Chapter 13: Then, Koa
Koa gets some answers, but they only deepen her questions
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Here are the catch up chapters in case you need them. Wow, the story is really taking shape now!
WILD GIRL
Chapter 13: THEN, KOA:
The stone came out of the basement wall so suddenly that Koa fell backward, landing on her butt on the pallet, the rock still in her hands. Once there she could see that, though the object she held was large, it was thin on the inside, a domed oval.
Koa set the rock down and got back up to fumble a hand into the dark opening from where she’d dislodged it. The edge of a metal box was cool and smooth under her fingers, but it was wedged into the soil of the wall. Time had caused it to sink into the dirt.
Koa glanced around and located the knife she kept down here for cutting off a piece the wrapped pork hanging in the corner, or trimming a chunk of ginger root from the pile on a shelf. She wedged the sturdy blade in beside the metal box, scraping the clay from around it until she could squeeze her fingers in enough to pull at it.
Again and again Koa tried to move it. The wall refused to give up its treasure until suddenly the box, made of aluminum that hadn’t rusted, came free as surprisingly as the rock hiding it had.
Koa held the six-inch by six-inch latched square, her heart hammering. She tried to brush the dirt off it, and smeared it deeper instead.
Suddenly claustrophobic, Koa tucked the box under her arm, picked up the lantern with her teeth, and ascended the ladder.
She needed sunlight and air in which to expose the box’s secrets.
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