Ashes of Twilight (35 page)

“I can’t believe they survived.” Ghost comes straight to me and bumps his head against my chest. I put my arms around his neck and tell him how smart he is. How happy I am to see him. The rest of the ponies gather tightly together behind him as they are in unfamiliar territory now. I know the sound of my voice soothes them so I keep talking in low tones to Ghost.

“Good thing you unlocked their stalls.” Pace stands close by and rubs one of the ponies. I nod in agreement, overcome with relief that the ponies are safe, but also feel guilty because so many were lost.

“There are more cave-ins.” James comes from the opposite direction. “New tunnels have opened up. It looks like the river has changed course.”

“It probably has,” Hans says.

“What do we do?” Freddy asks.

“I think we should follow the river,” I say. “It has to lead somewhere.”

Adam returns. His face is solemn and he shakes his head. As Freddy said, that way is flooded.

“We should move on,” Mary says. “Put the little ones on the ponies. We don’t know how long we’ll be walking.”

Or where we will wind up …

We put the children on the ponies’ backs and I show them how to wrap their fingers in their manes to stay on. I lead Ghost by his halter with Cat stalking ahead of me and the rest of the ponies following. Pace, Alcide, Adam, and James take children on their backs and Mary and Hans take the littlest in their arms. The bigger ones, a mix of boys and girls who are around ten years old, walk as James leads us to the new tunnel.

The going is rough and the tunnel slopes downward the farther in we go. The new tunnel is wide but the way is littered with rocks and boulders and I have to lead the ponies around them individually while Cat jumps from one to the next. I bring up the rear. Luckily it isn’t a long walk and I soon join the rest in a large cavern with a waterfall. The roar of the water strums against my ears and Ghost lays his ears back at the strange sound.

“I don’t think this is new,” I practically shout. “I think it’s always been here. It’s just the progression of the river.”

We stand at the bottom of the falls, which pours out from beneath a cave wall. Mist rises around us, quickly soaking our clothes.

“Look!” Alcide says. There is something in the water. Pace follows the line of Alcide’s arm with the lamp and we see whatever it is being tossed about in the whirlpools at the bottom of the falls before it shoots out toward the bank. Alcide sets down the child on his back and runs ahead to grab it.

It is part of a chair. The back and legs are broken off, leaving nothing but the seat, which is woven with braided strips of fabric. Pace shines the lamp on it so the faded colors of the fabric show.

“It’s from my house,” Mary states. “But how?”

“Everything will wind up here eventually,” Hans says. “Including the bodies.”

“It has to go somewhere,” I say.

We move on, walking beside the river until we come to a wide place where sand has gathered. “I’m thirsty,” the child on Pace’s back says. Cat has already bounded ahead and crouches next to the water to drink.

“We all are,” Hans says. We stop and I lift the children from the ponies’ backs and ask them to take each one by the halter down to the water to drink.

Pace kneels down with the lamp by his side and I go to join him. He drinks, and then scoops up water in the palm of his hand. He takes Pip from his pocket and sits him in his palm. The little bird dips his beak in the water and drinks. I slake my own thirst by scooping water into my hands and drinking. I take off my kerchief and dip it in the water and wipe my face with it.

Adam stands on a rock up from where we drink. He looks out over the water. More and more things from our village float by, pieces of our lives now as scattered as we are. I know he’s looking for Peggy. I dread seeing the first body that shows up. At least now, we have the hope that others might have made it.

I look downriver. I see nothing but darkness. What if I’m wrong? What if it is another dead end and the river just falls farther into the earth? What if we’re stuck here without food and the bodies start coming and wash up around us? What if the water rises and we are trapped and eventually drown? These people are here because of me. Because I believed that the river would lead us out. I know out is there. I just have to find it.

“Pip!”

I look at Pace as he calls out after the bright yellow bird. I can see him, flying downstream, a bright yellow patch in the blackness of the cave. Pace shines his light out over the water, swinging it back and forth, trying to find him.

“Come on.” I grab Pace’s hand and we take off downriver while I try to keep the tiny bird in my sight. We run along the sand and then the going gets rough again with rocks and boulders so we have to slow down. I didn’t even realize we’d curved away from the others until the sound of the falls fades from my ears.

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “I lost him.”

Pace flashes the light around. Cat bounds up after us, jumps up on a rock, turns around and meows, and takes off again.

“Where is he off to?” Pace asks.

“Let’s find out.” I keep an eye on Cat in hopes that he will lead us to Pip. Cat jumps over rocks and quickly runs on with his tail straight up behind him. We follow until something stops me in my tracks.

“What is it?”

“The air,” I say. I suck in a long breath. “Do you smell it?”

Pace tests the air. “Salt?”

“It’s the same thing I smelled last night. When they tried to put me out.”

We hear Cat’s meows ahead of us. Plaintive and alarming, they echo back to us. We move on, hurrying but cautious, while Pace sweeps the light back and forth before us.

“There’s Pip,” he says. He shines the light on a rock that juts out and Pip is sitting on it. We hear his chirps as we get closer, and then he takes off again, flying around another bend. The water is calmer here, the river has widened and it is shallow. I take Pace’s hand and move the light over the water next to us. I can see the sandy bottom and something white that lies upon it. I pick it up. It’s about the size of my palm and is curved around the edges so that it looks like a tiny bowl.

“It’s a clamshell,” Pace says.

“What is that?”

“It’s a creature that lives in the ocean. One of the families my mother worked for has a collection of them. All shapes and sizes. They were beautiful.”

“How did something from the ocean get here?”

Pace grins. “Because the river flows into the ocean.”

As one, we take off. We run around the bend where we last saw Pip and a sliver of light shines down on the water. We run faster and harder, flying over the sand that pulls at our boots until we catch up with Cat. The salt smell is strong and the wind rushes against our faces as we run and run until we come to a great gash in the wall of the cave where the light pours through.

We stop and Pace takes my hand in his. “You were right,” he says.

And together we step through the gash and into the light.

The sky
is
blue. So very blue. But it is not as blue as Pace’s eyes.

About the Author

KASSY TAYLER has always been a writer. Since the beginning of her memories, her biggest desire has been to put words to paper. Now she is living her dream and has several published novels to her credit in multiple genres. She’s been married for several years to the man of her dreams, and they’ve raised two exceptional sons. Tayler lives within the shadow of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, with her husband, her doxie, Cody, and two cats who continually make life interesting.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ASHES OF TWILIGHT.
Copyright © 2012 by Cindy Holby. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Michael Storrings

Cover photographs: Bird © PM Images/Getty Images

Running Couple © Rayman/Getty Images

Tunnel and Background © Shutterstock

ISBN 978-0-312-64178-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 9781250018243 (e-book)

First Edition: November 2012