by K. C. Dyer
“Darling! That is wonderful news. And here I was, thinking that you were hating the place. I felt like such a gorgon leaving you there, when you were so unhappy.”
“Oh, well, it’s turned out to be a pretty — ah — unusual school, Mom. The art teacher, Mr. Gill, is great. He’s helping me paint up a storm and giving me a lot of pointers on technique. And did you know that Professor Tooth teaches history? I’ve been taking her classes, and she’s been telling us a lot about the history of art and how artists throughout history depicted people’s lives. It’s just, I don’t know — just more interesting than I thought it would be.”
“Darrell, I can’t tell you how different you sound.” Janice Connor’s voice faltered. “It’s as if the old Darrell’s come back — the Darrell that I used to know. Oh, I don’t know what I’m saying.” She sniffed audibly. “You just sound so happy and that makes me happy, too. Just remember that I’m home now and anytime you have had enough, I can come up and get you, okay?”
“Okay, Mom. The way things are, I think I can probably stick it out until the end of the summer.” She paused. “I do miss you, though. It’s really good to hear your voice.”
“You too, my love. Call me anytime, okay?”
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Darrell walked slowly out of the office, thinking about how much had changed since the last time she had seen her mother. She remembered sitting in a history lesson when Professor Tooth had read a quotation from William Shakespeare’s famous play Macbeth:
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not ...
Professor Tooth had asked them to think of all the different things that happened in the past as seeds. She had said that some seeds grow, becoming the future, and that some never grow at all. Then she asked the class to think about what they would change about the past if they could. Since the lesson had been about the Middle Ages, most of the kids talked about changing the terrible things that had happened in the past, like the invention of weapons and the beginning of wars or the spread of disease.
Images of Luke and his family surrounded by soldiers filled Darrell’s mind. But slowly another thought took shape. What if Darrell could change that fateful day when she and her dad had gone for a drive in the mountains for ice cream? What if they’d had a flat tire and couldn’t go? What if she had been sick and forced to stay in bed? How much would that have changed her future? She pulled out her notebook and jotted the question down, to think about later.
Deep in thought, Darrell walked into the dining room at the same time as Brodie and Kate. They chose their food from the buffet table and sat down together to eat.
Kate looked tired and happy. “I’ve spent the whole afternoon sparring with Boris Meirz.”
Brodie looked puzzled.
“You know, he’s taking one of my computer programming classes, but mostly he practices chess. Anyway, it turns out he has a brown belt in judo. The discipline is quite different from tae kwon do,” she went on cheerfully, between mouthfuls of chili, “but it was still pretty fun to work out at that level of intensity.”
Brodie had hardly touched his dinner. Darrell watched Kate wolf down two bowls of chili in less than five minutes. She looked quizzically at Brodie. “Not hungry?”
He looked up, startled out of his reverie. “Oh — yeah, yeah, I’m hungry.” He picked up his spoon and then appeared to make up his mind about something.
“It’s just — well, I found something today.” He reached into the backpack at his feet and handed Darrell an object.
Her camera.
Darrell looked up at him and could not read what she saw in his eyes. Was it excitement? Fear? She felt so relieved that Brodie had been the one to find her camera, not Conrad. But this opened a whole new worry. How much did Brodie know?
Brodie looked around to see who was nearby. The three of them sat alone at a table and there didn’t appear to be anyone within earshot.
He spoke in a low voice. “I have something to tell you guys. I wasn’t sure if I would keep it to myself, but really it was because of you that I found it.” He looked at Darrell.
“Because of her? Found what?” Kate asked, now attacking an enormous piece of chocolate cake.
Brodie laughed. “Man, you sure can eat!”
Kate looked hurt. “I’ve had a busy day, okay? Now tell us what you found.”
Brodie looked again at Darrell. “Well,” he said slowly, “I’m not sure you didn’t find it first.” When she didn’t answer, he continued. “This morning I heard a boat revving its engines and it woke me up early. So I went out to look again at the rock face where we found all the fossils. I was walking along the wall when I caught sight of something long and black that looked like it was sticking out of rocks. It was the strap of your camera, lying on the sand at a crevice in the wall. I squeezed through the crevice and found a cave.”
Kate gasped. “That is so great, Brodie. Did you go inside?”
“Yeah, and it was really great.” He turned to Darrell. “When I saw the strap belonged to a camera with your name on it, I went back to the school to find you and give it back. But I couldn’t find you anywhere, and I couldn’t stand the thought of that unexplored cave, so I went back with a flashlight and spent the day checking it out.”
Darrell made a quick decision. She told Kate and Brodie of her suspicions about Conrad, and about her early-morning adventure in the cave, carefully omitting what had happened afterward. They both looked shocked.
“So I must have dropped my camera when I was leaving after they had driven away in their boat, Brodie. Thank you for finding it for me.”
Brodie frowned. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but the back was open. Any pictures that you got of Conrad must have been ruined.”
Kate looked exasperated. “Next time you decide to go capture someone on film, Darrell, let me know. My digital camera works on a disk, and you can’t lose any pictures by exposing a film. Besides,” she added, looking sternly at Darrell, “you need to tell us when you are doing something that dangerous. If he had caught you, who knows what could have happened? It would have been safer to have us there too.”
Brodie laughed. “Safer to have Kate there, anyway! I’ve got to learn some of those moves you put on Connie the last time, Kate. He didn’t really have any choice but to hit the dirt!”
While Brodie and Kate were bantering, a strange feeling came over Darrell. She realized that they had both just expressed concern for her welfare. They had been interested in her story and worried about her safety. She watched them teasing each other while Kate ate a second piece of cake. Maybe she could ask them for their help, not just with Conrad but with her dilemma about the special cave. She started to open her mouth when Brodie turned back to her.
“So what do you think, Darrell. Want to come with me?”
Darrell reddened. “Sorry, I must have been daydreaming. Go with you where?”
“Back to the cave. I found these amazing old glyphs written on the wall near the back of the cave where it becomes impassable.” He dropped his voice. “This could be something really big, Darrell. A true archaeo-logical find. I really want to look at it some more before I tell Professor Dickerman.”
“Did you touch the symbols, or whatever you called them?” asked Darrell, fear in her voice.
Brodie scoffed. “Glyphs. Ancient symbols used before there were really any written words. And of course I didn’t touch them. You don’t touch things like that. They are so old that they could crumble to dust. What I’d really like to do,” he continued, “is to go back with the proper equipment to take a tiny sample. My friend Zack’s brother goes to university. He’s studying archaeology and he may be able to do some carbon dating on the sample.” He paused and looked pleadingly at Darrell and Kate. “I’d really like to keep this find a secret for now.”
“No problem,” said Kate without hesitation. “But tomorrow, I have to finish this t
ricky programming glitch I’ve run into.” She smiled ruefully and gestured at the window. The sky had clouded ominously. “And we’ve all got that essay for Professor Tooth. It doesn’t really look like good outdoor weather, anyway. I need to keep my face glued to my computer screen for a few days.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t have the proper equipment here, anyway.” Brodie’s lips thinned with disappointment for a moment, then he brightened. “I’ll call my brother. He should be able to send me the stuff I need in a few days. I’d better make a list...” He whipped out a sheet of paper and rapidly jotted a few notes.
Darrell felt troubled. She hated to share the cave with anyone, but it now was out of her hands. It was Brodie’s cave now, too. She just had to keep him from touching the symbols on the wall. The longer she could keep him out of there, the better. Maybe by agreeing to go, she could stall him for a while.
“Okay, I’ll go,” she said, adding but not anytime soon silently to herself.
Brodie looked delighted. “As soon as my equipment arrives, then?” Darrell nodded reluctantly.
Darrell finished her meal quickly and headed back to the studio. The sky had darkened and rain pattered against the windows. She found Arthur Gill looking over her day’s work, with Myrtle Tooth at his side.
Arthur Gill looked up at Darrell in amazement. “You must have been working on this all day!” Darrell nodded, pleased that he recognized her efforts.
He gestured at the painting and then turned to Myrtle Tooth. “I just had to show you this delightful piece. See how she has managed to capture the strange mixture of light and shadow on the narrow streets?” He turned back to Darrell. “The detail of the cobblestones and the roofs of the old cottages ... Remarkable!”
Myrtle Tooth smiled at Darrell and then turned, her clear green eyes taking in the painting. “Perhaps some of the history lessons have served to inspire your work, Darrell.”
“If so,” rhapsodized Arthur Gill, “they must have been fascinating lessons, Professor Tooth. Darrell has captured some amazing detail. Look how she has caught the light within this old French village. It is nothing short of astounding!”
Myrtle Tooth placed her had warmly on Darrell’s shoulder. “I agree, it is certainly a fine day’s work.” She headed toward the door. “But to my eye, it holds more of a Scottish flavour than French.”
“Do you think so?’ questioned Mr. Gill, as he followed her out into the hallway.
Darrell stared blankly at the door that closed quietly behind the two teachers. Shaking her head, she gathered up her things and carefully covered her painting before heading upstairs to her room.
She looked at her bed and tried to think of everything that had happened since she had last crawled out of it. Her mind refused to comply, and after taking off her prosthesis she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She dreamed of Luke.
CHAPTER NINE
Darrell spent every day of the following two weeks riddled with anxiety. She watched the summer storms that had swept in batter the school with cool rain and a wind that felt like it belonged more to the fall. The days were spent struggling with her self-portrait, her thoughts alternately drawn to and repelled by the cave on the beach. Her nights were filled with images of thundering horses and baby Rose being torn from her mother’s arms by soldiers. One morning in late August when the dawn broke cloudy but not awash in rain, Brodie knocked on Darrell’s door at seven o’clock. He stood at the door, beaming, with a full backpack tossed over his shoulder. Caught so early in the morning, Darrell didn’t have time to come up with any kind of an excuse. Lily was still sleeping, so Darrell and Kate followed Brodie down to the garden. At the thought of returning to the cave, Darrell’s mouth went dry and she fiddled absently with the mints in her pocket and stuck the charcoal pencil she had been using behind her ear. Kate complained bitterly as she trailed behind.
“I’m only coming because my laptop battery needs a recharge.” Kate wrapped her windbreaker more tightly around her. “If it was running, I would totally refuse. But it’s probably going to take least another hour, so I guess I’ll come.” She cast a skeptical eye at the windswept beach. “You’re sure it’s dry in this cave of yours? And anyway, you know we’re supposed to keep in sight of the school. If we go inside this cave, we won’t be able to see the school at all.”
“Come on, you nit.” Brodie grinned. “It’s all for the sake of good science. Mr. Neuron would be proud of us, spending time outside of school furthering our knowledge, as he would say.”
They set off through the grey morning light. It was not raining, but the sky was very low and the fog lay out on the surface of the water like a puffy white duvet.
Kate laughed as Darrell scrambled up the arbutus. “Like even Connie would be up at this hour of the morning,” she scoffed. “Let’s go find your cave and get it over with.”
The coast deserted, they hurried down the winding path to the beach. Delaney ran up to join them as they came up to the rock wall.
“It’s dark in there all the time,” said Brodie as they walked, “so I’ve got some stuff we might need.” His heavy-looking backpack was draped with all kinds of equipment that Darrell could not identify. He had also brought a couple of headlamps, and he handed one to Darrell.
“That’s a funny looking flashlight,” she remarked. “Why is it on a long strap like that?”
Brodie laughed and showed her how to strap the lamp to her head.
“It keeps your hands free while you’re spelunking.”
“While I’m ... what?” Darrell asked in surprise.
“Exploring a cave. You can get more done if you’re not holding a flashlight.”
“Oh, yeah. Okay. Right.” Darrell slid the small flashlight she had brought into the pocket of her jeans.
Brodie had to take off his backpack to squeeze through the crevice. Darrell handed the pack through to Brodie and followed Kate inside. The light creeping in from outside was so dim that they both immediately switched on their headlamps.
Kate gasped as they squeezed through the crevice in the rock, her scowl replaced by a look of awe. “This place is incredible!” They shone their flashlights off the walls as they looked around. “I don’t know ... Brodie, if you weren’t such a fossil geek, we could be spending our time doing something fun instead of hanging out inside this cold cave,” she teased.
Darrell smiled to herself. She suspected Kate might really be interested after all.
“Who’re you calling a geek, tech head?” Brodie shot back. “At least we’re outside, getting some fresh air, instead of stuck in front of a screen somewhere, surfing the net for computer games.”
Kate laughed. “This place is pretty cool, actually. I’m glad you brought me.”
“Oh no!” Darrell closed her eyes.
Brodie was by her side in an instant. “What’s wrong?”
“This flash on my head is making me really dizzy. Every time I move, the light flicks and wavers.”
Brodie laughed, relieved. “I thought there was something really wrong. It’s okay. If it bugs you, turn it off. I’m used to wearing one and I can keep my head pretty steady. Until it gets really dark, you can follow mine.”
“I’ll wear it,” said Kate. Brodie helped her strap it on, and Darrell pulled the flashlight back out of her pocket. Brodie shouldered his pack, and they set off slowly deeper into the cave. The last time she had been here, Darrell she had been alone, and surrounded by complete darkness. With her friends beside her and no fear of pursuit, the trip to the back of the cave seemed to take no time at all.
As they walked, Brodie told them something of the strange underworld they could see with the erratic bounce of light.
“Caves are usually formed by the work of water over thousands of years. A few are the result of earthquakes, and some are formed as a result of lava pushing to the surface from deep underground. This cave is so straight and true,” he said thoughtfully. “It doesn’t really seem like just a fissur
e in the rock or an area eroded by water. It reminds me of a lava tube. I’ll have to check that out,” he muttered to himself.
Kate interrupted his reverie. “We need you to do more than just talk to yourself, Brodie,” she said, her tone sharp with anxiety. “You’re the expert here.” She looked around with some trepidation and touched the rock wall of the cave gingerly. “Is it safe to walk down through this cave? What if there’s an — earthquake, or something?”
Brodie laughed. “We would be in just as much trouble above the ground in this area of the world if there was an earthquake, Kate.”
Darrell frowned. “That doesn’t really reassure me, Brodie.”
“Or me,” piped in Kate.
He smiled and shook his head. “Well, don’t think of it too much then,” he said. “Life is full of surprises. Let’s just hope that an earthquake doesn’t choose now to hit this part of the coast, okay?”
The inside of the cave was starting to feel familiar to Darrell, and she noticed the rock outcropping where she had hidden her backpack on the day of her fateful voyage. Delaney led the way as the walls opened up near the rear of the cave. Brodie shone his headlamp around so that they could have a good look at the place, and Darrell tried to increase the illumination by adding the beam of her own light.
Kate looked around with wide eyes. The glint of minerals shone out as the light from the headlamps bounced off the rock surfaces. She reached up to run her fingers along the cave wall. “This really is something else. Thanks for bringing me in to see it.”
“Wait ‘til you see the stars of the show,” Brodie remarked, and he began to look for the symbols on the wall with his headlamp.
Delaney’s tail wagged a black shadow that rose right to the ceiling of the cave, which had taken on a whole new character with the light of Darrell’s flashlight. Most of the way it followed a rough run straight down into the rock, but near the end it widened out into an area that could have been a large anteroom. The ceiling of the cave suddenly lifted high above Darrell’s head and she could hear the distant sound of dripping water. Images swirled in Darrell’s mind from the last time she had been in this place. The sick worry she felt about Luke and his family returned and lodged firmly in the pit of her stomach.
