The Dark Corner (2 page)

“I'm sure Bryce is able to control his fear,” Sally said. “And go where he wishes.”

“Good for him,” Adam said sarcastically.

“I'm not saying you have to follow him,” Sally said.

“No, we definitely don't have to do that,” Watch agreed.

“I mean, you don't have to try to impress me,” Sally said. “I like you guys the way you are. I don't care how brave you are. Do you care, Cindy?”

“No,” Cindy replied. But then she considered. “But I would like to meet this Bryce.”

“He's a real hero,” Sally said.

Adam and Watch both looked pretty disgusted.

“Do you think Sally's trying to push us onto the path again?” Adam asked.

“It feels like it,” Watch said.

“Why, do you think?” Adam asked, ignoring the girls for a moment.

“I personally think that she's worried Bryce is trapped on the other side of the Secret Path,” Watch said. “I think she wants us to rescue him, but she's too proud to ask for our help outright.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Adam said.

Sally didn't protest. They had hit a nerve. For a moment she stared straight ahead at the wicked tombstone, then finally she lowered her head.

“He's been gone a while,” she said finally.

“How do you know?” Cindy asked.

“He told me he was going,” Sally said quietly. “That was a week ago. I haven't seen him since.”

“Is this his knapsack?” Watch asked. “Why did he leave it on this side?”

Sally shrugged. “I think it's his. I don't know why he didn't take it with him.”

“Why was he using the path?” Adam asked.

“I told you the truth about that,” Sally said. “He wanted to stop the overflow of evil into our dimension.”

“At least he sets his sights high,” Adam remarked.

“If we're going to take the Secret Path, we have to start now,” Watch said, checking one of the four watches that he always wore. “It takes half the day to visit all the important places in Madeline Templeton's life.”

“Wait a second,” Adam said. “Before we go to all that trouble we have to decide if we
can
even help Bryce. There's no reason to think that we'll end up in the same dimension as he did. We might end up back where we were last time, and that's one place I don't want to be again.”

“But if he is trapped,” Sally asked, “how can you just leave him to an eternity of torment and agony?”

“Better him than us,” Watch said wisely.

Adam put his hand on Sally's shoulder. “You're really worried about him, aren't you? That was just a show at the coffee shop, wasn't it? You've been trying to bully us into taking the path.”

Sally nodded. “He's never been gone this long before. I'll go with you guys if you go.” She paused. “I'm not afraid.”

“Yeah, you are,” Watch said. “We're all afraid to go on the path again, and we can't just talk ourselves out of our fear. And that means if we do take it, we'll end up in a scary place.”

Sally nodded as she stared up at the tombstone. “In an evil place, the place where Bryce went.”

T
he sequence they had taken before to get onto the Secret Path had been this:

1. The beach (where Madeline was supposedly born)

2. The Derby Tree (where Madeline cursed the tree and turned its leaves red)

3. A cave (where Madeline killed a lion with her hands)

4. The chapel (where Madeline got married)

5. The reservoir (where Madeline drowned her husband)

6. The beach (where Madeline was almost burned to death)

7. The cemetery (where Madeline was buried)

Obviously, going to the beach twice seemed stupid, but the sequence, they knew, was the key to success. Going to the cave and then to the chapel and then back to the reservoir was also inconvenient, since the cave was not far from the reservoir. But they knew they had to stick to what they had done before because it had worked.

It was close to four o'clock by the time they got back to the cemetery. Starting at the front gate, they walked backward through the cemetery to the tombstone, holding hands the whole way.

“Why do we have to do this?” Cindy asked, sounding nervous.

“Because Madeline Templeton was carried here upside down,” Adam said. “This is our symbolic way of reenacting that event.” He paused. “You sound scared.”

“I am scared,” Cindy said quickly. “I've never gone through an interdimensional portal before.”

“We're really going to end up in a horrible place,” Sally muttered.

“Maybe you shouldn't go with us,” Adam said to Cindy. “You could stand guard on this side.”

“What am I guarding?” Cindy asked, although she sounded interested.

“You never know what might come back through the portal,” Sally said.

“It might be a good idea if one of us does stay on this side,” Watch said. “If we don't return, the guard could go for help.” He added, “I don't mind standing guard.”

Sally glanced over her shoulder at the approaching tombstone. “I bet none of us would mind staying at this point.” But then she suddenly let go of Cindy's hand. “But it should be Cindy. The rest of us are experienced with this portal.”

“Are you guys sure?” Cindy asked, dropping Adam's hand and watching them as they continued to trudge backward toward the tombstone.

“You're the logical person to stay behind,” Adam said, trying to reassure her. “There's no use going through the portal if you don't want to do it.”

“Like we're all having a barrel of fun here,” Sally remarked.

Cindy walked beside them as they stumbled backward. “I feel like a coward.”

“You should,” Sally said. “But I'll try not to tease
you about it.” She paused. “If Bryce should reappear before we do, send him back to look for us.”

“Have him bring his knife,” Watch said.

“No,” Adam said. “Cindy, grab the knapsack. I want to bring his stuff with us.”

Cindy hurried to the tombstone and grabbed the bag. She handed it to Adam.

“How long should I wait here before I go for help?” she asked.

“If we're not back by dark,” Watch said, “find Bum, tell him what's happened. He might be able to help.”

“If he can be bothered,” Sally added.

“We're just about there,” Adam said anxiously. “Let's hold on to each other tight. Goodbye, Cindy. Wish us luck.”

“Good luck!” Cindy called.

“I feel a whole lot better now that she's blessed us,” Sally said.

They stumbled as they stepped onto the actual grave. Suddenly everything went black and he felt as if he were sinking. His friends seemed miles away. He couldn't see them. He was in the eye of a hurricane, where everything was perfectly calm, although he knew madness raged all around him.

W
hen everything returned to normal, Adam realized they were in a place that was far from normal. It was Spooksville and it was not. As they looked around in wonder, they realized they were in a heavenly version of their home. A sweet scent filled the air. The surrounding trees were a lush green. Everything seemed to be glowing with a faint golden light, radiating love and joy.

“This isn't so bad,” Sally remarked.

“It looks like paradise,” Watch said, removing his glasses to clean them. “It's amazing we ended
up in such a wonderful place, considering how scared we were.”

“I wasn't scared,” Sally said quickly, letting go of their hands. “I think it was me who lifted our overall vibes.”

“I liked the way your arms shook so much when you weren't scared,” Adam said.

“They only shook because I was holding on to your arms,” Sally said, stepping away from the tombstone. She sucked in a deep breath of the sweet air. “I love this place! Look at the sky. It looks like one huge rainbow. I don't know if I want to go home.”

Watch was concerned. “We tried the Secret Path to find Bryce. But if he's off fighting evil, I doubt that he's here.”

“That's true,” Adam agreed. Then he stopped and stared down at some initials carved into the base of the tombstone—BP. He pointed them out to the others. “Bryce Poole. He must have been here.”

Sally bent over the initials. “It's only a couple of letters, but he could have carved them.” She raised her head and stared out of the cemetery, which actually looked more like a park. “I wonder where he could have gone?”

“Let's walk into town and ask for him,” Watch said, replacing his glasses. “I think I see people in the distance.”

“Wait a second,” Adam said. “We should figure out where we are before we talk to anyone.”

“That's easy,” Sally said. “We're in heaven.”

“You mean we're in a heaven,” Adam said. “This place is beautiful but it's still Spooksville. See, the castle's over there, and the ocean is down that way.”

“What I mean is we don't have to worry about getting killed here,” Sally said. “I think if Bryce is around, people will be happy to lead us to him.”

“Then why did he carve his initials on the base of the tombstone?” Adam said. “He could have just set out a sign announcing that he was here.”

“He might have been afraid of something,” Watch agreed.

Sally laughed. “Nonsense! This is one place where I'm not afraid. Let's go explore. I think that Bryce is here, and when we find him he'll probably be having the time of his life.”

“I hope you're right,” Adam said.

They walked along the road that wound down
toward the ocean and the center of town. Along the way they passed the castle. To their immense surprise they saw Ms. Ann Templeton—or this dimension's version of her—supervising a picnic for a bunch of dwarfs and elves. She waved, and they didn't know what else to do so they waved back. They were having a barbecue of chicken and fish. Each of the dwarfs had a can of Coke, but the elves were all drinking orange soda out of clear glass bottles.

“See,” Sally said. “Here she doesn't have nasty goblins working for her.”

“I kind of liked Belfart,” Watch mused. “I hope the marines accepted him.”

“Maybe we should stop and talk to Ann Templeton,” Adam said, thinking out loud. “Get the scoop on this place.”

“No,” Sally said. “I want to get into town. Bryce is probably there.” She added, “I wouldn't mind going to my house to see what the Sally on this side is like.”

“I don't know if that's a good idea,” Adam said, although the same thought had occurred to him. “It might complicate things if we met ourselves.”

“It might give us a mild case of schizophrenia,” Watch agreed.

“You guys are no fun today,” Sally said. “I'm dying to meet the heavenly version of myself—no pun intended. I bet I'm simply extraordinary.”

“Well, there is a lot of room for improvement,” Adam muttered.

Sally snorted. “I heard that. Come on, let's at least get something to eat. I bet the food here is delicious.”

They ended up stopping at a fast food joint on the edge of town. In their normal Spooksville the place was called
FRED'S FAT FOOD
. But here it was called
FRIEND'S FANTASTIC FOOD
. Plus the guy at the counter didn't look anything like Fred, who had tattoos, dirty fingernails, and an apron stained with human blood. The handsome young man who took their orders had long golden curls and eyes as clear blue as the sky. In fact, he didn't even want to be paid. He pushed their money back when they set it on the counter. The food was on the house.

“I could get into living here,” Sally said.

“Maybe that's why Bryce didn't return,” Watch said. “He liked it so much he just decided to stay.”

“Whatever he decided doesn't matter; we have to go back,” Adam said. “Cindy's waiting for us. She'll be worried.”

“If she hadn't been such a coward she could be with us here now,” Sally said.

“You thought she should stay,” Adam protested.

“And I'm glad she did,” Sally said. “She was so scared—we probably all would have ended up in some dark corner of the universe.”

Their food arrived and it was wonderful. Really, it tasted better than any meal they'd ever had in their lives, and it was just hot dogs and french fries. Sally was so pleased by the food that she ordered a vanilla milkshake, which she refused to share with Adam.

“You can still get fat in heaven,” she said. “I wouldn't want that for you if we're going to live forever now.”

When they were about to leave the place, Adam struck up a conversation with the young man who served them. He listened patiently while Adam explained how they were searching for a friend named Bryce Poole. Adam asked Sally to describe Bryce. When they were through, the man spoke in a sympathetic tone.

“You three aren't from around here, are you?”

“Not exactly,” Adam replied. “We're sort of from a neighboring city.”

The man nodded. “I understand. We get people like you now and then.”

“You do?” Sally asked, amazed.

“Yes,” the young man said. “And the best thing you can do is go find your counterpart in the city. Once you find him or her, everything will be all right.”

“That was exactly what I wanted to do,” Sally said, looking rather pleased with herself.

Watch was confused. “So you know we're not from this dimension?”

The young man with the golden hair smiled. “That's obvious to all of us.”

“You mean everyone in the city knows we're strangers here?” Adam asked.

The man ignored the question. “Find your counterpart and everything will become clear.” He paused and stared off in the distance. As he did a strange light shone in his eyes. “I think they're waiting for you at Adam's house.”