Читать книгу The Secret - Ariana Chambers - Страница 8

I crouch down on my heels, trying to stay calm. But fear is closing in on me like the cave walls. It feels as if all of the oxygen is being sucked out, sucked from my body, like a deflating balloon. I try to take a deep breath and it feels as if my airway has been blocked.

‘Are you OK?’ Holly whispers, crouching down next to me.

I nod, gasping for air.

‘Oh dear,’ Mr Matthews says, his voice faint and woolly.

‘I can’t – I can’t breathe,’ I splutter.

Holly puts her thin arm round my shoulders. ‘Are you picking up on everyone else’s panic?’ she whispers. ‘Try to block it out.’

I try to picture the old oak tree but all I see is darkness. I close my eyes. I picture myself walking along the sunlit path to the tree. I picture light and space all around me. And then, finally, I can see the tree. I see its huge roots, like arms reaching out to me. And I picture myself running to sit inside them, pressing my back up against the trunk. Feeling the bark against my skin. Feeling the strength of the tree rushing into me, forcing out all of the fear. I take a deep breath and my lungs fill with air. I open my eyes and now, instead of total darkness, I see the light of Mr Matthews’s torch flickering around the cave.

I look at Holly and give her a weak smile. ‘Thank you.’

One thing I know for sure is that Izzy and the others can’t have been behind the rockslide. I was picking up way too much panic and fear from them. I turn and, sure enough, Izzy and Vivien are huddled together against the wall of the cave. Even in the darkness I can see that they’re trembling.

‘Where’s Stephen?’ Mr Matthews asks. ‘He was right in front of me. Now he’s gone!’ He shines his torch around and the light picks up Izzy, Vivien, Eve, me and Holly. Stephen has vanished.

‘He must have ghosted,’ I whisper to Holly.

She nods. ‘Typical of the Blood Witches to only look out for themselves,’ she mutters. ‘If I’d been given the power to travel through things I’d never have left you.’

‘Me neither.’ I look back at Izzy and Vivien and wonder what they must be thinking of Stephen for leaving them. They definitely don’t look happy.

‘He must have slipped through when I wasn’t looking,’ Mr Matthews says, fumbling around in his jacket pocket and pulling out his ancient mobile phone. ‘OK, the important thing is not to panic. I’ll call for help and they’ll have us out of here in a jiffy.’

‘There’s no way you’re going to get reception in here,’ Izzy snaps. ‘What if more of the roof collapses? What if we’re crushed?’

Vivien whispers something in her ear and Izzy suddenly goes all still and super-concentrated. I wonder if she’s trying to use her power. When Aunt Clara explained all of the different witch powers to us she said that, eventually, time-shifters are able to turn back time. I wonder if that’s what Izzy is trying to do now. So far she’s only been able to slow time down. Izzy continues to focus on the rock in front of her but nothing happens. I turn back to check on Eve. After the way she was on the coach yesterday, I wonder if she’s scared of small spaces. This must really be freaking her out.

I edge closer to her.

‘Are you OK?’ I ask. But Eve doesn’t respond. I feel a stab of irritation. I get that she’s stressed but we all are. She doesn’t have to be so rude. I look back at Izzy. She’s staring at the rock in front of us.

Suddenly the rock judders and then it slides to the side, slowly at first and then with a huge jolt it lurches free, leaving a gap just big enough for us to crawl through.

‘What on earth?’ Holly mutters.

‘It’s another rockslide!’ Vivien shrieks.

‘Get out of the way!’ Izzy shoves me to one side and crawls through the gap. Vivien is hot on her heels. Eve follows them.

A new horror grips me. Did Izzy do this – when she was staring at the rock? Did she make it move? But how? Could she be more powerful than we thought?

‘It’s a miracle!’ Mr Matthews cries. ‘Come on, girls, let’s get out of here while we can!’

I look at Holly. ‘Did you see that?’

She nods. ‘Come on.’

As I crawl through the gap after her I’m struck by a horrible realisation. If Izzy is able to move rocks as well as time-shift we really have got a problem.

That evening, back at the campsite, everyone is still buzzing from what happened in the caves. The teachers have no idea it was anything to do with Izzy. Miss Black thinks it was down to another tremor and Mr Matthews is referring to it as ‘The Mad Bess Miracle’. I watch Eve as she goes over to the teachers’ barbecue.

‘Hey, Eve, you can have some of our food if you like,’ Izzy calls out across the clearing.

The chattering dies down. Everyone looks as shocked as Eve to see Izzy being friendly to her. I hold my breath and wait for the inevitable snide remark or prank.

‘Seriously.’ Izzy takes a burger from their barbecue and puts it in a bun. Then she stands up and takes it over to Eve.

‘There’s got to be something wrong with it,’ Holly mutters and I nod.

‘Thanks,’ Eve says, taking the burger and turning to head back to her place.

‘Hey,’ Izzy grabs her arm. ‘Why don’t you eat with us too?’

‘Yes, come and join us,’ Vivien calls, making a space on their blanket.

‘After what we went through today, I feel like we’ve totally bonded,’ Izzy says with a smile.

‘Is she for real?’ Holly whispers.

‘Yeah, funny how they don’t seem to have “totally bonded” with us,’ I reply.

Stephen heads back from the toilet block. He’s carrying something.

‘Look what I found,’ he calls, holding it up. ‘Eve’s rucksack.’

Eve gasps with joy.

‘That’s marvellous!’ Mr Matthews cries. ‘Oh what a happy, happy day this has been. Apart from when we were trapped and thought we might die, of course.’

‘Where was it?’ Miss Black asks.

‘By the toilet block,’ Stephen replies, handing the backpack to Eve.

‘But – but – how did it get there?’ Eve stammers.

‘Who cares how it got there?’ Izzy says sweetly. ‘The main thing is, you got it back!’

Eve hugs the backpack to her and smiles gratefully at Stephen. ‘Thank you!’

‘Aw, I’m so happy for you!’ Izzy exclaims, putting her arm round Eve’s shoulders.

‘Oh my God. If she doesn’t stop with the PDAs I’m going to hurl up my hotdog!’ Holly says, shaking her head with disgust.

I look around at the others. They’re all as baffled as I am by Izzy’s sudden display of affection towards Eve.

‘But how did the rucksack get there?’ I ask pointedly.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Vivien hisses. ‘All that matters is that poor Eve has it back.’ She pats the blanket next to her again. ‘Come on, Eve. Come and join us.’

Eve follows Izzy and Stephen over and sits down on the blanket. She looks about as comfortable as a mouse that’s just entered a lion’s den.

For the rest of the evening we have to watch as Izzy, Vivien and Stephen launch a suck-up fest in Eve’s honour. It’s not until we get in our tents to go to sleep that I finally get the chance to speak in private to Holly.

‘Why do you think they’re sucking up to Eve?’ I say as soon as we’ve zipped up our tent and climbed into our sleeping bags.

Holly shrugs. ‘I don’t know. All I do know is that it must be bad.’

I burrow down deeper into my sleeping bag but it’s impossible to get warm. The uneasy truce that seemed to exist since the fire is definitely over. The Blood Witches are up to something, and their powers are greater than we thought. I hug myself tightly and prepare for another night of fitful sleep.