The Five Dollar Mail (Book 1: The Green & Book 2: Lynch's Boys)

157: And Were You Lost, I Would Be

Cover painting by Angela Taratuta. Chapter artwork of Lily by Diego Candia. All graphics by me.

"Jesse!" Lily gripped the bars blocking the tunnel and pulled hard on the locked gate in frustration. The padlock rattled, sending a soft hiss of rust particles cascading against the surrounding stone. A loose pebble clattered down and skittered across the floor. He's likely alive. He must've been here just recently...

Saint pulled her arm gently. "Let me take a look, Little Miss."

"We have to get through, Saint." She fought to keep calm. It was a battle she knew she was losing. "He could be hurt! We have to find him!"

Saint carefully held up the candle stub he was holding, inspecting the bolts and hinges that secured the gate in the walls. "This padlock is new. See? They've been here. I'm thinking Farm Boy got loose and found himself stuck on the wrong side of this gate. That don't exactly fill me with confidence that this is the way out. Here, hold this light, I might be able to muscle it out."

Lily took the stub from him, careful not to burn her fingers. What do we do when we run out of candles? God help us, she mouthed silently. Please help us.

Saint settled into a firm hold on the grid of iron, leaned into it, and lifted. Part of it shifted a tiny fraction of an inch, but it held fast, rusted deep into the rock . A thin stream of dirt and pebbles rained down onto Saint's shoulder. He let go of the gate, stepping back and looking up worriedly.

Lily's heart sank. "Please don't tell me it won't open," she breathed, her voice trembling. "We have to get through, Saint."

"I know, Little Miss. Lemme think." He took in a deep breath, running his hands over the walls and studying the ceiling. "I'm gonna be straight with you, Lily. I'm scared of this tunnel. This mine ain't stable."

"Well, we can't go back the way we came!"

"No. We can't."

The horizontal bars on the edges of the grate before them did not run all the way out to the sides of the tunnel. Saint shook off his coat and eased a leg through the opening, flattening himself against the tunnel wall and exhaling hard as he tried to force his body through to the other side. The edges of the grate scraped across his hip and bit into his ribs, catching where his chest widened. He groaned in pain and frustration. "Dammit! Come on, come on...ow..." He bit his lip, grimacing. "Nope..." The grate rattled, showering him with dirt and rust particles. Forcing himself back out, he, gasped as his ribcage slid free and he sucked in a great, thirsty breath. Pausing, he rubbed his abraded chest as he surveyed the grate and the rock wall. "C'mere, Little Miss," he muttered, stepping out of the way. "You're a lot smaller than me."

Lily looked at him and then looked at the opening he'd just tried and failed to squeeze through. He thinks...he actually thinks I'm going to..."No."

"No way around it." He held out his hand. "C'mon."

She shook her head, panic rising. Her heart was pounding in her chest. "If you think I'm leaving you..."

"I'll catch up. I just need time to work on this. I don't want you on this side of it."

"Why?" her voice was shaking, betraying her. "What does it matter? I'm not going without you, Saint. I won't do it!"

"This mine joins up with a natural cave. This gate separates the mine tunnels from a grotto. Look." He held the stub through the bars, illuminated the smooth-walled, undulating curves and the eerie formations of flowstone and stalagmites of the cavern beyond.

"So?"

"So maybe it's a little less likely to collapse. C'mon, Lily, it ain't like we got all the time in the world right now."

She backed away, shaking her head. "Don't make me do this, Saint."

He stood for a long moment looking at her. "Lily. Neither one of us is gonna get through if you don't help me out here. I don't want to have to worry about causing a cave in with you over here."

"What about you?" she spat, frantic. The idea of leaving him to possibly die here alone was far worse than the prospect of being crushed by a rockfall ever was. "What about me worrying about you?"

"Look, you can just go on ahead a little and tell me if it's worth the effort. No point in it if it's just a dead end."

His face was a dim, flickering glow in the orange light, his eyes deep in shadow. His tone was light, but the sober grimness of his face terrified her. He looks like a condemned man before a hanging. Her voice broke, the constriction in her throat letting go in a rush. "I'm afraid," she blurted, her shoulders shaking as tears rolled down her face.

He nodded, taking her hand and pulling her towards him. His big hands held hers captive as he looked into her face. "I know." His rough thumb brushed her cheek, sweeping away the hot wetness there. He nodded, smoothing the unkempt tendrils at her temples. "I know you are, sweetheart. I'm sorry. And I ain't gonna tell you that you shouldn't be. But you gotta do this."

She nodded, numb, letting him push her towards the narrow opening. Stifling a sob, slipping between the grate and the wall. It was a tight squeeze, even for her, as she emptied her lungs and ignored the bite of the rough iron past her hips and breasts and scraping across her jaw. She wondered how Saint had gotten past it as far as he had.

"Take these," he said, holding out the remainder of the candle stubs through the gate. "Just in case."

"I thought you were going to be right behind me."

He nodded soberly. "Just in case, Little Miss." His fingers closed over hers, folding the precious wax globs into her palm. He gave her hands a squeeze, his grip tender and strong as he leaned in close to the bars between them. She could feel the heat of his nearness in the chilly air and she wanted to fall into it, just let go and surrender into the impenetrable fortress of his arms and feel safe and warm even as the end came. 

His eyes locked on hers, holding her gaze. "Little Miss...Lily... I want you to know...oh, shit."

Her head whipped around to follow his gaze past her and down the corridor. "Wha?" Two points of light were approaching from the darkness beyond the grate.

"Lily. Shh." He released her, shoving her away with a frantic desperation. " Hide. Quick."

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