Chapter Thirteen
INTO THE CAVE
Getting out of the Duguay’s undetected was much easier than I’d thought it would be. Of course that’s because the Duguay’s don’t have an alarm system and the section of the house where Josh’s and my rooms are lead right out the house’s side door.
If anything, the most difficult part was getting the bikes out of the garage. At one point Josh nearly knocked over a metal watering can which surely would have caused a racket. But he caught it and righted himself and that was that.
Now, pedaling side by side along the narrow road that will take us to the dig site, we’re both extremely excited about what lies ahead.
“We still have to finish moving that big rock off the hole,” says Josh as we cycle past a rather bumpy section of road.
On either side of the road, metre high stone walls mark out one property from the next.
“Yeah...I know...” I groan. “At least we have the rope,” I add, fingering the rope tied around my waist. “That’s going to let us actually get down the hole.”
“Yes, but we still have to move that rock first.”
“I know, Josh. I know we have to move that rock.” I shake my head in annoyance.
“I’m just saying,” he says quietly.
I look at him. Uncle Marty really did a number on him.
“Don’t sound so defeated.”
“What do you mean?” he asks, his eyes fixed on the lights of the village ahead.
“I mean, don’t sound so defeated. You sound like really depressed and it’s starting to drag me down. Uncle Marty yelled at you. So what. Let it go. You’re my brother and I need you to be my brother.”
Josh throws me a sideways glance. “Hunh?”
I smile. “I need you to be strong and brave.”
My words seem to put some wind into his sails. “Ohhhhh. Okay. I didn’t know what you meant. But now I get it.”
I nod. Bravo...god he’s slow sometimes.
“I can be brave. I am brave.”
“I know.”
“And you know I’m strong.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Well...”
“Well...””
“Let’s go find this treasure!”
“Yes. Let’s.”
The ride to the dig site takes nearly an hour, the road taking us up hill and down, past sleepy farmhouses and wheat fields, and over several small bridges.
I’m grateful when we arrive, grateful for the chance to rest my aching calves and grateful for the chance to wipe the sweat from my forehead.
“Where should we leave our bikes?” asks Josh as we wheel them onto the dig site.
It’s eerie here at night. Lights left on by the work crew cast a pale glow across the dirt ground while the white canvas skins of the tents flap noiselessly in the cool, ocean breeze. From further on, through the pitch blackness, I can hear the sound of gulls and the rhythmic lull of waves.
Josh shivers. “This is creepy.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I say, leaning my bike up against one of the tents. I stop and pick up a small metal mallet left outside the tent door. “We might need this.”
Josh nods and parks his bike against mine. “I’m going down into the cave, right?”
“Yes.”
For the hundredth time....
Josh looks pleased. “Awesome. And you can like, hold the rope or whatever.”
“Well, if you find anything down there, we’re going to switch. You can have fifteen minutes or whatever and then it will be my turn.”
“I only get fifteen minutes in the cave?”
I roll my eyes. “Josh, we’re only going to be there for an hour or so anyways. We’ll take it in turns. You can have fifteen minutes, then me, then you again, and then me.”
He looks unsure, but finally relents. “Alright...”
“God, you make it sound like you don’t get to go into the cave at all.”
I adjust the rope so that it’s positioned differently around my waist and begin making my way across the dig site.
“I know I get to go into the cave,” says Josh, following close behind, “but I just don’t see how fifteen minutes is long enough.”
I’m ready to pull my hair out.
“Josh. Seriously. It’s not that big a deal. If you want to stay down there longer, fine. Is half an hour enough time?”
He doesn’t answer and the only sounds that can heard are those of the ocean in the distance and of our feet scuffing against the hard-packed earth.
“Josh.”
“What?”
I turn and look at him, growing more exasperated by the second. “Is half an hour long enough? Or do you want to spend all frickin’ night down there?”
He scowls. “You don’t have to be all bitchy.”
“I’m not being bitchy,” I snap.
We continue on in silence, there being a palpable gap between us now, and I take the opportunity to collect my thoughts.
What the heck am I doing here and man oh man if I were back in Toronto I’d probably be getting ready to go to Stacey’s cottage. Or we’d already be there.
The flies and mosquitoes are annoying...but there are always lots of cute guys at her lake...and we go tubing and water skiing and, ahhhh, I should have just told mom and dad I’d stay with Aunt Karen...or not. Aunt Karen is way too strict...
We’ve passed the dig site now and we’re on the grassy plain that leads to the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean.
“You have a flashlight, right?” I ask my brother without bothering to look at him.
“Yeah.”
“Can you use it?”
Gah...
He stops, slips his backpack off his back, and kneels down on the grass to fish out the flashlight.
“Here.”
A confident beam of light illuminates the way now and I feel much safer being able to see where I’m going when we’re right beside the edge of a cliff.
“Thank you,” I say tersely.
“No worries.”
His tone is cheerful now and I admire the way in which my brother can go from annoyed to happy.
“I can’t wait to see the look on Uncle Marty’s face when we show him the treasure,” I say gleefully.
Josh grins. “Yeah. He’ll totally lose it. And we don’t even have to tell him where we found it. Like you said before we can just stroll up to them on the dig site and be like, look what we found. Or not even.” He laughs. “We can just, like, wear it, or whatever, and he’ll be like, where the hell did you get that diamond necklace?”
I feel a laugh escape my throat. “That’d be awesome. Especially if we didn’t tell him.”
“Yeah.”
The ocean’s loud now, with us being so close. Loud and angry sounding. The wind is doing a number on my hair too and I pat it down with both hands, hoping to temper the damage.
“It’s cold,” says Josh, his teeth chattering.
I nod. “Yeah. That’s because there’s a wind coming off the ocean!” I find I have to shout now as the wind carries my words away.
Josh rubs his hands together and blows on them. “It’ll be good to get into that cave.”
“Yeah. Let’s jog. It’ll warm us up.”
Josh nods. “Good idea.”
We jog along the edge of the cliff, careful not to venture too close. The grass is soft and cushioning underfoot and I’m warm again after just a few minutes.
“Where’s the path down to the beach?” Josh yells eventually.
“There was a big bush by it...um...” It’s so hard to see in the dark. I hadn’t considered this. “Shine your light over that way a bit more...”
“Over that way?”
“No, that way.” I take hold of his wrist and guide his hand to my right. “There. Keep it over there and we’ll just go a little more...yep...there it is. Right there.”
I smile, feeling satisfied, as we make our way toward the large, leafy bush that marks the
trail down to the beach.
“This is going to be tricky,” says Josh. “Do you want to go first and then I can shine the light for both of us?”
For once a good idea out of him.
“Yeah...sure.” I hop down onto the path, careful not to slide, and brace my foot against a jagged rock. “Alright.”
Josh nods and aims the light at our feet. “Let’s go,” he says, jumping down beside me.
We pick our way carefully along the rocky, dirt path. It’s slow going and twice I have to stop to study the ground for the best route, but eventually we make it to the bottom.
“I really wish this was a sandy beach,” Josh remarks as we start our trek across the rocky surface of the beach.
“Yeah.”
“And holy, the water’s in.”
“You mean the tide is in.”
“Yeah, whatever. The tide is in.”
I smirk. “You guys didn’t learn about tides in Mr. Jefferson’s class?”
He looks at me as though I’ve just asked him a question in a foreign language. “Hunh?”
“Mr. Jefferson’s class. Science nine. You guys didn’t talk about tides?”
“No.”
“Well, Mrs. Davis taught us about tides and ocean currents and all that cool stuff.”
“Sounds boring.”
I shrug. “We got to go to Lake Ontario a couple times.”
“For, like, a field trip?”
“Yeah. But, like, just our class.”
Josh looks annoyed. “Lucky you. The only field trip Mr. Jefferson brought us on was to the landfill.”
I laugh, but immediately feel bad when I see the expression on Josh’s face. “Oh my god, I’m sorry, but that’s too funny. He brought you guys to the garbage dump?”
“The landfill.”
I shake my head, smiling all the while. “It’s the garbage dump. Don’t try and give it a nice name.”
“Whatever...”
I can tell he’s getting annoyed, so I don’t press the matter anymore.
“I don’t know if I remember where the entrance to the cave is...” he says after a minute.
“Um...” I stop and survey the beach. “I remember there was a big piece of driftwood near it...and obviously the ivy covering the entrance...”
“Right...the ivy...” says Josh, re-directing the beam of light so that it illuminates the cliff face. “It was just...a little...”
We pick our way over the rocky terrain, mindful of the larger pieces of driftwood and wary of the more slippery, seaweed-covered rocks.
“Just a little...” he continues, keeping the light on the cliff face, “...more this way...there! There it is! That has to be it!”
Excited, we race toward the curtain of ivy hanging from the cliff face. When we reach it, Josh parts the strands with the flashlight.
A smile stretches across his face as his hand disappears behind the ivy curtain. “This is it.”
I feel anxious all of a sudden. “I can’t believe we’re actually going to do this,” I say, following him inside.
“Well, we need to find the Dumnonian Hoard. If not for Uncle Marty, then for Troy.”
Troy...yes...though I’m not quite sure how I feel about him at the moment. He seems to have been taking Uncle Marty’s side a fair bit. Or, not necessarily taking his side, but not coming to my defense.
“Let’s just find it for ourselves. So that we can be rich and famous.”
“Uncle Marty said we can’t keep any of it though, Sarah,” says Josh as we make our way across the smooth floor of the cave.
“Uh, news flash, this isn’t Uncle Marty’s treasure.”
“Yeah, but it’s not ours either.”
“Well it will be if we find it.”
Josh grins as he drops down beside the heavy rock covering the hole, the heavy rock we’d moved part way.
“If you say so.”
“I say so.”
“Here,” he says, setting his backpack to the side and taking hold of the rock, “help me move this thing.”
“Ahhhhhh.”
Josh looks at me, his eyes fearful. “What?”
“Nothing,” I pout. “I just don’t feel like moving this stupid thing.”
“Well, we have to move it!” Josh exclaims as though I’ve just said something unbelievable.
I groan and drop down beside him. “I know...I just don’t feel like it.” I laugh, knowing I sound pathetic.
“Whatever,” says Josh. “It won’t even be that bad. Look,” he points to the six inches of hold we’ve already exposed, “we just need to push it a few more feet and then we can get in.”
I nod, growing serious now. “Alright.”
“Start pushing on three, alright?”
“Alright.”
I stare hard at the rock, trying to imagine how two fifteen year olds can possibly move such a heavy thing.
“One...two...”
“Wait!”
Josh looks at me, clearly annoyed. “What!?”
“I brought gloves for this.”
“You brought gloves?”
I nod and reach into my pocket and remove the two dirt-stained gardening gloves I borrowed from the Duguay’s garage.
“Do you have gloves for me too...or are those just for you?”
“How about I’ll wear them for when we’re pushing the rock and then you can wear them for when you go down the rope. They’ll be good for your hands. You won’t get rope burn.”
Josh nods and I feel bad because I just made all that up.
“Good idea, Sair.”
“The only kind I have,” I say with a nervous laugh.
“Alright. Come on now, let’s move this.” Josh grunts and strains against the rock, pushing against it with his shoulder and using all his might while I hurry to put the gloves on.
“Sarah!”
“Give me a second!”
Josh makes a sound, stops, and stares at the ground.
“Just one second!”
He looks at me. “Hurry up.”
I get the gloves on. “Ah, alright, there.”
“Now help me move this damn rock.”
I nod and lean down beside him.
“You push from the side,” he says, indicating the site nearest me, “and I’ll push from this side.”
“Alright.”
“On the count of three. Okay?”
I nod and steady myself against the rock. “Okay.”
“One...two...three!”
We push and the rock moves with ease. As though our timing was so perfect that the rock just decided to move for us.
“Wow...I can’t believe it...” I say, breathless after just half a minute of pushing against the rock.
“We’re not done yet,” says Josh, indicating the partially uncovered hole with the back of one hand.
“Just a bit more, eh?”
He nods. “Yeah. I can almost fit through.”
“Alright. Let’s push again. Just like last time.”
“Just like last time. On the count of three.”
“One...two...three!”
We push and this time the rock moves all the way for us, the hole being left completely uncovered.
“It’s not very big, is it?”
Josh shakes his head. “No, it isn’t...and...” He smells the air, “it smells salty...”
“Salty?”
He nods and I watch as he puts his ear to the hole. “There’s water down there. There’s the sound of water.”
I shudder, suddenly picturing myself at the bottom of that dark hole, knee deep in water. “I’m not so sure I even want to go down there anymore...”
“Well, I’ll go down then.” He points at the rope tied around my waist. “Give me the rope.”
I don’t like how Joshua’s taking the boss mentality.
“I’ll get the rope ready. You put these gloves on.”
“How about we both get the rope ready...what do we have to do? Just tie it somewhere s
afe, right?”
“Yeah,” I answer as I untie the rope from my waist.
“Where do you think we should tie it?” he asks, looking around. “There’s nothing to really tie it too...”
I shake my head. “I don’t - shhh!”
Josh snaps to attention. “Shhh, what?”
“Shhh, I think I just heard someone.”
Josh looks confused. “What?”
I nod and put my index finger to my lips.
He returns my nod and crouches down beside the rock.
“Yes...there’s definitely someone on the beach...can’t you hear them? They’re speaking in...I think it’s some kind of foreign language...I’m not sure.”
“French?”
I shake my head. “No...I can’t quite make it out...”
And then, just like that, without any warning, the ivy curtain at the mouth of the cave swings open and a flashlight beam fills the cave, blinding us momentarily.
I’m too scared to move or shout or scream or...do anything. And then two figures, impossible to make out clearly behind the blinding light of their flashlight, step into the cave.
“Who....who are you?” I ask, one hand at my brow as I strain to see through the light.
“Why, if it isn’t Sarah and Joshua!”
I know that voice...
The flashlight lowers and my mouth drops open when I see who it is standing before us.