Secrets in the Dark (28 page)

Ronny shook her head, “This
will take great time to study properly.”

“
I’ll make copies and
bring them to your house tomorrow if that’s okay. I want to work on
it too. It’s a great opportunity. I mean, trying to break a code
that isn’t even based in English.”

He glanced around
hesitantly and said, “I’m pretty sure I was able to translate part
of it on the walk back to the tree.”

“
Why didn’t you say so
before?” Olivia asked, her expression a strange mix of impatience
and excitement.

“
Well, I’m not sure my
translation is completely accurate. After all, some of the symbols
were larger and cut deeper into the wall, like it was
on purpose. They may have a different meaning.
You’ll see in my notes.” He tapped the pile of paper in front of
him. “This part translated with great ease. Almost too easy. But
the message doesn’t make much sense, so maybe I missed
something.”

“
Let’s hear it,” I told
him.

Brady then shuffled through
his notes and took a deep breath. He picked up one of the pages and
began quoting.

SHADOWS OF THE
FUTURE

Time shall come when silence
rules

Echoes of what was
remain

East and South dark MALICE
pools

Set loose as protections
wane

Two worlds WITH one dire
test

With the entrance breached by
man

Mundane MAGICK marks the
quest

Fate awaits the final
plan

Only clear to those with
Sight

Direction is
necessity

Paths revealed within the
Light

Resolution is the
Key

Greed with evil SPELLS
entwine

Without courage faith will
quail

Magick and mundane
COMBINE

For one without the other
fail

ANNIHILATION

Ronny’s face turned white.
Not just pale. White as the paper Brady held. She held out a
shaking hand and he passed the paper to her. She stared at it with
wide, empty eyes.

Brady said hesitantly,
“Ghalynn’s name was written under it.”

“
So Ghalynn
was
at the cave,” I
said, keeping a close eye on Ronny. She did
not
look good, though this seemed
like good news to me.

“
So what are those words
supposed to mean?” Faith asked. “Brady’s right. They don’t make
sense.”

It was Ronny who answered,
in a low hoarse voice that didn’t sound like her. “I cannot tell
you what it means.”

She was gripping the table
so hard it looked like the skin over her knuckles was going to
split open. “
No
one knows what those words mean. But those who live in
Chimera can quote every word.”

She turned to Brady and
gave him what I think was supposed to be a smile. “Your translation
into English was perfect, Brady. This is our Annihilation Prophecy,
written hundreds of years ago. I never heard it in English before.
I did not even know it rhymed. No one knows who wrote it. But
according to legend, it refers to the end of Chimera.”

“
The end of Chimera? Why
would your friend Ghalynn write an old prophecy about the end of
Chimera on the wall of that cave?” Brady asked, looking
confused.

“
That is a good question.
A better question is, why did he write the Prophecy on the wall of
a cave right before everyone in Chimera disappeared? I am very much
afraid for my friends and my family. Discovering the meaning of
this Prophecy is imperative.”

There was a pause as Ronny
fell silent and no one could think of something to say. Finally,
Faith said quietly, “I guess we know why Ghalynn wrote ‘Cave of
Prophecy’ on the map.”

I was watching Ronny as
Faith spoke. The look on her face scared me. “Are you okay,
Ronny?”

She had to clear her throat
twice before she could answer. “Do not worry, Kat. I will be
fine.”

She began speaking
hesitantly. “I know you have been scared in Chimera, and it has not
been easy. You are children, and you have been alone, with no one
to help. I will understand if you do not wish to continue. It is
clear you will not find Mother or Ghalynn. But I hope you will
consider going back to find what all this means.”

Doug’s answer was
immediate and enthusiastic. “Are you kidding? I’m going back. A
secret land, a magic quest, a hidden cave, and maybe buried
treasure? It’s better than a video game.” A very small smile lifted
one corner of Ronny’s mouth as
he
spoke.

I told her, “I’m sorry we
haven’t found out what happened to your mom. But
I’m
not giving
up.”

Brady said, “If the
information I copied in the cave doesn’t help, maybe we’ll find
something next time.”

Ronny got up to leave, and
then paused. “Thank you. I do not have the words to tell you how
much I appreciate this.”

I thought she looked so
very alone as
she walked slowly out of the
door. I hoped Chris would get home soon.

Chapter 31

Buried Treasure

Now that we’d started
eighth grade, Andrew and Ray were worse than ever. We were doing
everything we could to avoid the Rejects in the halls, but that
wasn’t always possible.

Twice Faith wished they
would leave us alone, although she wasn’t that polite about it. I
reminded her wishes didn’t work in Santa Ramona. Once Olivia got so
mad she wished they’d drop dead. That time, I was glad wishes
wouldn’t work.

Could you be arrested for
murder by wish?

Just two weeks later, I got
my first chance to try one of the insults from the library book I
found that summer. We were in line in the cafeteria. Ray and Andrew
had come up and were walking next to us, making it impossible to
get out of line without causing a big scene. I remembered the
chocolate pudding and ketchup they’d smeared all over me a few
months ago, and for a moment I saw red all over again.

They kept their voices low
and filled the air with their nasty insults. Both of them smiling
so innocent no one would believe the mean things spilling out of
their mouths like vomit.

I smiled at Ray just as
innocently and in a disgustingly sweet voice told him, “You
brainless babbling baboon. You should really stop while you’re
ahead.”

He opened his mouth as if
he were going to say something else, so I quickly said, “Don’t say
it, you gigantic sniveling puke-faced glob of reeking toad
snot.”

Ray did stop. His mouth was
hanging open, and his eyes were bugging out. He still hadn’t moved
or shut his mouth when I grabbed Faith’s arm and towed her away,
with Olivia following closely on our heels.

Faith’s mouth was hanging
open almost as far as Ray’s had. Finally, she started cracking up.
“That was
great!
Where did you learn to do that?”

“
Remember the library book
I found a couple months ago? It shows how to make up lots of crazy
insults. I have a bunch I’m planning to use on Ray and
Andrew.”

“
Cool! I’ll never forget
the look on his face.”



September seemed to pass in
fits and starts. A few days before Chimera opened, I heard from
Ronny. She was having trouble deciphering the information from the
cave. She assured me, “I have not given up. What is your saying,
‘Slow and steady wins with grace’?”

“
Uh…I think you mean ‘Slow
and steady wins the race’,” I told her. That made her laugh. “How
can you win a race by going slow?”

She made me promise to tell
her the story of the tortoise and the hare some other
time.

At lunch, when I told the
others what she’d said, everyone laughed. “Maybe I should tell her
not to quote famous sayings. She really mangles them.”

Doug was still laughing.
“Don’t tell her to stop! I can’t wait to hear what she comes up
with next.”

Faith turned to Brady. “How
‘bout you? You been able to figure any of it out?”

Brady admitted, “No such
luck. Yet. It’s like whoever wrote it wanted to be sure most people
would never understand it.” He grinned. “Good thing I’m not most
people.”

Knowing we had no real
clues to our nearly impossible riddle cast only a momentary cloud
over us. Though it would be nice to know what it all meant, I was
too excited about going back to worry about it now. Doug said he’d
get a shovel, hammer and lantern. No one else could bring anything
helpful, but we didn’t care. We were going to dig for buried
treasure!

Most of us. Not Olivia,
obviously. The rest of us were probably ready to dig with our bare
hands if necessary.



We’d decided not to wait as
late as the last few times. Instead, we planned to go at eight
o’clock. Even Olivia, after groans and plenty of gloomy faces, said
she’d be ready to go. I didn’t mention it to anyone, but I was a
bit worried she’d never manage to get ready that early.

So I was really glad to see
her waiting at the corner. Her eyes were half closed, and she
looked more zombie than human, but she was there.

Faith came running up then,
and the three of us made our way to the cemetery. Doug and Brady
were already waiting by the tree. I asked, “Did anyone see the
Rejects?” I kept my fingers crossed, waiting for their
answer.

“
Not a glimpse of them,”
Doug said. Brady nodded.

Maybe we’ll get lucky.
Maybe they won’t come near us. Maybe they’ve given up!

After we stumbled into
Chimera, we hurried down the road, trying to take as little time
as
possible. We all wanted more time at
the cave. It still took more than an hour to get there – sixty-four
minutes, Santa Ramona time, according to Brady.

As we rounded the last
switchback to the cave, I paused to catch my breath, marveling
again at the sight of the opening. It really did look just like the
silhouette of a sleeping dragon.

I wondered if it was
natural, or if someone had made it look that way with magic. If I
could work magic, what would I do with it? Good
question.

Note to self — Think about
what you’d do with magic. Who knows what we’ll be able to do when
we know more about this place.

We entered the cave and
began to head carefully down the second tunnel by the light of
Brady’s berries. I laughed when Olivia pulled her brother’s flimsy
yellow plastic construction helmet out of her pack. It didn’t look
like it would help much, and barely fit, but Olivia looked
satisfied as she plopped it on her head. There were times, as I
bumped my head and bruised my elbows on the hard rocks, that I
thought my skateboard gear would be helpful.

When we got to the small
round room, I said, “So, can anyone see the hidden
tunnel?”

“
Give me a moment. You
described it as an optical illusion.” Brady cast his eye over the
walls and ceiling.

“
It’s like
Labyrinth
. You have to
look at things properly. At their blank looks I said, “You know,
where that little worm thing tells her how to see the
labyrinth.”

Faith and Olivia were still
staring at me like they didn’t get it, so I recited in a sing-song
voice, “You don’t never want to go that way. That way leads
straight to the castle.’’ I stopped as I realized they were all
staring at me. I wanted to feel around my neck to see if my second
head had grown back.

I decided it was time to
defend myself. “Oh come on. Faith and Olivia saw
Labyrinth
. We watched it
together.”

“
Yeah,” Faith said,
“but
we
don’t
memorize every word.” She was grinning at me as she said it, so I
decided I didn’t have to get offended. Much.

I called, “Shadow, can you
show it to us?” She sat by what looked like a blank part of the
cave. I moved next to her and scratched the top of her head. She
purred as I straightened up and put my arm down the hidden
passage.

I grinned at Faith and
Brady’s startled exclamations. I waited a moment, feeling smug,
then explained how the tunnel wasn’t visible unless you stood in
exactly the right spot.

Once everyone fell silent,
they took turns checking it out before we made our way down the low
twisting passage. Once again, I made sure to go first, and sighed
in relief when we entered the small cave with the disturbed dirt
floor. It looked exactly the same as last month.

“
I’m
so
glad we’re here. Finally!” Olivia
dumped the heavy bag she’d been carrying onto the ground. Between
the shovel, hammer, lantern, candles, matches, Doug’s slingshot,
pencils, paper, water, lunch and other things some people had
decided they couldn’t live without, like Olivia’s lip-gloss, we
were all weighted down.