Page 59 of Vanished in the Mist
“I’ll be okay. You’ll go get help, right? I need you to do that. If you don’t go, we both might be trapped here, with no chance. Go. Hurry. Save us both, Tanya. Go get help.”
Tanya’s shoulders straightened and a determined look lit her eyes. “Help. Yes. I can do that. I’ll find someone to help.”
Shanna shoved at the two loose bars. Somehow, they were still attached at the top of the cave. But the bottom parts were free. She shoved them to the side so Tanya could slip through. “Now, go on. Get out of here.”
“I’ll—I’ll come back. With help.”
“I’m counting on it. Hurry.”
Tanya whirled around and disappeared through the rotten tree.
Shanna braced her aching back against one of the many remaining bars. What she hadn’t told Tanya was that the two bars they’d dug out were the only ones with any give at the top. She’d tried to shake and move every other bar before choosing the two they’d dug out. The rest were sunk into the boulder at the top with no movement, which meant even if she dug out more bars from the bottom, she wouldn’t be able to move them to the side. And she was larger than Tanya. She couldn’t squeeze through the opening the younger girl had squeezed through.
She was stuck here with no way out.
Well, there was one way. She could dig two to three feet down, so she could wiggle underneath the bars without having to swing the bars to the side. But that would take hours. The ground was hard, rocky, and her makeshift shovel was never intended for that kind of digging. Would it even last if she tried?
The only alternative was to sit here and wait for the Phantom to return. As soon as he saw that Tanya was gone, he’d know that Shanna was responsible. He’d kill her, for sure.
Which meant she no choice but to dig. And pray he didn’t return anytime soon.
She took out the batteries and set them aside. Then she started to dig.
Her fingers ached from curling around the flashlight, shoving it over and over into the hard dirt. How long had she been scraping with little progress? Ten minutes? Fifteen? More? There was no way to accurately judge the time in the dark. Butshe couldn’t stop, no matter how slow going it was. Tanya had never given up. She’d survived nearly a year in this dark hole. Shanna wasn’t a quitter, either.
After shaking out the pitifully small bit of dirt she’d just scooped out, she shoved the flashlight into the dirt again.
A thump sounded from outside.
She froze, and looked toward the cave opening.
“Ladies, I brought lunch.” The Phantom’s cheery voice preceded him as he shoved his way through the back of the rotten tree. “Did your light go out? Here.” Light filled the cave as he switched on a flashlight he was holding.
Shanna smiled. “Back so soon?”
His eyes widened. “Where is she? What have you done?”
She tightened her hold on her flashlight. “Lunch smells good. What did you bring?”
His furious shout filled the cave, echoing off the walls. He tossed the bags of food on the ground and yanked his knife out of the sheathe as he stalked toward her. “I trusted you. You’ve ruined everything. Now you’re going to pay.”
Her pulse rushed in her ears. He was going to kill her.
He shoved the key in the lock. “It’s time you learned all about Mystic Lake’s secrets. Let’s go for a swim.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kaden used every ounce of power the engines on his boat could give, pushing it to its limit. He recklessly passed the marina full of boaters, ignoring the shouts of anger as his wake buffeted the much smaller boats. Channel markers warned of hazards beneath the water that could shred the hull of his boat. He tried to stay away from those areas, but was forced to swerve dangerously close several times to avoid decimating small boats that couldn’t get out of his way fast enough.
Still, he pushed for more horsepower.
The mist was still mysteriously hovering over the lake, making it even harder to watch out for potential hazards. But what frustrated him the most was that the mist seemed heaviest at the water’s edge. He couldn’t see the shoreline to judge exactly where the lake ended and the shore began. If, by some miracle, Shanna was on the shore, perhaps running from her abductor, he wasn’t even sure that he would see her.
Forced to rely on his training and experience, he used the boat’s instrumentation and the GPS coordinates from his earlier search of the bonfire area to navigate. He was close. Very close. He powered down three of the four engines and dramatically decreased his speed all at once, making the boat rock back and forth like a toy in a bathtub. It creaked and groaned but quickly settled.
According to the GPS, he was fifty yards from shore. The bonfire clearing could be up ahead, in front of those trees, but the mist was too thick for him to be sure.
“Shanna,” he yelled, even as he edged the boat dangerously closer. “Shanna!”
