𝔒𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔘𝔭𝔬𝔫 𝔄 𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔪 | ♛

Part Six

Thankfully there are frequent and large handholds, so my ascent is easy. I squeeze myself over the ledge and crawl on hands and knees into the hole.

Up ahead I see a light, so I keep going. As I get closer I see it is another grassy ledge, and when I emerge, all of the children are there.

"Eva, Eva!" Bonny bounds over to me and grabs my hand. "We're going to find a pirate ship!"

"A pirate ship? Where?"

"In there." She points with her free hand at a gate with a sign, saying:NO ENTRY TO UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL.

"I don't think we're allowed in there, sweetie," I say gently, smoothing her hair down.

Her bottom lip wobbles dangerously.

"Sure we can," Reed says from behind me. "We just need to get past the guards!"

"Are you sure?" I widen my eyes in shock and then tone it down a little. "I mean, they might have guns," I say cautiously.

Reed rolls his eyes. "Then we'll be quiet. Come on, Eva, where's your sense of adventure?"

"Squashed by reason, Reed," Caleb says from behind me. "I agree. It's too dangerous."

"How are we going to get out of here?" Jaye says suddenly, tucking a strand of long red hair behind her ear. "The only way out of here is through there. There wasn't any way out on that other ledge and, unless we want to jump off the edge, we're stuck."

Caleb twists his mouth in thought. "That's true. But..."

He brushes past me and I startle again, and laugh nervously when he comes to stand next to me, too close for my nerves to handle.

"I found this earlier," he says. He holds up a worn, brown leather backpack, and then kneels down to root through it.

He pulls out a yellowed piece of parchment and unrolls it to reveal what looks like a map. The others whoop in excitement and crowd around, while I watch sceptically from above, one hand on my hip.

"By my calculations, I think we're here," he says, pointing to a jut of land on the edge of the map. "And the map says this opening, behind that fence, leads to a pirate ship. We could use that to sail out of here."

"This is so cool!" Bonny exclaims, her eyes wide with the thrill of an adventure.

Caleb rolls up the map and stows it in the backpack, standing and handing it to me with a smile.

"Are you sure this is wise?" I ask gently. "I mean, a pirate ship? Really?"

He keeps his arm extended with the bag, but his eyes narrow. "I know, but do you have any better ideas, Eva?" His tone was halfway between exasperated and angry, but his eyes tell a different story. They take my breath away.

I tentatively take the bag and pull it to my chest before slinging it over my shoulder.

"Let's go then," I prompt, walking past him in what I hoped was a confident manner.

Nathan and Reed, typically, are already scaling the gate, and jump down nimbly the other side. Ever the intellectual, I open the gate. When I turn around to hold it open for the next person, Caleb catches my eye and grins. I snap my head away, knowing that if I continue to stare I will get lost in him.

For goodness sake, Eva! Pull yourself together! You're weak at the knees with a simple smile. You're sixteen - act like it.

I take a deep breath and pass the gate to him, and turn around to continue along the track. Up ahead, Nathan and Reed are crouched behind a fallen oak, whispering to each other.