Free Haunted Island by Joan Lowery Nixon

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    “It’s getting darker,” Amy said.
    “Because you’re in the woods.”
    “I’m hungry, Chris. What time do you think it is?”
    “I don’t know. Don’t think about food. It won’t help.”
    Chris wished that he had a wristwatch. His stomach rumbled, and he also wished he had thought of bringing something to eat.
    The trees seemed to close around them, and Chris got the uncomfortable feeling that they were being wrapped in a damp, musty blanket.
    “I don’t like this,” Amy murmured. “Chris, something’s all wrong!”
    “Don’t get panicky,” Chris said. “Don’t let your imagination get out of hand.”
    “Chris!” Amy’s words came in short gasps. “Something’s following us! It’s behind us!”
    Chris could feel the back of his neck begin to prickle, but he tried to remain calm. “We’ll be all right as long as we stick together,” he said. He stopped and turned around.
    But they weren’t together. Amy was running as fast as she could away from Chris and up the hill.

11
    A MY CRASHED THROUGH THE underbrush, not caring about the noise she was making. Chris stumbled after her. The ground was slick with damp needles, and running was difficult.
    “Amy!” he yelled. “Wait!”
    One moment she was ahead of him. The next moment she had disappeared.
    “Amy?”
    He came to a rise and stopped. Below him the ground sloped steeply downward, ending in cliffs high above the water. To his left was a bank of rough limestone rocks.
    “Amy?” he called again. “Where are you?”
    Surely she hadn’t fallen down that slope! He would have heard her call out, and the carpet of moss and pine needles that blanketed the slope would have been disturbed. She hadn’t run back past him. But how could she have gone farther? Chris heard his own heart pounding again. What if something terrible had happened to Amy?
    He edged closer to the jagged limestone bank and saw that the ground was level in front of the rocks for a width of about two feet and a distance of about twenty feet. He couldn’t go down the steep slope, but on his left was the wall of limestone. Had Amy, in some mysterious way, managed to climb the rocks?
    Chris edged along the level strip, facing the steep drop, his back to the rough bank. He had traveled about ten feet when suddenly someone grabbed his arm and pulled.
    He was yanked off balance, staggering against the rock, which seemed to open up and swallow him.
    “Hey!” he shouted.
    “Be quiet, Chris! Don’t make so much noise!” Amy said.
    She let him go, and he saw they were standing inside a narrow opening to a cave. From what he could see, the cave was deep. The light from outside illuminated part of a high, wide room. One side was littered with dirt and clumps of grasses and pine boughs, as though it had caved in. A trickle of water ran down the other side and disappeared into the floor of the cave.
    Amy frowned at him. “It’s no good hiding here if you’re going to make so much noise.”
    “If you didn’t want me to make any noise, you shouldn’t have grabbed me like that! What did you do that for?” Chris snapped.
    “Because you were going right past the opening to the cave, that’s why!”
    “I was scared to death, anyway. Why did you run away?”
    “I didn’t run away. I just did what you told me to do.”
    “I told you we’d be all right as long as we stayed together.”
    Amy backed up against the rough rock wall and stared at Chris. “No you didn’t. You told me to run to the cave as fast as I could.”
    “I couldn’t have.”
    “But you did. I heard you clearly.”
    Chris held Amy’s shoulders and looked at her carefully. “Are you trying to kid me? Because if you are, it isn’t funny.”
    “I’m not kidding,” she said. Her eyes opened wider. “Chris! Are you telling me that you weren’t the one who said it?”
    Chris shook his head. “How would I know there was a cave here to run to?”
    “Oh. Well, because—uh—I guess you