“Makes sense,” said Olivia. “And so you finally quit looking.”
Jenny took her brother’s arm. “For all Bill knew, it was a one way door.”
“Ah, but Mike knows something that Bill never knew.” Tom looked at Mike. “You know that the way here had opened, then closed, and then opened again.”
“And it only lasts a few days.”
“And here, in the cave, the river only flows a few days.”
While the river flows, the lights shine bright. When the river dies back, the lights dim.
“The river is flowing now,” said Jenny.
At that moment, the earth began to tremble yet again, and there was a low, grumbling sound. The shaking slowly faded, the grumbling slowly faded.
Oh my, thought Olivia. I could certainly do with a little less of that, if you please.
She wondered aloud, “If this is true, how long do we have? How much longer is the door open?” She looked at Bill. “You said the river runs for nine days a year.”
“We still have a few days,” he said. “It usually runs full right up to the last, then slows to a trickle pretty quick.”
“Good,” said Jenny. “I think we could all do with a few hours sleep. It’s been a very long day.”
Olivia looked at Jenny with some concern. She looked okay. Very good, in fact. “Are you feeling okay, Mom?”
“Wonderful, dear. Never better. But it is awfully late, and it’s a long way home.”
“Mom’s right,” said Tom. He looked at his watch. It was the middle of the night. “It’s long past my bedtime, and there’s a maze of tunnels to get through once we get back into the caves. I know I can do with some rest. Best we start back fresh.”
“If Mike is right,” said Olivia, “and there is a way home…”
“Then we find the opening before it closes for another year,” said Tom.
If we miss it, we’re here for another year. Worse, if Mike is wrong, and there isn’t an opening, we’re here forever.
But she agreed, it was very late and despite her anxiety, she was very tired. They all were. After all, it was the middle of the night.
Bill started a fire in the fire pit, and after a light meal of dried fish everyone settled in for a few hours of rest. Most thought they were too excited after the day’s events and too anxious about the possibility of finding a way out to get any sleep, but in a matter of minutes all were in a deep slumber.
Ninety minutes later, the fire little more than a warm glow, there came a slowly rising rumble. The ground began to shake. It was mild at first, but gradually grew in intensity. No one woke.
Small bits of rock fell from the ceiling, splashing harmlessly into the lake.
The rumbling sound grew louder. The ground shook more violently.
The sleepers began to wake, to sit up, to look about uncertainly.
There were several great splashes out in the middle of the lake as larger chunks of rock fell from the ceiling.
Fully awake now and realizing what was happening, Tom jumped to his feet. “Everybody up!”
Amanda was in a growing panic. “Dad?”
“Up! Up!” Tom circled the group. “Let’s go!”
“Let’s go, sweetie.” Olivia grabbed Amanda’s hand. She reached out for Jack, then, and the three of them started toward the opening to the inner cave. The others followed after them, several stumbling as the quake shook the ground violently beneath them. Rocks continued to rain down from above.
They were still thirty feet from the opening out of the lake cavern when it suddenly collapsed before them, billowing out dirt and stone dust.
Olivia didn’t waste a moment. She pulled her children toward the wall, hovered over them, pulled them in close and pushed them down to their knees at the base of the wall.
The others in the group followed her lead, dropping down at the foot of the wall and covering their heads to protect themselves from the storm of falling rocks.
Chapter Nine
Tom was several feet up on the pile of rubble that blocked the way out of the lake cavern, pulling at rocks that when freed rolled down the pile, gradually forming a heap at the base.
Jenny and Olivia stood about a dozen yards away and were deep in their own discussion, while the kids were walking toward the campsite.
Tom pulled at another stone and let it fall away. He clambered up another few inches and poked his head into the small opening that he had managed to create.
“It’s not that bad, really. I can see the other side.” He pulled at another stone. This one wouldn’t give. He leaned back and looked down at the upturned faces of Jenny and his mother.
“A bit of work, but—”
“How long ya’ think, Tom?” asked Jenny.
“Hard to say, but not long.”
“If Mike is right,” said Olivia, “and the way out is going to close when the river stops, we have until tomorrow. At the latest. And it won’t open again for a year.”
Jenny frowned, dark and fretful. “And I had to talk us into a night’s sleep.”
“No, Mom,” said Olivia. “You were right. Besides, we were only asleep for an hour and a half.”
“At least we’d be on the other side of that pile of rocks.”
Tom worked his way down and wiped rock dust from his hands. “We’ll be fine. A bit of work, like I said, but we can do it. We only need an opening large enough to crawl through.”
Jenny turned away, shook her head despairingly as she walked away. Tom watched her go, started to say something but finally decided against it. He instead called to Mike and Bill to come help clear away the heap of broken rock that he had been building up at the base of the blockage.
He looked once more at the retreating figure of his mother before turning again to the wall and climbed back up to within reach of the opening he had been creating.
Olivia told him she would be back and followed after Jenny. She came up beside her as the two stood at the shore of the lake.
“Mom? Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine,” said Jenny. She couldn’t look at Olivia. She kept her gaze out across the surface of the lake.
Olivia gently placed a hand on Jenny’s arm. “Whatever happens, we’re going to be all right.”
“I suppose.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“If I hadn’t insisted that we rest before heading back, we’d be in the other cave, maybe even in the tunnels by now.”
“Don’t you worry. They’ll have the way clear in no time.” She spoke with more confidence than she felt, more than she herself had expressed even before the wall collapse. She was afraid. The thought of being trapped here for a whole year was terrifying. But while she was concerned that her children might have to live primitive lives while they waited, she knew they could survive it if they had to.
Unless something bad happened; like collapsing ceilings due to earthquakes.
Or illness…
“Mom, how do you feel? Honestly?”
Jenny knew what Olivia was thinking. “I feel better than I have in years, dear.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“No need to worry about me,” she said.
“Jenny?”
Jenny looked about them, now with mixed emotions.
“There’s something here, Olivia. Something in the air, the water, something in the rocks… something.”
§
Jack and Amanda crossed the campsite and through the bamboo stand behind it. The surface of the pool was still. There was no sign of the birds.
“I’m sure they’re okay, Jack,” said Amanda.
“I’m sure you’re right.” Jack looked up to the dome of the cavern. He looked again at the pool, behind them at the bamboo wall. “We should get back.”
§
The flow of the river winding along the floor was down to thin rivulets, the riverbed exposed in many locations. The walls and ceiling of this smaller cavern still had the glow, the colo
rful crystals in the riverbed, set into the rock walls and even wound into the rope of the Rainbow Bridge glittered and sparkled.
Nonetheless, the Christmas Cave was starting to dim. Dusk was coming.
Mike’s head appeared in the small opening midway up the pile of rubble that blocked the way between the Christmas Cave and the Lake Cavern. He took a moment to take in the scene.
“I’m through!” he called back behind him. He pushed his shoulders through, scrambled out of the opening and worked his way down to the floor. He straightened, wiped his pants and shirt. “Come on across.”
He wandered toward the river. He didn’t like the look of it.
Tom’s head appeared in the opening next. He looked about him, saw Mike kneeling in the distance.
“How’s it look?” he asked.
Mike spoke absently over his shoulder. “We might want to pick up the pace.”
Tom looked anxiously about him as he worked his way free and scrambled down. He turned about then and helped Jenny come through.
Meanwhile, Olivia, Bill and Amanda stood waiting near the opening on the lake cavern side of the opening. Amanda looked behind her, saw Jack standing a few yards away. He was looking in the direction of the lake.
“Jack,” said Amanda, approaching. “We have to go.”
Jack said nothing at first. He smiled then, nodded at something out above the lake.
“Look,” he said.
He could see the silhouettes of half a dozen birds gliding smoothly above the water.
§
Mike stood at the river’s edge. Jenny and Tom came up beside him.
“We haven’t much time,” said Mike.
“If we’re not already too late,” said Jenny.
Tom noted the colorful crystals that continued to sparkle through the cavern. No, it wasn’t closed just yet.
Behind them, the Jack and Amanda helped Bill struggle through and scramble down to the floor.
“Looks like the river’s going down, Bill,” said Jack.
“It certainly does,” said Bill, looking across the floor. “It certainly does.”
“How long ya’ figure, then?”
“Well,” Bill sighed. “I expect the lights to start dimming any time now, history holds true. As for the portal outta here… since I never knew it was there, I’m afraid I couldn’t tell ya’.”
“Probably fades with the lights,” said Amanda.
“Reasonable,” said Bill.
“Then we better not waste any time,” said Jack.
Olivia’s head and shoulders appeared in the opening above them. “Little help here,” she said.
All three rushed to help.
“Sorry, Mom,” said Jack.
“Terribly sorry, Ma’am,” said Bill.
Olivia was brought through, and finally Daniel. Once everyone was back into the Christmas Cave, they gathered at the river’s edge and then started upriver. As they approached the Rainbow Bridge, Daniel was the first to note the stones woven into the rope, speaking mostly to Jack and Amanda.
“Do the crystals look like they’re dimming to you?”
“Maybe,” said Jack. “A little.”
“Could be just less sparkle coming up from the river,” said Amanda.
“Maybe,” said Jack.
“We’ll make it,” said Amanda.
Tom stood at the bridge, waved for his mother to start across. She gave a quick nod and stepped up, started across. Tom then looked over at the kids, waved them over. He lined them up, held a hand on Daniel’s shoulder and waited.
Jenny reached the other side and stepped off the bridge.
“Okay, Daniel,” said Tom, and started him across.
Jack and Amanda stepped up and waited their turns.
“Daniel looks better, ya’ think?” asked Amanda.
“Same as always,” Jack shrugged.
“You don’t think he looks better?”
“I always thought he looked fine.”
Amanda gave him a reproachful look. “No you didn’t.”
Across the river, Jenny held out a hand and Daniel took it as he stepped off the bridge.
“How are you holdin’ up there, Daniel?” asked Jenny.
Daniel gave a positive nod, turned and looked back behind him. Amanda was starting across. She was moving quickly and confidently.
Daniel was worried; not that they wouldn’t reach the portal out of the cavern in time, but that they would.
What will happen to me when we leave the Christmas Cave, he wondered.
Jenny glanced down at the boy, saw that something was troubling him.
“Daniel?” she prompted.
“Nothing.” Daniel struggled with his words. “I just… do you think we’ll get sick again?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
Amanda finished her journey across. She immediately turned around and looked over at Jack. He started over.
Daniel is right, she thought. The crystals are growing dimmer.
Jack was midway across. The ground began to shake. A deep rumbling rolled through the cavern. The shaking intensified.
Jack struggled to maintain his balance, his feet on the single bottom rope, a hand holding tight to each of the handrail ropes.
Soccer ball sized rocks fell from above, splashed into the small pools of water and struck the rocks that made up the now mostly-exposed riverbed.
Jack’s feet slipped from the foot rope of the bridge. He desperately hung onto the handrails.
Olivia cried out as Tom rushed out onto the bridge.
“Hang on there, Jack!” he called. “I got ya’!”
He reached him quickly, grasped the boy under the arm with one hand while holding onto the rope rail with the other.
The earthquake faded, the world stilled.
Tom pulled Jack up and the boy regained his footing.
“Jack!” Olivia called out. She was several steps out on the bridge. “Tom!”
“He’s fine, Liv. Wait there,” said Tom. He turned back to Jack. “Let’s get across before your mother comes out here to rescue us both.”
Jack just managed to get out, “Thanks, Dad.”
“No problem, kiddo,” said Dad. Really… no problem at all.
They worked their way the rest of the way across, quickly reached the other side. Jenny stretched out a hand and pulled Jack to her.
“Oh, you gave me a fright, boy!”
On the other side of the river, Olivia had already started over. Bill and Mike stood ready to follow her.
“Sorry, Grandma,” Jack mumbled.
Jenny gave him a playful smack on the shoulder, then again pulled him to her. Olivia reached them within moments, and in another minute everyone was safely across the bridge.
The group continued to work their way across the floor of the cavern and then up the steep wall to the ledge where they had first come into the Christmas Cave. Once there, none knew exactly where the portal was, or should be, but they were all certain they were in the right place.
“It has to be here,” said Mike, as he rubbed his hands across the rock.
“Maybe we’re too late,” said Jenny.
“I don’t think so,” said Olivia. She indicated the cavern behind them. “We still have the colors.”
“Everyone look for it,” said Tom. “Spread out. Look for it.”
Mike continued to mumble, almost to himself, “It has to be here… it has to be here…”
Jack, Amanda and Daniel moved apart, sidestepping as they pressed hands against the stone of the cliff wall.
“I am so sorry,” said Jenny. She stepped slowly back, held her hands to her face, over her mouth, fraught with grief. “I am so, so sorry.”
“What are you talking about?” said Mike, brought out of his own distressing thoughts. “It’s not your fault.”
“If we had left the lake sooner.”
“Mother, that’s nonsense,” said Tom.
“If it’s anybody’s fault, Jen, it’s mi
ne,” said Bill. “You’re here because of me.”
“Oh, dear Bill.” Jenny grew increasingly tearful. “Don’t you ever—”
“If I had listened to you. If I hadn’t run ahead…”
“Oh, Bill. An excited little boy runs toward magical Christmas lights. How can that possibly—”
“Here!” Amanda suddenly cried out. “Here!”
All looked to Amanda as she pulled her hand away from the cliff wall.”
“Amanda?” Olivia asked.
“I found it.” She moved her hand cautiously forward. Her fingers disappeared into the rock. A flickering of bright colors surrounded her hand, then her wrist. She pulled her hand back and smiled.
“Good job, Amanda,” said Tom. He wrapped an arm about Amanda’s shoulders, looked over at the others in the group. “All right, everyone. Let’s go.”
Jack stepped forward, looked about him with a wide grin.
“See ya’ on the other side,” he sighed spookily. He raised his hands up before him, moved forward, and disappeared through the rock.
Bill was awestruck. “I’ll be.”
“Most likely,” said Mike.
A faint rumbling rolled through the cavern. The earth vibrated, again quieted.
Tom looked anxiously about, motioned quickly to Olivia.
“After you,” he said.
“Okay,” Olivia said softly, and she stepped forward. “Don’t be long.”
“Right behind you, hon,” Tom said as Olivia stepped through the portal. He looked around at those who remained, focused finally on Daniel. “Waddya say, Daniel? Let’s go.”
Daniel took a step back, not forward.
“Daniel?” Tom asked curiously.
“I don’t know,” said Daniel.
“It’s perfectly safe.”
Jenny moved up and put an arm around Daniel. “It’s not that, Tom,” she said.
As Tom tried to sort out what the heck was going on with his mother and Daniel, Bill turned away and looked out across the Christmas Cave.
Mike stepped up beside him. “You’re not thinking of staying, are you?”
“No. Of course not.” Bill let out a deep sigh. “It has been home for a very, very long time. Good and bad.”
“Of course.” Mike rested a comforting hand on Bill’s shoulder.
Bill took a final look out at the cavern. It was continuing to dim. He nodded to the portal behind them.
The Christmas Cave Page 6
