Page 52 of Ruined Wolf

He was on the ground, completely collapsed, and terror flooded through me.

“Lucas! Fuck, Lucas! Talk to me.”

I skimmed over him with the torch, then rolled him onto his back. He groaned quietly, and my heart hammered in my chest as I let out a sigh of relief. At least he was breathing. I checked him over quickly. He must have tripped when he came back through. The torch revealed a nasty gash on his head and a trickle of blood that dripped onto the dark rocks beneath him.

“Lucas?” I called.

He groaned again, his eyelids fluttering.

“Lucas, it’s Nova. Can you get up?”

“Mmm.”

“Lucas, I need you to get up. The water is rising, and we’re going to be trapped here if we don’t get to the boat soon. Lucas, please!” I pleaded as if it could make a difference.

“Go,” he murmured.

“What?” I leaned closer to hear him.

“Go... now. Leave.”

“Not without you,” I told him firmly. Lucas moaned again, and his eyes closed completely as he lost consciousness.

“Lucas? Lucas! Fuck!” I screamed into the darkness, but my echo and the sound of waves were my only response.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

LUCAS

I opened my eyes and whimpered. The nightmare hadn’t gone, I was still here, still down in the pitch-black darkness that, as an eight-year-old, had felt like it must have been the very entrance to hell itself. Everything was the same—the dank, damp smell of rotting seaweed, the jagged rocks under my body, and the cold bite of the heavy salt laden air around me. Even the painful thudding of my heart and the violent shaking of my body felt the same. I hardly dared glance sideways, because in my mind, I could already see the still, silent form of his body lying next to me.

The memory swarmed through my head, taking it captive so I could think of nothing else. I heard his voice above the cave, warm and cheery, with just a hint of worry and relief. As he’d roped up, he’d chatted away to me, assuring me that he’d be down to get me shortly, and that explorers tended to be a little more trained and a little more prepared than I had been for this particular adventure. I’d waited in the darkness, holding in the tears from finally being found.

The cave had been fairly intimidating in the afternoon sunlight, but when the water had rushed in, blocking my way out, it had turned terrifying. I’d had no way of knowing how far the water would come in and if I was going to drown. I’d scrambled as far back into the cave as I could, climbing the pile of scree and driftwood I’d found, trying to get as high as possible. The water had flooded in, completely concealing the entrance, but left a few square yards of rock and rubble for me to perch on. I’d sat there as darkness had fallen, praying the water wouldn’t rise anymore and begging the universe to send someone to save me. He’d come hours later. The dark hadn’t scared him.

I’d almost been afraid to see him, worried about the scolding I was going to get for going out without telling anyone and for missing dinner, but he’d said he didn’t care, and he was just glad I was safe. He’d be right down, he’d said. Just getting roped up. More words, but I didn’t catch them, and then he was calling down, telling me to get as far away from the opening as possible. I had moved away, carefully stepping down into the water until it had reached my knees, just to give him space to abseil down the opening above. A flurry of pebbles landed where I’d been sitting, and I moved back a little farther. My foot had slipped on a rock, and I’d stumbled, splashing a little.

My father had instantly stilled, calling down to see if I was okay. When I’d said I was, he’d continued, slipping his entire form into the chute’s opening of Devil’s Chimney. I remembered everything taking so long. I was so desperate to get out, to get home, and to have him wrap his arms around me and tell me I was safe, that everything took an age.

What had happened next seemed to be over in a heartbeat. In counselling, I’d heard that people often see traumatic events in slow motion, remembering every detail vividly. This was not how it was for me. One moment, my father was carefully abseiling down the chimney, and the next, there was a shout, a rattle of rocks and rope, and then the sickening crack as my father hit the rocks below, a couple of feet from where I was standing. A burst of noise, shouting, rocks rattling, his body hitting the ground, and then complete silence. His flashlight hit the ground and went out, rolling into the water with a splash. I could see his body clearly, his neck bent in a strange way, his face white, and his eyes staring blankly off into the distance.

Then he reached out and touched my hand, and I screamed...

“Lucas! Lucas, it’s me! Lucas, wake up!”

I blinked, staring into the darkness, and another pale face materialised out of it—smooth skin, pale hair, and golden eyes, and the touch on my hand wasn’t my father’s but hers.

I scrambled backwards away from her, my heart racing, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps as I tried to remember what the hell was going on.

“Lucas, breathe. Just breathe.”

I did, sucking in gasps of air and forcing myself to slow until a thread of reason returned to my mind. “Nova,” I whispered.

She nodded. “It’s me, Lucas. You’re okay. I’m here with you.”

“Here...” I looked around at the surrounding cave. A small amount of light filtered through the chimney, though I could tell it was fading fast, and no light came from the entrance. “We’re in the cave.”

“Yes, we are. I’m so sorry, Lucas.”

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