“Asha!” Luc cried and stopped. Katy and Win stopped as well.
“Go ahead,” I said, “I’ll catch up. Go!”
All three stumbled toward me, panting loudly, and plunked themselves at my feet. I slipped to the ground next to them.
“Sorry, have a cramp,” I said, trying to breathe through the sharp pangs. “You guys have to go.”
No one spoke. Everyone was breathing like we’d run a mile. But we had run a mile or more, I thought, looking at the dark canopy behind us. I can’t believe we came through all that.
“I need to stop too,” Luc said.
“Me too,” Win said.
Katy merely nodded, saving her breath.
“Do you have water in the bag?” I asked Win. She shook her head.
We leaned against the trees for a minute. We couldn’t hear the dogs anymore. It must have been well past eight but there was still some light left from the midsummer’s day. The forest was quiet but I could hear a river somewhere nearby.
We were sitting on a carpet of springy moss that had masked our running footsteps. The place looked peaceful, but I shivered. Too peaceful.
I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination but the woods felt enchanted. Vines the size of a man’s arm intertwined with tree branches, looking like prehistoric snakes crawling over the trees. The trees themselves seemed to huddle close together as if they were hiding things they didn’t want us to see.
Then, in that quiet, a bird suddenly burst into song on a branch above us. I looked up to see a plain brown sparrow with his chest puffed out, like a miniature feathered Pavarotti.
Luc looked up to where the bird was perched, singing its little heart out. “Hey, can you guys climb up that?”
“Climb?” Katy asked.
“It’ll be safer,” Luc said. “And we can rest for a bit longer.”
I looked at the low branches.
Win was already up and reaching for a branch. The bird flew away as soon as it heard the rustle of the leaves. “It’s not hard,” we heard Win say from above us, straddling a branch. She pointed at a knot on the tree. “Use that to step up.”
Katy climbed up behind her, and I followed. We got three quarters of the way up where the branches were still broad enough to sit. Katy even found a spot to lean against. Luc wanted to go higher, but I didn’t trust the smaller branches above. Dogs may still sniff us out, I thought, but at least we’d have cover from people coming this way.
“What happened to Tetyana?” I asked as soon as Luc and Win had settled in.
“We don’t know,” Luc said.
“Don’t know?” Katy asked.
“We were in the kitchen with Greta when we heard the police sirens,” Luc said, “Tetyana told us to get our bags and meet her at the cellar. She was going to get you and we were all going to come to the woods because we couldn’t get to our van anymore.”
“So we stuffed everything in our bags,” Win said. “That’s how I had your shoes.”
Luc turned to Katy. “You still have the cash packet, right? We couldn’t find it in your room.”
She nodded, patting her chest. I’d vaguely noticed her breasts had enlarged considerably in the recent days, and now I knew why. She was keeping the money in her bra.
“We were ready to leave when Tetyana came running saying the building’s full of cops and she couldn’t get to you. So we asked Greta to find you,” Luc said.
“We didn’t understand what she was saying but she helped us,” I said.
“I think she thought it’s a big game,” Win said.
“So how did you two get out?” Katy asked.
“We got to the cellar through the servants’ quarters. Tetyana was with us,” Luc said. “When we got to the end of the tunnel and opened the door to the parking lot, there was a cop standing right near the back door.”
“Oh no,” Katy said.
“We couldn’t go back in. He’d already spotted us and was waving us over. That was when Tetyana pointed to the van and started yelling.”
“She shouted something about a man and a gun or something like that,” Win said.
“When the cop turned to look at the van, Tetyana told us to run to the woods,” Luc said.
“So we ran,” Win said.
“Then we heard the gunshot.”
“Did she get shot?” I asked, my heart in my mouth.
“I looked back but she was still standing,” Luc said. “So was the cop. They were both staring at our van. No idea what was going on.”
Win shook her head. “It was hard to see because we were running.”
“There was a second gunshot though,” Katy said.
No one said a word.
“She’s a fighter,” I said, more to myself. “She’s gonna be okay.”
We sat quietly for a minute, trying to imagine where she was, what she was going through.
“I feel bad for leaving her,” Win said finally.
“She knows what she’s doing,” I said. “Besides, she’d have got mad if you hadn’t listened to her.”
“Can we go back now?” Katy said. “We can’t just sit here.”
“If the cops got her,” Luc said, “there’s not much we can do right now.”
I peered through the woods. It was dark, and we were in the thick of the forest. “I’m worried we’ll get lost,” I said. “It’ll be better in the day.”
“So we spend the night here?” Katy asked. “And tomorrow?”
“We’ve got to find Tetyana,” I said.
“I’m dead thirsty,” Win said. “Wish I’d brought some water.”
“Me too,” Katy said.
“You guys hear that?” Luc said, cocking his head. “That’s not too far away.”
“The river?” I asked. “Been thinking the same thing. Why don’t we try to find it and think of our next steps there?”
Katy nodded. “At least we’ll have water and maybe a place to sleep.”
Win sat up gingerly and got ready to climb down. The rest of us followed her down.
We walked toward the sound of the river, deeper into the woods. We knew we were going in the right direction because the roar of the river got louder with every step.
There was some light from the rising moon, enough to see our general surroundings. The birds, settled in for the night, had gone quiet, and the woods seemed somber. This is a forest of goblins and fairies, I thought, stepping over a large root. What if we get lost here? What if we die here?
We walked in silence for five minutes, moving as quietly as we could. The adrenaline that had been pumping in our veins had depleted and our pace was slowing. From time to time, one of us stumbled on a stone or a root, so we started to walk abreast, holding on to each other.
The trees were thinning and the ground beneath us was changing from soft moss to brown dirt. A wind swept across us, blowing our hair and swaying tree branches. After a few minutes, we came to a thin line of trees, the demarcation between the forest behind us and whatever lay ahead.
We stepped through the tree line into an open area.
“Watch out,” said Luc.
“Oh, my god,” I said.
“It’s the end of the world,” Win whispered.
Chapter Forty-nine
Five feet in front of us was a deep ravine. If we’d run out of the woods without looking, we’d have rolled down the cliff.
We stood in silence at the edge, looking at the desolate gully below, feeling the wind whip around us menacingly. A dark river meandered below, the sound we’d been following. On the other side of the ravine was a forested hill, or at least it seemed to be in the dark. We huddled closer, shivering, the cold sapping the little energy we had left.
We were at a dead end.
At least we found water, I thought, looking down at the river below. To get to it, we’d have to scale down the sheer cliff wall. An impossible task. After surveying this landscape for a while, we began to move. It didn’t matter which direction we took anymore because we
didn’t even know where we were.
I now knew why no one had bothered to come after us. They knew there was no way out of the forest. We’d have to return to the castle grounds or die in the woods.
We turned right and walk along the edge of the cliff. There were no clouds in the sky that night. Early stars twinkled above next to a nearly full moon. I wished I’d learned more about the skies so I’d know which direction we were heading.
“Look!” Win said, her sharp eyes noticing something. She walked up to a dip at the edge of the cliff. Then as if stepping into a void, she disappeared.
Katy and I gasped.
“Win!”
We ran up. She was standing on a ledge below the edge of the cliff. “They go all the way down,” she said, pointing at the roughly hewn steps. Luc jumped down to join her.
I looked around nervously.
Where there were steps, there were sure to be people. But no one was around, except us. I climbed down to join them on the ledge, testing each step as I did. Here, the cliff jutted out in a gentle slope, and someone had cut these steps to form a path down. But in the dark, it was difficult to see how far they went, or whether they went anywhere at all.
The wind was stronger here. A sudden gust came. I grabbed on to Win to keep steady. She seemed fearless though, standing strong, peering into the abyss below, more curious than afraid. Luc was at the edge too, looking down.
“Hey, be careful,” I said.
“That looks dangerous,” I heard Katy call from above.
“Come on down,” Luc said, motioning to her.
“Could be a dead end,” she said.
“I’ll check,” Win said, letting go of my hand and bounding down the steps.
“Hey!” we all called out, but she disappeared into the darkness.
“Win!”
Luc jumped down after her. We had no choice. I waited for Katy to join me and we climbed down after them, testing one step at a time, holding on to each other.
We caught up to the others twenty steps below. They were standing in front of a dark hole on the cliff wall. It was hard to see inside, but the entranceway was large enough to fit us all abreast.
“What’s that?” Katy asked in a whisper.
“A cave,” Luc whispered back, peering inside.
I could no longer see the bottom of the gully, but I knew it was a long way down. It was tempting to step inside this sheltered den, away from the wind and the threat of a fall.
“Do they have bears in Luxembourg?” Katy asked, vaporizing my temptation in an instant.
If we don’t disturb a bear in there, I thought, we could very well bump into the police, waiting to capture us. I wasn’t sure which I wanted the least. Another gust of wind blew, making us reel from the force. We stepped closer to the mouth of the cave.
We were almost inside.
“I can check first if you’d like,” Luc said, with a grin. “If I don’t come out, there’s definitely a bear in there.”
No one laughed.
“We can’t go down any further,” I said. “Especially in the dark. It’s too dangerous.”
“Maybe we can rest in here for a bit,” Katy said.
We looked at each other and as a group, stepped inside the mouth of the cave. Shoulder to shoulder now, the four of us took another step forward.
We were in a mid-sized tunnel. We stood still for ten seconds, clutching each other’s hands, to let our eyes adjust to the darkness. There was a yellow light coming from somewhere like someone had installed an incandescent bulb inside. We walked forward again, taking one step at a time. After twelve steps, we came to another doorway of sorts, an opening to something bigger.
We stared into the cool, open space. Almost fifty feet high above us was an opening from where the pale light was coming. It was a stream of moonlight, entering through the hole and lighting the entire cavern, like a chandelier from the heavens. We stayed at the entrance for a minute, spellbound by the sight.
Holding hands, we took another step forward. That was when something brushed by my ear.
I jumped. It flew by me again.
“Eeek!” I shrieked, flapping my arms.
The echo of my voice bounced off the walls. With a fluttering roar, more of these things flew out and circled the cave. It was like watching a real-life horror movie.
An electric torch turned on suddenly and pointed up. It was Luc. He’d remembered the torch he’d found at the castle caves and had been carrying with him all along.
“What are they?” I asked, ducking as another one got too close.
“Bats,” Katy whispered.
“They don’t hurt people,” Luc said.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Read it somewhere.”
“They’re cute little things,” Win said.
“Shh,” Katy said. “Let them settle down and get back to their sleeping spots.”
It took a whole minute for the bats to quieten down. A few still fluttered around, but none came close to us.
More cautiously now, and using Luc’s torch, we started exploring. The cave was the size of a basketball court. Long icicles dripped down like alien candelabras from the ceiling, and stalagmites rose from the floor like strange sculptures. Other than these natural wonders and the large bat family hidden in the crevices, there was nothing else in the cave. Not a sign of a bear or castle guard or police officer anywhere.
We walked around the cave and returned to the entrance. Near the entrance, we noticed a low tunnel, the size of a large sewer pipe. I bent down and peeked, but saw nothing but a black hole. Luc shone his torch so we could get a better look. This was like an anteroom to the larger cave. The ledge outside was small; it had been a miracle none of us had fallen. The steps carved into the cliff face wound into the blackness below.
“We’re not walking down in this darkness,” I said.
“We can sleep in the cave or in here,” Luc said, shining his torch around the entranceway.
“Or we can sleep outside and have bears eat us,” Katy said. “If we don’t fall over the edge first.”
“I’m not sleeping with the bats,” I said with a shiver. “I’ll stay here. You guys can go inside.”
“I don’t care,” Win said, plopping down on the ground. “I’m really tired. I can sleep right here.”
After looking for the smoothest spot on the ground near the entranceway and double-checking for bat droppings, we lay down and huddled against each other for warmth. Though we were all hungry and thirsty, Luc fell asleep within seconds, snoring gently. Win was next, falling asleep with her head resting on Luc’s arm.
Katy and I stayed awake, whispering to each other for a while, wondering about Tetyana, sharing our fears of what might come next and our disbelief in what had just happened. Then Katy too fell asleep. I stared into the lonely darkness of the cave, listening to any sound that might signal danger, but I heard only my friends’ breathing.
It took me a long time to fall asleep, and when I did, I dreamed of being pulled by unseen forces through that low pipe tunnel. In my dream, I stumbled into an underground cave to see a tall vampire with bloodshot eyes and a red cape, waiting for me. Screeching bats fluttered around. A subterranean wind howled through the cave. Trembling, I yelled for help only to discover I’d lost my voice. The vampire smiled an evil smile and called out my name. His voice sounded suspiciously like Vlad’s. He came closer and closer, calling my name louder and louder. I stood in place, petrified.
I woke with a shudder, drenched in sweat. My heart was pounding, and my mind was whirling.
That was when I saw the shadow of a face, inches from mine.
“Asha!”
I drew back screaming.
Chapter Fifty
I punched at the face but hit air.
“Get away from me!” I yelled.
Next to me, Win, Luc, and Katy jerked awake. I heard Katy scream. I felt Luc rummage in the dark for his torch, cursing. I threw a
nother wild punch, protecting my head with the other hand, against what, I didn’t know. Missed again.
“Asha!” someone scolded. “Stop it!”
Tetyana?
I stopped trying to pummel the air and peered through the darkness. Someone was kneeling in front of me.
Luc turned his torch directly on Tetyana’s face.
“Tetyana!”
Everyone screamed and jumped on her. Inside the cave, the bats fluttered and screeched in annoyance at being disturbed again.
Tetyana looked like she’d crawled through a mud bath. Her hair was wet and pinned against her skull. Her face was covered with green tainted muck. But we didn’t care. We held her tight.
“How did you get here?” I asked.
“Through the tunnel,” she said, pointing behind her. “How did you get here?”
“Through the woods,” Win said.
“What’s on your face?” I asked.
“Mud,” Tetyana said. I noticed she was supporting her right elbow with one hand.
“Are you hurt?” Katy asked, leaning forward.
“It’s nothing,” She shifted, grimacing. She looked at us. “How about you? Are you all okay?”
We nodded.
“We’re good,” Luc said.
“Just a roughed-up ankle for Katy when she fell, but otherwise okay,” I said.
“I was so worried for you,” Win said. “We heard gunshots, then I didn’t see you anymore.”
“That was the cop,” Tetyana said. “He was shooting all over the place.”
“Did he shoot at you?” I sat up and pointed at her elbow.
“This? No, just missed a step,” she said.
“Tell us from the beginning,” Katy said.
Tetyana let out a big sigh and wiped some gunk from her face.
“While you were upstairs at the dinner party,” she said, looking at Katy and me, “we heard police sirens. So I asked Greta to warn you and told Win and Luc to get ready to move quickly. The van was out of bounds so we had to find another way.”
“Through the woods,” Win said.
She nodded. “We got through the tunnel to the parking lot, but when we got out, a cop was standing right outside. He was on his phone and didn’t see us at first so he didn’t know where we came from.”
The Girl Who Made Them Pay Page 26
