The Missing Mortals, page 40
Emma went next, followed by Martha and Sebastian. The narrow stairway had stone steps and was bordered closely on both sides by walls made of cement bricks. Emma’s claustrophobia began to kick in, and she took several deep breaths in an effort to calm her rising panic. When they got to the bottom, they found themselves in a section of the castle’s underground cave system. This passageway was a good deal wider than the stairway they’d just come down and was surrounded on all sides by limestone; all man-made materials had been left behind. The sound of water dripping could be heard echoing off the walls up ahead. Now that there was more room, Emma’s claustrophobia began to subside.
Doug waited until everyone had made it down the stairs and then set off at a brisk pace.
“What’s the hurry?” Sebastian complained.
“Sorry. I guess I’m just excited about seeing Lord Dinswood’s ship again,” Doug said.
After that, he forced himself to slow down so that everyone could keep up. It was pretty easy going for a while because the ground was level and the ceiling of the cave was high enough for them to walk upright. When they came to a fork in the passage, Doug took the left fork as Lord Dinswood had instructed. This section of the cave required that they go single file for a while. Then it widened out again, but the ceiling was lower, so they had to walk stooped over. Just when they thought their backs would break, the passage opened up into an enormous cavern. The afternoon sun was shining through a large opening in the opposite cave wall, its rays reflecting off the smooth surface of the lake. Sitting on the water, looking just as it had the last time they’d seen it, was the two-masted schooner that had taken Lord Dinswood twenty years to build.
“There she is!” Sebastian exclaimed when he spotted the ship. “I still can’t believe there’s something that awesome hidden way down here.”
As there was plenty of light, Doug collected everyone’s flashlights and put them in his backpack.
Sebastian handed his flashlight over first and then, without waiting for the others, hurried over to the ship’s gangway. About halfway up the wooden ramp, Sebastian paused and let his gaze travel over the ship from bow to stern—a look of reverence on his face. The last time they’d been on board, they’d been in a hurry, but now there was no need for haste. Sebastian planned to look around to his heart’s content. By the time Sebastian was ready to board the ship, he had been joined by the others.
“Let’s get the box from the captain’s cabin, and then we can look around the ship,” Doug suggested.
The others agreed and followed Doug down a short flight of stairs and along a hall that ended in Lord Dinswood’s cabin. The room was just as it had been the last time they’d visited. The bed, dresser, and table were all constructed of a dark cherry wood. In addition to building the ship, Lord Dinswood had also made all the furniture in the room.
“That guy is amazing,” Sebastian commented as he looked around the room. “I’d never be able to make anything as fine as this.” This last was said as Sebastian ran his hand over the footboard of the king-size bed. As Lord Dinswood had not been able to return to the ship in quite some time, the furniture in the room had accumulated a thin coating of dust. Sebastian’s action swept enough dust aside to reveal the smooth polished wood beneath. Even covered in dust, there was no mistaking the expert craftsmanship exhibited by every piece of furniture in the room.
While the others continued to poke around the room, Doug opened the top drawer of the dresser and looked inside. He was a little disconcerted to see that the drawer contained T-shirts and underwear. Doug hesitated for a moment. He didn’t feel right about sifting through Lord Dinswood’s personal things. Deciding that it had to be done, Doug shoved his hand into the drawer and began shifting the contents around in search of the black box. He found it in the back corner on the drawer’s right side. With a sigh of relief, he grabbed the box and quickly shut the drawer. He looked over at the others then. If they had seen what was in the drawer, they didn’t let on.
Sebastian noticed Doug holding the box. “Let’s have a look inside. Lord Dinswood will never know.”
“Absolutely not!” Martha exclaimed. “He specifically asked us to wait, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“Aren’t you the least bit curious?” Sebastian needled.
“Of course I am, but unlike you I have some self-control,” Martha replied.
“I have self-control,” Sebastian began indignantly.
It was then that they heard it—a low rumble that grew in magnitude until it echoed loudly off the cavern walls around them. Wide-eyed, they looked at each other for a second and then ran for the stairs. The rumbling continued and had just began to subside when they reached the deck. Dumbfounded, they looked around trying to pinpoint the source of the sound.
“There,” Doug shouted, pointing.
The others looked where he was pointing and saw an enormous cloud of dust issuing from the passage they’d just come through.
“What’s going on?” Martha all but screamed as she looked at the others in panic.
Doug put the black box in his backpack and pulled out one of the flashlights. “Stay here,” he ordered the others. “I think I know what just happened, but I have to make sure.” Without another word, he raced down the gangway and over to the opening to the chapel passage. The others watched as Doug disappeared inside the tunnel. He reappeared a moment later with a grim expression.
The others waited anxiously as he made his way back to them.
“Well, it’s just as I thought,” Doug called out as he walked up the gangway. “There’s been a cave-in. The passage is completely blocked.”
There was a shocked silence as the others digested this information. Considering her earlier panic, remarkably it was Martha who was the first to find her voice.
“We were just in there. If that had happened just a few minutes earlier, we would have all been killed.”
No one spoke for a moment. Emma assumed that everyone was doing what she was doing—sending up a prayer of thanks that they hadn’t been in the tunnel when the roof had suddenly decided to come crashing down.
“What do you think caused it?” Sebastian asked, breaking the silence. “I mean these caves have been here for ages, and nothing like this has ever happened before. Why now?”
“I think I might have the answer,” Doug replied. “It’s all the new construction. When they were digging the foundation for the gym, they hit a big section of rock. They had to use dynamite to break it up. The explosions might have made part of the cave system unstable.”
“But that was last summer,” Martha objected. “Surely, it would have caused cave-ins before now.”
“Maybe it did. We don’t know for sure because we haven’t checked out all the passages.”
“You mean other passages could be blocked?” Emma asked in surprise.
“It’s possible,” Doug answered.
“But what caused this cave-in?” Martha asked, reiterating Sebastian’s initial question.
“I don’t know for sure, but I think the stuff they did last summer must have weakened the passage. For the past couple of months, big trucks have been coming up to the school every day to deliver more materials for the gym. Maybe the trucks produced enough vibration in the ground to cause the already weakened passage to collapse.”
“Sounds reasonable to me,” Sebastian said, nodding.
Listening to the others, Emma became very frightened. If the entire cave system was unstable, none of the passages were safe. Deciding it was time to point out the real problem to the others, she said, “It’s not important how it happened. What’s important now is how do we get out of here?”
Martha and Sebastian looked at Emma with wide eyes. It was clear from their expressions that they hadn’t considered the seriousness of their current situation. Doug, who had been thinking along the same lines as Emma, didn’t answer immediately. With a frown, he began running through their options in his head. Gradually, he became aware that the other three were all looking at him—waiting for him to come up with a solution. Although he was flattered that his friends viewed him as their leader, he also felt the weight of the responsibility. It didn’t help that they were all down in the cavern, their lives in danger once again, because of him. With a sigh, Doug ran a hand through his hair and made a decision.
“Well one thing’s for sure. We can’t stay here,” Doug began. Then he went on to explain his plan for getting them to safety. “Most likely, only the passages immediately surrounding the construction site are unsafe. I think we’ll be okay if we head away from the castle, and that means taking the passage that leads to the underground river.”
A shiver ran through Emma at the thought. Last year, when they’d been searching for the treasure, Doug had broken his arm and nearly been washed away by the rushing water as he tried to cross the river by jumping on the tops of some exposed rocks. She didn’t want him to have to try that again.
“There’s got to be another way,” Emma said, shaking her head. “You nearly got yourself killed last year.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian agreed. “Besides, I remember last year Mr. Hodges telling us that there were a lot more passages than the ones we found.”
“And Mr. Hodges would know because he had a map showing the maze of passages down here,” Martha added.
“I wish we had that map now,” Doug commented wryly. Still, he had to admit the others had a point. Considering the size of the lake cavern, there was a very good chance that more passages opened into it. They would just have to search more carefully. To the others, he said, “Well, the only way we’ll find another way out is to look for it, so I suggest we get started.”
Without another word, Doug turned and led the way down the gangway, followed by Emma and Martha. Sebastian, however, hesitated on the deck of the ship. He had been so looking forward to getting to explore it more fully. Now, with the stability of the underground passages in question, Sebastian realized he might never get another opportunity. With a wistful expression and a sigh, Sebastian gave one last look around and then joined the others where they were waiting on shore.
Doug must have known how disappointed Sebastian was because he said, “We’ll see her again, Sebastian. I promise.”
Inexplicably, Sebastian believed him, but all he said was “Right now, I’m only interested in getting out of here in one piece.”
Doug nodded his agreement. “I think our best approach is to spread out and start feeling along the walls of the cavern,” he told the others. “We should be able to find even a camouflaged opening that way.”
Given the enormous size of the cavern, even with the four of them searching, it was most likely going to take a while to find another way out—if another way out even existed. The opening that led to the underground river was clearly visible, so Doug started his search immediately to the right of it. Emma saw what he was doing and began searching from the river passage’s left side. Martha and Sebastian started on the opposite wall directly across from where Doug and Emma were. Initially, they stood side by side and then began moving away from each other, so they could be certain that every section of wall was examined. It was a good system, and everyone worked in silence for a while.
Emma didn’t know how much time had passed when Sebastian finally began to lose patience. Every few seconds, he would utter some complaint. Just when Sebastian’s constant complaining was beginning to get on Emma’s nerves, Martha shouted that she’d found an opening. Immediately, everyone ran over to where Martha was standing.
Emma gasped in shock when she saw what Martha considered an opening. It was a vertical slit, approximately two feet wide. It was positioned next to an outcropping of rock along the cavern wall. Emma could see why they hadn’t noticed it before. You had to be practically standing in front of it to see it.
“That’s not an opening,” Emma said, shaking her head. “That’s just a crack in the wall. We can’t fit through there.”
“We can if we turn sideways,” Martha replied. “It opens up and gets wider as you get farther in. I checked it out before I called everyone over.”
“I’m not going in there,” Emma said in a state of panic. All she could think about was being buried by tons of rock in that tiny passage. “Besides, it looks like it goes back toward the castle.”
“It’s bound to branch somewhere along the way,” Martha pointed out. “We won’t know which direction it will take us until we get in there.”
“I’m not going,” Emma said, her eyes wide with fear. “I’ll just wait here, and you can send someone back for me when you get out.”
“We’re not going to leave you here,” Doug stated in no uncertain terms. “We’re going to stay together.”
“Maybe there’s another opening that we haven’t found yet,” Emma suggested. Just the thought of having to squeeze through that narrow gap made Emma’s heart pound. Suddenly, she felt hot all over, and beads of sweat began to form on her upper lip.
“We’ve been searching for over half an hour, and I’m tired of looking,” Sebastian said.
“There’s not much of the cavern wall left to search, so I’d say this opening is our best option,” Martha argued in an effort to persuade Emma to come along.
“I guess we could swim through the underwater tunnel we used last year, but that would take us back toward the school for sure,” Sebastian added when it looked like Emma still wasn’t convinced.
“We’ll save that as a last resort,” Doug said to Sebastian. “I think we should see where this passage takes us first.” Then Doug looked over at Emma. All of the color had drained from her face, and she was as white as a ghost. Up until this moment, she had been able to control her claustrophobia, but it was clear from her expression that it had a firm grip on her now. “It’ll be okay,” Doug told her softly. “Just take my hand and close your eyes. I’ll lead you through the tight spots. You won’t know how narrow the passage is if you can’t see it.”
“You’ve got to try,” Martha urged.
Emma looked at each of her friends in turn. They were determined to enter Martha’s passage, and they were equally determined that she would go with them. Doug had a hand extended, waiting for her to take it. Emma knew when she was beat. She sighed in resignation, then took a deep breath and swallowed in an effort to slow her rapid heartbeat. Then she took Doug’s hand and closed her eyes.
“You guys go first,” Doug instructed Martha and Sebastian. “Emma and I will follow.”
Emma heard shuffling as Martha and Sebastian started through the opening. Then she felt Doug’s tug on her hand, and she began moving forward. Suddenly, Doug let go of her hand. Emma was just opening her mouth to protest, when she felt his arm encircle her waist.
“It will be easier to guide you this way,” Doug told her. “Just stay by my side.”
Doug pulled Emma along as he began moving sideways, and she matched her steps to his.
“Keep your eyes closed,” he reminded. “I’ll let you know when it’s okay to open them.”
Emma momentarily forgot her claustrophobia as she concentrated instead on the warmth of Doug’s arm on her waist and the feel of his body next to hers. She couldn’t help the little pang of disappointment that went through her when, a few minutes later, Doug let go of her and told her to open her eyes.
The others had their flashlights on, so Emma could see that the passage had opened up considerably. The ceiling was at least ten feet above her head and thirty feet or more separated the walls.
“Are you okay?” Doug asked with concern.
“This is much better,” Emma answered with a smile. “Thanks for your help.”
“No problem,” Doug responded with a smile of his own. Then his expression turned businesslike. “Now let’s find a way out of here.”
For the next couple of hours, they wandered around the underground passages like mice in a maze. When given a choice of paths, they would make a choice and follow that path until it came to a dead end or another fork. It wasn’t long before they lost all sense of direction. They could no longer tell whether they were headed toward or away from the castle. Doug had been marking their path by scratching an X on the cavern walls with a rock, but all that did was keep them from retracing their steps.
When their flashlight batteries began to give out, Doug declared it was time for a break. He opened his backpack and gave everyone a bottle of water. While the others sat on the rocky floor sipping their water, Doug put new batteries in the flashlights.
“Boy, I sure am glad you brought extra batteries along,” Sebastian exclaimed. “It’d be impossible to find a way out in the dark.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Doug answered. “I never dreamed it would take us this long. If we haven’t made it out in the next half hour, I think we should go back to the lake and take the underwater passage.”
The others agreed, and when everyone had satisfied their thirst, they set off again. It wasn’t long before they came to another fork in the passage.
“Which way do you guys think we should go?” Doug asked, consulting the others for the first time.
“Well, we’ve been taking the right fork up till now, so I say let’s go left this time,” Sebastian offered.
“It doesn’t make any difference to me,” Martha commented with a shrug.
“Me neither,” Emma agreed.
“Left it is then,” Doug said in a surprisingly cheerful tone. Emma knew Doug was worried, but he was making an effort to hide it from the others. Emma wasn’t fooled, and she was pretty sure Sebastian and Martha weren’t either. Still, she appreciated Doug trying to keep things light for the benefit of his friends.
They hadn’t gone very far when the passage made a sharp turn to the left. They all stopped in surprise as they rounded the corner. A faint light could be seen up ahead. With fresh hope, they hurried toward the light. They were stopped short of their goal by a pile of rubble lying right in the middle of the passage. Above the mountain of rubble and directly ahead was a large hole. The light they had seen was coming through the hole. Thinking that there must have been a cave-in, Emma shone her light on the rubble and was surprised to see that it was composed of red bricks, and not rocks as she’d expected.
