Missing Abby (16 page)

Ski!
I fumbled with the mobile's keyboard, punching in his name from my address book. It rang three times. Five.

‘Hello?’

‘Ski, it's Emma!’ I blurted. ‘You've got to help me, I think I know where she might be—’

‘What?’ Ski's voice cracked, suddenly sounding deeper. ‘Emma, what is it?’

I told him everything, and when I finished, there was a long pause.

‘Well? What do you think?’

‘Um … I don't know. I mean, I wouldn't be in a hurry to call the police out on another wild goose chase, if I were you.’

‘I'm not!’

‘Could you tell your parents?’

‘No! My stepmother's at the hospital, and my dad's at some conference, I don't even know where – Ski, what if she's
down
there? She's been gone – she's been gone just two weeks, so she could still be alive, couldn't she?’

He sounded miserable. ‘Emma, I don't know. I mean, yeah, it sounds possible, but …’ he trailed off. ‘Couldn't you wait until PC Lavine gets back?’

‘I don't know! I left her a message, but she's not even
in
today – what if she doesn't get it until Monday?’

‘Or talk to someone else there—’

‘
Who?
The one who thinks she was doing drugs, or the ones who caught us trespassing?’

‘Yeah, but Emma, come on, they'd still go check it out—’

‘But they might not do it fast enough!’ I shrieked at him. ‘They might think it's just us being stupid again! Ski, Abby could be down there! She could be hurt! We have to go there now, we have to go see—’

Ski's voice turned higher again. ‘Go there? How will you get in? There's a fence, right?’

‘I don't know! If there's not a way in, then it's not where she went, is it?’

He didn't say anything.

‘So – are you coming, or not?’ I gripped my phone so hard I thought I might break it.

‘Emma – oh, shit. Look, I'm really sorry, but I can't, OK? My mum – god, I'm already in so much trouble—’

‘I'm in trouble too!’ I snapped at him. ‘Do you think you're the only one? My dad's going to
kill
me! But I have to do this for Abby; I don't have a choice—’

Tears choked my chest. Suddenly I was sick of talking to him, sick of hearing his bleating excuses. I hung up on him, and then ran downstairs to the kitchen, rooting about in the utility drawer. Grabbing the torch, I turned it on briefly to check that it had batteries, and then shoved it in my back pocket.

Snatching my house keys from my jacket pocket in the hallway, I stopped to scribble a quick note:

Jenny,

I'm really sorry, but I had to go check on something very
important. I'll be back later this afternoon. I'll be OK, I promise. Please, PLEASE don't tell Dad!!

Emma x

I left the note on the fridge, under Jenny's magnet that said LIFE'S TOO SHORT TO ENJOY BAD WINE. A thought struck me, and I dashed upstairs to grab the dragon, shoving it deep into my pocket for luck. Stupidly, it made me feel braver. Now I wasn't completely alone.

I ran out the back door, locking it behind me.

I wrestled my bike out of the garden shed, struggling to extract it from the lawn mower. It wobbled a bit when I got on, but a moment later I was out of the alleyway and onto the main road, cycling towards Clarkson Chemical Plant.

The plant was on an industrial estate about a mile from where we used to live. I stopped in front of the main fence, propping my weight on one leg. The grounds spread before me like a green carpet, with the gleaming main building reflecting clouds and sky. There were hardly any cars in the parking lot.

I kicked off and started heading around the left-hand side of the building, where I remembered the shed being. Slowly, the view behind the fence gave way to industrial chimneys and barrack-like buildings.

I came to the patch of woods and stopped, peering through the thick foilage. I couldn't see anything, so I pulled my bike off the road, leaning it against a tree, and walked towards the fence. The undergrowth grabbed at my legs with every step.

Before I got there, I could see the shed, just a few
metres further down on the other side. Right. Now, how could she have got in?

The answer was right in front of me.

I took a step backwards, scanning the top of the fence as far as I could in both directions. There weren't any security cameras that I could see. Not that that meant anything; maybe they were just out of sight, watching my every move.

Hesitantly, I touched the chain link fence, half expecting an electric shock, or for an alarm to go off. But nothing happened, and after a moment, I took a deep breath and started to climb.

The worst bit was as I swung myself over and started climbing down the other side. I was positive that sirens were going to start wailing, and that men with dogs would erupt from over the hill, barking and shouting at me.

But nothing happened. Dropping awkwardly to the ground, I walked over to the shed.

The door swung open when I turned the handle, and I stepped inside to the same dark coolness I remembered from before. In the middle of the floor, the stairs plunged downwards, waiting. I wiped my hands on my jeans, trying to get the nerve up to go down them.

Suddenly I froze. I heard someone stumble, and swear. The crunching sound of footsteps was coming from the woods.

My heart felt like a bird that might die of fright. I yanked the torch out of my back pocket. A completely pitiful weapon, but it was all I had. I pressed against
the wooden wall, clutching the torch and praying that whoever it was wouldn't see me.

The crunching noise stopped. Silence.

‘Emma?’ hissed a voice.

Ski!

I burst out of the shed. He stood on the other side of the fence, wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt with a wolf on it. His shoulders relaxed when he saw me. ‘Hi.’

‘Hi.’ I walked slowly over, and we stood facing each other with chain link between us, like Visitor's Day at the prison. ‘You said you weren't coming.’

‘Yeah, well …’ He sighed, shoving his hair back. ‘I wasn't going to, but I couldn't let you do it alone. Pretty stupid, huh?’

I thought it was pretty wonderful, actually. I glanced past him into the woods, and saw my bike, along with another one, propped against a tree. ‘Is that your bike?’

‘Yeah … I saw your bike from the road. I brought them both into the woods so no one else would notice them.’ He glanced up at the fence. ‘Right, um – how do I get in? Just climb?’

I nodded. ‘Yeah … I don't think there are any security cameras around.’

Ski smiled slightly. ‘Well, that's good. Always useful when there aren't any security cameras.’

He jumped onto the fence; it shook and rattled as he climbed up it. He paused for a second at the top, adjusting his hands around the naked edges of the chain link, and then threw his leg over and backed down the other side.

He dropped to the ground with about a metre to go. I cleared my throat and pointed to the shed. ‘That's it.’

Ski shoved his hands in his pockets as we walked over to it, but sort of jumped forward to hold the door open for me as we went in. I turned my torch on, and shone it down the stairs. Ski crouched on his heels, staring downwards. A tangle of pipes at about head-level burst into view, and a passageway.

‘How far does it go?’ he asked.

‘I don't know … if it goes all under the plant, it could go for miles, practically. And there's more than one passage; Abby and I saw that much when we went down.’

‘Just like the scenario,’ murmured Ski. Neither of us said anything for a moment, and then Ski cleared his throat. ‘I brought it, by the way … Abby's game. If she meant for it to be played here, then maybe we can follow it, like a map.’

Prickles burst over me. Following Abby's game without her here, and not knowing what we'd find … I swallowed, and nodded.

Ski pulled a torch from the waistband of his jeans, and gave me a weak grin. ‘Right – let's get this over with.’

We climbed to the bottom of the stairs, the light from our torches kicking with every step. The darkness swallowed us.

‘Wow,’ whispered Ski, shining the torch around him. ‘What a great place to play live action.’

A concrete tunnel ran in front of us, for as far as
our torches could make out. Two more branched off from it, one on each side. Pipes of all different sizes ran everywhere – above our heads, along the sides of the walls. A faint droning noise hummed through the air.

Reaching into his back pocket, Ski pulled out some folded-up pieces of paper and shone his torch on them. ‘Right, um … the first thing that happens in Abby's game is that we hear the maniacal laughter, and footsteps running off to the left.’

I went first, clutching my torch. It was much, much darker once you got away from the bottom of the stairs. There was no light at all – just our torches, which seemed laughably feeble.

I struggled to keep my hand steady as we moved forward, terrified that I might suddenly see a face or something, looming towards us out of the darkness.

‘Don't forget to check for traps,’ whispered Ski.

‘What?’

‘Traps – remember when we played the game? She probably would have set some up for real, for us to find.’

A loud hissing split the air, and I started as my heart tried to jump from my chest. Ski froze at my side. Seconds passed with nothing else happening, and I was just about to relax when a gurgling noise erupted, bubbling and echoing.

‘It's just a pipe,’ I squeaked.

Ski let out a breath. ‘Yeah.’

We started walking again. Ski's shoulder brushed against mine in the narrow space. I was so incredibly glad he was there. I couldn't imagine pacing through this darkness alone.

Actually, I could. It was beyond horrible.

After what felt like around twenty minutes, we came to a T-junction, with pipes snaking off in every direction. A cluster of them plunged into a wide, dark hole against the wall.

Ski went to the edge of the hole and shone his light into it, and then took out the pages again. ‘Right … um, according to the game, here's what happens now.’ He read by the light of his torch.

As you come to a crossroads, you hear a clanging sound. A wall has sealed off the passageway behind you. There is no way through it. Suddenly a silky female voice splits the air: ‘Greetings, foolish mortals! I am Esmerelda, and this is my dungeon. You're all certain to die, but I think I'll play with you first. You may go either left or right. One way is instant death, the other, life … for now
.

My palms turned to ice. I was afraid to turn around, afraid I'd actually see the wall. ‘Didn't – didn't we go right when we played it at Sheila's house?’

Ski's shadowy face grimaced. ‘Yeah, but the thing is, it doesn't matter. All she's got written here is,
Whichever way the party goes, they hear Esmerelda say, ‘Congratulations! You've chosen life.’ Then take them to the first dungeon area.
'

‘Where's … the first dungeon area?’

He jammed the pages back in his pocket. ‘I don't know. The tunnels must connect at some point, but Abby's the only one who knows where we're meant to go from here. Fun, eh?’ He gave me a half-hearted grin. ‘Left or right?’

I stared into the darkness. ‘Right, I guess.’

The pipes ran in a thick tangle along the ceiling. The air felt damp, and I shivered in my T-shirt. We came to another T-junction and went right again. This tunnel turned out to be endless, and we crept down it for what seemed like hours, trying not to stumble over odd bits of pipe lying about.

‘Emma, I think we've gone the wrong way.’ Ski had the sheets out, flipping through them. ‘We should have found some traps by now, and some rooms – all sorts of stuff.’

‘Should we go back?’ We were both whispering. It was hard not to, in the dark.

‘Yeah, I think we have to … only maybe we should just go left at that last T-junction, instead of going all the way back to the first one. If the tunnels all connect, we've as much chance of finding something there, don't you think?’

‘God, don't ask me!’

We retraced our steps, which seemed to take hours, and finally got back to the T-junction. The left-hand passage stretched before us, just as dark and endless as the last one.

Suddenly I noticed my torch. Instead of casting a strong, round light, it was more like a halo with a dark centre.

I jiggled it. ‘Ski, my torch is going!’

‘We've got mine.’

My chest went cold, clutching at me. ‘But what if yours goes too?’

‘It won't. I mean, it shouldn't.’ An edge of doubt crept into Ski's voice, and we stared at each other.

‘Come on,’ he said finally.

Hundreds of footsteps later, we came to another T-junction.

‘Um … should we go back?’ I was trying very hard not to panic.

Ski licked his lips. ‘I don't know … we've come so far already. Maybe … maybe if we just keep going, we'll find something.’

So we went along that tunnel for ages, and then it branched off again. And then again. I could hardly see now, and I stumbled as we picked our way over a scattering of loose pipes. ‘Ouch!’

Ski was at my side instantly, his face dipped with strange shadows. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Yeah … but my light is almost gone. Look at it!’ I was near tears as I shook it. It flickered a last time, and went dark.

‘Hey, come on – it's OK, we'll both use mine.’ Ski hesitated, and then his hand found mine and closed around it, firm and warm, and we kept going.

And I would be completely lying if I said that I was only thinking of finding Abby right then. My heart was slamming against my ribs so hard it hurt, and for a moment all I could think of was whether my palm was sweaty or not.

‘How long have we been down here?’ whispered Ski after a while.

I shook my head. ‘I'm not wearing my watch. Maybe a couple of hours?’

‘That's what I thought.’

‘We're – we're lost, aren't we?’

‘Um … well, I think I know how to get back to where we started, sort of … the thing is, it would take so long now that I'm afraid
my
torch might go out.’

‘But if we get lost, someone would find us, wouldn't they?’ I wasn't able to keep my voice from shaking.