The Jemily locked both fists around his sleeve and pulled him to them.

"The Crai," it breathed, eyes wide with panic.

He stared at the terror-stricken creature.

"Who is the Crai?" he asked.

The Jemily shook its heads, too frightened to speak. The thing trembled.

"It's the Islands guardian," the Kathelak explained from up ahead. Her faint whisper carried to them along the dim corridor. Norch removed the Jemily's hands and urged it and Nae Xali on in front of him. He glanced over his shoulder once before hurrying after them.

"Guardian?" Norch asked when they had caught up, "nothing prevented me from coming in."

For an instant he recalled the sticky web that had netted him, but he didn't think it was what she meant.

The Kathelak considered him. He wished the girl blinked.

"You are not from here." It wasn't a question.

She flicked her gaze towards the Jemily, then faced forward again.

"It keeps nothing out," she said, "it keeps things in."

Norch frowned at the girl's back. Kept things in? What things? The glance at the Jemily had been significant.

The Jemily clung to Nae Xali's hand, still afraid, but no longer trembling.

They descended a level.

"Will it stop me if I try to get out?" Norch asked.

The Kathelak shrugged. "Possibly. I'm not sure."

"Can you leave?" Norch asked.

She turned to him and this time she did blink, eyelids sliding sideways across blue orbs. It reminded Norch of a lizard.

"Leave? The island?" she sounded baffled.

Norch sighed, "Nevermind."

As they reached another staircase, a thought occurred to him.

"If the Crai is so terrible, why do you stay?"

"I'm a Kathelak," she replied, as if that explained anything, "we exist in the dark."

"Besides," she went on, "the Crai doesn't trouble us."

She held up a hand for them to halt and lowered herself to the ground.

When Norch opened his mouth, she gestured him to silence. Her eyelids slid shut. Norch glanced at the Jemily, but it was too busy peering up and down the shadowed hallway to notice him.

Nae Xali folded her legs and sat across from the Kathelak. Her wings drooped from weariness.

Norch waited, each minute stretched out in the quiet. When the Kathelak popped its eyes open again, she smiled up at him.

"The ants have come."

And they had, Norch realized. There were ants everywhere around her. She pressed a forefinger to her lips and stood up, careful not to disturb them.

She motioned him nearer, then whispered in his ear, "We have to follow them."

"Ants? We have to follow ants?" Norch asked, incredulous.

She nodded, "You and I use our eyes to see, and the house uses that to mislead us. Ants don't use eyes, or not so much anyways. They use chemical signals. Either the house can't deceive them or it can't be bothered too."

Norch was dubious, but he had nothing better in mind.

"We follow the ants."   

*****

It was slow going, following ants, each step taken with care so as not to crush any underfoot. Norch had to carry Nae Xali before long. Her breath was hot on his collar as she slept slumped against him. Norch wanted to hand her over to the Jemily, but it was still too frantic. By the time they had descended several more levels, the hallway was nearly pitch black. Norch could no longer make out the ants below, and the Kathelak and the Jemily were only dim shadows in front of him.

"Stop," he called to her, "I can't see."

She faced him, and her strange blue eyes appeared to glow. No. They were glowing. He could just make out her smile.

"I can fix that," she said.

Norch stared in amazement as each of her brown blotches brightened, then shone until she radiated light from each spot. Norch had to shield his vision from the glare.

"Come," she said, and by the light of the Kathelak, he followed.

***

Several hours crept by before the Kathelak stopped again. She whipped her head around and peered into the gloom behind her.

"What-" Norch started.

"Shhhh," she hissed, interrupting him.

Her light faded a fraction before flaring again.

Somewhere, in the distance, he thought he caught the sound of children laughing.

Puzzled, he looked to the Kathelak.

"Children?" he mouthed.

She shook her head, blinking several times, "No. The Crai."

"Come," she said, turning back around, "We must hurry."

The Jemily had all its eyes closed, its mouths moved, but no words came out. Norch had to nudge it once to get it to move. They inched onward another half an hour. The occasional burst of laughter and play wound its way through the corridors, or the soft thumps of running feet pattered overhead. The Jemily huddled in on itself, each noise making it flinch. The Kathelak grew more and more anxious, half crouching behind the ants, flapping her hands, as though she could speed them. She came to a stop midway down the hall and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Here," she said.

She stretched out her hand and brushed the wall with her fingers. There was a click, and a panel of wall moved out of the way. Beyond was a narrow tunnel.

"Follow the passage to the end. It will lead you outside."

Norch hesitated, and she added, "No tricks. This is one of our burrows, not the Crai's."

"You won't come with us?" Norch asked.

The Kathelak shook its head, but smiled up at him, "We were here long before the house, and we will be here long after."

She reached a long bulbous finger up to brush Nae Xali's hair, "Besides, we are the Kathelak. The light in the dark. We are needed here."

She turned to go, but paused a moment, eyes fixed on Norch.

"You should forgive yourself, Norchis. She never blamed you."

She patted his cheek, then turned and walked away, her glow dimming as she went.