Lost Cipher by Michael Oechsle Page A

phone?” asked Alex. “Mine’s in my pack.”
    â€œMine too,” said George. “It was dragging my pants down when we were walking. What about you, Lucas?”
    â€œAin’t got one.” He was looking over Alex’s shoulder. “But it looks like the first thing we gotta do is get off these rocks.”
    â€œI thought that’s what we’ve been trying to do for the last three hours,” whined George in a small voice.
    â€œI ain’t talkin’ about that. I’m talking about that. ”
    Lucas pointed to the west. The sky was a wall of ominous purple, crowned by towering white thunderheads. A breeze that smelled of rain came from the direction of the storm. “That’s maybe an hour away,” said Lucas. “If we don’t wanna end up like that preacher, we’re gonna need to be down in the trees somewhere.”
    â€œWhere are we gonna go?” asked Alex.
    â€œWell, if we can find our way back to it in time, I know one good place to take cover.”
    â€œNo way, not there,” George protested, shaking his head. “There’s got to be a better place.”
    Alex’s expression told Lucas that he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea either.
    â€œLook,” said Lucas, trying to calm them down, “that painter’s probably miles from here. Even if we don’t get hit by lightnin’, it’s still fixin’ to rain buckets. I’d rather be cozy and dry in that hole than mess with a storm up here on top.” He pushed himself off the rock and started back to where they would have a view of the other ridge.
    Alex followed reluctantly. “ Cozy? ” he said. “You call that cozy?”
    George stayed on his rock at first, sniffling and rubbing the last of the tears out of his eyes. “This can’t be happening,” he muttered. But a low growl of thunder shook the ridge, and a few seconds later, he was following Lucas and Alex back to the ravine.

CHAPTER 16
    The storm was on top of the boys much faster than they expected. They had just crossed back over the little creek at the bottom of the ravine when the first big drops began splattering the woods. Halfway up the other side, the trees began to swirl, and the wind roared so loudly they could barely hear each other. Just as hailstones the size of marbles began pelting the rocks, they scurried up to the base of the cliff and dove for the cover of the cave. Within a minute, the hail turned to sheets of blinding rain, and thunder boomed off the ridge so close that Lucas thought it might send a chunk or two of the mountain down on them.
    The three boys huddled close to the edge of the cave, just out of the rain. When a bolt of lightning hit so close that the hair on their arms stood up, Lucas and Alex scooted farther beneath the ledge. But George still refused to go back into the darkness where the bones were scattered.
    They sat watching the storm for a long time before anyone spoke. “How long do you think this is going to last?” Alex asked Lucas.
    â€œWho knows,” answered Lucas. “Maybe a while.”
    â€œSo what are we going to do?” asked George.
    â€œOnly thing we can do is stay right here for now. If it lets up quick, we can go back to where we was at, see if anyone’s lookin’ for us. If it keeps on like this”—Lucas shrugged—“I guess we’re here for the night.”
    â€œFor the night?” asked Alex, laughing nervously. “You’re kidding, right? We don’t have our sleeping bags or anything.”
    â€œOr food,” added George
    â€œWell,” said Lucas, “I don’t think we’ll be gettin’ too much sleep in here anyhow, so we don’t exactly need our sleepin’ bags. And water…” He grinned. “We got plenty of that.”
    He picked up one of the rusty cans left by the fire ring and set it under a steady stream of