Page 69 of The Path to the Last House Before the Sea

Jack slowly got to his feet, put out a hand and pulled Alyssa up. Her legs were wobbly, like Bambi on ice, and her wrist was aching where she’d fallen.

‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ she asked, tasting brick dust on her tongue. She screwed up her eyes which felt gritty and sore.

Jack rubbed his scalp and moved his neck from side to side. ‘Just a bump on the head and a few bruises, I think. What about you?’

Alyssa gingerly pressed her hands to her abdomen before flexing her arms and legs. ‘Nothing but a sore wrist, as far as I can tell.’

‘I think we’ve been very fortunate in the circumstances.’ He held his phone high and stared at the screen. ‘There’s no signal down here. I didn’t think there would be, but it was worth a try. What about yours?’

Alyssa pulled her phone from her pocket. The screen had cracked but she could still make out the signal icon. There were no bars showing. ‘Nope, it’s the same as yours.’ Her legs were still shaking, and she sank back down to the floor. ‘So, what do we do now?’she asked, the two of them staring at the wall of brick and earth that blocked their way back to the safety of Stan’s cellar.

‘I guess we go on and hope there’s another way out,’ said Jack, brushing dust from his hair.

‘Could we try digging our way through the rubble and going back the way we came?’

‘The wooden struts are damaged,’ said Jack, sweeping his torch beam across the roof. ‘If we start digging, we could bring even more down on our heads. The remaining struts are bearing a huge weight, but I don’t know the specifics of axial force to understand their load-bearing capacity.’ He paused. ‘Is that too sensible and science-y for you?’

There was a sardonic edge to his voice, which Alyssa thought was fair enough in the circumstances.

‘Sensible and science-y is what we need right now,’ she told him. ‘I don’t think a sea dragon is going to help us out of this mess.’

‘Probably not.’ Jack held out his hand and Alyssa grasped it firmly. ‘So, let’s see where this goes, shall we?’

They started walking, Alyssa trailing behind because the tunnel was narrow, but still keeping a tight hold on Jack’s hand.

There would definitely be another way out, she told herself as they moved slowly along. Jack obviously had a large, logical brain and if he wasn’t panicking, there was no need for her to have a meltdown either. All tunnels needed an exit as well as an entrance, and the smugglers who’d built this one had clearly known what they were doing. Except, obviously, for the day they were caught by the king’s customs men. The day Charity and Josiah disappeared.

Jack suddenly came to another abrupt halt and she barrelled into his back.

‘What is it?’ she asked.

In reply, Jack swept the beam of his torch ahead of them. There was another huge pile of bricks and earth, completely blocking their way — and this pile was even more substantial than the one they’d just left behind. As well as blocking the tunnel from floor to ceiling, it also extended along the walls of the tunnel, narrowing the passageway to little more than a metre.

‘Another cave-in,’ murmured Jack, letting go of her hand and crouching down to inspect the rubble.

‘Has this fall just happened, do you think? At the same time as the other one?’

‘I don’t think so. There’s far less brick dust and dirt in the air back here. This one could have happened years ago, which means the tunnel’s been unstable for some time.’

‘I’m starting to rethink my plans for a smugglers tour,’ said Alyssa, her attempt at brightness undermined by the wobble in her voice. She was trying so hard not to give in to the panic that was clutching at her throat. Trying so hard not to focus on the fact that she and Jack were trapped far beneath Heaven’s Cove and it was her fault. She would be responsible for another tragedy.

Jack gave a hollow laugh and sank down onto his haunches. ‘The evidence available does seem to indicate that abandoning your new tour would be a very good decision.’

A trickle of blood was snaking down his cheek, Alyssa noticed. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and knelt down beside him. ‘You’re bleeding.’ She dabbed gently at his face, the tissue catching slightly on the stubble on his chin. ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’

‘Apart from being stuck in an unstable tunnel deep underground?’ Jack pushed his fingers into his hair and winced. ‘Falling debris has left a bump and what appears to be a small cut on my head. I’m sure I’ll live.’

He caught Alyssa’s eye and swallowed hard, the evidence for that declaration being in short supply. He looked away and began to sweep his torch beam across the rubble again.

‘I’m sorry that I dragged you into this,’ said Alyssa quietly.

‘You didn’t. It was my decision to follow you.’

‘Yes, but if I hadn’t— wait, what’s that over there?’ She put her hand over his to guide the torch light. ‘I thought I saw a chink in the stones, at the side there.’

‘Where?’ Jack stood up, bending his neck to avoid banging his head on the roof, and squinted at the fallen bricks and earth.

‘Over there, where the tunnel narrows at the side.’ Alyssa pushed her fingers into the small gap she’d noticed, and almost cried with relief when her hand went straight through. ‘There’s not so much rubble here. Maybe we can move some of it and get through without destabilising everything.’

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