Page 105 of In the Pursuit of Haven
I glared at him. “Don’t bringherup.” I was doing everything I could not to freak out. The last thing I wanted Jessie to know was that I was losing my nerve. “What’s down there?”
“Not snakes, not insects…” His eyes veered to mine, and he managed a smile. “No bats, either.”
I wasn’t able to hide my grimace this time. Jessie knew what I was thinking anyway. From that first night when he’d cradled me next to him in that forgotten cellar on Brown’s Island to Bradstreet’s Tomb only two short days ago, I’d never been able to keep back the terror I had for anything creepy-crawly.
“It’s not so bad.” He landed next to me and pressed his knuckles into the rock. “Remember when we went caving at Hudson Rock last year?”
Yeah, I hated it.
“It’s just like that… only a little narrower, more like spelunking, really.”
His pep talk wasn’t working. I squeezed my eyes shut. With all the hard bedrock that made up our firm ground, we didn’t go caving here in Massachusetts. That was more for places I avoided like the plague.
“C’mon,” he said. “You should love this.”
“Why? Why should I love this? I’m an archivist, not the Tomb Raider!” I was made for office work. I took a steadying breath, staring down into the gaping hole. A nagging, horrifically logical part of me told me I had to do this. Jessie couldn’t fit. “You didn’t saywhatwas down there,” I said.
“It’s a puzzle. That’s it.”
“Did you take a picture of it?” I asked.
“We tried, but so much of it is carved into the wall it doesn’t show up in images. We were working on getting better sensory equipment…”
This was happening. I was going into that hole alone. “Why did that woman write this was a hole of vipers, boars, and skulls?” I had to know the truth.
“I don’t know. Elizabeth was being dramatic? She wasn’t exactly right in the head—look at the guy she married.”
That didn't settle my stomach.Look at the guyImarried.And yet Abby and Divine had done this. I gritted my teeth.Divine!She’d survived… probably navigated her way through red laser beams with catlike grace too. I nodded. “Fine! Let’s just get this over with.” I grabbed his arm. Too late, I noticed my hands were shaking. He’d feel it too.
Jessie’s eyes rounded in concern, and he grasped my elbows. “Hey, we don’t have to do this, honey. I’ll get Abby…”
I knocked him away. “No.” I didn’t want Hunter to have a flash of inspiration on how to solve this puzzle and send Divine to get this Relic while we took forever to fetch his sister. “Do we have a light or something? I can use my phone.” It might get smashed against the rock.
“Wait.” Jessie dragged over the duffle bag and pulled out a heavy-duty flashlight. “This is where we have the advantage over the Puritans,” he said. “They couldn’t take a flame, but they didn’t know about our boom boom light.”
I wasn’t in the mood for laughing. I swiped it from him and pushed my leg into the hole.
“No.” Jessie stopped me and I watched him bite his lip, looking uncertain, like he was about to threaten to get Abby again. “You have to go headfirst.”
Of course! Whywouldn’tI have to enter this “viper” hole in the worst possible way? I scooted onto my stomach and inched forward. The first thing I noticed was that the passageway was slanted at an angle, so at least I wasn’t careening headfirst into the depths of despair. The downside was that the flashlight wasn’t doing much to illuminate the darkness ahead as I edged my head and then my shoulders inside the tight entryway.
Jessie’s voice carried to me through the tunnel: “There’s no way to turn around until you reach the end.”
Who was the reckless explorer who’d discovered that? This was madness!
I wriggled my way through the cramped cavern, feeling the granite walls with my fingers—those were followed by my stomach and legs. My heavying breathing was all that I could hear. Rock and more rock was all that I could feelandsee when I moved my flashlight through the black void ahead.
My hip rammed up against a particularly tight spot and for one brief, horrific second I wondered if I was curvier than Abby. Divine, though… Divine was an hourglass. My jealousy when I’d first clamped eyes on her now served as my hope. I had a chance! I shoved my way through the narrow passage and scraped past. Barely!
“Like Hudson Cave, huh,” I muttered to myself. My head rammed against an overhanging rock and I gave outlet to my fear and rage with a shriek.
“Are you okay?” Jessie called through the tunnel.
I could still hear him. Relief rushed through my shaking limbs. He wasn’t so far away. “Keep talking,” I said. “Just keep talking to me.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Anything!” I screamed.
