The Demon Conspiracy

by R. L. Gemmill

  ***

  The cave opening was half the size of a normal doorway and made of smooth, gray rock. A path of loose dirt led into the cave, where a jagged, curved ceiling gave it a yawning, toothy look.

  Anton stopped at the edge of the darkness. “Follow me.” The way he said it was kind of eerie and when he stepped into the cave he was completely swallowed up by gloom. I couldn’t see him at all and it had a spooky feel about it. Chris took a deep breath and went after him. Then Jon and I went in, followed by Travis and Dr. Parrish.

  Something about walking into pitch-blackness made my stomach flutter, and not a little flutter either. But as we entered I found out it wasn’t quite as dark as it seemed from outside in the morning light. We passed through a sort of twilight zone where the walls were lined with pale, ragged plants and spider webs. Farther in it was like entering a dark movie theatre after using the restroom. I couldn’t see a thing. Apparently Parrish couldn’t see either. He bumped into Travis.

  “Sorry, Travis,” said Parrish. “I’m walking blind.”

  Anton turned on his headlamp revealing steep, rock walls on both sides. Parrish stood up straighter when he saw the high ceiling.

  “Stay close to me,” said Anton, who turned and went ahead, leaving us all in total darkness. He laughed and called back. “You can switch on your headlamps.”

  Well, duh! I’d forgotten all about it. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one. The others murmured with relief and turned on their headlamps. Now I could see the smooth rock path we’d been descending, which led into a narrow tunnel. So that’s what the place looked like.

  “The cave is named for Pandora Wilby, a local heiress,” said Anton, giving us a little history lesson along the way. “When she dies the property will belong to the National Park Service. This cave is completely natural. No electricity, signs, or handrails. But don’t worry, I brought spotlights to show off the impressive stuff. Now pay attention, everybody.” Anton bent down and drew a tiny arrow with a piece of white chalk near the floor. “I know my way around this cave, but if for some reason one of you needs to get out without my guidance, just follow the arrows. I’ll rub off the chalk when we leave.”

  When the group moved again, I saw Travis glance back, which of course made me look, too. The cave entrance was out of sight. Travis was really good at finding his way around, and I don’t think he’d ever been lost. He must have gotten that trait from our real dad, who never got lost either. Even now I had to fight off tears whenever I thought about the accident. But this wasn’t the place to get sidetracked. I clamped my jaw tight and focused on the cave.

  Like I said Travis had never gotten lost, though keeping track of where we were in a cave was different. With all the turns, rises, passageways and drops, it was hard for Travis to get his bearings. To make matters worse there were pitch-black side tunnels, which seemed to drop into nothingness. Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of nothingness—especially the dark kind. I did not want to get lost in this place, but I noticed Anton was careful to make a tiny chalk mark at every intersection.

  “Where do all the other tunnels go?” asked Travis.

  “Some just end,” said Anton. “A few go down to an underground river. And one leads to a side exit. You could lose your way in here very easily.”

  “So there’s another way out,” said Jon. “Is it hard to find?”

  “Not if you know where to look. The other way’s actually shorter than this one, but it’s boring. If there was an emergency, though, I’d bring a rescue team in that way. Cuts time and distance in half.”

  Anton led us through narrow passages and small holes where we had to crawl. Travis kept making weird sound effects whenever we had to do something other than walk.

  “Bierrrrol. Bierrrrol. Gudda-gudda-gudda.” The echoes of his battle noises, if that’s what they were, sounded distorted and alien.

  “What’s that supposed to be?” asked Parrish.

  “I dunno,” said Travis. “I’m just havin’ fun. Blecka-blecka-bierrrrol.”

  That was an understatement because I knew Travis was having the time of his life. The only thing he wasn’t sure about was his headlamp. Every so often it flickered like it might go out, but Anton always got it to work again.

  We hardly needed our headlamps since the camcorder had its own bright light. Jon was recording practically every step we took. He went ahead of the group and got shots of everyone crawling through a shallow stream beneath a low ceiling. This was the stream Anton had promised, and the water was cold. Travis loved it. I didn’t. Parrish wasn’t too crazy about it either when his glasses got wet. He came out of the stream and gave them to Travis.

  “Travis? Can you wipe these off? I can’t see a thing without them.”

  “Sure,” said Travis. He wiped them clean on a dry part of his shirt and gave them back. Parrish put them on again and blinked.

  “Much better. Thanks.”

  A half hour into the journey we stopped at a dead end where a narrow path rose steeply to the ceiling. Anton took a rope from his pack that had series of knots tied in it.

  Parrish winked at us. “So, Anton, is this the exciting part you were telling us about? The blank wall, I mean.”

  Anton just smiled. “Mark, you should do standup comedy. You’re a real card.”

  “Yeah,” said Chris. “He’s a card all right. He ought to be dealt with.”

  Chris’ joke was so bad everyone just stared at him. He looked from person to person hoping for support. All at once we burst out laughing, the noise echoing eerily around us. Anton clapped him on the shoulder. “Chris, I beg you. Stay away from anything related to humor. Please?”

  “Yeah, Chris,” I said. “Please?”

  “It’s funny!” Chris argued good-naturedly. “You probably didn’t even get it.”

  “Oh, we got it. Along with a case of heartburn.” Anton pulled hard on the rope to tighten the knots. Satisfied, he set it down.

  Parrish looked up. “So, Anton, is there a way around this wall?”

  “Not around—through.” Anton carefully crawled up the incline until he reached the top. He looped one end of the knotted rope around a rock column, then shined his light on a hole about the size of a truck tire. “This takes us down to the Cathedral room. You can use the rope to climb up, but coming back is a breeze. I didn’t name it the Sliding Board Rock for nothing.”

  Travis looked at me. “Cool!”

  Parrish groaned. “That hole’s small. I hope we don’t have to leave in a hurry.”

  Anton disappeared over the wall and called for Chris to follow next. Chris wasn’t very athletic and he didn’t climb so well, but he used the rope to slide, pull and kick his way to the top. Eventually we all got up the slope and through the hole, even Dr. Parrish. Luckily, the hole was bigger than it looked from below. I’d gotten a little chilly after crawling through the water, but the climb was a fun challenge and it warmed me up nicely. I noticed the warmer I was the dryer my clothes got.

  We passed through a dark tunnel to arrive at a broad underground lake. A natural walkway, like a ledge, curved off to the left, skirting the edge of the lake until it disappeared under the water.

  “Have a seat, everyone,” said Anton, as he shined his headlamp at some amazing rock formations on the wall just below us. Some of the rocks were as thin and delicate as toothpicks.

  “Cool,” said Travis. “Those look like flowers!”

  “They’re amazing!” said Chris.

  “They’re beautiful,” I added. “How’d they get there?”

  Anton pointed. “See that water dripping on the flowers? There’s a trace amount of limestone in every drop, and when it splashes, some limestone settles on the rock. After thousands of years, the limestone builds up and takes on its own unique shape. The design is made by the splash or drip pattern. Now I want everybody to scoot over next to the column on the right and kill your lights. I’m going to show you one of the most amazing natural rock formations you’ll ever see.�
�

  Anton removed some Frisbee-sized spotlights from his pack while our group moved to the edge of a shallow dip in the rock that was between us and the lake. We switched off the lights and waited. Anton scurried around setting up the spotlights and then got close to everyone and turned off his headlamp.

  “Are you ready?” he asked. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Cathedral room!” He flipped a switch. Four blinding spotlights flashed on. I gasped. I’d never seen anything like it.

  The Cathedral room was much larger than it had looked in the dimmer light of the headlamps. Before us rose a series of shiny golden columns that went from floor to ceiling, like the pipes of a church organ. Incredibly, the pipes were longer on the left side, but became progressively shorter to the right. Travis counted nineteen of them, some at least ten meters tall. Anton pointed at the base of the natural “pipes”.

  “Take a look down there,” he said. He aimed one of the spotlights at the foot of the pipes under the water, where a flat-topped, limestone formation rested. It had a white stripe across one edge.

  “That kinda looks like organ keys!” said Travis.

  “Incredible!” said Chris. He looked up and pointed. Again, we were amazed.

  In addition to the organ, multicolored spiral columns rose in clusters all through the room. Mixed among the columns was a virtual forest of stalactites and stalagmites all around the lake, their images mirrored in the glassy water. It was nearly impossible to tell which ones were real and which were reflections.

  “Wow!”

  “It’s beautiful!”

  Anton Edwards leaned back on his elbows and crossed his long legs in front of him. I knew exactly how he felt. Anton loved teaching and it didn’t always have to be English.

  “Dr. Vu from my department would love this place,” said Parrish. “He’s a geologist, you know.”

  “Incredible,” Chris said again. “I’m so glad I came.”

  “Me, too,” said Travis. “Thanks, Dad.” Travis spoke without thinking and it came from his heart. At the same time, he hugged Chris. Chris absolutely beamed.

  I knew the dad thing wouldn’t go over well with Jon and sure enough Jon gave Travis a discreet little poke in the arm. He mouthed the words, He’s not our father! Travis glared at our brother. He had just broken Jon’s cardinal rule: Never call foster parents mom or dad.

  Well, tough. Let’s face it, we all wanted parents and in Travis’ mind Chris and Angie were perfect. He socked Jon in the leg and moved closer to Chris. Jon was shocked. His frustration skyrocketed. It was obvious Travis felt it, but he didn’t care.

  You hurt Jon’s feelings, I thought to Travis. He doesn’t want us to forget mom and dad.

  I can’t help it. I don’t even know what they looked like.

  You’ve seen them. You’ve got the picture hanging on your wall.

  They don’t seem real to me.

  I studied him thoughtfully, then scooted closer to Jon. As Travis looked on I kept my voice low.

  “Travis didn’t know mom and dad as long as we did. He doesn’t have all the great memories we do.”

  Jon looked at me, his eyes moist. “I’ve told him everything about them I can remember. What else can I do?”

  “Telling isn’t the same as being there. He needs a dad.”

  Jon scowled. He got up and went into the tunnel alone. Dr. Parrish must have noticed, because he followed Jon. A moment later, Anton rose and went after them both.

  “I’ll talk to him,” said Anton, touching me on the shoulder.

  I got worried that Chris might have heard what we said, but when I tuned in to his thoughts, Chris was still excited about the unusual beauty in the cave. He may not have noticed Jon’s irritation.

  I know how you feel, Travis, I thought to him. It’s good to have family again, even if it isn’t really our own.

  They might be our own. They really love us, jus’ like we’re their own kids.

  I nodded and hugged him. You’re right.

  Travis relaxed. Things might finally work out. And this cave was super cool!

  But my pleasant thoughts changed abruptly when the ground began to shake. Travis groped at the floor, but it was flat. There was nothing to hold on to. Instead, he grabbed two of the backpacks. The shaking got worse. I tried to stand up but the ground moved too much. It knocked me to my knees.

  “What…is…it?” said Travis, shouting over the dull roar that filled the cavern. “Kelly…ghost fingers!” He dragged the backpacks over to me and wrapped his arms around one of my legs. Chris rolled over. He hugged us both hard.

  “I think it’s an earthquake!” shouted Chris.

  “Whutta we do?” said Travis.

  “Hold on! And pray!”

  A moment later the floor dropped out from under us. We fell fast. The spotlights went out. A heavy darkness and a deafening roar closed in. I did the only thing I could, considering the situation. I screamed.

  JON

  A terrible rumbling filled the air. The floor of the cave shook violently. Jon struggled to hold the camera steady but the view became blurry and dark. Something kept making him go off frame. Gazing through the viewfinder he saw Kelly stumble. A moment later the ledge broke. Kelly, Travis and Chris all dropped out of sight.

  Jon looked up from the camera. What? Oh, hell! An earthquake! They were underground during an earthquake. He turned off the camcorder and tucked it under his arm. What should he do? He started after Kelly and Travis, but the ledge was gone.

  All at once part of the ceiling landed on his hardhat and knocked him to the ground. Chunks of rock showered over him like a thundering downpour. Jon rolled to his hands and knees and curled up in a tight ball. He kept the camcorder safely hidden under his body. Since the accident took away his parents, Jon had secretly wanted to die in a blaze of glory, in the heat of battle. But not like this. Not buried alive.

  5

  TRAPPED

  KELLY

  The thundering roar seemed endless. If I screamed, I didn’t hear it. The hollow drop straight-down made my stomach flip over. We were going to die; I knew it.

  We hit bottom suddenly. The jolt knocked the wind out of me. My head snapped back on impact, smacking into rock. My flashlight went out. Water and pieces of limestone showered over me like heavy sleet, pricking the skin on my face. I rolled quickly to my belly and covered my head with both hands. I waited in terror for the rest of the ceiling to come crushing down.

  After what seemed like forever, the earth stood still. Rivulets of water, rock fragments and loose powder drifted down, but eventually tapered off. The cave was quiet again. I lay flat on my face spotted with a dust-like residue. I wanted to look around, but was afraid to move. What if my movement made the rocks shift again? What if it caused another earthquake? Not far away Travis moaned. That’s all it took.

  I bolted upright. I found my flashlight in the rubble, but when I turned it on nothing happened. Then I realized I didn’t need it. The cave was dim, though it should have total dead blackness. So how come I could still see? I noticed a strange reddish glow that clearly had something to do with it. Travis raised his head and coughed.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  He sat up, dazed. “Uh…I guess…knocked the wind out of me.” He pointed at a crumpled heap a few meters off. “Is that Chris?”

  I looked. Chris had been holding us when we dropped. If that was Chris, how did he get so far away? I crawled toward the heap and found another flashlight. The crystal was cracked and the light flickered, but it still put out a dim, yellow beam. I shined the light on the heap.

  “Chris? Can you hear me? Chris?” Chris didn’t move or make a sound.

  I studied his head and didn’t see any blood, though a large lump had formed on his forehead. I gently probed his mind, but there weren’t any organized thoughts. As usual, an unconscious person showed only white noise, like snow on an old TV when the programming ended. He was out cold, but I sensed his head injury was relatively minor.
He looked unharmed and asleep—until I saw the bend in his right leg just above the ankle.

  “Oh my God, his leg is broken!” I gagged and turned away. I put my other hand over my mouth in case I threw up. “I can’t look. What are we going to do?”

  “We need Mr. Edwards.” Travis stood up cautiously. He picked up something shiny from the rock floor. “Dr. Parrish’s glasses. They’re smashed. Ya think he’s dead? Where’s Jon?” His voice became urgent. He couldn’t hide the fear he felt for our brother.

  I came over and put my arm around him. “Jon and Dr. Parrish went back in the tunnel. So did Mr. Edwards. You stay with Chris, I’ll go look for them.”

  Travis caught my arm as I turned. “Kelly, I can do a splint on his leg. I learned how at Cub Scouts with Mrs. O’Brien.”

  “I don’t know, Travis. It looks pretty bad. Have you ever done it?”

  “We practiced. I put a splint on Josh O’Brien’s leg and he put one on mine. Mrs. O’Brien is a nurse. She said my splint was the best.”

  I shook my head. “You went to the cub scouts for one month. Let’s find Mr. Edwards.” I scanned the rock wall overhead and pointed straight up. “Look! The organ pipes! And there’s the tunnel! That’s where we were before the quake. We must have dropped a good fifty feet!”

  “How’d we drop fifty feet?” asked Travis, confused. “Wouldn’t that kill us? What about all the rock flowers? And the lake? And the organ keyboard? Where’s everything?”

  “Gone. The cave we’re in now must have been under the cave we used to be in, only this cave is way bigger. It was under the lake, too. Maybe Mr. Edwards knew about it. Maybe he was going to show it to us, but we just hadn’t gotten there, yet.”

  Travis shook his head sadly. “All the flowers are gone forever.”

  I considered the loss, then looked to the top of the wall. “I’m going up.”

  “Better be careful. How’re we gonna get Chris up there?”

  “If I can find Mr. Edwards or Jon, or Dr. Parrish, we’ll figure it out.”

  I searched for hand and footholds in the dim light, but the walls were dripping wet. They’d held lake water until a few minutes ago. I started to climb, but the rock wall was too slick. I lost my grip and had to jump down.

  “This isn’t good. We have to get help for Chris as soon as possible. But we’re trapped down here, too!” I sat beside Chris and buried my face in my hands. What should we do?

  “I’ll look for a splint,” said Travis. “At Josh’s we used pieces of flat wood or magazines. But I don’t see nothin’ like that here.”

  While Travis scoured the ledge searching for some kind of splint material, I fought the urge to cry. We were in big trouble. What if the quake had closed off the entire cave? What if nobody ever came after us?

  A voice from above broke my troubled silence. “Hey.”

  I looked up. Jon peered down at us from the tunnel where the edge of the lake used to be. At that distance his eyes were black orbs in the reddish glow.

  “Jon!” I cried. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. You guys?”

  Travis nodded. “But Chris has a broken leg. It’s bad. He got knocked out, too.”

  “Travis says he knows how to put on a splint,” I reported.

  “Yeah?” Jon sounded surprised. “Good, cuz I don’t. Is Dr. Parrish down there? Or Mr. Edwards?”

  “They’re not here. They followed you into the tunnel. Didn’t you see them?”

  “No. I was recording. My light got smashed; it’s pitch dark in the tunnel. Good thing for that red light or we’d be blind. I’ll see if I can find them.”

  “Be careful!”

  “The red light,” I said. “I wonder where it’s coming from?” I noticed a drop-off, like a ledge, where the light was strongest, so I crawled to the open side and peered over the edge. When I saw what had happened to the cave and where we were, I could hardly believe it.

  We hadn’t fallen to the bottom of a deeper cave like I’d thought. If we’d fallen all the way to the bottom, we’d be dead. No, the entire ledge that we’d been standing on at the time of the quake had slid down and gotten stuck on a rock shelf that jutted out high above an enormous open cavern. The cavern itself must have been at least five or six football-fields long. Thousands of stalactites of varying lengths hung from the ceiling. On the floor below, a wide, flat rock butted up against one of the walls, almost like a stage. It even had a larger open area in front of it where an audience could gather. But, of course, it had no curtains or seats. The floor of the open area was soaking wet.

  “I can see rocks and stuff down there that came from our cave,” I said. “There’s water everywhere, it’s a mess. I guess sometimes nature makes a mess in order to get things cleaned up better, you know? Like a forest fire or a flood.”

  “I guess.” Travis crawled up beside me. “See that big, roundish rock? That’s makin’ it all red. It sorta glows. It looks smooth, too, like the walls.”

  Jon returned to the ledge above us and called down. “The main tunnel caved in. I’m not going in without a light. I found Dr. Parrish’s backpack with the rope. I’m coming down.”

  “No!” I was afraid the sound of my voice might cause another quake. “We won’t be able to get back up!”

  “Sure we will. Watch out.”

  I waited anxiously while Jon tied his end of the rope to something I couldn’t see. Then he threw the other end below. I caught it and pulled on it several times. I even swung on it to test its strength. “It’s good.”

  A moment later Jon scampered down the rope and joined us. When Travis went back to Chris, he found something under a pile of rubble.

  “My hat!” He dug it out and tested the headlamp. It still worked, but it flickered again. He spotted something else. “Mr. Edward’s backpack.” He pulled it from the debris and dumped everything out. “A first aid kit! Water! And batteries!” He held up a pack of batteries and passed them to me. I replaced the batteries in my flashlight and right away the yellow beam turned bright white again. In the first aid kit Travis took out seven rolls of tape. “This backpack has a metal frame.”

  I was confused. “It’s aluminum. So?”

  “So I need a splint.”

  I watched our little brother separate the nylon pack from the metal frame and toss the pack aside. He held up the frame. “This’ll work. We’ve got plenty of tape.”

  “You sure about this splint?” said Jon.

  “We can’t move him without it.”

  “I don’t think we’re gonna move him as it is.” Jon looked up the steep ledge. “He weighs more than we do. If it’s just us, it might be impossible getting him up there. One of us should go for help.”

  “Not yet,” I said, trying to take charge of my squeamishness. If I didn’t get over my fears in a hurry I’d be utterly useless to everyone. Right now we all needed to be alert and ready to help. “Let’s get this splint on before he wakes up. What do we need, Travis?”

  “Something kinda soft to wrap around his leg. Jon, can you break the frame so we can splint his leg on both sides?”

  “Let me see it.” Jon took the frame and started twisting it. He fought with it for a while, until finally, it broke into several pieces. “How’s this?”

  “That’ll work great!”

  Meanwhile, I went through the available backpacks and brought out some extra clothes. Jon took my flashlight and shined it on Chris’ broken leg as he videotaped it.

  “Why are you doing that?” I asked.

  “Because it’s gross. Brandon would want to use it in a movie.”

  When Jon was done taping I passed his backpack to him and he carefully placed Brandon’s camcorder inside it. I held up some clothes. “Travis, will these work?”

  Travis nodded. “Yeah. Lift his leg, Jon, but be real careful.”

  Jon gently raised Chris’ leg, doing his best to keep it immobile. Even so, Chris moaned softly. I stood to one side biting my lip while I watched. I was scared and grossed ou
t. You’re amazing, Travis! Just amazing! I’m sorry I can’t help you much.

  Travis looked up and smiled to let me know it was all right. He began groping around the point of the break, touching the leg itself and concentrating. As sickening as it was, I watched every move he made.

  “Jon, pull his leg,” said Travis. “I’ll show you. Kelly, you have to hold his shoulders so he won’t move.”

  “You going to set the bone?” asked Jon.

  “Yeah. When I touch it I can feel how things need to go.” Travis spoke like it was no big deal.

  I wasn’t so sure. “You can’t set a break without X-rays.”

  “I can. Hold him tight. Pull, Jon. Straight away from his body.”

  I exchanged a disturbed glance with Jon and dug in my heels against a rough edge in the stone. I gripped Chris by the shoulders and held him fast. At the other end Jon had the ankle.

  “He might yell,” said Travis. “I would.” Travis closed his eyes and repeatedly traced his fingertips over the broken area of Chris’ leg. Then he instructed Jon on how to pull, turn, or twist the lower leg. “Ready? Pull.”

  Jon tugged, gently at first, but soon he was straining. Chris moaned loudly several times, but remained unconscious. I scrunched up my face. It was gross, but I couldn’t look away. All at once the leg was straight again.

  “It’s set. Now the splint.”

  I helped wrap some of the clothes snugly around Chris’ leg. I even tore off the tape needed to keep it all in place. Travis lined up two pieces of the broken pack frame with the injured leg and wrapped more tape around it.

  While he worked I entered Chris’ mind again and caught flashes of his returning thoughts. He seemed okay. Chris would wake up soon.

  I got the camcorder from Jon’s pack and recorded the rest of the first aid treatment on Chris. It took nearly a half hour to get the splint done right. When we were finished, Travis tested it. The leg was secure. Jon carefully lowered the leg back to the rock floor.

  “That looks great,” I said, studying the repair work. I took some more video shots of the splinted leg. “How could you do that?”

  “I dunno.” Travis shrugged. “I just could.”

  “I’ll never make fun of the Cub Scouts again,” said Jon.

  “Listen, guys,” I said. “We’ve either got to find Dr. Parrish and Mr. Edwards, or go get help ourselves. And we’d better save the lights before they burn out. Just use one at a time. The spare batteries won’t last forever. Jon, you should go for help.”

  “I can’t find my way out of this place. Do you know the way, Trav?”

  “I think so,” said Travis. “We can follow the little arrows.”

  “You and Kelly go; it’ll be safer that way. I’ll stay with Chris. You can take both flashlights, too, since we’ve got that red light down there. What’s causing that?”

  “It looks like some kind of big rock is glowing,” I said. “The cave we’re in now is humongous!”

  “I want to see.” Jon crept to the edge of the rock shelf.

  “Be careful!” said Travis nervously. “We’re on top of a ledge. If it breaks we’re dead!”

  I watched, holding my breath. “Have you guys ever heard of aftershocks?”

  Travis shook his head. “What’s that?”

  “It’s like extra tremors that come after an earthquake. If we have a few of those, it could really shake this place up.”

  Travis gulped. “We gotta get out of here.”

  Suddenly, Jon turned back, looking almost terrified. He pointed down, struggling to find the words. He kept his voice low.

  “We’re not alone.”

  6

  THE SALESMAN

  KELLY

  Travis and I crawled beside Jon as he pointed at the cavern floor. At first I didn’t understand why Jon’s voice sounded so shaky. Something had him rattled, but what? Then I noticed the floor was moving. Only it wasn’t the floor. In the audience area in front of the stage were hundreds—no, thousands—of creatures. They gathered in growing numbers like it was some kind of town meeting. As I studied them I got goose bumps. Those things were the stuff of nightmares.

  The creatures definitely weren’t human, but they weren’t exactly animals, either. Most of them had one head, two arms and two legs like people. But there were plenty with extra limbs and extra heads. A few of them even had tentacles, claws, or long feelers, like a lobster or a cockroach. Their skin was scaly, slimy, or covered with spines, and some looked hairy. Most of them appeared to be man-sized and their most striking characteristic was color. Each showed colors ranging from deep red, to gray, to green, to dark blue. A few were gold, and some were multi-colored, but usually not in any recognizable pattern.

  I passed the camcorder to Jon. After he checked it over, he gave it to Travis.

  “We’ve only got an hour left on the battery,” he whispered. “And I don’t know where the other battery is. Get everything you can.”

  “Get what?” asked Travis. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Record what’s down there. Maybe we can sell the video to TV news stations. You don’t usually see something like this in a cave.”

  “Something like what?” I asked. He offered a slight shrug for an answer.

  Travis blinked in understanding. “What’re you gonna do?”

  “I’m gonna watch.”

  Travis steadied the camcorder against the rock and began taping the mysterious scene below. The viewfinder was small and the three of us huddled close together in order to see it.

  “Zoom in,” said Jon. “It’s that button.”

  Travis pressed the zoom button. The picture in the viewfinder greatly enlarged, but now he had to work to keep it from shaking. He eventually brought the creatures on the cavern floor into focus.

  “What are they?” said Jon in a low, quivering voice. His eyes were wide with doubt. It was one of the few times I’d ever known him to be truly afraid.

  “Whatever they are,” I said. “I don’t think it would be good for us if they knew we were here.”

  Jon nodded. “You got that right. Keep it at a whisper.”

  Behind us, Chris moaned loudly. We looked back in horror. He moaned again, even louder. I quickly crawled beside him. Travis continued recording the amazing scene below.

  “Chris,” I said in a low voice. “How do you feel?”

  Chris blinked his eyes open. “Everything’s all red. Am I in Hell?”

  I glanced over my shoulder and patted him gently on the arm. “You might be. And your leg is broken. Travis put a splint on it.”

  “That would explain the fiery pain. Travis did the splint? You kids amaze me. How is everyone?”

  “Jon, Travis and I are fine. But we haven’t found Mr. Edwards or Dr. Parrish.”

  “You’ve got to find them. Anton knows the way out.”

  “We’ll find them. Just be quiet, okay? Something’s down there. Something dangerous.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Just be still.”

  A collective roar went up from the creatures below, as if they were cheering about something. Chris grabbed my arm, terrified. I touched my index finger to my lips.

  “Shhh. Not a word. We’re right over here.” I crawled back beside Jon and watched.

  A giant beast, scarlet colored with wide, great wings, stomped across the stage. Its footsteps echoed through the cavern like the booming of a bass drum. The beast fanned its wings and folded them behind its back, sort of like a butterfly at rest. But this was no butterfly.

  Demons! I thought to Travis. Travis nodded. The camcorder shook. He used both hands to steady it.

  Jon looked up suddenly. “Did you hear that? Somebody said demons!”

  I shushed him. “What else could they be?”

  “That big one must be the boss!” said Travis. “He’s huge!”

  The Boss Demon stood well over twenty feet tall with long, powerful arms and hands the size of tractor tires. One massive hand c
arried a long wooden staff as thick as a telephone pole, the top end sharpened to a ghastly point. The beast stood on two enormously muscled, deep-red legs with long ebony claws in place of toes. Its belly was covered in grayish scales. Its massive, ugly head had one long horn growing out of the center.

  I fought to keep my shaking to a minimum.

  The Boss stopped in the middle of the stage. He looked out across the screaming, cheering hoard and raised the staff, which he pounded on the stone floor three times. Boom! Boom! Boom! The creatures before the stage grew quiet. The Boss spoke.

  “Affkd gkdnki!! Gityyhlls asinfoihen!!” His voice was powerful, like the diesel engine on a tractor-trailer truck, but much deeper. And he wasn’t speaking any language I’d ever heard. In fact, the words were so garbled that it hardly sounded like language at all. But it must have made sense, because every time the Boss paused, the other creatures cheered. Then the Boss waved a hand as if presenting something on the right side of the stage. It seemed like an introduction.

  Travis sent a mental message to me. What are they thinking?

  I don’t know, we’re too far away. Either that or I can’t read them.

  Next came the greatest shock of all. A man—a human!—walked out on the stage. He was tall with dark hair, wearing a dark blue suit with a red necktie, and really handsome, like a movie star. The Man carried a white clipboard in one hand and a strange-looking object, like a silver fire hydrant, in the other. He stopped in the middle of the stage beside the Demon Boss. He set the silver thing down, turned and faced the grisly audience.

  The demons in the audience glared at him, like deer staring at the headlights of a car. I wasn’t sure if they were surprised to see a human among them, or if they just didn’t know what he was. Next, they traded disbelieving looks. Some shook their heads. Others scowled. They waved their long claws in the air or shook angry, scaly fists at the Man.

  A six-legged demon with two ugly, spine-covered heads climbed onstage. It rushed toward the man with claws and teeth bared. The other demons cheered it on.

  He’s going to be sacrificed! I cried inside Travis’ head. I didn’t want to see the poor guy be torn to shreds by the monsters, but I’m human, and when there’s going to be blood, humans just watch. I stayed out of his head, too. No need to get caught up in the middle of somebody’s gory death.

  Remarkably, the man watched the charging beast with nerves of cold steel. He never flinched. It was going to be a bloody massacre. I mean, what were the options?

  Quick as a snake the Demon Boss swung the heavy staff. It cracked the charging beast in one of its skulls. The beast fell off to the side, away from the Man. Then the Boss kicked it offstage like a soccer ball, out into the audience. It crashed into several other creatures and lay on the floor, rubbing its head with one of its feet.

  The Boss pounded the staff on the floor three more times. Boom! Boom! Boom! “Knnsylk!!” The place went completely quiet.

  “Knnsylk,” I repeated. “That must mean shut up.” Jon shook his head at me. He knew I had a fascination with languages, though the only one I’d ever taken was intro French last year in the seventh grade.

  The man stepped forward to the edge of the stage. From his coat pocket he withdrew a small device, which could have been a tiny microphone. He attached the device to his coat lapel and smiled with perfect, white teeth. He cleared his throat and jerked his head from right to left, cracking his neck. When he spoke, his voice echoed throughout the cavern in a proper British accent.

  “I know you can all understand me, so to make it easier for me to understand you, I want you to eat the sugar cube you were given when you came in. Each cube has inside it an XB7 universal translating chip. Now don’t wreck it by chewing it. Let the cube melt in your mouth. It’s quite tasty.”

  The demons on the floor growled and yelled. But the Boss raised one hand high above his head. Between two thick red fingers he held a tiny, white sugar cube. The place grew silent again. A moment later, all the creatures on the floor raised up their own sugar cubes. Travis panned the camera to take in every creature in the underground room. The Boss dropped the cube into his mouth and waited. He made a face and nodded agreeably. The floor demons looked at each other then reluctantly followed their leader’s example. Except for slurping sounds made as the sugar cubes melted in their mouths, the room was silent. The demons all nodded to each other approvingly. Travis licked his lips and looked back at me.

  We haven’t ate since breakfast! he thought to me.

  Eaten, I returned. Apparently the foster families he’d stayed with hadn’t thought good grammar was important. I tried to correct him when he needed it most, but not too often.

  “Give it another ten seconds,” said the Man, checking his wristwatch as he counted silently. “There. Now speak.”

  “What do yer want us ta say?” shouted a Gray Demon with nine eyes.

  “Yeah, what’s the big deal?” called a Blue Demon with two horns in its head and an extra arm.

  Travis and I looked at each other in total shock.

  “Are you picking up sound?” asked Jon. Travis nodded. “Good. Don’t miss any of this, Trav. This is good stuff.” Jon shook his head. “I hate to say it, kids, but I think we’re in deep doodoo.”

  The demons were still upset about the way their fellow had been treated by the Boss. Apparently, it wasn’t in good taste to help a human.

  “Why’d you defend ‘im, Boss?” cried a Multi-colored Demon with long tusks and seven horns in its head. “We should be cookin’ that one! He looks tasty enough!” That got some laughs, but most of the other demons were still mad.

  A Green Demon up front pointed one of its tentacles at the Man and got personal. “Yer a human! Why shouldn’t I rip out yer heart and eat it in front of ya? What’s to stop me?”

  “I say slap ‘im in irons!” cried a husky, Blue Demon with three noses. “We need more slaves! After all, who’s gonna brush my teeth?” The Blue Demon grinned horribly. Its enormous mouth was full of sharp, yellow teeth. “I say get ‘im!”

  “Yeah! Get ‘im!”

  Maybe demons had really short memories. Or maybe they just didn’t get it. They still wanted to attack the man. I guess demons were like some people. They didn’t learn something unless they learned it the hard way.

  After much prodding and shouting, the Green Demon gathered its nerve. It climbed onto the stage and raced toward the man, tentacles flapping. The Boss scowled and raised the staff again. But this time the man signaled to the Boss to stand down. The Boss lowered his staff and leaned on it, apparently content to enjoy the show.

  Unruffled, the man watched the attacker. When the Green Demon was a few feet away, the man finally did something. He raised one finger and pointed at the demon. The charging demon froze in mid-stride. I couldn’t believe it. It was like watching some kind of stop action in a movie!

  The Green Demon struggled vainly against whatever invisible force the man wielded. But the only thing it could move was its head. It looked at its comrades in the audience, helpless and rather embarrassed.

  Travis mind-spoke to me. What’s goin’ on?

  I have no idea.

  The man dropped his nice-guy attitude. He threw the clipboard hard on the floor. It landed with an echoing SPLACK, which got their complete attention. Then he marched to the front edge of the stage and looked down on the demon hoard just below him. He’d clearly had enough.

  “Go ahead, all of you. Attack me! See if I care. Rest assured, just like this fellow here, not one of you will even touch me! But if that happens, I will take away from you the most exciting bargain of the millennia!” I could feel the power of his voice reverberating throughout the cavern. The demons held onto their anger. The man looked them over. He frowned. “Forget it! You don’t deserve this offer! Good day!”

  He turned and marched off the stage, leaving the silver fire hydrant.

  Suddenly, the Green Demon was able to move again. It looked around, feeling foolish. Then
it leaped back into the audience.

  The Boss got very upset. “You fools! Listen to him or I’ll lop off your foul heads and put them in my soup!” The Boss hurried after the man, returning a moment later. He beckoned the man to come out and try again. If it hadn’t been so terrifying, I might have laughed. That giant demon acted like a humble servant to the much smaller human. The Boss made a threatening gesture at the audience then stepped aside.

  “Listen to him!”

  The man stood before the horrific mob, confident and now in control. “I’m here with a serious business proposition and I will not be disrespected again. I represent a business group called The Concern and I’m going to offer you something you haven’t had for a very long time.”

  Jon shook his head. “That guy acts like a salesman!”

  Travis wasn’t worried about job descriptions. He was more concerned about the danger. “Jon, we gotta to get outta here! They’re gonna see us, an’ you know what they’ll do to us.”

  “You’re right,” said Jon. “Keep taping, don’t miss a second. Come on, Kelly, let’s see what we can do about Chris.” We crawled back to Chris, while Travis taped. We were only a few feet away, but I didn’t like leaving Travis alone on that ledge.

  Jon looked over the splint and nodded. “It’s a good splint, Chris. Do you think you can climb if we help you?”

  “No,” said Chris. “I’ve never climbed before. My head is busting and the pain in my leg is really bad. I’m afraid I’ll yell, or something.”

  “That wouldn’t be good with those things down there,” I said.

  “What are those things?” he asked. “I don’t understand what’s going on?”

  “Neither do we, Chris. It looks like some guy is trying to sell them something.”

  “A guy? Who’s he trying to sell to at the bottom of a cave? What’s he selling?”

  Jon looked at me gravely. “I don’t know, but Travis is taping it all. We’ll figure it out later. What do you weigh, Chris? One-sixty?”

  “One-seventy-five. Are you thinking of pulling me up with the rope?”

  “I doubt I’m strong enough, even with Kelly’s help. I weigh ten pounds less than you. If we had a pulley we could get you up, but then we’d need a lot more rope.”

  “Find Mark,” said Chris. “He could pull me up by himself. The man’s a bull.”

  “That’s just it. We don’t know where he is.”

  At first I was curious about what Jon had planned for Chris. But the Salesman became louder and more animated. I crawled back beside Travis who was still taping.

  “You are Demon Nation! You are mighty! But when was the last time you stayed on the surface in your own bodies? A thousand years ago? Ten thousand years?”

  The Green Demon called out. “Ever since the frickin’ sun popped up! Forever!”

  Other demons agreed. “Yeah, forever!”

  “Yes,” said the Salesman. “The sun. Your dire enemies, the humans, stay on the surface while you remain trapped down here in these caves. And it’s all because of the sun. The sun is your nemesis. If you take my offer and do everything you’re supposed to, in a very short time the surface will be yours. And humans will live in the caves!”

  The applause was deafening. But the Green Demon wasn’t completely sold.

  “What’s the timetable on this, eh? Another thousand years? Maybe two thousand? ‘Ow do we know it’s worth our effort?”

  I heard a low growl and even without looking I knew it was the Boss. The Salesman spoke.

  “A good question, your Lordship. You have a smart, young demon there.”

  The Green Demon stood up taller. It stuck out its chest proudly. Some of the other demons patted it on the back. The Salesman was winning them over.

  “I’m here to make it happen with a timetable you can live with. For thirteen of you, it will happen very soon. And if those thirteen do their jobs on schedule, your Demon Nation will rule the surface in less than sixty moons.”

  A low murmur spread through the ranks. Sixty moons. Barely five more years!

  “But what about the sun?” called out a Gray Demon. “We can’t live on the surface with that hangin’ over our heads.”

  The Salesman smiled. He paused dramatically. “My friends, listen to my promise. The surface will be yours again, dark and filthy, just the way you like it. If humans survive at all, they will be entirely underground.”

  The cheering was explosive; it made my ears throb. I looked up, expecting the heavy sound to bring the ceiling down on all of us. The creatures shouted in unison, “Demon Nation! Demon Nation! Demon Nation!”

  Through it all Travis kept recording. This was incredible. That man—a human!—was offering evil demons a chance to overthrow mankind! I decided the tape had to be shown to the police as soon as possible.

  “Kelly,” Chris whispered as loud as he dared. “Are they terrorists?”

  “They’re monsters, Chris! I’m not kidding, either. They’re monsters, like demons. All except for that salesman guy. He looks like us.”

  “Maybe he can help us get out?”

  “I don’t think he’s on our side.”

  A forceful, loud noise erupted from our left, like a huge sheet of canvas flapping in a stiff wind. I looked. Two great winged demons flew down from the ceiling not far away. They descended toward the stage area carrying something between them. Whatever they carried must have been alive because it put up quite a struggle. Travis followed the flying demons with the camcorder. They dropped their burden on the stage near the Boss. It was a man. One demon bowed and presented it to its leader.

  “We found it up top, your Lordship. It must have been trapped in the quake.”

  Travis gasped when he finally saw the man’s face through the viewfinder.

  “They got Mr. Edwards!” he said.

  Jon and I raced to his side.

  “Who has Anton?” said Chris. “Who?”

  We turned and shushed him. Travis adjusted the camcorder so the three of us could better see what was going on.

  Anton stood up slowly, looking at the Salesman in wonder. He was about to speak when he apparently realized something quite large was beside him. He spun quickly. His gaze traveled slowly from the Boss’ huge clawed feet, upward to his massive head. The Boss grinned at him. Anton gawked in terror. He shook his head in disbelief.

  “No!” he said, just loud enough for us to hear. “It can’t be.”

  “Oh, but it can,” said the Boss. The great demon leaned over toward Anton, as if to share a secret. Then he shouted, “BOO!”

  Anton scrambled close to the Salesman. He looked from the Salesman to the Boss, confused and in shock. He heard mocking laughter from offstage. He turned again, very slowly, terrified at what he might see. When he faced the hordes of demons, he dropped to his knees.

  “I must be dreaming.”

  “Your absolute worst nightmare,” said the Salesman.

  Anton pleaded with the Salesman. “Help, me, sir! Please, in the name of God!”

  The instant he said God, demons from the audience erupted in angry growls and threats. They started throwing rocks at him. Two larger ones near the front got in each other’s way trying to climb onto the stage. They wanted to get to Anton, but they got into a fistfight instead. The Salesman was amused and clearly saw an opportunity to close the deal.

  “I wouldn’t use that word in here if I were you. And I certainly am not going to help you. These are my business associates and your timely arrival has made it possible to move on to the first step of our agreement.”

  With that, we watched the winged demons fly back up to their perch in the ceiling. They were completely out of sight.

  They’ve got us outflanked, I thought to Travis. But I don’t think they can see us.

  Jon drew back from the monitor with a determined look in his eyes. “You two are getting out of here, now. Put everything in two backpacks. Haul it all with you. We don’t want those things to know we were even here. I’l
l stay with Chris. Trav leads; he can find his way no matter where he is. Be careful. The cave-in changed the tunnel.”

  Chris looked up at us. “You guys go. You too, Jon. If you can send back help, do it, but don’t worry about me. Just get out of here now!”

  Jon shook his head. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

  “You have to!”

  While they argued, Travis kept taping, but I knew he listened more to the discussion behind him than what was going on below. Jon was right. We had to get out of there as soon as possible, or we’d be the next ones down on that stage beside Anton Edwards. I wanted to see if Anton was still alive, but I hesitated. What if there were parts of Anton all over the stage area? Well, he hadn’t screamed yet. I bit my lip and looked over the ledge. Anton was still there, but he stood like a statue, glaring at the demons in the crowd like he wasn’t afraid of them anymore. The Salesman continued.

  “Now, your Lordship, allow me to give you one more gift.” The Salesman held out his empty hands, both palms up. A second later a long knife in a jeweled scabbard appeared in them. It was a magnificent weapon. The Salesman passed it over to the Boss. “It will destroy anything it is used against. You will need it in the fight to reclaim the surface.”

  The Boss gripped the hilt of the knife, withdrawing the short blade. He looked at the Salesman, puzzled.

  “Am I supposed to reclaim the surface with a fancy little knife?”

  “It’s adjustable,” said the Salesman. He touched one of the jewels on the side of the hilt. The blade became longer from within itself, like a telescope. In seconds, it was a very long sword. Very long. The Salesman winked at the Boss. “The length of the blade automatically matches up to your height and great strength. It will cut through anything, like slicing hot butter.”

  The Boss grinned horribly and pushed the jewel again. The blade shortened to dagger length.

  “A real piece of work,” said the Boss, placing the dagger back into the scabbard. “Yes! We’ll be ready to fight. But before we seal the agreement, answer me one question, human. Why are you doing this to your own kind? What do you get out of it?”

  The Salesman adjusted his necktie and interlaced his fingers in front of him. His voice was somber, almost dreamy. “I get exactly what I want from this agreement. A magnificent retirement bonus, corporate stock options and a ten-percent commission based on long term profits. Besides, I know a winning team when I see one!”

  Both the Salesman and the Boss spit on their palms and shook hands. The agreement was sealed.

  7

  FLYING DEMONS

  KELLY

  We watched Jon scamper up the rope like a spider. When he got to the top, he called back down in a loud whisper. “Come on, I’ve got you.”

  I nodded, but knelt beside Chris first. “I’m so sorry we have to leave you, but Jon will take care of you. We’ll get help as fast as we can.”

  “I know you will,” said Chris. “I wish Jon would go with you. I want you kids to be safe.”

  “I love you.” Sometimes when your life is in danger your feelings become clear. I really wanted Chris to be our next father, the permanent kind, so I gave him a big hug. Chris lit up, surprised. His eyes got a bit teary as he swelled with happiness. Travis smiled. The love Chris felt for each of us was genuine, just like Angie. I knew Travis had never experienced that before, except when he was too young to remember. Chris hugged me back and patted my shoulder.

  “I love you, too, girl. Now get going.”

  Travis turned off the camcorder and dropped it into Jon’s pack. He went over to Chris. “We’ll be back. An’ we’ll bring the whole army with us.”

  “That’ll be great, Travis. Just please be careful.” I felt bad for Chris. If his leg hadn’t gotten broken he’d be leaving now, too. So would Jon.

  I tied a sturdy loop in the end of the rope. I tested it, then told Travis to go up first. “Jon might need your help pulling me up. I don’t think I can climb the rope the way he did. Hurry!”

  Travis put on his hardhat, making extra sure the headlamp was turned off so he wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention from the local inhabitants. He tightened the strap snugly under his chin and shook his head. The hardhat must have felt good, so he spit on his hands and started up the rope. Near the top Jon grabbed his shirt and lifted him onto the new ledge.

  Travis glanced below. Chris and I must have looked small and dark.

  We were lucky, he thought to me from way up there.

  I scanned the ceiling searching for any demons that might be lurking in the higher shadows. It looked clear. Jon waved to me. I nodded and looked back at Chris. He bit his lip and spoke encouragingly. “You can do it, Kelly!”

  To my surprise it took me less than a minute to reach the top. Jon and Travis both helped me up.

  “Sorry I was an ass,” said Jon, rubbing Travis’ hair. “I get how you feel about Chris and Angie. Call them mom and dad, if you want.”

  “It’s not like you could stop me,” said Travis boldly. “I’d kick your butt.”

  Jon grinned big. “That’s why I changed my mind. I didn’t want to get hurt.”

  We laughed, then hugged each other.

  “The camcorder’s in your pack,” Travis told Jon. “There’s still ten minutes on the battery.”

  “Thanks, Trav. Both of you hurry, but be super careful. Parts of the tunnel might not look the same. Where’s your flashlight, Kelly?”

  “Here.” I pulled the light out of my jacket pocket and shined it at the tunnel. Large rocks and loose gravel partially blocked the way, but the window to the sliding board rock was still open. “I have extra batteries, too.”

  “I’ll go down and tie your backpacks to the rope. If for some reason the rescue team doesn’t find us, the camcorder is in my backpack under the rocks where Trav found his hardhat.”

  “Don’t say that, Jon!” Travis was almost in tears. “You’d better be here!”

  Jon smiled bravely. “No problem, little brother. Just make sure whoever comes after us is well-armed, okay? Remember, Trav, you da man!”

  “That’s what I’m talking about!” said Travis, sounding more positive than I knew he felt.

  I hugged Jon again, very hard. “If those things find you…I can’t think about it. How can you protect yourself and Chris? You don’t have any swords here.”

  Jon reached behind his neck and whipped out the two Elvish blades. He twirled them once and carefully slid them back into the sheaths under his shirt. “I almost always have a sword.”

  I couldn’t believe it. “You brought swords into a cave? You’re obsessive! Why would you do that?”

  “In case I needed them.” He dropped the rope back down the wall and started over the edge. “I’ll send up your packs.”

  “You’d better be careful,” Travis told him.

  “You, too.” Jon dropped out of sight. Travis turned on his headlamp and studied the tunnel. It was a mess of crumbled stone.

  “Can you get us out?” I asked, not feeling very sure of myself.

  He nodded slightly. “Sure. We’ll be outta here in no time.

  JON

  Back on the ledge with Chris, Jon got his own backpack and took out the camcorder. He found a black trash bag in his pack and wrapped the camcorder inside it for protection. Then he slid the camcorder into a side pocket on Kelly’s Barbie pack and zipped it shut. He tied her pack and Travis’ pack to the rope.

  “Good idea, sending the camcorder,” said Chris. “Nobody will believe there are monsters down here without proof.”

  “That’s what I figured.” Jon yanked on the rope and signaled for Kelly to pull it up. The backpacks rose slowly up the wall.

  “Jon, I want you to know how sorry I am.” Chris hung his head. “I never meant for any of this to happen. Caving was supposed to be fun, you know?”

  Jon bent down beside the older man and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not like you planned an earthquake, Chris. We’ll be okay. Travis will
find his way and send help soon.”

  KELLY

  At the mouth of the tunnel I untied the packs and tossed the rope back down. We put on our backpacks and started into the tunnel.

  “Maybe we should try to get Chris up here before we go,” said Travis. “The three of us might be able to pull him.”

  “Don’t you think Jon would have tried it already? The best thing we can do is get help fast.”

  Suddenly, I heard the flapping sound again. We turned. One of the flying demons swooped down and landed on the ledge. Its hideous orange eyes lit up hungrily when it saw us. Travis looked at me and I knew why. I was frozen in fear. My mouth and eyes were wide open but I couldn’t move. Dammit! Why’d I have to be such a wimp? The demon flashed a big, toothy grin and rushed at us.

  “Go!” Travis pushed me ahead of him. “Hurry!”

  I blinked, then came alive. Turning on the flashlight, I hopped over a broken stalagmite and took off running. I headed for a narrow gap where the ceiling had collapsed against the wall. Travis was a step behind me. The space looked tight. Could we even fit through it?

  I glanced back. The demon was right there! “RUN!”

  The demon lunged forward, claws wide. It caught Travis’ backpack and jerked him off his feet. He landed hard on the stone floor with the wind knocked out of him. The creature dragged him back toward the tunnel opening.

  Travis gasped for air. At the same time he groped about for something—anything. His hand caught a loose rock. He tossed it blindly over his head at the demon. The rock bounced harmlessly off one of its wings. The demon laughed and dragged him further. Travis looked ahead. The ledge was only a few meters away. Then his shoulder struck something solid. The broken stalagmite! He grabbed it and held on with all his strength.

  “Let go of the pack!” I cried.

  “No! It’s new!”

  I scooped up a rock and threw it at the demon. I threw it hard. It struck the demon over the eye, cutting its slimy, blue skin. A rivulet of black blood trickled down.

  The demon shook its head angrily. I covered my mouth in surprise.

  “I’ll rip off his legs for that!” said the demon fiercely. It pulled Travis even harder. Travis’ hands were slipping.

  “It’s just a backpack, you moron! Let it go!”

  The demon spit on its hands and re-gripped the pack. “Yer comin’ with me!” It shifted its full weight and gave a mighty pull.

  At that instant Travis let go of the stalagmite and raised his arms straight over his head. The backpack slipped away without resistance. The demon was taken by surprise. It back-peddled off balance and slammed into a wall near the ledge. It collapsed there dazed.

  Travis got up in a panic. He looked back. The demon’s downtime was short. It tossed the backpack aside and charged again. We raced for the window to the sliding board rock and I dove straight through it. Travis must have done the same thing. He was so close he crashed into me on the level side of the gap. We tumbled together in a tangled heap of arms and legs. My flashlight struck the wall and went dim. Travis looked up. The demon was coming fast. We were trapped!

  The demon started into the gap. Half way through, its great, leathery wings became jammed against the walls. It stopped cold. It growled and shook its ugly head, still trying to get to us. Travis looked around for another rock to throw at it. I caught his sleeve and pulled him along. Then my flashlight went out. I shook it and tapped it against the wall. It was completely dead.

  “Turn on your light!” I said. “Get us out of here!”

  Travis felt around for the switch. The headlamp finally came on, flickering. The demon was gone.

  “Come on!” Travis took the lead. He slid down the sliding board rock, landing at the bottom of the slide. I slid down a moment later.

  “I couldn’t read its mind!” I said, catching the knotted rope that was still there. “I tried, but I just didn’t get anything.”

  “Maybe there’s nothin’ to get,” said Travis. “Or maybe it’s better if you don’t know what a demon’s thinking. Whutta we do with the rope?”

  “Leave it. The rescuers can use it.”

  “Come on. The stream’s this way.” The thought of crawling through the water again didn’t thrill me, but we had to get out. If we didn’t get a rescue team back in there soon enough, Jon and Chris could be lost forever. Time was against us.

  Several turns and rises later we heard the trickling of water. Then Travis’ headlamp went out. When he smacked the hardhat it came back on, but kept flickering and got very dim.

  Originally, we had crawled through the stream because it was the only way to get past the rock arch. But the earthquake had caused the arch to collapse. Now all we had to do was climb over a short wall instead. It was way better than getting wet again.

  “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” said Travis.

  In another tunnel we came to a familiar sharp turn. Travis knew exactly where we were. “We’ll be out in twenty minutes!” He’d barely said the words when his headlamp went out again. This time it stayed out.

  “We can still make it,” he said, inching forward. “I remember the way.” Travis crept along very slowly. Sure, he knew the way, but at this pace, we’d never get a rescue team in time.

  “Wait!” I said. “We’ve got matches and candles!” I threw off my backpack and fumbled around in the dark. I opened a plastic bag and groped about inside it. Then I lit a match. The tiny light flared up and seemed to illuminate that whole part of the cave. I lit two candles and gave one to Travis. There’s a lot of beauty in the world, but I can say without a doubt that nothing is quite as gorgeous as a candle’s glow when you’ve been standing in a dark cave for several long minutes.

  “Mr. Edwards had us prepared, even if we didn’t know it,” I said. “I never thought a candle could be so bright.”

  “Yeah,” said Travis. “It’s kinda hard to see, though, light’s in my eyes.” We experimented, trying to find the best way to hold a candle and walk.

  “Hold it high. That works.”

  We traveled the next ten minutes in silence. Since Travis knew the way out, our biggest concern seemed to be keeping the melting wax out of our face. Some of it ran over our bare hands. It burned a little, but it wasn’t that bad. As we rounded a long turn, a strong breeze blew past us. The candles fluttered and went out. Once again we were in total darkness.

  “Hold on,” I said, reaching into my pocket. I lit another match. I was about to re-light my candle, when I looked up. Just then something moved behind Travis. A large, cold hand clamped over his mouth. Another breeze blew out the match. We were caught in the dark.

  8

  CAPTURE

  JON

  Jon heard the flapping and looked up just as the flying demon entered the tunnel. The other demon dropped from the ceiling and glided off in a wide arc around the cavern, scanning the area for more humans. Jon crawled over to Chris.

  Chris had seen them, too. His eyes were wide with fear. “You guys weren’t kidding about monsters! One of them went after the kids! What can we do?”

  Chris had always seemed a little high-strung and there was no need to upset him. Jon kept calm, but he never took his gaze off the ledge above them. “The wings on that thing are huge. It can’t go far into the tunnel. As long as Kelly and Trav see it in time, they’ll get away.”

  “But it knows they’re there! It’ll call the others.”

  “They’re all in the bottom of the cavern. Without some serious shortcuts, they’ll never catch up to them.”

  Even as Jon spoke, dust and rock chips rained over them. They covered their heads and looked up. The winged demon was perched at the edge of the tunnel, searching the cavern.

  Jon whispered, “Don’t move.” He gripped the hilts of his knives, but left them in the sheaths under his shirt.

  The demon jumped. It dove straight at them. Then it glided away, following the same flight path the other one had taken. Jon and Chris both let out a sigh of relief.


  “Do you think it saw them?” said Chris.

  “It was empty-handed. I’m hoping it didn’t see us.”

  They sat silently for a while, listening for more demons flying about. The area appeared clear. Chris spoke.

  “I’m not trying to replace your father, you know. Even if you let me, I wouldn’t allow it. Nothing is more special than your parents and you need to remember them your whole life.”

  Jon was embarrassed. He liked Chris. He didn’t want to hurt him. “Sorry. I keep forgetting Trav hardly knew our parents. He hasn’t got all the memories I do, no matter how many stories I tell him. I overreacted. It’s not personal.”

  “I don’t have a problem with that,” said Chris. “I just want us to be friends.”

  “Friends? Let’s get something straight, Chris. You and Angie are the best thing that’s happened to us since mom and dad died. I don’t ever want to lose it. Kelly and Trav feel even stronger. We’re way more than friends.”

  Chris’ eyes got a little bleary. “Thank you. I hope we can make it work.”

  “We already have.”

  Chris grabbed Jon by the scar on his forearm. “Jon, I really want you to go before it’s too late. Don’t worry about me. Just please tell Angie I love her.”

  Jon chuckled. “I’m not going anywhere unless it’s to get you up that wall.”

  “No, Jon, listen to me. Kelly and Travis need you. It’s crazy for you to stay here with me. If those things come back…”

  “If those things come back we’ll kick their butts right off the ledge.”

  Chris looked incredibly relieved. “I’m glad you’re here.” He glanced up. “Anton!” Jon turned. Sure enough, Anton was up there looking down at them. He waved.

  “You got away!” said Jon in a whisper. “Yes!”

  “I got rescue equipment!” said Anton in a harsh whisper. “But I can’t bring it in by myself. Can you help?”

  Jon looked to Chris for the answer. Chris nodded fervently.

  “Yes! Yes! Go, Jon! I’ll be fine.”

  Jon’s gaze went back to Anton. “I wonder how he got away?” He shook it off. “We’ll be right back. Do you want one of my knives?”

  Chris shook his head. “I’d probably cut off my own arm. Go!”

  Jon climbed the rope in a hurry. He met Anton at the top of the cliff and shook hands vigorously. “It’s great to see you!” he said. “We thought those things were gonna kill you!”

  “So did I when they started arguing about who would eat my legs. A couple of them got into a fight, so I ran and they never even noticed. Come on, it’s this way. We need to hurry. I have much work to do. I must work hard and fast.”

  “We’ll both work. Lead the way!”

  Anton led them past a bend in the tunnel. Jon spotted one of the chalk marks near the floor. He caught Anton by the arm.

  “Isn’t that the way out?” He pointed in the other direction.

  “I know a shortcut,” said Anton.

  “Oh, yeah, you said that on the way in. Go ahead.”

  Anton led them downward on a slick, irregular path. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded confidently at Jon.

  “This way is much shorter,” he said. “Much shorter. It will take us right where we want to go.”

  CHRIS

  Chris lay on the broken ledge and tried to ignore the throbbing in his leg and head. He had far more pressing issues to worry about than a little pain. Okay, it was a lot of pain. But his greatest problem, as he saw it, was staying out of sight until Jon and Anton got back. If those flying demons found him first…well, there wouldn’t be enough of him left to put on a stretcher. He got an idea.

  Wincing in agony, he dragged himself close to the cave wall. Along the way he gathered all the loose rocks he could carry or push ahead of him. Then he piled the rocks in a line beside him from his head to his feet. When he was done, he nestled in between the line of rocks and the wall. There, now he was hidden, except from above. He nodded approvingly and checked his watch.

  “Ten after ten,” he muttered to himself.

  Chris tried to feel brave, but it didn’t seem to be working. He was sweating more than usual and his hands shook. His breathing was labored and he kept thinking he heard scratching sounds from below the ledge. He sat up fearfully and looked around. Either the noises stopped or his imagination was working overtime.

  This was ridiculous. Nobody could climb up that way.

  He thought about nine-year-old Travis putting the splint on his leg. It’s a good thing he’d been unconscious. He probably would have screamed like a baby. Those kids were really amazing. Each one had some incredible talent, or skill. They were great kids and after only a few weeks his love for them had grown. And that’s what it was, he suddenly realized. Love. He’d hardly known them for any time at all. He hoped they got out okay.

  He thought about Angie and became sad. He realized he might never see her again. “I love you, Angie,” he muttered softly. “Whatever happens to me, I’ll always love you.”

  He gazed up the steep wall beside him. How in the world were they going to get him up there? Were they going to carry him all the way out of the cave? That would be so hard. He felt guilty just thinking about it.

  If he ever got out of this place he’d have quite a story to tell in school. But who’d believe all the demon stuff? Then he remembered. The kids videotaped it. He nodded, satisfied. Somebody might believe him after all. And that videotape could be worth plenty of money! Maybe it could pay for Jon’s college tuition in a few years.

  A tall shadow rose on the wall beside him. At first Chris thought it might be Jon, but the shadow wasn’t being cast from above. It came from behind him on the ledge. His heart nearly stopped beating. Another shadow appeared. And another. Chris’ blood ran cold in his veins. He swallowed hard. How could anyone—or anything—climb up that way? Please be Jon or Anton! He turned slowly.

  Through a tiny gap between some of the rocks in his hiding place, he saw three horrid looking demons standing a few feet away. They stared up the cliff with more hate than he could imagine in his worst nightmare. A gold demon with seven eyes let out a low, sinister chuckle.

  “They went that way,” it said, blinking all of its eyes. “The Boss says we need twelve more. At this rate we’ll meet our quota by the end of the week!”

  Six more demons reached the ledge, but none of them saw Chris. They climbed up the wall toward the tunnel. Chris watched them, amazed. They were as skilled and nimble as houseflies. Then he realized where they were going. His mouth became dry, like sandpaper. The demons were going after Kelly and Travis.

  No! The kids had to be kept safe, no matter what happened to him. At that moment Chris did the bravest thing he’d ever done in his life. Though Kelly and Travis were most likely too far away to hear, he yelled as loud as he could.

  “RUN, KELLY! RUN, TRAVIS! DON’T COME BACK! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

  The demons jumped back and gawked at him. They couldn’t believe a human had been right in their grasp and they hadn’t even noticed him. The Gold demon dropped down from the wall. It clamped a slimy hand over Chris’ mouth. Chris struggled against the powerful grip. A shorter Green Demon came up and cracked him over the head with a long club. For Chris, it was lights out.

  9

  BATTLE TO THE DEATH

  JON

  Anton led the way on a narrow path that spiraled downward along the cavern wall. Jon followed, but he kept a wary eye on the floor below. Each step took them closer to the stage area where the demons had met. If any demons were in the area, he didn’t see them, but an uneasy feeling in his gut told him they were still around. So where was Anton’s shortcut to the outside? Where was his rescue equipment?

  Jon periodically glanced up at the ledge to check on Chris. But this far down he couldn’t see much. Anton picked up the pace, practically jogging down the path. Jon reluctantly stayed with him, step for step. Every so often he touched one of the knives under his shir
t for reassurance.

  “RUN, KELLY! RUN, TRAVIS! DON’T COME BACK! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

  The words echoed through the cavern loud enough for every demon in town to hear. Jon stopped in his tracks. He looked up at the ledge again.

  Anton turned, his eyes gleaming. “What’s wrong?”

  “Chris is in trouble!” Jon started running back up the path.

  “I heard. There’s nothing you can do. Not a thing.”

  Something about the tone in Anton’s voice made Jon hesitate. He stopped running. That didn’t sound like the Anton Edwards he’d known before the quake.

  Anton gestured for him to follow. “It’ll be easier if you come voluntarily.”

  “What’ll be easier?”

  Anton smiled. “Your execution, of course.”

  Jon’s eyes narrowed. “Forget that.” He sprinted up the path. Suddenly, the dark places in front of him came to life. Four large demons stepped out of shadows that had clearly been too small to conceal them. Each demon was a different color and type. But they all had something in common—long claws and sharp teeth!

  Jon slid to a halt. He looked back. Four more demons appeared behind him. It was a trap. Had Anton been compromised? No, it must have been something else.

  Jon turned. “You’re not Mr. Edwards.”

  Anton grinned. “It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” He started laughing.

  Jon remained unruffled. The look in his eyes was cold and deadly. “Nothing matters now.”

  Anton stopped laughing. “He’s all yours, boys!” The demons surged forward, slowly at first. Then they came in a rush.

  Jon stood utterly motionless until the first demon reached for his throat with six-inch claws. Before the demon could react he whipped out the elvish knives and sliced off the creature’s hand. The hand dropped to the floor. Black blood spurted from the stump. The demon—a big Blue one—cried out in agony. A Red demon next to it snatched up the hand and gulped it down. Jon winced at the grotesque sight. But he wasted no time worrying about it. His knives flashed silver. He hacked up the Red and left it bleeding on the floor. Then he went after the others. Black blood splashed about the cave. In seconds Jon had literally carved them all up. Dead and wounded demons lay all around him.

  Jon’s eyes were wild and alert. He breathed heavily as he wiped the blood from the sword on his pants. It left ugly, black stripes in the material. He started after the creature pretending to be Anton. Demon Anton shook his head and retreated down the path. Jon let him go. He had to find Chris, so he turned to go the other way. What he next saw stopped him cold.

  The path ahead was blocked by dozens of horrid demons of all sizes, shapes and colors. They flowed in from dark side tunnels like streams of massive ants. Jon shook his head and spat. There was no way he’d get through them all. He looked behind him. Down the path it was even worse. An endless sea of monsters raced his way.

  “This could have been easy for you!” cried Anton from a safe distance. The monsters rushed by him, closing in on Jon. “Now it’s gonna hurt so bad!”

  Jon thought quickly. Chris had given up his life for Kelly and Travis. That took some serious guts. Maybe Jon could buy them some time. He twirled the long knives adroitly. His eyes flashed coldhearted rage. He spoke in a low, icy voice.

  “That depends on who’s inflicting the pain.”

  Jon yelled maniacally as he charged straight into the horde.

  10

  ESCAPE

  KELLY

  The demon that held Travis was big and strong. Travis pulled on the hand that covered his mouth, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Shhh,” it said softly. “Keep it down. The place might cave in.”

  I knew that voice. Travis recognized it too and quit struggling. The “creature” let him go. I lit another match.

  “Dr. Parrish!” We both ignored the man’s warning to keep quiet. We jumped into his arms and hugged him fiercely. I mean I hardly knew the guy, but I was so glad to see him, well there just weren’t any words for it. Having an adult with us made everything seem more hopeful.

  Parrish was obviously relieved too because he hugged us right back. I dropped the match and the cave went black again. I couldn’t believe it. Parrish was alive!

  “How’dja get here?” asked Travis, as Parrish set us down. “Do you have a flashlight?”

  “Lost it in the quake,” said Parrish. “So I crawled here.”

  “You crawled all this way in total darkness?” I struck another match. “That’s almost impossible.”

  “Almost,” he admitted. “But I lost my glasses, so it didn’t matter if I had a light. I can barely see you now.”

  “I found your glasses,” said Travis, watching my match burn down. “But they were smashed. Kelly, the match.”

  I looked at the flame. It nearly touched my fingers. I quickly lit my candle and dropped the match, but not before it burned me.

  “Ow!” I sucked on my stinging fingertip.

  Parrish shushed me again. He looked up nervously, as if he thought something was crawling on the ceiling. Travis lit his candle from mine and cupped his hand around it as a windshield. “No loud noises, please,” Parrish said softly.

  “You’re right,” said Travis. “We don’t want the demons to hear us. You’ve seen ‘em too?”

  “I don’t know about any demons, but the noise could cause another cave-in. That’s why I covered your mouth, Travis. In case you yelled when you saw me.”

  “Why do you think it’ll cause a cave-in?” I asked.

  “Because right after the quake when I called out to find you guys, half the ceiling fell on my head! It was not a pleasant experience.”

  “Good point.” I raised the candle for a better look at Parrish’s face. He had streaks of blood running down both sides of his head and neck. Most of it had dried, but it still looked bad enough.

  “You’re hurt!” cried Travis, disregarding the warning to be quiet. “You got blood all over ya!”

  “With my face it might be an improvement. Really kids, it’s not as bad as it looks. Just a few small cuts.”

  “You wouldn’t say that if you could see it.” I frowned. “But we left the first aid kit with Jon and Chris. Otherwise, Travis could fix you right up.”

  Travis disagreed. “I never learned nothing about cuts.”

  “You never learned anything about cuts,” I corrected. “I guess it’s a good thing Chris only broke his leg.”

  “Chris broke his leg?” said Parrish. “What about Jon and Anton?”

  “Jon’s fine,” said Travis. “But Mr. Edwards got grabbed by demons. I think they ate him.”

  Parrish raised his head. “Do what?”

  “Travis!” I couldn’t believe he said such a thing. “You don’t know that!”

  “What else would they do with ‘im?”

  “What are you kids talking about?”

  I sent Travis a mental message. Parrish is confused. He doesn’t believe about the demons. I changed the subject.

  “Do you want a candle? I’ve got a bunch in my pack.”

  “No, thanks, Kelly,” said Parrish. “Can’t see anyway. I left my spare glasses at home. I knew I should have brought them. What do you mean by demons? Do you mean like wild animals? Are there bears in here?”

  “Not animals,” said Travis. “Demons!” I flashed him a warning, but he clearly had to tell somebody. “Thousands of ‘em! They had a big meeting and the salesman told ‘em they were gonna conquer people and make us live in caves!”

  “The salesman? What?”

  “At first the demons wanted to eat him, too, but the big red demon stopped ‘em!”

  “He was the Boss,” I said, chiming in. “He was huge! Look, we don’t have time to talk about it now. We’ve got to get help for Jon and Chris. We’ll tell you everything when we get outside. Let’s go, Travis.”

  Travis pulled Parrish’s arm. “Grab my shoulder. I know the way.”

  We went forward against a
steady breeze that rushed through the cave. Travis carried the candle with one hand, and shielded it from the wind with the other. Parrish followed, keeping a grip on his shoulder. He walked stooped over and tried not to trip on anybody’s feet.

  I could tell we were close to the opening. The path was familiar and the air smelled fresher.

  Travis led us into the narrow tunnel. “I thought you were a demon when you grabbed me.”

  “That’s what everybody says,” joked Parrish.

  Suddenly, an intense feeling of jagged pain shot through me. It felt like I’d been electrocuted. I dropped to my knees, shuddering.

  “Oh, my God!”

  “What’s wrong, Kelly?” asked Parrish. “Did I step on your foot?”

  I could hardly speak. Tears welled up in my eyes. “No…much worse…Jon… Chris…”

  Then I flashed a terrible, burning message into Travis’ head.

  RUN, KELLY! RUN, TRAVIS! DON’T COME BACK! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

  It startled Travis so badly he staggered against the wall. Parrish caught him by the shirt before he fell.

  “What’s going on?” Parrish looked from Travis to me, confused and concerned. “Are you two sick?”

  I began to sob. It wasn’t the best time for it, but I couldn’t help it. “Demons got Chris! Jon fought ‘em, but they got him, too!”

  Travis’ grief overwhelmed him. It was all he could do just to nod.

  Suddenly, all my grief changed to terror. “They’re coming after us!”

  Travis felt the back of his neck tingle, which usually meant danger was near—he had a special name for the feeling. “Ghost fingers!”

  Once again Parrish was confused. “What?” But he didn’t have time to find out what ghost fingers meant. Travis tried to run, but he only moved as fast as Parrish would let him. With every step I could feel the demons closing in. I cried so hard I was nearly as blind as Parrish. I dropped my candle and grabbed Parrish by the shirttail. I stumbled after him, terribly wounded by the deep pain in my heart.

  I knew Travis felt every bit of it. Jon was gone. Chris was gone. There was nothing that could be done for them now.

  The creatures were gaining on us. I heard the clicking of their claws on the cold stone floor. There were lots of them, getting closer with every step. I moved as fast as I could but the cave was pitch-black. I was blind as a post and apparently those things could see in the dark! I glanced back, choked with fear.

  They’re right behind us! The terror in my thoughts made it clear. Travis ran.

  “Slow down!” said Parrish. “I can’t run in here!”

  Travis didn’t give him a choice. The back of his neck must have been icy cold by now. The demons were close.

  “Light!” he said excitedly. “The exit!” He picked up the pace.

  “Travis, take it easy,” said Parrish. “I don’t want to hit my head again.”

  “High ceiling!” Travis tossed the candle aside. “We’re here!”

  I pushed Parrish from behind. “GO!”

  The cave opened up a little. I rubbed my eyes on my forearms and saw gray outlines of rock formations. A few scraggly plants grew in the corners. A low snakelike voice hissed from behind us.

  “Pretty girl. Waits for us, pretty girl…”

  The blood in my veins turned to ice. The creature was so close I could almost feel its hot breath on the back of my neck. And it was talking to me! I pushed Parrish harder to make him hurry.

  “Pretty girl!”

  “Who’s that?” said Parrish. “Who’s there?”

  “JUST RUN!”

  I glanced over my shoulder. A host of evil glowing eyes appeared in the darkness beyond. Red, yellow, blue, green…so many eyes. They came at me fast.

  Darkness became twilight. Freedom was only a few steps away. But the groping horrors were close. I could almost feel their nightmare of clutching hands pulling me back into darkness.

  “Pretty girl!”

  I stumbled. Then Parrish stumbled, which made Travis stumble.

  The cave opened up a little. I rounded the last turn and saw a shaft of sunlight on the farthest wall.

  I began to have doubts. What if they came after us out of the cave? What if sunlight didn’t really bother them? How could we fight them?

  All at once a clammy hand caught my ankle. I tripped and landed hard on my face. One of the creatures came beside me. I could see its squat gray form in the dim light.

  “Help me!”

  Parrish stopped. He squinted mightily. “Kelly? Where are you?”

  “Here! Help!”

  The thing gripped my leg like a vise. It dragged me back into the cave. I dug my fingernails into the smooth rock floor, but it didn’t help. I kicked and fought like a wildcat. No! I didn’t want to be eaten alive! Why did I ever come into this stupid cave?

  Parrish groped for me like a blind man. He kept missing my outstretched hands. I cried out again.

  “Help!”

  “Oh, hell!” Parrish squinted really hard to see. He dove blindly toward the sound of my screams.

  DR. LeBARR

  Dr. Clara LeBarr put the last of the picnic food into the wicker basket and wiped the jelly stripe off her youngest daughter’s cheek. They had come to Crystal Creek Park for a family picnic and things had gone rather well. As an emergency-room doctor and single parent she didn’t often spend all the time she should with her girls. Taking the day off and coming to the park had been just what they needed.

  “You really like PBJs, don’t you, Katie?” said Clara to the little girl.

  “I love ‘em, mommy,” said Katie. “I could eat ‘em all day.”

  “You probably could,” said her older sister sarcastically, taking up the basket for her mother. “You’re such a little oink.”

  “Am not!”

  “Are to!”

  Clara cut them off. “Girls, stop it! We just had a great picnic and I will not listen to any bickering. Mandy, stop calling your sister a pig. If I hear it again, you’ll be grounded for a week.”

  “I didn’t call her a pig. I said she was an oink.”

  “You know exactly what I mean.”

  They got to the parking lot and set the basket and blanket on top of her white Mercedes sedan. Clara took out the keys from her purse. All at once she heard a scream. Her blood turned cold, but she looked up alertly.

  “What was that, mommy?” said Katie. The little girl fearfully gripped the pocket on her mother’s blue jeans.

  “Somebody screamed,” said Mandy. “It was in the cave.”

  “Mandy, take your sister to the ranger station and tell them what we heard. But do not, I repeat, do not come out until I come to get you, okay?”

  “Okay,” said Mandy. “Come on, Katie. Hurry.”

  Clara watched until the kids got safely inside the station before rushing over to the cave. She heard voices echoing inside.

  “Dr. Parrish!” It sounded like a young child, a boy? She stopped in front of the cave entrance and listened. She heard sounds of a struggle. Then footsteps. Lots of footsteps on the run.

  A second later three people burst into the sunlight. A very big man, a young girl, maybe Mandy’s age, and a younger boy with white blond hair. The man and the girl ran until they collapsed by the Pandora’s Cave sign. The girl sobbed uncontrollably. The man held her in his arms.

  “Dr. Parrish, come on! Run!” The boy was frantic. He pulled on the big man’s arm, absolutely terrified. “We’re too close! They’ll get us!”

  But the man—Dr. Parrish—shook his head. “Travis, can’t you see Kelly’s upset? Something grabbed her! It pulled her into the cave! I couldn’t see it!”

  The girl named Kelly didn’t try to speak. She just cried and cried in his arms.

  The boy, Travis, was really scared. “They’re still there! I can feel ‘em!” He watched the cave warily. He scooped up a rock and faced the cave entrance. That was when Clara noticed the blood on Parrish’s head. She ran over to them.


  “I’m a doctor!” she said, kneeling beside Parrish. “What happened?”

  “We were in the cave!” said Travis excitedly. “We got caught in an earthquake! An’ there’s demons!” He pointed at the cave.

  “Travis, you don’t know there were demons,” said Parrish. “It was probably some wild animals.”

  “Stay away!” yelled Travis at the cave. He tried to act fierce, but Clara noticed his whole body shook with fear. “Stay in your hole!”

  Clara looked up. Something moved in the blackness, she was sure of it. She narrowed her eyes. The boy was right, something was there. Something alive. Travis hurled the rock into the cave. Whack!

  At once a dozen evil, hungry eyes appeared from inside the darkness. A voice cried out. But it clearly wasn’t human. “Ow! You little maggot!”

  Clara gasped. “Oh, my God!”

  “What the devil was that?” said Parrish.

  “Not a wild animal,” said Clara. “Unless it’s the talking kind.”

  Travis pulled on Parrish’s arm again. “We gotta get out of here!”

  The creatures in the cave spoke. “We gots yer brother! An yer father, too! We’re gonnsa rips out their soul and eats their flesh!”

  “You let ‘em go!” cried Kelly through her tears. Parrish released her. He sat up, obviously stunned at what he was hearing.

  “You’ll never see them again!” said a second, higher-pitched voice.

  Kelly stood up, sobbing. She shook her fist in useless defiance. “No! Let them go, or I’ll get you! I swear it!”

  “No!” said another demon in a deep, gravelly voice. “We’ll get you! We know where you live, Kelly and Travis. We’ll grab you in the dark, when the night comes. The dark belongs to usss!”

  11

  RESCUE

  KELLY

  After we left the cave it took a long time for us to stop crying. Travis was embarrassed to cry in front of people, and if Jon or Chris had been there, I know he would have stopped. Of course, if they’d been there he wouldn’t have had any reason to cry to begin with. He didn’t know for sure what had happened to either of them. But he knew that I had somehow seen what they saw when the demons attacked and I’d delivered an upsetting glimpse for Travis to see. His understanding of what happened wasn’t clear, but he realized, with good reason, that our brother and Chris were most likely dead.

  Of course they were dead. How could anyone fight off so many demons? Chris wasn’t a fighter to begin with and he couldn’t run with a broken leg, so the demons probably just grabbed him and took him away. Or maybe they ate him right there on the ledge. I shuddered all over and caught myself before the images got any worse. So much terror and pain. Poor Chris.

  “Jon hacked a lot of them to pieces before he went down,” I said. “A lot of them. But there were way too many demons.” What I’d seen made me both proud and sad. I was proud of Jon’s fearlessness in battle, but I felt sad because we’d never see our big brother again.

  I wasn’t sobbing anymore, but I hadn’t completely stopped crying. My eyes were puffy and red, and I kind of hiccupped sporadically. Every so often random tears rolled down my face, then I’d wipe my eyes and try to regroup my emotions again. Travis struggled to stay clear of my feelings, but it was next to impossible. He was just as upset as I was, and he couldn’t help but sense every bit of my suffering.

  We sat close to each other on a bench in front of the ranger station. Ripper the wonder dog kept his head on my lap to let us both rub his soft ears. We were upset, but something about rubbing the dog’s ears had a calming effect. I glanced over my shoulder through the window. Dr. LeBar was still treating Parrish. Apparently, he’d been correct about his injuries being minor. Dr. LeBar told us that facial and head wounds often looked worse than they were because they tended to bleed a lot, even when they were tiny.

  The office door opened. Parrish came out with the blood cleaned up and several small bandages on his head. He groped his way almost blindly to the bench and took a seat beside Travis. “Ranger Laarz called in a search-and-rescue party. They’ll be going into the cave within the hour.”

  “Are they soldiers?” asked Travis. “They’d better have lots of guns.”

  “I don’t know. But I’m sure they’ll find Jon and Chris. And Anton, too.”

  “They gotta have guns!” cried Travis. “You know what’s in there!”

  Parrish looked at him, frowning. I could tell he was worried and didn’t know what to say to a couple of scared kids. If only he hadn’t broken his glasses.

  The door opened again. Ranger Laarz and another ranger named Eric Wooden came out of the office. Wooden was twenty-four and looked very fit with his broad shoulders and muscular build. He had dark eyes and dark hair, and large, rough looking hands. I thought if anybody could handle a demon, maybe he could.

  Laarz carried a shotgun and a box of shells. She transferred all the shells from the box to her jacket pockets and left the empty box on the windowsill. Wooden had a rifle slung over his shoulder and a handgun in a holster on his belt. Dr. LeBar was with them.

  “I don’t know what they were, Melinda,” said the doctor. “I only know what I saw and heard. I already told you what they said.”

  “Yes,” said Laarz. “But demons? Come on now. Isn’t it more likely just somebody playing a joke? If I go in there shooting, two things can happen. One, I kill a harmless prankster by mistake. Or two, a bullet ricochets off the stone and hits me, or someone in my party. Guns and caves don’t mix.”

  “There’s a third thing you need to worry about,” said Parrish. “The earthquake affected the infrastructure of the cave. If you fire a gun in there, the ceiling might come down on your head. All I did was yell and it happened. You said the quake registered a three point six on the Richter scale?”

  “That’s what the U.S. Geological Service told us,” said Laarz. “But it felt worse than that to me.”

  “You should have been inside the cave!” Parrish’s eyes got wide. “The noise was intense. I’ve never been so scared.” Travis and I both nodded in agreement.

  “I just hope there aren’t any aftershocks until we get back out.” Laarz looked at us again. Her tone became more serious. “Kids, the only reason we’re taking these weapons is because you’re so upset about us going into the cave. Don’t expect us to go in there shooting up the place, okay? We’ll do our best to find your friends, I promise.”

  “Are any army guys going?” asked Travis.

  “Not specifically, no. Why?”

  “Because when the demons attack, you’re gonna run out of bullets. You need way more ammo than that!”

  Wooden chuckled and Laarz rubbed Travis’ hair. They both smiled at him, but it made Travis madder. I was pretty angry too. What was wrong with them? Did they think we were joking?

  “You don’t believe us, but they were demons! I got a good, close look at one of them. It grabbed my leg!” I showed them the side of my pantleg. The blue jeans were shredded from the knee down to the ankle.

  “Yeah,” said Travis. “One of them grabbed me, too! It took my new backpack!”

  “Why would a demon want your backpack?” asked Wooden sarcastically. “He need it for demon school?”

  “Cuz I was still wearing it!” Travis didn’t hold back the anger in his voice.

  Laarz looked to Parrish for some rational support, but he only nodded.

  “Something grabbed her,” he said. “And then it dragged her back into the cave. I heard them, too, but I couldn’t see anything. Still can’t. Damn glasses.”

  “I saw eyes,” said Dr. LeBar. “Lots of different colored eyes that were much too large to be human. I’m not saying they were demons, but these kids were traumatized by something strange and horrible. I’ve always been anti-gun, but in this case I think the weapons are a wise precaution.”

  “Guns are dangerous and heavy,” said Laarz, closing the topic. “I just hope we can afford to bring along some rescue equipment, too. Let’s get packed, Eric.
” They went to a nearby car and opened the trunk. I could still hear them talking.

  “I called Anya and Karen to guide us,” said Laarz. “Next to Anton, they know this cave better than anyone.”

  “Works for me,” said Wooden. “When’s Ned supposed to get here?”

  “He’s on his way. He’ll be exhausted after working all night.”

  Laarz and Wooden loaded up two backpacks and hauled them near the entrance to the cave. Soon the quiet little park became center stage for a massive rescue effort. A few reporters tried to find out what the commotion was all about, but Laarz dealt with them quickly and made them leave.

  “I called Angie,” said Parrish. He stood up and opened the door to the ranger station. “And Yvette, too. They should be here soon. Hey, Travis, how do I get to the men’s room?”

  Travis looked in the window and pointed. “Take a right, go straight. End of the hall.”

  “Thanks, buddy.” Travis watched the big man grope his way down the hall until he found the correct door and went in. A few minutes later a red Ford pickup drove up and parked next to Anton’s SUV. Two pretty college-age girls got out and began gearing up for the rescue. They pulled on some coveralls and kneepads and hauled their equipment to the entrance of the cave.

  We were upset about Jon, Chris and Anton Edwards, but we were also scared for ourselves. The demons knew our names and said they’d come after us when it got dark. We hoped Ranger Laarz and her crew could rescue everybody really fast, because we didn’t want to be anywhere near this place after the sun went down.

  “How’d the demons get our names?” said Travis. I looked at him with fearful eyes.

  “When Chris tried to warn us. Or maybe they could read my mind, but I couldn’t read theirs.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes. “I don’t want those people to go in the cave. If they do, terrible things will happen to them. But if they don’t and Jon is somehow still alive…I don’t know.”

  “Do you think he’s still alive?” asked Travis hopefully.

  “When mom and dad, died this terrible flash of pain and emotion sort of exploded inside my head. It hurt really bad when it happened. But I haven’t felt anything like that from Jon, so I keep thinking there’s a chance he might be okay. I don’t know about Chris or Mr. Edwards.”

  More rescuers came to the park and gathered stretchers, numerous backpacks, and lots of rope. An ambulance pulled in and parked. An East Indian man and a woman got out to unload a special backpack full of first aid equipment. Laarz called them all over by the cave. She was ready to go in.

  “How come Ranger Laarz doesn’t believe we saw demons?” asked Travis. “Does she think we’re lying?”

  “She just doesn’t believe in them. But Dr. LaBar does. She’s very upset. She knows what they are, but she doesn’t want to admit it to any adults. She’s afraid they’ll think she’s crazy.”

  “That means they think we’re crazy. What about Dr. Parrish? What’s he think?”

  “He needs more evidence. He’s a scientist, you know.”

  “When the rescuers see the demons, they’ll believe then, won’t they?”

  “Oh, yeah, they’ll believe. But if they see demons, it won’t matter. If that happens, the rescuers won’t be coming back either.”