The saw bit deep into the wood, sending spurts of sawdust falling to the floor like amber snow. A blue light fell at Kate’s feet and rapid movement caught the corner of her eye. The lizard had opened the shelving door wide and was frantically waving her on.

Keeping one eye on the door, Kate stepped sideways and banged into the table. The wooden crate slid toward the edge and Kate wrestled it back into place, then rested her hand on the raincoat. The glow from earlier that day did not appear and her hand didn't ache. Whatever had been in the box earlier had already been taken away, instead Corvan's cap pistol holster lay on top of the raincoat. Billy would likely steal it if he had the chance and there was probably more of Corvan’s stuff inside. At least he had appeared to be guarding if from her earlier in the day. Pulling the box from the table she hurried it back to the shelves where the lizard waited at the open door.

"This is your bag?" the lizard asked incredulously.

"No,” Kate whispered, “and keep your voice down. This is Corvan's stuff. We need to keep his things safe from Billy and his dad. Can you help me get the rest?"

The lizard nodded and shot past her into the cellar. Kate set the crate down in the secret tunnel and when she turned around the lizard ran in to add a small wrench to the box.

"Don't bother with the tools," Kate hissed at him, “Billy won’t care about those.”

The lizard frowned. "My paws are not good for carrying larger things.” He held up a claw. “But I can do something that will stop that man from coming in." He moved towards the cellar. "I'll stand guard. If he gets through, he will not be here for long."

Kate nodded, but she wasn't sure what the lizard was talking about. How could a small claw stop a grown man. Running back to the workbench she looked for anything else that might be worth hiding from Billy, but nothing caught her eye.

The sawing stopped, the saw withdrew, and then the doors were given a hard push. The thick wooden bolt cracked along its length in both directions, allowing the gap between the doors to widen another few inches.

"I think I can pull it off." Mr. Fry's hand closed around the partially severed beam. He shook it vigorously, grunting and wrenching at the wood as it inched up in its metal brackets.

The bolt was almost free when the lizard stepped forward, an intense expression on its lean face. Extending a single claw, it raked a red cut along the back of Mr. Fry's hand. An explosion of curses erupted from beyond the door as the bloody hand was yanked back through the crack.

More angry words came from outside, then the cellar doors buckled under three heavy blows. On the third, the bolt splintered farther apart, the saw emerged again, dropped into the notch and worked feverishly back and forth.

The lizard yanked Kate toward the shelving door. “I wasn’t angry enough!” he exclaimed. “Its not working this time. We need to get out of here.”

"My bag. It's still in the dumbwaiter!" Kate cried out, running for the back side of the cellar just as the sawing stopped. A loud crack echoed through the cellar as the bolt broke completely in two, one side falling to floor and scraping along as the doors were forced wider.

Kate dove into the dumbwaiter shaft and pulled the shutters closed behind her. The hinges had been bent by her tumbling out and it was all she could do to hold the small doors in place. Through the crack between them, she caught sight of two dark shapes blundering into the room.

The larger one stopped and Kate heard the rattle of the light chain clicking off and on. Good thing Corvan had removed the bulbs. "Too cheap to buy hisself a light bulb,” Mr. Fry said. We should’a brought a flashlight. Can't see a thing in here."

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The man moved closer to Kate's hiding place then stumbled and clutched at the table in the center of the room.

"What's the matter, Pa?" Billy asked.

"Don't feel good. My arm is all numb where I got scratched by that nail." He breathed heavily. "Must have been rusty and I gots the tetanus."

“Maybe we should go home and put some iodine on it.” Billy said. “We can come back later with our flashlights.”

“That’s good thinking, boy.” Mr. Fry grunted.

The two shadows headed towards the sheet of snow curling in from outside the cellar doors.

Kate tensed and waited but she had crouched too long, and a muscle cramp grabbed at the calf muscle. She shifted her weight and one of boards in the bottom of the dumbwaiter box cracked.

The shadows stopped and the man peered in her direction "Over there," he whispered to Billy. "Gimme your gun."

Kate pulled the dumbwaiter doors tighter. A shadow fell across the gap between them.

A crash of metal echoed across the cellar and Billy called out. "It's over by the door!"

The blast of a gun roared through the cellar.

"It’s the lizard! It’s run outside!" Billy shouted.

Another gunshot sounded outside the cellar, then the voices faded away.

Kate waited in the musty silence. The lizard had lived up to its promise and saved her by leading Billy and his father away from her hiding spot. Stretching out her leg to ease the cramp, she knelt amid the broken boards, peered over the lip of the shaft and cautiously opened the dumbwaiter doors. The cellar was silent and dark, but a soft green light lit up the dumbwaiter shaft. At her feet, a glowing star-shaped disk on a silver chain lay half buried in the sand. Kate pulled the chain free and held the disk in her hand.

The glow grew even brighter, and a familiar warmth flowed up her arm and through her body. A memory formed. At one point she had been lying in cold dark water and this same green star had appeared overhead. She took a sharp breath. Corvan had been holding this green light above her and was shouting for help. It had been in the mine, and it was when Corvan's father had rescued them.

Other snippets of memories of her holding this glowing shape tugged at the edges of her thoughts. There must be many things that Corvan not told her. Why was he keeping this medallion a secret from her?

The cellar doors creaked. Kate shoved the disk into her back pocket to hide its light and crouched down. The soft pad of feet approached the lift.

A long nose appeared in the broken door of the dumbwaiter. "You must be quick Kate. They will be back soon. I do not think that I am the best at making false tracks in the snow."

Kate clambered out of the shaft, reached back in, and dragged out her duffle bag.

The lizard held up its long claw with a satisfied grin. "At least the bigger one will not be able to follow my tracks very fast."

Kate looked intently at the claw, and the lizard shrugged. "I was only able to give him a small bit of the poison. It won’t be enough to kill him." The lizard turned toward the wall of shelves and used both paws to feel along the underside of one of the planks. The section of shelving moved, and the creature eased the door open and let her pass through.

Kate gave the creature a wide berth. Was it capable of killing a grown man? Was that what it had planned to do?

The blue light from the globe ebbed around them as Kate set her duffle bag on the ground. No matter what she thought of the lizard, she needed its help. "What do we do?" she asked. “They could be back an minute.”

"We must find the Cor-Van."

"But he's working at the mine all weekend," Kate said.

"Then we must go to him. There is trouble in the Cor."

"What kind of trouble? Another cave-in? Is the Cor a new shaft at the mine?”

The lizard gave her a sideways glance. "It will be best if we wait until we find the Cor-Van before we . . ." The lizard jumped to the shelving door. A vehicle was approaching down the lane, its lights cutting across the cellar's open doors. The motor stopped, a door opened, and boots crunched in the snow.

The beam of a flashlight played over the cellar floor from outside, and a man's voice called out. Kate pushed the lizard to one side and pulled the shelves shut, hiding the entrance to the tunnel. "That's not Corvan," she whispered. They stood and listened to the muffled sound of voices moving about in the cellar. "We will have to wait for them to leave." Kate said.

"Not to worry." The lizard pointed down into the gloom. "I have cut an entry into the labyrinth, but we must hurry. His time is running out and if we do not reach him soon, he will most certainly die."