The Last Emerald

Chapter Seven:

Odessa’s Point of View

“Did you hear that?” I asked as a faint screeching noise came our way. Clara tilted her head towards the noise, listening intently.

“I don’t hear anything.” She said after a few seconds. I shrugged and kept walking. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out. It was a text from Callie.

            Callie: I’m out of the mines. If you’re not done, don’t come back. I’m with Easton, so just text me when you guys are done.

“Callie’s done.” I said in confusion. I pulled out the map from my pocket and shined the light onto it.

“According to this, we’re only about halfway through. How could she already be done if the paths were the same size?” Clara asked slowly.

“Maybe she’s not? Maybe she found something and she’s going to analyze it with Easton.” I pondered.

“But you’d think that she’d want all of us to come and look at it. It’s just weird.” She replied. I nodded.

“A lot of weird things have happened since we’ve been here.”

“You can say that again.” She murmured.  We kept on walking for at least twenty more minutes before a slight breeze in the mines blew a piece of my hair over my shoulder. Clara and I exchanged confused looks before squinting into the wind that was suddenly picking up.

A pale light was shining a good fifty feet in front of us. “What’s that?” I wondered.

“Let’s go check it out.” As we got closer and closer to the light the wind started to pick up stronger and faster. Once we got close enough we realized that there was a curve at the end of the path and that’s where the light was coming from.

“Should we…”I trailed off.

“Let’s go.” Clara said firmly. We rounded the corner and were met by daylight. A small set of stairs led us back to ground level.

“I bet that this was one of their escape routes.” I stated. Clara nodded.

“So that’s it?” I asked.

“I guess. Text Callie.” I whipped out my phone and messaged her. She instantly texted back to say that they were on their way.

“We could probably just walk around the outside of the mine, it’d take less time.” I suggested.

“Sure.” We walked around to the front of the mine and saw Easton and Callie driving up in the van. We walked over and Callie rolled down the window.

“Where’d you guys come from?” She called out.

“There was an escape route back there.” I replied. Clara and I hopped in and saw Callie’s hat and vest sitting on the seat next to us. I slipped mine off and set it on top of hers.

“So why’d you bail?” Clara asked.

“Too many rats and unfamiliar noises for me. I got half way through and decided that it was too much for me to do without one of you guys.” She said, with a slight tremble in her voice that only happens when she’s lying.

“Oh. So do we need to go back through it?” I asked. Easton shrugged.

“Not one of the ten people ever found anything in the first path.” He explained. Clara nodded.

“Then we won’t waste our time there. And next time we’ll all stay together.” She said. Callie nodded and visibly relaxed into her seat. I raised my eyebrows.