From the cave’s shadows, a huge, broad-shouldered man charged toward them. He stood about eight feet tall and almost as round, with scraggily, bright red hair, and a full beard that streamed down his chest. His eyebrows were enormously overgrown. He smelled like he hadn’t showered—ever.
“Who dares bother Sherpa?” the giant boomed. He towered over Gabriel, eyeing him up and down. “A mere boy? Did you not read the sign, fool?” He looked toward the cave entrance at Piper and Cedric peeking in. As Piper took a step forward, the giant pounded his massive foot into the dirt, sending a shockwave through the ground.
“Take one more step and it shall be your last,” he warned.
“Stay back,” Gabriel yelled over his shoulder. “I’ll be okay.”
“What makes you so sure?” The giant poked his filthy finger into Gabriel’s chest, knocking him down as if he were a feather.
Gabriel stood again and squared his shoulders. I must be brain-dead. “I came for the Key-maker.”
“You’ve found me, but I do not make keys for children.” The giant snickered.
“I am Gabriel, sir, and the empress sent me.”
Boisterous laughter filled the cave until Gabriel had to cover his ears.
“What’s so funny?”
“You expect me to believe the empress has sent a boy—to me? You are even madder than I thought. Go away, out of my sight, before I lose my patience.” The giant walked back into the blackness of the cave.
“Please,” Gabriel yelled. “I’m telling the truth. I’ve been to Shataundra, and I saw the empress herself … and Prince Oliver. He was in a coma or something because of Duke Malgor. I need a key to help him … a key to the Tandem Wood.”
The giant turned, red-faced, toward Gabriel. “You will get your wish. But only if you pass my challenge. Let’s see how brave you are then.”
Gabriel trembled. “I’ll do whatever you say.” He followed him deeper into the cave, dry leaves crackling beneath their feet.
Sherpa stooped in the darkness, picked up a lantern, and lit it. They walked deeper into the recesses of the dismal cave, the lantern lighting their way. When they stopped, Gabriel saw three different paths: one to the left, another straight ahead, and a third to the right.
“The key to the Tandem Wood is at the end of the third path.” Sherpa pointed down the path to the right. “But in order to get it, you must retrieve a key from the end of the second path. That key will open the chest, wherein lies the key to the Tandem Wood.” He stroked his beard. “However, the key at the end of the second path requires a different key, found at the end of the first path. Are you brave enough to enter, Gabriel who is sent from the empress?” He laughed mockingly.
Gabriel nodded and moved toward the first path. As he entered the tunnel, his vision lit up the darkness to reveal a winding, narrow path. Cobwebs covered every surface, like weeds in an overgrown garden. They streamed across his face as he walked. He slid his hands along the rough edges of the cave.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. It’s like I ended up in one of those horror movies—but this one is real. His breaths came out raspy; the cramped quarters making him feel claustrophobic. He squeezed around a tiny bend in the path. Dark eyes stared up at him, and squeaking sounds echoed off the tunnel walls.
“Rats!” He shook his leg to shoo them away. At the end of the tunnel, there was nothing but a cave wall. He searched for the key among the rocky crevices without any luck, then banged on the wall in frustration. “Where’s the key?”
The cave wall shook. Gabriel squinted trying to figure out what had moved, but it stopped, and he still didn’t see a key. He pressed it again.
“Don’t touch me,” threatened a quivering voice.
Gabriel jerked his hand away. “Who’s there?”
The wall cracked, and a shadowy figure pried itself free. The scrawny creature was no more than three feet tall, its body transparent; the cave wall behind it provided its camouflage. It blinked big oval eyes and pointed one long, translucent finger at Gabriel.
“My name is Milliper. What do you want?” it squeaked.
“I’m looking for a key.”
“What will you give me for it?”
“Huh?” Gabriel patted his pockets. “I don’t have anything to give.”
“Then I cannot help you.” The creature turned and began climbing the wall.
“Wait!” Gabriel screamed, reaching out to try to stop it. “What do you want? I mean, I don’t have any money.”
“Money?” The creature laughed. “I don’t need that here. But food? That I can use.” Its oval eyes blinked again. “Have any?”
Food? That’s what it wants? Gabriel untied his backpack and rummaged through it for leftover snacks. At the bottom, he found some bread, and threw it to the see-through creature. Gabriel watched in disgust as bits of chewed up bread slid down its transparent throat, all the way into its stomach.
“Is that it, then?” Beads of sweat rolled down Gabriel’s forehead. “Can I have the key now?”
Slowly, the creature stepped back, and molded itself into the wall. As it disappeared, it chanted a rhyme:
“In the darkness of the blackest night,
One finds his way without a light.
Down a long and treacherous hall,
At its end, you reach a wall.
Moving, stretching, a few feet tall,
The one you feed’s the key to it all
Listen carefully, don’t stop now … whisper now its name aloud.
Whisper it now, say it proud.”
“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked. “You want me to say your name?”
The creature faded into the cave wall.
Gabriel banged his fist against the cave. The creature’s head popped out of the wall. Its jaw gaped, and its yellow teeth lengthened into enormous fangs. It hissed and thrust its head toward Gabriel, snapping its teeth. The fangs barely missed his throat. He stumbled back, screaming.
“My name!” The creature’s eyes bulged. Memories of watching The Exorcist came flooding back. It was his worst nightmare coming true. He drew in a shaky breath, and tried to recall its name. “Millicent?” he whispered, trembling.
The creature gnashed its teeth. A loud crack emanated from the wall.
“Um, Millifer?” he said through chattering teeth.
One translucent hand stretched out from the cave wall. The creature’s nails turned into talons. They swiped through the air toward Gabriel as the creature let out a sickening growl.
He jumped back another step. He squinted, trying to remember the creature’s name, when suddenly it came to him. “Milliper!” he cried triumphantly.
There was a long pause. Then, the creature vanished into the cave wall. Something thudded onto the ground. Gabriel kneeled next to the fallen object.
“That’s not a key! It’s just a stupid twig,” Gabriel hollered, about to break it in his hands. Then the twig started to hum, then vibrate. Seconds later it glowed, sending streams of fluorescent light down the narrow corridor.
“Sick!” He waved it around. As he made his way back through the cave, the rats scampered at the sight of the glowing twig-key. He pulled at the cobwebs as he went. When he reached the place where the path split three ways, he heaved a sigh of relief that Sherpa was gone.
Twisting, odd-looking vines filled the center path. Gathering his courage, he took a deep breath, and stepped into the tunnel. As he walked, the vines slithered around him like snakes. He focused straight ahead, trying to ignore them. They slid over his feet, above his head, and closed in on his neck.
Seriously? This has gotta be punishment for watching all of those horror movies.
His heart hammered. The snake vines around his ankles tripped him, and he scrambled back to his feet. Worse, the snake-vines made it hard to see, even for him. He held the twig-key right in front of him. Then he noticed something strange. It lit up the darkness, and wherever it shone, the snake-vines disappeared. The narrow cave passag
e and everything in it—even all the vines—transformed into decorative paintings and light sconces. He waved the twig-key around. Eventually, slow, gloomy music reverberated off the cave walls.
As he turned a corner, a ghost-like woman in a wheelchair, waited at the end of the cave. Her gaze caught his and she stood, floating toward him.
Gabriel’s blood turned to ice. He dropped the key. The light vanished. The ghost came closer, and Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut. Horror clawed at his stomach. He knew he needed to do something. He couldn’t just stand there and pretend it wasn’t happening. Swallowing hard, he pried one eye open at a time, biting the corner of his lip. The old woman had vanished, along with her chair, the decorative paintings, and the music, leaving the cave empty again.
Gabriel blew out a relieved breath, but his legs felt like lead. He wanted more than anything to quit. It was easy to tell himself that he’d tried his best. Shaking his head, he tried to recall why he was there. Find the key to the Tandem Wood, save Brent, save Ziggy, save Valta, get back home.
He snatched up the key with a growl—the key which had turned back into a twig. At his touch, it glowed again. He braced himself for the worst, and gathered the courage to continue. Around the next bend, Gabriel once again found himself in a colorful room, with music playing from an old gramophone. Then, in the middle of the room, the wheelchair rematerialized. Gabriel froze. The key dug into the flesh of his palm as the ghost floated toward him. Her long, white gown flowed behind her. The fine hair on the back of his neck prickled, and his heart thundered.
The ghost spoke in a soft, crackly voice. “My fantasta. You found it!”
Gabriel pulled the glowing key toward his chest. “Is this your fantasta?” he asked in a shaky voice.
“Yes. I keep losing it. Thank you for finding it.” She reached to take it.
“Wait,” Gabriel said, stepping back. “I need a key for the next path … to open the chest. Can you help me?”
“Why would I do that?” The ghost floated above him. “The Tandem Wood is no place for children. No one ever comes back.”
Gabriel gripped the key tighter. “I’ll give you your fantasta if you give me what I need.”
The ghost nodded and slid through the floor of the cave. She returned with a large, brass skeleton key, old and worn. Gabriel took it and handed her the fantasta. She spun through the air, until she and the luminescent key appeared as one big ball of light, bouncing off every surface in the cave. She laughed a shrill, cackling sound.
“Give me back that key,” she screamed.
“What?!” Gabriel didn’t wait for the crazy ghost to answer. He twisted around and bolted away.
The ghost chased him, knocking him against the wall of the cave. Gabriel braced himself against the wall; the ghost’s face an inch in front of his. Her hair, sparse and scraggily, hung around her wrinkled face. His skin tingled with a fresh wave of goose bumps, every inch of his body raw with fear.
“I gave you your freaking fantasta. Leave me alone!”
“Oh, but now I want the other key back—and you to stay,” she hissed, swooping down and grabbing Gabriel’s foot. He fell with a thud and dug his fingers into the dirt, muck caking under his fingernails, dust filling his mouth. He clawed his way toward the exit of the second cave. Her icy hand wrapped around his ankle. With a yelp, he kicked back at the air … at the ghostly hand that gripped him. Finally, he wiggled free and sprinted away as she screamed after him.
When he reached his starting point, he collapsed onto his knees, panting for air. The ghost stayed in her cave, but her cackling laughter echoed around him. He yanked up his pant leg, rubbing the spot where the ghost had left an icy chill on his skin, and her fingers had left red imprints.
This can’t be happening. Ghosts—evil creatures—what next? Freddy Krueger?
Gabriel shoved his pant leg down, stood, and shook his body in a quick, spastic motion. Then he faced the third, and final, cave. A shiver shot down his spine as he stood in the dark, remembering the Nightmare on Elm Street movie with Freddy that had made him afraid to sleep for weeks. He hadn’t been able to admit to Piper and Brent how scared he’d been. Not with Piper laughing through the whole movie. He stumbled forward, throat dry, and took slow, deep breaths. Calm down.
The narrow and claustrophobic path reeked of sewage. Gabriel gagged. Up ahead, he was sure he could hear water. He came to another narrow path, but this time he could barely manage to squeeze through, even holding his breath. His face scraped against the rough edges of the rock face.
Slugs and beetles dropped from above, crawling all over him, their legs making him itch. When he came to an opening, he shook like a wet dog, flicking them off. “Gross.” Gabriel winced as clicking sounds, like crickets, resonated in his ears. He looked up.
No … that’s not crickets.
Scorpions trickled down the walls by the hundreds. Sweat slid down his face. Everything in him screamed to run back the way he’d come. But then he saw the chest at the back of the cave wall—a gold chest about two feet tall and one foot wide. It gleamed like a beacon. He tiptoed toward it, desperately avoiding the scorpions.
Several scorpions crawled around the chest by the time he reached it, and Gabriel imagined being stung at any second—poisoned, and left for dead. He shook his head, clamped down on his molars, and placed the key in the lock, turning it. It whirred, as if something spun around inside, then click—the lock popped open. “Yes!” Gabriel said, pumping a fist into the air. Inside the trunk were two things: a round disc with red and yellow lights flickering around its edges, and a note.
A note. Weird. He grabbed the paper, unfolded it, and quickly read it.
This is the key to the Tandem Wood. If used, be prepared to never return. This key will open a temporary passageway. You do not need it to exit, as only entry is monitored. Be forewarned: exit is exceedingly unlikely.
As he read the last word, the paper ignited. Gabriel jerked back with a yelp, dropping the paper. It landed on the ground, hitting several scorpions, which squealed before bursting into flames.
Gabriel reached into the chest for the disc.
A scorpion lifted its stinger, about to pierce Gabriel’s foot, igniting fresh panic in his veins. His fingers touched the disc.
A loud sizzling sound filled the room. Gabriel shook unnaturally, something sucking him upward until only his toes touched the cave floor. He gripped the disk tighter. “Help!” he yelled, his voice coming out choppy through the reverberations. Seconds later, he magically transported back outside. He landed in a heap on the ground beside his friends.
Piper helped him up. “Are you okay? What happened in there?”
Gabriel glanced back at the cave, then at the colorful disc in his hands. “I got the key. Hey, I got the key!” He waved it in the air, hardly believing it himself. Then, he lowered it and frowned. “Any sign of Brent?”
“Nope,” Cedric replied, “and I’m bored out of my mind. Can we get going?”
“Wow, Morley, you’re really an idiot.” Gabriel shot him an angry glare. “I wish I had the luxury of being bored.”
“That’s the key?” Piper pointed to the disc, raising her eyebrows and shoving past Cedric.
Gabriel wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Yeah, and believe me, it wasn’t easy to get.”
Piper leaned in to take a closer look. “It doesn’t look like any kind of key I’ve ever seen before.”
“Nope,” Gabe answered. “But then again, it’s not unlocking an ordinary door.” He held it up to the sunlight and examined it, wondering how it worked. “We should go, before that giant comes back … ”
Gabriel passed the map to Piper, figuring he needed to concentrate on the safety of the Divinity and the key to the Tandem Wood.
Piper frowned, her face looking strained. He knew exactly how she felt. Carrying on without Brent felt sickening. First Ziggy, now Brent. They were dropping faster than Cedric could screw up a whole school—crazy fast. They headed on through
the forest. Gabriel lifted a low-hanging branch, allowing Piper to pass under it. “We’re gonna be okay, Piper,” Gabriel said, not knowing who he was trying to convince more—her, or himself.
Cedric skulked silently behind them. They continued through the valley, which led up a steady incline. The further they walked, they more they moved out of the valley and into a lush forest filled with enormous trees towering over them. The thicker the forest became, the sadder Gabriel felt. From the way Piper and Cedric shuffled their feet and hung their heads, Gabriel figured they must feel the same way. Pine needles littered the ground, crunching under their feet, and fine wisps of fog slithered by, stealthy as snakes. The damp forest floor filled Gabriel’s nose with pine and something musty. The caws of crows perched in the crowded trees above them echoed hauntingly, and beady eyes peered down at them.
“We’ve gotta be almost there.” Piper eyed the map, an edge creeping into her voice.
Gabriel banged into something and fell onto the ground with a thud. “Ow, what was that?” he asked, rubbing his head. When he looked up, he saw … nothing. He stood, shrugged, and walked in the same direction, but this time with his hands straight in front of him. He moved slowly, shifting his arms from side to side, and his hands hit an invisible wall. Even his awesome vision couldn’t make it out.
“This must be it!” Gabriel yelled. “The border of the Tandem Wood—the unseen barrier. It feels so … cold.”
The others rushed up beside him, running their hands along it.
Cedric pounded his fists on it. “It’s like a block of invisible ice.”
Piper slid her hand along the cool surface. “This is so weird.”
“Well, we just happen to have the key.” Gabriel’s heart hammered with anticipation as he lifted the disc. “Here goes nothing.”
Gabriel wasn’t sure what he should do with the disc key, but as he held it up in the air, the key shone and spun in mesmerizing circles. Gusts of wind swirled, surrounding them with leaves and debris. Gabriel held his other hand against the icy border, waiting.
“It’s not working,” he yelled over the thunderous wind.
“Try pressing it directly against the wall,” Piper called back.
Gabriel Stone and the Divinity of Valta Page 11
