Howard's face had gone a peculiar shade of pale, and Naboo stood looking at him nervously.

"Howard..."

"That's..." he swallowed, his mouth dry, hardly believing what he was seeing. "That's my niece." He sat down heavily on the sofa, eyes still fixed on the screen. "I haven't seen her for so long, but I'd know her anywhere. That's my niece. That's my niece... and my boyfriend."

Zefnos threw his hands up in the air. "I don't believe it! He's never done that before! He's never -"

"WELL HE HAS NOW, HASN'T HE!" Howard yelled at him, hands pulling frantically at his hair as he jumped back up.

Zefnos backed away, looking completely bewildered.

The ringing of the phone broke through the heavy atmosphere, and Naboo reached down to pick it up.

"Hello?... he's here, I'll just get him for you." Naboo faced Howard and held the phone out to him. "It's your mum."

xxxx

Vince pushed open the door and stepped forward – and almost immediately, he screamed.

Clare cried out and lunged for him, grabbing at Vince's shirt and pulling him back as he fell forward over the edge.

Vince clapped a hand to his chest and breathed deeply from where she'd thrown him back against the wall. "Thanks, Clare." He didn't even want to think about what would have happened if she hadn't been there.

They looked down, and saw the reason for Vince's near fall. Below them was a deep, dark pit, which took up the entire cave. The only way across was via a line of rather small stepping stones, which seemed to be floating in mid-air. A door appeared on the other side. Vince could hear dripping, and he looked round to find that the walls were wet and glistening. The air smelt damp and stale, and light shot across the cavern in strips from the torches on the wall – not that there were many of them. Even though Vince could see the door at the other end, he couldn't see if the stepping stones stretched all the way – he just assumed they would.

"Right, then," Clare said, sounding a bit calmer now she had an ally.

Vince gave her a small smile. "Right then." He stepped over the gap and onto the small step, concentrating on keeping his balance. Now was not the time to get vertigo. He turned carefully and held his hand out to Clare, frowning when she shook her head.

"There's barely room for you there, let alone me. I'll go when you're on the next one."

He nodded. "Be careful." He took another step, which was actually more like a leap as the gap was bigger than the last one, trying with all his might to stop the sudden case of the shakes that was currently vibrating through his body. He turned slowly, watching with bated breath as Clare moved forward.

xxxx

Howard held the phone to his ear, already knowing exactly what his mother was going to say. Eyes unfocused, he stared straight ahead, feeling like he was floating. When he finished the call, he sat back down and watched the screen again.

Naboo didn't need to ask. It was obvious what had been said. He watched Howard watching the screen, feeling guilty that he couldn't do anything.

"Did we do something wrong?" Howard said, voice barely a whisper as he watched Vince and Clare balancing precariously on stepping stones, trying not to cry with fright.

Zefnos shook his head sadly. "No. No one ever does."

"But it's two people I love. Two. Why?" His voice cracked, and Naboo came and sat next to him, giving Bollo a small nod as he brought over mugs of tea, although, to be honest, no one felt like drinking them.

"I don't know."

"You don't know much, do you?" Howard sneered.

Zefnos sighed. "I guess he just thought it would be -"

"Fun?!" Howard cut over him, glaring intensely.

Naboo put a hand on his arm to calm him, but he shrugged it off. "If they don't get out of there," he threatened Zefnos, "I'll rip your throat out with my bare hands."

xxxx

Clare's scream made Vince spin round too quickly, and he nearly lost his footing.

"Clare!"

"There's something on my foot!" she cried, terrified.

Vince looked down and saw what looked like slimy, green tentacles wrapping itself around her. Then he looked at his own feet, and saw the same thing.

"We have to move – quickly!"

"But -"

"Jump!"

Clare shook the thing from her foot and sprung forward, landing on the stone in front just as Vince leapt off of it. They carried on, trying desperately not to fall, the gaps between the stones getting bigger and the tentacles reaching up more persistently. Clare stomped down on them as she jumped again, but they caused her to slip as she propelled herself forward.

"Vince!" she shrieked, arms flailing as she tried to get her footing.

Without thinking, Vince flung his arms out and caught her just as her foot missed the edge. He stumbled with her, and they both cried out as it seemed they were going to go over anyway. Vince held Clare tightly to him as they fell...

...and landed barely a second later on the hard floor. Looking up, Vince saw the door in front of them and whooped joyfully – there hadn't been a gap between that last step and the door after all.

"We made it!" He hauled Clare up and dragged her through the door, being careful this time in case there was another sheer drop on the other side. Thankfully, there wasn't.

Clare scanned the area, puzzlement written over her features. "Vince... why are we in a waiting room?"

Vince looked up and down and left and right. The room was completely red – the only thing breaking it up was the black leather sofa and coffee table.

A sign lit up above them.

"'End of Act One'", Clare read, the red neon hurting her eyes. "Great – more to come."

Vince scratched his head and walked toward the sofa, his heels clicking on the floor, the echo bouncing off the walls. He sat down warily, bouncing a little. "Seems okay," he said.

Clare went over and sat next to him. "So we just... wait?"

"Looks like it."

They sat silently for a few minutes, just trying to calm themselves and sort their heads out. After a while, Clare heard Vince sniff, and she looked over to find him fiercely wiping his eyes, pressing the heels of his palms into them.

"Vince?"

"I'm fine," he said, a bit too quickly.

She sighed. "It's okay to be scared, you know." She put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, and he offered her a weak smile in return.

"It's not... okay, well, it is that, but it's... I miss Howard." He took a deep breath. "When you first came here, did he show you anything on a screen? Your parents?"

Clare shook her head. "No, why?"

"He showed me Howard, sitting next to me in the hospital, when I had just..." he trailed off, gulping down a strangled sound that threatened to spill out of his mouth. He met Clare's eyes. "I've never seen so much pain on someone's face before. He was distraught and I could do nothing but watch. I... I just wanted to hold him and I couldn't!"

Clare put her arms around him and pulled him close as he sobbed into her shoulder. She didn't mind – she was used to her friends crying on her all the time. But this was an actual, real reason, not because someone's crush preferred the attentions of the skinnier, prettier blonde sitting the other side of the classroom. Then something struck her. It was probably just coincidence, and she felt a bit silly asking, but...

"What's Howard's last name?"

Vine lifted his weary head to look at her, a slightly confused expression on his face.

"It's Moon. Why?"

Clare stared at him, her mouth dropping unattractively.

Vince snuffled and wiped his hands over his face. "What is it?"

"My uncle's name is Howard Moon."