Free Fleeced by Julia Wills

starvation and damp was affecting his eyes too because the patch of rock in front of him seemed to be dancing with frosted sparkles. They twinkled, flittering like fireflies, and Aries wondered whether to call Alex.
    Whilst he was wondering, he bit off the rest ofthe branch. This time, he felt something crunch in his mouth, hard as olive stones, and looking back at the snapped branch he saw a broken necklace dripping pearls onto the ground.
    Suddenly a ripple danced across the rock face, the sort of ripple that a raindrop makes in a puddle, except that there were no raindrops and there wasn’t a puddle, only granite rising in a sheer wall. And granite, as we all know, doesn’t ripple. Or yowl, come to that, which it now began to do, a yowl that grew louder and echoed around the cavern in a series of wails. Dimly aware of Alex racing over, Aries spat out his mouthful of pearls and watched a second ripple pass across the rock.
    “You’ve found it!” yelled Alex triumphantly.
    A dark crack snaked up the wall, splitting the rock face like a lightning bolt as on either side the rock face began to quiver and twitch, jerking apart like stone gates. A sudden gust of wind whipped through the gap, hurling dust, grit and the unexpected smell of wax polish into their faces before dying away in the cavern behind them. The rocks jolted still, revealing a dim archway to Earth.
    In the sudden eerie stillness Alex turned to Aries and looked into his eyes.
    “Just remember, we mustn’t draw attention toourselves. Our lives could depend on it, so do exactly as I say. All right?”
    Half-kneeling, Alex leaned forwards into the gap and stretched out his hand. His fingers touched something that felt like material, soft and velvety. Disconcerted, he looked back at Aries. “Stone portals should be hard, not soft,” he whispered. He peered into the grey Earthlight. “And where’s the Greek sunshine?”
    Aries stuck his nose into the gap to find out for himself. Alex was right. He sniffed at the fabric and took a small nibble, giving it a thorough chew. Finding that it tasted rather good if a little dusty, he tugged a bit harder and dragged another mouthful back through the crevice.
    “Aries, no!” hissed Alex and tried to wrestle the cloth from Aries’ mouth.
    But it was too late.
     
    It’s funny, thought Rose, the way your eyesight blurs and makes things seem to quiver when you look at them for a long time. She concentrated harder on the curtain hanging behind the caryatid. It definitely seemed to be twitching. She stared harder.
    It
was
moving!
    Rippling, it seemed to be disappearing backwards,like water drawn down a plughole. Which was completely ridiculous, she told herself, since there was only a brick wall behind that curtain. But, ridiculous or not, the curtain rings were now flying off and clattering like coins onto the floor around her feet. Squealing, the tour party ran across the room and, stopping mid-sentence, the guide looked back just as the curtain was yanked completely off its pole. It thumped down onto the caryatid, covering her for a brief moment before flicking out like a matador’s cape and sliding backwards, snagging around her base.
    “Someone!” he shouted, jabbing his umbrella in the air. “Call the guards!”
    Suddenly the curtain was wrenched away and the statue started to rock. For a long breathless second everyone froze, held rapt as she tilted forwards, the startled hush broken only by the
click-click-click
of the statue tipping further and further off its base.
    The tour guide jumped out of the way. “We need—”
    But his words were lost in a smash of marble as the statue tumbled forwards onto the floor and shattered into several chunks, as priceless pieces of ancient history are prone to do when they crash onto a hard floor.
    Rose watched, round-eyed, as the caryatid’s headrumbled across the floor towards her and bumped against her feet. Either side of her astonished tourists shouted, clicked