Page 34 of Love like the (Real) Reel Thing
Afric stepped further away. “Tell me there’s a light switch in there?”
“Sorry.” Jess flashed her a look of sympathy and pulled two small torches out of her pocket. “I brought you one each.”
“This is so cool.” Emily took one of the torches.
“Wait!” Afric frowned at Jess. “Why aren’t you going in?”
Excellent question!Because Emily is braver than me.That’d go down well. “I’m going to be here, making sure the door stays open. And,er, I only brought two torches.”
“Why can’t she stay here, then?” Afric gestured to Emily. “I’ll go in there if you go first!”
Shit!Right now, Jess wanted to cower in a corner – a spacious, brightly lit one. But she’d no choice except to brazen it out. She managed a tight smile.
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter which one of us goes in.” Jess took the torch from Emily, peered into the dark passageway and took a deep breath. “Follow me!” Before she lost her nerve, she stepped inside.
Christ, it was freezing, a damp cold that clung to her immediately. And there was a strange smell. Suppressing a shudder, she bent her head and took a few, tentative steps, before turning to check that Afric was behind her. There was no sign of her.
“Afric?”
“She’s going in now!” Emily called back.
“You won’t be able to stand up straight, Afric! ” Jess warned.
After a long pause, Afric appeared. Despite not being able to see her face properly, Jess could tell by her breathing that she was nervous. How was it so dark? Even with the torches and the light filtering through from the bedroom, it was eerie. Chelsea would have had only the light on her phone to guide her through to the outside last year, she thought. She’d been incredibly brave – and incredibly desperate!
“I don’t feel well.” Afric’s voice echoed behind her.
“You’re doing great,” Jess managed, hoping Afric didn’t faint or throw up on her. In the light of her torch, she saw something on the stone floor. “Hang on.” She reached down and picked upa hard plastic disc, turning it over in her hand. It looked like a camera lens cover. And it was pretty clean, considering that it had been lying in an old tunnel. In fact –
“I’ve had enough – I’m going back.” Afric’s voice was carefully controlled, as if she was fighting to contain her panic.
Jess turned around. “Okay, just wait until –”
But Afric had already turned back.
Jess slipped the lens cover into her pocket and shone the torch along the ground to check there was nothing else. She remembered Ian saying that the Lady Linford tunnel was the longest in the castle. This was definitely as far as she was going to go.
A scream pierced the darkness and Jess realised it was Afric. Shit, what now? Turning back towards the entrance, she moved as quickly as she could back into the bedroom.
Afric was sitting on the bed, while Emily was running in from the bathroom with a wet hand towel, which she pressed gently against her forehead.
“She hit her head on the way out,” Emily said, worriedly, moving the towel to one side to reveal a rapidly growing lump.
Shit!Jess took out her phone. “I’ll ask Mel to send up the medic.”
Jess dropped into Anthony’s office on her way home.
“Oh, Jess.” Anthony beckoned her in. “I heard about that incident in the tunnel. It’s a bit unfortunate, I know, but try not to worry about it. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”
Jess said nothing. It didn’t matter whose fault it was, she knew. The studio would hold her and the group accountable for their star getting hurt like that.
“I checked in with Afric a while ago,” she said. “The swelling is going down and the medic said she’ll be fine. She panicked and stood up too soon in the tunnel. Even I had to crouch over in there, and Afric’s a lot taller than me.”
Anthony nodded. “It should all be forgotten about in a few days.”
“I found this when we were in there.” Jess fished the lens cover out of her pocket and put it on his desk.
Anthony picked it up and gave her a questioning look.
