Zaire follows them at a distance, but after a while stops, looks up, and asks incredulously, "how the heck did you get up there?"

Shade simply twirled his easily with total coordination and skill. "I'm right here if anythin' goes wrong,shorty."

"So dont throw a rock. Or anything. And try not to even touch the supports." Cole told him.

Almon groaned. "You had to do this to me, what did I tell you about not telling me to not do stuff. Now I have to actually try ten times harder to not touch it."

Riley looks around to see who Shade could be talking to. "Me? Am I shorty?" He asks Shade, not sure who else Shade would be talking to.

he soon finds where Zaire is staring. Under the fourth set of stairs is a small hollow area, and Rhia has somehow managed to get inside the wall under this set of stairs.

"Yeah,shorty." He said to Riley,he'd followed closely.Of course he'd not speak that gently to anyone else.

"I'm not that short." Riley says, standing on his toes to try and be taller. "See?" Then he decides standing on toes isn't fun, so he goes back to his original height. "Oh, okay, okay. Maybe I am a little short... "

"Can you even get down from there?' Zaire asks Rhia, staring up at her. She's staring back down at them.

The rock walls of the cave had been battered and broken into weird shapes. Most looked like curtains in a theater, full of shadowy folds that stood out against the rich red surface. They might be good hiding places, and Vic stored the information away in the back of her mind in case she ever needed it. Then she remembered the flayed dogs and instantly dismissed the thought. Jack led the way to a distant section of the cave and rested his pick against the rock.

"Dont need a degree in rocket science to do this job," he said. "Just keep whacking until downtime. When you cant see your feet for rubble, give a shout to one of the wheelies and theyll come clear up. Kay?" He wasn't just talking to Victoria, he was telling all the new fish