Scarlett Hayes's Arc

Chapter 3 of 9

Scarlett took one step into the back passage. Then she heard water. It hissed behind her, cold and fast. She turned. The flood had climbed the hill. It poured through the cave mouth and spread across the floor. It swallowed the fire in a puff of steam. The purple stones dimmed under the rising dark. The way back was closing. "Azumi!" Scarlett spun toward the fire pit. Her friend lay curled beside the last warm stone. The heat had pulled her under. She slept, one arm flung out, mouth open. The water crept toward her hair. Scarlett looked at the black passage. He was minutes ahead. If she ran now, she might catch him. She looked at Azumi. The water touched the sleeping girl's shoulder. The choice took no time at all. Scarlett dropped the blanket and splashed back. "Wake up!" She grabbed Azumi's arm and pulled. "Flood's inside! Fly, Azumi, fly now!" Azumi's eyes cracked open. She saw the water, then she saw Scarlett's face. She read the fear in it before Scarlett said another word. "You came back," Azumi mumbled. "For me." "Of course I did! Move!" Azumi rose off the floor, dripping and dazed. She lifted a foot clear of the water and blinked hard. "He got away, then." "I don't care. Go up. The passage." Scarlett shoved her friend toward the dark opening at the cave's back. The front was gone now. Only that one way led higher. Azumi flew ahead through the passage. Scarlett waded after her, the water at her knees, her waist, cold biting deep again. The passage sloped up. She climbed. The flood chased her but the floor rose faster. Slowly the water fell behind. They came out onto a ledge above the tide. Scarlett dropped onto stone and gasped. Azumi landed beside her and hugged her hard. "That was dumb," Azumi said into her shoulder. "You had him. You let him go for me." "You'd have drowned." "Yeah." Azumi pulled back and grinned, wide and shaky. "So now you're stuck with me." Then her grin faded. She tilted her head, listening. "He's still up there. Scared thoughts. Close." Scarlett looked past the ledge. A carved stone sat in the moss, dark and wet, covered in strange curling marks. Water striations ran through it. She had never seen writing like that. Muddy fingerprints smeared one edge. He had touched it, right here, and run. "He dropped something." Scarlett crawled to the stone and pressed her palm to the marks. They were warm. "Or he left it for someone." Azumi crouched beside her and frowned at the runes. "I can't read those. But whoever carved them wasn't from around here." Scarlett stared at the twisting lines. She had lost the boy for now. But the trail had turned into something bigger than one runaway. She wrapped her arms around herself and stood. "Then we follow the stone," she said.