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"Then would you do me a favor and breathe hard? It looks like I'm doing all the work." |
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"Can I help it if I'm the perfect male specimen?" |
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"Yeah, right. I can run circles around any normal man. Come on." |
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As they neared the place where the trails converged, the first drops of rain began to fall. Cyrus held out his hand and his palm was peppered by a barrage of fat raindrops. |
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"We better find shelter," he said. |
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All at once the dream from the previous night came back to him and he remembered the cave and Paula's warning and his mouth was suddenly dry. "I think we can make it to the car." |
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No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the sky opened up and the rain came down like it was shot from a water cannon. |
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"Any other bright ideas," Kyna shouted over the roar of falling water. |
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In his earlier dreams, he remembered a rocky overhang at the base of the peak that overshadowed the entrance to the cave. He didn't remember seeing it on the way down the mountain and he wondered if it could be somewhere along the upper trail. |
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"Let's try the path up to the crest. There might be some caves up there." |
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She gave him one of her looks where one eyebrow turns into a question mark. "And what leads you to that conclusion?" |
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He shrugged. "What do we have to lose? If I'm wrong we're not gonna get any wetter." |
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Kyna sighed and pushed on with her shoulders stooped against the rain. When she reached the fork, she turned and looked back. Cyrus nodded and they set off toward the stand of firs that ringed the top of the mountain. |
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As soon as they started up the new path, Cyrus began to see things he recognized: the fallen tree where he had found |
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