The Secret Path

by Christopher Pike

  “Could we find some treasure?” Adam asked, getting more excited. Bum stared him right in the eye.

  “You might find wealth beyond your imagination,” Bum said.

  Sally brightened. “I could use a few bucks.”

  Bum threw his head back and laughed. “You three are a team, I see that already. All right, I’ll tell you the secret. After you promise to keep it secret.”

  “We promise,” they said together.

  “Good.” Bum asked them to come close again, and he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Follow the life of the witch. Follow her all the way to her death, and remember, when they brought her to her grave, they carried her upside-down. They buried her facedown, as they do all witches. All those they are afraid to burn.”

  Adam was confused. “What does that mean?” he asked.

  Bum would tell them no more. He shook his head and returned to feeding the birds.

  “It’s a riddle,” he said. “You figure it out.”

  6

  Well, that’s just great,” Sally said a few minutes later as they walked back up the hill in the direction of Adam’s house. “He gets us all excited about hearing the big secret, and then he just tells us a stupid riddle.”

  “You were excited?” Adam asked. “I thought you didn’t want to find the Secret Path.”

  “I’m human,” Sally said. “I can change my mind.” She glanced over at Watch, who had been silent since Bum sent them on their way. “Aren’t you disappointed?”

  “Not yet,” Watch said.

  Sally stopped him. “You’re not trying to figure out the riddle, are you?”

  Watch shrugged. “Of course,”

  “But it’s meaningless,” Sally said. “How can we follow the life of the witch who founded this town? She’s been dead almost two hundred years. And what does it mean anyway? A life isn’t a line on the ground. You can’t follow it as you would a path.”

  “That part of the riddle is easy,” Watch said. He glanced at Adam. “Have you figured it out?”

  Adam had been struggling with the riddle since Bum had told them. But he had been hesitant to say anything because he feared he might make a fool of himself. Watch was obviously the most intelligent one in the group. He spoke quietly as he answered Watch’s question.

  “I was thinking to follow her life meant to follow where she went during her life,” Adam said.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Sally said.

  “It’s probably true,” Watch said. “It’s the only explanation. What puzzles me is what’s so special about each place she went.”

  “Maybe the places aren’t so important as the order they’re in,” Adam said. “Maybe the Secret Path is right in front of us, like the numbers on a combination lock. But you have to turn the numbers in the exact right way. And only then will the lock open.”

  Sally stared at them, dumbfounded. “I can’t believe you guys. You both think you’re Sherlock Holmes. Bum’s just taking you for a ride. He only wants you to bring him another sandwich, and then he’ll tell you another stupid riddle. He’ll keep going until you’ve fed him the entire summer,”

  Watch ignored her. “I think you’re right, Adam,” he said, impressed. “The path must be right in front of us. It’s the sequence that’s important—where you go first, second, third. Let’s try to figure out the first place. Where was Madeline Templeton born?”

  “I don’t know,” Adam said. “I never heard of the woman until this morning.”

  Watch turned to Sally. “Do you know where she was born?”

  Sally continued to pout. “I think this is stupid.” She paused. “At the beach.”

  “How do you know?” Watch asked, surprised.

  “There’s the old story about how Madeline Templeton was brought to earth by a flock of sea gulls on a dark and stormy night,” Sally explained. “In fact, she was supposed to have come out of the sky exactly where we just were with Bum.” Sally made a face. “If you can believe that.”

  “You believe everything else,” Adam said.

  “I draw the line at supernatural births,” Sally replied.

  “The story may have a germ of truth in it,” Watch said. “As long as the location of her birth is correct, it doesn’t matter if birds, or her mother, brought her into the world. And if the location is accurate, we don’t have to search for the first place on the Secret Path—we’ve already been there.” He considered for a moment. “It makes sense to me. Bum insisted on telling me the riddle at that exact spot. Maybe he knew we would have trouble finding the first location.”

  “Where did she go next?” Adam asked. “How can we know?”

  “We may not have to know every detail of what she did,” Watch said. “We can just follow the general direction of her life. There are so many stories about Madeline Templeton that this won’t be as hard as it sounds. For example, I know that when she was five she was supposed to have wandered into the Derby Tree and made all the leaves turn red.”

  “How could a kid get inside a tree?” Adam asked.

  “She was no ordinary kid,” Sally explained. “And it’s no ordinary tree. It’s still alive, up on Derby Street, an old oak with branches hanging like clawed hands. Its leaves are always red, year-round. They look like they were dipped in blood. And there’s a large hole in it. You can actually slide inside and sit down, one person at a time. But if you do, your brains get scrambled.”

  “I’ve been in it,” Watch said. “My brain didn’t get scrambled.”

  “Are you sure?” Sally asked.

  “After that what did she do?” Adam asked.

  Watch started walking back up the hill. “Let’s talk about that on the way to the tree. I think I have an idea.”

  7

  The tree was as weird as Sally had described. Standing alone in the center of a vacant lot, it looked as if it had witnessed many bloody battles and been splattered in the process. The branches hung low to the ground, ready to swoop up any kid who ran by. Adam spotted the large hole in the side. It looked like a hungry maw. The edges were rough—sharp teeth waiting to bite down and come together.

  “I know a kid who went in there and came out speaking in tongues,” Sally said. “Snake tongues.”

  “It’s just a tree that’s been cursed,” Watch said. “I’ll go in first to show you there’s no danger.”

  “How can we believe you when you come out?” Sally asked. “You might not even be human.”

  “Oh brother,” Adam said, although he was glad Watch was going first. There was something pretty scary about a tree with blood-red leaves at the beginning of summer.

  Together, Sally and Adam watched as Watch walked over to the tree and climbed inside the hole. A minute went by and Watch didn’t reappear.

  “What’s taking him so long?” Adam wondered aloud.

  “The tree is probably digesting him,” Sally said.

  “How did it get the name the Derby Tree?” Adam asked.

  “Old man Derby tried to chop it down once,” Sally explained. “I was only five years old at the time, but I remember the day. He blamed the tree for the disappearance of one of his kids. He had like ten of them, so he could stand to lose one. Anyway, he came here one morning with a huge ax and took a swing at the tree. He missed and accidentally cut off one of his legs. You’ll see Derby walking around town on a wooden leg. All the kids call him Mr. Stilts. He’d be the first to tell you that tree is evil.”

  “I just wish Watch would get back out here,” Adam said. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, “Watch!”

  Watch didn’t answer. Another five minutes went by. Adam was on the verge of running for help when their friend finally poked his head out. He squeezed through the hole with difficulty. It was as if the opening had shrunk since he’d been inside. He walked over to them like nothing had happened.

  “Why were you inside so long?” Sally demanded.

  “What are you talking about?” Watch asked, checking one of his many watches.
“I just went inside for a second.”

  “You were in there at least an hour,” Sally said.

  “It was closer to ten minutes,” Adam corrected.

  Watch scratched his thinning blond hair. “That’s weird—it didn’t feel that long.”

  “Didn’t you hear us calling for you?” Sally asked.

  “No,” Watch said. “Inside the tree you can’t hear a thing.” He paused. “Who wants to go next?”

  “I will,” Adam said, anxious to get it over.

  “Wait a second,” Sally said to Watch. “How do we know you haven’t been altered in some way?”

  “I’m fine,” Watch said.

  “You wouldn’t know if you’re fine if you’ve been changed,” Sally said. “You’d be the last person to know. Let me ask you a couple of questions just to be sure your brain hasn’t been operated on. Who’s the most beautiful girl in Spooksville?”

  “You are,” Watch said.

  “And who’s the best poet in Spooksville?” Sally asked.

  “You are,” Watch said.

  “You write poetry?” Adam asked her.

  “Yes, and they’re awful poems,” Sally said. “I think he’s been altered.”

  “If I have, it happened a long time ago,” Watch said. “Give it a try, Adam. I want to move on to the next spot.”

  “All right,” Adam said, feeling far from excited about the prospect. He walked slowly toward the tree. As he did a breeze stirred the red leaves, making it look as if they were excited about his coming close. Adam’s heart thumped in his chest. Obviously time moved at a different pace inside the tree. Maybe when he emerged Sally and Watch would be old, like his parents. Maybe he wouldn’t get out, but become a part of the tree, a sad face cut into its thick bark.

  The hole definitely seemed smaller than it had ten minutes earlier, maybe half the size it had been. Adam realized he had to get in and out quickly. Still, he hesitated. A strange odor spilled out from the interior of the tree. It could have been the smell of blood. Plus, as he stood under the tree, he couldn’t help noticing how far away his friends appeared to be. They were where he’d left them, but they could have been a mile away. He waved to them and it was several seconds before they waved back. Weird.

  “I have to do it,” Adam whispered to himself. “If I don’t, Sally will know Tm a coward.”

  Summoning his courage, Adam ducked his head and squirmed through the hole into the tree. He was able to get his whole body inside, and turn around, although he had to keep his head down. Standing hunched over, he peered through the hole and was surprised to see that everything outside had lost its color. It was as if he were looking at a black-and-white film. Also, as Watch had said, the interior of the tree was completely silent. All Adam could hear was his panting and the pounding of his heart. It seemed to him that the tree was also listening to his heart, wondering how much blood it pumped a day. How much blood the reckless boy had to feed its hungry branches . . .

  “I got to get out of here,” Adam said to himself. He tried to squeeze back out. Now there was no doubt, the entrance had shrunk. Adam got halfway through and then felt his midsection catch. Sucking in a strangled breath, he tried to let out a scream, but failed. The bark had him in a viselike grip! And the way it was closing on him, he would be cut in half!

  “Help!” he managed to get out. Sally and Watch were at his side in a moment. Watch yanked at his arms. Sally pulled at his hair. But he stayed stuck. The pain in his sides was incredible—he felt like his guts were about to explode. “Oh,” he moaned.

  Sally was near hysterics as she pulled his hair out by the roots. “Do something, Watch!” she screamed. “It’s eating his legs.”

  “It’s not eating my legs,” Adam complained. “It’s breaking me in two.”

  “A dying man shouldn’t quibble,” Sally said. “Watch!”

  “I know what to do,” Watch said, letting go of Adam’s arms. He ran over to a drooping branch and pulled out a Bic lighter. As Adam struggled to draw in a breath, Watch flicked the Bic and held the flame under a particularly big and ugly branch. The tree reacted as if it had been stung. The branch snapped back, the leaves almost slapping Watch. At that exact moment Adam felt the grip on him lessen.

  “Pull me now!” he shouted to the others.

  Watch returned to Adam’s side and, with Sally’s help, yanked Adam free. Adam landed face first on the rough ground and scratched his cheeks. But the slight injury was overshadowed by his immense relief. He drew in a deep, shuddering breath and tried to crawl farther away from the tree. Sally and Watch helped him to his feet. Behind them, Adam noticed that the hole had all but vanished.

  “You can see why old man Derby wanted to chop it down,” Sally panted.

  “Yeah,” Adam gasped, gently probing his sides for broken ribs. He seemed to be in one piece, although he knew he’d be sore the next day. If he lived that long. Suddenly he had lost all enthusiasm for finding the rest of the Secret Path. “There’s no way you’re going in there,” he told Sally.

  “I don’t know if climbing inside the tree is a requirement,” Watch said. “It’s probably good enough that we came here.”

  “Now you tell me,” Adam said.

  “Let’s quit while we’re ahead,” Sally said. “This path is too dangerous.”

  “Let’s go a little farther,” Watch said. “I know what’s next. It can’t be that dangerous.” He paused to look back at the tree. “I hope.”

  8

  There were other interesting stories surrounding Madeline Templeton. Watch related several of them while they hiked toward their next destination. When she was sixteen, she was supposed to have climbed up to one of the largest of the caves that overlooked Spooksville and wrestled a huge mountain lion.

  “She supposedly killed the lion with her nails,” Watch said. “She wore them long.”

  “I heard the tips of them were poisonous,” Sally added.

  “Are we going to this cave next?” Adam asked unenthusiastically. He was scared of entering any more places that could abruptly close him up inside.

  “Yes,” Watch said. “I’ve been there before and had no problems.”

  “You were inside the tree before, too, and had no problems,” Sally reminded him.

  “We’ll go in together,” Watch said. “We should be safe.”

  “Sounds like a plan for disaster,” Sally remarked. “But assuming we survive the cave, have you figured out the rest of the path? I don’t want to waste all my time and energy hiking in circles around this town I hate.”

  Watch nodded. “I think I’ve remembered the highlights of her life. We hit the cave next, then head for the chapel.”

  “Why the chapel?” Sally asked. “I don’t think it existed when Madeline was alive.”

  “It didn’t,” Watch said. “But she got married on the spot where the chapel was later built. She was twenty-eight years old then, and that would be the next big event in her life that we know about. After the chapel, I think we have to visit the reservoir.”

  “What happened at the reservoir?” Adam asked.

  “That’s where she drowned her husband,” Sally said.

  “That’s what the stories say,” Watch added. “People say she tied his legs down with heavy stones and pushed him screaming off a boat that was floating in the center of the reservoir.”

  “Why?” Adam asked.

  “She thought he was chasing another woman,” Sally said. “Turned out she was wrong. But she didn’t find out until after she buried the other woman alive.”

  “Wonderful,” Adam said.

  “After the reservoir, we go back to the beach,” Watch said. “That’s where the townsfolk tried to burn her alive for being a witch—the first time.”

  “What do you mean they tried to burn her?” Adam asked.

  “The wood they stacked up around her refused to catch fire,” Sally said. “And snakes crawled out of it and killed the judge who condemned her to death. You remember that sto
ry the next time you get the urge to visit her great-great-great-great-granddaughter, Ann Templeton.”

  “After the beach, we go to the cemetery,” Watch said.

  Sally stopped him in midstride. “There’s no way we’re going there. Even you know that’s a stupid idea. Dead people live there. Live people die there.”

  “She was buried in the cemetery,” Watch said. “To reach the end of the Secret Path, we must follow her life to the end. Bum made that clear.”

  “Bum was anything but clear,” Sally said.

  “Let’s worry about the cemetery when we get that far,” Watch said.

  “Yeah,” Sally said sarcastically. “We might be ready for the cemetery by then. We might be dead.”

  They hiked up to one of the largest caves that overlooked Spooksville. Adam was breathing hard by the time they reached it, and was getting hungry. From the outside the cave didn’t appear threatening. The opening was wide; none of them would have to squeeze inside. But the moment they stepped inside, Adam felt the temperature drop at least ten degrees. He asked Watch about it.

  “Underground streams flow beneath these caves,” Watch said. “The water in them is freezing. If you listen closely you can hear the splashing.”

  Adam stopped and listened. Not only did he hear a faint splashing sound, but an even fainter moaning sound. “What’s that?” he asked the others.

  “Ghosts,” Sally said.

  “There are no ghosts,” Adam said indignantly.

  “Listen to Mr. Realist,” Sally mocked. “He doesn’t believe in ghosts even though a tree almost ate him an hour ago.” She turned to Watch. “We’ve done our duty—we came here. We don’t have to stay. Let’s go.”

  Watch agreed. They left the cave without being attacked and hiked toward the chapel. Sally wanted to visit the reservoir first, since it was along the way. But Watch insisted they stick to the correct sequence.

  The chapel turned out to be the least scary place, although the church bell began to ring as they walked up, and didn’t stop until they walked away. Sally thought the bell was trying to warn them to turn back.