Page 12 of Wired Ghost

Sophie never hesitated to wade right in and do what needed to be done—another reason Jake loved her. Kneeling beside her and helping her free the cloth from the clinging remnants of skin and bone, he glimpsed the empowering tattoos on her inner arms—the ones on the outsides of her thighs were hidden by her pants. But she had other ones he’d seen in their private times together, a mandala of Thai writing around her navel that spelled outlove, joy, bliss.

He’d see that tattoo again. Trace it with kisses. But when they were out of danger, out of this foul and filthy environment, and a whole lot cleaner.

They cut the jeans material into narrow strips and carefully soaked it in the oil. Sophie lit a test strip on a twig. The oil smelled of fried chicken, a macabre twist to the whole bizarre and disgusting experience. “Colonel Sanders is here with us in this cave,” Jake said, waving the test torch carefully. “Who knew we’d have him for company. The good news is, the jeans material is holding the flame. It’s not burning up.”

“No idea who Colonel Sanders is, but this oil smell is making me hungry,” Sophie said, wrapping another soaked strip carefully around one of the sticks whose leaves and branches he’d already stripped. “I wish that weren’t true, but all I ate today was a protein bar.”

“Thanks for saying that, because I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we’ll end up eating that old coconut before we get out of here.”

“I already packed it in one of my pockets,” Sophie said, patting it.

“I think water might be more of a problem before this adventure is over.” Jake finished making his torch, tucking the ends of the fabric carefully into a tightly wrapped bundle at one end of the stick. He put the plastic lid back on the oil tin. “I have a cargo pocket big enough to carry this.” He slid it into the pocket and snapped the flap closed. “The moment of truth, take two.”

Jake flicked the lighter and lit his torch. It flared bright, and the smell of fried chicken masked the other reeks around them momentarily. “I believe we’re ready to venture into the lava tube, Sophie. Lead on.”

The earth trembled, just a tiny shudder—but enough to make more dirt and debris fall in from the fragile opening. Sophie took one last look at the bit of open sky above the hole, prompting Jake to look at it too.

“I guess we better go,” Sophie grimaced. “We’ll never be stronger than right now.”

“Depressing thought.” Jake elbowed her, trying for a smile. “We can always come back if it’s a dead end.”

“I don’t like the sound of dead end. I prefer blocked tunnel,” Sophie said with dignity.

“I have to agree with you on that one.” Jake held the torch high to light their way as they moved away from the cave’s overhead opening, saying goodbye to the light one last time.

Chapter Eight

Sophie

She was fallingin love with Jake again.

Who else could make her laugh by bouncing her own words back to her? Who else could get up from a beating like he’d taken and, with nothing more than a moan and groan or two, get on with solving the problems they found themselves in? Who else did she have confidence in, as they tried to cheat death yet another time?

Only Jake.

Okay, maybe Connor, too. And Raveaux was amazingly capable.

But only Jake could deal with a situation like this with realattitude.

Sophie had taken the lit torch to lead them to the exit she’d found. She stopped at the opening into the lava tube that led away from the central cavern, hesitating as she stared into the narrow black tunnel. It looked so black, so impossibly small. “I don’t know. Maybe we should wait in here for Bix to send help.”

“It could take days for them to find us, and I don’t think this cavern is that stable.” Jake moved up beside her. She held the flickering torch aloft and they peered into the much narrower tunnel ahead. “Hard to tell how far this tube goes. We don’t have to commit to it. We’re just checking out our options.”

“There’s some air coming through here, so it must vent out somewhere.” Sophie pointed to the way the flame of the torch bent in a slight breeze. “I’ve studied the way lava moves underground since I got stuck in a tube like this the last time. Lava flows like water in its liquid state; it heads downhill, it pools around obstacles. A bigger cavern like the one we’re leaving was sort of like a puddle of lava at the time it was created. Since we didn’t find an exit point other than this one, and the terrain goes slightly downhill toward the coast, my guess is that the lava came up from below the cavern, pooled in that main chamber, and this is where it ran down toward the ocean. Hopefully, we will find an opening where it exited.”

“Unless it emptied out underwater in the ocean.” Jake shivered theatrically.

“We’ll know if it did. The water would have backfilled the tunnel until it found equilibrium once the lava cooled; we’d have to stop when we come to that point.”

Jake’s eyes were slate-colored in the gleam of the torch. “You’re so sexy when you talk geology to me.”

“You’re so sexy, period.” She couldn’t help what popped out of her mouth—and she wasn’t sorry when his gaze seemed to heat.

“I freakin’ love you so much. I’d kiss you if I wasn’t so filthy.”

“You can kiss me anyway. Our lips probably only have the usual trillions of bacteria,” she said primly.

He laughed.

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