Through the Tiger's Eye Read Online Free PDF Page B

Ricardo
    ‘Walk!’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘I don’t know, but we can’t stay here.’
    Holding the little boy with one arm, Lucy pulled the torch from her pocket and passed it to Ricardo. In the faint beam she could see that the little boy’s eyes were closed and he could barely hold his head up. His bones stuck out like chopsticks.
    Lucy realised she still had the rope from the clearing coiled over one shoulder. She couldn’t remember putting it there. It was as though she had just watched an action video but when she hit Rewind, it was frozen. She tramped deeper into the darkness, the torch barely lighting the ground beneath her feet.
    The air in the tunnel got colder and Lucy began to shiver. It had been so hot out there! She could feel the dried sweat and mud on her face and arms. Then the torch batteries finally died. There was no choice but to keep going.
    ‘Ricardo, drag your fingers along the wall so we don’t miss the fork in the tunnel,’ Lucy said.
    And that was how they found the door. If they’d been using the torch, they probably would have missed it.
    ‘Hey, here’s a handle! Wonder if it . . .?’ Ricardo’s wondering was brought to an end by the unmistakable creaking of disused hinges.
    Lucy shuffled back towards Ricardo’s breathing and felt for the opening with her hand.
    ‘Where’s the light switch?’
    Exhausted as she was, Lucy started to giggle at Ricardo’s question. That got Ricardo going and then they both began laughing uncontrollably at the idea of a light switch halfway to the centre of the earth. A scraping sound and a brilliant flash shut them up. The flash illuminated the face of the strange girl, holding a glowing match. In the brief moment before the flame flickered out, Lucy saw a room with tables and chairs, like a lunchroom, a candle stub in a beer bottle on the table, and cups and a thermos. A second later a match flared again and then Lucy and the strange girl were staring at each in the candlelight. Lucy suddenly realised how thirsty she was. She grabbed the thermos and shook it. Water? Ten-year-old tea? Gross. Hands shaking, she unscrewed the lid, poured some liquid into it and tasted it. Water. She had no idea how many years it had been there but right now it tasted fantastic. She handed a cup of water to the girl, who drank thirstily before putting her arm shakily around the little boy and holding the cup to his lips. He gulped some down and handed the cup to Ricardo.
    ‘We have to get you more water and food,’ Lucy said to the strange kids.
    ‘Yeah. We’ll get you Cocoa Puffs and red cordial,’ said Ricardo.
    They looked at him blankly.
    ‘Please don’t inform anyone of our whereabouts,’ said the girl, turning to Lucy.
    ‘What?’ said Ricardo.
    ‘Duh! She means don’t tell anyone where they are.’
    ‘As if!’ Ricardo said.
    ‘Not as if. You tell Mum everything. You even dob yourself in!’
    Lucy turned back to the strange kids.
    ‘We’ll be back soon. Come on Ricardo, let’s go.’
    Together they scraped their way towards the fork in the tunnel, trying not to think about tigers, snakes, rats or soldiers. It seemed to go on forever, much longer than before.
    When they finally reached the tunnel entrance, they found the Tiger-cat, perched on top of the pile of rubble, observing them impassively with golden eyes. Overhead, the biggest tree’s branches were bent low as though ready to scoop them up into its arms. Lucy just had time to register that the leaves were the right dull green again, before the Tiger-cat sprang out of the pit in one graceful leap and disappeared from view. It was an incredible distance for such a small creature to jump. She began knotting the rope at intervals, the way she had been taught at school camp. Then she scrabbled around for a lump of clay. She squeezed the dense, sticky goo into the shape of a donut, threaded the rope through the hole and flung it over the lowest branch, right at the edge of the pit. The weight of the