Chapter 12
The three of us began to talk. We talked of food, horses, and why I didn't bring Coca. Lost in conversation, we didn't notice that Adda was nowhere in sight. "My, Adda is quiet!" I was actually talking to her, but not directly. When she didn't say anything, my heart leapt with fear.
"Adda?" I got up, and looked around the tiny cavern. She wasn't anywhere to be seen! "Adda?" I called again. If she wasn't up here, could she have fallen? But certainly we would have heard her. "Guys," I whimpered. "Adda's gone!"
I saw alarm rise in Wade's chest and his brow crease. He looked like Adda when he did that. She always had a silly serious look about her. Oh! We had to find her!
I lay on my belly and peered over the cliff. All I saw was a shimmering mist.
"Hey, look!" Brye waved his hand for us to come. There was a small slit in the back wall rock, just big enough to fit a small body through.
"Is she in there?" I asked frantically, rushing over to inspect it. I peeked inside, and sure enough there was a small body in there, not alarmed a twit. In her hand she held a small shimmering object.
"Look! It's a crystal." Adda shifted it in her hand, turning it over to observe. It sparkled so brightly that I could see little glows of light on Adda's face that had reflected off the stone.
Wade took the precious rock from his sister. From his pocket emerged some twine, damp as the rest of us. Then he entwined the two, making a necklace.
"Wow," I breathed.
"Here," he said giving it to me. "You can have it."
I took it and slipped it over my moist head. It rested just below my neckline. "It's beautiful," I said.
"Yeah, almost as beautiful as the diamond studded one I gave you," Brye replied defensively.
"Oh, Brye! You just ruined this beautiful moment." I tried to shut Brye up for Wade's sake. Not everybody got to give a present to a princess and receive thanks for it. Even if it were made merely with twine and cavern crystal.
"Every moment is beautiful with you," Wade said with a strange reflection in his eyes.
"Um? right." I brushed past him quickly. When I glanced through the curtain of water, I saw the setting sun. "Oh!" I gasped. "It is so majestic."
Adda came and stood by me. "Yes! I love the pink clouds. I do not care a whole lot for the orange or purple, though," she stated thoughtfully.
"Oh, I like it all! It is so magical," I declared.
"No matter how beautiful, we will have to be leaving soon. It will get dark shortly, and we might not know the way back," Wade declared.
"You may not know the way back, but I certainly do. If I didn't, we would have left hours ago! We will stay until the princess gets tired and decides it is time to leave," Brye huffed defensively.
I shook my head. I would rather him not refer to me as 'the princess'. I watched Wade reproachfully walk off and sit on a lonely rock. "Well I have gotten tired and decided it was time to leave." I concealed a yawn in vain. There was a real reason I wanted to go, even though I was not really getting tired: I did not want to get too sleepy to climb by myself.
Wade carried Adda over to where she was to climb down, protesting all the way. "I can walk by myself!" But he carried her against her will all the same. I watched her disappear from sight. Reluctantly I pulled myself from my comfortable rock seat at Brye's bidding. Brye's bidding? Surely I wasn't submitting to him. Could he be the one that was able to tell me what to do, to be able to control me? No. Definitely not. I quickly pushed the thought from my mind.
The whole way down the cliff I was nearly sliding. Luckily getting down was easier than climbing up. I was even more tired than had I thought. I glided off the rock and onto Clupint. The air had started to get chillier, and I rubbed my arms. We started off slowly. Very slowly. It seemed that the animals were sleepier than we were. I looked back for my last glimpse of the magnificent sight. But what really caught my eyes were? two gowns, two pairs of boots, and two pairs of stockings!
"Adda!" I shrieked. "Our clothes!"
Her mouth turned into an oval shape, her top lip brought as far down as it could go. We both jumped off the horse and rushed back to the wall. Our things were hanging, waiting for us. And the boys weren't going to say anything, either! Just like Brye and Wade, I looked back, and I could tell by their hysterics that they would have let us go home wearing nothing but our camisoles. Everyone would fall over when they saw us, white with shock.
We quickly started throwing things on. The whole time I kept my eyes on the boys, who were bound to run off and leave us. Then as if they had read my mind, they took off like an arrow! We had almost finished putting our things back on, except for our shoes. We started scurrying, falling over from trying to put a shoe on and running at the same time. They were going to get it when we caught up!
Layla Page 21
