Fairchild's 7 Daughters-The 12: Book One

40. Torrent Rains

"Don't you dare do it, Hannah!" Alifair shouted after her sister as she chased her around the porch and back inside the house.

Miriam and Selene were sitting on the porch watching the storm gather momentum forcing obeisance from its subjects composed of grasses and trees. "What is she doing now?" Miriam asked as Hannah ran past them and Alifair stopped.

"She's going to slide down the banister," Alifair said. "She's such an animal."

"I'm going to do it, Alifair you better come stop me!" Hannah shouted from inside the house.

"There is no living with her!" Alifair said then charged inside. She nearly bumped into Heloise who was coming downstairs with the white Bible in her hands. Hannah was already perched at the top and when she saw Alifair on the landing she straddled the banister.

"Look out below!" she shouted and pushed off. The banister ended and Hannah came down on both feet briefly before her left one crashed through the floor. "Help me, I've been eaten!"

Alifair and Heloise rushed up to her and freed her leg from the hole. "I told you not to do it!" Alifair said.

Heloise leaned over the damaged floor and peered down into the hole. "There is no ground here," she said getting Alifair's attention.

Alifair covered her nose. "It smells like a swamp."

"What is the meaning of this?" Miriam asked as she came into the house with Selene.

"It was all Hannah's doing," Alifair said.

Miriam knelt down between her sisters and felt the wood. "Well it was bound to cave in sooner or later," she said. "The whole thing has rotted."

"See," Hannah said.

"That still is no reason to be reckless," Miriam told her. "I wonder how long the foundation has been washed away."

"If someone had fallen through they could have broken their neck," Selene said.

"I wonder," Miriam said gripping a piece of the broken floor. She yanked at it until the nails gave way widening the hole.

"Miriam," Heloise said in a worried voice. "I don't think you should be doing that."

"Worry not," Miriam said as she started on another plank. The damaged boards came up rather easily and soon they had a hole wide enough for a body to go down. Miriam lay flat and peeked her head in. "There's a tunnel!" she exclaimed pulling herself up. "There's a passage running toward the back of the house just under the stairs."

"Taitiann, Astrid, come quick!" Selene shouted.

"And bring the lantern!" Miriam added. When the other two sisters entered the foyer and saw the damage they immediately turned to Hannah. "There's a tunnel down here," Miriam said unable to contain her excitement.

Taitiann knelt down next to her and held the lantern down into the hole. "It sure is," she said as she looked around. "Also lots of bricks from the foundation." She sat up out of the hole and took in a breath of fresh air. She then stuck one leg into the hole only to be grabbed my Miriam.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to see where the tunnel leads to," Taitiann said. "Come on, Miriam. You let me ride off into the early morning with Mr. St. Cloud I don't see how this is anymore dangerous."

Miriam released her arm and nodded her head. "We'll lower you down then pass you the lantern," she said taking it from Taitiann. She and Selene then lowered her into the hole and passed the lantern down afterwards.