"We've got to get out of here," Annja said. The roar was growing louder every second.
Jenny looked at her.
"Annja?"
"
Give me a second."
"We don't have a second," Joey said. "That water's going to be here any moment, and if we're not free we'll die."
Annja broke through the final binding holding her hands together. She took a breath and said a silent prayer. She closed her eyes. The sword hung in her mind's eye, and she reached out her hands and grabbed it.
"Wow," Jenny said, as the sword appeared from nowhere.
Annja opened her eyes and saw she was holding the sword. She stepped behind Jenny and cut her ropes loose.
Jenny rubbed her wrists. "Thanks."
Joey turned around. Annja cut his ropes and then released the sword to the otherwhere. Joey jumped up and hit his head again, then fell over.
"Help me, Jenny!" Annja grabbed Joey and pulled him upright.
The roar in the cavern grew louder. Joey's body started to shake.
He gulped in air and steadied himself. "We've got to hurry."
Annja looked around. "If there's light in here, we ought to be able to get out—that way, right?"
"
Depends on the light source.
It could just be a narrow slice in the rock that we can't get through. We've got to find a way out that we can all fit through," Joey said.
"I'm not much of a swimmer," Jenny said. "All these years I've been meaning to take lessons, but I guess I just never got around to it."
Annja held on to her. "You're about to change all that. Try to hold your breath for as long as you can. Joey and I will help you navigate through. Just keep your eyes open so you can see what we're doing, okay?"
"Okay." Jenny looked at her. "Annja, I'm really sorry for the things I said to you. I didn't mean any of it. I was just really upset at myself."
"Forget it," Annja said. "Let's just concentrate on getting out of here alive. Then we can take care of our dear pal David."
"It's coming," Joey said, shouting now above the deafening roar.
Annja could see bits of water splashing the interior of the cavern and then a huge wall of white foamy water rushed right at them.
"Get into the pocket over there!" She pointed at a small depression in the rocks. It would shield them from the initial onslaught and save them from being pummeled against the rocks.
Joey got in first and then Jenny and Annja rounded themselves into the depression. A large outcropping of rock momentarily shielded them from the water. Annja hoped it wouldn't break off and slice their heads off.
The water tore into the cavern. "Hold on!"
And then it was upon them. Annja felt the blast of cold water hit her and struggled to take a deep breath as the cavern filled from ground to ceiling with water in seconds. Anyone not lucky enough to survive the initial blast would have drowned almost instantly.
The pressure of the water washing over them subsided and the entire cavern was underwater. She glanced at Jenny who looked absolutely terrified.
Joey disengaged from them and swam off under the water, looking for a way out. He waved Annja over to where he saw light filtering in through the frigid water. Annja motioned for Jenny to stay put and then swam to Joey.
He pointed and, in the distance, Annja could see an opening. Bright sunlight cut through the water like some kind of brilliant column. But it was several hundred yards away. Could they make it? Could Jenny?
She looked back and saw Jenny staring at her. Annja knew if the lack of air didn't kill them first, then the freezing water would.
She worked her way back to Jenny and pointed the direction they would be swimming. Jenny nodded and Annja locked her hands in Jenny's. Here we go, she thought.
Joey was already halfway toward the opening, using his strong legs to power himself through the water. Annja had to pump twice as hard and Jenny's output was only minimal, no doubt from the fear and cold temperature.
Joey took a quick glance back, nodded and then swam through the opening up into the light.
Annja followed in his wake, pulling Jenny until they both were into the opening, as well.
A strong current immediately grabbed them and pulled them through. Annja could barely hold on to Jenny's hands, but Jenny's grip stayed tight. Far ahead, she could see Joey spinning through the maelstrom and then up toward the surface and even brighter light.
Were they out of the cave?
There was a roar in her ears and Jenny started jerking around. She's losing it, Annja thought. We have to surface now!
And then they broke through to the open air. Annja gasped, sucking in air and water at the same time. Next to her, Jenny did the same and then started hacking uncontrollably as she swallowed too much water.
"Hold on!" Annja heard Joey shout. They were in the rapids, and rocks rose out of the water like static dorsal fins of sedimentary sharks waiting to cut them to ribbons.
The river slung them around the rocks and then beyond. The water was deep and cold. But at least they could breathe.
"Annja!
Hold on to me!" Jenny's voice sounded terrified, and Annja clung to her friend harder than ever before.
The river
swelled,
cresting and then tossing them into an even faster-moving current. Then Annja heard a sound she knew well. They were being swept toward a waterfall.
"We're going over," she shouted. Jenny clung on to her tightly. There was nothing to do but wait until they were suddenly falling through the air under the water and then splashing down into a deep pool. They were sucked underneath and torn apart from one another.
Annja searched the depths and then felt
herself
floating upward, finally breaking free of the water again. She gasped.
"Annja!"
She turned in the water. The roar was subsiding and she saw Jenny sputtering in the smaller waves. Annja swam over and grabbed her, then dragged her over to the beach. Joey lay on the wet sand, coughing and hacking up the water he'd swallowed.
Jenny collapsed on the sand and vomited a clear stream of water. Annja coughed some out of her lungs and then turned over, letting the sun warm her.
"I'm freezing," Jenny said, her teeth chattering.
Annja looked at Joey. "We need a fire and quick. We'll die from hypothermia if we don't get out of these wet clothes."
Joey nodded and shook some of the water off
himself
. "I'll get the wood. Give me a second."
Annja helped Jenny up. "You need to get out of your clothes."
Jenny looked at her. "What about Joey?"
"What about him? He needs to get warm, too."
"But he'll see us naked."
Annja took a deep breath. "We can't care about that now. If we don't get warm, we'll die. All of us."
"
Fine.
But I'm only stripping down to my underwear," Jenny said.
Annja nodded. "That's fine."
Joey came back with a bundle of wood. Annja could tell from the way he was walking that the cold had affected him badly. "I just…need a minute to get it going," he said through chattering teeth.
"You sure you can do it?" Annja asked.
He nodded. "Like one of the tests…my grandfather set up for me in the winter…trying to stay warm…" He used one of his shoelaces and set up a bow drill. He stroked it furiously, and within thirty seconds he had a small coal that he tipped into the bundle. It started to smoke and he grinned.
"Fire."
Annja helped him build the fire into a raging blast of heat. "Get your clothes off,
pal,
you've got to get warm."
He nodded and yanked off his wet jeans followed by his shirt. He didn't seem the least bit
fazed
by the sight of Annja and Jenny standing there in their underwear.
After a few minutes, Annja could feel the heat returning to her bones. She and Jenny started draping their clothes nearby. "They have to get dry before we can put them back on or we've just wasted our time," Annja said. Fortunately, Joey had found enough wood that the fire soon had their clothes steaming and drying in the sunlight.
Jenny looked a bit worse for wear. It was the second time in as many days that she'd been exposed to the threat of hypothermia. And nearly drowning in the freezing water hadn't helped boost her morale, either.
As they stood warming themselves by the fire, she turned to Annja. "Is this what your life is usually like?"
Annja nodded.
"More or less."
"
How in the world do you put up with it?"
Annja turned her face to the sun poking through the trees and shrugged. "It's not really a question of putting up with it. I don't have any control, so there's not a lot I can do except hold on tight and see where life takes me."
Jenny shook her head. "I don't mind telling you this now, but there was a time not so long ago that I really wished I had your life."
"
And now?"
Jenny smiled. "Forget it. I'll take my stuffy old existence at the university any day of the week."
"I don't blame you," Annja said. "It's a lot nicer knowing that the crazy stuff is happening to someone else. I envy you in that regard."
"But not entirely."
Annja sighed. "You know, it's a weird thing. I crave the peace and security you enjoy but, at the same time, I guess that's just not my role in life. And sometimes I kind of like it that way."
"
Sometimes?"
"
Well," Annja said. "I could do without the hypothermia, nearly drowning, gun battles, knife fights, crazed fanatics and various other things that seem to conspire to kill me on a regular basis."
"You forgot the sword," Joey said. "What about that?"
"I don't know about that," Annja replied. "It's all part of the learning process. I'm never sure where it will take me or why. I'm not even sure of all it can and can't do."
Joey tested their clothes. "They're almost done drying."
"Good," Annja said. "Once they're dry, we can get dressed and head back to town. We need to find Sheila and see if we can figure out exactly what is happening around here."
It took just under an hour for them to completely dry out and feel stong enough to move on. Joey was a perfect gentleman and left to let Annja and Jenny get dressed, returning only after he was sure they were fully clothed.
Jenny glanced at the river. "It might take me a long time before I think about swimming again."
"Everyone should learn how to swim," Annja said. "You never know when you might find yourself in a raging river."
"Or trapped in an underground cavern," Joey said. "These things happen."
"Don't you have some orienteering to do?" Jenny asked. "Aren't you supposed to be finding us a way back to town?"
Joey shrugged. "Already did while you guys were getting dressed."
"How close are we?" Annja asked.
"Three miles as the crow flies," Joey said. "Not that far. We can cover it in an hour or so."
"Then lead the way. The sooner we get to Sheila, the sooner she can tell us what's going on."
"You really think she knows?" Jenny asked. "And if she does, why haven't they silenced her yet?"
"Maybe the crackpot thing is just a cover." Annja shrugged. "If she knows the heat is on, it might just be a convenient ruse she uses to deflect their attention."
"Yeah, but she's still implicating David. I wouldn't think he'd put up with that," Jenny said.
"If he killed her, then maybe he thinks that would make people assume Sheila was right," Joey said. "He can't afford to have the townspeople suspect that he's a bad guy. But if he brushes Sheila off as a nut, then no one will ever believe her."
"Except us," Annja said.
"Exactly," Jenny said.
Joey led them down a slope that looked mostly overgrown. He picked his way down the trail as if he'd walked it a thousand times. He probably has, Annja thought.
"This isn't one of the trails used by hikers, is it?" she said.
Joey shook his head.
"Nope.
This is used by some of the larger animals in the area. It's not really a trail, just a large run of sorts."
"It leads toward town?"
"
In the general direction."
He glanced back over his shoulder. "I haven't led you guys wrong yet, have I?"
"Not yet," Annja said. "Just don't start, okay?"
"Sure."
Jenny walked along next to Annja. "Is this going to be good for you?"
"What?"
"
The walking?
You should be resting. That explosion really took a toll on you."
Annja smiled and called out to Joey.
"Hey, Joey?"
"Yeah?"
"
You feel like carrying me all the way back to town on your shoulders?"
He laughed.
"Hell, no."
Annja looked at Jenny. "That's me walking, then." "Everything we've been through could be doing physical damage to you," Jenny said.
Annja nodded. "You're not telling me anything I haven't thought of, Jenny. I appreciate it, but I don't have a choice right now. We need to get back to town and find Sheila. We can't sit around and wait for my batteries to recharge."
"So tell me what happens. Have you ever not been able to summon the sword?"
"Well, yeah, a few times. It seems not to operate in certain environments like small rooms and stuff. But I've also found it gives me a lot of strength, agility, reflexes, that kind of thing."
"So, like anything else, this…power, if you want to call it that, isn't limitless. There have got to be some parameters for usage.
Even if you haven't discovered them all yet."
Annja sighed. "That's about right. I learn as I go."
"Guess it wouldn't be as much of a challenge if you found out about it while eating ice cream in front of the television."
Annja frowned. "I can't remember the last time I did that."
Jenny sighed. "I do that a couple of times a week."
Annja smiled. "Okay, well, we've determined David is a scumbag. But I promise you that a good guy will come along sooner or later and then you'll be much happier."
Jenny giggled. "I'll wait until Joey gets to be eighteen."
Annja smirked.
"Right."
"
I heard that," Joey called out.
Annja laughed. "Of course you did. How are we doing?"
He looked back. "You tell me. You're the one with the dead batteries."
"They're not dead. They're just…run-down."
"
Right.
You want to take a rest or are you still good to go?"
Annja took a deep breath. The walk was actually making her feel pretty good. "I'm fine. Just keep us on track, okay?"
"You got it."
The hour passed more quickly than Annja would have thought. Joey led them down the animal run toward a smaller pond and then circled around that to a larger trail. He stopped them at that point and held a finger to his lips.
"We're on a main trail now. I can't guarantee we won't run into Dave and company. If they're out looking for us, this is where they'll be," he whispered.
"Why would they be looking for us?" Annja asked. "If they left us in that cavern to die, they probably think we're already dead."
Joey nodded.
"Makes sense.
Dave would have known the dam was scheduled to let some of its water reserves out and probably put us down there knowing we'd never be found until it was much too late."
"So they're probably not looking for us?" Jenny asked.
"Maybe not.
But they're still going to be doing whatever it is they're planning in the first place. And if that involves being out in the woods, then there's a chance we might run into them," Joey said.
"What we need," Annja said, "is a quick route back to town that avoids any interaction. We're not ready for a confrontation just yet."
Joey looked at her. "I can move us quick, but it might be tiring for you."
"We don't have a choice," Annja said. "Just do what you've got to do and get us back to town."
"
All right."
He pushed them hard. Annja found the trail fairly easygoing at first, but it soon gave way to rougher terrain and larger boulders that had to be sidestepped or else she would risk spraining an ankle.
Jenny had trouble, too, but managed to keep going pretty well. Only Joey sailed over the trail with ease.
"He probably knows where every rock in this whole forest is," Jenny grumbled.
"Lucky for him."
Annja glanced at her. "I thought you were going to wait for him to grow up?"
"Not anymore. I hate guys who make everything look easy."
Joey turned back. "Will you two stop talking? I'm trying to listen up ahead so we don't have any unpleasant encounters."
Annja nodded. "Sorry."
Joey led them down the side of one of the mountains and then stopped by a cluster of pines. Something about the area felt familiar to Annja. "Have we been here before?" she whispered.
Joey nodded.
"Yep.
Last night. It was dark, though, so I didn't think you'd remember. But good for you for doing so." He glanced around. "Here's the plan. We're close to the main road, probably not far from where you guys ran into Dave. There's a trail that runs alongside part of the main road."
Jenny nodded. "We took that into town after the truck exploded."
"Good," Joey said. "So you know it runs right into town. We're going to stay on that until we reach the bridge and then peel off on a side trail that very few people know about. It's one I use to skirt the street and avoid being seen."
"You do that often?" Annja asked.
Joey shrugged. "Sometimes it's better not being seen. The less people
know,
the better."
"And you can get us to the hotel that way?" Annja asked.
"Right up to the back of the building.
At that point, we can choose our next move."
"Sounds good," Annja said.
Joey held up his hand. "Wait here while I see if it's all clear. We'll need to move across the road fast and get down to the trail on the other side. The quicker we do so, the less risk of being seen. Agreed?"
Jenny and Annja nodded.
Joey crawled out through the trees and was back in thirty seconds. "We're good. Let's go."
Annja and Jenny followed him back through the woods. As soon as Annja felt asphalt under her hands, she got to her feet and sprinted across the road. Her lungs heaved as she did so and she wondered if she really needed more than just a few hours of sleep to overcome the energy deficiency she was suffering.
Jenny and Joey scampered down the hill in front of her to reach the trail. Annja followed them down and then bent over, sucking some air into her lungs.
"You okay?"
Annja looked up at Joey. "Keep going."
Joey's face looked tight but he nodded. "People know about this trail. If at any time I think we're going to run into someone, I'll take us off the trail until
it's
safe. Okay?"
"Let's go," Jenny said. "I think Annja needs a long rest."
"It won't be long now, Annja," Joey said.
"Maybe a mile.
Not much more."
"I'm fine. Just do it."
Joey led them down the trail. Annja found herself remembering the lay of it now that she'd traveled it twice. But earlier yesterday, she'd been burnt and dirty and exhausted from nearly having been crushed by David's truck.
That must be it, she thought. The sheer immediacy of me almost dying taxed my system to the brink. I need some time to recover.
How long is it going to take to get back to where I feel one hundred percent? And can I afford to wait that long? If David and his goons show up now, I'm toast. And so are Jenny and Joey. I can't let anything happen to them.
She pressed on, trying to stay close to Jenny, who had apparently gotten her second wind. She seemed to be moving faster than Annja was. Annja struggled to keep up with her.
Jenny looked back. "Can you keep going?"
Annja nodded, but she felt queasy and foggy at the same time. I am not in good shape, she thought to herself.
Her face felt hot and sweaty. Her heart thundered in her chest. If they hadn't swallowed a lot of river water, she might have thought she was dehydrated. But she knew she wasn't. She'd had lots to drink.
But she hadn't had plenty of rest. And that's what she needed more than anything else.
If she could sleep for even a few hours, it might go a long way toward recharging her. Even being knocked unconscious by the tranquilizer dart hadn't given her enough rest.
Could she take a nap at the hotel before they confronted David? It seemed unlikely.
Joey led them up to the footbridge and then veered to the right. A large rhododendron bush blocked their path but he pushed through it. Annja followed Jenny and then saw a smaller animal run in front of them. Thorny bushes poked out into the run, making travel difficult, but twenty yards farther on it suddenly got easier.
Joey stopped and motioned them to squat nearby. "I planted those to help discourage anyone else from using the trail. Now that we're close to town, make sure you keep your voice down. You'd be surprised how many conversations I've heard lurking back here, hiding from people in town."
"You were spying on them?" Annja asked.
Joey shook his head.
"Nope.
They were being noisy and I was just listening." He winked once and then kept walking.
Annja felt like her legs were starting to melt. Each step seemed to sink into the ground and get harder to pull back out. Her breathing felt labored and awkward, as if she couldn't get enough oxygen into her system.
The run sloped up and then Annja saw the roof of the hotel over the top of the trees.
The hotel.
She almost smiled.
If they could just get to Sheila.
"Annja?"
Jenny peered into her face. Why does she look so odd? Annja wondered. But had she voiced the question at all? She couldn't remember.
Annja took another deep breath.
"Annja?"
Another step.
She collapsed into nothingness.