The Golden Paw

by Jason Lethcoe

  The group rushed back down the passageway. As they all lurched forward, Andy suddenly had a thought.

  “Wait, who’s checking for—”

  He’d been about to say the word traps, but just as it was about to leave his lips, another pair of screams, these ones all too human, sounded directly in front of him. Andy had barely enough time to see the heads of Betty and Dotty disappearing into a hidden pit when, without thinking, he leapt forward and grabbed the first thing his hand touched.

  It turned out to be the scabbard of the katana Betty wore on her back. Before he knew it, Andy was sliding forward on his stomach, unable to bear the weight of two adults as they fell.

  “Help!” he screamed. He was sliding headfirst after the twins when he felt Rusty’s meaty grip on his heel.

  “Got you!” Rusty shouted.

  Andy gazed below and saw the panicked faces of Betty and Dotty staring up at him. His hand was wrapped around the cord that held the scabbard to the twins’ backs, but the strain was too much. He could feel his grip slipping!

  “I…I can’t hold…”

  And then, like a living nightmare, it happened. The cord snapped, and for a fleeting moment all he saw were the wide, horrified eyes of the sisters as they fell.

  As with Cedric, it was over in a second. Andy stared down into the darkness with a feeling like descending an elevator shaft. He’d failed! Betty and Dotty were gone and it was his fault, because he hadn’t been able to save them.

  The world spun around him, everything shrinking to the size of a pinpoint. The words My fault, all my fault repeated over and over in his head.

  He was dimly aware of more shrieking wails around him. As he lost consciousness, the ghostly cries mingled with the screams of Betty and Dotty as they fell down into the bottomless pit.

  Then everything went black.

  Andy regained consciousness some time later. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he sensed one thing: he was completely alone. And, worse still, he was in total darkness.

  “Hello?” he said softly. “Abigail? Anybody?”

  There was no answer. Then the memory of what had happened to Betty and Dotty came back to him, and he felt a jolt of fear. Andy felt around in the dark for the edge of the pit into which they had fallen. Sure enough, his fingers brushed up against the drop-off.

  They left me here, Andy thought. Then, with growing alarm, They either left me or something got them. Maybe whatever was making those shrieks!

  Andy trembled uncontrollably as the thought took hold. What if they were all dead and he alone had survived? How could he possibly get out? Would he be stuck in the maze forever, and die either from starvation or by falling down into one of those hidden pits?

  Sitting up, Andy slowly edged his way over to the wall. Thankfully, the surface wasn’t covered with bat droppings, but the cold stone chilled him and did little to help stop his shaking.

  His grandfather’s word about a member of the Jungle Explorers’ Society never leaving anyone behind came back to him, and Andy knew with mounting certainty that Rusty would have never done such a thing. His doubts about the stalwart bush pilot had vanished after he’d told him about the conversation with Bartlemore. And as for Abigail? Andy knew with certainty that she would have felt exactly the same.

  That left only one conclusion. The only way that they would have left Andy behind was if something had gone terribly wrong. They must have been attacked by something in the darkness. But what did that mean for Andy? Should he try to navigate back up the path to where they had started? Poor Cedric had mentioned that the bats must have a way out. Perhaps that direction led to freedom.

  “No. I’m g-going to f-find them,” Andy said, his teeth chattering. “A Jungle Explorers’ Society member doesn’t l-leave anyone behind.”

  And as scared as he sounded to himself, he knew it was the right thing to do. He would try to rescue his friends. And if Rusty had been leading them downward into the tunnel rather than up, it seemed like that was the logical place to start.

  Andy hadn’t thought to bring a flashlight, which meant he was faced with the daunting challenge of edging his way along the wall in total darkness. He probed with his foot for any weakness on the trail ahead, hoping he would be able to anticipate any traps.

  As he inched along, time seemed nonexistent. The only sounds were his breathing and shuffling steps as he went doggedly forward, aware of nothing but the next safe foothold.

  It felt to him like several hours had passed when he finally rounded a corner of the cave wall and saw a tiny light in the distance. He’d been fortunate not to fall into any traps along the way and sagged with relief at being able to see anything at all.

  Moving carefully, he approached the light source with furtive steps, still watching where he was going.

  When he finally got there, he felt a mix of relief and horror. The relief came at seeing Abigail. But the horror came when he saw what had trapped her.

  Andy didn’t know how to describe the beings that floated in front of Abigail other than as three transparent apparitions. The first spirit was dressed like an Incan god. He wore a feathered headdress and held a cruel-looking club. The second was a woman with long silver hair. Her face was a twisted mass of scars, and she stared at her captive with empty holes where her eyes should have been. The last—and worst, in Andy’s opinion—was a skeletal thing that still had mummified skin hanging in tatters from its bones. The shrieks seemed to be coming from its hanging broken jaw as it hovered over the frightened girl.

  As Andy took in the tears running down Abigail’s face, the paralyzing fear he’d felt at seeing the apparitions melted away and was replaced with anger. The next thing he knew, Andy was running full bore at the hovering creatures, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Hey! Leave her alone!”

  The apparitions turned. When the skeleton saw him, it let out another shriek and began floating in his direction. Andy didn’t hesitate. He leapt in the direction of the ghosts, grabbing the rope he’d used to tie himself to Abigail and swinging it wildly above his head. It was the only thing he had handy since he was without his pen, but it was better than nothing. Besides, he was dealing with ghosts. Who knew if any mortal weapon would really work against them? All he could think to do was to look as fearsome as possible and try to chase them away.

  It didn’t work.

  And it wasn’t necessarily because of the rope. It was because, just as Andy drew close to the horrifying creatures, he heard a loud, familiar voice behind him shout, “Cut!”

  The ghosts halted where they were and looked inquiringly at the source of the interruption. Andy and Abigail stared, too, and were surprised to see Bartlemore standing there, looking completely at ease.

  Bartlemore grinned and walked over to Andy. He took the rope from Andy’s hands and tucked it beneath his arm.

  “Thanks, I’ll be needing that,” Bartlemore said.

  Andy stared, gobsmacked, as Bartlemore turned to the three spirits and said, “That’ll do. Now that we have the last two, phase one of the mission is over. You may return to your quarters.”

  The spirits nodded at Bartlemore and, without a sound, exited the room through a nearby tunnel.

  “What’s going on?” demanded Andy. “Who—or what—were those things?”

  Bartlemore grinned. “They work for me. They’re part of the Collective. Gifted stage magicians, all three.”

  Andy stared at Bartlemore. “Work for you? Wait. What are you saying?”

  Bartlemore’s trademark grin grew even wider. “What I’m saying, Andy Stanley, is that I have you trapped. I have imprisoned each of your companions, and now I have you and Abigail Awol, a naughty girl who is going to be severely punished for her betrayal.”

  Abigail’s face paled. “Y-you’re with the Collective? The famous John Bartlemore?”

  Bartlemore snickered and said, “Hardly. The real John Bartlemore is probably lounging by a pool surrounded by Hollywood starlets right now.”
/>   Suddenly, a haze seemed to pass over Bartlemore. To Andy, it felt like his eyes had gone blurry, almost like he were severely in need of a pair of glasses. As quickly as it appeared, the haze faded. In place of Bartlemore the actor stood Yaw Ripcord. She grinned, her full lips parted in a pink lipsticked smile.

  Andy and Abigail couldn’t believe their eyes. Yaw seemed to enjoy their stunned looks and let loose a rich, throaty laugh.

  “Fun, isn’t it? Wonder how it’s done? Nothing up my sleeve…” She pulled up the sleeve of her blouse in imitation of a stage magician.

  It was Abigail who put two and two together. “You’ve had it all along, haven’t you?”

  Yaw gave her a smug smile. “Yes, and you were all too dumb to realize it. Especially this new Keymaster everyone has been talking about.”

  She stared at Andy condescendingly. “You were so easily convinced that your leader, Rusty Bucketts, was a spy. How in the world could the great Ned Lostmore put his faith in such a stupid boy? You’ll never become a full Jungle Explorers’ Society member believing everything you’re told and turning on your friends.”

  Andy felt his cheeks grow hot with shame.

  Abigail spoke up in his defense, saying, “He’s new and was just trying to do what was right. You manipulated him, getting him to trust you as insurance so that you could stay close. Those ‘traps’ were put there by you, weren’t they?”

  “Of course they were,” Yaw snapped. She gestured to the walls with open arms. “All of this was created by us, a trap to lure you here and get you out of the way. What better way than making you think you’d found the location of the Golden Paw? And perfectly safe, since I’ve had it all along.”

  “B-but where did you find it? What about the temple and those legends that Cedric told us about?”

  Yaw shrugged. “Lies. I found the Golden Paw in a place far from here, somewhere that’s not on any map.” She called over her shoulder, “Cedric, would you come here, please?”

  Andy and Abigail watched as Cedric, wearing his mask, emerged from a nearby passage. It was getting hard for Andy to process all that he was seeing. It seemed as if the entire world had turned upside down.

  “I saw you die,” Andy blurted.

  Cedric held up a finger. “No, you didn’t. You saw me fall. Each of those pits you were so worried about is a chute, conveniently placed so that we could eliminate members of the group one by one. Taking you all on at once would be a waste of time and, er—well, dash it all, a waste of bodies. Everyone knows how well you fight as a team. I was there on your last mission, remember?”

  “You’re the spy!” Andy exclaimed.

  “Give the boy a gold star. He finally got one right,” Yaw said. She clapped her hands in mock appreciation.

  Cedric slipped off his mask and revealed his face for the first time. Andy was shocked to see a mousy man with large front teeth and a pencil-thin mustache standing before him.

  “I worked for your grandfather for a while, but the Potentate gave me a better offer. She’s set me up with all the medicines a poisoner could want. I can finally put my dark magic to good use.”

  “But you g-gave me those crocodile teeth,” Andy stammered.

  “Yes, by Jove, you’re correct,” Cedric said enthusiastically. Then his face fell. “But since you’re still here, you obviously didn’t use them as I instructed. They’d have killed you on the spot, dear chap.”

  Andy was suddenly thankful that he’d never opened the jar and obeyed the prescription given to him by Cedric the day they’d met.

  “So the others are alive, too? Betty and Dotty? Rusty?” Abigail asked.

  “For now,” Yaw said. “Until I have no further use for them. It might take time, but thanks to dear old Cedric here, I have a machine that is capable of extracting information. Soon, all the secrets of the Jungle Explorers’ Society will belong to us.” She grinned. “It was so easy. Too easy, in fact. As Bartlemore, I got you moving, always irritating Bucketts to keep you from resting. As Yaw, I flew you to where I needed you to go. Didn’t you notice that Bartlemore and Yaw were never in the same place at the same time?”

  “But what about at Trader Sam’s? Bartlemore’s plane?” Andy asked.

  “I had an associate fly it over. Then I left Rusty to fly from Trader Sam’s alone while I changed back into Bartlemore. When I had an opportunity to get you alone, I seized it.”

  She reached into the pocket of her flight jacket and removed something that Andy recognized immediately.

  “My Zoomwriter!”

  Yaw laughed. “I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it sitting on the counter at Trader Sam’s. So careless to leave such a valuable item behind….”

  Andy’s elation over seeing his pen evaporated. It was bad enough to have it nearly within reach and not be able to touch it, but to know that it was in possession of his enemies was torture!

  “Wait a minute. You keep talking about Yaw as if she were one of your disguises,” Abigail said. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the woman in front of her. “Who are you really?”

  “Smart girl. Yaw was simply an appearance I borrowed to gain the Society’s trust. I am the Potentate,” the woman said. “And who I really am isn’t for you to know. Unlike the pathetic society of which you are a part, we keep our secrets.”

  She turned to Cedric. “You know what to do. Now that we have our prisoners, continue with the rest of the plan.”

  Cedric nodded. “How many soldiers should I take with me?”

  The Potentate paused to think, then replied, “I should say six at least. He’s bound to be well protected.”

  Cedric bowed. He turned to leave and then hesitated. “After we have the information we need, shall I eliminate him?”

  The Potentate gave him a mysterious, knowing smile. “Of course,” she purred.

  Cedric grinned in a way that made Andy feel very uncomfortable. What was he planning? Whatever it was, Andy could tell that something terrible was in store for them.

  As Cedric strode from the chamber, the Potentate called after him.

  “Cedric!”

  “Yes, ma’am?”

  Andy watched as she removed from her neck a slim golden chain with a claw-shaped pendant hanging from it. The minute she did, her form shimmered, turning from Yaw Ripcord’s into that of a tall raven-haired woman wearing a silken mask.

  It was the first time that Andy had seen the Golden Paw up close. It seemed to pulse with invisible power, making the tiny hairs on his arms and neck stand at attention. He’d been around magic enough now to recognize its signature feeling, and he could tell that, like the Pailina Pendant, this artifact held tremendous dark power.

  The woman handed the Golden Paw to Cedric, who carefully took it from her and placed it in his pocket.

  “You’ll need it to gain access to him. Although we have his most formidable members, he’s sure to be protected by others.”

  Wait a minute! Andy thought, putting two and two together. She’s…she’s talking about Grandfather!

  Suddenly, it all made sense. Cedric was going to find Ned Lostmore and extract all the Jungle Explorers’ Society’s secrets from him. Worse still, Andy realized that when Cedric was done, he was going to kill him!

  I’ve got to get out of here! Grandfather needs my help!

  His blood boiling, Andy rushed toward Cedric, intending to tackle him to the ground. He was angrier than he’d ever been before and needed to get the Golden Paw away from him. With it, Cedric could impersonate anyone at all—even Andy himself! His poor grandfather would be caught unawares by the sneak attack!

  But before he got to Cedric, the Potentate snapped her fingers, and several tough-looking men rushed into the chamber and grabbed Andy by the arms. He struggled as hard as he could.

  “Let me go! You’ll never get away with this!”

  “Tie the two of them up with this,” said the Potentate, indicating Andy and Abigail with a jerk of her head. She handed Andy’s rope to the closest man,
a hulking brute with a scar over one eye. “Put them with their friends. They’re in for quite a reunion.”

  It was more than an ordinary prison. It wasn’t on any map and had been cleverly crafted to prevent escape. In fact, the ingenuity that had been employed by the dungeon’s designer, a renowned torturer, had seen to it that the prison was filled with traps so nefarious any prisoner who tried to escape would encounter obstacles that would terrify the other captives into not even trying.

  Long ago, the worst pirates that the Royal Navy had ever encountered had been placed there. Now Andy awoke in one of its cells. The Potentate’s henchman had shoved a rough cloth soaked with some kind of chemical over his nose and mouth. Beyond that, he couldn’t remember much. His head hurt. Everything hurt. He felt as if someone had hit him over and over with a sledgehammer.

  Worse than the pain he felt was the knowledge that Ned was in danger, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  Andy gazed at his surroundings with mounting despair. The dungeon walls were made of thick, impenetrable stone, except for the entrance to his cell, which was made of heavy iron bars. Abigail wasn’t anywhere in sight. Neither were the rest of his friends.

  Andy felt dizzy as he rose from the chilly flagstone floor. He stumbled over to the bars and, gripping them with both hands, called out, “Hello? Is anybody there?”

  “Andy? Is that you?” came a familiar voice from somewhere down the outside corridor.

  “Rusty! You’re alive!” Andy said.

  “Barely, boy. Barely,” Rusty said. Andy noticed that his normally booming voice sounded tired and weak.

  “Are the others okay? What about Betty and Dotty?”

  “We’re here,” said two voices in unison.

  “Okay, but not great,” Dotty added.

  “I’m here, too,” Abigail called. “I feel like I was thrown in here like a rag doll after they drugged me.”

  The Collective will pay for that, Andy thought. And for what they’ve done to the others, too. When I find a way out of here, I’m going to get my Zoomwriter back and get us all free.