After the strange incident with the voices and the horror show with the snake, not much could rattle me. We walked into a vast section of cave that was piled high with the dead carcasses of hunted animals. The metallic taste of blood coated my tongue, and the smell of rotting flesh filled my nose.

I covered my nose and mouth with my hand and kept close to Maximus as we continued on to the next chamber. We passed a series of deep crevices and that was when I heard a small voice call my name.

"Rikki? Is that you?"

"Dad?" I lifted my candle and swept it around. "Dad, where are you?"

Maximus leaned into a crevice. "He's in here."

"Dad." I could barely catch my breath from relief. Maximus cleared the way, and I scooted past him into the narrow slit in the wall. I dropped to my knees in front of my dad. My candle petered out in the closet sized fissure, but Maximus kept his at the entrance to give us some light.

Dad looked skeletal thin and his pallor was like snow, but he was alive and alert. I took hold of his hands. They were icy cold and shaky. Or that might have been mine, either way there was a violent tremble between us.

"Dad, why are you here? What happened?"

"No time for that now, Rikki. Just get me out of here before the ghouls come to collect their next meal. They've been throwing me a piece each time and refilling that pot of water. So someone wanted me to stay alive." He lifted his foot to reveal the ankle cuff and metal chain that was bolted to the hard floor. "They also wanted to make sure I didn't escape."

Maximus left his candle at the opening to provide some light. He ducked down to enter the crevice.

Dad's eyes showed a little sparkle at the sight of him. "Maximus, I suppose that explains how my daughter got past that damn snake. I'll bet its shown its fangs for the last time."

Maximus nodded. "I don't think it'll bother us on the way out."

Dad looked at me. His tired red eyes were sunk deep in his pale face and circled by dark rings. "I guess this means our family secret is out."

"Only Maximus knows."

Dad turned to Maximus. "That might need to change. Vapour is up to something big. You might need to let the other Boys in on it."

Maximus stooped down in front of Dad's chained ankle and examined both ends. "First, we need to get you out of here. I think I'll have more luck pulling the bolt free from the rock than prying that cuff off your foot. Less pain involved too."

"I appreciate that."

My dad was not only alive, but it seemed his spirit was not broken either. Two months in a wretched place like Vapour's lair would destroy any normal human's spirit but then my dad wasn't any normal human. Far from it.

I couldn't hold back any longer. "Oh, Dad," I sobbed and threw my arms around him.

He patted my back like he used to do when I skinned my knee skating or when a pet died. It felt good to know that he'd still be there if I needed him. I hadn't lost him after all.

"Now there, Rikki, let's let Maximus have a go at this chain. Otherwise we could all end up as prisoners."

I sat back and wiped my eyes. "Right. We should hurry."

Maximus wrapped his big hand around the chain. His forearms bulged and his face tightened into a grimace as he pulled. The bolt budged a tiny fraction. Maximus stood but had to remain stooped over to avoid crowning himself on the cratered rock ceiling. He wrapped both of his hands around the chain and got a good grip on it. He lifted his face and winked at me before pulling the chain. The rock cracked under his feet and the bolt pulled free.

I smiled up at Maximus. His face was still red from the effort.

"You are a handy man to have around," Dad quipped. "I might need some help getting to my feet. I'm a little weak."

I took hold of the end of the chain so it would not drag noisily along the cave floor on our way out. Maximus leaned down, circled his arms around Dad's back and lifted him to his feet. I bit my lip to hold back a sob when I saw how frail and weak he'd become.

Maximus checked the clearing and waved us through. I helped Dad into the passageway, but he couldn't stand on his own and his feet could only shuffle along at a snail's pace.

"I think you'll need to ride on my back, Trex. I mean Walt."

"It's a humiliating situation, but I suppose it's a way for you to make up to me all those times as a teenager when you tried to pull down my veil."

Maximus's face dropped. "Yeah, guess I was kind of an ass."

"Nah, you were a teenager. An ornery teenager, but still, I would have done the same thing if I'd been sixteen, as strong as three grown men and standing on the other side of the veil. But there is something I'm wondering—" Dad turned to me and looked down at the black rubber soled boots I used to keep from slipping on the deck of the ferry. "Did you step in as ferryman?"

"I did. I'll tell you all about it. Let's just get you out of here."