The Curse of Deadman's Forest (27 page)

“Well, we best get back inside and clean up the mess,” said Miss Carlyle, and with that she and Binsford moved out of hearing range.

“We should go while no one’s about and that beast is off at the village,” Carl advised.

“Right,” Ian agreed. Turning to Theo, he asked, “Can you show us the way out of here?”

“Yes,” she said, but Ian noticed that she was shivering and still appeared quite frightened.

“You all right?” he asked.

She gripped her crystal and gave him a vigorous nod. “Fine,” she said, but Ian knew she was lying.

He got up, brushed the grass from his trousers, and moved over to her. “It’s all right, Theo,” he said gently. “The beast has moved off well away from us.”

But Theo’s eyes remained large and somewhat haunted, and her body looked stiff as it was wracked with shivers. Ian dug around in the knapsack and brought out her sweater, even though the evening was warm and balmy. “Here,” he said, handing it to her.

She took it gratefully and waited until Carl had gained his feet before waving at them to follow her. They fell into step behind Theo while she walked them through the maze, and before long Ian was thoroughly lost. “Wait,” he whispered, setting a hand on her shoulder. “Didn’t we already pass this way?”

“No.”

“Are you sure, Theo?” Carl whispered. “Because I could have sworn we crossed that fork ahead of us just a few moments ago.”

Theo looked over her shoulder at them, and Ian could tell she knew exactly where they were and didn’t appreciate their doubtful commentary. “That’s done on purpose, Carl,” she replied. “You’re supposed to think you’re going about in circles, because it’s a
maze
, remember?”

Ian was about to defend Carl; he was, after all, only asking
a question, and Theo didn’t need to be rude about it. But then a light breeze brought the whiff of something all too familiar to his nostrils.

Ian tilted his head and sniffed the air. “You smell that?”

“Smell what?” Carl asked.

Theo tilted her chin and took in a few whiffs. She then whirled around, a horrified expression on her face, and grabbed at Ian’s shirt. “The beast!” she said in a tiny petrified voice.

Carl was also sniffing at the air, and the scent only grew stronger and more pungent. “Oh, no,” he mouthed.

Then, as if the smell of the awful brute weren’t enough to alert them to its presence, from the outside of the hedge came a low, rumbling growl more menacing than any noise Ian could think of.

He pulled Theo close to him and held her stiff and shivering body, hoping she didn’t let go the scream he knew was building up inside her. To his relief, she made not a sound, but buried her head in his shirt and trembled in fear. Ian stared at Carl, whose alarmed expression confirmed that he also thought the beast was only a few meters away.

They could all hear the low
whuffs
as the beast sniffed along the hedge, and those massive paws thumped the ground with every step. Ian’s heart pounded and he closed his eyes for a moment, attempting to gather his courage. Taking two deep breaths, he opened his eyes again and motioned to Carl to move ahead of them.

Carl shook his head and cupped his ear. “It will hear us!” he mouthed.

But Ian knew that if they didn’t move, the beast would most certainly catch their scent and charge through the hedge. They’d be cut down before they even had a chance to run. Bending low, Ian whispered into Theo’s ear, “We’ve got to keep moving. Can you lead us away from this section? Maybe to the opposite side of the maze?”

For a moment Theo showed no sign that she’d even heard him, but after a bit she gave an almost imperceptible nod, and still clutching his shirtsleeve, she began to tiptoe forward.

Ian grabbed Carl’s arm and pulled him with them. They’d gone only a few paces when another low growl rumbled through the hedge, causing them all to stop. In the light from their torch, Ian could see that Theo was quietly crying and she was shaking so much now that the torch’s beam was vibrating all about the ground. Ian lifted it from her hand and gave her an encouraging nod.

Theo eyed the hedge, where more
whuffs
could be heard, but started off again, this time leading them through a series of right turns. Soon the scent of the beast faded just enough to let Ian know they were definitely moving away from it, and after another set of confusing twists and turns, they came into a surprisingly open space with a gurgling fountain and a series of animal-shaped hedges. There was also a bench by the fountain and Ian took Theo by the hand and moved her over to it; he was concerned that she was so frightened
she might faint. “Easy there, Theo,” he whispered, noting that she was breathing far too rapidly for her own good, and even in the dim light he could see how pale she was.

“What are we going to do?” Carl asked softly.

“Dunno,” Ian said, rubbing Theo’s hands, which were frightfully cold. “Guess we’ll have to stay here a bit and hope the hunting party comes back this way.”

“But what if the beast comes into the maze? What if it follows our scent?”

Ian sighed. Carl was only making things worse with his what-ifs. “I suppose we’ll have to hope that doesn’t happen, won’t we?”

“Ian,” whispered Theo, suddenly clutching at her pendant.

“Yes?”

“Carl’s guessed at it. The beast is here!”

Ian stared down at her and for the first time he noticed through a small gap in her fingers that the crystal she wore was glowing a soft red. He gasped when he remembered Jaaved’s grandfather warning them that her pendant would glow like that when danger was near.

It was then that they all caught the heavy, disgusting smell of sulfur as it seeped its way through the hedges that surrounded them. But because the breeze had picked up slightly, there was no way to tell which direction it was coming from.

Ian looked around the small clearing. There were four exits out of the section and he had no idea which path the beast might be following to reach them.

“We should go!” whispered Carl.

“No!” Theo mouthed. “Stay!”

Both of them looked at Ian for the answer and his eyes kept creeping back to Theo’s necklace, which was becoming so red it was beginning to resemble a ruby. Thinking fast, he pulled out his sundial and clicked on the torch. “Sundial,” he said softly, “point to the path out of the maze that takes us away from the beast!”

Immediately, a shadow appeared on the face of the sundial and it directed them to the eastern exit. Ian turned the relic to show Carl and Theo, who nodded at him, and the group set off at a run, with Ian keeping the sundial out in front of him while holding the torch close to the surface.

From somewhere behind they heard a low rumble, and Ian knew that Theo had been right: the beast had caught their scent and was trailing after them. “Hurry!” Carl whispered. “I think it’s gaining on us!”

But it was very difficult to acquire any speed in the maze, because every time Ian went more than a few steps, the dial would point in a new direction and he’d have to turn sharply. Once, he passed a left turn and the shadow he was following vanished for a moment before indicating that he needed to double back. “Blast it!” he exclaimed when he bumped into Theo and Carl as he whipped around.

“S’all right!” Carl said. “Just keep your eye on the dial!”

Ian found the passage and dashed ahead only to nearly stumble when the low, grumbling snarl of the beast turned into a terrible thrashing of hedges. Apparently, the beast
was no longer content to follow their scent along the route and had decided to approach them more directly.

“It’s coming through the hedges!” Carl cried.

As soon as he said that, the dial went blank again and changed direction, telling Ian to go back along the way he’d just come. He stopped only long enough to curse under his breath before motioning to Theo and Carl to follow.

More thrashing of hedges sounded somewhere nearby and Ian’s nerves almost caused him to drop the dial. “It’s going to break through to us!” Carl hissed as a hedge right next to them shook and nearly fell over on top of them.

Theo screamed when several branches brushed against her, and Ian grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her out of the way just as a huge paw with giant daggerlike nails swiped at her head. “This way!” he shouted to Carl when he saw that the dial wanted them to change direction yet again.

Carl was right at Ian’s heels while they ran in short quick bursts, trying to get as far away from the thrashing beast as they could. It seemed the creature was tearing apart the maze all around them, and its constant low, guttural growl reverberated through the hedges.

Ian held tightly to Theo’s hand as he cut sharply to his right and came out into a long passageway, at the end of which he saw wide-open lawn. He ran the length of the path as fast as he could with Theo in tow, hoping they could yet elude the beast.

“Sundial!” he called to the bronze relic. “Show us the fastest way to the garden gate!”

But the dial’s shadow never wavered. It continued to
point straight ahead, and it wasn’t until they cleared the maze that he understood. The magical instrument had led them directly where they’d needed to go.

Behind him the beast continued to thrash and tear about inside the maze. Ian dared not look back, because he knew that at any moment the giant brute would clear the hedges, and he also knew from past experience that he could not outrun the hellhound. “To the gate!” he called to Carl and Theo.

Ian hoped that if they all reached the gate before the beast cleared the maze, they would trick the beast into thinking they were still hidden within the hedges. And it seemed that luck was on their side, because they did reach the gate before the beast was out of the maze. Ian gave Theo’s hand to Carl while he unhitched the metal latch and went through first to hold the gate open for them. The moment they were through, Ian slammed it, but not before he saw the giant head of the hellhound emerge from the wreckage of the maze. His heart fell to his toes, but he managed at least to secure the latch, knowing that would do little to stop the beast, but at that point all he could hope for was to slow it down a bit.

“To the portal!” he shouted, and hurried down the path to the patch of woods just ahead. He hardly needed to direct his friends, because Carl zipped past him in two strides, holding tightly to Theo’s wrist as he all but yanked her along.

Ian followed, looking constantly over his shoulder, and they managed to reach the woods without seeing any sign of
the beast. Carl led the way to the familiar path but they had to slow their pace, because the woods were fairly dense and they couldn’t risk tripping and twisting an ankle. “There!” Ian said when he could just make out the huge stones that covered the stairway leading down to the portal. “We’ve made it!”

But his relief was short lived, as a tremendous crash sounded somewhere behind them and Ian knew that the beast had either torn through or gone straight over the garden’s gate.
“Hurry!”
screamed Theo, and she dashed down the steps.

“Do you have the key?” Carl asked when they began to descend the stairs together.

Ian paused and moved the sundial to his left hand, tucked his torch under his arm, and fished around in his trouser pocket, where he’d shoved the key. His fingers were shaking so badly that when he brought it out, he dropped it. They heard it clink somewhere below them. “Blast it!” Ian yelled.

“Where is it?” Carl shrieked, his voice high pitched and terrified.

Ian pointed his torch at the first two steps but couldn’t spot it. “Where is it, where is it,
where is it?”
he chanted.

“What’s the matter?” Theo asked from the bottom of the stairwell, by the locked gate.

“Ian’s dropped the key!” Carl said.

Behind them a horrible howl erupted from the edge of the wood. “Well, find it!” Theo shouted.

Ian was now shaking from head to toe. The beast was
nearly on top of them and he still had to find the key and unlock the gate. Even if he managed that, he wasn’t sure that the portal was open and ready to allow Theo and Carl through. And what if the beast was able to breach the iron gate? Would it hold against the beast’s brute strength?

Ian’s mind raced with all these panicky thoughts, which did nothing to aid his efforts to find the key.

“There!” Carl said at last, grabbing the torch in Ian’s hand and pointing to the fourth step down before dashing below to retrieve it. Ian followed, and they’d made it only a few more steps when they heard the beast tearing through the forest at lightning speed, headed straight for them.

It was all the boys needed to leap the rest of the way to the gate, which barred their entrance to the tunnel leading to the portal. Ian struggled to hold on to his torch so that Carl could insert the key.

“Give it to me!” Theo demanded when she saw Carl fumbling clumsily at the lock. In her panic and haste, she wrenched it out of Carl’s hand. Ian’s own fingers reached instinctively to help her but she managed to insert the large key into the lock on the very first try.

And no sooner had she twisted the clasp open than a tree fell somewhere near the top of the stairs and a horrible growl echoed off the stone walls, alerting them that the beast had arrived. Theo and Carl both worked the lock free from the gate’s metal bars and dropped it onto the ground. Ian reached forward and yanked on the heavy door, pulling it open with a tremendous creak, which was drowned out by a howl so loud and so horrible that Ian had to cover his ears.

He looked up just as the dim light at the top of the stairwell was all but blocked out, and in the darkness two glowing red eyes stared down at them.

“Get through and into the tunnel!” Ian shouted to Theo and Carl.

The next several seconds were a blur. His mind was focused on those murderous eyes at the top of the stairs, and for a long sweaty moment, he was so transfixed that he couldn’t move. In the next instant, however, two things happened at once: Carl yanked him by the collar through the opening of the gate and the beast launched itself down the steps.

Ian lost his balance when Carl pulled him inside the tunnel, and he tripped over his own two feet, crashing to the ground and feeling the sundial pierce his palm. He let out a yelp of fear and pain and rolled to the side as he heard a loud crash right behind him.