He looked into her face. “Promise?” He stepped forward to hold her chin up for a moment; she thought he was going to kiss her, but she pulled away before he could see the heavy fatigue in her eyes.

“Yeah, I promise. Go.”

He exhaled through compressed lips, chose his next handholds, and then lifted himself up. She watched him ascend for a moment.

“C’mon girl, you can do it.” She reached up, barely feeling the stone under shredded fingertips. There was nothing but pain and fatigue now. She looked back to the cool stone. It would be so easy just to stay, rest, and maybe sleep. Cate shook her head to clear it, and looked up.

“I promised.” She stepped up.

In another thirty minutes she climbed onto a ledge to find Jack and Abby waiting for her. She lay down and turned her head to them.

“Walk in the park,” she grinned, panting.

“You’re doing great,” Abby said. “This is a tough climb. We’re just lucky there looks to have been a tumble in here within the last few thousand years… means the rocks are jagged with a lot of handholds.” She shone her light around, and rested it on one section of darker rock that was near smooth as glass. “That’s what it all looked like before the rockslide – water smoothed. Climbing that would be impossible without professional gear.”

Abby sprang to her feet and walked to the edge of the ledge, shining her light straight up. “Yep, lucky.”

Cate propped herself up on one elbow and turned to look up at Jack. “We’re lucky.”

“My middle name.” He winked.

“How high do you think we’ve come?” Cate eased herself to a sitting position.

Jack turned, and wiped a forearm up over his face. “Long way. Eight hundred feet, maybe a thousand.” He shrugged, and then leaned in closer, the corners of his mouth lifting. “But I’m guessing what you’re really asking is, how much further to go?”

She pointed one bleeding finger, gun-like, at his chest. “Bingo.”

He looked up for a moment. “I think at least another five hundred feet until we get to the absolute bottom of the Heceta Island caves. And then…” He sighed. “Then, if that lucky streak is still with us, we can find a way into them. Or we can contact someone on the other side.” He looked away.

“If not?” she smiled weakly, but knew it was a dumb question to ask.

He turned back to her. “If not, then we just sit a while and work out what we do next.” He nudged her. “We always think of something, don’t we? By the way, did I thank you for inviting me?”

Cate laughed, and then coughed. “Yes, I think you already did. But if you’re after an apology, then sure, I’m sorry about all this, but who knew, huh?”