The Perilous Polynesian Pendant

by Jason Lethcoe

  Andy tried his best to quell such thoughts. Be brave! Stay calm. You can do this! That’s not going to happen to you.

  But the thoughts still kept coming. By the time he’d actually crested the hill that looked down into the valley by the volcano’s base, he’d worked himself up into such a state of anxiety that he thought he would pass out.

  Andy looked over the ridge. There was nothing to be seen. The long, well-maintained path that led to the base of the mountain was empty except for a few tropical birds in a nearby tree.

  Andy wiped a shaking palm across his sweaty forehead. Professor Phink isn’t here!

  Perhaps all the fancy surveillance equipment the Society had used to track the fake Tiki Key was malfunctioning.

  A new hope flared in Andy’s chest as he thought about another possibility. Maybe the professor had already been there and had been unable to find the secret gate that led inside. Maybe he’d just gone home….

  CRACK! From out of nowhere came a sizzling blast of white heat. Andy stared at an area just above his head where a palm tree had been neatly cut in half, its trunk still smoking.

  What in the world?

  “Get down!” Rusty shouted.

  Andy felt the man’s big hand push him roughly to the earth as another sizzling blast fried a grove of papaya trees. The entire group had fallen flat on the ground, hoping not to be seen by whatever was firing in their direction.

  The twins were the first to spot the source of the attack. Behind them, through the trees on the left, was a gathering of people dressed all in black. In the center of the group, Andy saw a tall man wearing a waistcoat and top hat. He assumed this was Phink. The villain was shouting orders to a girl seated behind a huge cannon-like weapon that looked to Andy like something straight out of a Jules Verne novel.

  Another thunderous blast shook the earth. Andy covered his head with his hands, protecting himself against the heat. He heard a loud BOOM! as the fiery charge struck the side of the volcano.

  Suddenly, Andy understood what was happening. They weren’t being shot at. Professor Phink was blasting the wall of the volcano, trying to create an opening!

  Albert spoke in a low voice. “I bet he doesn’t know where the door is. Maybe our intelligence was wrong—”

  Cedric interrupted him, saying, “Sorry to disappoint you, old sport, but I believe he knows exactly what he’s doing.” He gestured to the spot on the side of the mountain where the blast had recently hit. “The reason we couldn’t locate the door was because it was covered up. The last time the volcano erupted, the lava must have hardened over the entrance. Why didn’t we think of that before?”

  “What do we do?” Andy asked. “With that laser cannon thing he’s got down there, he could fry us all like bacon.”

  “I say we wait,” Albert answered.

  Hoku nodded enthusiastically in agreement. “Wait. Yes, wait. Hoku likes to wait. Especially back in the Tiki Room. Wait, wait. Go back and wait.”

  Albert rolled his eyes at the terrified bird. “Hoku! We’re not leaving until this is done.”

  Hoku lowered her head and fluffed out her feathers, muttering darkly. It was obvious to Andy that she was as scared as he was.

  A sudden movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to jump.

  The next thing he knew, the twins were on their feet, shouting. Throwing stars flew from their fingers like bullets from a gun, eliciting shouts of alarm and grunts of painful surprise from a group of black-clad figures that had been sneaking up on them. The dense jungle had provided Phink’s henchmen with plenty of cover, and if not for the twins’ quick reflexes, the whole group would have been captured—or killed!

  The fight that followed was spectacular. Andy was shocked to see just how well trained the Jungle Explorers’ Society actually was.

  Rusty popped his steel eyeball from its socket and, drawing a slingshot from his belt, pelted one of the biggest attackers in the forehead, felling him in one shot.

  “Take that!” he shouted as he charged at the attackers.

  “For the Society!” he yelled.

  Andy saw the effect it had on Phink’s men. One of them didn’t want anything to do with the burly explorer and immediately turned tail and ran. But the others must have been made of sterner stuff. The soldiers met Rusty head-on. Soon there was a wild, snarling fight with fists flying everywhere and knives slashing through the air. Rusty fought like an enraged tiger, and where his fists landed, teeth and jaws were broken.

  Dotty and Betty were just as effective. The twins worked in perfect harmony, whipping throwing stars at their enemies and sending them screaming to the ground.

  Andy heard the sisters’ voices above the din, one of them singing a battle song in a low alto and the other a soprano. The harmonic effect sounded a lot like a bagpipe, and it had an eerie quality that made the little hairs on Andy’s arms stand on end.

  When the twins had used up their store of throwing stars, they twirled and leapt into the air, using their conjoined hips to their advantage. Their acrobatics not only put distance between them and the stunned soldiers, but also gave them a surprising edge. Andy watched, amazed, as two pairs of spinning back kicks hit three of the attackers, knocking them out cold.

  Cedric stood, egg-shaped bomb at the ready, waiting for the right moment. Spotting another group of Phink’s attackers heading up the hill, he shouted an incomprehensible battle cry and flung the egg as hard as he could manage in their direction. The colorful bomb exploded on impact, taking out nearly half of the hill along with Phink’s men.

  Hoku flapped and scratched with her talons at a thin attacker with an ugly scar running down his left cheek, giving him a new, matching one on the other side. Albert, his machete at the ready, was wrestling with a squat gorilla-shaped man and looked like he was getting the best of him.

  We’ve got a chance! Andy thought as he surveyed the tide of battle. Phink’s men have greater numbers, but it looks like they didn’t count on how ferocious the Society members could be in battle.

  That was when Andy suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do. Leaping out from behind the tree where he’d been hiding, he ran down the side of the hill toward the volcano. He hoped the blasts from the professor’s cannon had revealed the entrance.

  As he ran, Andy reached into his pocket for his Zoomwriter. Suddenly, a pair of black-gloved hands shot out from behind a nearby bush, latching on to his shoulder with a painful grip.

  “Aaaah!” Andy shouted. He quickly turned the cap of the pen to the right and, aiming behind his back, pressed down hard.

  FOOOM! Like at the Enchanted Tiki room, the atomic pulse blasted backward with tremendous force, tossing his attacker and four others high into the air.

  Grateful for his grandfather’s gift, Andy continued his sprint down the side of the hill. The blasted area was just ahead of him. Through the haze of rock dust, he thought he could make out something else there, too.

  As he drew closer, what he was seeing became clearer. Beneath the charred and splintered rocks was a small door covered with elaborate carvings. He charged toward the door.

  All I have to do is to signal the others when Phink arrives, Andy thought. Then they’ll get the Kapu Key from him. Soon this whole nightmare will be over.

  At last, Andy reached the door. His breath came in ragged gasps as he located a tiny carved hole in its center. He looked from side to side worriedly. What if someone saw him? But the professor was nowhere to be found. He must still have been with his men, attacking the members of the Society. Andy still had time to hide.

  Then he heard a voice that sent a chill up his spine. “Thank you, Andy.”

  Wheeling around, he saw a tall man with uncanny yellow eyes staring down at him. The smile he wore resembled that of a cat that had just caught an especially clever mouse.

  Andy’s mind reeled. Hadn’t he just seen the professor about a mile away, standing next to the cannon and shouting orders? And then, with a sinking feeling, he reali
zed that the entire thing must have been a distraction. He glanced at the rocks around the opening of the door and realized that they weren’t even hot.

  He used a double to distract us. He’s been waiting for me up here the whole time, planning on taking me by surprise.

  “You did all this earlier, didn’t you?” Andy asked. “You’d already found the door. The cannon blasts we saw were a distraction so that you could ambush us and I would bring you the real Tiki Key.”

  The professor, as if pleased with one of his students coming to a correct conclusion, grinned an evil grin. Andy thought that he’d never seen such a terrible smile in his life.

  “Excellent deductive skills, my boy. Too bad they won’t do you any more good. All the same, so kind of you to bring us the real key…Keymaster. Such a shame you won’t be collecting any more keys.”

  Andy was still taking Phink in when he heard another voice.

  “We meet again, Andy Stanley.”

  This time, Andy didn’t need to turn to know who it was.

  He knew at that moment that his quest was over.

  He’d failed.

  “I have only one question to ask you, Andy Stanley….”

  Phink’s yellow eyes gleamed as he knelt down beside Andy and continued, “Do you have any last requests? Or shall we dispense with the formalities and get this over with? For you see, once I send you down to the god and you unlock the pendant from Kapu’s neck, I can’t guarantee what will happen to you. He’s been asleep for a thousand years. He might be hungry….”

  Stall for time, Andy told himself. You’ve got to figure out a way out of this!

  But his mind was blank. It seemed like every thought had been banished by the fear and dread of what he might find when he was sent down the steaming pit that led to the evil Hawaiian god.

  This can’t be happening!

  But it was. And the professor seemed to be thoroughly enjoying Andy’s discomfort. Andy was lying facedown on the stone floor, bound head to toe with strong rope. His body was scratched and bruised from his rough treatment, and the sweltering heat inside the volcano was making him lightheaded. Sulfurous fumes wafted from a large pit next to the chamber in which he’d been placed, and Andy couldn’t tell if it was the awful stench that was nauseating him, or the terror he felt at the prospect of dying a horrible death.

  Andy looked away from Phink. From a shadowy cleft on the other side of the chamber, Abigail Awol watched the situation unfold. Her smile was gone, and Andy thought her expression showed the faintest hint of distaste. Could it be that—now that it had come to this—she was having doubts?

  Andy didn’t know. But he did know his position was precarious. On the floor next to him was an iron cot. It was connected to a chain that stretched up to the opening of the volcano and looped over a pulley system before dropping back down to the floor.

  They’re going to put me on that thing and lower me down. Even if this whole thing is a myth and there’s no Kapu down there, I’ll probably die from the heat of the magma.

  His heart raced with panic and he racked his brain for ideas. Professor Phink’s question was hanging out there, waiting to be answered. This was his only chance to change his fate. And Phink did seem willing to give him a last request.

  What should he ask for?

  Finally it came to him. He looked up at Abigail, searching her face for what he hoped to find there. Then, turning his neck painfully so that he could look back into Professor Phink’s disturbing gaze, he said, “I do have a last request….”

  Phink looked amused. He waved a long-fingered hand as if he were a genie granting a wish. “Ask,” he said.

  Andy tried to still his thumping heart. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Allow me to write my last will and testament.”

  Ned Lostmore had left for Hawaii just after the zeppelin had gone down and, with the help of Boltonhouse’s sophisticated machinery, had remained in contact with the Society throughout Andy’s quest.

  One of Boltonhouse’s many functions was as a submarine. At the moment, he and Ned were traveling underwater at over seventy-five knots. They had already covered nearly two thousand miles from the Oregon coast where Ned’s mansion was located and were closing in on Molokai. Ned was safely stowed inside his mechanical servant’s chest, protected by waterproof glass, with a wonderful view of the sea life rushing by all around him.

  At any another time, the intrepid doctor would have loved looking for shipwrecks or lost continents. But there was no time for that now. He was consumed with worry about his grandson.

  Ned had, of course, learned immediately about Phink’s attempt to bring down his zeppelin and capture Andy at sea. The realization that his nemesis would resort to such tactics made him furious.

  Ned was even more troubled by the fact that Phink and the Collective—the evil organization he worked for—seemed to know as much about the items as he did. He hated to think about the possibility that one of his agents might be a traitor, but someone was certainly leaking information to his enemies. The question was, who? And how much had this person told the Collective?

  As the ocean floor continued to speed by all around him, Ned’s troubling thoughts were interrupted by a transmission.

  Ned waited impatiently for the slip of paper to scroll into his cabinet.

  “Come now! Hurry up! Is it from my grandson?”

  Boltonhouse didn’t reply. But after a few more seconds of telegraph keys rattling, the paper scroll finally appeared. A tiny claw spread the message out in front of Ned so that he could read what was written there.

  THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ANDY STANLEY STOP

  OANOAECOLAOIV AAEDNNAON NEI DEEOPIPIAORIT STOP

  POLTEOH DINOEIS STOP

  SISEEINOEOVYIIGIRNOIF RRUROIY SITINNAOW DINMA ULOIY SSEEVROIL LOLOIYTOS RIEEHITYAAF RIUOOIY LLIYAAGGIOBEA STOP

  ANDY STOP

  Ned’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “Increase propeller speed to one hundred knots!” he exclaimed. “And implement Plan 34-X! We must find the menehune!”

  Andy hoped that his gamble had paid off. Having Abigail use the Zoomwriter to write his message had been one of his better ideas. But if it had had any effect, help was slow in coming. He was currently being lowered into the searing pit. Andy could feel the heat of the magma below against his skin.

  For now, Andy had no choice but to do as Phink instructed: search for the pendant. Phink had handed him the Kapu Key and ordered him to free the sleeping god—on order of death. He had no intention of unlocking the pendant, but he had to give help a chance to come. Following Phink’s orders was the only thing that would buy him time and keep him from getting killed.

  Andy’s mind raced as he tried to think of a way to thwart the plan. Would there be another tunnel that led out of the volcano when he got to the bottom? If so, maybe he could run for it.

  As Andy descended lower and lower into the choking fumes, he blinked back tears at the sulfurous clouds stinging his eyes.

  I can hardly see! he thought. How am I going to find anything down here? The thought was quickly followed by another. I don’t want to die like this!

  Suddenly, through the smoke, a terrifying sight emerged. Below Andy was a sleeping giant. The prone body of Kapu stretched out on a massive platform of rock. All around it were rivers of magma. Kapu’s skin was covered in elaborate tattoos that glowed with a supernatural red light. The tattoos pulsed with each breath the sleeping giant took.

  Andy’s eyes ran over the giant. He had never seen anything so huge. Kapu had to be over two hundred feet tall! When his eyes reached Kapu’s face, Andy’s blood ran cold in spite of the terrible heat around him. While the body of the giant resembled that of a human man, the face was something completely different. It was a living tribal mask! Huge almond-shaped eyes gave way to a pair of thin, horribly slitted nostrils. But it was the gigantic mouth that was the worst feature of all. It stretched disproportionately from the god’s face like a snout. Inside, Andy could see row after row of r
azor-sharp teeth. Teeth, if the legend was true, that were made for eating people.

  Andy gulped, terrified. He’d never seen anything like Kapu before. I can’t believe it’s real! It’s like a nightmare!

  Professor Phink’s voice echoed down from above. “Do you see it, boy? Do you see it?”

  Andy was too stunned to reply. He realized now how stupid his last-ditch effort had been. No one was coming to rescue him. This thing below him was supernatural! A demon! Something far worse than any nightmare he’d ever had!

  The iron platform creaked lower, and Andy caught sight of a glint of metal around the giant’s neck.

  The Pailina Pendant!

  “I see it,” Andy called. “But I’m not going to touch it. That…giant god-thing will kill me!”

  A string of curses from above him followed Andy’s remark. Andy couldn’t help thinking that, had the professor seen what he was seeing, he would have thought twice about his plan. There’s no way that any human could control a creature like this. It looks unstoppable!

  A sharp CRACK! echoed through the cavern, followed by a loud PING! as a bullet ricocheted just inches from Andy’s left hand.

  “Hey!” Andy shouted. The professor was shooting at him!

  “Do what I’ve commanded you to do, boy, or there will be consequences!” Phink shouted.

  “Consequences? Do you mean other than being eaten alive by a monster?” Andy shouted back. “If you kill me, who will unlock the pendant?”

  The professor cursed again, and Andy felt a jolt. The platform he was riding on shuddered and began to drop!

  Andy screamed as the platform free-fell the last twenty-five feet, slamming into the island of stone where Kapu lay with a tremendous CLANG!

  The boy tumbled from the iron platform—fortunately, Phink had removed his bindings before forcing him onto it—and barely stopped short of slamming into Kapu! He didn’t know whether or not the giant could be woken by natural means, but he didn’t want to take any chances.