I won't drink. I'll let myself drown first. At least I'll die before I'm a vampire....
But she found that it wasn't that easy to will yourself into dying from lack of air. Eventually, she choked and swallowed Maya's blood. She wound up coughing and sputtering, trying to clear her throat and get air. Maya sat back.
"There," she said, slightly breathless. She shone the flashlight into Hannah's face again.
"Yes." She looked judicial, like a woman considering a turkey in the oven. "Yes, it's going very well.
Once more should do it. You'd be a vampire now, if so much time since the first we hadn't wasted exchange."
"Thierry will kill you when he finds out," Hannah whispered.
"And break his sacred promise? I don't think so." Maya smiled and got up again, pottering with her backpack. "Of course, this wouldn't be happening if he hadn't broken his promise to me," she added, almost matter-of-factly. "He told me that you wouldn't come between us anymore. But the next time I turn around-there you are! Shacked up in his house, no less. He should have known better."
Hannah stared at her. "He didn't even know I was there. Maya-don't you realize that? He didn't know-"
Maya cut her off with a gesture. "Don't expect me to believe anything you say. Not at this point." She straightened up, looked at Hannah, then sighed. She switched off the lantern and picked up the flashlight.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you for a while, now. I'll be back tonight to finish this little job.
Don't worry, I won't be late... after all, I have a deadline to meet. Tomorrow's your birthday."
"Maya ..." I have to keep her here talking, Hannah thought. I have to make her understand that Thierry didn't break his promise.
She was trying to ignore the chilling question that ran just under her thoughts. What if Thierry had been serious about what he'd told Maya? If he really wanted to be with Maya as long as Hannah was no longer between them?
"Can't stay; must fly," Maya said, trilling laughter again. "I hope you won't be too lonely. By the way, I wouldn't rock that pole too much. This is an abandoned silver mine, and that whole structure is unstable."
"Maya-"
"See you later." She picked up the backpack and walked away.
She ignored Hannah's yells. And eventually, when Hannah couldn't see the beam of the flashlight anymore, she stopped yelling.
She was in the dark again.
And weaker. Drained emotionally and drained of vitality by what Maya had done. She felt sick, feverish, and itchy as if there were bugs crawling under her skin.
And she was alone.
Almost, almost, she gave in to the panic again. But she was afraid that if she lost control this time, she'd never get it back. She'd be insane by the time Maya returned.
Time. That's it, girl, you've got some time. She's not coming back until tonight, so get your head clear and start using the time you have.
But it's so dark....
Wait. Did she take the lantern with her? She turned it off, but did she take it?
With the utmost caution, Hannah felt around her with her hands. Nothing-but then she couldn't lean very far because of the rope.
Okay. Try your feet. Carefully. If you kick it away, it's all over.
Hannah lifted one leg and began to gently pat the foot down toward the ground. Little pats, slow pats.
About the third time she did it, her foot hit something that fell over.
That's it! Now nudge it toward you. Careful. Careful. Closer... almost... now around to your side...
Got it! Hannah reached out and grabbed the lantern, holding it desperately with both hands like somebody holding a radio while sitting in the bathtub. Don't drop it ... find the switch.
Light blossomed.
Hannah kissed the lantern. She actually kissed it. It was an ordinary battery-operated fluorescent camping lantern, but she felt as if she were holding a miracle.
Light made such a difference.
Okay. Now look around you. What can you do to help yourself here?
But looking around made her heart sink.
The cavern she was in was irregular, with uneven walls and overhanging slabs of rock. A silver mine, Maya had said. That meant the place was probably blasted out by humans.
On either side of her, Hannah could see more posts like the one she was tied to. They seemed to form a kind of scaffolding against the wall. So miners can get to it, I guess, she thought vaguely. Or maybe to help hold the roof up, or both.
And it's unstable.
As a last resort, she could simply do her best to bring the whole thing down. And then pray she died quickly.
For now, she kept looking.
The wall on her right, the only one she could see in the pool of lantern light, was surprisingly variegated.
Even beautiful. It wasn't just rough gray rock; it was rough gray rock veined with milky-white and pale pink quartz.
Silver comes in quartz sometimes, Hannah thought. She knew that much from her mom's friends, the rockhounds.
But that doesn't do me any good. It's pretty, but useless.
She was starting to panic again. She had a light, but what good was it? She could see, but she had nothing to work with.
There's got to be something here. Rocks. I've got rocks and that's it. Hannah shifted to get away from one that was bruising her thigh. Maybe I can throw rocks at her....
Not rocks. Quartz.
Suddenly Hannah's whole body was tingling. Her breath was stopped in her lungs and her skin felt electrified.
I've got quartz.
With shaking hands, she put the lantern down. She reached for an angular chunk of rock on the ground beside her.
Tears sprang to her eyes.
This is a quartz nodule. It's crystal. Fine-grained. Workable.
I know how to make a tool out of this.