The Secret of the Scarlet Stone (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book One) (29 page)

As if on cue, the glow from their pendants was so bright that it completely lit the whole tunnel, stunning them into complete silence.

“Awesome!”
Zora
, Gabrielle, and Jessica
screamed in unison.

Rosalinda looked at them with wild hysteria in her eyes
.
“Awesome? Are you kidding me? This is
the
freakiest thing I’ve ever seen. And
,
Gabi, please don’t tell me that you actually think you wished for this to happen and it did?”

Gabrielle looked at her boldly
.
“Well, I don’t want to freak everyone out
,
but
,
yes
,
I actually believe that my wish made our pendants light up.”

Rosalinda laughed
.
“Okay, so you’re delirious from crawling through the tunnel filth
.
”

Gabrielle continued
.
“Okay, so I’ve never told anyone this before, not even my Grandma Celeste
,
but ever since I could remember, strange things would happen when I wished for them. But up until now, every time I wished for something, it would turn out bad
…
I mean really bad.”

Jessica looked at her strangely
.
“Are you saying that you can wish for something and it would actually happen?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I don’t know how or why but it’s true. I know you all think that I’m crazy. I mean, who would actually believe a crazy story like this? I know I wouldn’t,” Gabrielle said sardonically.

Rosalinda snorted
.
“Well, I think that you’re crazy.”

Jessica wrung her hands nervously
.
“Gabi, I believe you because
…we
ll, where do I begin?” She nervously twisted a strand of blond hair around her finger. “I use
d
to be able to talk to my father about anything but ever since my mother died, he seems to be avoiding me like the plague
,
and for the life of me, I just can’t figure out why
.
” She smiled sadly. “Anyway
,
strange things started to happen to me a couple of years ago but I guess
…
I don’t know, I guess I tried to ignore them and hoped that it would eventually just go away.”

Gabrielle looked at her oddly
.
“Like what?”

“Like exactly what happened in that passageway when I was trying to open the door,” Jessica answered as she licked her lips nervously. “Okay, I might as well say it
. W
hen I get
really
nervous or scared, I disappear—become invisible. Well
,
not completely—but like parts of my body
:
my hand or my face or my arm. I just can’t seem to control it.”

Rosalinda snorted nastily
.
“Well, it’s confirmed—you’re both crazy.”

Gabrielle yelped with excitement
.
“I knew it! I just knew it! I mean, for a minute, I thought I was going crazy when I saw you disappear then reappear. It was like you were translucent or something.”

“You’re both totally insane!” Rosalinda screamed.

Jessica’s eyes filled with relief
.
“I thought you saw but I couldn’t be sure because you didn’t say anything to me about it.”

Zora
scratched her head in confusion
.
“So, what does this all mean? We all have this weird pendant, we all have some sort of weird power thing going on, and now we’re being led down this weird tunnel. There just has to be a point to all of this.”

Gabrielle smiled hugely
.
“You’re right
,
Zora
, there has to be a point to all this
;
we just have to figure it out.” She quickly moved back to her knees
.
“Well
,
Gabby Girls, let’s stop wasting time. The Gabby Girls Adventure continues.” She started to crawl through the tunnel again
,
but this time with a new burst of energy and purpose.

G
abrielle’s eyes sparkled
.
“Do you see what I see?”

Zora’s
face flushed with excitement
.
“Are you kidding me? How can I miss it? It’s light
…
sweet
,
glorious light.”

 
They crawled quickly toward the bright light shining at the end of the tunnel. The further they crawled, the wider the tunnel became, eventually enabling them to stand upright and stretch. They tiredly shook out their cramped legs.

Zora
marveled at the two huge gaping holes carved into the wall
.
“Wow! This is quite a dilemma.” She adjusted her glasses as she looked over at them. “Which one should we take? Should we take the left one or the right?”

Jessica stared blankly as she bit her nails.

Gabrielle boldly walked toward the left hole, peeking through it. Her eyes bulged at the sight of what looked like a very old bridge that stretched across a large stone cavern. She gulped when she looked over to the right, spotting a similar
-
looking bridge
as
the one in front of her. Her eyes curiously followed the length of the two bridges, stopping at the end
,
where the
y
joined to form a perfect Y. She took a deep
,
calming breath
.
“Wow! This is definitely not going to be as easy as I thought,” she whispered.

Her eyes quickly darted around the cavern, frantically looking for another way out. “Okay
,
Gabi, pull yourself together
;
the Gabby Girls need you right now,” she whispered. Pinning a brave smile on her face, she quickly spun around to face them.

“Okay, so here’s the deal. There’s good news and bad news,” Gabrielle said matter-of-factly
,
smiling with
a
confidence that she was far from feeling. “So, which one do you want first?”

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as they stared at her blankly.

Nonchalantly, Gabrielle brushed a non-existent speck of dirt from the front of her jeans
.
“Okay, so the good news is that there’s definitely a way out of here.”

They stared at her silently
,
waiting for the dreaded bad news.

Gabrielle smiled brightly
.
“The bad news is that we have to cross a bridge to get to it.”

Jessica’s eyes popped wide open as she nervously shuffled from side
to
side.

Zora
shook her head with dismay as she walked silently toward the right hole and peeked through it. She gulped nervously as she looked down at the thrashing river at the bottom of a sharp drop. She stepped back into the tunnel and looked at them silently.

Frantically, Rosalinda looked at them
.
“You’re all crazy. I’m not crossing any bridge,” she screamed as she backed away from them.

Jessica twirled
her
hair nervously
.
“I agree with you
,
Rosa. I think that it’s too dangerous for us to cross the bridge. There’s got to be another way out of here.”

Gabrielle looked at them matter-of-factly
.
“Okay
,
Gabby Girls, let’s keep it real. There is no other way out of here, so the way I see it
is
we only have two choices. We can stand here and freeze to death or we can take our chances and cross that bridge. Frankly, I vote for taking our chances and crossing that bridge. But I can’t force you to agree with me
;
it definitely has to be a group decision.”

Jessica gulped nervously
.
“But what if it’s just another trick?”

Zora
adjusted her glasses
.
“Look, I don’t want to add fuel to the fire
,
but I think it’s fair to assume it’s another trap.”

They all gulped nervously.

Gabrielle looked at
Zora
.
“Well, do you have any suggestions on how we can get out of this pickle safely?”

Zora
shook her head in dismay
.
“Logically, here’s how I see it
:
there are two bridges, one on the left and one on the right. The bridges look quite unstable and I don’t think th
ey
can hold the weight of four people without flipping over and sending us plunging into the river.”

They gulped nervously again.

Zora
continued
.
“So, here’s my suggestion
:
only two of us should walk across the left bridge and the other two should walk across the right bridge. I think that should be
just
enough weight to keep the bridge steady enough for us to cross it safely.”

Gabrielle rubbed her hands together eagerly
.
“Okay, so we’re wasting time here. Jessica
,
you come with me.” She wiped her sweaty palms on the front of her jeans and stomped over to the left hole. Taking a long
,
deep breath, she cautiously stepped through the hole and onto the tip of the bridge. Gabrielle did not really want to think about the fact that she was also unsure about crossing the bridge
,
but she knew for a fact that this was the only way out.