by K. C. Dyer
Darrell sat up in bed and mustered a weak smile.
“Oh, well. It’s her loss. I’m going down for breakfast.” Lily threw a wet sock at Darrell, her good humour restored. “Join me?”
“No thanks. I’m still a bit sleepy. I think I’ll wait for Kate.”
“Whatever.” Lily scooped up her laundry and headed briskly for the hall, closing the door behind her with a shade more energy than was strictly required.
“Is she gone?” The muffled words emerged from the tumbled pile of covers on Kate’s bed.
“Yeah.”
“Thank God. She is altogether too cheerful in the morning. At least you need to have coffee before you start being so loud.”
“I’m never that loud!” Darrell replied indignantly. “And the good thing about Lily and her early mornings is she is always asleep before eight o’clock at night. Leaves us free to do other things.”
Kate emerged, rubbing her eyes. “Such as?”
“Well, the sun’s out. Feel like a hike?”
Kate groaned. “First Lily, then you. Who’s responsible for all this energy around here?”
Darrell swung her legs over the bed and reached for her prosthesis. “The truth is, Brodie suggested that we go back to the cave for a look around today. And it’s finally stopped raining.”
Kate peered blearily through the window. “I should have known the fossil geek was behind this.” She glanced shrewdly back at Darrell. “Have you been planning this for long?”
Darrell shook her head. “Between homework and worrying about who Conrad is going to pick on next, I haven’t had time to think about anything else. But Brodie suggested it last night, and, well, the idea has kind of grown on me.” She paused with her hand on the dresser drawer. “I even dreamed about it last night.”
“You did?” Kate suddenly looked a great deal less sleepy.
“Yeah. It was weird. I dreamt we went into the cave and when we came out we could all fly!”
“What’s weird about that? I’m always dreaming about flying. I just put out my arms and soar. It’s really cool.”
“Yeah, I have those dreams, too. But last night, we were flying some kind of strange machine. It looked like a kite crossed with one of those old-fashioned biplanes.”
“Okay, I guess that is strange.”
Darrell sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I dreamt Brodie was hurt, too. I think he fell out of the plane, or something. Anyway, he had blood on his face. So I’m glad Lily woke me.”
“Oh, you’re probably just excited. That gives me bad dreams, sometimes. We haven’t been back to the cave since August. I wonder if there will be any new glyphs.”
Darrell shook her head doubtfully. “I’ve been there since you have, remember? I met Professor Tooth there when I went back for — for a final look at the end of the summer.” She stared out the window at the pale blue of the fall sky. “I was so disappointed because there wasn’t anything left. Just the burnt shapes of the three glyphs from the summer. Nothing else.”
“Well, it will still be fun to go back in there. Maybe Brodie can get pictures of the glyphs to send to his friend at the university. Who knows? We might be able to figure out how it all happened.”
Darrell smiled. “I doubt it. Glyphs that glowed and pulled us back through time? No one will ever believe us, let alone explain what happened.” She grabbed her towel and strode purposefully to the door. “Anyway, I want to go see the cave today even if only to remember how amazing it was. I’m going to have a quick shower first. Meet you outside in ten minutes.”
As she headed for the shower, Darrell caught a glimpse of Kate’s head as it slipped back onto the pillow. She stopped in the doorway and listened to Kate’s sleepy muttering.
“Ten minutes,” Kate said, her voice still gravelly. “Good. That gives me eight more minutes of sleep.” She pulled the covers over her head and sighed with contentment. Darrell laughed out loud and ran for the shower. Darrell and Kate stood in the small garden behind the school, waiting for Brodie. Delaney lifted his head and sniffed the breeze, tail fanning gently. Kate’s hair rose like a messy red halo around her head, contrasting sharply with Darrell’s neat chestnut ponytail.
“Nice job with the hairbrush this morning,” Darrell teased.
Kate grinned and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “It’s all Lily’s fault. Her infernal cheerfulness drives me further under the covers.”
They were both laughing as Brodie stepped out of the side door of the school.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, clinking, “but I wanted to be prepared.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” said Darrell, exchanging a glance with Kate. “The last time you lugged so much gear I lost you for a few days, if you recall.”
Brodie had a full pack on his back, a baseball cap stuck backwards on his head, and one of his new tap hammers clutched in his hand. The pack dangled with instruments, including small picks for rocks and fossils, a compass, several varieties of flashlights, and a small hurricane lantern. A large army knife was snugged into its pouch at his belt and a headlamp was strapped around the ballcap on his head.
“You look ready for a two-week trip to the Carlsbad Caverns,” Kate said, her eyes wide with disbelief. “All this to take a few pictures?”
Brodie grinned. “Always pays to be prepared,” he said, striding off across the lawn. “Are you guys going to wait around all day? Let’s get going!”
Darrell and Kate caught up quickly and Delaney led the trio down the curving path to the beach.
“Thought you might be interested in a little conversation I just had with Mrs. Follett,” Brodie said, as they made their way down the steep path.
Kate raised an eyebrow. “An interesting conversation? That’ll be a first. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an interesting word come out of that woman’s mouth. ‘Where are your registration forms, Ms. Clancy?’ ‘Did you remember your inoculation records, Ms. Clancy?’”
Brodie grinned. “You are a nasty piece of work this morning! Must have had an early wake-up call from Lily.”
Kate stuck out her tongue as they stepped off the path onto the beach.
“Mrs. Follett doesn’t have to be interesting to do her job as school secretary,” said Darrell. “Besides, she knows everything that goes on around here. What did she say to you?” Darrell turned to hear Brodie’s story.
“I popped into the office to grab a field trip form, and Mrs. Follett was talking on the phone. I heard her say: ‘She’s got to be somewhere. As soon as you find her, please have her contact the school.’ I didn’t want her to think I was eavesdropping —”
“Even though you were,” interrupted Kate.
“— so I cleared my throat as she was hanging up the phone,” Brodie continued. “She looked so startled to see me, I asked her if everything was okay, and she said ‘Of course it is,’ handed me my form, and practically pushed me out the door.”
“So what’s interesting?” Kate said, using the rocks littering the beach as stepping stones.
“I bet I know,” Darrell added. “It was Conrad she was talking about, right?”
Brodie nodded. “His mother, I think. His file was wide open on the counter.”
Kate stopped her balancing act on the rocks and planted her feet in the sand. “His dad’s in jail and his mother’s missing. Some life that kid’s got.”
“Y’know,” said Darrell, her voice heated, “some of us have awful lives but don’t turn into complete jerks.”
“I never said you were a complete jerk,” said Kate, grinning. “Just a little jerk, that’s all.” She took off like a rabbit, leaping over rocks as Darrell and Delaney chased her down the beach.
Out of breath and good humour restored, they followed the shoreline, Darrell setting the pace with her unique hop-skip stride. Brodie struggled along beside Kate.
“For a girl with only one leg, you move pretty fast,” he said good-naturedly.
Darrell turned around and flashe
d him a grin. She dropped back beside her friends.
“I guess I’m kind of excited. Even though I know it’s all over, walking this way still reminds me of last summer.”
“I’m glad it’s all over,” said Kate. “I still don’t understand most of what happened. We were very lucky things turned out as well as they did. Conrad might have caught you in the cave, Darrell, and his dad is a very violent man. It could have been a nightmare.” She glanced over her shoulder.
Brodie laughed. “You look as though you are expecting him to jump out from behind a rock,” he said. “I checked. He’s off on some kind of a family visit with his dad at the prison. He’ll be away for the whole weekend.”
“Anyway,” Darrell added, “he’s out of our hair for now. And there are no more glyphs on the cave walls. This is only a visit to get Brodie’s pictures.”
They circled the last group of large, standing rocks and carefully picked their way to the mouth of the cave. A salty tang in the air came from a fresh breeze blowing off the water. There were a few difficult moments as Brodie discovered that his pack, even off his back, was too wide to fit through the narrow slit in the rock serving as the door to the cave. Darrell and Kate did a small amount of repacking and a large amount of grumbling while Delaney wagged his tail and barked his impatience. After several sweaty moments of effort, Brodie and his pack finally squeezed into the cave.
Once inside, Brodie switched on his headlamp and handed flashlights to the girls. They flicked on their lights and made a slow inventory of the cave entrance.
“Everything looks the same in here,” said Kate.
“Let’s keep moving then,” suggested Brodie.
The temperature was warmer inside the cave than on the beach, but the air was dank and stale. Darrell walked along in silence, listening to the gentle echoes stirred up by their passage. The roof dropped lower as they neared the back. Brodie hunched his shoulders.
“You must have grown a bit since we were last here,” remarked Kate. “I don’t remember you having to duck before...” Her words ended in a loud gasp, and she pointed at the cave wall. “Look!” she whispered. “There’s a new glyph!”
Darrell and Brodie hustled over to the wall. Darrell cursed herself silently. Why didn’t I clean off the red chalk the day I met Professor Tooth in the cave?
“What do you think it is, Brodie?” Kate peered at the image in the beam of the flashlight.
Darrell stepped forward, hoping her suddenly reddened cheeks wouldn’t show in the glow of her friends’ flashlights. “Remember I told you I came back to the cave on the last day of summer school?” she asked. “I met Professor Tooth in here and she told me the school had been licensed and we could all come back in the fall.”
Brodie and Kate both nodded.
“Well, what I didn’t tell you is why I came.” Darrell hung her head and fiddled with her flashlight for a moment, the beam zigzagging wildly along the walls. Kate reached over and took the flashlight from Darrell’s hands.
“Let me guess,” she said quietly, pointing the flashlight at the new glyph. “I see a man, a girl, and a motor-bike with a flat tire.” She turned back and peered at Darrell’s face in the shadows.
“You were trying to go back, right? To the time of your accident?”
Darrell nodded miserably. “I thought I might be able to change things — to have my whole leg again — to bring him back, maybe.”
“But you didn’t draw the other glyphs, did you?” Brodie sounded puzzled.
Darrell shook her head. “No, of course not.” She traced a finger along the cool rock wall. “I brought some red chalk I found in the art room. I was hoping the cave walls held whatever magic I needed to take me back. If I could find a way to harness the magic, maybe I could direct myself back in time and change my life to the way it should be.”
They stood silent, lights carefully directed away from Darrell’s sketch. Brodie got out his camera and took a couple of pictures of the blackened glyphs, now little more than charred smears on the rock. “These are never going to turn out,” he complained. “There really isn’t anything left to take a picture of.”
After a few moments, Darrell walked to the other wall and brushed the chalk dust off with her hands. Her sketch, already smudged, blurred into a red smear on the rock. She cleared her throat.
“That’s that,” she said. “Professor Tooth got here just as I realized my own artwork had no magic to it. She told me even she didn’t know why things happen the way they do.” Darrell shook her head. “I guess I’m stuck with this stupid leg after all.”
Kate walked along the opposite wall of the cave, shining her light on the glistening surface. “I think you’re wrong, Darrell,” she said, her voice a jumble of gentle echoes. “Your drawings do have magic in them. Maybe not the same kind of magic that sent us through the wall into the fourteenth century, but they are magical in a different way.” She paused. “Did you do this one, too? It looks like one of yours.”
Darrell was puzzled. “No, only the one I brushed away.”
Brodie stepped over to Kate’s side. He pointed his flashlight at the spot on the wall and his headlamp bobbed, making the image dance.
“Hold your head still, Brodie,” commanded Darrell, as she looked over his shoulder. The three gazed in silence at a small picture drawn onto the rock wall of the cave.
“It’s a lighthouse,” said Kate.
“Not just any lighthouse,” said Brodie, excitement in his voice. “It’s the lighthouse on the point at the other end of the beach. See the checkerboard pattern painted around the base?”
“I’m sure lots of lighthouses have a similar pattern,” muttered Darrell. “But it really does look like our lighthouse and I most definitely did not draw it.”
Brodie pulled out his camera and snapped a couple of pictures. He reached over to touch one corner of the drawing. “This looks like it’s the same chalk you used, Darrell. It doesn’t seem like the other glyphs at all.”
Darrell traced one finger across the corner of the lighthouse. The surface smudged under her touch.
Kate looked around and shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Someone must have found our cave,” she said anxiously. “Let’s head back out, okay?” She tugged on Darrell’s arm and started back.
Brodie looked at Kate with some exasperation, his headlamp making her blink as he strode along beside her. “It’s not our cave, Kate. It’s been here for thousands of years before we were born and it will probably be here for thousands of years after we die.”
“This isn’t making me feel any better,” said Kate. “Someone drew that lighthouse.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Brodie said with a grin. “What about if we make our next expedition aboveground? Let’s go to the lighthouse and check it out.”
“Anything to get out of this place,” Kate answered. “It gives me the creeps.”
Darrell, trailing behind, didn’t answer. They walked awhile without talking, and the filtered grey light grew brighter as they approached the entrance. The distant cry of a seabird echoed mournfully in the cave.
They managed with some difficulty to pull Brodie’s pack through the crack at the entrance to the cave, and then sat down outside on the warm sand.
“Have you got any food in that thing?” inquired Kate. “Now that we’re out of that creepy place, I’m suddenly starving.”
“I told you I was prepared,” said Brodie, pulling out a large container of crackers and cheese. “Let’s grab something to eat and then hike over to the lighthouse.”
Kate grinned and opened the container. “Nice to know you’re good for something other than crawling around underground,” she said, her mouth full. She glanced over Darrell’s shoulder. “Oh-oh.”
Darrell looked up and saw Paris hiking along the beach with Lily in tow. “Looks like our trip to the lighthouse might not work out after all.”
Kate brushed cracker crumbs off her shirt. “Not if we want to go alone.”
&nb
sp; “Hey,” Paris said, puffing a little as he strode up. “We were going for a hike and then spotted you guys down here.”
“This is great,” Lily said, beaming. “A picnic!” She plopped down on the sand beside Kate and helped herself to a few crackers.
“Yeah — yeah, just great,” said Brodie, rolling his eyes.
Darrell, resigned, leaned back against a warm rock. Lily’s cheerful chatter faded away as Darrell, lost in her own thoughts, stared unseeing into the mouth of the cave and rubbed the rusty red dust between her fingers.
CHAPTER FOUR
On Friday after school, Darrell, Kate, and Brodie set off for the lighthouse. The sky was grey and threatening, but the rain held off. The wind blew icy gusts across the water, and the tips of the waves were crowned a foaming white. Brodie’s heavy pack made walking in the sand along the shore difficult, so the small group opted to follow the rockier but more firmly packed sand along the cliff edge.
“This way should keep us out of sight of the school,” noted Darrell, glancing back.
“More out of the wind, too.” Kate pulled up and fastened her hood.
Darrell picked her way among the rocks, Delaney close at her heels. The firmer sand was easier for her to walk on, too, and she remembered the last time she had been down to this end of the beach. A gull soared high above, a white spot of fluff on a blanket-grey sky.
She gestured at the small spit sticking out like an accusing finger into the waters of the sound. “I don’t see any illegal activities going on here today,” she said with a smile.
“Now that his dad’s gone to jail, I haven’t seen Conrad near the beach at all this year,” Brodie said, hitching his pack more comfortably onto his shoulders.
Kate shivered. “He’d have to be crazy to come down here in this weather.” She turned her back to the wind and tried to walk backwards, but immediately tripped on a rock and just managed to keep her feet.
Darrell scooped up a stick to throw for Delaney, and he chased it, barking joyfully, down the beach. They followed the curve of the cliffs until they reached the south end of the stretch of beach, and then began to scramble along the rocks.
