Jonn limped on his crutches with our support, and Ivy helped him. They both gasped as I pressed the button and the stones slid back to reveal the stairs. “Gabe?” I called softly into the hole. His face appeared out of the darkness, looking up at me, and I scrambled down the steps. He hugged me tight when I reached the bottom, and I could feel his heart beating against mine. “We brought you food,” I said, drawing back and handing him the sack. Behind me, Jonn had settled on the top step. Ivy descended them slowly, holding the lantern above her head and looking around in amazement “This is incredible,” she breathed. “So they were hiding this from us the whole time?” “It’s hard to believe, I know.” But as I said the words I remembered things, glances they’d shared at the dinner table, absences that hadn’t been explained, whispered conversations and visits to the barn in the early morning hour while we were supposed to be sleeping.
