The Secret of the Scarlet Stone (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book One) (39 page)

T
hey tiredly walked through the narrow cavern
,
guided only by the lit torches that lined the walls. They looked around in awe as the
c
avern led them into a larger cavern.
 

Zora
adjusted her glasses, looking around the cavern curiously. She pointed up at the jagged rocks that crusted the ceilings. “Wow, awesome. Look at the crystal formations;
they’re
caused from stopping the water flow in the cavern.”

Jessica plopped down on the dusty ground with a sigh
.
“I’m exhausted
. E
xactly how long have we been walking?”

Zora
paced the cavern floor
,
looking at the crystal formations
.
“Not long
…
maybe fifteen minutes,” she responded distractedly.

Rosalinda huffed
and
puffed tiredly, looking at her with irritation. “Well, it’s been the longest fifteen minutes ever.”

Gabrielle looked over at her and smiled mysteriously
.
“Well, guess what
?
I don’t think that we have much longer.” She pointed over to the life-size stone statues that were lined
up against the walls in a circle.

“Oh
,
great, this just gets better and better,”
Zora
exclaimed as she walked over to a statue, examining it but carefully mindful not to touch it.

The statue was intricately carved into
the
shape of a pretty girl; she sat cross-legged with her arms outstretched as if reaching for the sky. Her eyes were made of ruby stone and
her
lips curled up in a frozen
,
knowing smile.

“Hmmm, there’s something written at the bottom of the statue
.
”
Zora
carefully dusted the dirt off. “It says
Orbis
.”

Rosalinda rolled her eyes with annoyance
.
“Which means?”

“It’s Latin for circle
,
”
Zora
responded matter-of-factly.

Gabrielle walked from statue to statue, examining each detail
.
“Well, they all look the same. I can’t see anything different with any of them. Can you
,
Zora
?”

Zora
adjusted her glasses
.
“Nope, you’re right
,
Gabi
;
they are
all
the same.”

Jessica wrung her hands nervously
.
“Well, I don’t see an exit out of here. Are we stuck in here?”

Rubbing her eyes tiredly, Rosalinda examined the statues
.
“Great, it’s another trick.”

“Yep, I’m afraid so
;
it’s got to be another trick. But this time we will not be fooled easily,”
Zora
responded as she looked at the statues.
“Okay, let me think
…
these statues are here for a reason. We have four statues sitting cross-legged, all with ruby eyes
,
but one of them has to hold the secret to getting out of this room
;
we just have to figure out which one.”

She looked over at the
other girls.
“Okay, first, let’s each of us go over to a statue.”

They quickly walked over to a statue and stood in front of it.

Zora
smiled slightly
.
“Okay, I’ll start by calling out what I see on my statue and each of you will look at your statue and see if you see the same thing. If you do, call it out
,
okay?”
S
he adjusted her glasses as she examined the statue before her. “Okay, eyes with ruby stones.”

“Yes,” Gabrielle screamed.

“Yes,” Jessica screamed.

“Yes,” Rosalinda screamed.

“Legs crossed,”
Zora
called out.

“Yes,”
t
hey responded in unison.

“Okay, lightly dust off the dirt over the letters at the bottom and tell me if you see
Orbis
written on it,
”
Zora
screamed.

“Yes,”
t
hey responded in unison.

“Arms outstretched, both palms facing the sky,”
Zora
called out.

“Yes,” Jessica and Gabrielle responded.

Rosalinda looked over
.
“
Ummm
,
did you say facing the sky? Because on this statue, one palm is facing up and the other palm is facing down.”

Zora
adjusted her glasses excitedly
.
“Well
,
that’s it; that’s the ticket to getting out of here.”

They all ran over to the statue and stared at it intently.

“Well, I’m looking and I still don’t see how this statue can get us out of here,” Gabrielle responded.

“Do you see what I see?”
Zora
exclaimed.

Gabrielle plopped down on the ground tiredly
.
“
Zora
, I’m way too tired to think right now. So if you know something
,
please just come out with it.”

Zora’s
body shook with barely contained excitement
.
“Look at her palms
;
they look like they can be twisted around in the other direction.”

Jessica fiddled nervously with her hands
.
“No way
…
that’s way too simple
,
Zora
; it has to be some sort of trick. Besides, how do we know that if we touch the statue it won’t set off another booby
-
trap?”

Zora
adjusted her glasses
, which
were
b
alancing precariously on the tip of her narrow nose. “Well, I don’t know for sure
,
but I just have a gut feeling that she’s the one. She has to be, trust me.”

Not moving an inch, Gabrielle looked on tiredly. “I just can’t do this anymore. I’m so tired that my mind and body
are
just numb.”

Rosalinda looked at her wryly as she extended her hand to Gabrielle.
“Oh
,
no
,
muchacha
.
You will not give up now, not when we’ve made it this far. Get up
,
Gabi.”

Gabrielle clutched Rosalinda’s hand, allowing
her
to pull her up. “Okay, okay! Don’t be so pushy!”

Zora
looked at them
.
“Okay, so do we all agree that I should twist her palm and see what happens?”

Jessica and Rosalinda looked at her uncertainly but Gabrielle smirked boldly.
“Go ahead and turn it
,
Zora
. Gabby Girls aren’t afraid of anything!”

“Okay, here I go.”

Jessica and Rosalinda flinched nervously as they watched
Zora
gently grab the statue’s palm, twisting it skyward. She quickly stepped back with anticipation.

Deafening silence filled the room.

Rosalinda huffed angrily
.
“Great! Nothing happened
;
now we really are stuck in this place forever.”

Gabrielle looked around the room quickly
.
“Be patient, it has to be the way out of here because if—” Startled, she jumped at the low rumbling of the floor.

Jessica yelped nervously
.
“Oh
,
no!
Brace yourself
;
the floor is going to drop, I just know it.”

Zora
adjusted her glasses excitedly as she looked around the cavern.
“Nope!
That’s not going to happen. Look at the walls; see how they’re vibrating too? Something’s happening!”

The floors and walls rumbled violently, causing them to wobble around uncontrollably. As suddenly as it started, the rumbling stopped
,
giving way to silence.

They looked at each other nervously.

Rosalinda
glance
d
over at
Zora
with frightened eyes. “Oh, this can’t be good.”

They looked around the cavern
,
waiting for something to happen. Then
,
suddenly, a soft scraping sound pierced the silence and the walls
parted,
as if by magic
,
giving way to a brightly lit passageway.

Gabrielle jumped
with glee
.
“Oh
,
this absolutely rocks, Gabby Girls
.
I can feel it
…
we’re almost home. Let’s get out of here.” She stomped toward the brightly lit passageway, with Jessica, Rosalinda
,
and
Zora
following closely behind.

They walked through the corridor in complete
silence,
each one tired, hungry
,
and lost in her own thoughts.