by Day Leitao
Cayla opened her eyes. She shouldn’t have fallen asleep. Her travel companions’ chests moved up and down, peacefully. Sleeping. She walked away from them, back to the tunnel, and took her necklace.
“Darian?”
The previous night it hadn’t worked. She didn’t have much hope that it’d be different this time. The stone was still red. It had never done that, and it wasn’t because that woman had stepped on it, as she’d picked it up in one piece. Darian was trying to reach her, and had been trying for the last couple days. But Nia and Ayanna couldn’t know about the necklace. Now, in the middle of the night, she wasn’t sure he’d reply. But before she expected, his voice came out of the stone.
“Cayla? Where are you?” he sounded sleepy and sad.
She’d still been a little mad at him, but hearing his voice made it all go away.
“Can’t you find me?”
“It doesn’t make sense. It’s as if you’re trapped somewhere, but you’re in the mountains.”
“I’m in a tunnel underneath the mountains,” she said.
“That makes sense. You’re beneath the Apex.”
If he was right, there was an entire mountain above them.
He continued, “I’m so sorry. I trusted the wrong people. I was betrayed.”
She’d imagined this conversation, and she thought she would yell at him, tell him he’d put her life in danger, but she didn’t feel like doing any of that. The pain in his voice showed he knew what he’d done. And it hadn’t been his fault. “It happens.” She had a question, though. “But are you with them? With those people?”
“There’s a lot that I need to tell you, but it needs to be in person. Just be assured that I serve the kingdom.”
These words put her at ease. She trusted him.
He continued, “And you? What’s happening? How are you?” His tone was soft and sweet like she remembered.
“Fine, I guess. Escaping the castle. I need to finish a mission for my father, or he’ll still be upset at me.”
“That can’t be fine. I’ll come and meet you. Take you somewhere safe.” He sounded sad and pleading.
“You know how meeting me worked last time…”
“I’ll be alone.”
“I’m supposed to go to the Apex. You can go there. But I’m not sure I’ll reach it. These tunnels didn’t go up.”
“I’ll dig until I find you.”
Cayla smiled.
He continued, “Also, I understand you want to be just friends—”
The words hit her like a boulder. “What?”
“It’s what you told me.”
That didn’t make sense. “I never did.”
“You never…” he paused.
Her heart was about to explode, unsure why he was saying that. Was it an excuse? Had he changed his mind?
He continued, “You mean… to say… you want to be… more than friends?”
That was a question? “What do you think?”
“I’m asking.”
“Since when do you have to ask?”
“We never… I mean, usually people ask, right? I guess I should have asked, but I never had the chance. But… when I told you Zayra thought you were my girlfriend, you weren’t happy about it.”
“You do realize my father will kill you if he learns that, right?”
“Sure. But we weren’t near your father. It was people I… trusted. I guess you have a point. Was that the reason you wouldn’t take my hand?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What about the suffocating and stuff?”
“You were all weird, questioning me, giving me orders,” she made a thick voice, “what are you doing? I’ll take you back to the castle.”
There was a pause before he started speaking again. “I was worried. Maybe I was angry. I thought you didn’t…”
“You were thinking it just now, and you were nice.”
“I had made peace with the idea.”
“Next thing you’ll tell me the sky is yellow.”
He spent some time silent, then said, “I’ll meet you at the Apex then.”
“Again, I’m not sure I’ll make it.”
“I told you I’ll dig and find you. Or I’ll move the mountain. Or something.”
Cayla’s cheeks got warm. The way he said these words, it reminded her why she liked him so much. And she did. She was sure of that. But there was something she had to tell him. “Darian. I’ll be with Nia, Karina, and my sister. They can’t know about us. I won’t take your hand.”
He was silent for some seconds, then asked, “But would you like to?”
Her face got hotter. “You shouldn’t have to ask.”
Darian spent an even longer time in silence. Cayla thought she’d have to say something, when she heard his voice again. “I guess you won’t let me kiss you either. Would you like me to, though?”
The only reason her face didn’t get any hotter was because it would catch fire. “What do you think?”
“I want to hear it. Make sure there’s no misunderstanding.”
Cayla took a deep breath. She thought the answer was obvious, but, from the way he said it, it wasn’t. Why were these words so difficult? She forced herself to blurt them out. “Yes, Darian, I want you to kiss me. I’ve wanted it for a long time. But please don’t.”
“I’ll get this all solved then I’ll kiss you a thousand times.”
She smiled. “That’s not a lot.”
“A billion. Trillion. Infinite.”
Cayla laughed. “Now you’re being reasonable.” They were both silent for a few seconds. She then said, “I have to sleep.”
“I have to prepare. Make sure nobody follows me. Sleep well. Cayla. I luh… look forward to seeing you at the Apex.”
For a second she thought he’d say something else. But it didn’t matter. She laughed. “Or in a hole somewhere.”
“I’ll find you. Goodnight.”
Cayla walked back to her blanket feeling giddy and light. Maybe he’d been right, and nothing between then had been obvious. But now it was. She would fall asleep thinking about kissing him, knowing someday it would be true, knowing for sure that he liked her. He was her steady rock among all the things that had been shaken recently. All those things she’d rather not think about, otherwise she’d be consumed with fear that her father would not accept her back, that everything would change. No. The shoes would be destroyed and everything would be turned back to normal. This hope kept her moving forward.
Karina woke up while the others were still sleeping. The big cave was quite different from the small tunnels. The dim light from the crystal had been multiplied in many tiny rays, lining the cave with thin light streams. She looked up and noticed that she could see part of the ceiling high above them, and its texture. But the tiny rays didn’t reach the ceiling: they rather came from it. Karina recognized a fraction of something she had not seen in days: sunlight! There was something up there, like an opening of sorts. She decided to touch Cayla’s shoulder softly, just to check if she was really sleeping. The girl sat up quickly and looked around. “What?”
“Sorry, I, I just wanted to know if you were awake.”
Cayla looked around, squinted, then laughed. “Then I wouldn’t be sleeping.”
“Indeed. But I have good news.” She pointed at the ceiling. “Can you see it? There’s light coming from there, so there must be an opening.”
Cayla looked but didn’t seem convinced. “That’s impossible.”
“But we can see the ceiling. We couldn’t last night. And it’s not the crystal.”
Cayla looked for a longer period. “I see what you’re saying, but there can’t be any opening, because we’re under a huge mountain.”
She was grinning, which was a bizarre reaction if she thought they had no way out. And that certainty about their location was strange. “How do you know where we are?”
Cayla looked down. “I… have ways to find out.”
&
nbsp; “Why didn’t you do that before?”
She pointed her necklace. “You know… But it didn’t work before. The thing is, we’re at the right place, but I think Odell misread a map. He saw a line stopping at the middle of the mountain and assumed it went to the top.”
Incredible. “So you think Odell made a mistake?”
“I guess.” Cayla looked down, then took a deep breath. “We’ll find a way to fix it, but I wanted to talk to you. Can you come with me?”
Karina nodded. The girls walked back to the narrower part of the tunnel.
Cayla spoke softly, “When you were in the tower, I couldn’t help you. Neither could Odell. I’m sorry. He told me to stay quiet and that he had to play along.”
“Who was he playing along with?”
The girl looked down. “I’m sorry for my father. I think… he’s under a lot of stress. Maybe he’s receiving bad advice, maybe… He’d never harm you, and… I’m sure it’s the shoes that are messing with his head. He’ll be back to normal once they’re gone.”
Karina stared at the girl, almost asking “Are you out of your mind?” but thankfully her thought was silent. Instead, she said, “No problem. We’ll get to Lylah’s and make things right—once we find a way out of here, of course.”
“We will.” Cayla then became serious and thoughtful. “But you shouldn’t have mentioned Darian. I’m glad you didn’t say his name, though. It could’ve cost his life.”
Karina felt bad for that, but then… “What would you have done in my place?”
“I would have kept the secret. I trusted you. You are the only one who knows about it.”
That was not true. “And Zayra, that angry girl Rose, and that man…”
“I mean here. Nobody else knows. Not even Odell. I had to make up a story, and it was a lot of trouble to convince my father.”
Karina wasn’t sure she had to apologize, but she did it anyways. “I didn’t know what to do, Odell was accusing me, I… I’m sorry. But later I said I had lied, so you see, I made up for that.”
Cayla waved a hand. “Don’t worry. It’s past. Just please don’t mention this anymore.”
“I won’t.” Karina noticed the necklace again. This time it looked orange. She pointed at it. “Is it the same one? How did you get it back?”
Cayla shrugged. “I grabbed it. But I have no idea how we got back to the castle. Do you know what happened?”
Karina was about to say that she thought she had used the shoes to teleport, but then she decided it was best not to sound confident about that. “I… no. I have no idea.”
“That’s what I thought. But,” she looked down, “there’s something else I wanted to tell you.”
“Yes?” Karina was even more curious.
“Darian.” She sighed. “I was mad at him, but… we spoke. He apologized. It wasn’t his fault. That girl, Zayra, it was her. I knew it. I told you. But Darian, he’s on our side, just in case we, uh, by chance, happen to meet him or something.”
Karina face palmed. “Again? That was what got us the first time.”
“Because of the girl.”
“Wasn’t he on the side of those people who imprisoned us?”
“Not him.”
Karina started to search her memory, because she thought she’d heard something different, but she decided to leave it at that. There was another problem, though.
“If by chance we meet him,” Karina hoped it wouldn’t come to that, “won’t Nia and your sister notice?”
Cayla shrugged. “They’ll think we’re just friends.”
Wait. Was that a confession? “Aren’t you just friends?”
Cayla squinted. “Of course! But they won’t know we’re close friends and have been talking. Nobody can know about this.”
“But they saw your necklace.”
“But they don’t know what it does.”
So that was what Cayla was worried about? Karina made an effort to sound serious. “Don’t worry. Your secrets are safe with me.”
How could Cayla be worried about such trivial matters when she was running away from her own father, who had turned evil or at least weird, when they had an army looking for them and when they were in a tunnel without exit? Oh, a “close friendship” really messed with one’s mind.
Cayla started walking back to their sleeping place when she turned. “What do you think of Nia?”
The question surprised Karina. “She’s… nice?” She was starting to hate that word.
Cayla looked down then looked around. “Yes, it’s just… It’s not that I don’t trust her. Odell trusts her, but he doesn’t know that she tried to prevent us from destroying the shoes, and he doesn’t know what she did to Ayanna.”
“And that you helped,” Karina added, before thinking whether it was a good idea to mention that.
Cayla opened her eyes wide. “Yes. But that was for her own good.” Cayla then squinted and continued. “As I was saying, yes, he trusts her. But he says our father locked her for conspiring against him, and we know that it’s not far from the truth.”
Karina felt she had to defend Nia. “She was only worried.”
“Yes, but… I know she has at least some magical knowledge, and Odell doesn’t know that.”
“I’m sure he knows,” Karina corrected her friend.
“Fine then. Still. He trusts her blindly. Sometimes, sometimes I think she might have done something to him. Like, I don’t know. Anyways, I like Nia, and I want to help her, but… there’s something odd about her. I’m not saying I don’t trust her, but just—keep an eye on her. And don’t listen to what she says.”
Karina just nodded. “I’ll pay attention.” She felt bad because she knew Nia was planning on siding with Lylah, and she didn’t tell Cayla any of this. She tried to change the subject. “Should we go back and look for an exit?”
“I guess.”
They walked back. Ayanna and Nia were still sleeping.
Karina still thought there was an opening and asked Cayla, “What if you’re wrong about our location?”
“I’m absolutely sure.”
At this point Nia asked, “Sure of what?”
Cayla looked embarrassed. “Nothing, I mean,” she pointed, “look, we can see the ceiling.”
The woman looked and smiled. “There’s the exit we were looking for.”
13
A Long Way to the Top
Nia sounded hopeful and relieved, and made Karina feel the same way.
Cayla didn’t seem to agree. “But there’s no opening.”
“The opening is never obvious,” Nia said. “I think it’s either a secret door, or perhaps there are vines of some sort, I can’t see much from down here.”
“Can you go up there?” Karina asked, hoping the answer would be yes.
Nia looked up. “There must be a way, but we have to find that out.”
Ayanna still slept, and Nia started again to look around the walls, but this time she was looking for a place to climb, rather than an opening. Karina also looked, thinking that the room was a puzzle to be solved, and how she liked puzzles. But she didn’t like them when she couldn’t find the answer, so trying to find a way up soon stopped being any fun. Still, she was proud of herself for having been the first to see the opening for what it was. She was getting good at recognizing otherworldly logic.
After a while, they sat to eat, realizing they were running out of food. Ayanna woke up and was happy to hear they had found a door.
Nia then got up and looked at the walls over and over. She finally sat again. “I don’t see anything.” She sighed. “We would need to go straight to the ceiling. A rope with a hook or something similar would work. But I can’t think of what we can use instead. I… I don’t know.” She shook her head and looked down.
Ayanna asked, “You want a rope with a hook?” She got up and picked up her bag. “I have one.” She pulled out something white and shiny from inside it and gave it to Nia, who looked surprised.
&n
bsp; Cayla stared at her sister. “You had a rope all the time? And didn’t tell us?”
The girl stepped back and raised her shoulders. “Nobody asked!”
Cayla rolled her eyes. “We were looking for a way up.”
“How was I supposed to know?” The girl replied.
“You’re right. I should have asked,” Nia told Ayanna, then turned to everyone. “But at least we found the door and we know we’re in the right place, or else she wouldn’t have brought this rope. I’ll climb to the ceiling.”
She said this as if the climb was quite simple, even though it looked nothing like it, at least for Karina. In fact, Nia tried to throw the rope some eight times before she started reaching the ceiling, and even then, it took a couple more tries to get the hook safely placed. The girls only looked. Nia then jumped, grabbed the rope and started climbing it without any difficulty.
When she got to the ceiling, she touched it then yelled to the others, “They’re vines. I need to cut them.”
She held herself with one hand and legs while fumbling through her clothes, then came back down, looking distraught. “My dagger. I lost it. Does anybody have a dagger? A knife? Ayanna?”
Ayanna looked through her backpack, searched, then shook her head.
Cayla frowned, then took something from her bag. “Is it this one?”
Nia at first seemed surprised, then upset the girl had kept her prized object. She took it without saying a word, then climbed again and started cutting the vines as if they were made out of paper. Karina realized the blade was sharper than she’d imagined, and shivered thinking that it had been near her throat. The cuts on the vines revealed more dim light and an apparent opening.
Nia said, “I can see stairs.” She moved up through the opening and disappeared in that dark ceiling. Only her voice could be heard. “Come on up.”
The girls looked at each other. Karina thought the sisters were also wondering how in the world they would climb that thing. But no, apparently it was just indecision. Ayanna jumped, grabbed the rope, then climbed up, even if a lot more slowly than Nia. Cayla held the light, so she gestured to Karina to go first. The rope was straight, with no knots, unlike the one she had used to climb out of her yellow prison in the castle, and even then, close to a wall, she’d had a lot of difficulty.
