𝔒𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔘𝔭𝔬𝔫 𝔄 𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔪 | ♛

Part Seven

The tunnel is very dark, but the rock is curiously worn smooth. I trail my right hand along it as I walk.

My hand comes into contact with metal and I leap away in fright, eyes scanning for an unseen threat. When nothing moves or sounds save for my own heavy breathing, I tentatively move my hand back to the place it had been, feeling around for the cold object.

When I find it, I circle my hands around a piece of metal that seems to be a slim cone, with the point at the bottom. I lift it and a flame ignites right in front of me.

I scream and drop it on the floor, scrambling away. When I get a good look at it, I feel very, very stupid.

It is a torch bracket, with a wad of cloth soaked in some kind of fuel stuffed into the top. I pick it up, wondering where the flame had come from, and upon inspection of my surroundings see some kind of 'flint and steel' mechanism on the wall, which must cause the spark when the bracket is lifted.

Relieved, I turn back to my current course, torch in hand.

After quite a while the tunnel branches out, and I have no idea which path to take. If only I'd brought the map with me!

"Eva?" I hear Caleb say distantly. "Is that you?"

"It's me!" I shout back. "I've got a torch. Find one on the wall and lift it."

Finally I see an orange glow emerge from behind a corner.

"We need to take the left path," Jaye says importantly, tapping the map. "Then it should be a hundred metres or so until we come across a massive cave."

I nod in recognition and continue walking down the left path. Caleb bumps my shoulder playfully as he catches up.

"C'mon, Eva, lighten up," he says.

I look askance at him. "It just feels like a bad idea," I answer.

In truth, I'd been feeling wary up until Caleb had taken the guards out of the equation. After that, an eerie calm had settled over me. At least, it did right after I'd calmed down and my skin had cleared of the circular imprint of the gun barrel. It was even more unsettling than Caleb himself.

I suck in a stunned breath as we halt. The tunnel simply ends after the corner we just turned, giving way into a humongous cavern. The water in the cave bowl glistens in the shafts of sunlight from the holes in the ceiling, and vibrant green vines laden with pink flowers hang from these holes in thick tubes, their leaves gently brushing the surface of the water. A pair of blue songbirds swoop in front of us and land on a high ledge, twittering their distaste at our presence. The sound of a waterfall reaches my ears from somewhere to my far right, where a giant hole in the rock gives way to the view of the bright blue sky.

"It's... It's beautiful," I say wonderingly.

Caleb positively beams, and with one finger he turns my head toward him.

"You know what else is beautiful?"

I roll my eyes. "Me?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, #surname#," he laughs, dropping his hand to his side. "I was giving you a clue. Look over my shoulder."

My eyes widen as I do as he says.

"Oh, wow."

A wooden ship, whose size rivalled a small modern cruiser, is tethered in the shadows to our left. It's like something out of a movie set; it's wooden frame is slightly buckled and even busted in places with the gruelling force of time, but its sleek prow is intact, as are its creamy linen sails. The portholes are closed and the sails are drawn up, however, and it looks for all the world like a sleeping giant.