Then I saw the rope. A thick cord, almost the same colour as the rock, stretching down into the water from somewhere inside the cave. I reached across, grabbed the rope, and pulled myself up the slope, back onto dry land.
Still holding on, I leant back out to see the others. ‘Guys, come on!’
A pause.
Then a sigh from Peter. ‘Really?’
‘Yes!’ I said. ‘Hurry up!’
I watched until I was sure they were actually coming, then went back to investigating the cave.
The rope was attached to a big steel loop, bolted down to the stone floor. The metal was starting to rust, but it still didn’t look like it had been here for more than a year or so.
Splash!
There was a shout from outside, and then Peter started swearing at the top of his lungs. I picked up the rope again, swung back out from the cave and shouted, ‘Are you okay?’
‘No!’ Peter yelled. ‘It’s freaking cold!’
He and Luke were both waist-deep in the lake, shirts off, arms above their heads, taking tiny, cringing steps down into the water.
I sighed and left them to it.
A couple of metres in, just far enough to be half-hidden in shadow, the cave opened up a bit, into a cavern about the size of my bedroom. I walked in, squinting in the dim light.
Little blurs of white hovered in front of me. At first, I thought it was just my eyes adjusting. But then I realised what I was looking at.
Candles. Dozens of them, all over the cavern. They lined the walls, standing on little ledges cut into the rock. They were all unlit, but their wicks were black and they had little streams of hardened wax running down the sides.
It couldn’t have been long since people were here.
A giant stone sat in the middle of the room. Two metres across, flat on top. Dotted with even more candles. A table.
There were chairs too. Three smaller stones, set around the big one.
I shivered again, but I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the freezing water this time.
This place was like something out of a cult.
The white-robed figures from Mike’s sketchbook swam back into my mind. My eyes swept the cavern again, making sure I was alone.
I heard more splashing and arguing outside, and Luke and Peter finally appeared, hugging themselves against the cold.
‘Whoa,’ said Peter, stepping into the cavern. ‘What the crap is all this?’
‘Dunno,’ I said. ‘Not exactly Shackleton’s style, though, is it?’
I paced around to the far side of the table, seeing if there were any tunnels or anything, but it looked like this was it.
Luke came in and sat down on one of the stone chairs. He stared up at the ceiling.
‘This is … not what I was expecting.’
‘What do you think it’s for?’ I asked. ‘I mean, it can’t just be –’
The ground shifted and I staggered sideways. Around the cavern, the candles started swirling, blurring together.
‘Jordan!’ said Peter, rushing over.
I turned, dizzily, wondering how he could be so steady on his feet. But then I felt the familiar rush of nausea and –
Peter disappeared, mid-step. Luke too.
All around me, the candles grew taller and burst into life, casting an eerie, dancing glow across the cavern, lighting up the three hunched figures who had suddenly appeared around the stone table: Mike, Cathryn and Tank.
They were dressed in their black mall-robbing outfits again, minus the black clothes and balaclavas.
And they were blindfolded.
No-one moved.
They just sat there in silence.
And judging by their almost-dry clothes, they’d been waiting for a while.
I took a step closer. The cavern blurred again, but not violently. Movement seemed to be getting easier each time. Like my body was getting used to the flashes.
Sitting on the table in the middle of all the candles was a battered old alarm clock.
10.59 p.m.
Tank shifted on his seat. ‘They’re gone,’ he whispered. ‘They’ve got to be gone by –’
‘Shh!’ said Mike. ‘Just wait.’
And the cavern went silent again.
I moved a bit further around the table, bracing myself as the world swirled to catch up. I looked around, skin rippling with goosebumps, but it seemed like Tank was right: whoever else had been in here, they were long gone now.
Cathryn reached up to brush a strand of hair out of her face, then flinched in her seat as a harsh beeping split the cavern.
The alarm clock.
11 p.m.
Mike undid his blindfold and got up to switch the clock off.
‘All right,’ he said, sitting back down again. ‘Now.’
Cathryn and Tank ripped off their blindfolds.
Without another word, all three of them pulled up their sleeves to look at their right shoulders.
‘Yes!’ said Mike, grinning uncontrollably. Obsessively.
‘Awesome,’ said Tank. ‘This is so freaking awesome.’
Cathryn still didn’t speak. She had a kind of awed expression on her face.
Each of them was staring down at an identical tattoo, still red raw and swollen where the needle had gone in.
Black circles with spirals in the middle.
The same shape that had cost Jeremy a beating back at school.
‘This is really happening,’ said Cathryn.
‘Course it’s happening,’ said Mike, the glint in his eye slipping over from excited to manic. ‘Why do you think they call it destiny?’
‘Are you kidding?’ I said, knowing they couldn’t hear me. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘We should go,’ said Tank, getting up.
‘Yeah,’ said Mike. ‘They said –’
The cavern started rolling again.
I felt something tugging at me, dragging me back.
‘Jordan … Jordan, c’mon …’
‘No,’ I said, stomach churning. ‘Wait!’
The world turned inside out, tearing itself to pieces. The candles blew out.
Luke was shaking my arm, like I’d been asleep and he was trying to wake me.
I stumbled away from him, rubbing my eyes. If moving around inside the visions was getting easier, flashing in and out was only getting more painful.
‘You should have left me,’ I said. ‘I saw Mike and the others. They’re –’
‘Yeah, we noticed that too,’ said Peter. There was an edge to his voice, like he’d just been sprung by a teacher.
‘Huh …?’
I opened my eyes.
Cathryn, Tank and Mike were still there.
Chapter 13
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17
57 DAYS
No, I thought, getting my head back together. Not still here. They’re here again.
Standing at the entrance to the cavern. Drenched from the lake and dressed in their uniforms. Mostly, anyway. Mike and Tank had their shirts off. Big square band-aids on their right arms, covering the tattoos.
I could see Mike’s mind whirring, searching for the best way to play this. Cathryn stood behind him, watching.
Tank, on the other hand, clearly wasn’t interested in the subtle approach. He charged into the cavern, grabbed Luke – who was closest – by the arm, and growled, ‘Get – out.’
‘Hang on, man,’ said Mike, moving to stop him. ‘Let’s just – Let’s just figure this out.’
Tank looked confused, although that was hardly unusual. He backed off and sat down on one of the stone chairs.
Mike’s eyes shot between Luke, Peter and me, calculating. He started pacing around, like he was taking in the cavern for the first time.
‘What is this place?’ he asked ‘What are you doing out here?’
It would’ve been worth a shot if Tank hadn’t already been about to rip Luke’s arm off. And if I hadn’t just seen them using the cavern as a Twilight Zon
e tattoo parlour.
‘Show me your arm,’ I said, sidestepping in front of Mike.
‘What?’ His face went red. ‘No. Screw you. Why would I –?’
I slammed him up against the wall, sending candles toppling down. ‘Seriously, Mike, you want me to knock you down again? Just show me.’
‘Whoa, Jordan, relax,’ said Peter. ‘He’s had that band-aid on his arm for ages. It’s nothing –’
Tank jumped up from his seat and strode over to break it up. Luke, who seemed to have guessed that this had something to do with my vision, ran across and grabbed Tank from behind.
‘Oi!’ Tank swung a fist back over his shoulder, catching Luke in the side of the head. Luke staggered back against the stone table.
I ripped off the band-aid.
Mike scrambled to cover his arm. Too late.
‘Mate …’ said Peter, moving in for a closer look. ‘Where did you get that?’
‘Yeah, Mike,’ I said, leaning on him. ‘Where’d you get it? Couldn’t have been here, could it?’
‘How the crap did you know that?’ asked Tank.
Mike gritted his teeth. ‘Tank!’
‘Who gave them to you?’ I asked. ‘Those guys in white?’
‘No-one.’
‘Same no-one who keeps posting love notes to you in that locker?’ said Peter.
‘Pete, come on,’ said Tank, rounding on him. ‘Whose side are you on?’
‘Here’s the deal,’ I said, turning my attention back to Mike. ‘You either tell us what we want to know, or this secret hideout of yours stops being secret.’
‘And what about your secret?’ said Cathryn, speaking for the first time, strolling across from the other end of the cavern.
‘Cathryn,’ Mike warned.
But Cathryn wasn’t hearing it. ‘That video,’ she said, turning to Peter. ‘Those people you killed. How would it be if the whole town found out about that?’
I let go of Mike.
Cathryn might have come to a completely idiotic conclusion about that DVD, but if she and the others went back and started talking about Tabitha, Shackleton would know exactly where they’d got it from.
‘No,’ said Luke, still holding his jaw. ‘Cathryn, you can’t.’
‘Yeah, seriously, Cat,’ said Peter. ‘You don’t want to do that.’
‘Then you probably don’t want to go threatening us either,’ said Mike, stepping away from the wall and brushing himself off.
I got out of his way, and he went over to Tank.
We stood there, all six of us, just eyeing each other across the cavern.
Now what?
The silence stretched out.
Mike’s brow furrowed, like he was concentrating on something.
‘Well,’ said Peter finally, clasping his hands together. ‘I think we’ve all made some excellent progress today. Why don’t we –?’
‘Shh!’ said Mike.
Peter took one step towards him, then froze. ‘Crap.’
Voices out at the lake.
Mike turned and ran. I bolted after him.
We reached the mouth of the cave at the same time, and the two of us almost went crashing over into the water. I grabbed hold of the rock wall, getting my footing again.
The sun was starting to set, casting an orange glow over the surface of the lake. Mike leant out, scanning the area, then hauled his body back into the cavern. ‘Uh-oh.’
I crouched and peered across the water.
Officer Calvin and two of his security team. I had to crane my neck to see them around the rock face. They were thirty or forty metres away, back where we’d started, staring down at the fake picnic we’d left on shore.
‘You freaking moron!’ hissed Peter, suddenly behind us, and it took me a second to realise he was talking to Mike. ‘You led them right here!’
‘We’re not the ones who left our crap lying around for anyone to find,’ said Mike, as one of the guards started kicking through the scraps on the rug.
But obviously none of that was the real reason they’d shown up.
It was us. Shackleton had seen that we’d stopped here, and he’d sent security to sort us out.
Calvin skulked around like a wild dog, itching for an excuse to do something horrible to us.
‘Ugh,’ said Peter. ‘I liked it so much better when he was crippled.’
‘Back inside,’ I whispered, dragging Mike and Peter with me.
‘Hey – no – we need to get out of here,’ said Peter. ‘If he finds us …’
‘What, you think you’re going to swim back over without being seen?’ I said. ‘Because you weren’t exactly stealthy the first time.’
‘Calm down,’ said Tank. ‘No-one even knows about this place.’
‘We found it okay,’ Peter muttered.
But Tank was kind of right. The Co-operative couldn’t have known what he and the others were doing in this place, or else they would’ve put a stop to it. If we were lucky, Calvin would give up soon enough, and –
‘They’re coming!’ said Mike, back at the entrance. ‘They’re walking around the lake.’
But since when had we ever been lucky?
I turned to Luke. ‘How well did you two hide your bags and stuff?’
Luke cringed. ‘Pretty well.’
Great.
I got down low and crept over to look out at the shore again. Calvin and his men were already halfway around the lake. Their eyes were mostly on the bushland, which was good, but they’d still have no problem finding the cave if we gave them a reason to look over here.
And unfortunately, it looked like we already had.
There was a blotch of white gleaming out from under one of the bushes. The corner of a shirt, somehow even more noticeable in the fading light.
‘Pretty well,’ I muttered.
Nothing we could do about it now.
Mike was still at the entrance. He bent down, wrapping his fingers around the rope trailing down into the water.
‘What are you doing?’ I hissed.
‘Pulling it in. They’ll see it, otherwise.’
‘What they’ll see,’ I said, grabbing his wrists, ‘is that rope sending ripples across the whole lake.’
Mike stared at me for a minute, not impressed that I was telling him what to do.
Then he released his grip on the rope.
I let go of his hands, breathing again.
‘All right,’ he said, following me back into the cavern. ‘How are you getting us out of this, then?’
‘I’m not,’ I said. ‘We’re going to wait here until they go. Nothing else we can do.’
‘Yeah there is,’ said Cathryn, turning to Mike. ‘We haven’t done anything wrong. We should just hand these guys over and –’
‘And what?’ said Mike. ‘Just invite them into the cave? How happy do you think the overseers are going to be if the town finds out about this place?’
‘Be quiet,’ said Luke. ‘All of you – please. Jordan’s right. We need to just sit tight and wait for this to blow over. We can all go back to hating each other tomorrow.’
Silence. I figured that was as close as we were going to get to an agreement.
‘Everyone move to the back of the cavern,’ I said. ‘I’m going to go keep an eye on them.’
Mike stepped forward, but I held up a hand.
‘I’m going to keep an eye on them.’
He let it go, and I tiptoed up the tunnel alone.
I crawled the last few metres, sticking to the shadows, trying to catch a glimpse of Calvin on the shore. But they’d already come around too far. No way to see them without swinging out on the rope again.
Which meant they had to be right where we were standing when Luke had seen the cave. Right on top of all of our bags and clothes.
Close enough for me to make out their voices.
‘Sir,’ called one of the guards. ‘Found something over here.’
My fingernails dug into the ground.
No.
Quiet from across the water.
When the other guard spoke, he sounded unimpressed.
‘A shirt.’
‘Give it to me,’ Calvin barked.
More quiet.
Adrenaline coursed through my body, fuelling me up to run away or fight. Useless energy when I couldn’t do either.
Finally, Calvin spoke again. ‘It’s not theirs.’
‘Sir – How do you know?’
‘Look at it,’ Calvin spat. ‘It’s enormous.’
Tank, I realised.
I glanced over my shoulder, half-tempted to go back there and kill him myself.
‘Sir,’ said the guard who’d spotted the shirt, ‘there’s a boy in their year who’s probably about this –’
‘I’m aware of that,’ said Calvin.
‘Yes, sir. Maybe he was with them.’
‘Obviously he was with them.’
The officer seemed to sense that Calvin was losing patience. ‘Yes, sir,’ he tried again. ‘Obviously – But – Maybe he was helping them.’
‘No,’ said Calvin, and now it sounded like he was talking to himself. ‘No, they know better than that.’
He paused again.
I felt my stomach twist with every break in the conversation, terrified that one of them had noticed the cave.
‘Sir,’ the officer said slowly, ‘this would be a lot easier if you told us what you think these children are up to.’
‘Making your life easy is not a priority of mine, Miller,’ said Calvin coldly.
‘No, sir.’
I waited to hear Calvin’s next orders, but the conversation seemed to be over. Whatever they were doing now, they were doing it quietly.
In my head, I saw Calvin pressing a finger to his lips. Pointing out to the cave. Stepping into the water. Waving at his men to follow.
I forced myself to focus, listening for any splashing in the lake.
Nothing.
Nothing, for what seemed like forever.
And then I saw them.
Over on the opposite shore, walking back the way they had come.
They were leaving.
I pulled my body up a bit higher, shifting around to track their path around the lake.
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