The Exiles

ourselves,’ said Naomi. ‘I’m sick of being shown the way to everywhere.’
    ‘What about snakes?’ asked Rachel.
    ‘Fairy stories,’ replied Naomi. ‘Same as gold and diamonds and pearls!’
    ‘Snakes always get out of the way anyway,’ said Ruth. ‘It says so in my book.’
    Slowly they began to make their way towards the quarry face. Elder bushes had grown up since it had been abandoned, and everywhere brambles trailed over the ground like tripwires. Phoebe started picking blackberries and putting them in her handbag.
    ‘Millions of flies,’ said Ruth. ‘Oh! Look!’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Just behind that dark tree.’
    It was hard to believe they had been so close without seeing it. A huge, black, wedge-shaped hole split into the quarry wall straight in front of them. There was a narrow stream pouring out of it, along the side of which ran a gravelly track.
    ‘There’s a path,’ said Rachel.
    ‘We found it without a path,’ said Ruth.
    They gathered at the mouth of the cave and peered inside. It was much bigger than they had expected, and much darker. Near the entrance, ferns and mosses glowed green against the wet walls. The stony path led the way confidently inside and then ended in a black blur. There was a continuous ring and tinkle of drops falling from a height into deep water.
    ‘Oh, no!’ said Rachel, backing away.
    ‘Oh no what?’
    ‘I’m not going in there.’
    ‘Well, we are,’ answered Ruth. ‘You can wait here if you like.’
    ‘For Graham,’ added Naomi. ‘Let’s hurry up before he comes. Don’t light the candles until we’ve seen it properly in the dark.’ Tentatively she began to lead the way inside along the track. Ruth and Phoebe followed her until the darkness grew too much for them to challenge any longer, and all three of them came to a halt. It was a relief to turn round and see the bright triangle of light that was the entrance of the cave and the small dark shape of Rachel, hovering uncertainly in the background.
    The candles, slimy and dripping with squashed blackberry juice (‘Like lumpy blood,’ remarked Naomi, wishing to add a little more to the general atmosphere), were extracted from Phoebe’s bag.
    ‘Come on, Rachel,’ called Ruth, and an echo repeated the invitation over and over again.
    The candle flames burnt straight and clear, their light reflecting off the walls and the pool of water that filled the end of the cave. The sight of them glowing in the darkness enticed Rachel along the path.
    ‘Is it safe?’ she asked.
    ‘Safe?’ questioned the echo in a very scared voice.
    ‘Do your owl calls,’ ordered Naomi.
    Rachel had one musical accomplishment. She could cup her hands and blow inside them, and produce a deep wooden fluting sound, quite unlike any owl heard in real life, but very impressive.
    Squatting in the circle of candlelight, resting her elbows on her knees, Rachel began to blow.
    The space around them filled with sound.
    ‘More,’ whispered Naomi. ‘Louder!’ and Rachel blew and blew on her hands and sent echoes peeling and droning and humming off the shining candle-lit walls. Graham found them crouched round the ring of flames like four witches, all hypnotised by the throbbing reflections of Rachel’s melancholy notes.
    ‘Pack it in!’ shouted Graham, shocked by the unholiness of the sounds. ‘You’ll call something up, howling away like that! Come on out! You could freeze in here!’
    ‘You give me the spooks,’ said Graham as they joined him in the sunlight. ‘I close my eyes a minute, and I wake up to that horrible sound and I find you sitting there half daft looking like four clock hens …’
    ‘Speak English,’ said Naomi.
    ‘Sitting there like one o’clock half struck,’ continued Graham, ‘like them old hags in that play we did at school …’
    ‘What play?’
    ‘Omlette.’
    ‘He means Macbeth ,’ Ruth said.
    The sun shone cheerfully on their candle smoked faces and greasy hands.
    ‘What next?’ asked Rachel.
    ‘You might like to sneak off somewhere else,’ suggested Graham bitterly. ‘I was going to show you something but I don’t know if I will now.’
    ‘We’ll find it ourselves then,’ replied Phoebe.
    ‘What?’ asked Naomi. ‘Come on, Graham, don’t start sulking!’
    ‘Will if I like.’
    ‘Please oh please oh please,’ said Rachel.
    ‘Huh!’
    They waited patiently.
    ‘Go on then, show us.’
    ‘I’m looking at it.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Upstairs,’ said Graham. ‘You