Running Scared by Gloria Skurzynski

to the path?”
    Impatient, Jack answered, “Lots of people go through this tunnel, so there are probably lots of footprints. We’ve got to give it up and get some help. Sam’s gone.”
    â€œBut this one’s off the path, and it’s smeared a little bit like someone might have been running, and then they sort of slipped. And look—it’s going toward that narrow corridor. Do you think he would have been scared enough to go off the trail?”
    â€œRight now, I think he could do anything.” Jack knelt to get a closer look at the footprint, taking the lantern and lowering it almost to the ground. The print might have been from Sam’s sneaker; it looked about the right size, with a pattern like tire treads etched in powdery silt. “If this is his, then he must have turned that way,” Jack said, pointing to an even narrower corridor that forked to the left. “Sam!” he yelled. “Sammy, are you in there? Where are you? It’s me and Ashley. You’ve got to come out, right now.”
    When there was no answer, Ashley shook her head. “What do you expect? If he’s running away, he’s not going to tell us where he is. I say we go after him.”
    As the older brother, Jack felt he should be the one to make the decisions, not Ashley. He was 13, Ashley only 11. So OK, decide, he told himself. Turn back, find the rangers, and ask for help? Or keep looking for Sam on their own—after all, as Ashley had said, Sam couldn’t be very far ahead of them. But which direction? Should they take a chance and go into that turnoff, hoping the footprint was Sammy’s and that was the way he went? Or figure it was someone else’s footprint and stay on the marked path a little longer?
    As Jack hesitated, Ashley cried, “Jack! Down there in that turnoff—I see a light! It’s gotta be Sam’s lantern. Maybe we can get him and go back before anyone knows he’s been missing. Come on, let’s go!” When Jack didn’t move quickly enough to suit her, she said impatiently, “If you aren’t coming, at least give me the lantern so I can see where I’m going.”
    â€œI’m coming, I’m coming,” he grumbled. “I hope you know what you’re talking about, because I don’t see any light.”
    Ashley’s braids whipped behind her as she turned toward the corridor. “Follow me!” she commanded. “You’re blind as a bat.”
    â€œBats aren’t blind,” he reminded her. “Dr. Rhodes said so.”
    The turnoff led to a much narrower tunnel, with no marked path. The more steps they took, the rougher the ground became. Then Jack saw what Ashley was talking about—a small light in the distance. Oddly, it looked green, rather than gold like the flame in Jack’s lantern. Since he’d never been in a cave, he didn’t know whether atmospheric differences—or whatever—might make a flame change color. The green light wasn’t moving, so Sam must have stopped running. Probably he was sitting down waiting for them to find him.
    Sharp, uneven rock jutted up from the narrow path, at times slowing Jack and Ashley to a snail’s pace. Once, Jack missed a step and felt the bite of rock against his forearm, cold and sharp. Steadying himself, he realized with relief he hadn’t broken any of the irreplaceable formations. Vowing to be even more careful, he cautiously made his way forward, one foot placed gingerly in front of the other as if he were walking a tightrope. The light ahead guided him, staring at him like a single, shimmering, green eye.
    Pausing, he cupped his free hand to his mouth. “Sam,” he called as loudly as he could, “we’re here! You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
    Silence. After a moment, Jack thought he heard a single drip hit water, although he couldn’t see anything but the eerie