Blood rushes in my ears. I blink to get the black spots out of my vision. I think I’m hallucinating a worst-case scenario, until I see the terror on Victoria’s face and realize I heard correctly. We’re trapped in a lava tube during a volcanic eruption.
I’m too horrified to move.
If I’m about to die, I don’t want to be racked with guilt when I go.
“I lost your insulin,” I tell Victoria.
Her face freezes in shock, but then her eyes keep roving the walls, looking for a way out. “Apologize later. We have to get out of here.”
The rumble within the earth is growing; I can feel it in the soles of my feet, and I have to get this off my chest in case I don’t get another chance. “I found your purse after the crash. I wrapped it around me, but it was too hard to swim. I felt like it was dragging me underwater, which doesn’t make sense because it was so small, but that’s just an excuse because Ididbring it to shore, but then you made a snarky comment about sharks so… I let it sink.”
Victoria wrenches the rock from my hand and slams it into the metal. On her sixth strike, the handcuffs break in half.
“Remind me to speak to Winston about his crap handcuffs,” she says, tossing the rock to the side.
“Hurry!” Brooke shouts. “I’ll grab your hand!” She leans into the tube and stretches her hands as far as they’ll go.
I brace myself against the stone wall and lace my fingers together to give Victoria a boost. She puts her hands on my shoulders and brings her face close to mine. “Don’t tell Theo about the bag.” Her breath smells alarmingly fruity.
“Why not?”
“It won’t change anything. It’ll just be another fact he uses to torture himself, and your guilt isn’t more important than his peace of mind.” She places her foot in my palms and climbs onto my shoulders. She pushes onto her tiptoes and I think there’s no way Brooke is going to be strong enough to pull her out, but then Henry and Theo appear, each stretching a long arm to haul Victoria up and out of the lava tube. The moment her feet hit solid ground, Theo jumps down next to me.
“What the hell are you doing?” I scream.
“Getting you out of here,” he shouts. “On my shoulders, now!”
“What about you?”
“I swear to God, Wren, if you don’t get on my shoulders,now—”
I place my foot in his laced fingers and he quickly lifts me up. Henry grabs my hands and drags me out of the lava tube, the rough stone wall scraping across my body, stitches stretching and tearing in my arm. I roll onto the ground and shield my eyes against falling ash and debris. Brooke throws her arms over me. A thick column of white steam spews from the volcano above us. The heat is unbearable, and if we were any closer to the top, the steam would be burning us alive. It still might, if we don’t get out of here ASAP. The earth around the crater is cracking, and red-hot, bubbling lava is seeping through the fissures and sliding in our direction. Brooke may have told us thatthe volcano was erupting, but nothing could have prepared me for this. I choke on the rancid, sulfuric smell.
“Run!” Theo screams from down below.
“Run now,” Henry agrees. “I’ll stay with Theo.”
Victoria hesitates.
“RUN!” I scream, and she listens, stumbling across the rocks as she sprints away from us.
“Wren!” Brooke grabs my hand and tries to tug me away.
“Go!”
“Not without you.”
I glance back down in the lava tube, where Theo’s trying to scale the wall. A tremor rolls through my body. He’ll never make it. The stone is too smooth, and there are no footholds or rocks for him to grab. Next to him, Comet is on his hind legs with his paws extended toward me, his big, trusting eyes begging to be rescued.
“I can’t.” I blink away tears.
She glances down at Theo and then pulls me close. “Don’t be a hero, and don’t be an idiot.”
“I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t try. Go without me.” My eyes burn from the ash and steam, and my skin feels like it’s on fire.
She takes my hand in hers and squeezes hard enough to bruise. “Promise me that you won’t wait until it’s too late.”
“I can’t—” My voice breaks off as fear claws its way up my throat. I don’t know if that’s a promise that I can keep.
