Free Fairytale Beginnings by Holly Martin Page B

see a ladder at the end, which seemed to go straight up. The left tunnel veered up and off to the left almost as if it was heading back towards the castle. There appeared to be a few brass lanterns on the walls, unlit of course, and at the very end, steps rising upwards into a bright shaft of sunlight. Moss lined the edges of the tunnel, but it looked almost magical as the sunlight sparkled off the green walls.
    ‘I know which one you want to explore first,’ Cameron said.
    She looked up at him. ‘You do?’
    He took her hand and walked down the slightly sinister looking right tunnel.
    She laughed. ‘How did you know?’
    ‘I’ve come to realise that with you, I have to expect the unexpected.’
    The tunnel zigzagged and twisted and turned until Milly had no idea which direction the castle was, they seemed to be going further and further down. The smooth dirt walls were soon replaced with jagged rock walls, covered with moss, and it started to get lighter so that Cameron’s torch wasn’t needed at all. She could hear a roaring that was getting louder and louder and as they rounded the last corner, they were faced with a stunning view of the inky blue sea. The tunnel ended abruptly, opening out into a gaping hole in the cliff face.
    Milly and Cameron inched closer to the edge, but Cameron’s grip on her hand tightened just in case she slipped and tumbled inadvertently to her death.
    ‘Oh!’ Milly exclaimed, as she took in the view. About ten metres below the tunnel entrance lay a pretty little secluded cove, about twenty or thirty metres long and lined with golden sand. Milly longed to lie on the castle’s own private beach. She smiled hugely, what an incredible discovery.
    Large rocks punctuated the sea along the cove, making it almost impossible to get to the beach by boat, this seemed like the only safe way to access the cove.
    Cameron nudged her and pointed directly below the hole, where a tiny old wooden boat lay upside down, broken and seemingly wedged between the rocks that lined this end of the cove.
    ‘You don’t think that was Uncle Boris’s boat, do you?’ Milly asked.
    ‘I don’t know, but it explains a lot about his disappearance if it is.’
    ‘What if … the treasure is down there too?’ Milly said.
    He smiled. ‘If it was, I expect it washed out to sea a long time ago.’
    ‘Can we get down there to explore?’ Milly leaned out over the opening but Cameron pulled her back.
    ‘Please be careful, I really don’t want you to die.’
    He leaned out himself, ever so slightly and then knelt to the floor, picking at the mud to reveal a piece of rope that seemed to be welded to the edge of the ledge with moss. Eventually he managed to pull it free and a rope ladder came away from the cliff face. It was about four metres long and the end had clearly broken off at some point over the years.
    ‘Well I guess that’s a no for now, but I reckon the hardware store in the village might sell rope ladders, or at least know where we can get them.’
    Milly pulled a face, disappointed that this current adventure had come to such a swift end.
    ‘I promise we’ll come back,’ Cameron said, as he moved his fingers to her lips, pulling her pout into a smile. She laughed. ‘Come on, we have two other tunnels to explore and I guess you want the one that looks like it leads to an enchanted forest next, you being a Disney princess and all.’
    He led the way back up the tunnel, still holding her hand, and she couldn’t help smiling at his back, feeling a silly giddiness sweep through her. She really liked Cameron and the more time she spent with him, the harder it was to find reasons not to be with him.

    C ameron switched on his torch as the light from the beach faded the further they went back up the tunnel.
    It was an odd thing, holding Milly’s hand. It was warm and fitted his hand perfectly, but he hadn’t even known her a day and yet it felt like the most natural thing in the world. The boundaries of