River Runs Deep by Jennifer Bradbury Read Free Book Online Page A

he was looking into the edge of a black hole.
    â€œThere’s a good little seam in there,” Stephen said from below. The rope at Elias’s waist felt heavier than before. But he ignored its weight, and soon his hands scrambled in and found the spot Stephen described. Elias slid his fingers in to the second knuckles and heaved himself up. His head scraped the side of the passage as he got his shoulders inside, and his knot dug in at his waist as he began to crawl.
    Stephen called out, “Good, now,” and Elias could tell he’d made it farther than Stephen had. The space grew tighter and Elias had to lie down, arms in front of him, in order to squeeze through. He used his knees and toes to push forward, staying on his belly, bumping now and again against the walls of the passage. But he didn’t feel any rock above him yet.
    â€œYou solid there?” Stephen hollered up.
    â€œYeah,” Elias said, breathless.
    â€œGet ahold of the little rope!”
    Elias inched forward a little more and found that the chamber widened. He gathered his knees under his chest and crouched, jiggling the rope at his waist.
    â€œWe going to send you a light,” Stephen said.
    Elias felt the rope dance in his hand, then heard Stephen call, “Haul it up. Slowly!”
    The light came clanking along the rock behind him, tipping sideways as Elias pulled it into the passage. It nearly went out, but somehow the flame held. He inched it along, the tin shrieking against the stone until he could grab the handle.
    He brought it in front of him, ready to see the wonders of the cave, and at first he thought he did. A smoothed wall surrounded him, solid floor beneath his knees. But then he saw that it ended a few feet away, a narrow shaft no wider than a sapling shooting into the rock above him.
    A dead end.
    â€œNothing here,” he called back to Stephen. “Just a chamber and then a hole in the ceiling.”
    â€œHow big a hole?” Mat asked.
    â€œFour or five inches!” Elias shouted back.
    Elias heard Mat swear. Stephen groaned. “You sure?” Mat asked. “You check the whole space? Sometimes the path dips down. No way under the walls?”
    Elias crawled to the edges of the little dome. They were uneven, deeper in some spots than others, but solid enough. He hated the feeling of having let them down, but there was nothing for it. “Nah,” he said. “You want me to come on back?”
    â€œHold on,” Stephen called up. Hold on? Elias began to feel the closeness of the space press in on him. He strained to make out the conversation below, but after a minute got tired of waiting and became itchy with the nearness of the walls. He was beginning to crawl out when Stephen shouted up, “Can you write your name?”
    Elias screwed up his face. Write his name? “ ’Course!”
    Then Elias heard the three of them arguing in earnest.
    â€œHe’s no visitor!” Stephen snapped.
    â€œHe ain’t one of us, neither!” Mat hissed. “Don’t you let him.”
    â€œNot like anyone gonna see it in there, anyhow,” Elias heard Nick mumble, but he couldn’t tell from his tone whose side he was arguing for. Still, it seemed to win the day.
    â€œNever mind,” Stephen called to Elias, “come on back out.”
    Elias sent the light back first, then reversed himself through the passage. His feet dangled out in the air until he felt hands on his ankles, guiding them onto secure spots on the wall.
    â€œYou all right?” Stephen untied the knot at Elias’s waist. Elias was breathing a little fast, and there was a scrape near his spine that stung like a yellow jacket, but he was fine. Better than fine. He was excited.
    â€œNeed me to go someplace else?” he asked, forcing his breathing to slow down. But still only a hint of a wheeze, and not even the ghost of a cough. Maybe it was the goose fat in the poultice, he