The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,53

ominous crack in the wall.

The crack looked even smaller close up. Lucy wasn't even sure they could squeeze into the three foot wide opening that started at the floor and rose about two feet.

"There really must be a better way," Jane said.

Mae shook her head. "I don't think so." She played her light around the room. Nothing obvious popped up.

"Let's look anyway." Anything to delay thinking about going into that crack. Because Lucy was afraid thinking about it was all she'd be able to do.

Lucy stepped to the right of the crack, deliberately looking away from it. There would be plenty of time to face it if they didn't find another way out.

They searched the entire perimeter of the room taking turns boosting each other up over the taller boulders, slogging through small puddles of water and cursing every turned ankle and rock marble that slid underfoot.

For Lucy, the cherry on that particular cake came when yet another rock took her right foot for a ride and instead of turning an ankle she wound up on her butt in one of those cold puddles.

She sat there for a few seconds while the cold crept into her bones, trying to fight off another bout of dizziness caused by the fact that her light was now pointing toward the ceiling at a crazy angle. She reached up, righted the light, and wished she hadn't.

They made their way back to the crack of doom.

"Great whatever Paul must have been a small guy," Mae said. She stepped up to the crack since Lucy and Jane were both standing frozen in place staring. She dropped her pack, stooped down, and aimed her light into the opening. Before Lucy or Jane could ask what she saw, she dropped to the floor and slid in.

"Wait!" Lucy jumped toward the crack.

Mae slid back out of the hole. "It's okay," she said. "This is sort of like a thick wall. A few feet in it gets higher."

"How much higher?" Lucy asked. "Are we talking inches or feet?"

"Feet. I don't think we can stand up straight but we can stand up."

"Swear?"

"Cross my heart," Mae said.

"Is there something we should know?" Jane asked looking Lucy over.

"I don't like small spaces. I'm not sure I can--" she cut herself off with an impatient shake of her head. "No. I'll just have to suck it up. Belle could be . . ."

"Belle will be just fine," Mae said. "We're going to get the Declaration and then we're going to get her."

"And you are going to be fine too," Jane said. "You're actually a pretty tough broad."

Lucy managed a half-hearted chuckle at that. "Fine but if I die down here I'll never forgive you."

"You can haunt me forever," Jane said.

"We're gonna have to push our packs in ahead of us," Mae said. "I'll go first. We should be able to get the packs back on as soon as we get to the taller part of the tunnel."

Lucy watched, still a little horrified, as Mae pulled her pack in front of her, shoved it into the hole and slid in after it.

"I'll go next," Jane said.

"No," Lucy said as she peeled the straps of her pack off her shoulders. "I'm afraid I'll chicken out if I go last."

Jane made a go ahead gesture. "Be my guest. I'm in no hurry."

"You all coming?" Mae called from the tunnel.

"Keep your pants on," Jane called back.

Lucy dropped her pack in front of the crack, took a deep breath and went down after it. She pushed the pack into the hole and looked back at Jane.

"Go," Jane said. "I'll be right behind you."

Lucy gave her pack another shove and low-crawled into the hole. Head, shoulders, torso. Another shove of the pack. Hips. Spots danced across her line of sight. She reached out and pushed at her pack again. It disappeared as Mae pulled it out of the tiny tunnel. More light bloomed once the pack was free and Lucy could see the end. She crawled toward the opening and her head popped out before her feet were all the way in the tunnel. Yess!

The section of the tunnel she emerged into was wide enough for her to move up next to Mae and out of the way of Jane coming in behind her. She had to hunch over but at least she was on her feet and she didn't feel like she was being smothered, at least not right away.

Jane popped out behind her pack. "Okay that was a