Whispers in the Gold

They plunged down the slick, freezing metal chute, picking up terrifying speed in absolute darkness before launching out into open air and crashing into four feet of icy, turbulent sea water inside the subterranean cave.

Clara surfaced, coughing and gasping for air, the bitter salt water burning her eyes.

"Clara!" Julian’s arms were around her instantly, hauling her up onto a slippery rock ledge inside the cavern.

Nearby, Evelyn was pulling Lily onto the rocks. The little girl was shivering violently, but unharmed.

"Is everyone okay?" Julian panted, his chest heaving.

"We're alive," Evelyn gasped, holding Lily tight.

Above them, deep inside the chute, they could hear the muffled shouts of Richard’s men searching the upper room.

"They'll realize where the chute leads in less than two minutes," Julian said, looking out toward the mouth of the cave. High tide was coming in; massive waves were crashing against the cave entrance, spraying white foam high into the dark stone ceiling. "We can't swim out through the ocean—the current will smash us against the jagged reefs."

"We don't need to swim out," Evelyn said, pointing to the back of the cave, where a narrow ledge winding upward through the rock face was illuminated by a faint sliver of daylight. "There's an old smuggler's path that leads to the top of the northern bluff."

"Clara, do you still have it?" Julian asked softly.

Clara smiled through her trembling, soaked lips. She opened her tightly clenched right fist.

She hadn't thrown the locket out the window at all. She had thrown a loose silver salt shaker from the keeper's table.

The gold locket lay safe in her palm, intact and shining even in the gloomy cave light.