reaching his chin.
His smile struck my heart.
“Keep going,” he insisted, and turned away to move farther around the hill. And
so we went like an awkward, two-bodied cat.
Soon it Killybeg wasn’t
beneath us, but instead the ocean, moving in a steady rhythm against the hill
far below, the tide seeming to wave up at us, begging us to drop into its
welcoming arms.
“Where are we going?” I
asked, my voice belying my fear.
“Right there,” he said
triumphantly.
I tore my eyes away from
the treacherous slope and the waves below to see a small opening in the
hillside. It was maybe half the size of the cavern, opening on the path to
Diamond’s Peak, but it had to lead to the abandoned mine. The hole here was
wide, but not nearly tall enough for a man to walk through. The sun, in the
middle of the long process of setting, was flinging a handful of rays through
the opening into the space beyond.
“Come on!” Wyn called. He
moved forward without me, his hands on the hillside guiding his hops along to
the opening. Once there, he crouched and crawled and shimmied through, his hurt
leg sticking out stiff like a tree branch.
“Wyn!” I shrieked. “Have
you learned nothing? It’s dangerous!”
“Come on, Rube!” he called
from inside. “Five minutes, no more. I promise.”
I trusted a Wyn promise
above all others.
“Wyn …”
“Ruby, this isn’t the part
that fell in. I promise I won’t go digging for diamonds.”
With a heaving sigh and
then a steadying breath, I bent to all fours and crawled through. He held his
hand out to help me up on the inside, but when I took it, he teetered and I
grabbed the wall instead.
As soon as I turned around,
my breath was stolen away.
We stood inside a tall
cavern that glittered with half-buried gems. The space was strewn with wood and
all sorts of tools, and the back wall was made entirely out of crumbled stone,
suggesting that it had once been part of the mine. But in the very middle of it
all was a giant boat, upside down and perched on a set of four tall rocks like
a giant beetle.
“What the … What is it?”
Wyn had never kept a secret from me. My tired, overwrought brain couldn’t
understand it all.
He laughed easily. “It’s a
boat!”
“I know that!” I breathed.
“I was building us a boat,”
he explained. His eyebrows were pushed up and together like a kid presenting
his original artwork to a grown-up for the very first time.
I stepped toward him, and
my fingers found his without looking, intertwining as naturally as vines. “You
built us a boat,” I said breathlessly.
“To go across the sea,” he
said.
It was unlike any boat Oren
had ever built. Nothing like the tiny skimmers townspeople used to fish, this
boat’s hull was at least five times the size of any boat I had ever seen.
My boots clunked across the
stone floor as I approached the smooth, wooden hull that stretched above my
head. Still holding my hand, Wyn hopped along beside me. “You built us a boat,”
I repeated.
“I’d like to call it a ship ,” he said.
I laughed uncontrollably,
then spun to face him, my hands on his shoulders. He grasped my waist as though
we were about to dance. I probably would have danced a frenzied dash around the
cavern, had he been able to move. “You built us a ship,” I whispered.
“I built you a ship,” he corrected.
I let out a mad laugh.
Emotions I didn’t recognize taking over my being, I leaned against the boat and
pressed my cheek to the sleek wood. How many hours had it taken him to sand
that wood to the smooth, beautiful texture that glided under my fingers now?
All those hours for me . All those
times I’d wondered about his feelings, and he’d been doing this all along. For me .
“It wouldn’t fit out this
hole,” he said proudly. “I was just keeping it here to hide from anybody that
might go into the mine. Then when I was done, I planned on pulling it out the
main entrance. But … not anymore, I guess …” He hobbled
His smile struck my heart.
“Keep going,” he insisted, and turned away to move farther around the hill. And
so we went like an awkward, two-bodied cat.
Soon it Killybeg wasn’t
beneath us, but instead the ocean, moving in a steady rhythm against the hill
far below, the tide seeming to wave up at us, begging us to drop into its
welcoming arms.
“Where are we going?” I
asked, my voice belying my fear.
“Right there,” he said
triumphantly.
I tore my eyes away from
the treacherous slope and the waves below to see a small opening in the
hillside. It was maybe half the size of the cavern, opening on the path to
Diamond’s Peak, but it had to lead to the abandoned mine. The hole here was
wide, but not nearly tall enough for a man to walk through. The sun, in the
middle of the long process of setting, was flinging a handful of rays through
the opening into the space beyond.
“Come on!” Wyn called. He
moved forward without me, his hands on the hillside guiding his hops along to
the opening. Once there, he crouched and crawled and shimmied through, his hurt
leg sticking out stiff like a tree branch.
“Wyn!” I shrieked. “Have
you learned nothing? It’s dangerous!”
“Come on, Rube!” he called
from inside. “Five minutes, no more. I promise.”
I trusted a Wyn promise
above all others.
“Wyn …”
“Ruby, this isn’t the part
that fell in. I promise I won’t go digging for diamonds.”
With a heaving sigh and
then a steadying breath, I bent to all fours and crawled through. He held his
hand out to help me up on the inside, but when I took it, he teetered and I
grabbed the wall instead.
As soon as I turned around,
my breath was stolen away.
We stood inside a tall
cavern that glittered with half-buried gems. The space was strewn with wood and
all sorts of tools, and the back wall was made entirely out of crumbled stone,
suggesting that it had once been part of the mine. But in the very middle of it
all was a giant boat, upside down and perched on a set of four tall rocks like
a giant beetle.
“What the … What is it?”
Wyn had never kept a secret from me. My tired, overwrought brain couldn’t
understand it all.
He laughed easily. “It’s a
boat!”
“I know that!” I breathed.
“I was building us a boat,”
he explained. His eyebrows were pushed up and together like a kid presenting
his original artwork to a grown-up for the very first time.
I stepped toward him, and
my fingers found his without looking, intertwining as naturally as vines. “You
built us a boat,” I said breathlessly.
“To go across the sea,” he
said.
It was unlike any boat Oren
had ever built. Nothing like the tiny skimmers townspeople used to fish, this
boat’s hull was at least five times the size of any boat I had ever seen.
My boots clunked across the
stone floor as I approached the smooth, wooden hull that stretched above my
head. Still holding my hand, Wyn hopped along beside me. “You built us a boat,”
I repeated.
“I’d like to call it a ship ,” he said.
I laughed uncontrollably,
then spun to face him, my hands on his shoulders. He grasped my waist as though
we were about to dance. I probably would have danced a frenzied dash around the
cavern, had he been able to move. “You built us a ship,” I whispered.
“I built you a ship,” he corrected.
I let out a mad laugh.
Emotions I didn’t recognize taking over my being, I leaned against the boat and
pressed my cheek to the sleek wood. How many hours had it taken him to sand
that wood to the smooth, beautiful texture that glided under my fingers now?
All those hours for me . All those
times I’d wondered about his feelings, and he’d been doing this all along. For me .
“It wouldn’t fit out this
hole,” he said proudly. “I was just keeping it here to hide from anybody that
might go into the mine. Then when I was done, I planned on pulling it out the
main entrance. But … not anymore, I guess …” He hobbled
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