Free Dan and the Caverns of Bone by Thomas Taylor Page B

night has been pulled to one side.
    I point into the dark doorway and raise the eyebrow at the kid. Well, I want to make
absolutely sure
before I go running down into the dark to where some psycho is lurking, don’t I? But the kid nods.
    â€˜On her own?’ I ask.
    *Snap* – the finger says it all.
    â€˜Daniel, you cannot.’ Simon is hopping from one foot to another. ‘You don’t know what’s down there.’
    â€˜Cool it, Si – it’s just the porter from the hotel.’
    â€˜Yesterday you thought it was a rat,’ he says.
    â€˜Things have changed since then, Si. Luci’s down there on her own. I’m going after her.’
    â€˜Um…’ Brian has finally caught up with us. ‘Does that go where I think it goes?’
    â€˜Stick with me, Bri, and you’ll be fine,’ I reply, adjusting the coat.
    â€˜You said that before.’
    â€˜Yeah, well, like I said – things have changed. And now a friend of mine is in danger.’

    We reach the bottom of the rough stone steps. The Sunglasses Kid isn’t with us – his shrug as he handed over a skull candle made it clear he wasn’t the suicidal type. So it’s just me and Bri and Si, and a whole world of shadow down in the caverns of bone.
    â€˜Turn up your ghostlight, Si – I can’t see a thing.’
    â€˜Very well, Daniel. But this is madness. How will we ever find Lucifane in this place? We must go back.’
    But before I can reply, I stub my toe on a lump of rock and my ‘ooph!’ of pain blows the candle skull out.
    Darkness.
    â€˜Oh, great.’
    Then, suddenly, light. Blazing at me.
    â€˜Wouldn’t it be easier to use a torch?’ says Bri, and I see he’s got one on his keyring, which is just what I would have expected from him.
    â€˜Why didn’t you say anything about that before?’
    He doesn’t reply. But at least he has the sense to hand me the torch.
    The first thing I do is bend over and pick up the dropped skull. I break the candle off and place the skull neatly on a pile of stacked bone in the wall, dusting the top with my cuff.
    Well, it is someone’s head, after all.
    Then we’re off again, Brian almost clinging to me, and Si only as far ahead as he dares, shining his eerie glow into the shadows as we go.
    In no time, we’re back into the public part of the catacombs, and something makes me creep forward as quietly as I can, though creeping on gravel is pretty much impossible. And sure enough, after a succession of agonisingly loud
scrunch scrunch
noises, a grown-up male voice comes echoing over to us.
    â€˜
C’est qui? Qui est là?
’
    We freeze, and I switch off the torch. There’s more
scrunch scrunch
ing now, only this time it’s not us. Two torch beams erupt into the cavern ahead of us, and there’s more French. The only thing I can understand is that the people who own these voices are pretty rattled.
    â€˜It is the police,’ whispers Si. ‘Two who have been left to guard this entrance to the catacombs. They don’t seem very keen to advance any further.’
    â€˜But they might,’ I whisper back. ‘Go and do something diverting.’
    â€˜Such as what?’
    â€˜Use your loaf, Si.’
    â€˜My loaf? But I have no loaf.’
    â€˜Crumbs, Si, do I have to think of everything? Make some spooky footsteps somewhere behind them.’
    â€˜Oh, very well.’
    And he slides off, vanishing into the wall.
    â€˜I think I preferred it with Baz,’ whimpers Brian, behind me. ‘At least he doesn’t take me to the spookiest place in the world and talk to someone who isn’t there!’
    â€˜Just hold on to my coat, Bri, and get ready to run.’
    There’s a squeak which sounds vaguely affirmative, so I crouch down and prepare to sprint. And that’s when Si’s diversion kicks in. Literally.
    There’s a clear and very crisp