Dancing in the Shadows Read Online Free Page B

herself. She only knew she had to get Feli and Rosita to the end compartment. The urgency of the presentiment that was driving her, robbed her of simple speech. She must not panic. She must stay cool. Her eyes were eloquent of all the things she could not find words for. Success at last! She could tell by the changing expression on Feli’s face that she had managed to transmit her fears. For the first time she blessed her ‘talking’ eyes.
    â€˜I’ll come with you. I don’t know why, but if it matters to you that much, I’ll come.’ So saying, Feli got to her feet.
    They began to walk. They were only two thirds down the train when it happened. Rocks started to smash against the carriage windows. The floor quivered alarmingly beneath them. The mountainside was crumbling. It was coming down on them in an avalanche of rock and sludge.
    Feli screamed. ‘
Madre mia!
It’s a landslide.’
    Rosita was clutched tightly in Feli’s arms. Dorcas’s arms went round both of them. The instinct now was to protect. The train screeched to a stop. The thunder of the collapsing mountainside went on . . . and on . . . and on. A dull, reverberating boom . . . boom . . . boom . . .

CHAPTER TWO
    They had been thrown to the floor of the carriage, which seemed to be tilted at an angle. In assessing the situation, Dorcas thought she might have come off worse. Her leg was trapped. She must have acted as a sort of buffer for Feli and Rosita. Feli’s mouth quivered between laughter and tears. Dorcas didn’t need medical knowledge to know she was in a state of shock.
    Rosita’s face crumpled and she let out a great sobbing wail as blood appeared from nowhere and began to trickle down her forehead. Dorcas ignored the stinging pain in her leg and by reaching out as far as she could, managed to collect up the hurt little girl. Rosita was too tiny to be caught up in such a frightening situation. It seemed very important to wipe the blood away before Feli saw it. Dorcas rummaged for her handkerchief and wiped away the sticky wetness before it got into Rosita’s eyes. She dabbed at the poor mite’s forehead until it became apparent it was only a superficial scratch.
    Rosita looked up at Dorcas, regarding her for an endless moment with her huge moon eyes. Her expression was very still and serious as she considered the situation. When you are that young it’s terrifying to have the world tip you upside down and then find yourself in a stranger’s arms. She gave Dorcas a look as if to say, ‘Oh, it’s you again’, and snuggled close. Dorcas felt justifiably smug and would have been content to continue rocking Rosita to and fro as she whispered indiscriminate soothing noises in her ear. Only:
    â€˜Feli. Would you mind taking charge of your daughter. I think I’m going to faint.’
    * * *
    What happened next wasn’t very clear to Dorcas. In fact she remembered little of the next seven days. Someone told her it was seven days, otherwise she wouldn’t have known. To her it was a long, drugged hiatus. The only time things were clear was when she felt the pain. They gave her something and the pain went, and so did clarity.
    She knew she had hurt her leg. She knew she was in hospital. She thought Feli and Rosita were all right because every time she asked, a chin—not always the same chin—bobbed up and down. And there was a hand by the bed, and that was always the same hand. It stayed there day and night, ever constant, giving her all the assurance she needed. She had only to put her hand out to have her fingers gripped and held. It was a big hand. Her own disappeared into it with room to spare. She felt small and fragile and the hand was big and comforting. It protected and enclosed her in its strength. She never stopped to ask herself who the hand belonged to. That wasn’t important. The fact that it was there when she needed it was enough.
    And