Delphine and I sit in silence. For the first time I am resentful of her inability to speak.
“I can’t believe this has happened! Is this what you wanted? What are we going to do?” My voice rises angrily and cuts through the serenity of the tree-lined clearing. Delphine watches me warily. I continue to rant. “I can’t believe Rich is in the pit. He wanted nothing to do with this and now he’s the one being punished. We should go to my father and turn ourselves in. We need to get Rich out of there. I should have listened to him. I should never have gone to the mainland.”
Delphine looks at me sadly and pulls out her notebook. Before she can write, something ugly rises within me and I snatch the book from her hand, throwing it to the ground. It lands on the sodden earth, its handsome leather cover marred by mud.
The book lies between us, soiled on the ground. Rich is locked in the pit. And I’m sinking, falling into a deep, dark place. I shut my eyes and breathe deeply to calm my rage. I fall to my knees and take the notebook from the muck, wiping it on my tunic. The leather is stained where it lay on the ground.
“I’m sorry Delphine. I’m sorry,” I say.
Delphine runs her hand up and down my back slowly. She takes the notebook from me.
I’m sorry too, Chris. I hope you know I never wanted it to end up like this.
I nod, incapable of much more.
I’m not sure about going to your father right now Chris. I’m nervous about this situation. I need things from my home before we go to the elders. I need to find Max!
“How could my father let them put Rich in the pit?” There are tears in my eyes.
I am sure he will be fine. We will get him out. But let us try to focus on one thing at a time. I need my records and to find my dog.
“Abigail said we should meet her. We should do that first.”
No! Let’s go to my place first. It is important. All of this will have been for nothing otherwise.
I’m confused and exhausted and find it difficult to come up with any good arguments as to why we should meet Abigail first. “I don’t think so Delphine. It won’t be safe,” I finally say.
We can take the underground tunnel. My grandfather built it. No one else knows about it.
“Why do you need the records?” I ask.
It will help our case when we go before your father to get Rich freed.
“Okay,” I finally say, and Delphine smiles.
We’ll be safe in the tunnel Chris; it leads right to the West Chop Light.
Delphine walks in front of me, pausing occasionally to scan ahead for any sign of people. I walk behind her, my gun ready. We are both on edge as we trek quietly through the forest. My mind briefly wonders to a memory from the night of the revel. It’s hard to believe it was only two weeks ago. I was a different man, then. It was another lifetime. Everything has changed.
This part of the island is thick and overgrown. The ground underfoot is deep with decaying leaves, fallen branches, and low-lying ferns in the patchy sun that fights its way through the canopy above. I’ve spent time in this section of forest with my mother. We devoted many long summer days to collecting herbs here, without ever seeing another living soul.
Delphine gradually veers towards the West Chop Light and the Harbormaster’s Cottage. I hear distant voices every so often but otherwise we are alone. Few people walk through the forest and we are unlikely to cross paths with anyone. Regardless, I keep my gun pointing forward, my trigger finger alert.
Delphine stops next to a small rise in the middle of the forest. A thicket of twiggy branches flush with white catkins covers the chest-high mound.
“It’s goat willow, we use the bark to make a tonic to reduce fever,” I say, as I help her pull back some foliage.
There is a small wooden door underneath the branches. I touch the palm of my hand to the door which is rotting and spongy. Delphine tries the handle, but it doesn’t move. I grab the handle with both hands and pull hard. With a loud crack, the wooden door opens. I peer into the darkness below.
“Is this the tunnel?” I ask.
Delphine nods.
“It’s well hidden. I would have walked straight past this place without giving it a second thought.”
I’ll light candles once we are inside. The tunnel is low, so watch your head. It will take us straight to the West Chop Light.
“I’ll try to cover the hole once we get in.”
Delphine steps one foot through the doorway and then the other and slides delicately into the tunnel. I hear her rummage around in her pack for a fire starter. She strikes a flint and iron several times into a shallow clay bowl filled with tinder, and then lights a candle. Her face appears, illuminated by a slender flame. She beckons me to come inside.
I follow her into the tunnel and pull the door mostly closed. I reach through the small gap. My hand finds a heavy branch with a generous leaf cover, which I pull down to obscure the entrance. It wouldn’t fool anyone standing directly outside, but I am hopeful we can make the trip to the lighthouse quickly, and that no one will pass by.
I take one last lungful of fresh air and pull the door shut.
Chapter Ten
It is dark inside the tunnel, even with Delphine’s candle, which provides only a meager source of light. The more I stare at the yellow flame, the less I can see. Delphine passes me a second candle which I light by touching hers. I hold it carefully, tilting it forward so the melting hot wax drips on to the damp tunnel floor instead of my hand.
Slowly my eyes adjust to the gloom and I can see how narrow the tunnel is. At regular intervals timber risers on each side of the tunnel support timber beams. I stand on my toes and my head brushes a beam.
Something scuttles ahead of us in the dark and I grab Delphine’s pack. When she turns, I tell her I hear something. She smiles reassuringly and points deeper into the darkness ahead. The further we go, the smaller the tunnel becomes. The walls on either side narrow and the ceiling is angled downwards. Soon I am walking hunched over. I wonder if Rich is in the dark too but I try to put the thought out of my mind.
Gradually the tunnel widens again and I can taste fresh air. We must be close. When the tunnel comes to an abrupt stop, Delphine holds her candle up to the ceiling and points at a wooden trapdoor above us. We both push against the dank wood. The trapdoor hinges open slowly and light floods the tunnel.
We peer through the gap we have just created. We are in the center of a circular room with a spiral staircase that runs clockwise around the wall. The room is empty. I boost Delphine through the trapdoor first and then pull myself up.
We made it. This is the ground floor of the lighthouse.
I close the trapdoor and notice it blends seamlessly into the wooden floor of the lighthouse. I am struck by the ingenuity and skill of the harbormaster who built the tunnel. I wonder briefly what motivated him to build such an elaborate escape route.
“How do you open it from this side?” I ask Delphine. She shows me a hidden lever that lies flush with the floor. When I depress it, the trapdoor to the tunnel pops open just wide enough so I can slide my fingers inside to swing it all the way up.
The room we are in has no windows so I pause at the door and listen for anyone outside. There is nothing unusual so I nod to Delphine and she opens the door slightly. We both press our eyes to the tiny gap. I can see long grass, waving in the wind, and then beyond that the brilliant azure crest of the ocean.
I slide to the floor. “I need to take a minute,” I say. Delphine drops down next to me.
“I want to help Rich,” I say after a few moments. I bury my head on my knees.
Delphine’s hand touches my lower back. She runs it slowly up my spine and rests it on my neck. She pulls herself closer and turns my head to her own. Her mouth is on mine and the kiss is wet and warm. Her fingers tug at the hair falling on my neck, teasing the strands apart.
“We need to get him out of the pit,” I say as I pull back from the kiss.
I examine each t
iny freckle on her nose and cheeks. My eyes dart to hers. With one hand she pulls out her notebook and writes. The fingers on her other hand absentmindedly trace circles on the back of my arm.
We will rescue your brother. I promise you. We will make our case to the elders and they will have no choice but to release him. We need to get my records and then we can prove to them that my warning was justified.
“We may not have long inside your place,” I say. “You need to be quick.” I can’t shake the feeling that time is passing too rapidly and with each lost moment, danger grows all around.
That’s true. Let’s go to my house now, get my books, and then we can meet Abigail.
There is nothing else to say. I scramble to my feet and we check the door again. There’s no one outside.
“Which way?”
She gestures for me to follow her and we slip outside. I’m acutely aware of how exposed we are as we move tentatively around the lighthouse. I spot her small cottage and we scan the surrounding area. It seems clear so we run to her front door and burst through it. I close it quickly behind us.
I hear Delphine gasp and I spin around to see a huge pile of ashes in the center of her floor. The bookshelves are now empty and charred pages drift around the floor, moved by a hidden draft of air. Delphine falls to her knees on the dying remains of her family’s diligent, obsessive record keeping. She’s crying now, desperate and pitiful.
I watch hopelessly, unsure of what to do. The ash blackens her clothes and hands and she fights me as I try to help her up. She bends back down and sorts through the ashes, picking up fragments of paper and placing them carefully into her pack. I let her kneel there for as long as I can bear it. When the sun shifts in the sky and the room darkens, I know our time has run out.
“Delphine,” I say gently. “We need to keep moving. We can’t let them find us here.”
What’s the point now?
“We’ve still got the library books. We can do this.”
My words sound hollow even to me. This mission has been a disaster from beginning to end. But we need to get out of this room. We need to get out now.
“Come on Delphine,” I say as I help her to her feet. Suddenly Delphine drops to the floor. She writes a word with her finger in the ash-covered floor.
Max!
She lets out a long, low whistle and I shake my head. I turn to the door but she whistles again, louder this time. I place a hand over her mouth.
“Delphine they might hear you,” I whisper.
Then a dog barks.
Delphine sees the recognition on my face and before I can stop her, she ducks under my arm and runs out the front door. I curse and follow her.
As I come through the door, she runs around the side of her house, back towards the lighthouse, and disappears from view. I take off after her, but before I make it around the corner, she screams.
I round the corner and come to an abrupt stop. My father stands five chains away and is holding Delphine in one arm and Max on a leash. Father is looking straight at me. Elder Spool and other elders are here. So is my mother.
“Chris, It’s time to come home,” my father says, raising his voice over the sound of the wind.
Max snarls as Spool takes Delphine’s pack off her back. Delphine screams again and reaches for the pack, struggling against my father’s grip. Someone takes the leash from my father and drags the animal backwards while he struggles to free himself. My father uses both arms to restrain Delphine, who is thrashing wildly.
Spool rummages around in Delphine’s pack and retrieves the books we took from the library. He holds them above his head in triumph. His long black hair is loose, and it whips around in the wind.
“Further proof of the sins that have been committed,” he cries. “It’s time. Lock them up! This blasphemy must stop.”
The other elders murmur their agreement. They turn as one, looking for blood.
“Let her go,” I yell. “Those books prove what Delphine has been trying to tell us. The Great Floods could come again. We need to prepare so we will all survive.”
“Enough!” roars my father. “Silence, Christopher!” He is seething with anger.
Elder Spool takes a step toward me; his palms open in a sign of peace. Max is still growling and trying to shake off the leash. I’m frozen, unsure what to do.
Then my mother steps into my line of sight: “Run, Chris. Run,” she yells. Delphine is nodding.
Without thinking, I run. There is shouting and the sound of pursuers behind me. I sprint around the Harbormaster’s Cottage towards the lighthouse. I dare not look back. I reach the door to the lighthouse without being caught and fall inside. I use the hidden lever and pry open the trapdoor. I pull it closed behind me. I’m plunged into darkness.
I feel my way through the tunnel, crawling and shuffling until I hit my head on a timber riser. I stop for a moment, crouched on the ground, and listen. I am alone in the tunnel.
Then it hits me: I really am alone.
I don’t know how long I stop there, but the sound of something scurrying through the tunnel draws me from the abyss. I crawl a short distance and then push myself to my feet and stumble onwards, blindly, in the dark.
When I finally reach the door leading to the forest I pause. I am not ready to face whatever is on the other side. My fate seems settled. Perhaps I should just wait here and greet death in the dark. Then, I feel a glimmer of hope.
With a rush, I remember my brother. Rich is in the pit. I remember Abigail, who is waiting for me. She said there are others. I open the door and take a few moments to adjust to the light before heaving my weary body out of the tunnel. I close the door and cover it carefully. I may need its protection again soon.
Abigail, Rich and I have a secret place in the forest. A long time has passed since we left Abigail’s house and I pray that she is still at our place waiting for me. I get my bearings by noting the position of the sun and set out through the forest.
I pick my way carefully through the uneven surface of the forest, climbing over fallen branches and avoiding the thorny brambles. I notice my leg is bleeding but most of the stitches are holding so I keep going.
The forest here looks familiar and soon I find the spring-fed stream that flows past our secret place, a majestic willow tree. Its branches descend to the ground, enclosing a well-hidden sanctuary. I whistle two short notes to warn of my approach and hear Abigail’s returning whistle.
The tree forms a useful meeting place shielded from the eyes of the outside world. Pushing through the curtain of branches and stepping inside, I am transported to a place of my childhood. It is cool and dark and the green walls ripple rhythmically with the breeze, full of promise and mystery. Abigail is sitting cross-legged on the ground, her back against the enormous trunk.
“You took your time,” she says. “Where’s Delphine?”
I sit down next to Abigail. How good it feels to rest in such a safe and familiar place. My head is leaning back against the tree and I stare into the foliage above while I tell her about the last few hours. She whistles long and low when I tell her about my mother.
“I can’t believe she told you to run in front of your father and Elder Spool. That would have taken a lot of courage.”
“What do you think they will do to her?” I ask quietly.
“I’m not sure, Chris. We need to trust she will be okay at this stage. There’s nothing we can do immediately,” she replies, taking my hand.
“What a mess Abigail. I could never have predicted that things would end like this.”
“It’s not over yet, Chris,” she says, smiling a thin smile. “There are things we need to talk about. Bur first, let me tell you about Ada.” She whispers the name, looking over her shoulder subconsciously.
“Who is she?”
“She’s not from the island. She’s from up there,” says Abigail, pointing upwards.
I’m confused.
“She’s from the sky.”
I can’
t help but laugh at the dramatics of it all. “What are you talking about Abigail? Let’s be serious please, we don’t have time for this.”
“I had the same reaction, but your mother has been talking to Ada in the pit and your mother believes her. It’s amazing, Chris. She’s been living in a metal ring in the sky with hundreds of others. She was born up there. They have been living up there since the Great Floods and they know things, they know everything from before the Great Floods.”
“What kind of things?”
Abigail’s cheeks flush pink. “I’m not sure exactly. A lot of it I don’t understand. But the elders want no one finding out about her. Too bad for them, the word is already spreading. There is a change coming, Chris.”
“What kind of change?” I ask.
“I don’t think the elders can stop it. People are questioning them. They want to know why the elders are hiding Ada, why we are banned from the mainland, and whether we are actually in danger like Delphine said.”
“Who is asking these questions?”
“My mother and father have been hosting people in our home since Ada arrived. She came the same day you disappeared. Some of us saw her vessel crash, saw the plume of smoke rising from the water, but the elders spirited her away and put her in the pit before any of us could talk to her. We want answers but the elders won’t give them so we have been meeting in secret. Your mother is involved too. She’s got more access than most because of your father.”
“My mother?” I let out a deep sigh and rub my aching temples. “Do you have any water?”
Abigail pulls a flask from her pack and I accept the bread she passes me. I eat and then gulp great mouthfuls of water. “I don’t know about the other stuff, but if people are worried about another flood, they should be,” I say, after a few moments pause. “We made it all the way to this huge library on the mainland, Abigail. Delphine found the evidence she needs to go to my father to prove her concerns are valid. But the books are gone. The elders have them.”
“Try not to worry about that now,” she says softly. “Something bigger is happening and I think we are right in the middle of it.”
Greenhouse Page 11
