24
THE PASSAGE WAS thrown into complete darkness.
Melati gasped. She could not even see her hand in front of her eyes. There was no emergency light, no glowing pinpricks in the overwhelming darkness. All the sound had stopped, too, except for the clicking and creaking of expanding metal.
Ari flicked on the light on his PCD, but it only showed a very small pool of weak light. The battery must be wearing out.
“Hang on,” Uncle’s voice came from somewhere out of that darkness. He sounded quite relaxed.
There was some rustling and then a light came on. It showed Uncle and a good number of the relatives at the door to the apartment.
None of them seemed overly concerned, but Melati’s heart was thudding.
“He’s quite early today,” Auntie Gema said. “Must be because he’s curious about you com
