"Who goes there?" he shouted, trying to nudge Ripred to awareness with his foot. There was no reply. He fumbled in his backpack and managed to pull out a flashlight. He lit it and shot the bright beam at the figure. They raised their arms against the bright light.
"It is I, Luxa," the figure spoke, and Gregor almost cried out with relief.
"Luxa?" he stammered, unable to believe it was actually her. "It's really you?"
"Of course it is," she said, and Gregor knew for sure. It was something about the briskness in her voice that made him certain. "
Where are the others?" he asked. "What mean you?" she asked, puzzlement etched across her features. "What others?"
"The rest of the people who came here. Did they go to find you? They rescued you, didn't they?"
"No," said Luxa, stepping into the cave. "I managed to escape myself a few days ago. I have been searching for you and the others. I camped a few hundred yards away only yesterday," she said. "Is something the matter," she added. For Gregor was gazing into space, deep in concentration.
"What? Oh, no, I'm fine. Thank god you're back!" Without thinking, he tried to stand up to greet her properly. He dropped back down after raising himself only an inch or two. Gasping, he lay on the ground. "What is the matter?" exclaimed Luxa, racing to his side.
"Oh, it's nothing," said Gregor. "I got shot in the back a few days ago."
"Shot?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him, "Have you encountered archers?" she asked.
"No," he said, "I got shot by a man with a gun." Then seeing her confused look, he hastened to explain. "It's a type of weapon that overlanders use to... to kill each other."
"How does it work?" she asked.
"Well, I don't really know, I've never used one," he said. Well, that wasn't quite true. He had fired a BB gun that one of his cousins owned.
There was a long pause, where they gazed silently at each other, then Gregor pulled himself together.
"Have you eaten recently?" he asked. She shook her head no.
"It has been many days since last I ate," she said.
"Okay," said Gregor, "We don't have a lot of food left, but there's still some." His heart sank as he said this—with another person eating from their supply, the food would last for even less time. Not that he wasn't thrilled to see her again, he was just worried about food.
Luxa, however, seemed unconcerned by their lack of food. Even though she probably hadn't eaten in a while.
"There is plenty of food if you know where to look," she said. And she seemed to be right. She poked around the back of the cave using one of his flashlights. What she was looking for, Gregor didn't know, but he heard her give several exclamations of pleasure. It took her only a few minutes to assemble a good-sized pile of— Gregor focused his eyes—mushrooms.
"Are you sure that's safe to eat?" he asked.
"I have studied the different types of fungi, and these are most similar to the ones we have in Regalia." Similar? Gregor was worried, but she brushed his concerns away. She stewed the mushrooms over the fire, using a solid iron spider pot she found after rummaging through one of the bags on the cave floor. When they were done, she served them each a large mound.
Gregor, having eaten recently, just picked at his. He wasn't really hungry and they tasted like dirty rubber to him. After only a few mouthfuls, he pushed his away, feeling queasy. Luxa, however, ate with gusto. She must have been famished.
When she had eaten her plate clean, she licked her fingers and rose to start cleaning up from the meal. Since he had only been up for a few hours, Gregor suggested she get some sleep. She readily agreed. Judging by the large lilac circles under her eyes, she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in at least a few days. Gregor turned off the flashlight as soon as she lied down. The darkness was almost impenetrable. Gregor held his fingers a few inches from his face just to see what would happen. Even with them almost touching his face, he couldn't make them out. He considered lighting his flashlight again, but he didn't—they would need light later.
When Ripred awoke some hours later to change watch with Gregor, he barely spoke. Not even to talk about Luxa showing back up. All he said was "she's back" in a bored tone. The rat strode to the mouth of the cave and started sniffing, his nose half out the entrance.
Gregor snuggled into a soft animal skin blanket. The musky smell was oddly comforting... Gregor awoke, heart thudding, a shooting pain in his stomach. He rolled over and was immediately hit by an overwhelming wave of nausea. He fumbled around for a light. He found his flashlight lying next to his bed. He flipped it on. By its light, he saw Luxa standing by the cave entrance. Her hand was clutching her stomach and she looked sweaty and ill. Poison... Mushrooms... They must have been poisonous. Why had Gregor eaten them? Saliva rushed to his mouth and he wondered if he was about to throw up. To his left, he saw Luxa was several steps ahead of him. She was hunched over, hands on her thighs. Except for her cheeks, which were flushed palest pink, her skin was tinged an unpleasant shade of green. Gregor watched her body shake as she began gagging violently. She continued to gag for a few minutes before vomiting all over the floor. Breasts heaving, she retched again. Gregor swallowed hard, trying not to follow suit. Why was she so much sicker than he?
For a second Gregor thought she was finished, but then he saw her glance back at a few of the leftover mushrooms. The sight seemed to make her sick again, because she retched violently at the sight, and spewed vomit out her mouth. This was too much for Gregor. His unhappy stomach rebelled, and he found himself retching. But he managed to stop fairly quickly. Luxa on the other hand, was still at it. Yes, of course, she had eaten way more than he had. Now that he thought about it, it made sense. She had eaten significantly more than he had. He'd only eaten a small mouthful. As it was he felt terrible, so he could only imagine how she was feeling. She lay on the ground, trembling like a leaf, eyes watering, gasping for air. Gregor was reminded of Lizzie during her panic attacks.

Gregor didn't know when he fell asleep again, but he must have, for he was awoken some hours later by Ripred. Luxa was asleep, curled up in a corner of the cave. And Boots was still comfortably nestled under a pile of blankets. Now that he was awake, Gregor could feel the cold night air on his face—it was chilly. Gregor could tell that Luxa had been sick again since he had fallen asleep. And not just vomiting; diarrhea too, at least by the looks of it.
After fifteen minutes of him being on watch, Luxa awoke. She nodded to Gregor, and Gregor nodded back. She looked like she was feeling better. Weak, but still better. Gregor pulled himself deeper into his blankets.
"It's getting kind of chilly," he mumbled. He'd never encountered cold temperatures in the underland. It was usually comfortable tee-shirt weather. Luxa nodded weakly.
"I feel it too," she said, in barely more than a whisper. "I suppose I could light a fire," she said. "With what?" asked Gregor. "We have no wood."
"We have no need for wood," she said and began scraping bits of lichen off the walls and ceiling of the cave. She made a small heap of lichen on the ground.
"You sure that's going to burn?" asked Gregor doubtfully.
"It seems dry," said Luxa, examining the material. "Well, there is one way to find out," she said, touching the mound with a flame from one of the underlanders' lamps. The lichen proved flammable—quite so, in fact. "Luckily there seems to be plenty of this," she said, gesturing to the large clumps of the stuff growing on the walls and ceiling.
Red flames hungrily ate up the lichen. Gregor stretched his hands out over the fire, feeling the warmth radiating out from it. When Gregor's fingers were sufficiently warm, he pulled them back into his bundle of blankets.
"You should go back to sleep," said Luxa.
"Are you sure," he asked.
"I can't sleep, and you may as well," she replied, stoking the small fire with a piece of lichen.
"Okay," said Gregor, gratefully. He pulled the blankets closer to his body and closed his eyes...
While he was asleep, he had a dream—a very strange dream. He dreamt he was back in his bed in New York. It was warm and comfortable, and all he wanted was to lie there in peace. But, as often happens in dreams, his dream changed.
Now he was lying next to a fireplace. But he was much too close and it was scorching hot. He tried to move, but his body seemed frozen. He tried to scream, but no sound came. He was paralyzed with fear, stuck in the middle of a burning building. The fire was all around him.
"Gregor!" screamed a voice, high and shrill. He awoke with a jerk, inhaling a mouthful of ashes.
Something was wrong! The fire in his dreams seemed to have moved into real life. Thick black smoke was engulfing him. The fire was all around him—shooting off the roof of the cave, spiraling up from the ground, nibbling at the edge of his blankets.