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Back Timberdark Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Dedication
  4. Praise for Wranglestone
  5. Epigraph
  6. Map
  7. Part I
  8. Prologue
  9. 1
  10. 2
  11. 3
  12. 4
  13. 5
  14. 6
  15. 7
  16. 8
  17. Part II
  18. 9
  19. 10
  20. 11
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. 16
  26. 17
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. 24
  34. 25
  35. 26
  36. Part III
  37. 27
  38. 28
  39. 29
  40. 30
  41. 31
  42. 5 Years Later
  43. Acknowledgements
  44. About the Author

Peter looked back towards the bedroom door. He could still hear Teddy tidying up after himself. He should call for him, or wait for Sheriff O’Hurn to return. He didn’t know what was down there. He didn’t know if he could cope once he did. But if Cooper had been taken down there, he should go too. And alone. Peter swung both feet round into the hole. He took the candle in one hand and the ladder in the other and slowly made his way down.

26

The trapdoor became a rectangle of dark light above. The cave was so vast that candlelight couldn’t reach the ceiling to make out its features. It was almost as if Peter had dropped through a hole in the night sky. He lost count after the thirtieth rung, but it became clear that the ladder extended the full height of the island. Every now and then, he held the candle away from him, hoping to see the ground below. But he couldn’t see past the flare of the flame, so he continued his way down and another rung appeared from the darkness to take him even deeper.

Peter’s foot reached for another rung. It lunged, like he’d missed a step and was about to fall to his death. But instead his toecap touched rock. He lowered his bodyweight on to his foot and with a sigh, let go of the ladder.

It was as if the night had walls. Peter couldn’t see the cave, but he could tell he stood in a vast enclosed space by the sound his breath made. When he sighed, the sigh would only travel so far away from him before circling back. He took a step and the thud of his boot on the rock ricocheted all around him. The island was an overturned bowl. And the cave was connected to the lake. Peter took a few steps forward and the rock beneath him dissolved into ice. He set the candle down and inched on to the frozen pool. The darkness directly in front of him was broken. It wasn’t bright, but it was as if part of the cavern wall was transparent somehow. And it was coldest here. Peter braced both arms, rubbing them for warmth, and walked a little closer.

A shallow arch just above the line of the water formed an entrance to the lake. But it was completely frozen over by spears of drooling icicles. Henry had never mentioned there being a cave, but now Peter thought on it, perhaps he hadn’t known about it. Nobody did.