The Tunnels Below by Nadine Wild-Palmer (best short novels of all time .TXT) 📕

each at one of three big red buttons located around the parameters of Mr Sparks’ tank, while Jestyna helped Owen climb to the top of the dome.

A flock of inky figures flooded through the open door and began to raise the alarm, cawing loudly into the generator room.

It was not long before they were surrounded. Cecilia checked to see if the rest of the Divers had taken up their positions. Owen was already inside the tank with Mr Sparks, making his way to the bottom of it to remove the stopper once the buttons had been pressed. Jestyna let out a caterwauling screech and Adriene howled as he might on a full moon. Rory was being attacked by a large crow-face; he thrust his body up and snapped at its leg, giving him just enough time to slam his fist down on his button.

Cecilia waited, she wasn’t sure when to press hers; she looked over to Adriene as he continued howling and screeching—he had been wounded by Helen the raven-face but it was hard to tell how badly. He gnashed his jaws and bared his teeth but she was unrelenting, diving at him from above until he managed to grasp her tail feather and knock her off balance, at which point he smashed his hand down on his button with a thump.

Cecilia could see that Mr Sparks was already being sucked downwards to where Owen had removed the stopper. Cecilia knew what she had to do. She drew her hand up, just managing to dodge an overhead attack from an incoming Corvus. Just as she brought it down towards the button, her hand was caught in Hunter’s powerful grip. She looked up at him fearfully and he let out a whine as he drew his own hand up and slammed it down on the release button. She smiled at him briefly and ran around to see if anyone else needed her help.

The light began to fade quickly. The chaos stopped as a loud sucking sound reverberated around the generator room. Rory scaled the tank and swam after Owen and Mr Sparks. Some of Mr Sparks’ tentacles tore as he was suctioned out of the tank, down the plughole and into the tube. The room went very dark apart from the dying light of the remaining tentacles and a few remaining bioluminescent particles. Cecilia looked at Hunter; he looked down at her with that sad expression and said in a low voice, “The door is still open. Get behind me.”

Cecilia could just make out Doltha and a few other Divers being lined up against the tank and strung together. She had no choice but to leave and move forwards through the dark and out of the generator room.

Hunter led her quietly to the door and bade her to leave, when she saw two round eyes flashing beyond it. It was Jestyna—she’d got away too. “Cecilia, take my tail. We need to get out of here.”

“I have to find Kuffi and my friends.”

“I know. Follow me and hold my tail tight. I’ll get you to the Nest.” And with that Cecilia grabbed Jestyna’s tail and they set off into the dark.

27Walking on Egg Cells

Cecilia and Jestyna didn’t have to travel far to get to the Nest. It was connected to the generator room by a passage of trees on the edge of the Black Forest. She could see a towering structure up ahead and she didn’t like the look of it one bit.

The tower was dark and eerie like the ones in fairy tales that characters get trapped in. And Cecilia could see now that that was exactly what the Nest was made for. Cecilia noticed a tiny light pass by her in the darkness they had created by releasing Mr Sparks. It was a firefly—there were lots of them dotted about that were coming from a broken lamp not far off. A fire was being tended to in front of the Nest.

Cecilia knelt down and put her hand in something warm and sticky.

“Yuck, what is that?”

“Droppings, from the surveillance crows,” said Jestyna. “Look in the egg cells,” she said. “Can you can see your friends? I fear we may need to get closer.”

The two of them crept through the darkness, getting a little closer, close enough for Cecilia to see what the Nest really looked like even in the dim light.

It was a huge, lofty tower of egg-shaped containers, each of which acted as a cell to keep its captive imprisoned. They were stacked one on top of another and held in place with wire and cables woven together. Jestyna and Cecilia crouched down trying to work out what to do next when Hunter came over and sniffed them out. Jestyna’s back arched and she was about to hiss, but Cecilia grabbed her hand and said, “It’s OK, he’s on our side. He pressed one of the release buttons to set Mr Sparks free earlier. He helped us out.” Jestyna backed down but she was still suspicious. Hunter stood in front of them and gestured for them to hide behind him as bit by bit they inched closer.

Once they were within earshot, Cecilia could see the forms and faces trapped in the transparent egg cells. The Nest was a sad place. Sorrow clung in the air all around it, and the lights around them flickered on and off from time to time like the charge from a dying circuit. Cecilia heard an irritatingly sharp, high-pitched whistle. Hunter’s ears pricked up and he stood frozen to attention. And then came the voice:

“Thank you, Hunter. I’ll take it from here.”

“Cecilia!” screeched Jestyna as she was wrenched away by the scruff of her neck. Hunter bowed his head in shame and dragged himself over to stand beside Jacques d’Or, who patted him on the head. “There’s a good boy, now.”

Cecilia was beside herself, “Hunter? Jestyna, I’m…”

“…Sorry?” said Jacques d’Or. “You’d better be.” He was livid, his eyes burning red. “I honestly