Secret of Light by K. C. Dyer Page A

change my mind. Let’s call Delaney and go back to the school.”
    â€œKate!” Darrell’s voice was impatient. “We’ll only go in for a minute or two and then head straight back to report these shotgun casings, I promise.”
    Kate scanned the hillside. She narrowed her eyes at Brodie and followed Darrell under the chain. “Okay, but I’m timing you. Two minutes!” Brodie passed his backpack though the opening and followed the girls inside. He pushed the door shut with a creak behind them and three flashlights clicked on, beams piercing the darkness.
    They stood in a small entryway that served as a landing for a flight of wooden steps spiralling upwards into the gloom.
    â€œThis must be where the lighthouse keepers hung their wet clothes,” whispered Darrell. A number of hooks were nailed haphazardly along the wall, and in several places where they had fallen out altogether, the hooks had been replaced by rusty spikes driven into the wall at intervals.
    â€œThere doesn’t seem to be room for much else in here,” remarked Brodie. “Let’s take a quick peek upstairs.” Before Kate had a chance to protest, he clambered up the wooden steps, flashlight bobbing.
    â€œCareful,” Darrell panted, following him. “One of the boards is broken.” She pointed out the spot with her flashlight, and the beam was swallowed by darkness inside the jagged hole. They stepped over the riserentirely and in a moment they circled to the top of the first flight of stairs.
    â€œAgh. All the spinning makes me feel sick,” complained Kate, putting her hand on Darrell’s shoulder to steady herself.
    â€œTry not to wear yourself out, Action Girl,” Brodie said, grinning.
    Kate stuck out her tongue.
    â€œWe’ll be going back down the other direction in a minute,” said Darrell, practically, “so your head will have a chance to even itself out.”
    Brodie paced the perimeter of the round room. “I think this must have been the main living area for the lighthouse keeper,” he said, using his flashlight to examine the floor as he took each step.
    Darrell walked past Kate, who was leaning against a wall, and began to examine the place herself. “Looks like there have been a few people here since the lighthouse closed down,” she remarked, indicating a pile of wrappers and chip bags strewn to one side.
    â€œYeah,” said Kate. “This place is a pigsty.”
    Darrell gestured with her flashlight at the worn wooden boards on the floor. “Don’t see any of those shell casings in here, though.”
    â€œI’d like to remind you
we
are the trespassers this time,” said Kate in a worried tone. “So could you hurry up?” She slid back along the wall towards Darrell and disappeared with a yell.
    â€œKate!” chorused Brodie and Darrell, and rushed across the room.

    â€œIt’s okay — I mean — I’m okay,” came a muffled voice. To Darrell’s relief, Kate’s smudged face appeared in the beam of her flashlight. Darrell reached down to help Kate to her feet.
    â€œWhat happened?” demanded Brodie.
    â€œI — I was leaning on the wall and then I guess I took a step to the side. I think one of the floorboards must be broken and I tripped and fell because the wall wasn’t there anymore.”
    Brodie gave a low chuckle, relief in his voice. “I think you may have stumbled into the anteroom that leads up to the light, Kate.” Three flashlight beams turned to illuminate a small opening in the outer wall of the room that led to a second, smaller stairwell. Brodie stuck his flashlight inside and the light reflected back from the surface of the lamp in the small room above. The reflection was so bright they all closed their eyes in pain.
    â€œDon’t do that, Brodie!” Darrell’s voice was taut with alarm. “Someone is sure to see the reflection