Page 72 of The Path to the Last House Before the Sea

Though what was the point of solving an ages-old mystery if they were about to become a present-day one: two more people who disappeared, without trace, from Heaven’s Cove? No, Jack corrected himself, that wouldn’t happen because he and Alyssa would be found eventually – once his dad realised they were missing and the fallen piles of rubble had been carefully removed.

But it would likely be too late by then.

Jack slid down to the floor, his back to the wall and, after a moment, Alyssa eased down beside him.

He breathed deeply, trying to quell his rising panic. He’d managed to stay calm until now, mostly by pretending he was in a superhero movie. But being trapped in an underground tunnel, with a risk of the roof falling in at any moment, was actually way outside his comfort zone. It was absolutely terrifying.

‘Three point one four one five nine—’

It was only when Alyssa murmured ‘What did you say?’ that he realised he was muttering his mantra.

‘It’s pi,’ he said, not caring any more what Alyssa thought of him. What did it matter when they were trapped underground with no way out? ‘It’s a mathematical constant which represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.’

‘I know what pi is.’ She paused. ‘Kind of. We did it at school. But why are you reciting pi right now? Are you coming up with some clever scientific way of getting us out of here?’

Jack sighed, feeling more useless than ever. He was a supernerd, not a superhero. And supernerds never saved the day; they were never one of the cool kids; and they never got the girl.

‘I’m afraid I’m all out of clever, scientific ideas. I’m actually reciting pi to as many decimal places as I can remember because, when I feel stressed, it helps.’

Alyssa was quiet for a moment. ‘Because of the familiarity of it? The unbending logic and order of it when life seems chaotic?’

‘Yes.’ He was surprised she got it. ‘When my brother was dying…’ His voice caught and he stopped and took a deep breath to gather himself. ‘Do you mind if I switch off the torch, to save the phone battery?’

‘Yeah, that makes sense.’

It did make sense, but the truth was Jack knew it would be easier to say what he wanted to say into the darkness. He turned off the torch and the room went black. ‘When John was dying,’ he began again, ‘everything around me was in chaos. My parents, my life, everything I’d ever known. Nothing made sense any more, and nothing felt safe. We happened to be learning about pi at school and it was the most comforting example of constancy that I’d ever come across. I started to recite it in my head and I found it helped to block out all of the madness. And I guess it’s become a habit over the years. Whenever life gets stressful, it grounds me.’

‘How old did you say you were you when your brother died?’ asked Alyssa, and he felt her hand move on top of his. Her warm skin felt soothing, and his shoulders dropped as the panic building inside him began to fade.

‘I was twelve, and John was fourteen. That’s no age to die, is it?’

‘No age at all. What was wrong with him?’

‘He had ALL, which is—’

‘—acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.’

‘That’s right.’

Alyssa breathed out slowly. ‘Poor lad. There’s a high recovery rate these days, but twenty years ago not so much, I imagine.’

‘Do you know someone who’s had ALL?’

Alyssa hesitated. ‘A few people, yes. Did John have a bone marrow transplant?’

‘Yes, but it didn’t work as well as they’d hoped.’

Jack felt Alyssa’s fingers tighten around his hand. ‘I’m so sorry that you lost your brother and for all that you had to go through.’

He swallowed, grateful for her sympathy. ‘It was a long time ago now.’

A long time ago that sometimes seemed like yesterday. It was strange, thought Jack. It felt as though John was with him, here in the dark. He hadn’t felt his presence for so long because he always pushed him away – with his pi mantra, with hard work, with throwing himself into his marriage.

And it was only now that he allowed himself to acknowledge how much he’d missed John over the years, and how much he still grieved for his older brother. If only the existence of heaven wasn’t, in his view, so scientifically invalid, the prospect of being reunited with John if the roof caved in might provide some comfort.

Jack took a few steadying breaths and rested his head against the cold bricks behind him. ‘What about you?’ he asked. ‘How do you keep the madness at bay?’

Alyssa paused for so long he thought she wasn’t going to answer him. But then she said in a rush: ‘I run away. That’s what I did last year, anyway. I run away and then I cock up other people’s lives – Magda’s life, yours.’

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