He cupped his chin, gnawing his lower lip. If someone had burglarized Reb’s cabin, they would have taken things of value. His drawing tools in their carved wooden box would be a more likely choice than a rolled length of paper. Unless they knew what the paper contained and had some reason to gain knowledge of the cave’s interior.
He jolted. “Do you suppose that the person who stole Tolly’s canteen and the food and torches from the packs has taken the map?”
Her eyes widened. “You mean, you think a stranger—a thief—came into my cabin?” The color faded from her face. She sank onto the edge of her bed. “Oh, my…”
Now he’d scared her. Even though his supposition made sense, he wished he’d kept it to himself. But now that the possibility had been stated, he might as well follow it with a warning. “Why don’t you check your belongings? Make sure nothing of yours is missing. Just in case.”
She rose and staggered to her bureau. She opened the top drawer and pawed through things made of airy fabric—her underclothes. His face heated, and he turned his back, allowing her to search in privacy.
Something clinked, and then the drawer snapped closed. “Everything is exactly the way I left it.”
He turned slowly, shaking his head. “Then Lee is right. We have a real mystery.”
Cissy
Cissy shivered. This cave was a lot colder than the one where the mushrooms grew. Probably because it was so much deeper and wider. She held the lantern she’d stolen from the guard after Nick tricked him into leaving his post and inched forward with Devlin’s map tucked under her arm.
Nick trudged along behind her with the second lantern. He hadn’t said much since they entered the cave, but the deeper they got, the more often his huffs pierced the silence. If she didn’t come upon something interesting soon, he might turn around and go back out. And she couldn’t let him do that.
Years ago when she was no older than Trudy was now, a girl and boy from the hollow went off somewhere for a whole night. When their folks found out, they made the boy marry the girl. Those two were still married, had two or three children, and seemed happy even though the entire hollow had been plenty upset about the situation when it happened. If she could keep Nick in here all night, Daddy would make him marry up with her. Then she’d get to live in a fine house in the city and wear pretty dresses every day like the one she’d bought at Hunt’s store.
Nick might have gotten confused in the past days with so many other girls coming to the estate, but she clung to his claim that she was his best girl. She chanted to herself what he’d carved on the cave wall. Oh, he might fuss a little bit at first when Daddy said they’d have to get married right away, but he’d be grateful later on. Because she’d be the best wife she could be. She knew how after watching Mama with Daddy all these years. They’d be happy. Sure they would.
“Cissy, stop.” Nick’s voice cracked like a whip. “You haven’t shown me anything I didn’t already see on the tour. I missed my dinner, I’m getting my good suit dirty, and I’m tired. I’m going back.”
She whirled around and affected her sauciest look. “Go ahead an’ go back if you’re too scared to keep goin’. Big ol’ chicken, that’s all you are.”
His glower seemed evil in the heavy shadows. “I’m not a chicken. I’ve just not encountered anything good enough to warrant tripping around in the dark.”
“Enough, enough!” She blasted the word. It bounced against the walls and repeated, taunting her. “I’m so tired of whatever I offer not bein’ enough!” She scurried to the edge of a downhill climb and held Devlin Bale’s map over the raw gap. “Go then. But I’m goin’ deeper to the place where jewels grow. Gonna pick me so many they weigh me down.”
He gaped at her. “You’re crazy.”
She tossed her head. Several pins popped loose, and strands of hair tumbled over her shoulders. She batted at them with her hand. “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. But you won’t never know because you’re too much a chicken to go an’ see.”
He held out his hand. “Give me the map.”
Her heart leaped. Would he lead her deeper into the cave? “Why?”
“So I can use it to get myself out of here.”
He couldn’t go. Not yet. Not until morning had swallowed up the night. She forced herself to think. A plan formed so easy it made her smile. “All right. Here.” She let go of it, and the roll of paper bounced to the bottom of the gap. She clapped her hand to her cheek and dropped her jaw. “Uh-oh, look what happened. Guess you’ll hafta go get it.”
“Cissy…” He growled her name.
She drew back.
He stomped forward, his lantern swinging, and peered below. He glared at her again. “I ought to throttle you.”
She balled her fist on her hip. “That’d be a plumb waste of time. Thought you wanted the map.”
He blew out a mighty huff. He walked past her and started down the incline, holding the lantern out with one hand and using his other to steady himself. Cissy chewed her thumbnail, watching him. If he got the map, he’d leave. And she’d never get the chance to show him how good she could be to him.
She scurried after him, her lantern swinging. From the time she was big enough to walk, she’d been climbing in the hills and jumping from boulder to boulder in the streams, so making her way one handed down the rocky, uneven pathway to the lower tunnel didn’t challenge her too much. She passed him, wriggling free when he caught her arm, and hurried for the map.
But then her foot slipped inside Bek’s too-big shoe. Her leg jolted forward and carried her with it. The lantern bounced once way, shattering, and she bounced the other, landing hard on her bottom three times before she stopped.
“Cissy, are you all right?”
Nick sounded worried now. She glanced up and squinted against the glare of his lantern. “I…I think so. But I ain’t sure.”
He inched closer, bringing the light with him. The map lay just a few feet from her. She pulled with her heels, cringing against the pain in her back, and snatched it up before he could get to it. She hugged the map to her chest.
He knelt in front of her and set the lantern down. “Let me help you.”
She crunched the map under her arm before holding out her hands. He lifted her in one hard pull. Pain stabbed her lower back, and she cried out.
“Are you hurt badly?”
She didn’t think so. She’d taken tumbles before, some worse than this one. But she liked the way worry creased his brow. So she grimaced and moaned. “Oh, I’m hurtin’. It’s real bad.”
He looked her up and down. He grimaced, too. “I don’t think I can carry you out of here.”
She wouldn’t let him. At least not yet. “I can walk. But I can’t climb. I ain’t gonna be able to go back the way we came.”
Nick looked at the steep route they’d just taken, then back at her. “I guess I’ll have to go by myself.”
She gasped. “What about me?”
“You’ll have to stay here.”
“By myself?”
“Long enough for me to go get you some help.”
Real fear smacked her hard, harder than the floor had smacked her bottom. She started to wail. “No, Nick, don’t leave me. We only got the one lantern now. I’d be alone in the dark with all the creepy little cave critters.” She dropped the map and clung to his suit front. “Don’t leave me!”
“Now who’s being the chicken?”
“Ni-i-i-ick!” Her wail bounced off the walls and filled the entire space.
He rolled his eyes. “All right, all right, I won’t leave you.”
She shuddered, ending her tears.
“But I want out of here. Is there another way out?”
She didn’t know. But she said, “Yes. Up ahead some.”
“Can you find it?”
“Uh-huh. With the lantern. An’ the map.”
He scooped up the crumpled map and unwadded it. “Which way?”
She frowned at it, pretending she knew wh
at she was doing. One tunnel wove its way north. She tapped it. “This one. It’ll take us back to the hotel.”
He stared at her for a moment, his eyebrows pulled so tight they formed a caterpillar on his forehead. “Are you sure?”
“Sure I’m sure. You carry the map. I’ll carry the lantern.” No way she’d let him take that and maybe run off. “This way.”
Rebekah
If she was a person who cursed, she’d be cussing her sister. Rebekah paced outside her cabin, watching the rise for Cissy. Full dark had fallen an hour ago. Devlin could’ve been hunting for his map, but he hadn’t left. He sat on the stoop, elbows on knees, hunched forward, watching the shadows with her. Although she hated to admit it, she appreciated having someone to wait with her.
She stopped and stared hard at the stomped-flat grass pathway where her sister should appear. “Cissy, where are you?” she whispered for the dozenth time.
“Reb, do you think she went on home?”
“No.” She closed her eyes and envisioned again her sister’s bright countenance, her excitement. Cissy’s promise to come back and tell Rebekah what Nick thought about her dress rang in her memory.
“Are you sure?”
“She hugged me, and she promised.” Rebekah angled a firm look over her shoulder. “I’m sure.”
“Well, it’s getting late.” Devlin rose and crossed to her. He gazed at the rise, too. “You said her friend’s name is Nick?”
“Yes. Nick Ross.”
“Hmm…” Devlin pinched his chin. The moonlight touched his chiseled features, giving him a severe appearance. “I met the Rosses at dinner a few nights ago. The parents have one cabin, and the boys are staying in another. Would you like me to go see if Cissy is with them?”
“With the boys?”
“Yes.”
Her anger flared. “Do you really think my sister would…is…” She couldn’t say it.
Devlin touched her arm. “Reb, they are young and forgetful. If they’re inside, they aren’t going to notice how dark it’s become. They’ve probably lost track of time. Cissy needs a gentle reminder that it’s time to go home.”
Her fury fizzled in light of his calm reply. She tried to smile, but her trembling lips refused to cooperate. “I’m sorry.”
His smile grew seemingly without effort. “You’re worried, and rightfully so. Let me check with the Rosses. If I find Cissy, I’ll bring her to you.”
“I’ll go with you.”
He shook his head, the severity creeping over his features again. “You need to be here in case she returns. She’ll need to get in to put away your shoes, but with a thief wandering the grounds, you can’t leave your door unlocked for her.”
Rebekah shivered. “A-all right.”
“Go inside and keep watch. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She squared her shoulders. “With a repentant Cissy.”
He squeezed her upper arm, a kind gesture that touched her deeply. “That’s the way to think.”
She stood on the lawn until he crested the rise, turned around, and waved. Then she closed herself in the cabin. She pulled the table away from the window so she could stand close to the glass, where she had a good view of the rise. She held her eyes open as long as possible between blinks, unwilling to miss the first sighting of Cissy. In between blinks she prayed. Minutes passed slowly, but she stayed in place.
When her muscles were beginning to ache from holding her stiff position, she finally spotted a shadow creep over the edge of the rise and grow until it became the shape of a man. Her pulse hiccuped—Devlin. Even in the scant light she knew his sturdy, broad-shouldered form. But where was the second shadow? Where was Cissy?
She darted out the door and met Devlin halfway between the cabin and the rise. “She wasn’t with Nick?”
“No, I didn’t find her.”
She blew out a huff and stomped her foot. “Oh, that girl! She probably forgot all about her promise to come talk to me and went on home—and with my shoes on her feet! Just wait until I see her next. She’s going to hear—”
“Reb.” Devlin’s sharp tone silenced her.
She looked into his stern face. Fear descended. “What is it?”
“The Rosses said they haven’t seen her at all.”
Rebekah drew back, confused.
“Furthermore, Nick is missing. He didn’t meet his family for dinner, and they haven’t seen him all evening. They’re concerned, too.”
Anger swooped in again. She clenched her fists and shook her head. “Cissy is the most spoiled, selfish, thoughtless person I know. She and Nick are probably together somewhere completely unmindful of the worry they’re causing. I don’t care if she is fifteen years old. I hope Daddy takes a stick to her.”
“Do you have any idea where they might have gone? Mr. Ross is ready to start searching. He’s particularly worried they might have gone into the woods and lost their way.”
“It’s unlikely they’re lost if they’re together. Cissy is familiar with the entire area and could find her way even in the dark. It’s more likely they’re enjoying themselves and aren’t ready to come back.” Troublesome thoughts descended. She grabbed Devlin’s sleeve. “I need to find them. Cissy…sometimes she doesn’t think.”
He patted her hand. “She’s very fond of that little burro the photographer uses. And the barn would be private. Would you like me to go look there?”
“It’s a good place to start.” Rebekah jutted her chin. “But I’m going with you. Let me lock my door, and—”
“Rebekah Hardin, is that you?”
She released a squeal and Devlin jerked. They both spun toward an approaching dark form. She called, “Wh-who is that?”
“It’s me—Doyle Spencer.”
She heaved a sigh of relief at the familiar name. She knew Doyle well. He guarded the cave opening from four in the afternoon until midnight, and members of his family attended Good Spring Chapel. The idea of a thief creeping around the cave and grounds was making her far too jumpy.
Doyle stepped close and whipped off his hat, bringing his face into view. A wide, knowing smile created a slash in his dark whiskers. “You look like you seen a ghost. Or maybe you just didn’t want nobody to see you out with…” He waggled his eyebrows.
Her defenses rose. “I have nothing to hide, Doyle. Devlin was keeping me company while I waited for my sister.”
“Sure, sure.” He bounced his hat lightly against his thigh and continued to grin. “Glad to see somebody up. Need to leave a message for Tolly.” He jammed his thumb toward the dark cabin. “I’d tell him myself but looks like he’s sleeping already.”
“Yes, he went in quite awhile ago. But I’ll give him a message in the morning.”
“Good.” The man yawned. “It probably ain’t nothin’ important, but about seven this evenin’ I heard a rustle in the bushes ’round the cave openin’. I went to check, an’ o’ course there was nothin’, but when I got back to the openin’, somebody’d took off with both my lanterns.”
Rebekah gaped at the man. “That was hours ago. You’re just now telling someone?”
“Well, now, how was I s’posed to say somethin’ earlier? Couldn’t leave the openin’ ’til Horace showed up to spell me. Took me twice as long to walk here since I didn’t have no lantern to guide me. That road’s as black as pitch at night with all the trees throwin’ shade at it.” He snorted and slapped his hat onto his head. “Prob’ly just some fool kids playin’ a prank, but I’m s’posed to report any unusual happenin’s. If those lanterns don’t turn up, I hope Mr. Janin don’t take the new ones out o’ my pay. Headin’ for home now.” He ambled off, muttering.
Rebekah’s thoughts raced—a missing map, a missing sister, missing lanterns…Her pulse thrummed so rapidly that dizziness assailed her. She reached out and caught Devlin’s arm to steady herself and found him staring at her with wonder blooming across his face.
“Reb, is it possible…”
A sick feeling
flooded her stomach. Cissy wanted so much to be important, to impress people. It all made sense now. She nodded. “Cissy took your map and then took Nick Ross into Mammoth Cave.”
Devlin
Devlin stood a few yards from the cave’s entrance, unneeded but too intrigued to leave. How could Mr. and Mrs. Hardin be so brave? The poor couple had been rousted from their home in the middle of the night after lying awake in worry over their daughter. Now, as dawn approached, they faced the prospect of another child wandering in the cave that had stolen their son. Yet they stood stalwart and quiet as Tolly readied himself to search. In contrast, the Rosses fumed and threatened serious consequences if their son emerged with so much as a scratch. Festus and Nell Hardin intrigued him. Almost as much as their daughter.
Reb strode by, bent forward with the weight of a pack. Devlin reached out and stopped her. “Let me take that for you.”
She looked haggard, ten years older than the last time he’d seen her, but she shook her head. “No. Tolly asked me to get the torches. I’ll do it.”
He stepped aside and let her pass, shaking his head in wonder. While Reb handed off the pack to Tolly, Mrs. Ross released a mournful shriek and buried her face in her husband’s chest. On the other side of the opening, Nell Hardin leaned against Festus. Her face was white and drawn in the lantern light, but she didn’t make a sound.
Reb moved determinedly toward the supply wagon. Devlin fell in step with her. Whether she wanted his help or not, he intended to give it. He rasped, “The Rosses ought to be ashamed of themselves. Her caterwauling, his threats…It’s embarrassing.”
She gave him a confused look. “They’re scared, Devlin. Tolly and others searched the entire estate grounds and the woods surrounding it. There’s no hint of Nick or Cissy anywhere. The only place left to look is the cave. It’s so big and full of dangers for two young people who aren’t familiar with its passageways. Of course they’re going to carry on in ways that seem inappropriate. Fear will do that to people.”
He held his hand toward her parents. “Your folks have reason to be afraid, too—even more than the Rosses, considering what happened to your brother. But they aren’t carrying on. Look at them.” Her gaze followed his direction, and the tenderness that crept across her features caused a lump to fill his throat. “They’re strong, Reb.”
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