if they get caught on something and I get stuck in there?"
"If you can fit the packs can fit. This is the last bit before we get to the hiding place. Remember?"
No. Lucy couldn't remember her own name at the moment.
In the end this was her quest. She couldn't give up and leave Belle's fate in someone else's hands. Besides she didn't want to think about trying to crawl backwards and she didn't think she had room to turn around. Forward is the way out.
She dropped down on her belly, slithered into the crack and closed her eyes against the fear. It didn't help. Her breath wheezed like a patient with advanced emphysema and she became absolutely certain her heart was going to stop.
She could hear Mae's voice but couldn't make sense of the words.
Lucy's entire world shrank to a space two feet by two feet and she shut out everything except the need to propel herself forward. The floor under her was smooth, which meant no scrapes or scratches. But it also meant finding ways to push and pull herself along was hard.
The ceiling was mere inches above her head and she kept bumping it in a vain attempt to catch her breath, like a drowning victim trying to break the surface for air. Each time she bumped her head, each time she failed to surface, her breath got shorter and she got more lightheaded. But she kept moving forward, trying to outrun the panic.
Lucy had no idea how long she'd been crawling when the panic caught up. She needed to stand, or sit, or at least lift herself to her hands and knees. For the umpteenth time, she tried to rise up, to lift her head free, to get a big breath of fresh air.
For the umpteenth time she cracked her head on the ceiling and saw stars. A cold clammy sweat broke out over her body.
A scream built in her throat and she knew if she let it loose, she'd go insane and hurt herself or worse, Mae. The sound she allowed out was a keening wail in the back of her throat.
She started to flail and thrash in a vain attempt to get free of the tons of rock encasing her. She was no longer a thinking human but a trapped animal incapable of rational thought.
###
Lucy didn't know how long she was in the grip of the madness.
What brought her back was the sharp, queasy pain of striking her funny bone on a knob of rock protruding from the wall of the crack. She collapsed, sobbing and became aware of her surroundings again.
"Wah wah wah, wah wah."
Mae's voice penetrated the black fog of Lucy's mind but the voice sounded like an adult in a Peanuts cartoon. "What?"
"Are you okay?"
"No."
"You have to keep moving," Mae said.
Lucy did her best to ignore the fact that she still couldn't lift her head or catch her breath. If she thought about it she would start screaming and would probably still be screaming when she went into shock and died. "I can't."
"You have to."
Mae was right, forward is the way out.
Lucy started belly crawling again. The next panic attack would have to wait until she got some energy back.
"I can stand up again," Mae's voice came back down the passage. "Oh my God!" Mae said. "This is amazing. Lucy, I promise it's worth the trip."
Wonderland
Lucy couldn't do the dance of joy. She couldn't even manage a deep breath. But she squirmed forward with renewed effort. "God, if I survive this nightmare with my body and my sanity intact I will . . .Wow." She emerged from the crack of doom into a fantasy.
"Told you it was worth it." Mae smiled but didn't take her eyes off the view.
Lucy was still having a little trouble catching her breath and her heart was racing but the horror of the crack was starting to fade. Maybe it would be like childbirth and the bad part would be hard to remember. Nah, she was going to have nightmares about that crawl for a long time. Maybe forever. But. . . "I guess the whole caving thing is starting to be a little more understandable," Lucy said.
"You could say that."
This final chamber in their quest was the magical cavern they'd stopped expecting.
There was a forest of stalagmites growing from the floor and a whole ballroom's worth of chandeliers dropping down from the ceiling. And they were shades of white instead of muddy brown. Moisture glistened in