Joshua Daniel is nearly fourteen, and he has a story that he must tell. The things that happened to him in the last holidays have been twisted by some of the residents of the hamlet where he and Matthew Forsyth stayed. Now he must tell the true story. It is not a story that makes him proud. The rumors about it could ruin the man who led the rescue and damage his own reputation in the small community in which he grew up. The true facts are bad enough. Josh gets bored on his own, so he invites Matt to go with him to Johns farm. While staying there, they hatch a plan to go into an old gold mine in the bush that borders the farm, a mine that they have been told was dangerous. What happened, as a result of this plan, nearly killed John, who is like an uncle to Josh. The local policeman also goes to hospital. Josh did not mean this to happen, but Matt and he set out to do something forbidden. They started out having a lot of fun in that mine, but Josh later discovered things about the mine and about himself. Those things trapped him there. Matt has to call John to rescue Josh. They succeeded, but the mine got its own back while Josh slept. When he woke up, they are nowhere to be found. He realized that they were still in the mine and that he has to get them out of the mine before either of them die. It becomes a race against time before Elysium claims a friend. What can have happened? Who is Mad Max, and why does Josh hate him? What happened to sending Senior Constable Angus McIntyre to the hospital as the rescue was completed?