Home to Whiskey Creek. Brenda Novak

see whether that was really the case. Not anymore. The light filtering through the opening was almost gone.

      Would she have to spend another night in this place?

      The prospect of that, of the cold and the rats and the fear of flooding, made her rock faster, back and forth, back and forth. It hurt to move, but she had to concentrate on something or she’d go crazy.

      “You—you are powerful. You are...c-capable. You can overcome.” This kind of self-talk had fostered the determination that had carried her through the long hours so far, close to seventeen if her guess was accurate. It was at least 3:00 a.m. when she’d been dragged from her bed, wasn’t it?

      She wasn’t sure exactly. She only knew that, after two and a half days of being “home” to take care of Gran, she’d been awakened by a man who whispered that he’d “stab the old lady” if she screamed or tried to escape; and that was all he had to say. She’d do anything to protect her grandmother Milly, even relive the nightmare of fifteen years ago. But he’d simply issued a terse warning telling her he’d kill her if she ever talked about that graduation party and then threw her down the mine shaft.

      It was a miracle she hadn’t been more badly hurt. The demolition they’d done after Cody’s death had felled most of the support beams, sealing off some of the deeper crevices, or she might have fallen much farther.

      “Hey, you still down there?”

      Her heart lifted with hope. The man she’d heard before was back!

      “I’m here!” she called. “C-can you help me? You have t-to help me. I don’t want to spend another night in here.”

      “Another night? God, what happened to you?” he said, but she could tell he was busy and not waiting for an answer. He’d probably ask again once the pressure was off. For now, he seemed focused on the task at hand.

      Closing her eyes, Adelaide tilted her head back and let the tears she’d refused to shed roll down her cheeks. She’d made it through another traumatic experience. The boys from Whiskey Creek hadn’t broken her yet. She’d survived. Again.

      “I have a rope. Do you have the strength to hang on to it long enough for me to haul you up?”

      If she tried, she’d fall. Not only was she battered and bruised, she’d had barely three hours of sleep before being abducted. Dressed in the shirt and panties she’d worn to bed, she was shivering violently. And she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in over a day.

      She wanted to be brave, to say she could do whatever getting out required, but she felt as helpless as a baby. It’d taken everything she had just to stave off the panic and despair. Now that someone had arrived, now that she had support, the adrenaline that’d kept her going left her drained.

      “I...don’t think so,” she admitted.

      “Don’t cry,” he said. “I won’t leave you again. I’ll stay here all night if necessary, okay, Addy?”

      She hadn’t realized her emotions were that apparent. She wished she could maintain a stiff upper lip, at least until she got home and could fall apart in private. But she had no more reserves of any kind.

      Fortunately, the gentleness in his voice and the commitment behind those words made her feel as if he’d wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders. “I—I appreciate that,” she stammered, and meant it.

      “I’m going to make a loop. All you have to do is slip it over your head and down under your butt. Can you do that?”

      She was still conscious. She had to be capable of doing that much. “I’ll try.”

      It was now completely dark. She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, let alone the end of a rope coming toward her, but he had a flashlight that illuminated the area above her head. “Do you see it?”

      “Yes,” she responded when it nearly hit her in the face.

      “Great. That’s the first step. Put it on. I’ll wrap this end around a tree so I can keep from falling in with you if I lose my footing. Then I’ll start bringing you up.”

      He hadn’t asked how much she weighed, how her size compared to his. He was a guy; he expected to be bigger. But not all guys were. At six feet, she was taller than most women and a good number of men, too. Although she’d always been thin, she wasn’t convinced he’d have the strength to raise her.

      Should she tell him the job might be more difficult than he expected and risk having him decide to go for help instead?

      No. She couldn’t wait another second. Maybe he’d drop her on the ascent, but if this was her only hope of getting out now, she was taking that chance.

      After wiping her tears, she did as he instructed. “Ready.”

      “That’s what I want to hear. See? Everything will be fine. All I need you to do is keep the rope under your bottom. Can you do that?”

      She didn’t have any choice, not if she wanted out. “Yes.”

      “Perfect. Here we go.”

      The rope drew so taut it cut into her thighs, but nothing happened.

      Terror ripped through her. The task was too much for him, just as she’d feared! She stifled a whimper, preparing for the moment when he’d admit defeat. But then he began to reel her toward him, inch by painstaking inch.

      Dangling in midair, completely dependent on a stranger she couldn’t even see, was frightening. But he was trying to help, and that was better than being alone in the mine. Anything was better than being alone.

      When at last she reached the opening, she couldn’t see a lot more than she could in the shaft, but the fresh air sweeping over her confirmed that she was no longer inside the mine.

      I’m free. She choked on a sob. She didn’t have the strength to crawl over the lip, but he grabbed her arms and hauled her out before sinking down next to her.

      “There...you...go,” he said, as if her problems were over. But, in some ways, the mine still held her captive, and she was afraid that would always be true.

      Heedless of the gravel and dirt, she rolled onto her back so she could stare up at the starry sky. “Thank you.”

      He propped himself up beside her. She could hear his movements but couldn’t make out more than a dark figure. “I’m glad I heard you. How badly are you hurt?” he asked.

      It was cold, colder than inside the mine, thanks to the wind, but she didn’t care. “I’m n-not sure.”

      “Anything broken?”

      Relieved that he was giving her a chance to recover before waving that flashlight in her face, she put her arm over her eyes in case he angled it at her before she was ready. “I don’t think so. I’m just...rattled and b-banged up.”

      “What happened?” He seemed to have caught his breath. “How’d you wind up in the mine?”

      You tell anyone about graduation and I’ll kill you. I’ll stab the old lady, too. Do you understand? No one wants to hear it. It’s old news. And in case you’ve been gone so long you haven’t heard, Cody’s dad is mayor now. Going to the police won’t get you anywhere. Consider this a little...FYI.

      How much did she dare tell before she was asking for more trouble? She couldn’t say she’d fallen into the mine and expect to be believed. Once he could see her clearly, he’d notice that she was in her underwear and her eye was swollen almost shut. The marks from the rope would be another giveaway.

      But she couldn’t be honest, or the man who’d done this might think she was blabbing, exactly as he feared.

      “I, uh, s-sleepwalk sometimes.” It was an obvious lie, one that would most likely be interpreted as a refusal to answer, but that seemed her only option.

      “You...sleepwalk?” When he raised