Curtain Call (The Jewel Project #7)

9. Last Hope

Comfort was once again foreign, even if this time they'd barely spent a week in the jungle. It did nothing for Jimmy. He wished they'd never left that hole in the ground where they'd lost Kyle.

The thought threatened to smother him every time he tried to rationalize it and he longed for his former unfeeling nature more than ever. At least then he wouldn't be feeling this guilt, this sense of utter uselessness. He'd done nothing. None of them had except for Kay and maybe Tom who'd tried to go back and found the floor collapsing under his feet.  In that mayhem, it had been so hard to think, to act, especially with Jessie bleeding in his arms.

There's still hope. A hope he refused to share because it was so feeble and yet threatened to ruin everything. He couldn't risk them losing Kyle again.

"So..." Sam sat on the edge of Kay's bed, his head in his hands.

They'd all gathered in the hotel room Angie and Kay shared, finally clean and patched up, to discuss what their next move.

Jimmy had no idea what to do. If he were completely honest, he wasn't even sure what country they were in. Something inside him had broken the moment they'd stepped out of the jungle and his instincts were no longer needed.

"We failed," Tom said from his place on the desk. "Isn't that obvious?"

In more ways than one. But Tom was deflecting. It was obvious that Sam meant something else and it was unlikely for his twin, out of all people, not to get that.

"I know," Sam said. "But we managed to get out. And before we do anything else, we have to decide whether we go back in there, whether we..." His voice trailed away and he flinched as if he wanted to look over his shoulder but didn't have the strength to do it.

Kay sat behind him, perched against the headboard, a pillow in her arms. There were tearstains on her face, but her eyes were dry. They had been since they'd all gathered in that room.

"You can say it, Sam," she said, her voice hoarse from lack of use. "Whether we should go back and look for Kyle."

"Yes, that," Sam whispered and pressed the heels of his palms over his eyes. "The spike wall was moving towards us. The room was falling apart, ceiling, floor, everything. I think that whole entrance caved in when we got out. Do you... Do any of you think there's even the slightest chance he's still alive?"

It was obvious how much that question cost him. Jimmy flinched, because it was so final. But Sam knew, as they all did, that they had to make a call. The only problem was, the jungle was filled with armed men who were after them and that shrine, or temple, or whatever it was, had tried to kill them, then decided to crash in on itself.

Sam's question was greeted with silence. No one dared outright say there was no hope. But Jimmy couldn't see it. Kyle had been trapped between a hard wall he couldn't destroy and a wall of spikes moving towards him, and that only if the floor under him hadn't collapsed all together or held other deadly things. Then there was the matter of the ceiling falling in.

"Maybe..." Jessie's voice trailed away.

"Say it, Jessie," Kay demanded.

Jimmy winced since her tone reminded him so much of Kyle. It was like something stabbed him with every memory, the jab short but potent.

"I was thinking that maybe there were more traps, or trap doors and maybe..." Jessie faltered again. "But everything in there was deadly. Everything."

"We can't go back there," Jerry said. "If we do and we get hurt or killed, Kyle would've sacrificed himself in vain."

"He didn't sacrifice himself!" Kay said, her voice filled with venom. "He didn't want to die there to save us. It didn't save us. And it's the only reason I'm not--" She fell silent. There was a long pause before she spoke again. "As much as I want to, I can't see it either. So I can't make you go back there."