The Bloodwater Mysteries: Skullduggery (15 page)

A few seconds later she saw a flashlight beam shine from the passageway, followed by Brian, wriggling out from a narrow crack in the wall. He was only a few feet away from her.

What sound would a bear make? As soon as he was free of the opening, she let out a roar that sounded more like a sick cat than a cave bear, but worked perfectly. Brian yelped and jumped like a Pogo stick.

Roni almost fell down laughing.

“That's not funny!” Brian said.

“Yes it is,” Roni said, still laughing.

“Okay, okay,” Brian said after a second. “Maybe it's a
little
funny.” He shined his light around the chamber. “Say, do you know the way back?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Did you find Yorick?”

“Yeah . . . only you're not going to like this.”

“Like what?” Roni asked.

“Like, he has a metal plate in his skull.”

 

She's taking this remarkably well, Brian thought as they moved slowly through the cramped passage, crouching to keep their heads from hitting the low ceiling.

Roni, a few feet ahead of him, said, “I wonder who he was.”

“Who knows?” Brian said. “But whoever he was, I'll bet they won't stop the development to find out.”

“Hey, I forgot to tell you! I figured out how to stop the bulldozers.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I found out that the Bloodwaters aren't really Bloodwaters. Their real name is Oraczko.”

“Gesundheit,” said Brian.

“No, I mean that's their name. Fitzroy and Camillia Oraczko.”

“Fitzroy?” said Brian. “You're kidding.”

“Seriously. I found it on the Web. He's been involved in a bunch of other real estate scams. It's all a plot to steal money from the city. I can prove it.”

Brian thought for a moment. “If you already figured all that out, what the heck are we doing in this cave?”

“I thought you liked caves. Besides, we had to check out Yorick, right? And look for evidence of who attacked Dr. Dart. Did you find anything?”

“I don't know. Maybe. I—hey, are we here?”

They had reached the end of the passageway and entered a familiar-looking chamber.

“Ta-da!” Roni said. “Told you I knew how to get back.”

Brian shined his flashlight around. This had to be the right chamber—but something was missing.

“Where's the rope?” he asked.

“Rope?”

Roni looked up at the opening five feet above her head and her heart went
thunk.

“Yeah,” Brian said. “The rope. The thing we climbed down on. The thing we need so we can climb back out.”

Roni looked up at the bottom of the shaft and shuddered. It was only five feet above her head, but with no rope it might as well be five miles.

“It was there when I left,” she said.

For several seconds they stood in silence, both flashlight beams on the ropeless opening above them.

“Somebody must have pulled it up,” Brian said.

“Good one, Watson. Do you have any other brilliant observations?”

“I wonder who.”

“I did see somebody out there with a flashlight. That's why I climbed down here—so whoever it was wouldn't see me.”

“Who do you think it was? Who knew we were here?”

Roni thought for a moment. “Eric, maybe,” she said.

“You told Eric Bloodwater we were coming here? Are you nuts?”

“It wasn't like that. He called and . . .” Roni's voice got small. “. . . I told him I was going spelunking. But I figured he wouldn't know what I was talking about.” She added, “I suppose he could have looked it up.”

“He's probably laughing himself to death right now,” Brian said.

“We don't know for sure it was him. I also ran into Professor Bloom at the Quik Mart. He might have overheard me say something about caves when I was buying the camera.”

“Why would Professor Bloom want to trap us in a cave?”

“Good point. So it was probably Eric, trapping me in another dark passageway. I'm going to kill him.”

“Uh-oh,” Brian said.

“ ‘Uh-oh' what?”

“Jillian Greystone. I saw her up on the bluff when I was waiting for the bats to come out. She might have hidden in the woods and spied on us. So at least three people knew we were here.”

“Three that we know of. Not that it does us any good.”

“Actually, it does help. One of them might eventually tell the police.” Brian paused. “After we've been missing for a day or so.”

“I'm hungry right now,” Roni said.

Brian pulled something out of his pocket. “Care for a Tootsie Roll?”

Roni took the Tootsie Roll and put it in her pocket. “I'll save it for later.” She shined her light on the opening above them. “Maybe if you climb up on my shoulders?”

“Not high enough,” Brian said. “I don't suppose you have a ladder in your pocket?”

“I left my ladder at home. Hey, don't you have a phone?”

“Of course!” Brian pulled out his dad's cell phone and turned it on. He frowned.

“Let me guess,” Roni said. “No signal.”

Brian sat down on a chunk of limestone and switched off his flashlight. “Better turn yours off, too.”

“Why?” Roni did not like the thought of sitting in the dark.

“Because we have to save our batteries. No telling how long we'll be in here.”

 

Brian did his best thinking in the dark. He loved the way if he stared really hard in absolute darkness little floaters would appear. Especially if he closed his eyes and pressed on his eyeballs. He had read that the imaginary lights were called phosphenes. He liked to think of phosphenes as tiny idea berries ready to be plucked. One of them might know how to get out of this cave.

“Stop humming!” Roni said.

Brian started as if from a deep sleep. “Was I humming?”

“Yes, you were, and it's driving me crazy. Have you figured out how to make the ceiling lower?”

“No . . . but hey! How about if we make the floor higher.”

Roni didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then she switched on her flashlight. “Good idea. We'd better get started.”

 

They started by dragging all the loose rocks to the center of the chamber. The limestone chunks were mostly flat, like thick chunks of petrified peanut brittle. They shoved them all together to make an uneven platform directly beneath the hole.

“Well, that gets us about six inches closer,” Brian said.

Roni looked around the chamber. “We're already out of rocks.”

“Then let's get some more,” Brian said as he ducked into the passageway.

Roni had never worked so hard in her entire life. Every rock had to be lifted and carried, rolled or dragged back through the passageway and added to the platform. The first few trips weren't so bad, but Roni's arms and back and legs soon began to burn and throb. But as the stone platform grew, Roni felt a fierce pride burning inside her.

This was no ordinary pile of rocks. This pile of rocks was going to save their lives.

Several times during the construction Brian tried to tell her it was high enough, but Roni kept saying no, it wasn't quite there. “I want you up on my shoulders only once.”

Shortly after midnight, Roni found a squarish chunk of limestone about three inches thick and as big around as a manhole cover—the perfect cap for their lifesaving pile.

When she rolled it in, Brian was sitting cross-legged on the pile of rocks, holding his flashlight in his lap. The beam shined straight up, giving his face a spooky, horror show look. For some reason his nose was black, totally black.

Roni pointed down at the slab. “Help me lift it up.”

With much grunting and straining they managed to get the flat stone onto the top of the pile. They stepped back to admire their work, a pile almost as high as Brian was tall.

“It's beautiful,” Roni said. “Okay, I'll bite. What is that
thing
on your nose?”

“I don't know.” Brian removed the black object and handed it to her. “I found it back by Yorick's skeleton.”

Roni looked at the small rubber cup. “It looks like one of those things you put on the leg of a chair to keep it from scratching the floor.” Deep inside her brain, pieces clicked into place, gears meshed, doors opened.

“I know what this is!” she said.

At that exact moment, her flashlight went out.

“Uh-oh. I guess we'd better get out of here while we've still got one working flashlight,” Brian said. His own flashlight was fading.

She climbed carefully onto the pile and stood on the flat stone at the top. A few of the rocks shifted slightly, then settled into place. Roni tipped her head back. The opening was so close she could reach up and touch it.

“Give me your light.” She shined the beam up into the shaft. The light was too weak for her to see much of anything—then it died completely.

Brian didn't think he would ever try out for the cheerleading squad, but he had always thought the human pyramid was a neat routine. He never imagined, though, that he would have to climb up on somebody's shoulders in utter darkness.

“Ow!”

“Sorry!” Brian said.

“Just . . . maybe if I crouch down, and then you sit on my shoulders and I stand up . . .”

“I think I have to be actually standing on your shoulders for it to work. Look, just pretend you're a tree, and I'll climb you.”

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

After several tries, with Roni getting crankier by the minute, Brian was finally able to balance on Roni's shoulders while she crouched down. That got him high enough that his head was almost inside the bottom of the shaft.

“Okay, now stand up,” he said.

He felt her body shaking.

“You're too heavy!”

“No, I'm not. Just stand up.”

“I can't. Your feet are trying to dislocate my shoulders.”

“Hot bath,” Brian said. “Fresh air, stop the bulldozers, French donuts, warm bed.”

Roni groaned.

“Bats,” Brian said. “The bats will be coming back.” He felt around in the shaft and found a handhold. He would be able to take a little weight off her. “On three! One bat, two bats, THREE BATS!”

With a hoarse shout, Roni stood up, injecting Brian into the shaft.

As soon as he was in, Brian jammed his back against the wall and kicked one leg up to brace himself. Suddenly there was no Roni beneath him. He swung his other foot up and wedged himself firmly in the shaft.

Below him he heard Roni muttering to herself.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“You kicked me in the head!”

“Sorry.”

“Can you do it?”

“I think so,” Brian said, even though he wasn't sure. He was afraid that if he moved even one of his feet off the wall, he'd crash down right on top of that pile of rocks and maybe Roni, too. But he had to try. He put his hands behind his back and pushed against them. Leaning forward, he started to walk up the wall. One hand, one foot, other hand, other foot. Inches at a time. If he slipped, there would be no rope to grab. He could see the stars above him, and soon he could see the rim of the shaft. Another few minutes of careful inching upward and he was able to touch the rocky rim. In one quick jerk he flung his arms over the edge of the hole and pushed as hard as he could with his feet. His chest hit the ground, and his legs were kicking in thin air. He stroked forward with his arms and wriggled out of the shaft.

“Brian?” Roni's voice sounded small and afraid.

“I'm out,” he shouted back down.

“Is the rope still there?”

Brian looked around. The moon had risen, giving him enough light to see. He found the rope in a pile, still tied to the tree. He tugged on it to make sure the knot was secure, then dragged it back to the hole.

“The rope's coming down,” he shouted.

He fed the rope into the hole.

“Got it!” Roni said.

“Think you can climb it?” he asked.

Roni didn't say anything. Several seconds passed.

“What are you doing?”

“Eating my Tootsie Roll.”

“Don't forget about those bats,” Brian said.

Silence.

A few seconds later Brian felt the rope go taut.

“Here I come,” Roni said.

They rolled to a stop in front of Brian's house. It was after one o'clock in the morning and all the lights were on. So much for sneaking in without his mom knowing he'd been gone. Brian swung off the Vespa and stood staring at the house.

Roni patted him on the back and said, “Good luck, Watson. I'm out of here.”

Brian grabbed her arm. “No way. You're coming in with me.”

“I won't be any help. Your mom doesn't even like me.”

“She likes you. She just thinks you're a bad influence.”

“Well, this is just going to prove it to her.”

“If you're there, she'll have to listen. Besides”—Brian pointed at the car parked in the driveway—“correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that your mom's car?”

Roni stared at the car.

“This can't be good,” she said.

She climbed off Hillary and put her arm around Brian's shoulder. “Sorry, Watson, but this calls for a drastic measure.”