how much I missed them, I needed to move forward. Keep my head in the game.
Carefully, I took the stairs one at a time. To my right, the waves crashed against the beach. I ran my hand along the wall to my left, steadying myself as I tried not to think of plummeting to the shore below.
Finally, I reached the bottom, stepping gratefully onto the rough sand and pebbles.
Lachlan joined me a few seconds later. “Do you know which way to go?”
“No. Shall we split up?”
He shook his head. “It can’t be far if your mother went there as a child.”
“Don’t underestimate my mother.”
“All the same, we’ll stay together.”
“Fine.” I wasn’t going to waste time fighting with him. I started to the left of the stairs, hurrying along the beach as I inspected the wall for any sign of hidden caves or passages.
It only took fifteen minutes before I found a narrow fissure in the rock, almost too narrow for me to enter. I stopped in front of it, inspecting the entrance.
Lachlan joined me, and I could feel his skepticism. “I’m not sure I’ll make it through there,” he said.
“Don’t risk it. I’ll go.”
“You’re sure this is it?”
“My mother mentioned it being narrow. Like a slice in the earth where it had cracked open to reveal a secret realm.”
“This fits.”
I nodded and stepped forward. My heart raced as I turned to the side and squeezed into the fissure. The stone walls brushed against my front and back.
“Thank fates I’m not claustrophobic,” I muttered. “You’re not going to wiggle through here, Lachlan. It gets tighter.”
“Be careful. If you aren’t out in thirty minutes, I’ll blast my way in, if I have to.”
“Don’t do that.” If he responded, I couldn’t hear him. I was too far in.
The passage wasn’t long, fortunately, just about fifty feet. I felt when it broadened, but it was too dark to see. Images of spiders and other creepy crawlers flashed in my mind, and my hand shook slightly as I withdrew my mobile to turn on the torch.
When the white light cut through the darkness, I gasped.
It was huge.
Like the beach outside, the ground was made of sand and pebbles. The ceiling towered overhead, and dozens of nooks and crannies marked the walls.
It was the perfect hiding place. I just needed to find the spot where my mother’s secrets were tucked away.
I searched quickly, climbing up the walls where I could and sticking my arm into dark holes that gave me the jitters. With every minute that passed, I was reminded more and more of my mother’s stories. It was like she was here with me.
It was such a lovely feeling that I didn’t notice the water beginning to rise in the cavern. I stuck to the edges, climbing the walls and not even seeing the tide pour in through the entrance.
It wasn’t until Lachlan shouted my name that I realized something was wrong. Still clinging to the wall, I turned around and spotted him. Patches of his shirt were bloody where he’d clearly had to tear his way through the narrow fissure in the rock.
“Lachlan!”
His dark eyes were wild with worry. “Tide is coming up, and you don’t have a transport charm to get out of here.”
He was right. And I must have been in the cave longer than I’d realized. Shit.
“Help me search this wall.” I pointed to my right. “I’ve done all the rest.”
He nodded and loped over, splashing through the water to reach the wall. He climbed swiftly and began to search the many little spots where something could be hidden.
My own efforts became frantic as I glanced every few minutes at the water rising behind me. It was fast, moving up the cavern every minute.
The ceiling was high here, but could it reach the top? Could it drown us?
Probably not, but I didn’t want to be around to find out.
I kept looking, my heart racing as I shoved my hand into the tiny crevasses. When I finally touched something that wasn’t rock, I was so surprised that I nearly lost my grip on the wall. The item didn’t bite me, and so I grinned and pulled it out of the hole.
A book, ancient and weathered.
And locked.
A tiny metal lock sparked with magic.
The fact that the book was dry and not beaten up by seawater answered my question of whether we would drown in here, but I was glad to be leaving.
“Found it!” I raised it high to show him, then put it