Lost by S. A. Bodeen Page B

Her heart began to pound harder, and her breaths became shorter and quicker. “Marco?” Her voice shook.
    His voice had a forced calm to it, far more cheery than usual. “Just keep going. Slow and steady. We’ve got this.”
    â€œOkay.” She slid one foot to meet the next, slid the other one out, and then repeated the actions, slowly closing the gap to the other end of the crack in the rock. The space continued to tighten, the walls closing in. A scream bubbled up and she swallowed it. Instead, she shouted, “I want to go back! I want to go back!”
    â€œI don’t think I can,” said Marco.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Sarah cried.
    â€œWell, for one, the rhinocorn is probably waiting out there for us.”
    â€œAnd that’s it?” Sarah asked. “Maybe it left already.”
    â€œUm, not the only reason. I don’t think I can go back,” he said. “Please, you’ve got to keep going.”
    Sarah shut her eyes and took a deep breath. You can do this. You have to do this to find Dad. She opened her eyes and focused on the light, less than twenty yards away. Her feet scuffed as they slid and she heard Marco do the same behind her.
    â€œThat’s it,” he said. “We’ve got this.”
    One step at a time, one shallow breath at a time, Sarah made her way closer and closer to the end of the crevice, the seam of light growing bigger with each moment. With only a few feet to go, the passage narrowed so that the walls scraped against her back and front. She swallowed down a scream. And then, with one last step, her lead arm was free, out in the air, followed by her head and one leg, then the other, and finally her other arm.
    She took a few steps into freedom, then doubled over, hands on her knees, and blew out a breath.
    â€œA little help?”
    She lifted her head.
    An arm waved at her from the opening. “I think I’m kinda stuck.”
    Sarah walked over to him. Marco’s face was sideways, his body crunched between the two walls. She took ahold of his arm and yanked.
    â€œOw!” Marco grimaced.
    Sarah dropped his arm. “Sorry.”
    â€œNo, don’t stop. You have to pull.” Again, he held his arm out to her. “I’ll suck in as much as I can.”
    She widened her stance, gripped his arm, and pulled with everything she had. She felt him move slightly toward her, so she took half a step back with one foot and pulled again. Something gave, and suddenly she fell backward onto her butt.
    Marco landed right next to her, facedown. “Oomph!”
    â€œYou okay?” she asked.
    He lifted his head up. His cheeks and chin bore several scrapes. “Yeah, thanks. Better than being stuck in there.”
    Sarah nodded and looked back at the crevice. “I just thought of something.”
    â€œWhat?” asked Marco.
    â€œThere’s no way my dad would have fit through there. Or Ahab. I was so worried about wondering how Cash got to the Curator that I didn’t stop to think about who we’re really looking for.” She sighed.
    â€œI was going to say something, but…” Marco stopped.
    Sarah raised an eyebrow. “But what?”
    â€œI just have a gut feeling. I feel like…”
    â€œWhat?” whispered Sarah.
    â€œCash’s story is real. Everything about it. And I feel like Nacho or your dad … that they are already there. With the Curator. And we have to get there however we can.” He lifted and lowered a shoulder.
    â€œIt’s not like we had a choice.” Sarah sighed. “It’s too late now. We can’t go back through there. But where do we go now?”
    â€œI think, maybe…” Marco pointed. “There.”
    Sarah twisted her upper body around. A path curved around another set of boulders, disappearing after about thirty yards. “Is that it?”
    â€œOnly one way to find out.” The canvas bag had fallen off