“Good point.” Pausing, Trent hefted the large pack off his shoulders and started to unzip it. In the darkness, Zina heard his sudden intake of breath, as if he was shocked.
“What is it?” she asked, as, at exactly the same moment, she heard a smallbrrup?sound.
Oh my God. No. Don’t tell me –
“I think we might have a couple of stowaways.” Trent’s tone was grim, and Zina shook her head, trying to clear it of surprise and fear.
Fear’s no good to me! I have to keep a level head!
Crouching down next to Trent, Zina strained her eyes to see what was going on – and saw two –no, three!– pairs of luminescent eyes blinking at her in the darkness.
“Birrup? Cheep?”
She couldn’t make out if that had been Goldie or Dusty, but, she supposed, it didn’t really matter.
“How did you guys get in here?” she asked, trying not to let her tension show in her voice. “Whydid you guys get in here?!”
“Here, take the goggles,” Trent said, pressing them into her hands. “We’ll have to go back, and quickly. We can’t have these guys with us. It’ll be a waste of time, but we can give them to Hector or Euan to take them back to the hotel.”
Zina put on the goggles, snapping them down over her eyes and activating them. In the newly lit-up cavern, she could see Goldie, Dusty and Quicksilver poking their heads out of the bag, looking around with great curiosity.
“I thought we left them sleeping on the couch,” she said, gathering up Goldie and Dusty. “Why would they even climbinhere?”
“I don’t know,” Trent said, shaking his head as he activated his own goggles. “Maybe it’s a dragon thing? Some of this equipment is pretty expensive.” He carefully lifted Quicksilver up out of the bag, tucking it under his arm. “They might have been trying to claim it for their hoard, if they could sense it was worth a lot of money. And maybe Quicksilver was just following their lead.”
“Oh, honestly,” Zina said, shaking her head. “If Goldie and Dusty jumped off a cliff, would you follow them, Quicksilver?” she asked, before realizing she soundedexactlylike her mother asking her the same thing when she’d been a kid.
Well, now that I’m an adult I realize what a good question that is!
“Or maybe they were just curious,” Trent said, standing. “Either way, wereallyhave to get them back to the surface. This is no place for kids.”
“It sure isn’t,” Zina said, joining Trent in standing. She was about to follow him back the way they’d come, when, within her, her antelope suddenly raised its head, muscles tensing, ears pricked, every sense suddenly on high alert and ready to flee.
What? What is it?Zina asked – but then she heard it too. A scraping sound from somewhere farther down the mine, from a tunnel leading out of the other side of the cavern –
“Trent,” she started to say, as fear clambered up her throat, “I think we might –”
She never got to finish her sentence. At that moment, she heard a chain of smallbeep beep beepsounds – and then the mine shaft in front of her exploded, sending rocks and rubble pouring from the ceiling and dust swirling through the air, clogging up her lungs, making it impossible to breathe –
“Zina!” she heard Trent shout, just before the tunnel in front of her was sealed completely shut by the falling rocks – leaving Trent on the other side.
Chapter 17
Trent!!
Zina staggered back, trying to call his name – but every time she tried to take a breath, it felt like she was inhaling nothing but dust and small shards of rock, and she only ended up coughing and heaving until she felt like she was going to throw up.
I have to find some clean air – I have to find my way back to Trent –
At least her eyes had been protected by the goggles, she thought, as she reeled away from the wall of rubble that now sealed off the path they’d taken into the mine. And it seemed like she’d only been grazed by the falling rocks – nothing had hit her on the head, and aside from the coughing fit and feeling like her lungs were full of stones, she wasn’t hurt.
Oh my God – Dusty – Goldie –
The only thing she knew was that they weren’t in her arms anymore, and panic lanced through her – until she felt something moving against her chest, and looked down to realize that Dusty and Goldie must have tucked themselves away inside her shirt, trying to take shelter against the explosion.
Are you guys okay?!
Trying to talk to them only resulted in yet more coughing, so Zina had to satisfy herself with the fact that, despite the fact they were clearly scared, theyseemedunharmed. At least they were looking up at her and blinking, their eyes wide and pupils dilated.
