Secrets in the Dark (35 page)

No one disagreed with
that.

Doug said, “Buried treasure
is cool, but I can’t wait to check out the lake.”

Olivia insisted, “First we
need to finish checking out the cave. We promised.” Then she
muttered, “And I totally want to climb that cave wall
again.”

I wasn’t sure anyone else
heard her, and then Faith said, “That was scary watching you climb
without the rope. Don’t do that again.”

Olivia laughed at her. “I’m
just glad Mom couldn’t see me. First, she’d totally have a cow, and
then she’d order me to come back down. And going down would be lots
harder.”



Ray and Andrew were part
of why November seemed to take so long. The few times I got too
close to them at school were scary. Because of cutbacks at school,
there were fewer teachers in the halls. That seemed to make Ray
feel bolder, and I was
really
tired of being pushed and teased and
tripped.

And it wasn’t just Andrew
and Ray anymore. Polly knocked Olivia down as we were leaving
school. Olivia wanted to shove Polly on her butt, but Faith and I
convinced her to leave it alone. I was starting to worry that the
Rejects wouldn’t stop at giving one of us a bloody nose or a black
eye.

When the end of the month
brought the full moon, I was ready to go back, even if there were
monstrous hairy trolls running around. We’d be okay if we just
stayed on the road. I was practically dancing with excitement. Even
Olivia seemed half-awake. And it was only 8:00 am.

We all kept a close watch
for the Rejects as we made our way to the tree. Doug and Brady were
already waiting for us. Doug was carrying a sack that clanked when
it moved, and I eyed it suspiciously. Doug said quickly, “Let’s
hurry up.”

I took a deep breath and
closed my eyes before stepping through the tree. It did feel better
when I didn’t actually see the darkness inside. I held my breath
while the cold clammy space surrounded me. My air-starved lungs
were screaming when I felt the warmth of the Chimera sun on my
face. I sucked in a quick breath of the sweet air and opened my
eyes.

“
Maybe it’s getting easier
for you, but one of these days I really am going to be sick,” Faith
complained as we stumbled out of the tree.

“
It was only easier last
month,” I said, still freaked out by the feeling of tumbling
through space. “I’m back to normal. Well, normal as in totally
yucky in there.”

“
I wonder if the magic
people fell in the dirt,” Olivia said, brushing at her pants where
she’d fallen onto the road. “Maybe it doesn’t feel so creepy to
them.”

Brady started to pull out
the map, and then hesitated. “Birthdays,” he muttered.

“
What?” Olivia asked
him.

“
I think it may be about
birthdays. I’ll have to confirm that next year.”

She frowned at him. “What
are you talking about?”

“
Nothing. Just forget it.”
He pulled out the map, saying, “Show me the Rejects.” We all stared
eagerly at the map, which stayed blank.

“
We beat them!” I said,
pleased. “We should hurry — who knows when they’ll get
here.”

Our familiars ran up and I
laughed when Rusty leapt straight into Doug’s arms. “Hey boy,” Doug
said, twisting his head side to side to avoid the dog’s
over-excited tongue. He set him down with a quick pat. “We’re back
to the cave today.”

We all laughed when a swift
whir of wings and patter of paws announced the exodus of our
familiars. We followed quickly, excited about the chance to finally
discover what kind of treasure might exist under those two blue
marks.



Brady kept an eye on the
map as we hurried toward the cave.
We’d
nearly reached the path up to the cave when the red dots showing
the Rejects appeared on the map.

We quickened our pace,
hoping to get to there well before Ray and the others. But when we
stopped to check the map, we could see the four red dots were
gaining on us.

Faith was biting her lip
again. “Are they running?”

“
The evidence suggests
they’re trying to catch us,” Brady said. “Ray and Andrew made it
clear they won’t stop until we explain about this
place.”

We moved faster, but
shortly before the mouth of the cave, they were already nearing the
cabin.

“
Will we have time to
check both blue ‘X’ marks?” Olivia asked.

“
We’re gonna try,” Doug
said. And I didn’t think I’d ever seen him look so
determined.



“
Did anyone bring a
lighter for the candles?” Faith asked. “Since we don’t have the
lightberries anymore.”

“
Yeah,” Doug said. “I
bought one at the drug store. You should’ve seen the weird look Mr.
Woodman gave me. Like he thought I’d turned into an arsonist or
taken up smoking.”

“
He won’t tell your mom,
will he?” I asked nervously, thinking about the questions a comment
like that could start.

“
Nah, it’ll be okay,” Doug
said, clearly unconcerned.

Brady cleared his throat.
“So the two blue ‘X’ marks are in different parts of the cave. We
should look in the cave down here first, then go to the upper cave.
Once Ray and the others get here, we may not have the chance to
come back down.”

“
Good idea, but we’ll need
to be quick,” Doug agreed.

We hurried into the back
chamber and looked around for any possible treasure. By looking at
our green dots on the map, Brady was able to tell us when we got to
the area with the blue ‘X’. It was directly in front of the cave
wall.

Brady said, “I don’t
understand. I wish I knew what we were supposed to be looking
for.”

We all jumped when a loud
crack reverberated around the cave and parts of the wall broke off
and slid to the floor. Brady gave an exclamation of pleasure and
moved back to the wall. He ran his fingers gently over the symbols
that were now exposed. “Olivia, help me write down these symbols.
We need to hurry.”

The two of them started
writing. Brady kept exclaiming with excitement. “I recognize some
of these from the last time. I’m going to be able to decipher
this.”

As they finished, he
carefully folded the paper and put it in his pocket. “I don’t think
the Rejects’ll be able to decipher this, but I wish there was some
way to hide it from them.”

Olivia gasped and jumped
back as the broken pieces of rock suddenly flew back up into
place.

“
You’re getting really
good at that,” I told Brady in admiration. “I had no idea you could
do that.”

“
Neither did I,” Brady
said blankly.

Doug started moving back
towards the main cave. “Come on, guys. We need to move.”

Olivia grinned. She was
practically vibrating with excitement. “Let’s climb.”

“
Right,” Brady said,
losing his preoccupied look.

We hurried into the small
chamber. Olivia and Brady began to climb up the wall at the same
time, and I got nervous as I realized it was becoming a race. “Be
careful,” I called out.

I was answered by laughter
from both of them as they disappeared into the small opening at the
top of the wall. It took them only a moment to drop the rope down
for the rest of us. Doug went first, then I followed. It didn’t
take me nearly as
long to climb up this
time.

Only Faith seemed to
struggle, and for one long moment, I was sure things were going to
end badly. Faith began to slip. She cried out as
she slid several feet down the rope, banging her
knees and feet against the rock wall. The force caused her to lose
her hold on the rope with her left hand.

For a moment, I tried to
imagine what we would do if Faith got hurt. Could we carry her back
to Santa Ramona?

“
You can do it,” I called
in encouragement. I wondered if Brady could climb down and help her
somehow, then remembered Olivia saying it was much harder to climb
down. Faith was clinging desperately, only her right hand keeping
her on the rope. She shook out the fingers of her left hand with a
whimper, and then started to slide again.

It was a good thing I was
sitting down. I was so relieved, I saw black spots in front of my
eyes when she grabbed back on the rope with both hands. She slowly
finished the climb, her face white and sweaty.

Brady quickly checked the
map as Faith dropped onto the floor of the cave, leaning her head
against her knees. “The Rejects are getting near the path to the
cave.” He shifted the candle to shine down the narrow tunnel behind
him.

This time, being able to
see, the cave seemed interesting rather than frightening. Once we
got into the second chamber, I caught my breath. It was beautiful.
The light sparkled off small crystals in the walls, and I could see
strange pillars hanging from the top of the cave.

“
Are those stalagmites or
stalactites?” I asked, pointing to the top of the cave.

Doug looked up and gave a
whistle. “I didn’t notice those last time,” he said.

“
Well, we were in a hurry
and didn’t have any light last time,” Faith said, an awed sound in
her voice.

Brady pointed to a strange
ripple of rock hanging about six inches from the ceiling. It was so
thin, the light from the candles showed straight through. “That’s
cave bacon,” he said in delight. “Wow! I love caves.”

“
I totally hate to break
up this party,” Olivia said, “but we’re supposed to be in a
hurry.”

Brady checked the map.
“They’re almost to the cave. We
do
need to hurry.”

As
we started to move deeper through the tunnel, “Brady asked,
“Did you get the rope?”

“
Olivia said, “Faith was
last up.”

Faith told Brady, “Not my
rope —I thought you got it.”

“
I didn’t get it, I
thought you did.”

“
Did anyone get it?” I
asked.

“
Are you kidding? We have
to go back.” Then I noticed Doug looking like the cat that ate the
canary. I asked suspiciously, “What’s so funny?”

He chuckled, reached behind
him, then held out the rope. “I thought someone should get
it.”

After we made the sharp
bend, in the tunnel, Brady thought the Rejects could no longer see
our light if they entered the cave. My heart rate began to slow as
we watched the progress of our green dots on the map. It was a lot
easier going this time, with two candles lit.

“
They won’t know where we
are and won’t be able to see our light. Not unless they climb up
here too.”

We’d carefully slid into
the lower chamber and Brady told us to move forward slowly. It was
a relief not to crawl any further. Although we’d been able to see
this time, most of the cave was too low or too full of dangerously
pointed stalactites to stand often.

Finally, our dots were
directly on top of the blue ‘X’. Since we were in the middle of the
cave, it was obvious we’d need to dig again.

I took the candle and
blocked most of the light with my hand, just to be safe. Doug
grabbed the bag that had been clanking irritatingly during the
whole trip, and drew out four gardening trowels. He grinned at us
and said, “What are you waiting for?”

We were all trying to be
quiet now, because according to the map, the Rejects had entered
the main cave. I was grateful we hadn’t left any backpacks to show
we’d been here this time.

I watched as
Brady, Doug, Olivia and Faith took turns, digging
deeper into the soft dirt of the cave floor. Occasionally Olivia
shot a longing look at the candle I was holding. Normally I’d
really enjoy that. Now, I was too busy desperately wishing we’d
find something we could tell Ronny. This would be the last time
we’d be able to come to Chimera this year.

Some of us would be out of
town for Christmas, during December’s full moon. We’d agreed once
again that none of us would enter Chimera unless all of us could
go. None of us, well
most
of us, had no desire to change that. There would
be safety in numbers in case we were caught by the Rejects. And no
one wanted to miss being there if something exciting was
discovered.

“
Could you hold that light
still,” Doug whispered, sounding sarcastic and out of
breath.

I started to snap back at
him, then realized his face was red and sweaty with effort, even
though the cave was fairly cold. All of them were breathing faster
than normal. Maybe I should cut him some slack.

“
Do you think there’s
something to find here?” Olivia asked. Before anyone could answer
her, there was a small clinking sound. Someone’s trowel hit
something metallic.

“
What do you think it is?”
Faith asked, her voice an intense whisper, trembling with
excitement.

“
It’s metal. It could be
your treasure chest, Olivia, or your lamp, Faith, or it could
be…“