The Secret. Ariana Chambers

The Secret

up the slippery tunnel, the pinprick grows to the size of a thumb. We must be getting near to the exit.

‘Nearly there!’ Miss Black calls from the front.

I hear Eve sigh with relief beside me and the tension in my body starts to ease. But then I hear a weird rumbling sound.

‘Oh great, a thunderstorm,’ Holly says.

There’s another rumble and something hard hits my face. ‘What was that? What’s going on?’ I turn back to Mr Matthews.

‘Bits of the roof are crumbling,’ Holly says.

Mr Matthews points his torch upwards. There’s another huge rumble. I look at Izzy. Is she doing this? But Izzy looks as shocked as I feel. Vivien and Stephen are staring at the roof of the cave too, looking equally scared. As I turn back, a massive chunk of the roof breaks off, hitting the floor behind us with an almighty crash.

The light up ahead is snuffed out.

I crouch down on my heels, trying to stay calm. But fear is closing in on me like the cave walls. It feels as if all of the oxygen is being sucked out, sucked from my body, like a deflating balloon. I try to take a deep breath and it feels as if my airway has been blocked.

‘Are you OK?’ Holly whispers, crouching down next to me.

I nod, gasping for air.

‘Oh dear,’ Mr Matthews says, his voice faint and woolly.

‘I can’t – I can’t breathe,’ I splutter.

Holly puts her thin arm round my shoulders. ‘Are you picking up on everyone else’s panic?’ she whispers. ‘Try to block it out.’

I try to picture the old oak tree but all I see is darkness. I close my eyes. I picture myself walking along the sunlit path to the tree. I picture light and space all around me. And then, finally, I can see the tree. I see its huge roots, like arms reaching out to me. And I picture myself running to sit inside them, pressing my back up against the trunk. Feeling the bark against my skin. Feeling the strength of the tree rushing into me, forcing out all of the fear. I take a deep breath and my lungs fill with air. I open my eyes and now, instead of total darkness, I see the light of Mr Matthews’s torch flickering around the cave.

I look at Holly and give her a weak smile. ‘Thank you.’

One thing I know for sure is that Izzy and the others can’t have been behind the rockslide. I was picking up way too much panic and fear from them. I turn and, sure enough, Izzy and Vivien are huddled together against the wall of the cave. Even in the darkness I can see that they’re trembling.

‘Where’s Stephen?’ Mr Matthews asks. ‘He was right in front of me. Now he’s gone!’ He shines his torch around and the light picks up Izzy, Vivien, Eve, me and Holly. Stephen has vanished.

‘He must have ghosted,’ I whisper to Holly.

She nods. ‘Typical of the Blood Witches to only look out for themselves,’ she mutters. ‘If I’d been given the power to travel through things I’d never have left you.’

‘Me neither.’ I look back at Izzy and Vivien and wonder what they must be thinking of Stephen for leaving them. They definitely don’t look happy.

‘He must have slipped through when I wasn’t looking,’ Mr Matthews says, fumbling around in his jacket pocket and pulling out his ancient mobile phone. ‘OK, the important thing is not to panic. I’ll call for help and they’ll have us out of here in a jiffy.’

‘There’s no way you’re going to get reception in here,’ Izzy snaps. ‘What if more of the roof collapses? What if we’re crushed?’

Vivien whispers something in her ear and Izzy suddenly goes all still and super-concentrated. I wonder if she’s trying to use her power. When Aunt Clara explained all of the different witch powers to us she said that, eventually, time-shifters are able to turn back time. I wonder if that’s what Izzy is trying to do now. So far she’s only been able to slow time down. Izzy continues to focus on the rock in front of her but nothing happens. I turn back to check on Eve. After the way she was on the coach yesterday, I wonder if she’s scared of small spaces. This must really be freaking her out.

I edge closer to her.

‘Are you OK?’ I ask. But Eve doesn’t respond. I feel a stab of irritation. I get that she’s stressed but we all are. She doesn’t have to be so rude. I look back at Izzy. She’s staring at the rock in front of us.

Suddenly the rock judders and then it slides to the side, slowly at first and then with a huge jolt it lurches free, leaving a gap just big enough for us to crawl through.

‘What on earth?’ Holly mutters.

‘It’s another rockslide!’ Vivien shrieks.

‘Get out of the way!’ Izzy shoves me to one side and crawls through the gap. Vivien is hot on her heels. Eve follows them.

A new horror grips me. Did Izzy do this – when she was staring at the rock? Did she make it move? But how? Could she be more powerful than we thought?

‘It’s a miracle!’ Mr Matthews cries. ‘Come on, girls, let’s get out of here while we can!’

I look at Holly. ‘Did you see that?’

She nods. ‘Come on.’

As I crawl through the gap after her I’m struck by a horrible realisation. If Izzy is able to move rocks as well as time-shift we really have got a problem.

That evening, back at the campsite, everyone is still buzzing from what happened in the caves. The teachers have no idea it was anything to do with Izzy. Miss Black thinks it was down to another tremor and Mr Matthews is referring to it as ‘The Mad Bess Miracle’. I watch Eve as she goes over to the teachers’ barbecue.

‘Hey, Eve, you can have some of our food if you like,’ Izzy calls out across the clearing.

The chattering dies down. Everyone looks as shocked as Eve to see Izzy being friendly to her. I hold my breath and wait for the inevitable snide remark or prank.

‘Seriously.’ Izzy takes a burger from their barbecue and puts it in a bun. Then she stands up and takes it over to Eve.

‘There’s got to be something wrong with it,’ Holly mutters and I nod.

‘Thanks,’ Eve says, taking the burger and turning to head back to her place.

‘Hey,’ Izzy grabs her arm. ‘Why don’t you eat with us too?’

‘Yes, come and join us,’ Vivien calls, making a space on their blanket.

‘After what we went through today, I feel like we’ve totally bonded,’ Izzy says with a smile.

‘Is she for real?’ Holly whispers.

‘Yeah, funny how they don’t seem to have “totally bonded” with us,’ I reply.

Stephen heads back from the toilet block. He’s carrying something.

‘Look what I found,’ he calls, holding it up. ‘Eve’s rucksack.’

Eve gasps with joy.

‘That’s marvellous!’ Mr Matthews cries. ‘Oh what a happy, happy day this has been. Apart from when we were trapped and thought we might die, of course.’