“When I’m the fastest.”
“That tracks.”
I drum my fingernails against the ground until Victoria glares at me. I shiver and realize I’m covered in goose bumps. “Why is it so cold down here?”
“It’s not that cold.”
Untrue, but whatever.“Have you ever eaten banoffee pie?”
“Yeah. Theo makes a great one.”
Iknewit. “What’s a banoffee?”
“You’re painfully American,” she says, but her eye roll is interrupted when the ground and walls begin to shake. I throw my arms over our heads as rocks crash into the lava tube. The sound is deafening. We crouch with our arms around each other and Comet until the earthquake stops.
A hush falls over us after the last rock falls, but I’m too afraid to move.
“I’m all right. Are you?” Victoria asks after an unsettling stretch of silence, her arms still pulling me tightly to her.
“I think so,” I say, swallowing a tremor of fear. Now is not the time to be paralyzed. We need to get the hell out of here. “We can’t be down here if that happens again. Hand me that rock.” I point to a sharp rock by her foot. She releases her white-knuckled grip on my arm and hands it to me. I lift the rock and Victoria cries out.
“Blimey, Wren! I was joking about cutting your hand off.”
“Cover your eyes.” I hold the rock like a knife and slam it into the chain connecting the handcuffs. It barely leaves a scratch. I do it again. I’m lifting my injured arm to strike the metal a third time when a guttural roar like a jet engine rumbles through the earth beneath us. I freeze with my hand in the air, waiting for the world to fall apart. Comet tucks his head into his paws.
“What the bloody hell was that? Another earthquake?” Victoria asks.
“I don’t think so.” It felt like something worse.
Something bigger.
CHAPTER27
“Victoria! Wren! Comet!” Brooke’s face appears at the mouth of the cave-in. “Can you hear me?” Comet barks at the sound of her voice.
“We’re okay. You guys?” I call.
“Um. We’re alive.” Her voice is strained beyond anything I’ve heard before. I break out in a cold sweat.
“Where’s Theo?” Victoria and I demand in unison.
“He’s coming,” Brooke says, her eyes now fixed on something we can’t see.
“Did you find the key?” Victoria asks.
“No. Not yet…” Her attention drifts away from us again.
“Brooke!” I clap my hands. “What’s going on? Where is everyone else?”
It’s hard to tell from so far away, but she looks terrified.
“Just tell us what happened!” My mind races through a hundred horrible scenes, each one worse than the last.
“The earthquake triggered a… a…” She trails off, eyes wide with fear. I pick up the sharp rock with my slick palmand slam it into the handcuffs again. Pain radiates from my shoulder to my fingertips.
“Snap out of it, Brooke!” Victoria shrieks.
My sister breaks out of her trance and looks down at us. “The volcano is erupting.”
