Page 70 of Fatal Fame
Mia secured herself in the harness and took hold of the rope, beginning her ascent while Gideon pulled from above. She used her feet against the stone walls to help, making steady progress toward the circle of starlight that represented safety and freedom.
She had climbed about fifteen feet when the rope suddenly went slack.
The fall happened so quickly she barely had time to register what was occurring. Her back hit the ground hard, driving the air from her lungs in a painful rush. Her left arm struck a protruding stone, and the resulting pain convinced her thebone was broken. Stars exploded across her vision as her head bounced off the ground.
"Gideon?" she gasped when she could breathe again. "Gideon!"
The sound of a struggle filtered down from above, shouts, impact, something heavy hitting the ground. Then sudden silence that felt more ominous than the violence that had preceded it.
A moment later, Gideon came over the edge of the well, striking the walls multiple times as he fell at terrifying speed. Mia rolled against the stone wall just seconds before his body crashed into the spot where she'd been lying.
"What the fuck?" Her heart hammered against her ribs as she processed what had just happened.
Above, the wooden cover was pushed back into place over the well opening, cutting off the starlight and plunging her into absolute darkness. The bricks scraped against wood as they were repositioned to hold the cover in place.
"Hey! Hey!" Mia shouted, her voice cracking with terror. "What are you doing? Don't do this. Please!"
Her world went completely black as the stars disappeared. She banged her flashlight against her thigh repeatedly until it flickered back to life, casting weak illumination across her underground prison.
Crouching beside Gideon, she could see his legs were twisted at unnatural angles, his breathing shallow and irregular. She'd been convinced he was dead, but when she pressed her fingers to his neck, she found a weak pulse. How he had survived the fall was beyond comprehension, and how long he would continue breathing remained an open question.
She looked up and shone her light toward the well opening, now completely covered and unreachable.
"Help! Hey! Help!" she screamed until her voice was hoarse.
The pain in her arm intensified. Waves of agony combined with shock made her lightheaded. At some point, consciousness faded entirely as her body surrendered to trauma and exhaustion.
25
Consciousness returned in fragments, the rhythmic wail of sirens, the flash of red and blue lights strobing against her closed eyelids, the antiseptic smell that meant hospitals and emergencies. Mia's awareness floated in and out of focus like a radio signal struggling through static, pain medication creating a buffer between her mind and the reality of what had happened.
The ambulance swayed with each turn, its suspension working against mountain roads that hadn't been designed for high-speed emergency transport. Medical equipment rattled softly in secured compartments while the engine strained up grades that challenged even emergency vehicles. Through the small windows, she caught glimpses of pine forests rushing past in the early morning light.
"Dad?" The word came out as barely a whisper, her throat raw from screaming for help in the well.
A familiar hand closed gently around her uninjured fingers. "I'm here, sweetheart."
Noah's face appeared in her field of vision, lined with worry and the exhaustion that came from a sleepless nightspent coordinating search and rescue operations. His hair was disheveled, his clothing wrinkled, and his eyes carried the hollow look of a parent who'd nearly lost a child to circumstances beyond his control.
"How did you find me?" Mia asked, fighting against the medication that made thinking feel like swimming through thick liquid.
"Ethan found you. He'll explain later," Noah said. "It's going to be okay. The paramedics gave you morphine for the pain, that's what's making you groggy. We're heading to Adirondack Medical Center."
The morphine pulled her back under before she could ask more questions, consciousness fading as the ambulance continued its urgent journey through the mountain wilderness toward the regional medical center in Saranac Lake. Her last clear thought was wonder at how Ethan had known where to find her when she'd told no one her destination.
When awareness returned again,Mia found herself in a hospital room that smelled of disinfectant and floor wax, surrounded by the electronic sounds of medical equipment monitoring her vital signs. Afternoon sunlight streamed through windows that offered a view of parking lots and the kind of institutional landscaping that prioritized low maintenance over beauty.
Her left arm was immobilized in a cast that extended from her wrist to her elbow, the weight of it foreign and uncomfortable. IV lines delivered fluids and medications through tubes that connected her to machines she couldn't identify. The bed was adjustable but felt like sleeping oncardboard. The institutional mattress was designed more for ease of cleaning than comfort.
Voices filtered through the partially open door, familiar but muffled, carrying the kind of tension that suggested an argument conducted in hushed tones to avoid disturbing patients. As her hearing cleared, she recognized her father and grandfather engaged in what sounded like a continuation of a long-standing dispute.
"She's eighteen, for God's sake, Dad. What I don't need is for you to be encouraging her to pursue dangerous investigations that nearly get her killed."
"And? She's an adult," Hugh replied with a stubborn tone that had made him effective as both a sheriff and a grandfather. "You can't smother her in cotton wool forever, Noah. She's got investigative instincts that would make her a hell of a police officer if you'd stop trying to protect her from every possible risk."
"Dad?" Mia managed to call out, her voice still hoarse but strong enough to carry to the hallway.
Noah hurried to her bedside, his face immediately shifting from anger to concern as he focused on her condition rather than his disagreement with Hugh. "Hey, hon. How are you feeling?"
