Page 73 of Pippa of Lauramore
“All right,” I say. “Marigold, you’re next.”
If Leonora goes first, there’s no way Marigold will make the jump. Leonora coaxes Marigold to go. The echoes resulting from the bandit’s search are becoming louder. We must hurry.
“Marigold, now!” I say.
To my surprise, the girl jumps. It’s a clumsy thing, likeshe’s never leaped before, but it’s enough. I grab her hands and pull her to safety.
They’ve found the last tunnel. I’m sure of it.
“I don’t think I…” Leonora says. “Pippa…I can’t…” She’s trembling, and her eyes are huge.
I can hear distinct voices. We have half a minute, maybe less, before they enter the cavern. We’re taking too long.
“Leonora, we don’t have time. They’re coming. I promise I will catch you. I swear it, but you must jump now.”
She nods, her movements choppy, and prepares herself. The voices enter the cavern.
“Down, both of you!” I fall flat on my stomach. “Make yourselves as flat as possible.”
There’s a chance they won’t see us up here. Why would they look? Who would assume three girls would scale the walls of a cavern?
I hear my heartbeat and feel its frantic rhythm in my neck. Marigold is breathing so loud, I’m afraid they’ll hear it. At least she’s stopped crying. Leonora is paralyzed on the ground, stretched as flat as she can get. This can’t be good for the baby. Her heart must be close to going out from fear.
The bandits curse and argue with each other. Peg screams, and he still sounds drunk.
“Maybe they went out the hole in the ceiling?” one of the men, the one who must have drugged me, says.
My blood goes cold. I grit my teeth, not daring to even breathe.
“Maybe they went out the hole in the ceiling,” Peg mocksin a whiny, jeering voice. “Yes, perhaps they sprouted wings and flew out!”
“They might have climbed…” the brown-haired man offers.
We’re hidden in shadow, tucked as close to the cave wall as possible.
Please, don’t let them see us.
“You’re both morons! They went down a different tunnel! Find them!” Peg bellows. His voice fills the cavern and echoes down the tunnels.
Their footsteps fade, and their voices become distant.
I take a deep breath and push myself off the stone. My cheek is numb from the cold rock, and there are little bits of sand and tiny pebbles stuck to my skin. I brush the grit from my hands and hair.
Next to me, Marigold sits up. Like me, she brushes herself clean. Leonora is still on her stomach, but instead of clenching her eyes shut, like she was when the bandits were in the cavern, she’s staring at the empty space between her ledge and ours.
“You can do it.” I feel the need to be quiet even though the bandits have left.
She slowly sits up. “It looks so much higher from here than it did on the ground.”
“I know. Heights are tricky like that.”
Her hair is a mess. It’s come out of her braid and is all tangled. Her face and hands are smudged with cave dirt, and her sleeve is ripped and hanging off her shoulder. I’ve never seen her look so disheveled.
Percival is going to kill me.
“Will you catch me if I trip?” she asks.
I nod and hold out my hands. “Don’t think about it. Just jump.”
