I open my eyes, bracing for bright daylight, but the cave is pitch black. What happened? How long have I been out?

‘Po! Po!’ I cry.

Nothing.

I cough to clear the dust from my throat.

‘Po!’ I yell as loud as I can.

Still nothing.

Then I hear the sound of slowly moving rocks and a croaky little voice calls, ‘Wylah, I’m here.’

I could cry with relief. I crawl towards Po’s voice, over rubble and dust. ‘Are you okay, Po?’

He coughs. ‘I think I am. Are you? I called and called for you! I thought you were…I thought… I was so afraid I was alone.’ Po’s voice quivers.

‘What happened, Wylah?’

‘I don’t know. We need to find a way out so we can check on the others.’

‘How will we nd our way out if we can’t see anything?’ Po wails.

I am close to him now. I reach out in the dark, find his shoulder and squeeze it. ‘I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out.’

Just then I hear dust trickling somewhere, and what sounds like small rocks tumbling down the wall of the cave. I pull Po close and cover our heads with my arms, in case the earth starts moving again.

Continue reading the extract here…

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