“Prrup!”
“Biiirup!”
“I think that’s them sounding off,” Zina said shakily, as the pounding of rocks and rubble above slowed to a trickle, before finally dying off altogether. She waited with bated breath for the thundering of the tunnel collapsing completely to start up, but after a few moments, nothing happened, and she ran her tongue over her lips, daring to hope it might be over.
“I guess I should see if I can get us out of here now,” Trent said, his voice uncharacteristically tense. “Hopefully we haven’t been buried too much…”
He had a point, Zina had to admit. Just because they were uninjured, protected by the sturdy cart, it didn’t mean they were out of danger.
And what if Sumner is still up there? What if he didn’t die in the explosion?
Zina grimaced.
One problem at a time, remember?!
She heard Trent grunting as, she assumed, he tried to lift the cart from over them, straining against the heaviness of the cart itself, and however much rubble it was buried beneath.
At first, it didn’t move at all – but then, as Trent heaved and strained, she felt it start to shift.
“Let me help,” she said, pressing her shoulders up against the floor of the upside-down cart, pushing up with all her strength. And again, she felt the cart move. Just the tiniest bit – but itdidmove.
Just a bit more… come on!
Sweat rolled down her forehead as together, they strained to lift the cart – and then, finally, all at once, it lifted, and Zina heard large rocks and rubble falling away, letting them free.
They stood gasping in the dusty air of the tunnel, looking around them. There was no sign of Sumner – where he’d been standing there was nothing but a towering pile of rubble. Zina shuddered – though she couldn’t exactly say she wassorrythat a man like Sumner was no longer of this earth.
“Well… I guess that kind of solves one problem for us, while creating quite a few others,” Trent said, looking around. “Like how exactly we get out of here.”
“Couldn’t have put it better myself,” Zina muttered, shaking her head. “I guess… I guess the only thing we can really do is dig our way out. Or try to. Or hope that Quicksilver here puts on a growth spurt and eats our way out.”
Trent let out a low laugh. “I was thinking that before myself. Oh, look – it’s started already, though.”
Despite the direness of their predicament, Zina couldn’t help but smile when she looked down and saw Quicksilver munching happily away on some of the rocks that had collapsed from the ceiling.
“Maybe they’re ultra-rare, gourmet rocks,” she said, unable to hold back a small laugh. “I guess it’s not often you get to chow down on rocks from the bottom of a desert mine shaft.”
“You can say that again,” Trent said, laughing along with her. Then he looked around, head whipping from side to side. “Uh, where’ve Dusty and Goldie gone?”
Zina, eyes wide, suddenly realized the baby dragons weren’t sitting at her feet anymore. She turned her head from right to left frantically, searching for them.Where could they have gone? They can’t possibly have run off – not now – not when we’re so close –
“Cheep! Cheep cheep!”
Relief surged through Zina as she heard Dusty and Goldie from not far off. She followed the sounds of their cheeping and chirping to where she finally found them, vague silhouettes in the darkness, seemingveryexcited about something.
“What’s up, guys?” she asked, crouching down and squinting – at least until Trent appeared by her side, a pencil flashlight in his hands, shining its thin light at where Dusty and Goldie were clearlyincrediblyinterested in –
“Whoa,” Trent muttered, as the beam from his flashlight caught something shiny in the ruined wall of the tunnel. “Is that…?”
“I think so,” breathed Zina.
And it was – there was nothing else on earth that looked like that.
It was amassiveseam of opal – pale and fiery, and twinkling fiercely in the light.
“Cheep! Brrrp! Brrup!”
“Well, stone the crows,” Trent murmured. “No wonder Dusty and Goldie are so excited.”
