Underworld

by Cathy MacPhail

  It seemed they all felt the same. They left that chamber almost in a panic, glad to be back in a larger cave where the air seemed clearer, the cave not so oppressive. The chambers were larger, and walking was almost easy.

  Axel came right up close to Zesh. ‘Who’s the one with the brains now?’

  Zesh took the chance to dive at him, but he wasn’t quick enough. Axel darted from his grasp with a triumphant laugh.

  Suddenly Angie lunged at him too. ‘I demand you give it back to him. We’ve got to work together to get out of here. A team, Mr Marks said.’

  Axel didn’t even let her finish. ‘Marks doesn’t have a vote now. In fact, neither do you, fattie. I’m the only one who has a vote. So sit down on your fat bum and shut up.’

  Liam laughed and joined Axel. ‘You’ve got a cheek. If it hadn’t been for you Axel wouldn’t even have known about the inhaler.’

  She drew her breath in. ‘That’s not true.’ She looked at Zesh. At Fiona. ‘It’s not true.’

  Axel pushed her back. ‘This never happens at Girl Guide camp, does it?’

  Angie fell behind, defeated. She sat back, on her own.

  Zesh didn’t care any more whether she’d told them or not. He just wanted to breathe. The attack on Axel had been a bad idea. It had taken too much out of him. Must conserve my strength, he thought. He closed his eyes. I’ll be OK. I’ll be OK. Allah help me. I’ll be OK.

  Angie tugged Fiona awake. Fiona grunted in annoyance. Angie had been crying. Her eyes were red-rimmed and blotchy. ‘We have to do something, Fiona, to help Zesh.’

  Fiona pulled herself away roughly. ‘Like what? Give him the kiss of life? You’re on your own, Angie.’

  ‘We could ask Axel together.’

  ‘Appeal to his better nature, you mean? In case you haven’t noticed, Angie hen, Axel hasn’t got a better nature. You know the only thing he understands is violence. If you want something, batter somebody and take it. If you and me were to jump him, batter lumps out of him and take the inhaler off him, that he would understand. And d’ye know how, Angie? Because that’s all that’s ever been done to him.’

  Angie was wide-eyed, listening. ‘Are you trying to make me feel sorry for him?’

  Fiona tutted at that. ‘I don’t feel sorry for him. We’ve all got our problems. I’m just telling you that’s the way Axel is. Not everybody lives in Girl Guide land, Angie. Look at me, my mother’s a party girl. Always has been. She was always leaving me in by myself from I was a tiny wee thing. She doesn’t want to get old. Still thinks she’s sixteen. God knows what age she is under all that make-up she wears. I could use her as an excuse. It’s all my mother’s fault. What’s the point? It would be lovely to have designer parents, lovely house, perfect life. But, Angie, it doesn’t happen for everybody. You’ve just got to play the cards you’re dealt with, and get on with it.’

  Angie looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Play the cards you’re dealt with,’ she repeated. ‘I like the sound of that. What does it mean?’

  ‘It means you make the best of what you’ve got. Stop whingeing and blaming everybody else. Get on with it, and who knows, you might win the game.’

  Fiona remembered her mother telling her that one day after a teacher had lectured her on being a better mother. ‘I might be useless,’ she had told Fiona, ‘But I’m the only one you’ve got. So get on with it.’ Her mother might not have taught her much, but she had taught her never to feel sorry for herself. There was no sentimentality when it came to her mother. She found that was helping her a lot now.

  ‘I think that’s a wonderful philosophy, Fiona.’

  Zonks, Angie did come out with some rubbish at times.

  ‘Well, what you’ve said has just convinced me that I must do something to help Zesh.’ Angie clutched at Fiona’s arm and whispered, ‘You don’t believe I told Axel about Zesh’s asthma?’

  Fiona looked into Angie’s pleading eyes. She knew deep down that Angie would never lie about such a thing. Axel must have found out some other way. But something, something wicked in her, stopped her from telling that to Angie. She was suddenly fed up with her, with her crying and her clutching, and her never-ending cheeriness.

  Instead she said, ‘Misfortune seems to follow you about, Angie. And you always claim it’s never your fault. What about that school trip? Somebody died?’ She glanced at Mr Marks. ‘Zonks, Angie, if you ask me you’re the Angel of Death.’

  ‘It was a skiing accident. Nothing to do with me.’ But Angie’s voice wavered.

  ‘A skiing accident? In Paris? Or was that yet another school trip from hell? I’m beginning to think you like making up stories, Angie. And now you’re on this school trip, and let’s face it, Angie, things couldn’t be much worse, could they? But of course, that’s not your fault either. It’s never your fault.’

  ‘Fiona, please, we mustn’t quarrel. Not now.’

  That, it seemed to Fiona, was the last straw. ‘You mean, with us being best friends and everything? Angie, get it through your thick head, you are the last person I would be best friends with. You’re fat and ugly and too thick to realise I cannot stand you. And when we get out of here I never want to see your fat, ugly face again!’

  With every word Angie scrabbled back, away from Fiona’s wrath, as if every word was a dagger stabbing into her.

  ‘Can you get that through your zonking brain? Or do I have to draw a picture?’

  With that Fiona turned her back on Angie. Maybe now, she’d get some peace.

  Axel ate his chocolate and surveyed them. He liked this feeling. Power. Zesh lay against the teacher, breathing painfully. He hadn’t even heard the argument between Fiona and the fat bird. That had been great. Fiona was sleeping now. Axel didn’t mind Fiona. Deep down he thought of her as ‘one of us’. But she needed a lesson. The fat bird was way off on her own. She wasn’t sleeping. She was still crying. What a wimp. That was a smart move on Liam’s part to let them all think she had been the one who’d told him about Zesh’s inhaler. Now, neither Zesh nor Fiona trusted her. Divide and rule. It was working already.

  He was lord of all he surveyed. What was that daft poem one of the teachers had told him about? Something about a bird. A hawk, roosting in the trees, having power over everything.

  Well, that was him now.

  A hawk.

  Chapter 21

  Liam could smell the sea. He was sure of it. The walls of the cave were damp. Yes, they would soon be out. The thought of not finding a way out – of staying in here for ever – he refused even to consider. Axel was wild with power and that scared him. No one would be able to control him if anyone went against him. But who would go against him now?

  Certainly not Zesh. He wheezed in a corner as he dozed. His harsh breathing echoed through the dark. I should feel sorry for him, Liam told himself. But I don’t. He’s always been too sure of himself. And he had no right to bring me down the way he did. In front of everybody. Let him suffer just a bit longer. I mean, people don’t die of asthma, do they?

  Liam’s eyes turned to Angie, cowering in a corner, like a beached whale, trembling from fear and hurt probably. He had heard Fiona turn on her too. About time too. Angie was a pain in the butt. No, the only one who would have the gumption to stand up to Axel would be Fiona – and she wasn’t doing it. Why? Probably because she thought of Axel as her kind. He lived in her world – up there.

  Up there. It was another world he was remembering. Up there on the surface.

  Yet down here it was as if all the lines had been blurred, and Liam wasn’t sure where Fiona stood any more.

  But she’d stick with them in the end. If there was a choice to be made, Fiona would stick with Axel. She’d never choose Zesh.

  Axel got to his feet. ‘Right! Come on. We’re moving.’

  Fiona got to her feet. ‘Not till you give Zesh that inhaler. Axel, listen to him. He can’t breathe. You canny expect him to carry Marks like that.’

  Zesh had sat up. It was too difficult for him now eve
n to talk. His face looked pale as the light shone on him, his eyes eerie pinpoints in the gloom.

  ‘I’ve got an answer to that. Leave the blinkin’ teacher.’ Axel lifted his shoulders. ‘That’s the sensible thing. That’s what I’ve decided.’

  Liam saw the sense in that too. It was impossible to take him on. Why was Zesh so insistent?

  ‘Give him the inhaler!’ Fiona took one step forward. Her face was grim. Liam wanted to see this. If Fiona lunged at Axel she’d give him a good go for his money. But she’d never win. She must know that. Axel was too powerful, built like a steamroller. And Liam wouldn’t let her win. He was definitely on Axel’s side now.

  Axel made a stupid face at her, taunting her. ‘Make me! Make me!’ he chanted.

  Then it happened, taking them all by surprise. It wasn’t Fiona who moved. It was Angie. Out of the dark she came, lumbering, charging against Axel with a roar that sounded just like another earthquake. It took Axel so much by surprise that he didn’t have time to avoid her. She pounded into him, sent him shooting backwards on to the ground. She fell on top of him, grabbed his ears and pushed his head back. No one moved. It was all happening too fast. It was like watching a movie, Liam kept thinking. This isn’t real life. This isn’t happening.

  Axel only took a minute to pull himself together. He gripped a handful of Angie’s hair. She screamed. He threw her from him and her clawing nails left a trail of blood on his face.

  Axel wiped the blood with his hand. He looked at it as if he couldn’t quite believe what it was. His blood. Then his malevolent eyes turned on Angie. She was stumbling to her feet.

  Axel ran at her. ‘I’ll get you for that!’ he yelled.

  Fiona yelled too. ‘Axel, don’t!’

  Angie gasped. She took a few steps back.

  And suddenly, Angie was screaming. At first, Liam thought she was putting on an act, her arms flailing, and staggering as if she was having a fit. Her eyes were almost popping out of her head.

  Too late he realised, all of them realised, that Angie was falling.

  She reached out her hands for help. She reached out to Axel, closest to her. But no one could help. It all happened too fast, in seconds. Angie let out an ear-shattering scream of terror – and then, she was gone. Plummeting, her scream echoing, echoing, then disappearing, dying into silence.

  Axel was shaking. ‘I never touched her. That wasn’t me!’

  He looked around frantically for someone to believe him. Zesh was on all fours, crawling closer. Fiona, who had been standing like a statue, suddenly shot forwards, threw herself on the ground and began to shout through the hole.

  ‘Angie!’ She screamed it down the fissure they hadn’t even seen, where rocks and debris tumbled after Angie. ‘Angie!’

  They all held their breath, praying for an answer.

  ‘I warned you about holes,’ Zesh said with difficulty.

  ‘Shut up!’ Axel yelled, then he flung himself down beside Fiona. ‘Angie!’ His voice was even louder than Fiona’s. ‘She’s got her whistle. Shout and tell her to use her whistle.’

  Fiona took her own whistle and blew it as hard as she could. But though they waited, there was no answering whistle.

  ‘She’s dead,’ Liam said, hopelessly. ‘She must be dead.’

  Axel got to his feet. ‘It wasn’t my fault. She ran at me first. I never touched her.’

  No one answered him. Fiona only blew her whistle again. And again.

  ‘She can’t answer you,’ Liam said. ‘She’s dead.’

  Fiona swung at him. ‘Shut up about her being dead. She’s not dead. Right!’

  Axel tried to be funny. ‘She’s probably stuck somewhere. I mean she’s that fat.’ He didn’t get another word out. Fiona turned and slapped his face.

  ‘That’s not funny. She’s maybe just unconscious. We’ve got to find her.’

  Axel, mad at her slap, screamed at her. ‘We’ll never find her. Don’t be so stupid. We’ve got to get out of here.’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere till we find her.’

  ‘You said yourself she was a Jonah.’ Axel’s voice was a yell. ‘The Angel of Death, you called her. Somebody died on the last school trip she was on.’

  And they were all silent, thinking, Liam was sure of it, the same thing. Somebody had died on this one too – but no one had expected it would be Angie herself.

  Fiona began pulling the rope from her backpack. ‘I’m going down after her.’

  Nothing anyone could say would stop her. Even Axel tried. ‘You’ll be the one gets lost.’

  Liam too. ‘When we get out we’ll send somebody back for her.’

  Fiona snapped at him. ‘You’re great for sending people back. At this rate you’ll have an army down here looking for us.’

  Zesh tried too, with hardly a breath. ‘It’s too dangerous.’ What he was really thinking was, it should be me going down. He was useless now.

  ‘What if she is unconscious? And she wakes up and she’s on her own, and she knows we’ve gone on and left her?’ The thought seemed to pain Fiona. ‘I’m going down and that’s it. She might be on a ledge or something.’

  She tied the rope around her waist and stood at the edge of the hole, shining her lamp down. Zesh wanted to ask why she was doing it. This wasn’t like Fiona. This was a different Fiona. But they were all different down here, except maybe Axel.

  ‘I’ll keep whistling. You keep whistling back. That’s all I’m asking.’

  ‘You’re crazy, Fiona,’ Liam shouted at her.

  ‘I’m still going.’ She sounded frightened. She looked down again. Her beam only lit so far, and then it plunged into blackness.

  ‘Nobody’s coming after you if you don’t come back,’ Axel said angrily, his face threateningly close to hers. He’s angry because she won’t do what he says, Zesh thought.

  Fiona pushed Axel from her. ‘Nobody’s asking you. Just hold on to the other end of this rope and haul me up when I give three blasts on the whistle, right.’

  She looked over at Zesh and he lifted a hand to wave. He wanted to say something, to assure her he would make them wait for her, make them pull her up, but it was taking all of his strength now, just to breathe.

  She took a step over the edge, looked at Axel. ‘See if you don’t wait for me, I’ll tell your mammy, Axel … and her new boyfriend.’

  Zesh wanted to laugh, but all he managed was a smile. Typical Fiona, still spouting off even at a time like this.

  Her eyes found him, just for a second, and then she disappeared into the chasm.

  ‘Angie!’ Fiona yelled into the impenetrable gloom. ‘Angie!’ But even she could hear the hopelessness in her voice. She never would find her. As she lowered herself from one black cavern into another, she realised that Angie could have slipped through any one of them. She blew hard on her whistle and the sound screeched through the tunnels, echoed, and Fiona stopped, grabbing at ledges, searching for footholds and waited for some answer, a faint cry, an answering whistle, anything.

  ‘Angie!’ she screamed again, fighting back sobs. Thinking of her sliding down this long black tunnel, falling, perhaps lying somewhere, terrified. Was she close by, trying to call back, but, like Zesh, too weak?

  Was she unconscious?

  Was she …? No!

  She couldn’t be. Girls like Angie didn’t die. No one was meant to die. It was a school trip for zonks sake. An afternoon adventure, Mr Marks had called it, going down into his beloved caves, sharing the excitement of them. Adventure? Disaster!

  They were supposed to be back at the hostel now, having that disco, or was it morning already, or days later? She didn’t know, couldn’t tell. What had happened to time down here? That frightened her too. How long had they been down here? Were there search parties out looking for them? Was her mother worried about her? Had they contacted her in Benidorm?

  And what about Angie’s family? Waiting for her, not knowing that she would never be coming back. No! She would not think this way. She w
ould come back. She had to. Because if she didn’t, Fiona could never forgive herself. After all she’d said to her. She had to find her. She wasn’t even afraid down here, in the dark, the way she thought she would be. She didn’t think of the terrors that might lurk in these deep dark tunnels that wound their way under the island.

  All she could think of was Angie.

  She wasn’t thinking that only Axel and Liam were up there to pull her back, and she trusted neither of them.

  Or that the rope might break.

  That she might be trapped down here for ever.

  She wasn’t even thinking of the Worm.

  All she could think of was Angie.

  Chapter 22

  Fiona was shaking when she was pulled back up. Her face smudged with dirt and tears. She’d been crying, Axel thought. And she wasn’t even trying to hide it. Crying for Angie? Why was she taking it so hard? Axel couldn’t understand it.

  ‘Told you you’d never find her,’ was the first thing he said to her.

  She snapped back at him. ‘Shut up!’

  She dragged herself on to the rim of the hole and untied the rope around her waist with trembling fingers. ‘There’s too many tunnels down there. They go everywhere. She could have slipped down any one of them.’ She looked up at Axel, her voice dry with sobs. ‘Where did she go?’

  He pictured Angie sliding down, unstoppable, like someone on a funfair ride. Funny, if it wasn’t so terrifying. He pushed the thought of it away.

  ‘She’s gone. There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ll move on.’ He looked around at them all. At Fiona, and Liam and Zesh. ‘We have to keep moving.’

  Fiona didn’t answer. She crawled to a far side of the chamber, curled up and began to cry again. This wasn’t like Fiona. Fiona didn’t do the crying thing. What was happening?

  ‘We’ll rest for a bit, then move on.’ Axel wasn’t asking them for an opinion. He was telling them. Liam didn’t argue. He was shaking so hard Axel could almost hear his bones jangling. He was staring at the hole that had sucked Angie away from them.

  ‘There’s something in these caves, Axel. Something that’s got Angie.’ He turned and looked at Axel, his mouth quivering as if he was frightened to put his fear into words. ‘There’s something in these caves.’