Chapter 31

The Monster’s Castle

The desert plays tricks on you.

Everyone knows about mirages. Like you think you see water ahead, but then it’s just heat waves reflecting off a hot surface.

But there are other tricks up the desert’s sleeves, let me tell you.

For example, when Gabe and I reached the riverbed, it split just like Al had said it would. But when we looked to the left, the ground seemed totally flat. Cracked like a giant sandy eggshell, but flat.

The right fork, on the other hand, seemed to lead to a bunch of rocky piles like the ones on the map.

We stood at the crossroads, confused.

“Al said left, right?” Gabe said.

“Right.”

“You mean go right? Or right, go left, right?”

“Gabe, you’re making my head hurt.” I turned his shoulders toward the left and pushed. “Let’s just trust that Ancient Al knows what he’s talking about.”

And this is how we discovered the trick.

The land looked flat, but as we walked along, we started sloping downward. What looked like cracked flat earth from above was actually a disguised mini valley of rocky towers and pillars.

“Wow!” we said as we entered this forest of stone.

All the time, the walkie-talkie crackled and fizzed. I turned the volume almost down to zero as the static buzzed off the sides of the rock.

“Sounds too much like a swarm of killer bees calling for reinforcements,” I said.

“Or a rattlesnake getting ready to nibble.”

“Yeah. I want to be able to hear THOSE things clearly.”

You could still hear the static if you strained, which I felt was in the spirit of Jo’s command.

The air seemed to get thicker and cooler, and the light fainter, as we walked through the columns of stone. Then we turned a corner, and despite what Al had said, we didn’t miss it. And we knew it was the right place.

In a large wide clearing, a pile of rocks unlike any other.

“THE MONSTER’S CASTLE!” Gabe and I said together.

We rushed toward it, lucky not to step on any snakes or killer scorpions.

A breeze rustled the brush, and we heard a low moan from the castle. We stopped and listened.

The breeze picked up and the moan got louder.

The wind paused and the moan stopped.

We walked quickly along the base, looking for the source of the sound. A breeze came up again and the moan returned, low and deep.

“It’s coming from behind that boulder!” Gabe said.

We looked behind and found a crack. A Zed-and-Gabe-walking-side-by-side-sized crack!

We knew what we had to do.

We held hands and bowed.

“May the ancient ones who guard the Monster’s Castle speed OUR safe passage through its halls.”

Then we walked in, tingling all over. It was cool and damp inside, and dark.

“Flashlight?” I asked.

“There’s one on Sam’s phone,” Gabe said. He pulled it out. “Still no service, but it does have a light.” He flicked it on. The light revealed a cave about thirty feet long and ten feet wide. The ceiling soared a good thirty feet above us.

There was a hole in the ceiling that rose all the way to the top. I could make out a tiny circle of blue sky.

“There is a monster’s chimney!” I said.

The breeze resumed, and the low moaning sound echoed down the chimney and off the walls of the cave.

“Like blowing over top of a bottle,” Gabe said.

“Cool. Now where’s the treasure?”

We ran the light across the walls.

And saw, almost hidden in a pile of rubble against the far wall, a painted stone. We hurried over, and with a delicate finger, I brushed off the years of dust, revealing an unmistakable blood-red X.

“Looks like a good place for scorpions,” Gabe said.

I trusted his scientific understanding of nature, so I grabbed my pen and super carefully began lifting the stones and pebbles.

Finally, after holding my breath, I heard a scratch as the pen slid across not stone but metal.

My heart raced, and I could feel tears in my eyes as I quickly brushed aside the remaining stones, revealing a plain metal box. It was painted gray and had a small slightly rusted keyhole at the front of the lid. No decoration. No symbols. No etched poem. Nothing to signify this contained anything special, even though inside there might be the only complete copy of the greatest book in the world.

“We did it,” I said, standing up and holding the box as gently as I could.

“And we did it together,” Gabe said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Actually,” said a voice from the shadows, “I’ll take that box.”