COURAGE

The sound of children's voices, raised in dissension, echoedthrough a normally peaceful section of tunnels.

"Aw, she's too little," Martin said, derisively.

Vicky drew herself up to her full height and looked him straightin the chin. "I am not," she denied hotly. "I'm eight!"

"Nathaniel's eight," Jacob pointed out reasonably. Casuallyleaning against a wall, he never looked up from his yo-yo. "So'sEvan." Always the peacemaker, Jacob would never come right out andstick up for his sister, not in something like this, but Vicky wasstill grateful for his comment.

"Nathaniel's eight and a half," Martin countered, as if fivemonths advantage in age made a difference. "And Evan's almost nine.Besides, Vicky's a girl."

"Amanda and Melissa are girls," Jacob said, his voice still calm.

"Yeah, but 'Manda's eleven and Missy's ten," Andrew said from hiscustomary position at Martin's elbow.

Help came from an unexpected quarter. "Vicky's almost big as me,and she can run pretty fast." Vicky threw Evan a quick look ofappreciation.

"You watch it, squirt, or we won't let you come, either," Martinthreatened. For a moment, Evan appeared ready to take up thechallenge; reconsidering, he stuffed his hands in his pockets andshrugged.

Vicky felt a sudden, rebellious urge to cry. It wasn't fair! Evanhad been accepted into the group when he turned eight, and Nathaniel,too. She'd been sure that passing that magical birthday, somethingthat had happened only yesterday, would be enough to admit her to theselect group, and here they were, telling her no!

Gritting her teeth, she fought back the tears. If she cried, theywould laugh at her and she'd never get in! Besides, Daddy might come,drawn by their connection.... Well, no, he wouldn't. Before, he hadalways come when she cried, because he always knew when she was hurt,or upset... but lately he had stopped coming.

Despite the fact that Vicky's feet dangled near her mother'sankles and her head came past her chin, Mommy had finally taken Vickyinto her lap, and explained, very gently, that she shouldn't thinkDaddy didn't love her, or didn't care when something was wrong. Itwas only that her parents thought she was old enough to start tryingto work out her troubles for herself. Naturally, if Vicky couldn'tfind her own answer for something that came up, her parents wouldalways be there.So while part of her longed to rush to her father andhurl herself into his lap to sob out the unfairness of life, pride inher parents' newly voiced confidence kept her there, facing the olderkids defiantly.

It was mostly Martin and Andrew anyway, she thought. Her brothersdidn't care, and neither did the other girls, just Martin and Andrew.

"I'm big enough, and I'm eight now," she said again.

"Well, she is eight," Martin said slowly, looking around at theothers. Vicky held her breath.

"What?" Andrew was indignant at his friend's sudden shift.

"Yeah," Martin continued, looking right at her. "You can play withus, but first you have to pass a test."

If Vicky had not been so elated, she would have sensed Martin wasup to no good.

"What kind of test?" Jacob's was the voice of caution.

"Nothing dangerous," Martin said, too smoothly. "She just has toprove she's not afraid of the dark."

"I'm not!" Vicky asserted quickly, with a fleeting glance at Evanto be sure he wouldn't betray her secret.

She had always been afraid of the dark, and Evan, who had shared aroom with her until three years ago, had always been there toreassure her after their light was turned out. When he'd moved to hisown room upstairs with the other boys, she had suffered throughseveral fearful nights. Daddy had come in repeatedly to ask what waswrong, but knowing he thought she was brave, Vicky couldn't quitemuster the courage to tell him she was scared of shadows.

Finally she had gone to Mommy, in the bold light of day, to makeher confession. To her surprise, Mommy had made her own confession -that she, too, had been scared of the dark when she was a littlegirl. Knowing her mother understood her fear made Vicky feel lessalone.

Going to the dressing table, her mother had pulled out a drawer,taking out a small box and opening it. Inside lay a gold heart locketon a chain. "It belonged to my grandmother," Mommy had said. "Whenyou're afraid, just hold it and remember I'm thinking about you and Ilove you."

"Daddy, too?"

"Daddy, too."

Vicky had fingered the locket on its delicate chain, admiring theglint of late afternoon sunshine on the rich metal. "Did your mothergive you something when you were afraid?" she had asked.

"Yes, but not this. She gave me an ivory rose."

Vicky had looked up with sudden intuition. "Daddy's rose?"

Her mother had smiled and hugged her. "Yes, it's your father'srose now, so I can't give it to you as my mother gave it to me."

"That's okay," Vicky had replied comfortably. "Daddy's rose ispretty, but I like this better."

Now she touched her chest reflexively. The locket was there, underher sweater, giving her courage.

"I'm not afraid of the dark," she said again, lifting herchin.

"How are we going to do this?" Jacob asked. He was a conciliatorby nature, and would go along with majority rule as long as it didn'tviolate his strict sense of right and wrong.

"We'll take her to a dark place where she has to stay 'til we comeback to get her," Martin said.

"How long?" Jacob pressed.

"Three hours," Martin said immediately.

A quick flurry of disagreement rose from the other children."Okay, that's too long," Martin conceded. "How about an hour?"

Looking around at the other faces, Jacob asked, "Does that soundall right?"

There were cautious nods all around.

"Is that okay with you, Tink?" Jacob looked at her kindly andVicky sensed this was serious enough that if she backed out, he'd beon her side. Still, if she wanted to be accepted, this was somethingshe had to do.

"It's okay," she said, grateful that the hard knot in her throatdidn't betray her by making her voice tremble.

Because they were older and allowed more leeway in theirexploring, the other kids knew more sections of tunnel than Vickydid, and took her to a place she'd never been.

"There's a place to sit right over there," Martin said, pointingto a waist-high ledge. Hoisting herself up onto it, Vicky turned tosit cross-legged while the bigger children looked at her uncertainly.

"We're going now," Martin said at last. "You stay here until wecome for you."

"Okay," Vicky agreed. "I'll be right here." She touched her locketand smiled.

Following Martin's lead, the children straggled off. Evan gave hera cocky grin and both Amanda and Nathaniel offered quick, quiet wordsof encouragement before they left. Jacob lingered for a few seconds.

"I'll leave a lantern around the second bend," he whispered. "Justin case."

"Okay," she whispered back.

He grinned. "You're tough, Tinkerbell. See ya!" He hurried tocatch up with the others and the light of his lantern dimmedquickly.

Vicky reached inside her sweater and pulled the locket out,holding it tightly. "I can be brave, Mom," she whispered. "I knowthere's nothing here to hurt me." Eyes wide, she strained to seethrough the darkness, but its velvety blackness engulfed her. Shedidn't think she'd ever been anyplace quite so black, and while shewas a little scared, she knew it was a feeling she had to overcome,or Daddy would come and ruin everything. "I'm not going to bescared," she said aloud. "Mommy's thinking of me, and loves me andDaddy does, too, and I'm not scared."

Saying the words aloud helped and grimly she set herself to endurethe next hour.

* * * * *

"We didn't need to leave the lantern," Andrew said scornfully asthe seven older children made their way back toward the living areas.

"Yes, we did," Jacob replied evenly. "Just in case."

"We're going back for her. In an hour," Amanda said, touchingJacob's arm lightly.

He smiled. "I know. It's just in case, and it's too far for her tosee the light, so it doesn't ruin the test."

"She might go sit by the light and only go back to the ledge whenshe hears us coming," Martin said suddenly. "That would ruin thetest."

"So go back and sit by the lantern, then, and guard it," Jacobsaid. "But the lantern stays."

"I don't know why we don't wait there, anyway," Evan saidpractically. "By the time we get home it'll be time to turn aroundand go back."

"That's true," Melissa said, and stopped. "Martin, were you goingto leave her there longer than an hour?"

His guilty expression gave him away and she punched him, hard, onthe arm. "You slug."

"Don't worry about it, Missy," Jacob said tranquilly. "We'll goback after an hour no matter what Martin does." His tone was gentle,devoid of accusation, and allowed Martin to retreat while saving f 1° course we'll go back. We're just going home to get some food,and then we'll go for a picnic to celebrate!"

The idea met with instant approval and the children redoubledtheir pace, heading for the kitchen.

"Hi, William," they chorused as they entered the big, warm chamberthat always smelled of good things to eat.

"Well, hello there, young ones," William beamed. "I was just aboutto send out a message for you."

"Really? Why?" The children gathered around, knowing William hadsomething special for them.

He didn't disappoint. "One of our helpers sent down a whole cratefull of things we don't normally have down here," he said, teasingthem. "And guess what some of those things were?"

"We don't know! What?" they chorused eagerly.

"The makings for taffy! And it's just now ready to pull!"

Chattering happily, they buttered their hands and reached for thewarm, sticky candy, forgetting all thoughts of Vicky and thedark.

* * * * *

Vicky waited uncomfortably on her ledge, tense with listening andwatching. Surely it's been an hour! she thought. Any minute I'll seethe light and hear them coming. Any minute.The stone ledge was hardand lumpy and she shifted uneasily. Too bad it isn't Evan sittinghere, she thought. Vicky knew something no one else did; Evan couldsee in the dark. I wish I could, she thought, suppressing a shiver.

I'm trying really hard not to be scared, Mommy, but it's so dark!

More time went by; now she was positive an hour had passed.Remembering her new wristwatch, a gift from her mother to commemorateher eighth birthday, she started to lift her arm before realizing shewouldn't be able to see it. As she lowered her hand to her lap, shewondered if any of the others had a way to tell time.

Evan and Jacob both owned watches, but neither usually wore themBelow. Because they were of both Above and Below, they had thingsthat the tunnel kids didn't have, and their father didn't like themto flaunt their possessions. In fact, Vicky thought she was the onlyone who knew just how uncomfortable his children's materialpossessions made him. The funny part was, they had hardly anythingcompared to their friends Above.

Vicky sighed and slipped down from the ledge. Absolutely certainher hour was up, she decided to wait a few more minutes to be on thesafe side.

Legs numb from sitting nearly motionless for so long, shestaggered when her feet hit the floor. Sharp pricks of discomfortneedled her feet as life came back to them. Limping back and forth,she trailed her fingers against the rough tunnel wall.

Now, she thought irritably, I know it's more than an hour.Probably more like an hour and a half. I'm going! She took two steps,and stopped. Am I going the right way? Suddenly, she wasn't at allsure of her direction.

Well, think about it, she urged herself. Jacob said he'd leave thelantern around the second bend. Just go, and if there's no lantern,you've gone the wrong way and you'll have to turn around. No problem.Easy! Quoting her friend Mouse made her feel better and she set off,moving slowly through the inky darkness. It never occurred to her towonder if Jacob really left the light. If he said he would, he did.You could depend on Jacob.

As she rounded the first curve of the tunnel, she saw a faint glowahead and knew she was going the right way. Her pace quickened and inmoments she was standing in the comforting golden light of thelantern. A glance at her watch confirmed what she already knew - muchmore than an hour had passed.

"Those creeps," she said aloud, indignantly. "They forgot me!" Shebriefly entertained the idea that they might have forgottendeliberately, and quickly dismissed it. Martin and maybe Andrew mightdo that, but her brothers wouldn't, and neither would Amanda orMelissa or even Nathaniel. Something exciting must be happening andthey had simply forgotten her.

I'll show them, she thought. I'll get back all by myself. Theyprobably think I can't find my way.

Even though she was in a part of the tunnels she'd never visitedbefore and the turns and forks on the way had been many, she didn'tdoubt her ability to find her way home. After all, she had somethingnobody else did... her empathic link with her father. The connectionwas directional and she thought if she could center in on it, shecould find her way home. Concentrating, she started toward him.

At the first fork in the tunnels, she felt the initial stirring ofconsternation. She could turn either right or left here, but thetrouble was, Daddy was more or less straight ahead. Uncertainly, shewandered a few steps down the right fork of the passage beforeturning back. Wasn't her father a little to the left? It was hard tobe sure, and her brow puckered with the need to make a decision.

She felt a slight stirring in her connection with her father,almost like a question. Uh-oh, she thought warily. He feels me beingworried. Taking a few deep breaths, she concentrated on feelingserene and after a moment the questioning feeling disappeared. Shedidn't want him coming to rescue her because the other children wouldknow she had called him. Besides, she had the vague notion that hewouldn't much like the idea of the dark test.

With another glance down the right-hand passage, she resolutelytook the left, stepping briskly along. There were many forks andintersections. Some of the choices were easy - turn towards Daddy -but many meant choosing right or left when she wanted to go straight.She had walked a long way and her legs were giving out when shefinally faced the truth - she was lost!

Wearily, she sank down at the base of the tunnel wall and leanedback, setting her lantern beside her. There were no pipes in any ofthe passages she'd been through, so no way to send a dignifiedmessage for help. She was going to have to call for Daddy, and she'dnever live down the humiliation, never. The mere idea was enough todrive her to her feet again.

Just a little farther. Maybe she'd come across a passage she knewand everything would be all right. Just a little farther. Picking upher lantern, she trudged on.

* * * * *

Licking sticky fingers happily, Jacob and the others strolled inthe general direction of Father's chamber. Sated with candy, theywere in the mood for stories, and the aging patriarch of the tunnelscould usually be persuaded to provide them. As they rounded a corner,they met Vincent, who was coming the other way.

"Hi, Vincent!" "Hi, Dad," the children greeted casually.

"Hello, children," he answered, stepping back to let them pass.His eyes moved over the group and he paused. "Jacob, where'sVictoria?"

Jacob and Evan exchanged sudden, panicky looks. "Vicky!"

As one, all seven children turned to look down the long passagebehind them.

"Where is she?" Vincent asked again, responding to their

anxiety. "Jacob?"

With a sideways glance at the others, Jacob realized he would haveto speak. "She's down in the South Quarter," he said hesitantly.

"Alone?"

The children nodded miserably.

"Why?"

Haltingly, Jacob explained. Vincent's expression did not change,but his eyes communicated his displeasure quite clearly.

"I guess we sort of forgot her," Jacob ended lamely.

"You know Victoria is not familiar with those tunnels," Vincent'svoice was soft, and all the more terrifying for it. "She could easilybecome lost, and there are dangerous areas if she goes farenough."

"We left a lantern." Jacob's voice was so small as to be almostinaudible.

"Yes, you left a lantern." Vincent stopped for a deep, steadyingbreath. "You left a lantern. Without a light, Victoria would nevertry to find her way back alone. Without a light, she would stay whereshe was."

Uneasy glances were exchanged among the seven. They'd thought thepresence of the lantern would be a mitigating factor; it hadn'toccurred to them that, without a light, Vicky wouldn't wander.

"We thought we were helping," Evan said miserably.

"Yes, I'm sure you did." Vincent seemed large and terrible justnow. "I will go after her. When I return, I want to see all of you inmy chamber."

"Yes, Vincent," "Yes, Dad," they answered, subdued.

Vincent dismissed them with a curt nod before striding down thepassage leading toward the honeycomb of tunnels known as the SouthQuarter. As he walked, he reached out through his empathicconnections, seeking his daughter. He found her immediately, feelinga little anxious, but not frightened. He remembered an earlier tickleof uneasiness, but she had quickly suppressed it and he hadn'tthought to worry. At her age, too many things distressed Vicky tosome degree and it was habit for him to sift out the importantfeelings and disregard the others.The key would be to rescue Vickywhile allowing her to preserve her dignity. From his own boyhoodexperience, he knew how difficult it was for a younger child to beaccepted into a group of older children, even those only a few monthsolder, and he knew parental interference wouldn't help. He mulled theproblem as he moved rapidly toward her.

* * * * *

Tired, not as alert as she should have been, Vicky rounded acorner and was shocked by a sudden blast of icy wind that ripped thelantern from her fingers and sent it smashing against the wall. Shefroze in place, absolutely certain that in the split-second beforethe lantern had struck and gone out, she had seen, right at her feet,the yawning blackness of a crevasse in the tunnel floor.

Daddy! her mind shrieked in panic. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! She wastoo terror-stricken to feel his answering wave of fear. The wind thathad swept the lantern from her grasp buffeted her, disorienting her.Had she turned, or was she still facing the terrible gap in thetunnel floor? She wasn't sure.

It was black, so black. The wind whipped at her hair, tugged ather clothes, threatened to pull her into that gapingblacker-than-blackness that lurked, unseen, at her feet. Opening hermouth, she screamed.

* * * * *

Vincent responded to Vicky's panic instantly, voicing a strangledhalf-roar, half-cry as he leaped forward and began to run.

* * * * *

Vicky had no sensation of passing time. It seemed she had beenstanding on the lip of a bottomless pit forever, shaking with terror,her throat raw from screaming, the sound drowned in the roar of theterrible wind. She paused for breath and for the first time, felt thewonderful, comforting feeling of Daddy, getting closer fast!

This knowledge gave her the strength to stifle the next scream.Concentrating, she forced her lungs to take one deep breath, followedby another. With one hand, she groped for her locket and clutched it.

With the ebbing of panic, reason returned. The wind still rushedaround her and the blackness was still too dense to penetrate, butthey no longer reduced her to quivering fear.

Cautiously, she edged out with one foot, feeling for the lip ofthe chasm. When she finally found it, she crouched, outlining it withone hand. Once she was sure where the danger lay, she gathered hercourage and stepped out in the opposite direction.She moved slowly,fingers maintaining contact with the wall; the noise of the winddulled as she left it behind. The tunnel was still dark, but herinability to see didn't frighten her anymore.

It was always the shadows that were scary, anyway, sherationalized. Here, it's too dark for shadows. It's too dark foranything. Suddenly she stopped. "Daddy?"

"I'm here." From his voice, he was only a few feet away.

"I can't see. My lantern broke."

"Is that what frightened you?" he asked gently, coming closer. Hisclothes rustled as he knelt down before her.

"Oh, Daddy," she sighed, and went into his strong, safe arms. "I'mso glad you're here." Her head against his shoulder, Vicky tried tosort it out in her mind. "It was the wind, really, that scared me,"she explained. "It pulled the lantern out of my hand, and I wasafraid I'd fall into the Abyss."

"You didn't, though. You kept your head and were making your wayback, all by yourself."

She considered that. "I was scared, though."

"Victoria, do you know what courage is?"

"It's when somebody's brave."

"And what is that?"

She thought. "I guess it's when you do something dangerous and youaren't scared."

"No. True courage is when you're scared, as scared as you've everbeen."

"Scared right down to your toes?" she asked solemnly.

He made a soft sound of amusement. "Yes. Right down to your toes.And you go on to do what has to be done."

She absorbed that quietly. "I did that, didn't I?"

He stood and reached for her hand. "Yes, Tinkerbell. You didthat."

THE END