The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,55

be safe," Lucy said. At this point she didn't think anything about this adventure was safe but pretending to believe seemed the best course of action. At least it was better than imagining her way into another panic attack.

Jane rigged a rope and each of them in turn clipped on and made the climb down a corkscrew passage. It was a fairly easy climb with foot and handholds in easy reach all the way down but it was nice to know the rope was there in case any of them did something stupid.

Lucy stepped down into the next room and unclipped from the rope trying not to think about the fact that the two climbs had taken them some fifty feet deeper under the mountain. Another fifty feet must translate into many tons of additional rock and dirt overhead.

This room was about half the size of the one at the bottom of the first shaft. Lucy could only hope the exit wasn't similar. Most of the floor was covered by a spreading pool of water fed by a small underground stream flowing from the far side of the room.

Lucy hadn't thought much about the small water puddles they'd slogged through earlier, but now she couldn't help wondering where the water came from and what happened down here when it rained. Afternoon thunderstorms were a frequent occurrence this time of year.

Better not to think about it. Why add another layer to the fear?

"Is it deep?" Mae asked.

Jane was standing at the edge of the pool staring down into the perfectly clear water. "I don't think so. But I don't see a way around it and we're going to get our feet wet."

"Maybe we should think about going back and getting more supplies, warmer clothes," Mae said. "How long have we been down here?"

"Only about an hour and a half," Jane said. "It's barely noon."

Only an hour and a half, she says. It was an eternity to Lucy, but, "We don't have the luxury of going back and starting again. Not to mention, there's no way I'm ever coming back down here once I'm out. If I ever get out. Now I know why you can fit all the serious cavers in the U.S. into a high school football stadium."

"Well how much further do we have to go?" Mae asked.

Lucy took the map out and studied it. She wasn't sure why she bothered, she already had it memorized and that whole "not to scale" thing was more than true. "If Paul Morris drew this map according to time instead of distance we're about a third of the way through."

"Another three hours?" Mae said. "And then we have to get out. Another four hours. Even if we don't have any problems it'll be dark by the time we get back to the van."

"We don't have a choice," Jane said. "We have to have the Declaration tonight when Belle's kidnapper calls."

"Fine. I'm just glad we packed those extra protein bars and water bottles."

Jane started to edge around the pool.

Lucy could see they would indeed have to get wet but if they were careful it looked like they'd only have to cross through a small section on the left edge of the pool. Still, they'd have wet feet at the very least, more if the pool was deeper than it looked.

Lucy didn't think getting wet was a good idea. She was back to thinking about the hypothermia again. "Wait," she said.

Jane turned back to her with a questioning look.

"I think we should strip down, keep everything dry and then get dressed on the other side. Being down here for another seven or eight hours in wet boots or more . . ."

"Might kill us," Jane finished.

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. I'm afraid I'm pretty ignorant about how easy or hard it is to freeze to death but we know it's somewhere around sixty degrees in here and if we're wet we might have trouble."

"Makes sense," Mae said. "Being cold for a few minutes instead of being wet and cold for hours."

Jane moved away from the edge of the pool and started to strip off her clothes and stuff them in her pack. Mae and Lucy did the same.

"Skinny dipping in a cave," Jane said. "This is definitely one for my list of things I never dreamed I'd do in my lifetime."

"I don't think we need to get completely naked," Mae said she stuffed a sock in her boot. "Bra and panties should do it."

"You sure