Secrets in the Dark (36 page)

Brady reached into the hole
and pulled out an old-fashioned brass key, more than three inches
long. The shaft was as big around as a pencil, topped by a fancy
Celtic design more than an inch wide.

“
A key,” I said blankly.
“Uh…I really wasn’t expecting that!”

Suddenly Faith stifled a
scream and scooted back until she hit the wall of the cave. “What
is that?” she choked out, pointing with a shaking
finger.

Chapter 38

The Key

A very small humanoid shape
appeared in the hole. It looked like it was swimming up through the
earth. The strange creature crawled to its feet, standing about a
foot tall. You couldn’t tell anything else about it — it was
encrusted with grime. It shook itself all over, dirt flying like
water off a dog.

It regarded us with small
deep-set eyes that looked coal black. Its face resembled a gnarled
old man, with round red cheeks and a long tangled beard. The beard
was probably white, but was so full of dirt it looked gray-brown. A
grimy pointed red hat was perched on its head.

“
That’s a gnome,” Faith
said in amazement.

“
A gnome?” I asked. “Like
the roaming gnome on TV?”

“
Something like that. They
live in caves or forests…well, supposedly. They’re an elemental.
They represent the earth.”

Sounding like its throat
had been scratched with sandpaper, a rough low voice growled, “A
human who knows our history. Surprising, that.”

Faith opened her mouth to
answer, but the strange creature interrupted. “At Ghalynn’s request
did I learn these words. He bade me watch for those who for the key
would come. I am to give you the following message. Listen
carefully, for the words are difficult to my tongue and only once
will I tell you.”

The small creature closed
its eyes and recited carefully, stumbling over some of the
words:

“In your hand you hold the
key, yet

Three more objects must you
find,

To have a chance to break the
spells

Which greed and loathing left
behind.

When evil covets things not
theirs,

And signs cannot be left in
view,

Mundane minds must
ascertain

The hidden meaning in each
clue.”

Its eyes popped open and
it shook its head, showering another layer of dirt on the floor of
the cave. Its gaze was piercing as it said, “I find I miss my
encounters with the others who this place inhabit. Ghalynn
has
said only you can bring them back. Do
not fail.”

Without another word, it
turned its back and with that strange swimming motion disappeared
back inside the earth.

“
Did you understand any of
that? I don’t get it. How are we supposed to use this key?” Doug’s
voice sounded impatient and frustrated and angry — along with
discouraged and disappointed — all at the same time.

“
It may take awhile, but
I
will
figure it
out,” Brady said, sounding distracted. He was scribbling the words
the gnome had said in his notebook. “Any guesses?”

“
He said Mundane minds,”
Faith said. “Ronny told us people outside Chimera, non-magic
people, are called Mundane. And they can’t come in here. Well,
except for us. You don’t think it’s about…us?”

We all shook our heads, but
I think most of us weren’t really saying no, just that we didn’t
have a clue.

Brady said, “I find it
interesting the gnome spoke to us in English, not some Chimeran
language. Did you hear what a hard time that thing had saying some
of it? It sounded like it memorized the words with no idea what
they meant.”

“
Not a
thing.
” Faith told him. Brady turned
to her, looking confused. I was confused too. She insisted, “It
was
a
gnome
, not a thing."

“
Okay, that
gnome
didn’t sound like
it… he…whatever…understood English.”

“
I agree,” Doug told him.
“I just hate not understanding what all this means.”

Brady pulled out the map
and asked it if we’d missed anything in the cave. The two blue ‘X’
marks were gone. He said, “Looks like we’re done here. Let’s
go.”

“
We need to talk to
Ronny.”

Doug gave me one of his
really-how-stupid-do-you-think-I-am looks. “Uh, no duh,
Kat.”

Just then, the bat swooped
over Brady’s head and flew towards the back exit. That didn’t
surprise me. But then Rusty whined and tugged at Doug’s sleeve, and
Shadow gave a plaintive meow and butted her head against my knee.
“Where did our animals come from?” I asked. “How’d they get
here?”

“
Magic,” Brady whispered
distractedly, looking at the map again. He cupped his hand over his
candle. “Quiet! They’re trying to climb into the upper
cave.”

“
What?” Doug’s voice
sounded strangled. I wished I could see the expression on his
face.

Just then, Rusty ran to
Faith and pawed at the hem of her white pants. When we looked, we
could all see the tear in her pants, down near her ankle. A strip
of cloth was
missing.

“
Oh no,” said Faith in
dismay. “Mom’s going to kill me! These are…were, brand
new.”

I said, “We’ll think of
something to tell your mom.”

Doug whispered urgently,
“Shut up! Faith, you must’ve torn your pants when you slipped
climbing the rope. They must have seen the missing piece and know
we’re up here. We need to move.”

Brady glanced at the map,
then whispered urgently, “Go. Now.”

We took the same way out as
last time, using only one candle. It gave just enough light to move
quickly. I sighed in relief as we exited the cave. According to the
map, the Rejects were still near the entrance to the upstairs
cave.

“
Let’s put some distance
between us,” Doug said. We hurried down the path toward the lake,
then Doug came to a halt so sudden it caused me to plow right into
his back. I bounced off, nearly falling over, and accidently bit my
tongue.

“
Why the heck did you stop
like that?” I asked. We were nearly to the main road, where we’d be
safe from howling beasts and large hairy monsters. I did
not
want to stop
here.

Doug pointed at the lake,
which could barely be seen through the trees. A strange red mist
was rising over the lake. It swirled in intricate dizzying
patterns. I looked at the others, dismayed. “What do you
think
that
is?”

Doug shrugged. “We don’t
have time to worry about it now. We’ll have to check it out in
January. Come on, let’s go!”

Brady looked at the map.
“Stop. We can’t go now. The Rejects are just leaving the main cave.
They must have given up climbing after us. They’ll see if we get on
the road now.” Brady pointed to the map where the red dots were
starting down the mountain.

Olivia glanced at the map
and made a face. “So what do you suggest we do?”

“
Wait here on the path
until they go by,” Brady told her.

Faith reared back, her
voice high and shrill. “Stay here? That’s crazy. You want to stay
here…off the road? Don’t you remember last time?”

“
Of course I remember. My
arm hurt for a week. If you have a better suggestion, I’d like to
hear it.”

“
I want to hide on the
road,” Faith told him. Olivia nodded in agreement.

He stuck the map out in
front of them. “Where? There
is
no place around here.”

“
We’d better decide soon,”
I said, watching the map nervously. “They’re getting
close.”

Doug spoke up. “We don’t
have time now. Just stay in the middle. Don’t go near the edge of
the path.”

Reluctantly we moved close
together at the center of the path. We’d be able to see them pass
on the map, and were close enough to the road that we might be able
to hear them. But we were far enough away that the Rejects
shouldn’t be able to see us.

We didn’t have to wait
long before we heard them, arguing as
usual.

“
Why are you so sure they
climbed up the side of the cave? It doesn’t make sense.” Carly
said.

Polly sounded whiney. “Shut
up, Carly. Where do you think that white denim came
from?”

“
Both of you shut up,” Ray
said impatiently. “They’re not there now.”

I held my breath, worried
that something, anything, would happen to make them turn around and
notice us there. I let my breath out in a quiet whoosh once they’d
gone far enough down the road that I couldn’t hear them any
longer.

I said, “We should be safe
now,” and relaxed in relief.

Chapter 39

Be Careful What You Wish
For!

“Ray’s always ragging on
somebody. I hate it.” Doug sounded disgusted.

The corners of Faith’s
mouth turned down. “I wish Carly would stop hanging out with the
Rejects. I know she doesn’t like them. She never does anything mean
to other people. And everyone knows Carly’s parents make her hang
out with Ray ‘cause he’s her cousin.

Olivia chimed in, “I
wish
Polly
would
change. Her whining get’s so annoying.”

“I wish I was bigger or
stronger. I’d make Ray and Andrew act different.” Brady looked
gleeful at the thought of getting bigger and stronger.

I growled loudly, totally
frustrated, forgetting for a moment to keep my voice down. “I wish
you guys would just shut up about change!” I didn’t actually stamp
my foot, but I wanted to.

“
Geez, Kat, chill.” Doug
frowned at me like I was a bug that was annoying him. Good thing I
wasn’t a bug — he’d probably squash me. “What’s up with
you?”

“
I’m so sick of everything
changing
all the time. Everybody keeps
talking about what we’re going to do when we’re sixteen and
eighteen and twenty-one. What’s wrong with how things are
now?”

“
Wow. Don’t have a spaz.”
Doug sounded so arrogant I wanted to smack his face.

“
I just wish everything
would stay the same!”

I’d forgotten for a moment
where we were.

I’d told myself I wouldn’t
make any more wishes in here. Most of us forgot occasionally, and
wished for things. Most of the time, nothing happened. Except for
familiars. And getting dots and treasure marks on the map. Those
were okay.

So sometimes wishes did
work. But how could I have guessed
this
could happen?

There was no thunderclap.
No dramatic flash of light. But there was no denying what my words
had done. I wanted to call them back, but could only choke out, “Oh
no…no, no. NO!”

My friends were all
standing still. Completely still. None of them had moved — not so
much as a twitch – not even a blink — since I’d made that
incredibly stupid wish. In a single instant, they froze in
place.

Doug was staring straight
through me, that disgusted look still on his face. Brady and Olivia
had frozen half turned toward Doug. Faith had also been looking at
me, her hands dug into her pockets, her shoulders up around her
ears, her teeth tight against her bottom lip.

For some reason, seeing
Faith like that made it worse.

At first, I kept it
together. Pretty much. I paused a moment every time I said anything
— certain it would all go back to normal.

“
I take it
back.”

-

-

-

-

“
Hello. I wish things
would go back they way they were.”

-

-

-

-

“
I wish my friends would
start moving.”

-

-

-

-

I wasn’t waiting quite
as
long between tries now. And I
was
starting to get loud. I tried not to —
I really didn’t want the Rejects to come back and find us like
this.

“
I wish my friends would
wake up.”

-

-

“
I wish I never made that
stupid wish!”

-

-

“
I really wish this had
never happened!”

-

-

“
I wish I knew what to
wish for!”

I’d been right. Mostly bad
wishes seemed to work in here, and I didn’t know how to fix this. I
was gasping for breath, making strangled moans as I looked at my
friends.

What now!