a bit too tight as she regained her footing. Seth turned to look.
“I’m fine. Keep going.” He pressed his lips together, then turned and started on again without saying a word. Apparently, he didn’t care for her demeanor just now. Too bad. Laura didn’t care what he thought. So there. She viciously shoved down the guilt. This man was not her friend. He could not be her friend.
Even if she really needed one.
Nope. She wasn’t going there. Not with this man. No matter how attractive he was. No matter how many times he was kind to her. She wasn’t going there. She’d tried the real world once, and it had shattered every bit of her life.
“Does it feel like the tunnel is going up to you?”
Laura was startled by Seth’s question. Embarrassed that she had been caught so deep in her thoughts, she suppressed a sharp retort. Snapping at him might feel good in the short term, but Laura would eventually regret it. Instead, she focused on the tunnel. On her feet and her senses, trying to discern whether they were moving deeper into the earth or coming up out of it.
“I...I think we are! Moving up, I mean.” It might be her mind playing tricks on her, but the floor of the tunnel seemed to be sloping upward. It was slight, but there.
Laura looked ahead and laughed. There really was a light at the end of the tunnel. Or at least a sliver of something that wasn’t dusty and dank.
They reached the door, and Seth pushed. The wood made some creaking noises, but nothing else happened. It did not open.
Laura set Abby down and focused her light on the latch, trying to give Seth enough illumination to hopefully figure out how to open it. Her headache had only worsened with all the emotional highs and lows of the last hour. It seemed as though her body was flooded with adrenaline or dread every ten minutes.
“It’s stuck, isn’t it?” Laura was trying to keep her tone even, aware of Abby’s little ears.
Seth didn’t turn to look at her, using both hands to fumble with the rusty latch. “It’ll be okay. If I can’t get the latch to work, then we’ll break it down.”
“Break it down?” Laura heard the doubt and hope in her own voice. Was everything in her life so contradictory?
Seth’s hands paused, and he turned and gave Laura an arrogant smile, knocking on the door in front of them. “Yeah. This is a wood door. An old, wood door. We can handle this.”
Laura wanted to believe him. She wanted to argue with him. Before she could do either, however, Seth spoke with smug satisfaction. “Got it.”
He pushed the door again, and this time it gave an inch. Then, nothing. Again. Laura made a sound of frustration. She was surprised when Seth turned and put his hand on one of her shoulders, squeezing it lightly. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. It looks like there’s a bunch of foliage growing on the outside of the door. Vines or something.”
Laura felt foolish. Of course. The tunnel door wasn’t exactly used every day. Nature had done what it always does. It had persevered, covering the ground and taking back what had originally belonged to it. She needed to get a grip. “Sorry. You’re right. I don’t know why I’m acting like this, but I’m done. No more hysterics.”
Seth laughed and squeezed her shoulder again before letting go. He was reaching into his pocket as he spoke. “You’re not being hysterical. I grew up with three sisters. Sisters who were all teenagers at one point. Believe me, I know hysterical.”
Laura knew her expression was rueful. He made it sound like teenage girls were torture. Which, they probably were to a brother.
“Besides, I’d say you have plenty of reason to be upset. I’m not exactly calm myself.”
Laura appreciated his efforts to make her feel better. She watched with growing excitement as he used the pocketknife to cut the plants that were visible through the one-inch space that the door had opened. Once done, Seth closed the pocketknife and put it back in his pocket. He looked at Laura and Abby, smiled and pushed the door open.
They climbed out of that tunnel and walked into paradise. The sky was blue and the birds were singing. Laura could smell pine. It was a beautiful day. The kind of day for skipping and playing and laughing.
The wind blew, and Laura felt the tears threaten again. Smoke. She smelled smoke. Or at least she smelled the suggestion of smoke. She’d forgotten about why Seth said he came up her mountain, onto her land. “There really is a forest fire, isn’t there?”
He was looking in the direction from which the wind had blown. Down the mountain. In between them and help. His voice was heavy with regret. “Yes, Laura. There really is a forest fire.”
* * *
Seth’s instincts were pushing against each other. The part of him concerned about a group of armed men coming out of the tunnel wanted to run down the mountain. Down meant people. Down meant safety. The part of him that did not want to get caught in a forest fire wanted to run up. Up meant no flames and no flashes of burning heat and no death by smoke inhalation. The one thing his warring intuition agreed on, however, was that they should not stand there and wait.
Seth heard Laura murmuring to Abby. He couldn’t make out the words, but the tone was maternal and loving. He turned and shut the tunnel door. From the outside, the exit looked like a root cellar. He searched for a lock on the outside of the door, but there wasn’t one. Old Man Grant’s paranoia had apparently not gone far enough to encompass their current situation.
That was a shame.
Seth scanned the area and found some large fallen branches. Dragging them over to the door, he began to place them on top of it. He had just positioned the last branch when a small rock was tossed on top of his pile. Surprised, he looked up and saw Abby grinning at him. One chubby fist was empty and one was still gripping a small stone.
“I help,” she said. She was beaming like she had welded the door shut.
Seth couldn’t stop his smile. “Good job. You’re a big help.” His smile dimmed when he saw Laura walking toward them, struggling to carry a large boulder. Seth hurried to take it out of her arms.
She released it to him without a fight. “I thought some of these boulders would go well with your pile. They’re certainly heavy enough.”
Seth moved to place the boulder on top of the branches. Once he was done, Abby tossed her second rock. “One, two, three.”
Seth laughed. “Yep. Three rocks. Let’s get a few more, okay?”
Abby gave him a serious face. Or at least he thought it was supposed to be a serious face. “Get more.” She started scanning the ground by her feet, exclaiming in delight when she found another pebble.
Seth went over to where Laura was, seeing several other large rocks. “Let’s stack on a few more of these and then get moving. The weight will slow them down, but they’ll get around it eventually.”
Laura nodded, carrying a rock over and placing it in the pile. “Headed where? I’m not crazy about the idea of walking into a forest fire.”
Her tone indicated that was an understatement.
“Me,
