t in memory, a late-summer day umn crispness. Speck and I  to eac ty moments bets going off to one calendar, five long and miserable years ribe took up our neably brig morning, ell  beat. But I never did. In t sense, t it o its own.

    Over trailed a string of smoke,  tember. quot;e matcrides and talked of our books. Srees, a slender breeze bleumbled from ts. to me, it looked for an instant as if acoo quickly, but trick of lig to mind tery beure, and I told Speck of my brief vision of our missing friends. I asked ed to be caught.

    Speck stopped at t led to trance. t  sed and crunc in a cloudless sky, and c mig I feared imminent peril. her eyes locked on mine.

    quot;You dont understand, Aniday. Kivi and Blomma could not take it anot. te for to be  and upper  you ever  to run ao t;

    ions poured out like sugar from a split sack. t s claims on me, and my nig  until I sat doo e turn, dusted and polis t morning, my life o  s, as if s see me before  only a distant space and time alive in ion. I  moment, to my lips. quot;Speck, I ;

    quot;ait. Listen.quot;

    to ood, vibrating beneat, t into t. In t instant, a crack and tumble, muffled by ter surface. tself  top speed, torance of t sly smoking on a ers nig tried to fig but o  upil ted. From inside, a reedy sound escaped from to fade in t settled, t person emerged. A single o t, o trate body. Speck turned it over : Béka. Onions soon followed, wing, and lay down beside .

    Speck leaned doo ask, quot;Is ;

    quot;Cave-in,quot; Onions whispered.

    quot;Are t;

    quot;I dont kno; Sy hair, away from his blinking eyes.

    e forced ourselves into t around for t, struck it, and sparked torc reflected particles floating in ttling like sediment stirred in a glass. I called out to t beat ;Over ; As if moving tmare, unnel, turning left into t of t eac. Lucood at trance clinging to , and on ears   trails in t. ly as ed for us. Ased in ted by torc. I could make out tood. At a frantic pace, ossed stones to trying to move tain bit by bit. I sao ing debris from t ran to the ceiling.

    quot; ; Speck asked.

    quot;trapped,quot; Luc;Smaolac once. ed be under too, if I  t;

    quot;Onions and Béka are already out. e saside,quot; I said.

    quot;Are you t; Speck asked t; you out.quot;

    e dug until to stick o tones until Lucopped and ed for a sound for o t;Do you see anyt;

    quot;Dig,quot; ;I can ;

    it a  abruptly, and Smaolacinued to enlarge tunnel like a small creature in tes, o someone, t us to keep burroely . As suddenly as surned, anotorco t upon our  ore at tone. quot;Béka, t bastard,quot; s;to anyone but ;

    After muco cra Luc;Doill and cold to touc and ally sour.

    quot;S; Luc;But barely, and I t move t; ricken igue. quot;Youll o ;

    Stone by stone,  of t debris, I asked ; out okay?quot;

    quot;Not a trace.quot; ioned back toers, noon of eart  t stirred and  from sleep to deaturning over in t  stop to ty of anot rock off  ankle, a greenstick fracture, t flopped at a sickening angle ep and lost consciousness as ruggled up to tunnel, urned and to ted t;Is anyone else alive?quot;

    quot;I dont t; I said.

    S, t difficult part involved t of tself, and C t moment, I o one anot of our oe miseries. Exed,  to do or say or t one last gasp like a dying dragon.

    Spent and confused by grief, ed for nig t t o it migo investigate. Lucted t of lig, a small fire burning doreeline. itation or discussion, to. Alt t belong to strangers,  ter, in to find iously over t  to stay out of t, someend her wounds.

    treetops and s by Béka. ions, just grunted like an old bear at our questions before so be alone. Onions and Speck crafted a splint for C up , and t to  to surned mucer er. e sat and stared at t from our ing for to rise. In t he dead. Ragno and Zanzara were as gone as Kivi and Blomma and Igel.

    In place of t glole rain cratled. Only tle from a lonesome bird marked time. Around midday, a fierce yell of pain punctuated tillness. Co  silence il Speck took eadfastness to be quiet. t of us looked a one anoto count to believe it.