Dan and the Caverns of Bone by Thomas Taylor

black doorway and turns back to look at me. She’s scared, but her eyes are challenging me to follow.
    Something tells me I’m in for a very different guided tour to the one Frenchy gave earlier.
    I turn for a bit of moral support from Si, but he doesn’t look back. He’s gone very thin and faint and is clutching his wig in his hands. It looks like he’s staring at something
behind
me.
    I hate it when he does that.
    â€˜Si?’ I say, my blood running cold at his expression. ‘Come on, buddy,
you
know there’s no such thing as Death, surely?’
    â€˜Mayhap, Daniel,’ he says, his ectoplasm pooling on the floor beneath him like an embarrassing accident. ‘Mayhap. And yet…’
    He lifts his trembling hand and points over my shoulder.
    â€˜â€¦how do you explain that?’
    I revolve slowly. He’s pointing not into the dark doorway but at the back of the cellar door. I follow his finger. There are deep slash marks in the wood, as if someone has attacked the door in a frenzy, attacked it with some kind of deadly metal implement. An axe perhaps, or a spade, or…
    I swallow.
    â€¦a scythe?

    I look down into the dark as Luci descends, and wish I had something a little less prehistoric than a skull candle to light the way. I glance back at the others. The Sunglasses Kid looks back at me and shakes his head. There’s no confusion over what
that
means. I give them all my best here-goes-nothing look and pad down into the shadows after the girl.
    The stairs go on for longer than I expected, and spiral slowly, so that by the time I turn to checkbehind me, the doorway is out of sight. When I reach the bottom Lucifane is waiting there. She’s clearly terrified, but trying hard not to show it. Si, on the other hand, is a gibbering wreck.
    â€˜Daniel,’ he dribbles, ‘perhaps I should stay above and watch over the others…’
    â€˜Man up and pipe down,’ I say. ‘You’re not wussing out on me this time.’
    â€˜But, Daniel, if Death himself is lurking below…’
    â€˜Come off it! You saw those slash marks on the door, Si. Nothing supernatural about those. But I’m going to need some paranormal backup either way. If only to deal with Jojo.’
    â€˜Are you really talking with the smoky man we saw upstairs?’ comes Luci’s quavery voice. The cellar of the house is cavernous around us, with a vaulted ceiling the candlelight hardly reaches. The cobwebs are big enough to catch a pterodactyl.
    â€˜Somebody’s got to.’ I shrug. ‘So, Jojo – he was your boyfriend?’
    Well, I’m only asking.
    A mascara-loaded tear rolls down Luci’s cheek and drops, leaving a perfect shadow of itself that even the best gothic makeup artist could never achieve.
    â€˜He was my brother.’
    I wasn’t expecting that. I’m just wondering what to say next when she steps closer.
    â€˜Dan?’
    Eyebrow up.
    â€˜If you see him again, you will tell me, won’t you?’
    Eyebrow down. I nod.
    Lucifane turns then and walks decidedly into the dark, toward the back of the cellar. There I see tower upon tower of crusty old wine racks, though I’m guessing it’s years since anyone actually kept any Chateau Mouthwash down here. She stops beside one that is slightly out of place and puts her candle down. She heaves at it until the whole rack has swung back. Beyond is a gap in the brickwork like a scar in the wall.
    â€˜If you really want to understand,’ says Lucifane, ‘I will ’ave to show you everything.’

10

The Caverns of Bone

    I go through the gap in the wall first. Luci is so close behind me that we’re leaning on each other for support as we pick our way down the narrow flight of steps. The candles aren’t enough, so I ask Simon to turn his ghostlight up to max. He’s still muttering things like ‘the bowels of the earth!’ and ‘O,