Page 70 of A Promise of Peridot
I did not want to be entombed in solid rock.
I did not want to die.
We had to get out.
Out—
The world, the cave, the avalanche yawned away but for that single word. We just had to getout.
Our path stemmed narrower, forcing me to propel Mari forward. My legs were tired. I just needed one break, one spot to breathe, to think, to formulate some kind of—
“Arwen, look out!”
We screeched to a halt, nearly falling on top of each other as the last corner we rounded deposited us in front of another unexpectedfork lit by those same ancient candelabras, the ones I knew in my bones had been here long before any of us were even thoughts.
We careened left, Mari’s hand clammy and slipping in mine, tears burning at my eyes, blood in my lungs, I was sure of it, and—
There.
Light.
Blessed, beautifullight.
Reflecting from an archway on the far left of the passage. Light that could only be from the sun. My knees could have buckled with relief were it not for the propulsion, the raw horror driving us inexorably forward.
We were so close now—
So close to fresh air—anyair. To beingoutof here—
But the roaring had only intensified. Louder, and more violent. As if the cavern were a living, thinking creature, and saw hope in our eyes.
I made the unforgivable mistake of looking behind Mari’s wind-swept curls.
That wave of crumbled rock crushed through the tangled maze behind us, faster now, gaining and gaining speed, like a flood in a storm. A goliath boulder, greater than both our heads, dislodged from the landslide and shot toward us.
No, no, no—
The sphere of lighte I had flowered around Leigh and me weeks ago in Siren’s Bay blossomed around me and Mari, rippling, shimmering, and protecting us from the projectile. Mari screamed—I couldn’t tell if that was from relief or dread—and the shimmering, flexible orb grew thicker, as if bolstered by my need to defend her. More sharp daggers and pellets of stone rained down and bounced right off the domed top of my lighte.
Thank the ever-loving Stones.
We were close enough now.
The light of a lush, green day beckoned to us, the smell of moss and rain...
And I knew we’d never slow our inertia in time.
That we would be crushed before I cut a hard enough turn to allow us both into the passageway.
Demolished.
Reduced to limbs and hair among a sea of speeding rock.
There was only one way out of this.
We flew past the open corridor, and for a heartbeat that sunlight spilled through, across my face, the exit summoning me—
And I used every ounce of strength to push Mari inside the narrow passageway with all my strength without breaking my stride.
