Nightmare (16 page)

She steered the kayak closer to shore, drawn to this secret spot that could have meant Taylor’s death … or her own. One of the fat gulls that frequented the lake sat motionless on the left post that supported the dock, its beady, black eyes trained on Emily.

“Don’t be afraid of me. I won’t disturb you,” Emily whispered to the bird.

Suddenly Emily was aware of the
slap-drip
of a paddle and saw that another kayak had swung in beside her. She glanced up to see Taylor, who was leaning forward, squinting to get a good look at the dock.

“Who is that near the dock?” Taylor asked.

Emily caught a flash of movement in the woods, but whoever or whatever it was disappeared behind the trunk of a thick oak. “I couldn’t tell,” she said.

“I couldn’t either, except I think it was a woman.”

“What makes you think so?” Emily asked.

“I’m not sure. Her clothes? Her hair? No. Maybe it was the way she moved.”

As they drew nearer to the dock, Emily backpaddled, stopping the forward movement of her kayak. Taylor did the same. Silently their boats bobbed up and down in the water, the only sounds on the lake the whispery slaps of water against the kayaks. In the still, hot air not a single leaf moved.

“Do you want to tie up to the dock and get out?” Taylor spoke loudly, her voice carrying over the water.

Emily turned to Taylor to answer, so she didn’t see what happened. She only heard a crack, like rock hitting wood. With a loud squawk, the gull shot up from the dock, wings flapping, and sailed just over their heads.

Taylor let out a surprised yell, waved her arms at the bird, and nearly lost her balance.

“Go!” Emily shouted. “Get away from here!” She paddled frantically, trying to turn her kayak around. At the same time she kept looking over her shoulder. Whoever had startled the bird could have easily slipped from her hiding place back into the woods … or she could have remained where she had been, watching them.

Desperately, Emily fumbled with her paddle, nearly dropping it, until finally her kayak shot out into the lake, away from the dock, following Taylor’s kayak. Emily paddled furiously, breathing in short, desperate gasps. Although she had seen no one, she felt the presence of whoever was in the forest. It seemed to be reaching toward her with the terrible, evil grasp of Loki.

How dare she!

Emily Wood is haunting me. She broke into my place of solitude. She interrupted the little time I have left to quietly and efficiently review the plans I have made
.

Well, very soon she will no longer be either an irritant or a danger to me
.

It’s time to act
.

At four o’clock Emily climbed into one of the vans with Haley, Maxwell, and Taylor, whose eyes were again rimmed with smudged black eyeliner. With them were some of the others from the two history classes, and Coach Jinks, who was driving.

He turned on the ignition, but before he pulled out onto the drive he twisted around to grin at his passengers in the back and middle seats. “When you’re down in the cave, watch out for the crazies,” he said.

“What crazies?” Taylor asked. Emily, who was sitting next to her, could feel her tense.

“The ones who live there,” Coach said. “They’re all bats.”

A couple of people groaned.

“Get it?” Coach asked. “Bats … crazies.” He swung onto the road and headed west.

Haley made a face of disgust and said, “It’s going to be a complete waste of time going into a place that has bats living in it.”

Taylor’s voice shook as she said, “I just wish the cave were out in the open and not underground.”

Maxwell snickered. “Someday, when I’m a famous playwright, I’ll remember this inane dialogue and use it in one of my plays.”

“Good for you,” Haley said. “Then Dr. Weil’s classes can diagram your sentences.”

Some of the people in the van laughed, but Maxwell tugged his cap more snugly over his ears and slid down in his seat, his knees nearly up to his chin.

Emily, at his right side, bent to speak quietly to him. “You deserved that,” she said. “You shouldn’t have made fun of Haley and Taylor. They’re your friends.”

He muttered, “When I’m famous—” but Emily interrupted.

“How about now?” she asked. “Who are you now?”

Maxwell turned to glare at her, but she asked, “What have you written? What are you writing
now
?”

He sputtered, little bubbles of spit appearing at the corners of his mouth. “You don’t know what it’s like being a playwright.”

“That’s right,” she admitted. “I’ve never written a play, and I bet you haven’t, either.”

For a moment, Maxwell’s mouth hung open. “But I’m going to,” he said.

“Why don’t you try writing one now?”

“I’m too young. I haven’t had enough life experiences,” he said. “The people who publish plays wouldn’t take me seriously.”

“You wouldn’t have to send your play to a publisher,” Emily told him. “You could write for practice, or just because you want to. Don’t writers have to learn how to follow all the rules before they write for publication?”

Maxwell’s forehead wrinkled as he thought. “I haven’t lived an exciting life. I really haven’t done anything. What would I write about?”

“Write about your family. Maybe in your play they could all realize how they had misjudged your main character after he bravely saved a girl’s life.”

“And they’d be sorry.”

“Sure, if that’s the way you want to write it.”

Maxwell sat up straighter in his seat. “You’re telling me I can’t talk about being a playwright. I just have to be one.”

“Something like that,” Emily answered.

He spoke almost in a whisper. “But what if I try writing a play and find I can’t do it?”

Emily touched his hand gently. “On the other hand, what if you try writing a play and find it’s even better than you thought it might be?”

Maxwell’s eyes widened. “I’ll think about it,” he said, and turned to stare out the window.

Haley leaned across Taylor to tell Emily, “I wish you had drawn a rune this morning. It’s bad enough to have to waste time wandering through a cave. I shouldn’t have to worry about you while I’m doing it.”

“What makes you think I’ll be in any more danger inside a cave than out of it?” Emily asked.

Haley gave her a sharp look. “Do you have your potion with you?”

Emily automatically touched the pocket of her shirt and felt the small vial under her fingertips. “Yes,” she said.

Haley drew back, satisfied. “Good. Then you’ll be protected.”

Impatiently, Emily answered, “How can you believe that a little bottle of black inky stuff can—”

“It was inspired by Loki and verified by the
curandero
,” Haley said smugly.

“This is the real world we live in, not some weird place run by magic stones and people who claim to foretell the future. I don’t understand—”

“That’s exactly it,” Haley interrupted. “There’s a great deal about the mystical side of life that you don’t understand.”

“Longhorn Cavern coming up,” Coach called out as the van bounced into a narrow side road.

Emily felt Taylor stiffen.

“It’s going to be okay,” Emily whispered to Taylor, but Taylor looked as terrified as the young Emily had looked in the photograph. Emily shivered. How could she help Taylor when she couldn’t even help herself?

Some of the vans had already arrived, and within a few minutes the last two pulled into the parking lot next to the administration building with its sturdy stone walls. Some of the teachers had come with the group, among them Dr. Weil.

Firmly holding Taylor’s hand, Emily walked to the spot where everyone was gathering.

“Line up, line up. First group, follow Dr. Hampton,” Mrs. Comstock called. She pointed, waving a small sprig of honeysuckle. “Go through the building and down the path to the entrance to the cave.”

As Maxwell was herded reluctantly with those sent ahead, Mrs. Comstock sent some of the other kids in a group with Coach Jinks, Dr. Anderson, and Dr. Weil.

Emily stepped forward with Taylor but found Mrs. Comstock in her way. “There’s no need to rush,” Mrs. Comstock said. “Stick with me.”

As they walked into the building, Emily saw a gift
shop to her left and a sunny room with a snack bar, tables, and chairs to her right.

Taylor blurted out, “Mrs. Comstock, I could stay here and wait for you. I wouldn’t mind.”

Mrs. Comstock moved to put an arm around Taylor’s shoulders, separating her from Emily. “You’re going to love the cavern,” she said. “It’s really impressive. Just wait until you see it.”

As they left the building and started down the path and steps that led to the cave’s entrance, Mrs. Comstock glanced back at Emily. “There’s nothing to be afraid of in the cave. No one’s ever been lost there … yet.”

Emily gulped and stumbled, grabbing for the handrail. Had Mrs. Comstock meant that as a warning?

Maxwell was out of sight, and Emily had lost track of Haley. Where was Haley?

Glancing ahead, Emily saw that the steps seemed to descend into a black hole, but as she came closer, out of the glare of the sun, she saw that the entrance to the cave was lighted with hidden, recessed lamps.

The group from Camp Excel swarmed into the entrance room, passing a barred iron gate with a padlock swinging from the lock. The gate had been opened wide and pushed to one side.

Taylor stopped so suddenly that Emily nearly plowed into her. Taylor pointed at the gate. Her voice trembling, she asked Mrs. Comstock, “We aren’t going to be locked in, are we?”

“Of course not,” Mrs. Comstock assured her. “That gate is only shut and locked during nighttime hours, when the cave isn’t open to the public. It’s to keep vandals out, not keep people in.”

Slowly Emily descended the rough stone steps into a room that was noticeably cooler than the hot afternoon
temperature outside. A short, plump woman in a park ranger’s uniform glanced over the group, then raised her voice, calling them to pay attention.

“I know that your teacher has probably talked to you about the history of the formation of the cavern and how it eventually drained into the Colorado River. I’ll be repeating some of what she said, and I’m going to point out special features of each room as we walk through them, but first we’ve got to go over a few rules.

“Stay on the paths. No pushing or shoving. Some places are slippery, and you could easily fall. Water still drains from the cave, and at the edges of some of the paths you’ll see little rivulets and even pools. There are a few drops, such as the Wishing Well, which is a drainage pit leading into lower caverns.”

Someone interrupted. “Do you mean there are caverns underneath the Longhorn Cavern?”

The ranger nodded. “There is a large area intertwined with caves. We think it covers hundreds of miles. Many caves haven’t been discovered yet, and many are too difficult to explore. We do have a special tour on Saturdays, when we take visitors to sections of the cavern below the normal tour. It’s a strenuous, rugged trip that takes close to three hours, and you’ll have to rent special safety equipment to take it. Also, you can plan on getting muddy and wet.”

Taylor gave a little moan and reached out again for Emily’s hand, gripping it tightly.

“We aren’t going to go there,” Emily whispered. “We’ll be walking on paths.”

“But we’ll be underground,” Taylor cried out. As a few people turned around to look at her, her voice rose. “I don’t want to be underground!”

“I’ll be right here with you,” Mrs. Comstock said.

The ranger shook her head. “If she’s claustrophobic it’s better that she wait for you in the snack bar. We’ll have to bend over double and walk for a long stretch as we pass under the low ceiling of Lumbago Alley, and she’ll panic.”

A girl near the front turned and began to squeeze toward them. “I’ll stay with her!” she called out. “I’m claustrophobic, too.”

Dr. Anderson stepped up to Mrs. Comstock. “I’ll go with the girls,” she said. With her arms around their shoulders she shepherded them to the stairway. Within minutes they were out of sight.

The ranger said, “Everyone stick together. This is a large group, and we can’t keep counting noses. As I turn on the lights ahead of us, I’ll turn off the lights in the rooms we leave. We don’t want anyone left in the dark.”

She paused only a moment, then said, “Everyone ready? Okay. Take another good look at the large hole that formed the cavern’s present entrance. This came about when part of the ceiling of this room collapsed.”

Clattering down the steps, Haley burst into the entrance room. “Sorry I’m late,” she said to Mrs. Comstock. “They had the most wonderful polished-rock jewelry in the gift shop. I mean, I just had to get a pair of earrings. And then I—”

“If you’ll please quiet down back there,” the ranger interrupted, “I’ll finish my explanation.” She waited, eyes boring into Haley’s, until Haley squirmed. Then she went on. “On our tour we’ll make a long loop, traveling through a number of rooms, all the way to what we call Rock of a Million Layers. Then we’ll retrace our steps back a short way until we turn off on the other side of the loop. Our tour will end back in this spot. We’ll travel through the crystal rooms first. They consist of two passageways
that form a loop on either side of the main trail. We like to call them Crystal City because the walls are encrusted with large crystalline masses of calcite, which gleam like crystal in the light.”

She stepped ahead, touching a switch that had been hidden in the wall, and the first room of the cave burst into a wild pattern of glitter and shadows.

The ranger went on to explain about pools of calcium-saturated water, but Emily became lost in her own thoughts. Maxwell was somewhere ahead. Taylor had left the cave. And Haley had moved on to join two of the other girls who were all busy trying on the pendant and earrings Haley had bought in the gift shop. For the moment Emily was on her own.

Maybe I should leave the cave, too
, she thought.
There’s still time
. She glanced back to the bend, around which was the entrance to the cave, then turned, taking two steps toward it, before Mrs. Comstock grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop.