Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret - Liz Kessler [43]
The tunnel led us to a tall archway. We swam through it into an opening and looked around. Empty. High up, a row of knobbly rocks were squeezed tightly together like a village on a hill. Above us, the stone looked like sheets of paper, folded and rolled and hung from the ceiling. A pillar over to the left was like a giant finger pointing upward.
Aaron swam to a deep recess, high on one side. “Emily, look!”
I swam up to join him. It was another tunnel.
“Come on, let’s try it,” I said.
We swam into the tunnel, and, after a moment in the pitch darkness, we were out the other side. I rubbed my eyes. “We’ve found it!” I said. The opening where I’d last seen Shona.
“Now all we have to do is work out where they’ve taken her,” Aaron said.
We swam along the snaking pathways that led all around the inside of the caves, peering into each cavern we passed and calling out her name as loud as we dared. She was nowhere. The whole place felt deserted.
“Look at that,” Aaron said as we passed a flat ledge with a tall, thin column stretching upward, like a tower that someone in a fairy tale would be locked away in and forgotten forever.
I shuddered and swam on.
“Wait! Look!”
Aaron swam back to join me. It was one of the caverns — but it had a door. A real one, not just a curtain of rocks like the others. It looked as if it was made from a ship’s timber — and it had a rusty bolt across it.
I grabbed the bolt. “It’s stiff,” I said. “Help me.”
Between us, we worked at the bolt, pulling and levering it gradually along — until finally it came loose. I pushed the door and swam in.
My eyes took a moment to grow accustomed to the darkness. Once they did, I saw something huddled in the far corner. I swam straight over.
She was curled up with her head in her arms, shoulders hunched, tail flat and lifeless.
“Shona!” I cried.
She turned her tearstained face up toward me. “Emily,” she said, instantly getting up and brushing her tail down. “You found me!”
We fell into a hug. “Of course I found you,” I said. “What was I going to do? Abandon you?” I pulled her over to the door. “Come on.”
That was when she noticed Aaron. “Aaron! How did you —?”
“We’ll explain everything later,” Aaron said. “Let’s get out of here first.”
Shona stopped. “Wait — I need to say something first.”
I sighed. “Please, Shona. I know you think these sirens are the whale’s whiskers but I’m telling you, they’re not. You have to believe me. They —”
“Emily, stop,” she said firmly. “I don’t think anything of the sort. That’s what I wanted to say.” She lowered her head. “I was a silly shark-head,” she said quietly. “I should have listened to you. I should have trusted you. You’ve never let me down, and you never would. I’m sorry.”
“What happened?” I asked. “How did you end up in here?”
Shona’s eyes filled with tears, glistening in the darkness. “They made me sing,” she said. “But they said it wasn’t good enough.”
“That’s what they said to me,” I said. “In my case, they were right, though.” I laughed and Shona half smiled. “But you’re a brilliant singer. They don’t know what they’re talking about!”
Shona wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. “They told me their story.”
Aaron swam across the room and hovered beside me. “What story?” he asked.
“How they got down here. They said they’d been trapped here for years and years. They’d been friends all their lives. One of them — Melody — had been the best singer anyone had ever heard.”
“She’s the one Miss Merlin told you about?” I asked.
Shona nodded. “But then something happened. She went away for a long time, and when she came back, she couldn’t sing. When she tried, terrible sounds came out. Melody said she had to leave her home immediately. They didn’t know why, but because they were all such good friends, they said they’d come with her.”
“And they came here?” Aaron asked.
“Yes. She said they’d only need to stay a little while.