Chapter 8 #2
“Where’s Alex?” One of the girls suddenly spoke up, voice rising. Her gaze darted around the group. “Alex?”
The other kids started looking around. Their voices rose in concern.
Noah’s heart rate kicked up. He locked eyes with one of the boys. “Do you think he snuck away to keep searching for the gold?”
The kid shook his head vigorously. His eyes were wide. “Not Alex. He’s the one who tried to talk us out of going in there in the first place. He’s kind of a Boy Scout type.”
“He was there when we grabbed our packs in the big chamber,” the red-haired girl added, voice thin. “He handed me mine.”
Noah’s stomach dropped. The kid had been with them in the main cavern. Which meant he should be right here.
But the kid with the baseball cap was yelling into the opening with no response.
Noah had taken his eyes off them for one minute to scan for the gold.
And he’d missed someone slipping away.
A kid was now lost in the cave system, alone in the dark.
And it was on him.
She had to go in.
Meg’s heart hammered in her ribs as she stood at the cave’s mouth. It yawned wide, ready to swallow her whole.
Behind her, the four rescued kids huddled together, their faces pale and scared. Her medical bag hung heavy on her shoulders. Heavier than she remembered it being.
She’d made the right call earlier. To stay outside had been smart. Safe. The only choice her panic-stricken body would allow.
But now a kid was missing inside that darkness. And the most likely reason was that he’d fallen or hit his head. If he hadn’t injured himself, he’d have come out with everyone else, or at the very least, yelled back.
The weight of that knowledge pressed down on her chest.
Liam wiped his muddy hands on his pants. He zipped his jacket against the chill that had settled into the canyon with the earlier storm. Gray clouds gathered overhead, promising more rain. “Storm’s picking back up. We need to get these kids out while we can.”
Noah stood near the cave entrance, his posture tense, his jaw set in that hard line Meg recognized. He looked exhausted.
They all did.
“Agreed. Liam, you start walking them out. Take the western trail, avoid the washout. Teague, stay at the cave’s entrance.
Relay to dispatch if we need backup or medical evac.
” He turned to Meg, his expression carefully neutral.
“You good out here with Teague? If I bring Alex out injured, we’ll need you ready. ”
Meg’s throat tightened. Every instinct screamed at her to nod. To accept the out he was offering. Her chest felt like someone had wrapped steel bands around it.
Are you running toward good things or just away from hard things? Her mother’s voice. Clear as if she were standing right there. You’re a good doctor, Meggie. I know it, and deep down, you know it.
Was that true? Or had she just been good at faking it?
Meg took a breath. Deep. Controlled. She fought against the tightness in her chest, forcing air past the constriction.
She could pretend. She’d done it before.
Hundreds of times. She’d walked into emergency rooms with her heart racing and her palms sweating, with panic clawing at her throat.
And she’d hidden it from everyone back then.
She’d even been able to hide it here for the most part.
Only Noah truly knew. She’d learned to wear confidence like a mask.
She could do it again.
She had to.
“I’m going in.” She was surprised by how steady her voice sounded.
Noah’s eyes widened. “What?”
“I’m going in with you.” The words were firmer this time.
She adjusted the straps of her medical bag. Her fingers gripped the nylon tightly enough to keep them from trembling. “If Alex didn’t come out with the others, he’s likely injured. Possibly seriously. You’ll need me in there, not out here.”
Noah studied her face. She could see him processing. He was recalibrating.
“Meg, you don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t have to.” She looked at the entrance again, then met his eyes and held steady. She willed her expression to stay calm even as her heart tried to beat its way out of her chest. “I’m telling you I’m going.”
Fake it. Pretend you’re not terrified. Pretend your mother was right about you.
“She’s right, Noah.” Teague adjusted his radio. His expression was thoughtful. “You might need her skills inside. If the kid’s badly hurt, talking you through treatment over the radio could waste precious time.”
Noah’s jaw tightened. He looked at Meg for a long moment. He searched her face for cracks. “Are you sure?”
Goodness, no.
Every cell in her body was screaming at her to stay outside, to run. To stay safe.
But that wasn’t who she was. That wasn’t who her mother raised her to be.
She might run to Pennsylvania later, but she refused to run now. Not while someone needed her.
You’re a good doctor…You save people. That’s what you do.
“Yes.” The word came out quiet but certain. “I’m sure.”
She wasn’t sure. Not even a little bit.
But she would pretend until her body believed it. She would walk into that darkness because a kid needed her. Because this was her job. Because running away had cost her enough already.
Noah held her gaze a moment longer. Then he nodded slowly. “Okay. But you stay close. You follow my lead. And if I tell you to get out, you get out. No arguments.”
“Agreed.” Meg adjusted the straps of her medical bag again, buying herself a few more seconds to breathe.
Liam shouldered his pack. He pointed down the muddy trail that led away from the cave. “I’ll get these kids out. Keep the radio open.” He caught Meg’s eye and gave her a small nod of encouragement.
Teague tested his radio. “I’ll be right here if you need anything. Be careful in there.”
Meg took another breath. Deep. Controlled. The way Dr. Sandra had taught her years ago.
She followed Noah toward the cave entrance, toward the darkness.
Just one foot in front of the other.
Maybe, just maybe, that was enough.
The temperature dropped immediately. The cave’s mouth swallowed the gray daylight within a few steps, leaving only the beams of their headlamps to cut through the darkness.
The walls pressed in close here. Sandstone streaked with moisture. The air smelled of wet earth and ancient stone. Thick enough to taste.
Meg’s heart pounded so hard she was sure Noah could hear it.
Each step felt like walking deeper into her nightmares. Jude under the water. Her father’s face fading to gray. Lydia’s chest going still beneath her hands.
The darkness seemed alive. Consuming her from all sides.
Deep breath in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four. Repeat.
Noah paused ahead of her. His beam scanned the passage. “Alex?” His voice echoed off the stone walls and was swallowed by the darkness beyond.
No answer came. Just silence and dripping water.
They moved forward, single file. Noah’s pack brushed against the wall. The sound was loud in the confined space. “Stay close behind me. Watch your step—it’s slippery here.”
Meg’s boots found purchase on the wet stone. Her hand reached out. She steadied herself against the cool wall. The rock was solid beneath her palm. Real and present.
She focused on that. The texture of the stone. The sound of water dripping somewhere ahead. The steady beam of her headlamp.
She could do this.
She was doing this.
The passage opened without warning. Suddenly they were in the main chamber.
Meg’s breath caught.
The natural spring bubbled higher than last time, the recent rains causing it to spill across the stone floor.
But it was the left side of the cavern that made her stomach clench and drop. The dark stains on the rocks where Lydia had died.
No.
Not now.
Right now she had to focus on Alex. She had to focus on saving this one.
“The girl said she last saw him in here.” Noah’s voice echoed slightly. “There’s a chance he fell and nobody noticed. Let’s start to the left and work our way around.”
Meg nodded. She forced her feet to move past the stains.
Each step felt like a victory. Small. Hard-won.
Her flashlight swept across the chamber.
She realized with a start that her hands were steady. She was shaking inside, yes, her chest tight and her breath shallow. But her hands were steady.
They’d gone about ten feet along the chamber’s edge when the beam of her flashlight landed on something angular. It was half hidden behind a cluster of rocks.
Not natural.
Man-made.
“Noah, there—”
“Alex?”
“No, the chest.”
Noah moved to her side in two strides. He crouched down as his headlamp joined hers.
The steel box, worn and scratched by the years, sat wedged between two stones. A small boulder sat on top and seemed to have dented it, but it was intact. The same military-grade construction from fifty years ago that Nimue had found last month.
Meg knelt beside him. Her medical bag slid against her hip. Her fingers found the chest’s latches. She flipped them open. The hinges creaked as she lifted the lid.
And there they were.
Gold bars. Just like in the other one. Dull in the headlamp beams but unmistakably real.
She lifted one. Its weight was heavy in her hand. “I can’t believe we found it.”
Noah’s fingers brushed the bar. His expression was unreadable in the dim light. “Looks like we found chest number two. If we can find one more, maybe this chaos will finally stop.”
He straightened, his hand on her shoulder. “But we’ll have to come back for it later. We need to find Alex first.”
Meg nodded. She set the bar back carefully and closed the lid.
Priorities.
A kid’s life came before gold.