Madame Brouwer picked up a stone and tossed it into the
gouffre
. After a couple seconds, a distant, plunking splash burped up out of the depths. “Fifty meters deep,” she said, sounding pleased.
There was water at the bottom.
Caitlyn’s eyes widened. Of course! All the pieces were fitting together. Didn’t all the clues so far have to do with water?
Stella Maris
, the Star of the Sea. The scallop shell that also meant the end of the earth at the edge of the Atlantic, the Sea of Darkness, also known as the Abyss of Death.
And abyss and
gouffre
meant the same thing!
And the dragon: on the sundial there had been a dragon at the base of the rays—rays that resembled the lines on the scallop shell. The dragon had also crawled out of a chasm in the painting of Fortuna. The dragon was a sign of the devil, and according to local legend, the devil used the
gouffre
as his doorway to Hell.
Feeling almost faint with anticipation, Caitlyn leaned over and whispered to Naomi, “I think the treasure is down
there
. Everything points to it! It all fits!” Caitlyn quickly went through her reasoning.
Naomi thought for a moment and then nodded, her eyes sparkling. “If it is, how will we get to it?”
“I’ve seen people on TV rappelling down rock faces. It can’t be that hard to learn. I wonder if there’s anywhere nearby we could take a lesson?”
Madame Brouwer, who had been saying something about limestone, stopped and gave them a look. “Caitlyn! Since you’re so interested in talking, please tell the class how this
gouffre
was formed.”
Caitlyn’s face burned as her classmates turned to stare at her, their expressions a mix of pity and gleeful expectation. Caitlyn’s already-racing heart beat double time, almost sounding like there were two in her chest. Her vision swam at the edges.
Fortunately, Caitlyn had paid attention in class when Madame Brouwer lectured about the
gouffre
. “Rainwater has carbon dioxide dissolved in it, making it acid. This water seeps through cracks in the limestone, dissolving it. As the cracks get bigger, the water flows faster, and water erosion starts speeding up the process. Eventually, big holes form in the rock, making caves, and if the roof of the cave gets too close to the surface, it collapses. So this is really the open roof of a cave.”
Madame Brouwer grunted in approval and addressed the whole class. “The
gouffre
is not an isolated cave. The water that flowed into this space also had to flow out. Speleologists have mapped an extensive system of caves in this area, including passages that lead off of the
gouffre
.”
Caitlyn’s stomach sank. If there had been treasure at the bottom of the
gouffre
, someone would have found it ages ago.
“Many passages, however, are unexplored due to rock falls, flooding, and the technical difficulties and dangers of exploration,” Madame Brouwer went on, reviving Caitlyn’s hopes.
The thumping of her heart was neither slowing nor quieting; instead, it seemed to be growing louder, filling her head. Pinpricks of light dotted her vision.
Madame Brouwer’s voice seemed far away, barely reaching Caitlyn through the sound of her own blood rushing in her head. “Let me warn you that caves in their natural state are not full of paved, level pathways, mesdemoiselles, so I advise against exploring any caves you may come upon. They are instead excellent places to break a bone and die, hundreds of meters from the light and air. And if it’s not a broken bone that gets you, then a flash flood will be your end. Or a rock fall. Or getting wedged into a crack from which you have not the strength to remove yourself.
“Even those deaths,” Madame Brouwer went on, “horrible as they might be, would not match the one of getting hopelessly lost, your torch battery burning down until it casts nothing but a dim yellow glow, and then that, too, fading until all is darkness such as you have never experienced. In the cold darkness of the caves, your eyes will never adjust. The temperature will be a constant thirteen degrees Celsius, bringing on hypothermia. Even if you find water uncontaminated by bat guano, and have enough clothes to stay warm, you will die of starvation. Alone. In blackness.” Madame Brouwer looked at them one by one. “So do not venture into caves without a guide,
d’accord
?”
“Oui!”
the class chorused, horrified by the grim description.
The girls ahead of Caitlyn moved away from the viewpoint, and it was finally her turn to look over the edge of the abyss. She stumbled forward, the beating of her heart seeming to knock her off balance with every thump. “
Je suis au bord du gouffre
,” she whispered, and leaned forward.
I am at the edge of the abyss
.
The rock walls of the pit were streaked with gray from long exposure, and small scrubby bushes and clumps of grass had taken root in crevices inside the throat. About fifteen feet down, the
gouffre
widened into a cavern, its walls stretching away into darkness. A slanting shaft of sunlight illuminated an aqua-blue pool at the bottom.
Her heart gave one last, loud thump, and then stopped. Time froze, the world caught in utter silence as Caitlyn stared into the abyss. She had a sudden vision of a heart being lifted from the ashes, its chambers still contracting with life, pumping air where once blood had flowed. And then the moment was shattered by a burst of sound like the beating heart of the earth itself, crashing inside her skull. Caitlyn lost her balance and yelped, falling forward, her arms flailing the air. She heard a shriek of voices from behind her, and from the corner of her eye saw Naomi reaching for her.
From the depths of the abyss came a roar like the breath of a dragon. A blast of air rose up from the earth and lifted Caitlyn, throwing her back from the edge, tossing her like a paper doll back across the path. She had a glimpse of the flying hair and lifted clothing of her classmates, and then she fell to the ground, wrapping her arms over her head. The burst of wind disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Madame Brouwer crouched down beside her, her hands running over Caitlyn as she asked quick questions to assess the damage. The other girls stood in a gaping circle around them, bug-eyed. Amalia was so pale she looked like she’d lost a gallon of blood. Naomi was holding herself as if the temperature had dropped thirty degrees.
As the shock faded away, Caitlyn began to breathe again. “I think I’m okay,” she told Madame Brouwer. Okay, except for the vision of Bianca’s still-beating heart.
“What happened?” Naomi asked in a quavering voice, her question directed at Caitlyn but answered by their geology teacher.
Madame Brouwer looked back toward the
gouffre
, her face betraying unease. “I’ve never seen a cave wind of such force. It makes no sense for it to be so strong coming out of such a wide opening, unless something cataclysmic has happened beneath the earth.” She turned back to Caitlyn. “The moment before it started, it looked as if you were about to fall. Was there a downdraft pulling you in?”
“I … I thought I heard a loud noise, and it knocked me off balance,” she said.
Madame Brouwer frowned. “I didn’t hear anything. Class?”
The girls shook their heads.
Madame Brouwer helped Caitlyn to her feet and did another quick assessment on her condition. Satisfied that Caitlyn was shaken, not broken, Madame Brouwer went back to the abyss and looked over the edge. “Nothing is different. But perhaps from where you were standing, you could hear something that we could not. Or perhaps there was a microburst of air from a thunderhead.” She looked up at the clear sky, shrugged, and then turned away from the abyss. “I think you should visit the nurse, as a precaution.” And to the class, “Could I have two volunteers to accompany Caitlyn back to the château?”
Every hand in the class shot up. Caitlyn was surprised and flattered for a moment, but then saw the frightened looks on her classmates’ faces. No one wanted to hang around the
gouffre
anymore. Madame Brouwer seemed to be the only one who thought there was a purely scientific explanation for what had happened.
“Amalia, Naomi, thank you,” Madame Brouwer said.
The three of them trudged back down the trail, shoulders hunched and silent until they were well out of earshot of their classmates, and then as if at a silent signal they stopped. Naomi spoke first. “Caitlyn, what happened back there?”
“That wasn’t just wind,” Amalia said. “It meant to do what it did; it meant to push you away from the
gouffre
.”
Naomi shivered. “And it was cold. Really cold.”
“I don’t know what happened.”
“What was the noise you thought you heard?” Naomi asked.
Caitlyn glanced at Amalia.
“I know something strange has been going on with you beyond your Screechers,” Amalia said. “You don’t have to tell me what it is if you don’t want to.”
Caitlyn met Naomi’s gaze, a silent question passing between them. Naomi shrugged.
“It’s like this … ,” Caitlyn began, and gave Amalia a rundown of Raphael and the treasure stories. “What I thought I heard at the edge of the
gouffre
was a very loud heartbeat,” she finished.
Amalia swore softly. “Bianca tried to lure you into the abyss, but something else pushed you away and saved you.”
Caitlyn chewed her lip. “Maybe.”
“You wouldn’t be the first person she’s lured into the
gouffre,
” Amalia argued.
“Thierry,” Naomi said softly.
“I’ve always thought that some higher power made him do it,” Amalia said. “The guy was too big of a jerk to want to kill himself.”
Caitlyn blinked in surprise at Amalia.
Amalia crossed her arms protectively over her chest. “He cheated on me.”
“But I thought you just went out with him a couple times, to be a rebel?”
Amalia’s cheeks turned pink. “It was a little more serious than that. But then I found out he was seeing two other girls—
two
!”
“Bastard!” Naomi said.
Amalia shrugged, obviously uncomfortable. “It was for the best. He started selling drugs, too, and I didn’t want to be around that.”
“Wow,” Caitlyn said. “So being rich really
doesn’t
buy you any class.”
Naomi shook her head. “Major wanker.”
“I never told anyone about his cheating on me,” Amalia said. “Especially not Brigitte. She idolizes him. Or she used to, anyway. And there’s no point in saying anything now.”
“No,” Caitlyn agreed.
“So what do we do now?” Naomi asked. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to the
gouffre
.”
“I agree,” Caitlyn said. “I need to get back there, but in a dream, not in real life. I can be scared in a dream, but nothing can truly hurt me.”
“I wish waking life was like that,” Amalia said. “Wouldn’t you stay in that dream world forever, if you could?”
“But if I was there forever, it wouldn’t be a dream anymore,” Caitlyn said, as they resumed the hike back to the château. “It would be real.
This
would be the dream.”
“But you’d have your Raphael,” Naomi said.
It made Caitlyn wonder. Would she do it, if by some miracle such a thing were possible? Would she give up her present life to live in that world?
Was love worth that?
“I don’t know if I would want to live there, even with him, even if it were possible,” Caitlyn finally answered. “But I don’t think I can live here, without him.”
Naomi gave her a knowing look. “Then we’d better find a way to get you dreaming again.”
CHAPTER
Twenty-four
MARCH 31
More than a week had gone by since the incident at the
gouffre
, and there was still no sign of a dream. No sign of the Screechers, either. No strange, hypnagogic images as Caitlyn dropped off to sleep. No half-remembered odd stories swimming in her brain when she awoke. Nothing.
After years of dreading the things that might visit her in her sleep, Caitlyn now wished that they’d come screaming into her brain in full horrific glory. Even having the wits scared out of her was better than this blankness that descended with sleep, offering her nothing but lost time between night and morning.
Even Madame Snowe had something to say on the matter. She called Caitlyn in for a conference, concerned about the blank dream journals.
“I can’t just stop dreaming forever, can I?” Caitlyn had asked, her voice hinging on hysteria. “That’s not possible, right?”
“Unfortunately, it is.” Caitlyn detected an undercurrent of anger in Madame Snowe’s voice, as if Caitlyn had deliberately done something to annoy her. “It’s very rare, but Charcot-Wilbrand syndrome has been studied since the 1880s. Brain injury can result in a total loss of dreams. Your brain didn’t seem to have swelling, but perhaps the doctors missed something.”