“Seconded,” Reyva said.
Mariana huffed. “Fine.”
Quiet, they focused on sliding around a boulder. Claire tried not to think about what it would be like to be underground in an earthquake, the ground shifting around them and the boulders squeezing together. Maine didn’t have many earthquakes. Or any, that she knew of.
“Just to reiterate in case you missed it the first time, I hate silence,” Mariana said.
Neither Claire nor Reyva replied.
As the cave narrowed, they dropped to hands and knees and crawled. The rough rock scraped like sandpaper on Claire’s knees. She tried to breathe evenly. The air was motionless. She felt as if her throat was coated in dirt. She imagined her lungs filling with dirt, her muscles solidifying into stone, her body becoming a part of the cave. What if they never made it out? What if there was no out?
Her phone beeped. Low battery.
Oh no.
She glanced at it. Five percent left. And the time said 7:03 p.m. Only about an hour and a half left of daylight outside. Not that it mattered down here.
“Hey, it widens!” Reyva called.
Ahead, Reyva disappeared from view. She was followed by Mariana dropping out of sight. For an instant, Claire was alone in the narrow crawl space between the rocks. She sucked in air and forced herself to keep moving.
She crawled forward, and her hand landed on air.
Standing in the larger cave, Reyva and Mariana were shining their lights in all directions. Emerging behind them, Claire stood. She dusted dirt off her knees and breathed in. Still damp and musty. At least, though, there was room enough to stand, which made her feel slightly less as if she were going to die squeezed between rocks. Yay for that. “Which way now?”
Their beams danced over the rock. “There.” Mariana aimed her phone upward. High above them, three-quarters of the way up a slope of rocks, was an opening that disappeared into darkness.
A way out?
It would be a climb to reach it, but it wasn’t impossible.
“Or there.” Reyva aimed her light across the cave, at another tunnel that was about six feet high and three wide. Easier to reach, but it looked as if it led farther into the earth rather than up and out. “Or... we could choose door number three.” She pointed her phone’s light at a third tunnel that looked like a mouth with rocks as teeth that would chew them up before swallowing.
“We have choices. How fabulous,” Mariana said. “Any ideas how we can tell which way to go?”
Crossing the cave, Claire peered into the tunnel. Same damp air. Same musty smell. She held her hand out, trying to feel if there was any air movement. For all she could tell, it led to the center of the earth.
“Pick one at random?” Reyva suggested.
“Hate that idea,” Mariana said.
All three of them stared at the cave, as if it would give them some clue. Claire studied each opening. Choice A was higher up (which meant it could lead out) but smaller (which meant it could also become too narrow for them to fit). Choice B was wider and looked smoother. Easier going, but to where? Choice C was thick with roots.
She didn’t know if there was any way of knowing which was the right choice. Or if they had time to make a mistake, before the killer caught up with them. If there were even a hint of light from any of them, then they’d be able to make an intelligent decision.... She had an idea.
“Turn off your lights.” Claire turned off her phone’s light.After a second’s delay, the others turned off theirs, and the darkness closed around them. She marveled again at the fact that they listened to her and trusted her. Maybe, all this time, she’d just had the wrong friends. That was a novel thought.
“Um, why did we do that?” Mariana asked, her voice a bit shrill.
“Wait for your eyes to adjust,” Claire said, “then look for any light.”
She closed her eyes, trying to speed up her pupils expanding, and when she opened her eyes again, she couldn’t tell that she’d raised her eyelids. She blinked and blinked again. She’d never been in a darkness so absolute. Her finger strayed over the flashlight button.
Now she was the one who wanted to fill the silence.
“So what’syourgreatest fear, Mariana?” Claire asked in a whisper.
The darkness made you feel as if you could only whisper. Even then, her voice sounded distant. Claire wished they’d been standing closer when she’d had her bright idea to turn out the lights. She heard their breathing—all three of their breaths sounded thunder-loud in the silence and stillness of the cave.
