Thunderstone by Barbara Pietron

Author:Barbara Pietron [Pietron, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction:Fantasy
Publisher: Scribe Publishing Company
Published: 2013-08-04T04:00:00+00:00

There is a road in the hearts of all of us,

hidden and seldom traveled,

which leads to an unknown, secret place.

—Chief Luther Standing Bear, Lakota

Chapter 10

Jeni landed hard, on her back. The painful jolt spread from her core to her limbs, and a crushing weight deflated her lungs. She opened her mouth to inhale, but her chest didn’t want to expand. She gasped for breath, panic pushing aside reason.

Oh God, she’d broken her spine and was going to die here in this dark hole!

Her gasps and wheezes became more frantic and her vision grew fuzzy at the edges. The awful sounds she made sounded strangely familiar though she knew she’d never made them before. As she struggled for breath, the memory surfaced.

Video—it was a video on YouTube her dad made her watch. A woman stomping grapes slipped and fell on her back. She’d had the wind knocked out of her and sounded just like Jeni did now.

Pushing the panic away, Jeni took little shallow breaths. She twisted her body slightly and convinced herself that her spine wasn’t broken. With each inhalation she brought in a bit more air. Her head cleared and she pushed herself up to her elbows, finally able to breathe through her nose.

Her face wrinkled at the conflicting smells. The musty stench of decay was at odds with the scent of fresh dirt and a smoky, sulfurous odor.

Though she wanted to scramble out of the dark, dank chamber, she forced herself to stay still and breathe for a few more minutes. Her light had landed nearby and was on, but the surrounding blackness pressed in on the small island of light, trying to shrink it into oblivion. Unable to endure it any longer, Jeni crawled to her light and flashed it around the cellar.

The space was maybe eight foot square. She trained the light on a tunnel dug into a sidewall. It looked as though it had caved in. The site provided a reason for the smell of fresh dirt and confirmed what she’d determined earlier—someone had been here recently. Jeni shuddered.

A shovel, tarp, and rope lay near the tunnel as well as a few empty plastic bottles and food wrappers. An old stove or furnace occupied the far wall. In the corner nearby lay the cloth that got her into this predicament in the first place.

The statue had better be in it.

Convinced she was going to be okay, Jeni rose shakily to her feet, testing her range of movement. She knew she’d feel this tomorrow.

Crouching down, she covered the cloth with her hand and closed her fist. She groaned out loud.

Nothing. It was empty.

She made a quick survey of the rest of the area, hesitantly checking behind the furnace and under the tarp; kicking around in a mound of dirt in case the statue was buried.

Mission failed.

Time to get out of here.

Jeni clenched her light in her teeth and reached up to the opening. She grasped the ledge and attempted to haul herself up. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

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