by Bill Myers
Zach tried to open his door but couldn’t. His mind raced, remembering something he’d heard — how if a car goes under water, the outside pressure keeps the doors shut.
“Roll down your windows!” he yelled.
“That’s crazy!” Piper shouted. “We don’t want to let in more water!
“He’s right!” Dad shouted. “Do it!”
Elijah obeyed. He reached past Piper and cranked down the window as fast as he could. That’s when the horror hit Zach. His mother, father, and sister were all handcuffed! They’d never be able to swim out! He’d have to save them all.
The river rose to their laps and continued filling the car.
Zach reached into the water, found the seat belt and unbuckled himself. He bent and squirmed until his head and shoulders were out the window, then he pulled himself the rest of the way.
“Zach!” Dad shouted. He turned to see his father struggling to open his own window. “Grab Piper!”
Zach nodded, panting heavily, and swam back to Piper’s side. The water was up to her chest now. She’d managed to get her head through the window and was pushing against the seat with her legs, but with her hands cuffed behind her back, she could go no further.
“Zach, help me!” she cried, her eyes full of panic.
He grabbed her shoulders and pulled. She yelped as her stomach scraped across the window until she was finally out. But there was still no way to swim with her hands cuffed.
He wrapped his arm around her waist. Together they kicked and swam against the icy current. More than once they went under, but they kept fighting back up, choking and coughing until, at last, Zach’s feet hit the river bottom. Then Piper’s. They sloshed and stumbled toward the bank until they arrived and collapsed onto the muddy shore.
But where were the others?
Zach spun around to look. The Jeep had sunk almost to its roof. Without thinking, he dove back into the river and swam toward it.
Gasping for air, he finally arrived. Elijah was helping Mom out. Dad had managed to open his window, but he was too big to make it through the opening and the door was jammed!
Zach took a gulp of air and dove under water to reenter the Jeep through his side. His father’s face was up against the ceiling, gulping breaths from the shrinking pocket of air. Zach tucked in his legs and spun around until his feet landed against Dad’s door. He kicked it once, twice, three times before it finally gave way and opened.
With lungs burning for air, he pushed out through his window and resurfaced, taking in deep, gulping breaths. He turned and spotted Dad outside the car frantically kicking his feet to stay above the water.
“HANG ON!” he shouted. He swam around the car and grabbed the back of Dad’s shirt. Together, they kicked and swam toward shore, where they finally arrived, exhausted.
“Elijah!” Mom cried.
They turned to see Mom had also arrived — obviously with the help of Elijah. But the little guy was nowhere to be found.
“The current!” she cried. “It carried him away!” She staggered to her feet, searching. “He was here and then … Elijah!”
Zach rose to his knees, also looking, also shouting. “ELIJAH! ELIJAH!”
And then he spotted him. On the other side. The outline of a man was reaching down and pulling him out of the water.
Joy filled Zach. They’d made it! Despite the crash, despite everyone nearly losing their life, they were all safe and sound!
Well, not quite.
Because Dad had also spotted Elijah. And instead of shouting or cheering, he gasped a single word — a name that chilled Zach even more than the icy water.
“Shadow Man …”
Chapter Seven
Going Down
Mom, Dad, Zach, and Piper stood on the beach, dripping and panting, staring in disbelief at the far shore.
Should they try to find a town and tell the police? Or should they head back to Shadow Man’s headquarters and rescue Elijah?
Not that it made any difference. They were so lost they didn’t know which direction to go anyway … until they heard a very familiar voice screaming overhead:
“WATCH OUT!”
Actually, two very familiar voices …
“YOU WATCH OUT!”
“I THOUGHT YOU KNEW HOW TO STEER THESE THINGS!”
Piper peered up into the night just in time to see two bodies …
“AAAAAUGH!”
“WHOAAAAA!”
… drop from the sky and …
Ker-SPLASH!
Ker-SPLUNK!
… fall into the river in front of them.
Willard and Cody surfaced, coughing and sputtering as they made their way toward the riverbank.
“Don’t worry , he says,” Cody was shaking his head. “Trust me, he says, I’ll find them, he says.”
“Well I did, didn’t I?” Willard argued.
“And nearly got us killed!”
“Honestly,” Willard pushed the dripping hair out of his eyes, “sometimes you can be so picky.”
Piper smiled in spite of herself. Even though everything had gone wrong, it was good to see them. Especially Cody. It wasn’t that she liked him or anything. She just liked being around him … even if his presence did make her a thousand times more klutzy.
“Are you two all right?” Dad asked.
“Couldn’t be better,” Willard answered. “Just great.”
To which Cody, digging water out of his ear, replied, “This is obviously a new definition of great.” He spotted Piper and gave her a little nod. She nodded back, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe.
Zach motioned to the sky. “Did you see any towns from up there?”
Willard shook his head. “Not for at least fifty miles.”
“Well,” Dad sighed. “I guess that rules out the police.”
“What about a fortress?” Mom asked. “Big and long, made out of rock — almost like a castle.”
“Yeah,” Cody said, “we saw that.”
Willard agreed. “I estimate some twenty miles back down that winding road.”
“Or,” Cody motioned behind them, “a couple miles straight through those woods.”
Piper and her family traded looks. They had their answer.
“What about those handcuffs?” Willard said.
“Any suggestions?” Dad asked.
Willard dug into his pants. “Perhaps this combination picklock/bottle opener I always carry will be of some assistance.”
Again Piper and her family traded looks. Willard could be a pain, but sometimes, like now, the pain was definitely worth it.
Ninety long minutes later they were crouched down in the woods, just outside Shadow Man’s headquarters.
“There’s nobody here,” Zach said.
And he was right. As far as Piper could tell there were no lights, no movement, no nothing. She blew the hair out of her eyes in frustration. They’d just waded through dark and spooky woods with only Willard’s and Cody’s flashlights. They just risked being eaten by bears or who knew what, received a gazillion mosquito bites, and been scratched by every branch and rock in their path only to discover that nobody was home.
“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Dad said. “It’s a big place. Maybe they’ve got him hidden somewhere.”
“So are we going in to find him?” Zach asked.
Dad hesitated a moment, then nodded. “You and I will sneak in.” He turned to the others. “The rest of you stay here where it’s safe. If we find anybody, we’ll — ”
Mom interrupted, “No, I don’t think so.”
He came to a stop. “What’s that?”
Mom thrust out her chin the way she always did when she got stubborn. “If you’re going in, I’m going with you.”
“Judy,” Dad said, “you know how dangerous it is. You know what Shadow Man can — ”
“He’s my baby!” she blurted out. Then, recovering, she took a breath and repeated, “If you’re going in, I’m going in. I’m not stayin
g here without you — not when my Elijah is in there.”
“Me too,” Piper said as she stepped forward.
“And you may count us in,” Willard added.
Dad shook his head. “No. Absolutely not. It’s too — ”
“Dad …” Piper interrupted, “he’s my brother.”
“And our friend,” Cody added. “We didn’t come all this way just to stand around and be afraid.”
For a long moment, Dad stood looking at the group. It was obvious he was outnumbered and no one would change their mind. He heaved a heavy sigh, “All right, then.”
Piper’s heart pounded. She was excited and terrified at the same time.
“Where do we start?” Zach asked.
“Your mother and I escaped from that door over there.” Dad pointed to the far end of the building. “With any luck it’s still unlocked.”
“What about surveillance cameras?” Willard asked.
“That’s a chance we’ll have to take. Just stay low … and hope for the best.”
Everybody nodded.
“All right, then,” Dad said. “I’ll go first. If the coast is clear I’ll signal you. Any questions?”
There were none.
“Okay, then.” He crouched low, took a breath, and started off.
Once he arrived, he pressed flat against the wall and pushed open the door to look inside. A moment later he turned back to the group and motioned them to follow.
Zach took off, followed by Mom, Cody, and Willard. Piper brought up the rear — not because she was scared, but because it was hard to run crouched over, especially when she was busy praying for her life.
Dad held the door as they entered. It was a cold, stone hallway, much like a castle. Up ahead, the hallway split into a T, and a dozen yards beyond that it split again.
“We’ll break up into groups of two,” Dad whispered. “Check every room. And be careful!”
They agreed and, for the briefest second, Piper wasn’t sure who to go with until …
“Hey, Piper.”
She turned to see Cody.
“You’re with me, okay?”
If her heart was pounding before, it was doing cartwheels now. Not only cartwheels, but jumping jacks, back flips, and … well, you get the picture. Fortunately she was able to swallow back most of the emotion and come up with a squeaky little, “Sure.”
Cody grabbed her hand and they took the hallway to the left. Ten feet ahead was the first door. When they arrived, Cody tested the knob. He turned it and pushed it open.
Looking inside, Piper shivered. It was dark and completely empty, except for the squeaking of mice scurrying out of sight.
Cody turned on his flashlight and took a step inside. “I wonder what this place used to be.”
Piper followed, inching her way into the room. To the right of the doorway, she noticed a switch. But instead of a normal up and down switch, this one was round. Curious, she gave it a little twist.
“AUGH!” Cody yelled as the floor tilted.
Piper leaped back into the hallway, but the floor tipped so quickly that Cody, who was further inside, didn’t have a chance. He lost his balance and fell, clawing at the wood floor as he slipped toward the far wall and the darkness appearing below it.
“Cody!”
The floor continued tilting, growing steeper and steeper.
“Hang on!” she cried. She dropped to her hands and knees. Careful to stay in the hallway, she reached as far as she could into the room. “Take my hand!”
He reached out, but they just missed.
Piper stretched further, clinging to the door post with one hand as she leaned into the tilting room.
Cody dug in, half-scrambling, half-leaping, until their hands touched. Piper grabbed hold and held on tightly as he pulled himself up the floor and finally into the hallway where he collapsed.
“Are you okay?” she gasped.
“Yeah,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “Thanks.”
“Look!” she pointed.
By now the floor was completely vertical, straight up and down … and still it turned.
They watched in amazement as the flipside of the floor appeared … complete with a stainless steel desk, black leather chair, and a six-foot floor lamp. In front of it rested a black leather sofa. Piper guessed the furniture had been screwed into the floor to keep it from falling when it was upside down. But, strangest of all, in the center of the room, was a weird glass chamber shaped like the bud of a flower — big enough for somebody to stand inside.
Dad called out from down the hall, “Are you guys all right?”
Piper turned to see Mom and Dad running to them. Zach and Willard were right behind. They’d obviously heard her cries.
“Yeah,” she said, “we’re okay.”
Suddenly Mom came to a stop and gasped. Dad reached out to steady her.
“What?” Piper asked.
“It’s where we were interrogated,” Dad said. He stepped around the kids and with a breath for courage, entered the room. “It’s Shadow Man’s office.”
Never one to be afraid (or think before he leapt) Zach followed Dad inside. He spotted the round switch and reached for it. “Hm, I wonder what this — ”
“Zach!” Piper shouted.
But she was too late. He turned it, and once again the floor tilted … the other way!
Now it was Dad’s turn to shout, “AUGH!”
“Turn it back!” Piper yelled, “Turn the switch the other way!”
But Zach was too busy leaping out of the room to hear.
Piper reached past him. Keeping her feet in the hall, she stretched around the wall to the switch and cranked it hard in the opposite direction.
A good idea … except she turned it too far and the floor reversed direction … throwing Dad in the air like a pancake.
“AAAUGH!!”
The floor kept turning, and by the time he landed, it was so steep he slid into the desk.
“AAAAAUUGHH!”
He clutched the desk legs for all he was worth as the floor finished flipping, and he completely disappeared.
“Dad!” Zach yelled.
“What happened?!” Mom cried. “What did you do with your father?!”
Piper fumbled with the switch, turning it back the opposite direction until, once again, the floor flipped to reveal the high-tech office … and Dad, hanging onto the desk.
He looked over to Piper as he tried catching his breath. He did his best not to yell, but she could tell he was pretty upset: “DON’T YOU EVER … (pant, pant) … TOUCH THAT … (gasp, gasp) … SWITCH AGAIN!”
Piper nodded hard, making it clear she understood.
“Quite fascinating,” Willard said. He stuck his head inside the office and spotted another button on the opposite side of the door. “However, I wonder what this one — ”
“Don’t!” Piper cried. But she was too late.
“ — does.”
Dad braced himself for another ride, but absolutely nothing happened … well, except for the panel on the wall behind the desk suddenly sliding open.
“Cool,” Zach said as he reentered the room and strolled toward it. “I wonder where it goes.”
Dad rose to his feet and joined him.
“Be careful, you two,” Mom called.
They moved closer.
With rising curiosity, Willard and Cody took a tentative step into the office. So did Piper.
“What do you see?” Mom called to Dad.
“It looks like some sort of elevator.” Dad stepped into it.
Zach joined him.
“An elevator?” Mom asked. Against her better judgment, she also stepped into the office.
“Hey,” Zach said, reaching for a switch inside the elevator. “Here’s another one of those round —“DON’T — ”
“ — knobs.” He gave it a twist. Once again the floor tilted toward the elevator, giving everyone a chance to…
“AUUGHHH!”
… as they tumbled, bounced, and rolled their way toward the open elevator.
One after another they landed inside…
