Angel Falls (Angel Falls Series, #1) by Babette Jongh (an ebook reader TXT) 📕

verge that extended to the canal’s edge. A second later, Ben parked beside me, and we both got out, slamming doors.

Muddy skid-marks from the boys’ shoes marked the crude limestone steps someone had long-ago engineered into the canal’s steep bank. Limestone tended to break off in flat slabs, and the big chunks looked like they’d been shoved into the crumbling, nearly vertical slope.

We looked down into the chasm. A fast-moving stream of white-capped brown water rushed down the center, snaking along the deepest cuts in the limestone. There was still space to walk along both sides of the stream, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. I cupped my hands and yelled. “Jake! Ray! Boys!”

Ben patted my shoulder. “They can’t hear you. I’ll have to go down after them.”

At least it wasn’t raining as hard here as it was at home. Yet.

“Angela’s taking the girls to the new house to help with the movers. I told you Ray has his rifle? I don’t know what they think they’re going to shoot down here.”

Hands on hips, a worried scowl on his face, Ben gave a short, distracted nod. I could tell he was figuring out the best way to proceed without either of us getting our necks broken. “Tin cans, most likely. The canal walls are soft enough to absorb any stray shots without throwing them back. I hope.” Ben started the slippery descent into the canal, holding his arms out for balance as his tennis shoes skidded down the slope. “You stay here.”

“No.” Without waiting for discussion or permission, I began negotiating my descent. “I’m coming with you.”

Ben paused on a ledge about halfway down and held up a hand to help me. “You never listen to anybody, do you?”

“Nope.” I took his hand and let him steady me. Step by slippery step, we slid and skidded into the depths of the canal. When we got to the bottom, there were few firm footings. The torrent rushing down the center channel made the limestone floor slippery as owl shit. “I’m sorry this happened on my watch.”

Ben held onto me, gauging the safest route before proceeding. “Not your fault. Jake’s been headed for an ass-whipping for a while.”

I could barely hear Ben now that we were in the canal. The rushing water echoed off the smooth limestone walls, drowning our voices. We walked hand in hand because it was so slippery, taking turns holding each other up.

We headed north, their most likely direction. The canal widened just south of the bridge where we’d entered. It flattened out there, spreading the churning water across the entire floor. It would have been almost impossible for them to have gone in that direction.

The sharp report of a rifle shot ricocheted along the high limestone walls. Then another, and another. We moved as quickly as we dared toward the sound.

“I hope to God they don’t shoot us,” Ben shouted. I barely heard him. Brownish water sloshed over the edges of the deep channel. Ben lost his footing on the slick floor. I grabbed his arm, and an instant later he held me up when I hit the same algae-slick spot.

Ben pointed up ahead, where runoff rushed over the walkway. “We’ll have to jump,” he said into my ear. “The only way is on the other side.”

Yeah, until that one flooded, too.

“I’ll jump it first then catch you.” Ben backed up to the wall then took a running leap across the stream. His mud-slick tennis shoes slid, tossing him up against the opposite wall. He turned and held out his arms, ready to catch me.

In heavy knee-high mud boots, I took a preparation stance for grand jete, then cleared the trench with ease and landed lightly beside Ben.

“God, you’re good.” Relieved that neither of us had been killed yet, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the mouth.

I grinned. “You’re not surprised, are you?”

He chucked me on the chin. “I’ve never forgotten.”

Abrupt pops of rifle fire seemed to elicit a low rumble of thunder from the gray skies. I sent up a prayer of thanks that only a light drizzle was falling. For some reason, on this side of the trench, Ben and I could hear each other better. “I can’t believe those boys would do something this stupid,” I said.

Ben resumed our trek along the canal floor. “Don’t tell Jake, but I did this and worse when I was his age.”

“Oh?” I chanced a look up at him then regretted it when my moment of inattention almost pitched me into the muddy whitecaps. “I thought sneaking out with me was the dumbest thing you did in your youth.”

Ben steadied me with his hands on my hips as we walked single-file along a narrow, crumbling ledge. “Angel, loving you was one of the few smart things I did.”

“Ben...” I would’ve looked over my shoulder at him if I wasn’t so preoccupied with where I planned to step next.

“Don’t worry. I’m not driving at anything. I know you’re in love with Ian.” With a brief squeeze, he let me go when the path widened enough for us to walk side by side again. He took my hand and helped me around a deep, round pit that created a sucking whirlpool at the flood’s edge.

“Ben, I don’t want you to think... I mean, even if things don’t work out with Ian, I wouldn’t want you to...”

“I know, Angel. I had my chance, and I blew it. I can’t regret any of it. Not our time together, and not my life with Mel. I guess things happened just the way they were supposed to.”

We rounded a curve in the canal, and suddenly we could hear the boys’ voices carrying clearly above the increasing roar of the water. We couldn’t see them, but we could hear them. Bits of conversation floated towards us. “...so cool... look at... yeah, like...”

Calling their names, we hurried toward them through the pattering rain. We slipped on the wet limestone, we