Page 163 of In the Pursuit of Haven
“Easy,” Jessie tried to warn me.
I snatched at it. Immediately a net came from below me and swept me off my feet and a rope looped over my wrist. I spiraled upward, seeing only a terrifying blur of the deck below me the farther I flew. My heart had gone horribly still like I’d left it behind me. The next instant, I found myself in a crow’s nest above the action, tangled in a net like a fish.
It worked! I caught my breath, feeling the creaking rope sway beneath me before I could let out a shaky cry. “What happened to the entrance?” I asked. “Did it close more?”
All of their heads turned. I supposed I should’ve said something before I screwed up enough courage to try this out for myself.
“Yeah,” Jessie shouted up to me. He paced below, his attention veering back and forth from the treasures swinging above him to me. “Are you okay?”
Besides my head spinning like… a lot? Sure. “Yes, yes!” The view was worlds different at this height. Already I could see that there was a whole upper level of stone steps encircling us. There was only one reason to have a staircase way up here.
I noticed a light shining through the darkness on the ledge across from me. That would be our way out of here. “Brecker!” I shouted over to him. “You think we’re closing the entrance and opening up an exit every time we grab these treasures from heaven?”
“No idea why they designed it that way,” he answered, “but yeah. I think you’re right.”
The important thing was that there was a system at play; we just had to have faith that whatever happened in the end would be good.
Growling in surrender, Jessie grabbed at a painting that had been set up against the railing. Once again, the cavern groaned as yet another of the “nine” found their place in the rigging above the treasure.
The slit of light marking what I was sure was the exit gapped wider near the suspended stone staircase above us.
One of Hunter’s men reached for a gold crown atop a statue’s head. “No!” I shouted. “That doesn’t count. You need to find something plain and simple. That’s part of this—not just because they’re up in the air.”
“And then we only have worthless objects,” Luther grumbled, “and everything valuable will be far beneath our reach.”
“At least we’d be alive,” Brecker shouted down. “Don’t go for the crown.”
“Go for the crown,” Luther contradicted.
“That’s ridiculous!” I shouted. The man didn’t care who got killed, but didn’t Luther see that this would hurt him too? We were already down to eight people, instead of nine. I wasn’t even sure what that meant for our chances of getting out of here, but we couldn’t lose anyone else. “Don’t do it.” I noticed a rug draped over the mast near the indecisive man’s head. “Go for the rug.”
“Yeah, if he only wants to collect junk,” Luther interjected.
“It’s worth a lot!” I argued. “These are historical finds. You should know that!”
Apparently, my assurance convinced Hunter’s man to do the complete opposite. Perhaps even thinking the crown was too light to make much of a difference, he slid it from the statue’s head. The floor heaved under him.
Luther barely scrambled out of the way.The dog!
“Grab him!” Hunter shouted. The ground was cracking. There was still time.
And Luther did nothing. Letting out a shriek, another dimwitted fool tumbled through a splintered hole in the deck and out of sight.
And now there were only seven of us.
This was tragic!
“Luther!” I shouted. “We can’t do this any other way.” And why was I trying to convince the psychopath to play fair? I twisted until I caught sight of Abby and Divine. “More of you will die if we don’t do this right!”
“Abby!” Jessie called down to her. “You listen to Roxy, okay?” He sounded desperate as he tried to talk sense into his little sister. “You’re getting out of this alive. You hear me?”
Luther let out a loud sigh that I heard clear from my perch. “Quit your crying. She’ll be fine.” He motioned Divine to come forward. “You heard them, find something worthless and hope you don’t get hung when you get caught in that rope.”
It took me a moment to realize that he was talking to her fleeing back. “Divine!” Hunter yelled at her. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m not dying for any of you!” she cried. “Leave me alone.”
Luther pulled his gun from his belt. Hunter swiveled around. “Don’t even think abou—” Luther’s gun went off. The shot reverberated through the cavern.
