Jessicana shrugged. “All right.” She transformed and ripped off a piece from the cage. They all held their breath, but nothing grew back. Jessicana began to devour the mixture of leaves and seeds, and if parrots could have smiled, she would have. Then the “smile” disappeared and Jessicana choked. A flash of silver fell on the ground, and she turned back into a girl. “There was a piece of metal in there!” she exclaimed, and Roseabelle saw she was right. A piece of silver was on the ground. She bent down to pick it up and saw that the cage had risen and that something else was coming down—a door.
Astro saw it too. “Wait,” he reasoned. “The metal weighs down the cage so when a part of the cage is eaten, a piece of metal is gone. It’s like a scale. I bet that’s the door up there. If Jessicana eats the whole cage then we can go through the door.”
“Impossible,” Jessicana muttered.
Roseabelle nodded. “There has to be magic influencing this.”
Astro shrugged. “We don’t exactly have time to argue about the laws of physics, so can Jessicana just start eating?”
Jessicana rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She transformed and flew over to the cage, then snapped a long piece entwined with seeds and vegetation. As she ate, metal clattered to the floor and the door continued to lower. Roseabelle continued to urge on Jessicana while Astro stared at the door.
Something about this place made Roseabelle uneasy. And it wasn’t her painfully throbbing arm. Roseabelle had the feeling that something lingered here. Some kind of presence. Part of her didn’t want to know what it was.
As the last piece of metal dropped to the ground, the three friends let out a cheer and rushed to the black wooden door. Astro opened it, and without warning, a brisk wind whisked them inside and the door shut behind them. The wind continued to wrap around them. Roseabelle struggled to breathe, gasping for air. “I-is this the next challenge?” she choked. In response, the wind stopped, and the three friends were dumped on the floor.
Roseabelle groaned when she realized she had landed on her arm. A flash of pain shot up her elbow, and she moaned and clutched it tightly.
“Are you all right, Roseabelle?” Astro asked with concern.
“Never been better,” she answered sarcastically, gritting her teeth. Astro pulled her up as black spots danced before her eyes.
“Roseabelle, we need you to stay conscious,” Astro demanded. “The three of us are a team, and we can’t do this without you.” Astro said the words with such force that Roseabelle made her eyes open. Her vision cleared, and she saw that three of them were trapped in a sparse stone room. Roseabelle stood up and spun in a circle, dizzy at the prospect.
Jessicana stood and brushed herself off, looking perfectly fine. For some reason fighting monsters and completing challenges didn’t change her appearance in the slightest. How did she do that? Astro’s messy black hair was even messier, his shirt was torn, his flip-flops looked as though they’d been dragged through a metal grinder, and his tan skin was even tanner than usual. Roseabelle imagined she didn’t look much better.
Roseabelle looked around at the bare room the size of a large field. “How do we get out of here?” she wondered. Astro tapped his chin thoughtfully and then pointed to a small metal box on the other side of the room. “Over there!”
The three friends walked carefully over to the box when Jessicana groaned. “Another cage? I’m full!”
Roseabelle realized it was another cage. And inside it was the cutest little animal she had ever seen.
CHAPTER 13
Silver Eyes
ASTRO HAD TO ADMIT THAT THE CREATURE WAS CUTE. It had black and purple spots, white fur, and big brown eyes. A pink tongue stuck out of its mouth, and its eyebrows wiggled.
“Oh, how cute!” Jessicana cried.
“It’s adorable!” Roseabelle agreed. Astro blinked. Were his friend’s voices . . . robotic? He jumped in front of them.
“Guys, what—”
Astro trailed off to see that the girls’ eyes were silver, their expressions utterly blank. He waved his hands in front of their faces. He realized the little animal must be pulling them into a trance. Astro jumped in front of the girls’ faces and shouted, “Roseabelle! Jessicana! Wake up!” He turned back to the animal. “Why are you doing this?” he demanded. Then Astro stopped. Why was he yelling at this cute little creature? It hadn’t done anything wrong. He walked forward to pet it. Maybe it would forgive him if he did.
Roseabelle turned to face him, her expression becoming painful. “Ouch,” she muttered.
He looked at her. Her eyes were silver. Why were they silver? Weren’t Roseabelle’s eyes amber?
Astro snapped out of it, blinking, and realized that the creature was luring them in. To what? He shot a lightning bolt at it, a perfect shot in between two bars, but the bolt simply bounced off of the creature’s head. Jessicana was close to it. She squatted down about to poke her hand through the cage bars.
“No!” Astro yelled and dove for his friend, tackling her to the hard stone floor. Jessicana blinked, and the silver drained from her eyes.
“W-what?” she whispered, and Astro pushed her down.
“Stay here,” he ordered, and he turned toward Roseabelle, who was getting closer and closer to the creature. Astro studied the creature. What was making it so mesmerizing? Then he saw a small collar around the neck of the creature. It was pink and sparkly, and Astro knew instantly that it was dangerous.
He stretched forth a finger and a blue-silver lightning bolt came shooting out of it. Just as Roseabelle had bent down and was about to stretch her arm through the bars, the lightning hit the collar, and the creature’s appearance began to change. What was once soft fur changed into slimy green scales. Soon Astro was staring at a scowling, slimy, green creature that looked like an angry baby with tufts of red hair, white eyes with a purple pupil, and extremely pointy teeth.
Astro immediately pulled Roseabelle back from the cage. She blinked and, just like Jessicana, the silver drained out of her eyes. “W-what?” she mumbled. “W-what happened?”
Astro steered her to the back of the wall as the creature growled at them. “It’s all right. That creature right there put you and Jessicana under a spell. Its appearance was an illusion.”
Roseabelle stared at the creature. “I-I think I know what that is. A Siren.”
Astro scrunched up his nose. “Aren’t Sirens part of a fairy tale?”
“Isn’t this whole place supposed to be a fairy tale?” Roseabelle retorted.
Astro looked around for an entrance out of the room. “Where in the world is the door?”
Roseabelle looked all around the room, from the wall to the ceiling and then to the floor. She walked over to the wall and ran her hands over it. Astro watched her, confused. Finally she looked satisfied, and she waved Astro over. “Bring Jessicana. Here it is.”
“The door isn’t visible?” Astro asked.
Roseabelle nodded. “Not at all. It’s another precaution.”
Astro helped Jessicana up as she muttered something he couldn’t make out. “You all right?” he asked her, and she nodded.
“I’m fine,” she commented breathlessly, and she shakily walked over to where Roseabelle was standing. She appeared to twist open a doorknob. Astro groped for something until he felt the polished wood of a door. He shook his head.
“Incredible.”
“We need to get going,” Roseabelle urged. “The Darvonians have got to be in the caverns by now.”
“Maybe they took the wrong cannon and ended up lost in darkness forever,” Astro added cheerily.
“That’d be nice,” Roseabelle admitted. “But I’m pretty sure the Darvonians are smarter than that, Astro.”
“Or maybe they got trapped in a lake of lava with a monster inside,” Astro suggested jovially.
“Astro . . .” Jessicana growled.
“Or maybe they never figured it out and kept going down the staircase and then fell into a bottomless pit,” Astro conti
nued enthusiastically.
“Astro, quit it! We need to go on!”
“Or maybe they—”
“Astro!” both girls yelled in exasperation. He smiled at them sheepishly.
“Just trying to be positive here.”
Jessicana rolled her eyes, stepped through the door, then disappeared in a cloud of mist. “Jessicana?” Roseabelle called out nervously.
There was no answer.
Astro gestured forward. “Ladies first?” he suggested hopefully. Roseabelle glared at him until he stepped forward.
“Fine.” He sighed huffily and disappeared also. Roseabelle took a deep breath and disappeared into a fog of darkness.
CHAPTER 14
Maze of Ropes
JESSICANA LANDED ON A SMALL WOODEN PLATFORM IN A brightly lit room. The first thing she recognized were ropes strung in every direction. They connected together like spiderwebs, and some were rigged with spikes and clubs. Jessicana could make out a hard-packed dirt floor beneath all the webs. The ground was far away, but she could see it had various jagged rocks, their points facing skyward.
Below the webbing, Jessicana could also see a brilliantly shining door, like a beacon. Suddenly Jessicana realized that her friends wouldn’t be able to stand on the small platform with her, and she quickly transformed into a parrot just in time to avoid a dark cloud depositing Astro onto the platform.
“Awk!” she squawked, and he looked up at her.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Awk! Make room for Roseabelle, awk! Both of you can’t fit, awk, on the, awk, platform!” Understanding dawned on Astro’s face, and he quickly jumped to the nearest rope, wrapping his hands around it. Only seconds later, Roseabelle appeared on the platform, dazed and dizzy from the ride.
“Roseabelle!” Astro shouted from below. “It’s a maze of ropes. We have to climb down to the door. And no matter what, make sure you don’t fall.”
Roseabelle gulped. “I got this!” she shouted back. Roseabelle would’ve preferred Cloud Riding, but there weren’t any clouds. Jessicana suddenly swooped by her, and a silver object fell into her palm. Roseabelle peered closely at it. With a gasp, she realized it was the ring Jessicana used to escape from the Darvonians. Would it work with ropes too?
Roseabelle pushed the emerald, and rope came sailing out of it. She pictured for it to go to a rope that was almost halfway between the ground and the platform. Amazingly, the grapple attached to it, and Roseabelle felt herself slicing through air, going at a speed she wouldn’t have thought possible.
She dropped and swung easily to the rope below and caught it. Roseabelle could easily see the ground now. Jessicana was below on the ground, having flown to the bottom, and was shouting encouraging squawks to her friends.
Roseabelle knew she had it easy compared to Astro, and she felt slightly bad for him when she heard a yell from up above. She turned her head to see Astro dangling from a high rope with one hand. “Help!” he shouted. Roseabelle froze, unsure of what to do.
And then Astro fell, his voice carrying throughout the entire maze of ropes.
JESSICANA INSTANTLY FLEW TOWARD HIM AT LIGHTNING SPEED (how ironic) and reached Astro quickly. She turned into a girl in midair and yelled, “Hold on to me!” As Astro reached for her, one of the traps on the ropes activated and a knife came sailing at them. Jessicana was forced to transform and fly away to avoid being hit.
She could hear Roseabelle below, pressing the emerald and pointing it toward Astro. Jessicana held her breath as the grappling hook shot out from the ring toward Astro. To Jessicana’s dismay, it missed him by inches. Roseabelle yelled, “No!” and shot out another grappling hook, determined to catch him.
Jessicana felt as if she was watching it in slow motion. The hook shot toward Astro, twirling in midair, and snagged the collar of his shirt just before he crashed head-on with a large pointy boulder.
Roseabelle swung the grappling hook left and dropped Astro a couple feet to the barren ground. He gazed up at her as she grappled her way down. “Thank you,” he said, breathing hard, and they all turned to the multicolored door.
“This has to be it,” Jessicana whispered quietly.
“Get the ribbon out. You probably need that to open it,” Astro suggested to Roseabelle. Astro and Jessicana watched as Roseabelle took the ribbon out of her pack and held it to the door. She pressed it next to the keyhole, and they all watched in amazement as it transformed into a black key. Roseabelle turned to them. “Who wants to open it?”
Jessicana rolled her eyes. “You, of course. You saved us. And now you’re saving Benotripia. Go ahead, Roseabelle.”
“But Astro saved me from the Siren!” Roseabelle protested. “And you gave me the ring that I used to save Astro.”
Astro gestured toward the door. “This is your party, Roseabelle. Go ahead.”
Jessicana watched with bated breath as her friend twisted the key in the lock. The three friends then stepped carefully into a dimly lit chamber, entranced by the swirling colors on the walls.
CHAPTER 15
Ambushed
WHEN ROSEABELLE SAW THE COLORED STONES placed on separate, spotless-white, frayed cushions, she knew they had finally found the Stones. “I can’t believe it,” she muttered. The three Stones looked extremely different in size, shape, and color. The one on the left was a deep Caribbean blue, the one on the right was a bloodred ruby, and the one placed higher above the others was a pure-white diamond.
“They’re beautiful,” Jessicana whispered, and she walked over to the one on the left side. Astro moved toward the red, while Roseabelle stared at the white gem. It beckoned to her, and somehow Roseabelle knew this was meant to be hers.
She strode to the jewel and picked it up. Roseabelle pushed it onto her arm and gasped as the pain melted away. Trembling, Roseabelle took away the bandages and was amazed to see her arm looked normal. There was no dried blood, no scabs, not even a scar. “It can heal,” she whispered.
Jessicana was using her Stone to conjure up another copy of her ring, and Astro was using his Stone to cut his hair, because it had the ability to destroy or make something vanish. When his hair finally looked short and spiky again, he turned to Roseabelle. “Roseabelle, these could help us win the war against the Darvonians. They could change our future.”
“Yes, indeed,” came the cold voice that Roseabelle knew so well. She turned around and, sure enough, there was Sheklyth and a group of Darvonians, swords in hand. Jessicana quickly conjured up three swords and tossed one to each of her friends. Roseabelle caught it in the air without looking and faced Sheklyth.
“We have the Stones,” she hissed. “You’ve lost.”
Sheklyth smiled cruelly. “You don’t know how to use them.”
“Actually I think we have a pretty good idea,” Roseabelle reasoned.
To her surprise, Astro stepped forward. “Do your stormy horses have something to do with my lightning?”
Sheklyth let out a high mirthless laugh. “Why, of course. You’ve felt it, haven’t you? The horses are practically made of electricity and were spreading it across Benotripia. Your bolts were extremely strong because some of the electricity reached you, and you felt pain because you were so overloaded. “
“Astro, what is she talking about?” Jessicana asked.
“My lightning has been too strong, and every time I shoot it, I have overwhelming pains.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Roseabelle asked. She and Jessicana could have helped him more. She thought of all the times Astro had shot lightning to protect them. The thought made her sick.
Astro glared at Sheklyth. “Where are the horses?”
“Outside,” she replied vaguely. Roseabelle stepped forward and brandished her Stone.
“Leave, Sheklyth,” Roseabelle snarled. “We have the Stones. You’re no match for us. Astro could make you all disappear in a blink of an eye. If you hurt any of us, I can heal them. And Jessicana could create a whole army to defend us. Don’t m
ess with us.” Although Roseabelle said the words confidently, inside she felt apprehensive.
Sheklyth raised her sword. “How about this, Roseabelle? You and I duel together, and if you win, we’ll leave in peace. If I win, you have to hand over the Stones.”
Roseabelle studied her enemy’s face. Sheklyth seemed positive she would win. She had to be hiding something.
“I refuse,” Roseabelle told her flatly, and Sheklyth blinked.
“Wise of you,” Sheklyth commented. She held up an arrow dipped in green ooze. “I would’ve fought you with these. It contains the blood of the plant you just killed, actually. Your parrot friend knows it’s poisonous, don’t you?”
“You planted the Sephlotine Spikes. The Garaganta. The Broxlorthian. How did you import all those over here?”
“Simple. The Garaganta and the Broxlorthian have the shortest life spans in all of Benotripia. By the time a month has passed from the moment they were born, they are full size. They live for two more months and then die. We brought them here semi-grown, and by the time we planted them or let them loose, they were full sized. It would have been more simple to retrieve the Stones, but you had the ribbon this entire time. Besides, Horsh rigged the entrance so that Darvonians couldn’t use the ribbon to enter. We placed obstacles in your path so you would lose supplies and not be as prepared for the Chambers of Horsh.” Roseabelle blinked, then motioned for Astro to come forward.
“Unless you want to be destroyed,” Astro growled. “Move back.”
Sheklyth just smiled as if she knew a secret. “Go ahead. See what happens to you.”
Roseabelle and Astro glanced at each other, and they knew they were thinking the same thing: Is she lying just to stop us from vanquishing them? When they looked back at their nemesis, they realized they had just made a big mistake. Sheklyth had taken the opportunity to strike.
A poisonous arrow was shooting toward them, with more behind it. Astro pulled Roseabelle out of the way just in time. Jessicana quickly conjured herself a bow and a quiver of arrows dripping with a white liquid that Roseabelle couldn’t tell if it was poisonous. Roseabelle hid the Stone in her pocket and stepped forward, swinging her sword and blocking the arrows, even sending some flying back at Sheklyth.
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