to follow, he would. I walked the length of the pipe without any fear of falling off—It was too wide; I'd have to do something really clumsy to fall. My chest began to flutter as I neared the edge. It was getting pretty dark, and I almost didn't realize that I was at the end until I saw the glow of the pool below, now more pronounced as the night was deepening. That gel was just beneath me, so I stopped. My breath had become loud against the quiet. I crouched, peering over the edge, readying myself to turn and lie on my stomach so I could lower myself feet-first. "Mac!" I called out, not looking back. "I'm going to go in! Hurry up if you want me to help y—"

Before I could complete my sentence, two hands pushed hard against my lower back and I lost my balance. It happened fast, but luckily, I was able to react in time to force my weight backward instead of forward. If I'd gone forward, I would have fallen head-first over the pipe's rim and into the water. As it was, I fell onto my butt and went over the top feet-first. When I slid, I rolled onto my side so that my hands could grip the top of the pipe. Within seconds, I found myself hanging onto the rim, facing the inside of the pipe; it was exactly where I'd wanted to be, but I'd nearly lost precious time in having to do the whole routine over again. I turned my face up to see the shadowed figure of Mac crouching above me.

"Damn! You were supposed to fall!"

I was panting, unsure how long I could hang on and how I was supposed to swing into the pipe. What in the world was Mac saying to me?

"Yeah, you heard me. You were supposed to fall. And now I have to get closer to the end, and I don't need to drown tonight!"

I was too startled to really focus on what he was saying.

"Slow her down, they told me." He spoke as if he were thinking aloud. "I'd kill her myself, but no, no. They don't want that. They're damn picky with what they want. Now I'll just have to do this the hard way." He crouched down and pressed the palms of his hands on my fingers, crunching them against the rim of the pipe. I winced in pain. "Seems like everything's been getting done the hard way."

In my frustration and confusion, the thought surfaced in my mind that he was against me. He was trying to keep me out of Oliphant . . . but that was too much to believe! How--how could Mac want that? He'd have to be an enemy! No way. This was a different person—someone that looked like Mac. Someone pretending to be him. It was just impossible that this was the same kid who'd been helping me, who'd been in that truck with me and Henry. Maybe the Circuit had messed with his head while he was there! Maybe they'd turned him! That had to be it.

"She's going to run, they told me. She's going to get scared and run. Nobody said anything about you coming back here. Now what am I supposed to do? God damn, they've got to make up their minds."

My face was toward the sky and I could see directly into Mac's eyes. They glowed maniacally with the greenish light from the pool. He meant to push me over. He probably would've pushed me off a cliff if that were what he was supposed to do. I wouldn't be hurt falling, but I'd be slowed, and for all I knew he'd sit up on that pipe and try to fight me every time I tried to get onto it.

"Mac, you're messed up!" I cried, my fingers hurting so badly I knew I had mere seconds before I'd have to let go. "They messed with your head!"

"No," said Mac, lifting his hands off mine, much to my relief. He knelt down and got close to my face—grinned like a devil in the moonlight. "You're the one whose head they messed up."

Then he made to scoot forward and put his shoe on my fingers, but I reacted too fast. Putting all my effort into one side of my body, I swooped my right arm away from the pipe's rim and then up, grabbing hold of Mac's shirt collar. He tried to move, but I was fast, and I got him. His superior smirk vanished, and I yanked him off the pipe into the pool below. I heard him yell and splash and call out frantically about being unable to swim, but I didn't have time to feel sorry for him. With a supreme effort, I swung myself out and then in, just enough to where I was able to let go and fall right into the mouth of the pipe, though I just barely held my balance. I landed in a trickle of glowing liquid that was slithering out of the tube like a bright worm in the darkness.

Leaving behind Mac's sloshing around, I ran into the pipe. As disturbing as his cries were, I felt little remorse about what I'd done. It was his own fault that he was where he was. Mac was against me. I wasn't quite sure why, but he clearly was. He had to be working for the Circuit, but for how long? Since last night? Since we escaped from them? Since the beginning? No. The beginning was hard to believe. Mac was just a lost little boy, and while he'd been annoying from time to time, he'd overall been a great help, especially finding our way through San Judo when I'd been without Henry . . . and now I was letting him drown down there. But I couldn't waste time, and I couldn't help him only to let him stop me from doing what I needed to do. So I pushed on, into the murk, trying to keep thoughts of getting lost in a maze of tubes from my mind.

At first, I had little trouble knowing where to go. I just jogged forward, walked when I grew tired, and then picked up the pace again. It was a straight shot. The viscous gel grew slightly but not much higher, until it was around my ankles, but it didn't hold me back, and I was grateful for its eerie glow, which enabled me to see where I was going. As before, I saw some pipes branching off the main one, but they were too small and high to worry about. After about fifteen or twenty minutes, I began to wonder what exactly the entrance into Oliphant would look like. When I'd been flushed out of the pipe several days ago, there'd been a big stretch where I'd not had any control or knowledge of which way I'd been going; I'd been entirely at the mercy of the flowing liquid. So when I got to the tank's drain, how would I know what to look for? I suspected it'd be up, but as I tried to keep my eyes peering above, I realized something unsettling. The liquid in the pipe--it was disappearing. I'd never been without the glowing gel when I'd exited this way; it had been with me the entire time, just lessening as I'd neared the end of the pipe. What I noticed now, though, was that the stuff was actually diminishing. It had risen to my ankles for a little while, but now it was almost entirely gone. The light it had given off was dimming. As I kept on, a shadowy blackness enveloped me, and very soon, I was in almost pitch darkness.

Without sight, the sound of my own breathing seemed to intensify. Everything was dark and quiet. How was I supposed to see the entrance, now? What if I missed it, passed it, and ended up lost and wandering underground for an interminable amount of time? Even that moment, I wondered whether I'd already passed the opening; now that I couldn't see anything, I felt entirely unsure of myself. The reality of my isolation sank in, and as that happened, my thoughts began to stray. I didn't want to be afraid, but images crept in. Images of being in a dark room, helpless, while someone above me moved with sharp tools . . . images of Slim's bloodied face, his staring eyes that had only hours earlier looked down at my own torment in horror and sympathy . . . images of Mac's dead body floating face-down in a gleaming pool . . . I began to shake--was it colder, suddenly?--and I leaned into one side of the pipe, ran my fingers along the walls curving me in. But I needed to focus--needed to keep sane--did not need the terror of wondering whether someone had followed me into the pipe, someone was even now creeping toward me in the black, unseen, unknown against the turning blades of a fan, the flash of metal . . . the wavering, throaty voice . . . When you wake up tomorrow . . . a dark alley, and a gunshot!

The moment I gasped, a very real noise broke the sound barrier of my mind, giving me pause: rushing, moving liquid. It was in front of me—no, above me, maybe—I couldn't tell how far--but it was moving toward me, and it would force me out of the pipe if I didn't figure out a way to stand my ground.

Frantically, I ran my hands all along the walls of the pipe. The rushing grew louder as it most certainly neared me. I needed something to hang on to—a crack to jam my foot into or a niche in the concrete to brace myself. I hadn't seen anything at all as I'd come along, and I didn't feel anything now. The liquid was getting closer, roaring toward me so loudly and definitely that I couldn't believe it wasn't already upon me. Overwrought, I lost all sense; a sob escaped me. I couldn't be washed out, not now! Not back to the beginning! But what could I do?!

And then, in such a brief moment of time that it felt like no time at all, the tunnel brightened with the oncoming glow, and I saw in that split-second a rung a few feet above and away from me. Immediately, I jumped toward it, as high as I could into the air, flinging my arms above my head, and just in time, I grasped the metal handle. The instant my grip tightened, I was blasted with a torrent of liquid. I nearly lost my grip as my body was thrown upward and sucked into the flow. Somehow, I managed to hold on, and I held my breath and rode it out, knowing it couldn't last longer than it had the first time I'd been through it.

Thirty seconds, maybe a little longer, and then all of a sudden, the pressure lightened, my body lowered with the liquid, my arms slacked. I emerged and gasped for air. My fingers couldn't take the pain of their grip anymore, so I let go of the rung and fell the few inches down to the floor of the pipe. For a few moments, I just sat there, coughing and catching my breath, dripping with that uncomfortable gelatinous stuff. Then I remembered the rung. How lucky that I'd seen it just in time. The residual liquid was glowing enough that I could see the rung I'd held was one of a series of many, leading up into a vertical pipe from which the gel had just flown. So I jumped up and tried to catch it again, although it took several attempts to succeed as the metal was now slippery with ooze. Once I had it, though, I managed to pull myself up and into the new tunnel with an upper body strength I didn't realize I had, taking hold of another rung only a short distance from the first. In the barely-there light, which was fast fading, I saw more rungs heading upward, no doubt leading up into the basement tank.

As I climbed up through the dark for what seemed an hour, my arms and legs ached with my efforts, and I had to be very careful not to slip, but I didn't stop. If I let go and fell, I would probably break something—maybe even my neck. Up and up I went, and time seemed to stop altogether. I wondered if Ella and Mel had succeeded in their diversion or if someone knew I was coming and was waiting for me on the other end of the tunnel. It didn't matter, now. Finding Jason was all that mattered. I didn't know how I'd find him or what I would say to him when I did, only that I needed to see him, and as I reflected on my frightening former roommate, I at last noticed that the darkness around me had been permeated with the faint yellowish-greenish light again—a light that steadily grew. My hands and arms were outlined in the eerieness, my eyes no doubt glittered with the alien luminescence, and the rungs above me stood out more clearly against the walls of the pipe. Within moments of realizing that the tunnel was lightening, I saw, some short distance above me, an open circle of pale ghostly green.