Page 76 of The Path to the Last House Before the Sea

She expected Jack to react. To ask her why she thought that. To cry with frustration that he was trapped down here while his estranged wife was up there, still crazy about him. But he didn’t say a word.

Alyssa filled the silence. ‘Miri was very put-out by me being your girlfriend, and you should have seen the look she gave me when I came back to the marquee, after we’d been chatting on the cliff. I don’t think that can all be due to her inner alpha female. I reckon poor old Damian’s days are numbered, so your ploy – having me as your pretend girlfriend – totally worked.’She took a deep breath because her voice was shaking. ‘I know I’m not who you’d ever choose in real life, Jack. You think I’m ridiculous with my myths and legends. But Miri totally fell for the make-believe. So, well done and you’ve got to get out of here so you and she can have a happy reunion. For your sake, and for Stan’s and Archie’s.’

Alyssa clamped her lips together, afraid she might cry as Jack turned off his torch and the room was plunged back into darkness.

‘We’d better save the phone battery,’ he said, his voice thick with emotion.

They sat apart in the darkness for a while, the air charged with their kiss that never was. It felt like static electricity, thought Alyssa, starting to shiver in the cold. A crackling energy that divided them.

Her fingers were going numb but she didn’t dare huddle up to Jack for warmth. She didn’t dare because of her heart. Because she was envious of Miri, and the truth of that had knocked her sideways.

She had feelings for Jack, which were utterly pointless. They were either about to die, which would put the kibosh on any chance of romance; or, if by some miracle, they got out of this tunnel alive, he and Miri would have a beautiful reunion and live happily ever after – while she lived a half-life in the caravan in Magda’s garden.

Actually, she couldn’t even live there, she remembered, picturing Magda’s angry face. She would have to move away and start again, somewhere new.

Which wasn’t the worst of ideas if Jack and Miri were going to make up and walk hand in hand through the village. She didn’t want to spend her life trying to avoid them.

Alyssa closed her eyes, replaying in her mind what had just happened – almost happened – between her and Jack. Perhaps she should have just gone with the kiss, even if it wouldn’t really have meant anything to him. But the problem was it would have meant something to her, and if – when – they were rescued, that kiss would have made Jack and Miri’s reunion even harder to bear.

Jack’s voice suddenly sounded in the darkness. ‘Do you feel weak at all?’

‘No.’ The spikes of adrenaline coursing round her body were making sure of that.

‘Do you have a headache?’

Alyssa opened her eyes. ‘No, why?’

‘We’re in a relatively confined space, trapped between two cave-ins, which, while not completely airtight, must be drastically limiting the flow of fresh air.’

Alyssa winced. ‘That’s not making me feel any better.’

‘About twenty per cent of air is made up of oxygen,’ Jack continued, switching his torch on. ‘When we breathe, we take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide. Too much carbon dioxide causes symptoms including, if I remember rightly, weakness and headache – initially.’

‘And then?’

‘Ultimately, suffocation.’ Jack frowned.

‘Feel free not to be so blunt.’

Surprised flitted across Jack’s face. ‘I’m only telling you the facts.’

‘And you’re telling me them because…?’

‘Because I’m surprised we’ve not started feeling any effects yet of carbon dioxide levels rising.’ He tapped his chin. ‘Can you show me the photo you took of the map again?’

Alyssa fished the phone from her pocket and found the picture, which Jack studied intently for a few moments. Then he stood up, shaking the cramp out of his legs.

‘Come with me.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t intend to end up like poor Charity and Josiah, or have people claim we were eaten by a sea dragon. There’s no way I’m becoming part of a myth. I’d never live it down. So, follow me.’He wriggled back through the pile of rubble into the main tunnel.‘Are you coming?’ he called.

Alyssa pushed her hand into her pocket and ran her fingers across the precious brooch nestling there. ‘I’ll be with you in a second.’

Kneeling down beside Charity and Josiah, she slipped the brooch back into Charity’s skeletal hand. ‘Here you go,’ she whispered. ‘I’m returning this to where it belongs.’

With one last look at the entwined skeletons, Alyssa scrambled through the hole in the rubble and stood beside Jack, who was still studying the photo. She listened for the sound of a rescue party or, at the very least, Stan calling out their names. But all was silent. Perhaps no one knew they were even missing.

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