8
As I was waking, I felt the inner earth shudder. I thought it was a dream until stone dust fell from the cavern’s ceiling onto my blanket. One of the girls was making coffee on the coals, and the tin pot fell over.
Not far from me, a lantern sputtered. Lucy stood up and gave a whistle, then cupped both hands and made a bird sound that echoed through the cave. The Dunlop people, shaken out of sleep, all went into motion at once, as if they’d been ready forever.
“Kill the fire and then take the four strongest to the entry,” Lucy directed Levi. Then to Ruthie, “Tell them to get the little ones bundled.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said at the same time. Levi stepped close to the woman he’d called his mother and asked, “Do you think this is it?”
I was close enough to hear the answer, but it wa
