4

THE DEPTHS

Derek and Jenny stood at the top of the main stairway, the curving one they had first climbed from the foyer. They watched as Tansy moved to the other end of the hall and disappeared up the next flight of stairs.

Jenny shivered. “I don’t know how she can do it.”

“Do what?”

“Go looking for that ring on her own. I’d be petrified.”

“That’s why you’re with me,” said Derek with a smirk.

“And I’m still petrified.” She aimed her flashlight down the stairs and shuddered.

“Come on, Jen—I’ll be right beside you all the time.”

“Why do you think I’m so scared!”

Derek scowled. “Thanks a lot!”

“Oh, Derek—you know I’m kidding. But I still don’t like it here.”

“Look, Travis assigned us together to keep you from getting into a panic. What more do you want?”

“To go home.”

“Forget it. We’re playing out the game.”

She sighed. “All right, O fearless one—what do we do next?”

“Did you write down the clue?”

Jenny flipped her golden hair over her shoulder. “Of course!”

She took out her pad and read:

“Mighty powers has the sword

That once was stolen from dragon’s hoard;

Stolen once, now lost again,

Hidden from the eyes of men,

It’s guarded by the earth—and more.

Seek it now to earn your score.”

She frowned. “What’s all that supposed to mean?”

“Well, it’s pretty clear we have to find a sword—a magical sword, which makes sense, considering the game. It was held by a dragon for a long time, then someone stole it from the dragon. Now it’s been hidden again, ‘deep from the eyes of men.’” Derek smiled. “Heck, this is almost too easy. It has to be in the cellar.”

“In the cellar? Oh, Derek, I don’t think I want to go into the cellar of this place. Besides, what does that line about ‘guarded by the earth—and more’ mean?”

“That just reinforces that the sword is hidden in the cellar. Cellar—guarded by the earth. Get it?”

Jenny frowned. “I’m not stupid, Derek. I got the part about the earth. It’s the ‘and more’ that has me worried.”

Derek paused. “Hmmmm. That’s a good point. Travis may have a little surprise planned for us. I wonder if he’s planted some friends down there to try to give us a scare.”

Jenny stopped in her tracks. “God, I hope not.”

“Oh, I do,” said Derek eagerly. “Two can play at that game, you know.” He grabbed Jenny’s hand and pulled her after him. “Come on. We’ve got to find the cellar door.”

They continued down the stairs together, their flashlights cutting a path through the gloom. When they reached the bottom, Jenny swung her beam around the spacious foyer. “Which way now?” she whispered.

“Let’s try over there,” said Derek, pointing to their left. “Looks like a pretty big room.”

As they passed through the door, Jenny again played her light around the room.

Derek let out a low whistle. “Did I say big? This place is like a cavern!”

At the far end of the room loomed a huge fireplace. Its chimney, made of gray stone, took up half the wall. The wall to their right, the front wall of the house, had a row of windows masked by dark floor-to-ceiling draperies, thick and heavy. Ghostly, misshapen forms were scattered across the room—the furniture, covered by protective sheets.

“No cellar door here,” said Derek after Jenny had played her beam across all four walls. “Just that arch in the back wall.”

Moving slowly, they threaded their way among the shrouded pieces of furniture. The arch led into a dining room. A long table stretched before them. Several large paintings hung on the walls.

To the left was another door.

It led to a vast, gloomy kitchen.

“I’ll bet the cellar door is in here somewhere,” said Jenny, getting caught up in the search in spite of herself. “It would make sense, in a fancy place like this. After all, they wouldn’t have it leading out of the living room.”

Derek spotted a windowless door against the left wall. Taking Jenny by the hand, he crossed the room and opened it.

“This is it, all right.”

Jenny shuddered. The spiderwebs arching over the steps were so thick and numerous they made the passage look more like a tunnel than a stairway. Derek shone his flashlight down it, but they couldn’t see the cellar floor.

“There’s a broomstick back there,” he said. “Grab it for me, will you?”

Jenny moved away from him reluctantly. She found the broomstick lying on a counter beneath a shuttered window and took it to Derek.

“I’ll clear a path for us,” he said. Moving slowly, he extended the broomstick before him and swung it in wide circles, catching the cobwebs and winding them around the wood like cotton candy around a paper cone.

“No footprints on the steps,” he noted “Of course, there could be another entrance. Or Travis could have been sneaky enough to sprinkle some dust and dirt across the steps behind him.”

Jenny reached out and put a hand on Derek’s shoulder. A step creaked beneath his sneakers, and she tightened her grip. Derek laughed.

The stairway was longer than she would have expected, and the air grew cooler as they continued down.

“We’re almost there,” he said. “I can see bottom.”

The cellar itself was almost as heavily cobwebbed as the stairway had been. They stood at the base of the stairs and panned their flashlights over dirt floors, thick wooden beams, and millions of clinging webs. The dank air smelled of mold and decay.

“Derek …”

“It’s all right, Jen. Let’s see. Usually at this point in a game we would ask some questions of the leader. He’d probably tell us we should beware of some supernatural menace. But I’m not about to go all the way up to the library just to ask Travis a question. Be careful, though. Like I said, he may have planted something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. I can’t imagine him getting anyone to wait down here to scare us. The place is just too gross. Maybe he set up some water balloons. If we break one and come back all wet, he can say that we stumbled into a trap so we’re dead, or under a spell, or something like that.”

“That’s pretty clever,” said Jenny. “But I don’t like it.”

“Then be careful. Now, shall we split up, or stick together?”

“You have to ask?”

“Not really. Stay with me—and keep your eyes open.”

Derek moved forward, still using the broomstick to clear the way ahead of him. He walked slowly, training the beam of his flashlight from side to side, looking for any sign of where Travis might have hidden the sword.

“Derek.”

“What?”

“I hear something.”

“Jenny, don’t get—”

“Just listen, will you?”

Derek heaved an exaggerated sigh. But he stopped to listen.

After a moment his eyes widened. “You’re right!” he whispered.

Jenny couldn’t tell if it was fear or excitement that made his voice husky.

“It’s someone breathing,” he went on.

“It’s awfully loud breathing,” she whispered back.

“Then it’s meant to scare us. Brace yourself. He may have someone down here wearing a mask or something. Try not to scream too loud.”

Jenny slapped his shoulder. “Try not to wet your pants, smart mouth.”

Despite her brave words, she had begun to tremble. Oblivious to her fear, Derek drew her forward, toward the sound. It was slow and rasping, as if the breather were having real difficulty.

“I don’t understand why we haven’t spotted footprints,” whispered Derek. “He must have come in by some other door.”

They moved very slowly.

The breathing got louder.

Derek wrinkled his nose. “Something stinks.”

Jenny shifted the beam of her flashlight, found the source of the breathing, and began to scream.