Return to Underland

by Alan Nayes

  “There!” Reglan pointed.

  Like a rocket, Otter blasted around the nearest boulder.

  They all met halfway across the clearing.

  “His eyes,” Reglan said.

  “What…?” The question stuck in Spinner’s throat. Bending down, he gazed into Otter’s face. Normally, the Labrador would bark or lick him, but this time he just stared vacantly into Spinner’s eyes. Spinner shivered. There was something there. Something … different.

  “Otter?”

  The dog backed away, staring at the two giant boulders. Spinner followed Otter’s gaze, but as he began to walk forward, the Labrador blocked his path.

  “It’s all right,” Spinner reassured him, thinking again of the strange prints. Otter had seen something. He knew it.

  Both children crossed the creek, balancing on stepping stones to keep from getting wet again. When Spinner neared the first boulder he slowed, and Reglan and Otter slowed with him. The enormous boulder blocked their view and the sunlight glistened off the stony cliff-face, shining into their eyes.

  “Whatever scared Otter is behind that boulder,” Reglan whispered.

  Setting his knapsack on the ground, Spinner motioned for both of them to walk quietly. They began creeping to the nearest boulder, the sound of their approach hidden by the rush of Little Horn Creek as it swirled out of view.

  As soon as they made their way around the boulder’s face, they heard another sound. A constant swishing, not unlike the sound a seashell makes when held next to an ear.

  With their hands on the rock, Spinner and Reglan peered around the boulder.

  “No way!” Reglan exclaimed.

  Trembling, they both stared at a huge jagged entrance—at least two stories tall—that led under Majestic Mountain. The wind whisking through the opening, whistled like a train.

  “I didn’t know there were caves in Echo Valley.” Reglan stared into the blackness.

  “I never heard of any.” Spinner retrieved his knapsack and fumbled inside for his flashlight.

  “What’re you doing?” Reglan said, shivering a little.

  “What do you think—I’m going in.”

  PART TWO

  THE SECRET

  CHAPTER 5

  * * *

  It wasn’t dark, nor was it light. Without his watch, Spinner wouldn’t have been able to tell whether it was day or night. Everything inside the cave, including the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling, was bathed in a soft green glow.

  “Awesome.” Spinner’s voice echoed eerily. With each step into the passage, the air warmed one or two degrees. In just a few feet, the cool air of Echo Valley was replaced by the stuffy humidity of the cavern.

  “I thought caves were supposed to be cold,” Reglan said.

  “They are. But I’ve never actually been in a real cave before,” Spinner admitted.

  For a moment, they forgot about the strange tracks as they stood together, gathering their bearings.

  Monstrous stalactites spiked down from the ceiling like huge limestone teeth, some almost touching the cave floor. In other places, thick stalagmites, as big as tree trunks, reached up into the green gloom. Where the stalagmites met the dangling stalactites, massive rocky columns glistened in the shadows.

  Spinner blinked as his eyes became more accustomed to the dimness. Gleaming crystals, some as large as baseballs and some smaller than marbles, clustered together on rocky ledges and filled the cracks and crevices with enough light to see a little way into the dark passage. He switched off the flashlight and put it back in his pack.

  “Where are we?” Reglan shivered, clearly nervous. Reaching out, she touched one of the limestone columns. Droplets of moisture on its surface formed tiny streams that trickled down into a small pool of diamond-clear water at its base. Reglan wiped her hand on her shirt and squatted to stare into the pool. She made a face and watched her reflection make the same face back.

  “I don’t know.” Spinner squinted into the green passage and took a hesitant step forward. “We’ll go in just a little ways.” He checked his watch. It was 10:16 AM. “We won’t stay long.”

  The cavern showed no sign of ending. It ran on and on and on, until, up ahead some distance, the floor seemed to disappear.

  “What if we get lost?” Reglan stood again and glanced over her shoulder at the cave entrance, now more than thirty yards behind them.

  “As long as we keep the opening in sight we’ll be able to retrace our steps.” Spinner looked to his left. Little Horn Creek flowed almost parallel to the path they were taking. “Remember to keep the creek on our left. On the way out, it’ll be on our right.”

  “Have you seen the tracks?”

  “No.” But Spinner had been looking.

  They crept forward, their rubber-soled hiking shoes providing good tread on the moist limestone. It helped that the floor had been made rough by droplets of water eating into the rock over eons.

  Soon, it became clear why the cavern floor had seemed to vanish. Spinner felt Reglan’s warm hand creep into his as they approached the edge of a cliff. Nearing the edge, they slowed. The last thing either of them wanted was to fall helplessly into a dark, bottomless chasm.

  They inched forward, each gripping the other’s hand even tighter. Then Spinner felt Reglan pull back. He leaned forward.

  “Careful,” she warned.

  Leading with his left foot, Spinner stepped a little closer to the drop-off. He looked over the edge. And gulped.

  The cavern was endless! A valley stretched out before them in all directions. Little Horn Creek cascaded over the edge of the drop, forming a waterfall that tumbled down through the limestone formations. Along with the noise of crashing water, the air was suddenly also filled with strange birdcalls, harsh cries, and the grunting of animals. From somewhere out in the gloom, Spinner heard a deep bellow.

  “Look.” Reglan carefully squatted down and pointed to a fern. Its fronds curled upward in green tendrils.

  Thinking there must be sunlight coming from above, Spinner gazed up. Above them, the cave roof sloped up until they could no longer see the top. Tiny twinkling lights, which resembled stars but were actually the glowing crystals embedded in the rock, glittered in the cave roof.

  He squatted down beside Reglan and gently touched one of the fern’s fronds. It instantly snapped shut like a steel trap.

  “A carnivorous fern.” He touched another leaf. Again the fronds snapped shut.

  “Do these grow in Echo Valley?”

  Spinner looked up. “I’ve never seen any.” In fact, nothing he was looking at appeared familiar.

  “Spinner,” Reglan whispered, clutching his elbow and pointing. No one moved, not even Otter. Below where they stood, a pool of water filled a flat plateau. At the edge of the pool, taking a drink of water, sat the largest frog Spinner had ever seen. At least a foot and a half in length, the frog had blotchy green skin with a double row of dark brown speckles along its back. Its marble-sized eyes stared haughtily at the newcomers.

  “I’ve never seen a frog that big. It’s as big as a house cat,” Reglan said.

  “Can you reach my book?” Spinner whispered.

  Reglan pulled the book from his pack and handed it to him. “What kind is it?”

  Spinner flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. So it wasn’t extinct! “This!” He held up the book.

  Reglan stared at the page. An exact likeness of the huge frog was illustrated. “The devil frog?”

  “Go on. Read it.” Spinner already knew what it said.

  Reglan read further. “This long-extinct ancestor of present-day frogs inhabited the semiarid lands of the late Cretaceous Period…” She paused. “Over seventy million years ago!” Her eyes locked on Spinner’s. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Beelzebufo, aka the devil frog. It’s in the book.”

  “You think that’s what made the weird tracks?” Reglan asked.

  “Yup, the webbed ones.” The amphib
ian had been hopping fast, he realized, not running.

  Reglan glanced once more at the picture and read, “This regal amphibian once thrived in what is now Madagascar.” She looked up. “That’s impossible! Madagascar is an island in the Indian Ocean.”

  “Yeah, off the coast of Africa. I know it’s impossible, but we’re looking at one! A genuine, living, breathing devil frog.” Spinner closed the Doomsday book and began to inch forward. “You wait here. If I can sneak down and come up on the other side of the pool, I might be able to scare it back outside. Then we might be able to catch it, or at least get a better look at it.”

  “What if it jumps toward me?”

  Spinner pulled his jacket from his knapsack. “Throw this over it.”

  “I’ll try.” Reglan took the jacket.

  “Careful, they supposedly ate small dinosaurs.”

  “Oh, that’s nice to know.”

  Crouching, Spinner stepped over the slippery rim.

  “You be careful, Spinner,” warned Reglan.

  Behind Reglan, Otter whined.

  Spinner hadn’t gone five feet before another sound made him freeze in his tracks.

  Overhead, the swish of wings grew louder as a shadowy form suddenly swept down out of the darkness. Seconds later, an enormous crow-like creature swooped over their heads. Just when it seemed it was going to collide with Reglan, Otter leaped into the air and barked. Immediately, the creature veered off and continued its flight deeper into the valley. Otter’s barks echoed for several seconds before blending in with the other sounds that rang out in the cavern.

  “Did you see that?” Reglan asked. “I know it wasn’t a bird. I think it was a bat. It almost hit me!”

  Spinner was too shocked to even notice the devil frog leap away. Finding a seat on the cave floor, he gazed down into the valley where the strange flying creature had vanished. He didn’t even need his book to identify what he’d just witnessed. Its image had been printed in every science book he’d ever opened, and he had studied its picture so often he could almost draw it. It was the most famous fossil ever collected—the same fossil creature that he knew, for a fact, had been extinct for millions and millions of years.

  Spinner placed one hand over his heart to quell its hammering. It took a full minute, but finally he regained enough control to mutter the one word he knew would raise the eyebrows of every paleontologist worldwide: “Archaeopteryx.”

  CHAPTER 6

  * * *

  Using his flashlight for added light, Spinner turned the pages of Doomsday Animal Parade. Reglan and Otter watched over his shoulder. It didn’t take him long to find the page. “There,” he pointed. “That’s what just flew over our heads.”

  Reglan knelt down and squinted at the page. “Are you sure? Archy…?”

  “Ar … chae … op … ter … yx,” Spinner corrected. He adjusted his glasses and read. “Archaeopteryx, the original suspected link between reptiles and present-day birds, thrived on Earth sometime before the Jurassic period.” Spinner was aware more recent finds in China had questioned Archaeopteryx’s link to modern birds, but at the moment he didn’t care. Nothing changed what he’d just seen.

  “When was the Jura-whatever period?” Reglan gazed at the strange dinosaur, which appeared to be half-bird and half-reptile.

  Spinner answered slowly, not believing his own words. “The Jurassic period ended 140 million years ago.”

  Reglan shook her head. “Are you crazy? Am I crazy? First, a long-lost frog, and now we’ve just seen some animal that supposedly lived a billion years ago?”

  “140 million, not billion.”

  “What’s the difference? It’s still impossible.” Reglan looked toward the limestone plateau. The devil frog was gone. “Isn’t it?”

  Spinner closed the book and followed Reglan’s gaze to the plateau. Then stared farther, into the vast, unending green depths of the cavern. He was afraid to speak much above a whisper. “It’s as if we’ve entered another world. And we’re the first humans to see it. This could be the greatest discovery of all time—even greater than Archaeopteryx or the devil frog. I’ll be more famous than Columbus.” He couldn’t suppress a grin.

  Reglan reached for Spinner’s trembling hand. “Maybe we oughta leave.”

  “Leave?” Spinner pulled his hand away and stood up. “We’ve just discovered a place like no other on Earth. And it was us—me, you, and Otter—who found it. We can’t just leave.” Spinner bent down and placed his book back in his pack. “Not without proof. And the only way to prove this cavern exists is to bring back some sort of evidence for them to see.”

  “Them?”

  “You know, Maramac and the town council.” Spinner slung his knapsack over one shoulder.

  “Spinner?” Reglan had never seen her friend so driven. Not even that day after the baseball game, when he’d struck out.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” She watched as he shifted his pack higher on his back and took a step toward the plateau. She knew nothing she could say would change his mind. Reglan just hoped they weren’t making a big mistake.

  They walked for almost an hour. Every so often, Spinner tried to take photos with his cell phone, but none of the images ever worked. Weird.

  Although they could hear other animals, they failed to see any other living creatures lurking in or behind the many dark hiding places. All they could pick out were shadows, and those didn’t seem to move.

  Up ahead, the trail led right through a huge limestone column, and Spinner slowed. He could still hear the Little Horn on his left, flowing behind a limestone wall. Past the column, the trail led to another cave pool. On the other side of the pool was a thick grove of prehistoric trees, which appeared to be calamites. Spinner once read that calamites could grow to be a hundred feet tall. During the Age of Dinosaurs, their lush growth formed dense jungles along the edges of swamps and rivers.

  Reglan glanced behind her nervously. There was no sign of Archaeopteryx or the devil frog. “Are we lost?”

  Spinner pulled his compass from the knapsack, checked its gyrating needle, and then slapped it shut. It was useless in the cavern. He checked his cell phone—no signal either. After another failed photo attempt, he thought briefly. “A cave suddenly turns up in Echo Valley where no caves were thought to exist. Animals suddenly appear that were long thought to be extinct.” He placed the compass and phone back in his knapsack. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Otter growled over his shoulder. Spinner reached down and scruffed the dog’s neck. “Unless…”

  “Unless what?”

  “Remember that second set of tracks, the ones that were almost human?”

  Reglan nodded. “But not quite.”

  “Yeah, those.” Spinner was silent a moment. “What if those tracks were just what they seemed? Almost human. Not like you or me, but like someone who lived way before us. The kind of tracks someone might make if they lived half a million years ago.”

  “Were there humans half a million years ago?”

  “Not exactly humans, but prehistoric man lived in another time completely unlike our own.”

  “Are you saying we discovered a lost world?” Reglan asked. “Like time forgot it, or something?”

  “Look around. Have you ever seen anything like this place?”

  Reglan shook her head.

  Another thought crossed Spinner’s mind. “What would happen if, say in a certain area of the world, time did stop?”

  “What do you mean stopped?”

  “I mean stopped! What would happen to the animals that lived there?”

  Reglan pondered this a moment. “Well, if time did really stop, I guess none of the animals living in that place would die.”

  Spinner agreed. “Even the extinct animals.”

  “Is that possible?”

  “I never heard of anything like it.” Spinner checked his wristwatch. “But look.”

  Reglan took his hand, pulling it closer. “It’s 10:16. So.
”

  Spinner pointed. “No, I mean the second hand.”

  “Like I said it’s ten—” Reglan halted in mid-sentence. Her eyes met Spinner’s. “It’s not moving!”

  Spinner wet his lips; they were dry. “We’ve been in here at least an hour and my watch still says 10:16.”

  “Maybe it’s broken.”

  “Maybe…” But he didn’t recall bumping the timepiece.

  “This is sooo weird,” Reglan said, quickly checking around her.

  Spinner changed his pack to his opposite shoulder. “Let’s follow this path to those large trees growing by that pool. Maybe Archaeopteryx is hiding there.”

  Spinner ducked through the archway, his mind filled with visions of cavemen and dinosaurs.

  They made their way down a series of rock steps to the edge of a clear pool. Shining his flashlight into the water, Spinner could make out the bottom. The pool appeared to be three or four feet deep—too deep to cross. He kicked a round crystal in and they watched it roll down the sloping bottom, finally settling near the middle. Even under four feet of water, its glow still reached the surface.

  At the pool, the path split, winding along each bank to meet on the other side behind the grove of calamites. Some of the calamite leaves reached halfway to the cavern’s roof. They saw no sign of Archaeopteryx.

  “Which way?” Reglan asked.

  Spinner pointed right. “This way.”

  The trail wound up around the pool toward a thicket of ferns.

  They strode in single file around the pool until their path was partially blocked by thick green and yellow fern fronds. Spinner felt Otter push against his leg and growl.

  “What’s wrong?” Reglan asked.

  “Another scent.”

  “Of what?” Tendrils of nervousness crept into her voice.

  “I wish I knew.” Spinner stared ahead. Otter growled again and moved forward half a step. Squinting, Spinner aimed the beam of light at the thickest concentration of growth. All he could see were leaves.