Six Steps Down

by Mandi Greenwood

  When she got home Wade was sitting on the kitchen bench eating chocolate chips from the container and browsing the Internet on their mum's laptop.

  'Hello vandal,' she said, dropping her backpack on the floor and heading for the fridge. 'I'm in charge tonight and don't you forget it.'

  Wade laughed. 'Yeah, like you're going to boss me. I don't think so.'

  'Behave,' said Aisley. 'Or I'll send you to bed early.'

  'So scared right now,' replied Wade cheerfully.

  Aisley took her drink to the kitchen table and sat down, resting her head on her hand. She felt exhausted.

  Wade looked at her for a moment or two, then jumped down from the bench and came to sit opposite her. 'I know I said I wasn't going to share with you because you were annoying,' he whispered in a conspiratorial voice. 'But you look like you could use some good news. So, guess what?'

  'What?' Aisley yawned.

  'I found something the other day. You know, on the bridge.'

  'Tell someone who cares,' muttered Aisley. She dropped her tired head onto her arms.

  'Oh you will,' Wade persisted. He leaned further forward and placed something on the table between them.

  Aisley lifted her head and peered from beneath her tumbled curls. There on the table was a key. It was an old-fashioned key, tarnished silver with a ring on the end of it. There was a heavy chain running through the ring.

  Aisley picked it up and dangled it from her fingers. 'Where on earth did you find it?' she asked her brother.

  Wade grinned with barely controlled excitement. 'There's a secret compartment, just like I said, in that post on the bridge. The one you told me I was wrecking. It just popped open when I jiggled it the right way and this key was inside.'

  'Wow,' said Aisley, suitably impressed.

  Wade looked proud as punch. 'I can show you the secret compartment if you like,' he crowed. 'It's most sincerely cool.'

  'I'm sure it is.' Aisley felt the tingling of something she hadn't felt all week. Enthusiasm. She stood up, still holding the key on the chain. 'Lead the way, Einstein,' she said.

  Upstairs, kneeling down on the mezzanine bridge, Wade pushed a small carving of a faerie with his fingertips. To Aisley's utter amazement, it popped open. Inside was a hollow compartment just big enough for something like the key Wade had found in there.

  'Neat, huh,' said Wade, awaiting her approval.

  Aisley put her arm across his shoulders and gave him a hug. 'Very neat. Good job!'

  Wade preened.

  Aisley looked at the key again. 'What do you suppose it opens?' she asked.

  Wade shrugged. 'Give me a bit more time and I'll figure that out too.'

  Aisley looked at her twelve-year-old brother and smiled for the first time all week. 'Want to hear a story?' she asked him.

  'Okay,' he replied.

  Sitting cross-legged on the bridge together, Aisley told Wade the whole story they'd pieced together about the history of Sheldon's Seat and of Michael and Lily Sheldon. 'So you see,' she concluded, 'If we could find a way … a safe way … down to Cariad Lili Bay, it would be epic. I'm one hundred per cent sure that Michael and Lily went down there and that it was their special, secret place.'

  She looked at the key again and Wade did too. 'You're thinking this key opens the door that leads to the beach,' stated Wade, in a matter of fact manner.

  Aisley nodded. 'But where would such a door be?'

  They both sat and silently pondered.

  'There's another thing that would make it epic if we did find it,' said Wade.

  'What's that?'

  'Just imagine. We'd have our own private beach. Now that would be totally cool.'

  The evening wore on. Wade was scouring the house from top to bottom, tapping and knocking, scraping and pushing, trying to locate a secret door with an energy that was a bit scary. Aisley followed him around for a while, but then noticed that time was getting on.

  'I'm going to reheat the dinner mum left us,' she called to Wade, wherever he was.

  She went to the kitchen and turned on the oven. Outside the wind was picking up again and rain started to patter against the glass. Aisley stood and looked out at the dark, sighing heavily. The excitement with the key had shaken out her cobwebs a little and she made a resolution. She'd get through the presentation tomorrow and then she'd meet Chandra and talk it out. It made her heart hurt to think they'd probably break up as a result of the talk, but she couldn't go on feeling like this. She put the lasagne their mother had left them in the oven and went upstairs to fetch a jumper. She passed Wade on the stairs. He was on his way down clutching his torch in one hand and the old key in the other. 'Any luck yet?' she asked him, amused at the glee on his face.

  'Not yet,' Wade called back over his shoulder. 'Don't worry though. It's early days.'

  When Aisley returned to the kitchen five minutes later, her brother was nowhere to be seen. After checking the lasagne, she sat down at the kitchen table. She pulled the laptop towards her, planning to do a bit of mindless browsing. She'd no more than logged in when there was a tap at the french doors. At first she mistook the sound for the wind rattling the glass, but then it came again, louder this time.

  Feeling slightly nervous that someone was visiting on a rainy night when their parents were out, Aisley moved cautiously to the doors. Then she stopped short. It was Chandra, standing in the rain and getting very wet. 'Oh damn!' Aisley groaned. She couldn't leave him out there. He'd freeze. Reluctantly she opened the door.

  'Hi Ais,' he said solemnly. 'Can I come in?'

  She held the door wider and he stepped into the warm kitchen. Aisley shut the door on the bad weather and went to fetch him a towel from the laundry cupboard. When she returned, he was standing next to the hot stove and shivering like a lost puppy. Wordlessly, she handed him the towel. He accepted it, gratefully rubbing it over his wet head. She looked him up and down — board shorts, t-shirt, runners.

  'Anyone would think it's the middle of summer,' she scolded. 'Where's your coat? And a pair of jeans wouldn't go astray either.'

  He smiled. 'Sorry mum,' he said.

  Aisley turned away from that smile. It was beautiful and could easily be her downfall. 'I don't know what you're doing out on a night like this anyway,' she said abruptly. 'But that's you, isn't it? You go where you like and you do whatever you want.'

  He looked at her quizzically then leaned against the kitchen counter, folding his arms across his chest.

  'Do your parents know you're out in this storm?' she demanded, hating how bossy she sounded.

  'They think I'm at Archie's and he's got my back,' said Chandra.

  She went to the table and sat down again. The silence spun out between them.

  'Can't we talk?' begged Chandra. 'Please.'

  Aisley shook her head, deliberately forgetting her resolution several minutes earlier to do just that.

  Chandra came and sat opposite her. 'Yes,' he said softly. 'We really need to.'

  'There's nothing to talk about.'

  He threw his hands in the air. 'There's everything to talk about!'

  She chewed her lip and looked at her lap.

  He reached across the table for her hand, but she moved it out of reach. 'Ais,' he moaned.

  She could actually hear the anguish in his tone. Finally, she looked up and met his sad eyes. Oh, why did he have to look at her like that!

  'Stop looking at me like that!' she cried out.

  'I can't help how I'm looking at you.'

  'Try!'

  'I can't help how I'm feeling either.'

  'Well neither can I.'

  'Fine. I accept that.'

  'Fine!'

  'Good!'

  'Good!'

  The oven timer went off and Aisley jumped up and rushed to it gratefully. Anything to break the tremendous tension that had been in the air since he'd walked in.

  'Wade,' she called, her voice not quite steady, 'Your lasagne is ready.'

  'Where are yo
ur parents?' asked Chandra, noticing for the first time that they were apparently alone in the house.

  'Out,' she replied shortly. She went to the kitchen door and looked up the hallway.

  'Wade?' she called again. 'Did you hear me?'

  There was no reply.

  'Little bugger,' Aisley grumbled. She took the lasagne out of the oven and rested it on the granite bench top. Then she switched off the oven.

  'Are you hungry?' she asked Chandra. Never let it be said that her hospitality skills were lacking, even when her heart was breaking.

  For perhaps the first time in his teenage life Chandra shook his head, no. 'I'm not hungry,' he said. 'But you go ahead.'

  Aisley laughed dryly, 'I couldn't eat a thing right now if my life depended on it.'

  He sat there looking at her. 'Ais?'

  She didn't answer. She wandered to the hall door again. Where was that boy?

  'Ais?' Chandra was standing just behind her.

  She closed her eyes.

  'Are we breaking up?' Chandra asked, his voice shaking.

  Aisley bit her lip fiercely. If she looked at him now she'd start crying. She looked up at the mezzanine bridge, tears blurring her vision. 'Wade?' she called. Nothing. 'I'll just check upstairs for him,' she mumbled. She darted away from Chandra, up the stairs. She paused at the top to take a deep breath to calm her troubled thoughts. Then she hurried through the upper level, poking her head in every room and calling out her brother's name. He really was nowhere to be found. Perplexed, she stood on the middle of the bridge.

  'No luck?' called Chandra from below.

  She looked over the railing. 'He's not up here anywhere.' Aisley came back down the stairs. 'He'd better not have gone outside,' she said. 'Mum will kill him … or she'll kill me for letting him.'

  'I don't think he's outside,' said Chandra. 'He'd have to have gone past me.'

  'Wade!' Aisley called again. She felt the first prickles of worry. 'If you're hiding Wade, you better come out right now. No joke! I mean it.'

  Chandra wandered up the hall, sticking his head into the library and the laundry. 'Wade,' he shouted. 'Come out if you're hiding. Not funny, man. You're scaring your sister.'

  Aisley and Chandra stood in the gloomy hall. They could hear the wind howling outside and the rain beating against the windows, but of Wade they could hear nothing. Aisley spun about and headed for the kitchen and the phone.

  Chandra hurried after her. 'Don't ring and worry them yet,' he said, putting his hand over hers.

  'When would you suggest I ring and worry them then?' snapped Aisley, shaking his hand off.

  'Just stop and think for a minute.'

  'Don't tell me what to do!'

  'I'm not! Jeeze!' Chandra flapped his hands in despair. He took a step closer. 'Tell me what Wade was doing when you last saw him?'

  Aisley put down the phone she'd snatched up and thought hard. 'He was coming downstairs when I went up to get a jumper. It was, oh, about ten minutes before you arrived.'

  'Okay,' said Chandra. 'Did he say where he was going?'

  'He …' Aisley stopped. All of a sudden she remembered the key and Wade's enthusiastic search for the keyhole. She'd completely forgotten it due to Chandra arriving and turning her brain into mush.

  She related the events of the evening to Chandra. She told him about Wade showing her the key and where he'd found it. She explained how Wade was looking for the door that the key unlocked. She looked wildly at the french doors and the foul evening beyond them. 'He might have gone outside,' she worried. 'He might have gone before you even arrived and while I was upstairs.' She put her hand over her mouth. 'What if he's gone exploring along the cliff top?' A sudden vision came to her of Chandra, slipping and stumbling on the brink of the cliff two weeks before. 'Oh no,' she moaned. 'Mum and dad trusted me to look after him for one evening. One single evening! And what do I do? I kill him!'

  'Aisley, stop!' cried Chandra. 'You're getting ahead of yourself. I'm sure wherever he is, Wade is okay. I'll go and look for him.' He started for the door.

  'Wait!' Aisley called. 'I'm coming with you.'

  Together they ran out into the rain and down the garden to the grassy hilltop. Aisley had the weirdest sense of déjà vu as history repeated itself, only this time there was no Archie … and no umbrellas! A hysterical giggle bubbled up, but she stifled it. This was no time for laughter.

  Chandra was up ahead of her in the pouring rain. 'Wade,' he yelled, through cupped hands. 'Wade!'

  'Wade, where are you?' Aisley screamed.

  They ran from one end of the plateau to the other.

  'He's not out here,' said Chandra, after they'd been searching for some time. 'I don't think he left the house at all.'

  'What if he fell,' Aisley whimpered.

  Chandra gripped her arm tightly. 'He didn't fall.' He said it with such conviction that she nodded.

  'Let's go back indoors,' said Chandra.

  They ran back to the house and into the kitchen, banging the french doors shut behind them. The lasagne sat on the counter growing cold. Aisley and Chandra stood there dripping and shivering.

  'You're going to catch pneumonia after tonight,' Aisley said, tossing him the towel again.

  Chandra caught the towel in one hand. He hesitated, then moved over to her and gently dried her face. 'It would be so worth it,' he said softly.

  Aisley stepped back. 'Don't. Not now. We have to find my brother first. Then we can … we can talk. Okay.'

  He nodded. 'Okay.'

  They gazed at each other for a minute, a hundred unspoken words in their expressions.

  'Wade might …' Chandra began.

  The clear sound of slow, regular footsteps shut him up as someone walked into the kitchen from the hall. Someone, who could not be seen. Ellette, who had been sleeping on the rug in the lounge, suddenly yelped and tore up the stairs to hide under Shay's bed. The footsteps crossed the kitchen in front of the two astonished teenagers and headed towards the wine cellar. Aisley felt that gentle breeze touch her skin again and she closed her eyes. Then, exactly as it had the night Aisley and Cate heard it, the sound grew fainter as the closed cellar door muffled it.

  Chandra stood as if turned to stone, but Aisley burst forward and wrenched the door to the wine cellar wide open. 'Lily?' she cried urgently. Of Lily Sheldon there was no sign. But Aisley couldn't have been more surprised by the sight that greeted her eyes if the ghost of Lily Sheldon was standing in front of her twirling a hula-hoop. 'Omigod!' she breathed.

  Chandra was at her side in an instant and he sucked his breath in at what he saw. What on earth had happened to the floor? A couple of the big flagstones had been moved aside revealing the rocky ground beneath … the ground that Grant Brannon said he'd had such trouble trying to level. There was a trapdoor set into the rock. It was flung wide open and there was a gaping hole beneath it. The hole was about a metre square and it lead down into the earth. Aisley and Chandra crept forward and peered in. Six stone steps led into the darkness.

  'No. Freaking. Way.' Chandra was astounded.

  'Yes. Freaking. Way,' murmured Aisley.

  She crouched down and squinted into the gloom. 'Wade?' she called. 'Are you down there?'

  'Got a torch?' asked Chandra, when they heard no reply.

  'In the pantry,' Aisley told him. 'It's hanging on the back of the door.' The mention of a torch reminded Aisley of the one Wade was carrying when she saw him on the stairs. It certainly wasn't here so he must still have it with him, down there in the dark somewhere.

  Chandra came back a moment later with her father's large Dolphin torch. He clicked it on and shone the bright beam into the hole. There appeared to be a landing of some description at the bottom of the six steps.

  'Let me go first,' said Chandra, pushing gently in front of her.

  'Macho,' Aisley accused.

  'Betcha' boots,' he agreed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Disaster!

  Thursday evening,
early

  Aisley followed Chandra down the six steps and into the dark. They both followed the bright beam of the torch. A rocky tunnel meandered off at a downward angle. In some places, it was steeper than others. In the steeper places, Aisley noticed wooden handrails attached to the rock walls. When she saw the first of the handrails in the torchlight she stopped and stared.

  'What?' asked Chandra. 'Why are you stopping?'

  'These rails are exactly the same as the ones on the mezzanine bridge upstairs,' she explained. 'See the faeries and the elves … and look.' She pointed to the letters "M" and "L" that were etched into the wood. 'They stand for Michael and Lily. They're on the mezzanine too.'

  'That suggests Michael had more than a little to do with this tunnel, doesn't it,' said Chandra.

  What that meant was not lost on Aisley. Michael had built this tunnel for his darling Lily and it could only lead to one thing. They continued on, deeper into the earth. Now and then they'd call out Wade's name, but all they heard back was the echo of their own voices.

  'He has to be down here,' said Aisley firmly.

  Chandra nodded in the gloom. 'Well, somebody moved those cellar stones and I don't believe it was Lily Sheldon's ghost.' His voice echoed in the cavernous tunnel. 'Ghosts are usually far more economical about how they get around.'

  'You heard the footsteps, didn't you?' she had to ask.

  'Oh I heard them alright,' he replied. 'Not that I ever doubted you when you told us that you and Cate heard them. I know you doubt me though, Ais. I really need to talk …'

  'Later,' Aisley tried not to cut him off too harshly. 'Please. Let's try and find my brother first.'

  'Okay.' Chandra hesitated, then continued on down the tunnel. 'Do you know what this reminds me of?' he said after a while.

  'What?'

  'A mine shaft.'