loose stones that littered the floor. At the far end was a heap of rocks and boulders that I knew formed a rough staircase up which you could climb to reach three or four rocky ledges one above the other, like the rungs of a ladder, leading up to the long narrow slit far above my head.
As I stood at the bottom, I could just make out a single silver star shivering in the blackness overhead, but its tiny light did nothing to illuminate the rocks. When I had first entered the cave Fannar had helped me down, holding my ankles and guiding my feet on to the next ledge and the next rock, but now I couldn’t see so much as a hand in front of me to find my way back up.
I cursed myself for not having the sense to bring a lamp, and wondered whether to return for one, but I remembered that even down here, the faint glow might be seen shining up through the crack at night and betray the hiding place of the others. I would have to feel my way up one boulder at a time. But as I was reaching up, trying to find a handhold, someone grabbed my shoulder. I whipped round, stifling a cry. Vítor was standing directly behind me.
‘I woke and saw you were missing,’ he whispered. ‘I was concerned for you. Where are you going?’
‘I … I just wanted to look out of the entrance,’ I said, keeping my voice as low as possible. ‘I feel so closed in and it’s so hot. I need some cold fresh air.’
‘I too would like the chance to breathe fresh air, but it is an extremely irresponsible thing to attempt. If you are seen and give away our hiding place, we will all suffer. You have a habit of wandering off, Isabela, first in France and then that first night in Iceland, and on both occasions you would have died, if we hadn’t –’
‘Don’t touch her!’
We both looked up, startled, to see Marcos stumbling towards us, tripping over the stones in his haste to reach us.
‘I assure you I have no intention of touching the young lady,’ Vítor said. ‘I was merely advising Isabela that it wasn’t safe to go out. She has an unfortunate history of accidents whenever she ventures off on her own. Fortunately none has yet proved fatal, but …’
‘You bastard,’ Marcos growled. ‘Don’t you –’
Fannar peered around the rock outcrop. He gestured impatiently for us to return to the cave, putting his finger to his lips and gesturing upwards. ‘Danir!’
We had no choice but to follow him back inside. Fannar was evidently grumbling to Ari and glowering in our direction. He lay down again but this time across the entrance to the passage, so that anyone trying to go down there would first have to step over him. We all lay down in our separate spaces. I was trembling with frustration. If it hadn’t been for Vítor detaining me and Marcos waking Fannar, I could have been out there now. Why did Vítor and Marcos have to follow me around as if I was a wayward child? What did it matter to them if I left or not? The tension between them was so palpable that I was sure if Fannar hadn’t woken up, they would have started wrestling each other to the ground like small boys. This confinement was getting to all of us. But I had to find a way out.
I found myself staring at the narrow ledge that ran alongside the pool. It went far back, disappearing through a tunnel beyond the pool, where the water rushed out. Was there a second cave beyond this one? Vítor, Marcos and Ari had all emerged from that tunnel the day Fannar brought us here. Perhaps if I followed the water, I would find another hole leading to the outside.
I wanted to leap up at once and try it out, but I knew I had to restrain myself until the others were sleeping. I didn’t want Vítor following me again. I sat upright, pressing my back against a sharp point on the cave wall to keep myself from drifting back into sleep in the warmth. I told myself I had to stay awake so that I could try once more to escape the cave, but deep down I knew that wasn’t the only reason. I was too scared to sleep in case my nightmares dragged me back