Quest for the Sun by V M Jones Read Free Book Online

moment I thought it was falling, the wall starting to topple … a wash of dizziness swept over me. I felt myself stagger and hurriedly looked down at where my feet should have been. ‘Hurry up, Blue-bum,’ Rich whispered. ‘Which way, left or right?’
    But it was neither. Instead, Blue-bum headed towards the stone stairway, tugging me after him. At its foot I hesitated. This couldn’t be right. I felt a none-too-gentle shove, and a familiar voice growled: ‘Go on then, Zephyr — or d’you want me to go first?’
    This time, the challenge in Rich’s voice was clear. I pressed myself as close to the wall as I could and started to climb crab-wise, my back to the drop. There’d be a doorway at the top — we just hadn’t been able to see it from below. That was what kept me going: the thought of having solid stone on both sides of me and a level floor underfoot … and the simple fact that once we were on the stairway there was no place to go but up. Behind me I could hear Jamie scrabbling and snuffling like a baby bulldog, and I found myself mumbling encouragement as I climbed — or was it to myself? ‘Keep going … one step at a time … nearly there now … stay close to the wall … you’re doing great …’
    One thing’s for sure, I thought grimly: it can’t get any worse.
    But I was wrong.
    Â 
    I stopped just below the place where the stairs left the wall and jutted into space, staring in disbelief. Where the doorway had to be there was nothing. Worse than nothing: solid wall. We were strung out on a staircase no wider than my desk at school, the equivalent of four storeys up with no place to go. I heard a strangled bleat from behind. And at the same time, impossibly, the softest chatter came from above me to my right — from the stub of steps suspended over the postage stamp of courtyard way below.
    Two words collided in my brain. Blue-bu m and No. The chatter came again, urgent, insistent. I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a wordless croak. At last I understood. Very cautiously, I lowered myself to hands and knees. Almost hugging the uneven surface of the stone, I turned my back on the wall and crept out over the drop. With both hands on thelast step, I stopped. Peered over the edge, feeling the world tip. Another soft chitter came from up ahead, suspended in mid-air. I groped with one hand, feeling the roughness of stone ahead of me. Somehow the fact that I was still invisible made it easier to believe — easier to trust my weight to the void. I heard a little whimper behind me. ‘Remember Rainbow Bridge, Jamie?’ I croaked. ‘You did that. You can do this too. Close your eyes and pretend it looks as real as it feels — as real as it is . And … be careful.’
    One behind the other we crawled over the abyss, fumbling with invisible hands for steps we couldn’t see. I closed my eyes, pretending it was all a dream — a nightmare where if I fell I’d jolt harmlessly awake in my own bed.
    At last, after an eternity, I opened my eyes a chink and there was an opening ahead of me in the wall. It was just in front, damp stone close enough to smell, close enough to touch … and then I was scuttling on all fours into the dank mouth of the tunnel, hearing Jamie’s whimpers change to sobbing echoes behind … staggering to my feet and leading the others away from the nothingness at a stumbling run.

Bird in a cage
    â€˜One thing’s for sure,’ whispered Rich, ‘if any entrance is secret, that one is. Way to go, Blue-bum.’
    We were huddled in pitch dark in a tiny room off the main passage. Blue-bum had dragged us in and pulled the door tight shut behind us. For the first time we felt safe, and having hard rock under my bum had never felt so good.
    â€˜I vote we stay here a while.’ I could tell Jamie was struggling not to cry. ‘Maybe till