Page 103 of Surly Sheriff
She lifted her face and sucked in a deep breath of the dank atmosphere and tightened her grip on Kat’s hand. Her sister squeezed back, reminding her she wasn’t alone.
After what seemed to be forever, the pathway flattened.
And a light breeze stirred the air, diluting the stuffiness, and bringing with it the taste of brine.
They were close. Finally.
Their pace quickened, both eager to be done with the narrow tunnel. The rhythmic pounding of the ocean, dull at first, grew louder the farther they walked, and they broke into a jog despite the uneven surface. The slap of leather on the ground accompanied their heavy breathing.
A hundred or so yards later, they skidded to a stop in front of an ancient iron gate. She shone the flashlight about, stopping when the beam of light found the hook with the oversized key. Reaching up on her toes, she caught hold of the blade of the key and lifted it from the hook.
Aiming the light at the lock on the gate, she inserted the key and turned. Nothing happened. “Please turn. Please turn,” she muttered, jiggling and twisting the key.
Clonk.
The heavy, abrupt sound reverberated around them. The gate swung outward with the barest of a squeak, and they stared at each other in disbelief.
Kat grinned, her teeth a white slash across her shadowed face. “We did it,” she said.
Nessa moved her arm in a slow arch, the light revealing the cavern just as Andrei had written. To the left was a solid wall of rock, but to the right it widened, sloping towards the water.
And there, the dinghy lay tethered halfway down the incline.
She locked the gate behind them, flung the key into the water.
There was no going back now.
They gingerly picked their way over the damp rocks, neither wanting to take a tumble, and reached the vessel without mishap. Nessa unhooked the mooring rope while her sister wedged the backpack beneath the bench.
And that was when Kat slipped, hitting the side of the dinghy, sending it into the water. Nessa managed to grab hold of her sister’s flailing arm, but momentum pulled her over, too, and they both tumbled down, ending in the freezing water. Worse, the light cut out, plummeting them into darkness.
Sputtering, pushing sodden hair from her eyes, Nessa tread water, squinting. She could see nothing but inky black. Panic shot through her. “Kat?”
“Here,” Kat replied beyond her vision.
“You okay?”
“Yes.” Kat’s form took shape as she neared, swimming with one arm, the other clutching the gunwale of the dinghy, nudging it closer. “Get in.”
Nessa swung her arm up, gripping the edge. But pulling herself up proved hard, the sodden dress weighing her down and hampering her freedom to move her legs. “I ca-can’t,” she whispered, her bravado draining away, leaving nothing but stark fear.
“Youmust, Inessa.”
Her body shaking, the bitter cold of the water making her muscles sluggish, Nessa gathered every ounce of her strength and hooked a foot, then a forearm, over the side. The boat canted, almost overturning. Kat shoved at her hip, and Nessa tipped into the vessel.
She lay sprawled across the bottom, her cheek burning from scraping it against the oar crutch. Pushing up on her arms, she watched Kat pull herself up and over. Her sister collapsed onto the narrow bench.
For a moment, neither spoke. Nessa looked around, the dark swallowing everything beyond a few feet, but she refused to voice her fear again.
She was Mama’s brave princess.
Heaving her shivering body onto the bench, she said, “We need to go. Grab your oar, Kat.” Running her hand along the side, she grabbed hold of the shaft, and worried for a beat that her stiff fingers wouldn’t be able to clasp it properly. But she managed and hooked it into the crutch, dipping the blade into the water.
“I’m ready,” Kat said, her voice thin and shaky.
“Slow and steady,” she said, more to herself than Kat.
With practiced moves, they turned the rowboat toward the faint shimmer of water marking the cave entrance. Paddling hard against the ocean current, they made for the open sea.
