Traveler by L.E. DeLano (book suggestions .txt) 📕

about this. Go back to school and stay there. I’ll find Finn and then talk to Mario—”

“Mario?” His eyebrows come up.

“He’s sort of like a policeman. He’s after Eversor.”

Ben digests that for a moment. “What have you gotten yourself mixed up in, St. Clair?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I could tell you—and I can’t. The less you know, the better.” I wrap my arms around myself.

“Wait. She’s at school…,” Ben says.

“Yeah?”

“So, if she’s keeping him in the mine, he’s unguarded right now.”

“Unless she’s keeping him somewhere else and moving him later,” I point out. “But you’re right—as far as creepy hideouts go, that’s a good one. Nobody ever goes there, since the collapse shut the mine down. It’s not safe.”

“Then we should go now,” he suggests, “while she’s still playing teacher at school. Don’t wait to go meet her.”

“Ben…”

“I’m not letting you go alone,” he says firmly. “You’re wasting time.”

He looks at me mutinously and I finally relent.

“Maybe we can find him and get him out of there,” I agree. “And if he’s not there, at least we’ve eliminated one place. We’ll keep looking.”

I wish I had time to take a nap and talk to Mario, but I don’t know how I’d possibly explain that to Ben. He’s right, anyway. There’s no time to waste. I have to search for Finn now, while she’s otherwise occupied.

If she hasn’t killed him by now.

The thought wraps around my mind and strangles me, making it hard to breathe. It can’t be true. It can’t. I’d know. I blink hard, but the tears fall anyway.

“We’ll find him.” Ben reaches across and takes my hand again after he starts up the truck and backs out. I stare blindly ahead, barely feeling his hand holding mine, and grateful it’s there.

Hang on, Finn, I think. Just hang on.

44

Like a Knife in My Chest

We make it to the mine in less than fifteen minutes—one of the perks of living in a small town, I guess. We find a place to park behind some trees that’s far enough away not to arouse suspicion, but close enough that we can run for the truck and make it quickly if we have to.

It occurs to me that we have no weapons on us. I don’t know what we’d use, really. Neither of us owns a gun, and it’s not like we can carry a knife into school. I suppose we could have dropped by one of our houses and grabbed a butcher’s knife or something, but that would have wasted valuable time. Every second is going to count if we’re going to get in and out before Eversor arrives.

“You stay here,” Ben says. “I’ll go inside and look for him. You stay out of sight.”

“Are you crazy?” I look at him incredulously. “You’re not going without me. Besides, I’m the one she wants. If she finds me out here, she’ll just kill me and then sit here and wait for the two of you.”

Ben doesn’t look happy, but he doesn’t argue with me, either. He opens up the glove compartment, rummaging around. “Hold on,” he says. “We’re going to need some light.”

He pulls out a small flashlight, and of all things, a pack of glow sticks.

“My mom keeps them in there for when she babysits my nephews,” he says. “The drive from my sister’s house is a long one, and if they’re getting crazy, she just tosses the pack back to them.”

“Well, we can use them. Let’s hope we can find a way in.”

The way in ends up being no obstacle at all. There’s a large section of board that’s simply lying propped against the opening and is easily moved out of the way. Ben shoves it to the side, and we give each other a look.

“That was way too easy,” Ben says.

“Yeah.” I look over my shoulder again, as I’ve been doing constantly since we got here. “Let’s just get in there and get out.”

He steps in first, reaching back to take my hand and pull me through.

“Watch your step,” he warns. “There’s stuff all over the ground here.”

He trains the flashlight on me, and I snap a couple of glow sticks, giving them a shake to make them light up. The mine is pitch-black, and I can hear water dripping somewhere in the distance. It’s chilly already, without the sunlight on our backs.

“Let’s go,” I say, taking the lead. I stop every couple of minutes to listen, and occasionally I hear a scrape or the sound of a pebble scattering along with the water, but it’s all very faint. It’s most likely from whatever animals have made this place their home. I try to remember if bears are native to this area. I sincerely hope not.

I’m trying to walk as fast as I can, but there’s a tremendous amount of debris in some places. The Greaver mine was closed down sometime after the Great Depression when a collapse took the lives of over two dozen men and rendered the mine unusable. The owners lost everything between the collapse and the charges of negligence that faced their business afterward. The Greavers were all but run out of town at the time, ruined financially and socially. The mine has been boarded up ever since, with nothing done beyond the recovery of the bodies—the ones they were able to recover, anyway. I shudder at the thought of the ones that are still in here. Oh please, don’t let me see any bodies. And don’t let any of them be Finn.…

I’m so lost in that thought that I round a bend in the tunnel and a second later, I’m pulled backward as Ben grabs a fistful of my sweatshirt and yanks me toward him.

I start to let out a shout and immediately cover my mouth, hoping I didn’t alert Eversor, if she’s somewhere behind us. Ben steps forward carefully, peering over the edge of what looks like an elevator or maybe a ventilation shaft. I peer down with him, but it’s