In the dark of the tunnels, the three children fell into stride. Even their breath seemed to come in unison. Ephraim led the way, followed by Brynn, then Price, who had come along reluctantly. Brynn had tugged him by the hand to the back door. His hair stuck up at odd angles and he’d looked at Ephraim with confusion and contempt as Ephraim had tried to explain everything they’d found. “Let me just show you,” he’d finally said.
The tunnel air felt cooler than it had earlier that day. Their feet scuffed along the paving stones.
Now here they were, back at the door, which was still propped ajar. Ephraim pushed it open and then reached in to turn on the lights. They all blinked to get used to the sudden brightness. Ephraim hadn’t noticed the smell of the lab before, acrid and acidic. “We found the key and finally got in today.”
“This house just gets weirder and weirder,” Price said.
“It’s amazing,” Brynn said, spinning around.
“I told you,” Ephraim replied, heading straight for the bookcase. He ran his fingers along the edge. “There’s cool air blowing in!” he exclaimed. “Help me move this.”
Price took one side and Ephraim took the other. Grunting, they slid it along the stone floor.
“Oh,” Brynn said softly.
Moving the bookcase had revealed a small opening, about two feet wide and four feet tall. Inside the hole was a steep staircase. Another secret of the Water Castle revealed.
Ephraim started up.
His fingers brushed through cobwebs as he steadied himself on the stone wall. He could see, but barely, the light a pale gray.
“What’s up there?” Price called.
“Nothing yet,” Ephraim replied. He heard his brother start up the stairs behind him.
“The hum—it’s stronger here,” Price said.
“I know,” Ephraim agreed. But he kept climbing. They could see only a few stairs in front of them and a faint glow in the distance.
The humming grew even louder.
“What do you even expect to find?” Price asked.
Ephraim considered the question. Maybe Price would believe him. They were climbing up a secret staircase in their strange old house. If someone was going to believe in magic, this would be the place to start. “This house has secrets,” Ephraim said. “Strange secrets.”
Price laughed. “You don’t believe that, do you? I thought you were just playing along with Brynn.”
Ephraim felt his body stiffen. “Look where we are.”
“I’m telling you, people used to live for this kind of thing. There were raids by American Indians and wars and stuff. They needed places to hide.”
“The American Indians didn’t raid here,” Ephraim said. He wished that Price had stayed behind, that Brynn had never woken him. At least the hum was getting louder, which made it harder to hear Price as he marveled at how Ephraim could still possibly believe in something as silly as magic. It wasn’t magic, though. It wasn’t mythology, like Will said. It was science, and it was real.
Ephraim noticed that there were shelves cut into the sides of the stairs. He peered in at one, saw a collection of lanterns, and wished for a match. The pitch of the hum went up, and the boys could feel it in their bodies. “I don’t like that humming,” Price said. “We should just get out of here.”
“Are you scared?” Ephraim challenged.
“No,” Price retorted. “I’m just thinking that, well, maybe we’re coming up on the electric center, you know. Mom said this place had a generator. I don’t want to stumble into some hundred-year-old electrical device. We could be fried like potato chips.”
Ephraim smiled to himself. For the first time in their lives, Price was scared and he was not.
Still the hum rose in pitch and volume.
A few steps more and there was another shelf. This one held beakers and test tubes, all empty. Maybe these stairs were for storage. And maybe, just maybe, the cure was hidden in the stairs.
“We have to get out of here,” Price said, and tugged on Ephraim’s shirt.
Ephraim went a few more steps, and that’s when he saw the wooden crate.
“Ephraim, come on.”
Peeking into the crate, he saw bottles of water.
“Ephraim, now,” Price insisted.
Ephraim grabbed the crate and followed his brother back down the stairs.
“What happened?” Brynn asked. She was holding a book in each hand.
“Price freaked,” Ephraim said.
“I didn’t.” Price glared at his brother.
“What’s that?”
“I found it up there.” He looked down at the top of the crate. It was printed with the logo for Dr. Appledore’s Crystal Water. “Probably nothing.”
He slid the cover off the crate and counted three bottles. He lifted one out to examine it. There was a label on the side of the bottle that he could barely make out. He blew on it to get some of the dust off it.
The label was a simple white rectangle. The script in which it was written was nearly impossible to read.
Fountain of Youth
Crystal Springs, Maine
The cure for all that ales ye
Ephraim read the label twice, then looked at his siblings and grinned.