The Easy Part of Impossible - Sarah Tomp Page 0,54

room, sent out bursts of laughter—both canned and live. A talk show blared from a radio on the counter, but Cotton clicked it off. “My house is always loud.”

“Will your parents mind that I’m here?”

“No.” He cracked eggs into a bowl. “Do you need to call yours?”

“No.”

She knew the idea of her parents not knowing where she was would be incomprehensible to him. But they were so used to her being gone for diving workouts, they still didn’t think to ask where she spent her time. They worried more when she was home.

Something was sizzling in Cotton’s pan by the time Leo came in with clean clothes and wet hair. Flutie followed, asking about the trip.

Ria looked down and realized she was still in her cave clothes. Her damp underthings felt clammy against her skin. Coveralls made for a more streamlined cleanup. Cotton looked rumpled in the T-shirt and shorts he’d had on underneath, but at least they weren’t smeared with mud.

Standing at the counter beside her, Leo pulled out a notebook. Flutie joined Cotton in the kitchen, monitoring the ins and outs of the toaster. All the cooking food smells were dizzyingly scrumptious.

“I gotta say, that was incredible. We’re going to need a lot more time to keep going. We could spend hours in that room alone.” He turned and looked at her. “I have some ideas as to how we can measure the water’s depth. If you’re willing to go back in.”

“Absolutely,” Ria said as Flutie chimed in with, “I’d try it.”

“No,” said Cotton.

The omelet tasted even better than it smelled. “What’s in here?” Her mouth was too full to be polite. “It’s incredible.”

“A little cheese and garlic and mushrooms.” Cotton handed her a steaming mug of hot chocolate. “When was the last time you ate?”

She was too busy chewing to answer, but she wasn’t sure, either. It wasn’t that she’d been deliberately not eating, but without structure to her day, without a schedule and necessity, it was one of those things that she sometimes forgot to do. She’d been trained to disregard physical discomfort. Hunger was barely noticeable. Especially since her meds dulled that feeling anyway. Benny had put her on a strict timeline for eating. He’d paced her calories and proteins and carbs throughout the day.

She’d finished her second piece of toast by the time Cotton and Leo started eating their own plates of delicious goodness. Flutie was sipping hot cocoa too. Eating didn’t slow the conversation.

“It might be a new discovery,” said Leo.

Cotton shook his head and swallowed. “I can’t believe that. It’s such a huge chamber. And the pond. Think about the pond. How could no one have found the pond before?”

“Pond,” said Ria. But didn’t have a point. She just liked the way the word sounded. As different from “pool” as the two things were.

“Well, then, they’re keeping it secret. Unless it connects with one of the others, no one has been here before. There’s no word of it on the forums.”

“We need to keep going and see if it connects,” she said.

They both looked at her, their stares intense and unwavering. She wasn’t sure if it was because they’d forgotten she was there or if they truly couldn’t understand her point. It seemed so obvious. If there was a chance it went on and met up with another cave, they should know it. “When can we go back?”

“We’ll need more than a few hours. We lose all our time getting to where we’ve already been.”

“If we bring more supplies, we can stay longer.”

“Why haven’t you done that before?”

The two boys looked at each other, clearly not wanting to answer.

“Fatigue,” Leo said finally.

“And the bathroom!” yelled Flutie. “That’s the real reason.”

“Ooooh,” said Ria. “What does that look like?”

“A box,” said Cotton.

There was an awkward silence seeing as there wasn’t a lot more to say about that.

“Well, if we have to put up with a box, we should go ahead and stay overnight,” said Ria. “It would give us more time to explore.”

“What do you think, Leo?”

“That’s what the extreme cavers do.” Leo pushed his empty plate away.

Ria felt a rush of pride, then asked, “Will your parents let you, Cotton?”

“I don’t know. We’d need to figure out the details. I’m not going to ask until I know what I’m asking.”

“Do you have to tell them?” Sometimes these smart, geeky boys missed the obvious. “Wouldn’t it be enough to tell them you’re camping, and when we’ll be back? Do they need to know the