by Talia Haze
“Warm, hot, hot, hotter.” Ryan spun around. “Hotter, hotter, burning…”
“Ryan, mind that boulder…”
“Ryan!”
“Look out!”
Ryan walked smack into a large, upright boulder. Sean and I laughed as Ryan landed hard on the ground. Princess Connie just smirked and folded her arms.
“How did this rock get here?” Ryan stood to his feet, pushing it angrily.
“You certainly hurt its feelings,” I teased. Ryan just glared.
“Let me see that book.”
Ryan finally released the book, handing it to Sean. “It says ‘won’, but there is nowhere else to go.”
“That was certainly a pointless pursuit,” Princess Connie exclaimed, leaning on the boulder. “We are not even ten feet away from the back of the inn!”
“What are we supposed to do if we won?” I asked. “We’re still here!”
“Under the third column marked Laye the ring is nearby,” Sean read the scroll before looking around. “There are not any columns out here.”
“Perhaps it means the third column in the book,” Princess Connie proposed. Sean flipped through the pages.
“No, there aren’t columns in here, either.”
I searched the base of the boulder, although I wasn’t at all sure for what. Soon, I found the roughly scratched Dasimé signature in the side of the rock. “Here! Look at the signature!”
Sean reached slowly and touched it. “Hey!”
With a low hum, the air between the rock and the inn shimmered and flashed. “Hurry, come before it stops!” We dashed behind Sean into the flashing air. After a familiar whish, we stood in blackness. Princess Connie cried out, but instantly silenced when her voice echoed loudly. Sean lit the lantern.
We stood in narrow stone hallway. Behind us, a solid wall of brick. Sean’s lips pressed tight as he held the lantern high to inspect the wall. I pushed on it. Completely solid.
“Are we trapped?” Princess Connie cried out, grabbing Sean’s other arm. “How shall we get out?”
Sean took a deep breath before forcing a smile. “Not this way. We must go on and find what the clues say to find. Come.”
The tunnel hall was long and narrow. Only two people could walk side by side. Sean’s lantern light reflected from the walls, and each of our steps quietly sounded against the stone.
I held my hand out and let my fingers brush against the rough stone. Only a day had passed since we left home. What did poor Anna think? We never did say goodbye. How long would it take until we returned…would we even return? Certainly not if my parents were truly dead. Uncle Harrison would be livid. We certainly couldn’t return then.
The gentle breeze suddenly turned into strong gusts. The narrow tunnel opened into a vast room that stretched beyond the light of our lantern.
“There are columns in here!” Sean exclaimed. The columns stood in neat rows about ten feet apart in all directions. The tops of the columns were so high that the light our lantern couldn’t reach it. Ryan was busy counting the pillars.
“This one,” he announced, “and here is Laye.” We searched the base of the column and sure enough, Princess Connie spotted the thick, golden bracelet. Sean picked it up and brushed it off.
“Could this be it?”
“Not unless it’s a ring from a giant!” Ryan answered.
“Perhaps it is a door-knocker.” Princess Connie pulled it from Sean’s hands, but quickly grabbed it with her other hand, nearly dropping it. “It certainly is thick enough.”
“There is nothing else here,” Sean added after a final inspection of the base. “It has to be it.”
A few paces more and we entered a large storeroom with low ceilings. Sheets riddled with holes covered the abundant amounts of furniture, and the breeze from the large hall made the edges slightly sway. The whole room smelled musty and damp. Sean lit the lamps that hung on the walls until every dark corner was illuminated.
“Start looking for the keys,” Princess Connie ordered. “This shall not take too long with the four of us working together.”
I smiled as she tied her white-blonde hair back with a length of cloth she found and brushed out her skirt. I didn’t believe her as haughty as she acted. She had already twice helped us. Could she not just order us to do it ourselves? I was glad that she was so anxious to help.
“But you must not forget,” reminded Sean, “there might be secret spaces inside the walls. Checking inside the walls will take forever.”
“And it is your ever-hopeful comments that keep us going, Sean,” Ryan teased, balling the sheets and tossing them near the door. I sighed, leaning back a sheet-covered furniture piece. It made an awful clang that shattered the air. I pulled off the sheet to find an old piano.
“Don’t do that!” Ryan had collapsed on a sofa, breathing hard and holding his neck.
“And why, Ryan?” I teased. “Did you get your breeches a little wet?” I dropped when he threw one of the sheets at me.
“I found it!” Connie cried out, holding up a golden key.
“Decent!” Sean replied. He paused and looked around confused. “Shouldn’t something happen?” He bent to pick up his scroll. ‘Continue the passage to the keys, press the one marked F to open the door’…does that key you found have an F on it?”
“No, it is an A,” Connie sighed disappointedly as we groaned. Ryan stared at a hole in the floorboard and bent to pull it up. With a grin, he presented a golden key.
“What does it say?” I asked as he angrily threw it against a wall.
“G,” he answered, growling. “Wouldn’t you know it?”
“We may have to take up all of the floorboards!” Connie exclaimed. I picked up an iron curtain rod and used it to pry open another floorboard. Mice scurried away underneath, and I coughed and waved the dust cloud from my face. Something gold lay half-buried in the dirt and dust. I lay on my stomach. Just the tips of my fingers brushed against it. Perhaps, I could flip it with my fingers.
“I have solved the riddle!” Connie cried out, suddenly. “Gabriella has already found it…”
I didn’t get it yet. I rolled to my side to look at her. How did she know which key I found?
“Wish you had said something hours ago,” Ryan complained, leaning on the back of the sofa. Connie strode to the piano, but quickly paused, a disgusted look on her face.
“Sean, hand to me your cloak.”
“Not if you’re going to wipe the piano off with it I won’t,” Sean answered.
Connie huffed and said, “F is a note! See!” She placed her fingers on the piano. “C, D, E, F!”
A wall swung open and thudded, revealing another dark passage. It looked far too similar to the tunnel in the cellar back home. I planted my feet as Connie daintily wiped the dust off her fingers using Ryan’s sleeve. Ryan just smirked.
“Just can’t keep your hands off of me, can you, Goldilocks?”
Connie’s shrill scream was louder than our laughter. Sean smiled and held his hand out to me. All was well. I took his hand and followed them into the tunnel. The instant we were all within, the wall slammed shut behind us, the force of it blowing out Sean’s lantern. The wind howled in our faces, swirling my hair into my eyes.
“I will lead.” His voice remained calm and steady. “I can see in the dark.”
I could feel Connie’s cold fingers grasp my arm. At least, I was between them. I felt a little safer that way. I just hated the dark. I hated the unknown. So, I clung tightly to Connie and Sean, and closed my eyes. I studied each step and listened for any unusual sounds.
“Finally.”
I opened my eyes at the sound Ryan’s voice. The tunnel had opened into a grand hall. Several burning candles shined brightly, and various pieces of furniture sat along where the tunnel ended, all neatly arranged. Ryan plopped into the armchair and sighed loudly.
“Let’s just rest here for a bit, ey? We can talk about the next clue.”
I sat next to Connie
on the sofa and looked ahead down the corridor. Large portraits of elegantly dressed men and women lined each side of the hall, and a plush rug that looked to stretch the length of the hall lay under our feet. What a grand place! How immense it must have been with halls stretching out of sight!
Sean sat on the soft floor and unrolled the scroll. “Press the one marked F and open the door, do not stop for a thing or you’ll be in its tease, continue down the path and press the sun floor…do you see a sun floor anywhere?”
I hoped there wasn’t a sun painted in the tunnel we just past. Connie and I stood to inspect the floor. Ryan groaned loudly and remained as he was. The idler. Nothing was carved or painted on the stone floor, or under the rug. I lay on my stomach to look under the furniture. Nothing underneath. Connie turned to look further into the grand hall.
“What else did you say, Sean?” she asked. “You mentioned a tease…”
“We were never in any tease,” I added.
“That’s because we didn’t stop,” Ryan answered, with closed eyes.
The color left Sean’s cheeks. “We’ve stopped now.” Connie grabbed my arm in a panic. “Ryan, get off the chair!” Ryan stumbled away just as the chair arms grew and reached around. “Run!”
Ryan scrambled down the hall after us, pressing his hands against the floor until he regained his balance. Sean pushed Connie ahead of him and pulled me behind.
“Stop for nothing!”
Chapter Nine
Angel’s Sweet Face
Low voices echoed in the halls. The people in the paintings slowly awakened; stretching or yawning. I gripped Sean’s hand tighter. One of the paintings followed me with white eyes as I passed. Could they do anything? The hall abruptly ended at a grand foyer. A butler stood respectfully on the landing between the two staircases at the top of the main staircase.
“Which way?” Ryan paused at the foot of the main staircase. The butler held out one of his hands out.
“This way, my boy,” he answered with a warm smile. “Come.”
My whole body tensed. Something felt so wrong. Ryan took a small step towards the butler, but hesitated. The butler’s crooked grin grew revealing large teeth. Ryan cried out and turned back as the butler’s eyes blazed green. Sean pulled him up by his collar and shoved him to the left, down another corridor.
“That way!”
The corridor’s candles shone on the people in the paintings, who were now fully awake. They called to us, cried and wailed. The terrible sound shook the narrow corridor. Press as I might, I could not keep the noise from my ears. A hand appeared suddenly in front of my face, startling me so terribly that I fell back into Connie.
The hand belonged to an old man with sunken eyes. He reached and braced himself on the frame with his other hand.
“Come,” he gargled as his jaw unset. Connie and I trembled back in terror, but we forgot about the paintings on the other side of the hall.
“Sean!”
A thin woman with long white hair latched her narrow fingers in Connie’s hair. I dropped to the ground and rolled away. Her eyes were so steely and blank. Connie screamed and struggled, but the woman wouldn’t relent and wailed deeply in Connie’s ear.
“Go!” Sean demanded, pulling me to my feet and pushing me into Ryan’s arms. I couldn’t stop trembling. “I’ll get Connie!”
Sean held his hand out, changing it into a dragon paw. The woman in the painting screeched when Sean clawed her, instantly releasing Connie. “Why do you wait? I told you to go!”
Ryan threw open the door and we ran into the garden. The gardeners looked up with blazing green eyes as we dashed through the hedges, towards another door across the grass. They didn’t pursue us, but we kept our distance anyway.
The bushes were trimmed in the shapes of various animals. A tiger sprung to life as I passed it and pawed at my gown. I supposed it was a tiger; I turned to look. A ghastly mistake. The beast pounced on my chest, knocking me upon my back. It was only made of leaves, but the weight of it still pinned me down.
Could he hurt me? I pushed my feet against its stomach and cried out when its leafy mouth closed on my arm. It was no more painful than falling into a shrub, but I have never been so startled. “Let me go!” I reached into its mouth and tore at the leaves and twigs until it released me. With Sean’s help, I rose to my feet and followed the others through the door.
“Can we stop yet?”
The next corridor was dimly lit and made of white brick instead of red. I slowed to a breathless walk. Sean breathed in deeply and bent with his hands on his knees while Connie collapsed against the wall. My whole body was sore from shaking so terribly. There weren’t any more paintings on the wall; perhaps we were safe?
Ryan walked only a few steps ahead, straining to stare down the dim hall. “Doesn’t seem to be any other oddness down that way,” he said between breaths.
“We can’t be sure though,” Sean said. “None of this seems real; I can’t be sure of anything until we have no more clues.” He breathed in deeply again before helping Connie and I to our feet. “Let’s just keep going.”
Our steps sounded light on the wooden floor. We passed an arched entryway that led to a long banquet hall. Onions. Garlic. Leeks. Some kind of game. It smelled so good. How long had it been since we left the inn? We hadn’t eaten since then.
A man and woman sat alone at the large table. “Who are you?” the lady was as cold as ice. The man shot her a look.
“Beatrice do not be rude. They look tired and hungry.” He turned to us and stood. “Are you hungry, children? Come, dine with us…”
I smiled excitedly and looked to Sean, who bit his lip. The woman was far from pleased.
“George! They are…” the lady coughed in her napkin and added in a lower voice, “they are commoners!”
“They are my people. If we want the people to be loyal, we must be kind to them.” The man sat and ordered with his hand for one of the manservants to set out extra plates with the help of the maids. “Come, dine with us.”
“Well, now.” Connie flew into princess mode and straightened up while smoothing out her skirt. “Such an invitation cannot be ignored…”
Sean pressed his lips tight and I sighed. Oh, be still, my stomach. Sean grabbed Connie’s hand, pulling her back. “No, Connie,” he said in a whisper, “until we are through this, we should not trust anyone else.” He turned and bowed humbly. “Thank you for your gracious request, Your Greatness. We are simply coming back from checking on your garden. It is not our place to dine with you. We will take our leave, if pleasing to you.”
“As you wish. Continue.” The man waved his hand. “Gavan. Show them the door.”
“Oh, no need, Your Greatness. We shall find our way. C’mon, guys.”
Hunger distracted me. I hardly noticed that the corridor we walked in creaked terribly at every step.
“When someone higher than you, such as a lord, or a king, offers you to dine with him, that is a great privilege.” Connie clenched her teeth and her hands bunched at her sides. “And you refused it as if he were a rat!” She spun to Sean, fire in her eyes. “How you must have insulted him!”
“Connie, I…”
“Don’t explain yourself to this wench!” Ryan yelled at Sean. Then, turning to Connie he added, “You listen! If Sean says don’t stop, don’t stop! He is usually right! Did he not just save your life? Can you not trust him?”
Connie just set her jaw and nothing more was said. The foyer was just ahead, as well as the main door.
“Gabriella!”
What was that? Sean talked quietly to Ryan at his side, and Connie seethed silently behind them with her arms crossed. Who called me? I looked around. Nothing on our journey so far had been normal. Why should I have been surprised that I also heard voices call my name?
“Gabriella!”
The voice became stronger. Where was it coming from? I didn’t see anyone around.
“Gabriella!”
This time, th
e voice sounded familiar. There! A door stood askew under a staircase we passed. I opened the door and there, kneeling on the floor of the small closet was my sister, locked in heavy chains.
“Angel!” I cried out, throwing my arms around her. My sister! I squeezed her so tightly. I barely recognized her, she didn’t look at all like I remembered. “What happened? What are you doing in here?”
“I sat down to dinner with that man and they grabbed me!” Angel replied, resting her head on my shoulder. “I’ve been here for so long. I was just coming home!”
“Sean was right,” I muttered, looking towards him. They didn’t realize that I had stopped, and Sean pushed on the heavy front door.
“They threw me into this closet and chained me up,” Angel continued, “they tricked me…”
“How long have you been in here?” I pulled the hairpin from behind my ear and began to work on the locks. I had never picked chains before. I hoped they wouldn’t be too different from the pantry door.
“Almost two days…oh, be gentle; they hurt me.”
Not too much different. The first heavy lock thudded against the floor. Sean turned at the sound, and I started on the second lock. I just had to wiggle the pin around instead of the usual up and down…
“Gabriella! Don’t!”
My hands froze at Sean’s command. Why? Why would he say such a thing? Why would I leave her? I turned to him as he started running towards us. Angel just chuckled.
“I suppose one hand will have to do.”
It was too late to react. Her freed hand suddenly grasped my neck. Angel’s sweet face twisted, and her eyes shone brightly. I pulled at her fingers, but her grip was so strong. Her fingers dug into the sides of my neck, her sharp nails breaking my skin. I gasped loudly, struggling to pull away.
“Farewell, sis.”
Sean slid to my side, again turning his hand into a paw and slashing. She wasn’t bothered by the deep gash. Ryan kicked her face and Connie fell on my other side, trying to help me pry Angel’s fingers open. I couldn’t stop gasping. Grayness began to cloud my sight.