The Tunnels Below by Nadine Wild-Palmer (best short novels of all time .TXT) 📕

do you really think it could be what you say it is?”

“Don’t let your imagination go running away now, Luke. Details, I need details. What else can you tell me about it?”

“Oh, Jasper, it has a splendid way of catching the light and when it does, it looks like something misty is moving inside it. It’s magical!”

“Go on…” Jasper said.

“Well, I noticed that it has etchings on it, but I don’t know what they mean. They look like some sort of circuit. It could be worth quite a bit!”

“Luke. This doesn’t sound like something to be bought and sold. It sounds like the stuff of dreams… but, oh dear me, if it were to get into the wrong hands… I don’t know, maybe Cecilia has been sent here for some other purpose that she’s not telling us about.”

“Or maybe she doesn’t even know,” said Luke.

Jasper fell silent and stopped the conversation, tilting his head towards the door that Cecilia was standing behind.

“Hello there… I can hear you, Cecilia… Don’t just stand there, come in.”

“I was just about to come and get you,” Luke said, fiddling with his left antler. It was losing some of its fuzz.

Cecilia pushed the door open properly and walked in.

“What are you up to?” Cecilia said, knowing full well. She walked over, continuing to try to fill the silence. “Looks serious to me,” she said jovially. Her mood had lifted since she’d had some water. She knew they were talking about her marble and even though she wanted to know why, she dared not ask.

“We were just catching up,” Jasper said awkwardly.

“Yeah, we were trying to work out what to do about Kuffi,” said Luke.

“Did you come up with any good ideas?”

“Not yet but we will,” said Jasper.

“Yeah, Jasper is brilliant at coming up with plans!” added Luke.

11A Man with a Plan

Jasper leant on an elaborately carved black walking stick bedecked with gemstones that looked like little beetles as he shuffled up and down slowly, thinking up ways they could get Kuffi back.

“We could ambush Julius and Marvin and disguise ourselves as them and sneak in and bust Kuffi out.”

“They would have to be pretty serious disguises.” Cecilia said, surveying the adorned walls of the space around her. “I don’t think we have the time or the materials to pull that one off.”

“Not to mention that we’d need a key,” Luke added.

“Poison… we could use poison!”

“For what?” mumbled Luke.

Jasper paused a moment and Cecilia absent-mindedly filled the silence. “I’m so glad you found me at the juice station; who knows where I would be if you hadn’t turned up. I was hoping Rosie would be there but when I arrived but she’d already shut up and gone.”

“Yeah, it’s usually open much later than that,” said Luke.

“Rosie?” said Jasper. “The fruitolin player?”

“Yes. I suppose it’s because she is performing at El Porto Fino tonight.”

“Is she? That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” said Luke.

“Cecilia?”

“Yes?”

“Do you know who she is performing with by any chance?” Jasper’s eyes narrowed; she could almost see an idea dawning on his face.

“Yes, I remember her saying it was with someone called Lady-Bird.”

“That’s it!”

“What?” said Cecilia and Luke at the same time.

“Kuffi and Lady-Bird grew up together. They are very dear old friends.”

“Yeah, childhood sweethearts—until Jacques d’Or came along,” said Luke.

“Yes, you could put it like that. Anyway, if we could get you an audience with Lady-Bird we may be able to convince her to help get Kuffi released.”

“So, could she persuade Jacques d’Or that Kuffi is innocent?”

“I’m afraid, Cecilia, that he will need a lot more than just persuading. But Lady-Bird is one of Jacques d’Or’s prized possessions.”

“Urgh, possession? A living thing shouldn’t be a possession.”

“That’s true, but Jacques d’Or sees everything in terms of what it’s worth and Lady-Bird has the gift of song and the power to move a person to tears; for a guy who’s trying to fill a lake with tears she’s pretty hot property. He keeps her at the Nest with the rest of the Corvus Community, which is on top of a tower of egg cells, so he can keep all the delinquent dwellers captive beneath him. Each night she sings evening song to send everyone to sleep and calm the captives who no doubt weep into their pillows. At the end of it she’s the only one still awake. So, once everyone else is asleep she could, if she were brave enough, pinch the keys from Jacques d’Or and set Kuffi free. She could then return the keys and go back to sleep like she knew nothing of it and he’d had a lucky escape.”

“But where could he go? He can’t go back to his cabin—that’s the first place they’d look, and they’d kill him for sure!”

“Well, I guess if it’s OK with you, Luke, he could stay with us. We have plenty of room and lots of disguises.”

“I’m cool with that. The more the merrier,” Luke replied.

“But we will need to get to Lady-Bird first,” said Jasper, returning to the plan. “We’re going to need to get you into El Porto Fino and that could take some doing… For a start they will never let you in looking like that!”

“Hey!” said Luke. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“Well, they hardly turn heads, do they? And if you don’t turn heads when you arrive, you simply won’t get in. That’s how it works. You’re going to need to look exquisite and I don’t exactly have a wardrobe full of evening gowns, so we’re going to need to get you some. I happen to be friends with Mrs Hoots, who owns the haberdashery, but she’ll never lend them to us and she certainly won’t give them to us for free.”

Cecilia was a bit lost. “So are you saying all we need to get into El Porto Fino is to dress up?”

“More than dress up—you’ll need to dazzle everyone’s socks off. Jacques d’Or is a lover of all things shiny.”

“OK, well, let’s just pop down