The Secret of the Scarlet Stone (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book One) (17 page)

They gathered around
Zora
as she carefully pulled out the clue from her backpack.

“Jessica, can you hold the flashlight and shine it on the clue
?
I can’t see a thing; it’s way too dark in here,”
Zora
said.

Jessica held the flashlight as
Zora
read the clue aloud,

For all the questions that you may have, just pay attention to this first half. First go to Parker
—
that
’
s a start
—
then read and solve the second half. It
’
s wide and tall from floor to ceiling and always filled with words and meaning. You
’
ll know that you have found a clue when all that binds ha
s
come unglued.

“Um…what’s wide and tall from floor to ceiling and always filled with words and meaning?” Gabrielle asked.

Zora’s
face lit
up with excitement
.
“I got it. Books are filled with words,” she said as she looked eagerly at Jessica. “Is there a library in here?”

Jessica gave her a look of disappointment
.
“Nope, the library is not here. We’re in the wrong building; the library is all the way over on the other side of campus.”

Rosalinda huffed with frustration
.
“Great!”

Gabrielle scratched her head
in puzzlement
as she pulled
out a lollipop from her ponytail and popped it in her mouth.
Then h
er face lit
up
.
“Wait a minute, that’s not exactly true
,
Jessica,” she said excitedly.

Jessica’s face turned red
.
“Well
,
of course it
’
s true
,
Gabi. Believe me, I know this building by heart and I’ve never seen a library in
here.”

Gabrielle smiled mischievously.

“Oh
,
no, please don’t tell me that you’re talking about that weird room with all those books?” Jessica asked nervously.

“Yep,” Gabrielle stated.

“But
,
Gabi, that’s not a library,” Jessica said apprehensively.

“Well, isn’t it filled with books from floor to ceiling?” Gabrielle demanded.

Rosalinda looked anxiously from Gabrielle to Jessica then back again
.
“Um
,
tell me
…
is this room burgundy with some sort of strange wooden thing
—n
o
,
wait
—
table?”

They looked at her strangely.

Jessica adjusted her sweater
.
“Yes, but how did you know that?”

“Well, I really can’t explain why or how
,
but a couple of seconds ago, a strange image just popped into my head...and that room was the image,” Rosalinda said guardedly.

“Now who’s the liar or freak? Isn’t that what you called me?”
Zora
asked.

Gabrielle’s mouth dropped open with shock
.
“Are you kidding me? Do you really want us to believe that suddenly a strange image just popped into your head? Okay, so what’s really going on here? This has to be some sort of sick joke.”
She pointed accusingly over at
Zora
.
“First, we have
Zora
with this wacky
‘
I can tell you the age of anything
’
thing
,
and now we have Rosalinda over here with strange images popping into her head
.
Well, we might as well get it out in the open right now,” she declared as she looked suspiciously over at Jessica.
“So
,
Jessica, what is your secret talent?
Walking on air? Making things magically appear out of thin air? Do tell,” Gabrielle asked sarcastically.

Jessica gulped nervously, shifting her gaze away.

Gabrielle looked guardedly over at Rosalinda.

Rosalinda held
up her hands defensively, “Stop looking at me like I’m some sort of weirdo!” She looked around the room tensely
.
“Look, I really don’t feel good about being in this building. I just got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach like we really shouldn’t be here,” she said anxiously.

Gabrielle angrily placed her hands on her hips
.
“Okay, so let me get this straight. All of a sudden you have a weird feeling in the pit of your stomach? What about me? What about us?”
Gesturing
wildly at Rosalinda
, she said,
“Do you know that you just described a room that you’ve never even been in? Frankly, this whole thing is freaking me out. And it takes a whole lot to freak me out
.
”

Zora
straightened her glasses as she flashed the light towards the end of the hallway.
“Well
,
Gabby Girls, I don’t think we’re going to solve this mystery by standing here yapping about it or getting hysterical. I have a sneaking suspicion that the room upstairs holds all the answers to our questions,” she stated calmly.

Gabrielle pursed her lips with determination
.
“You’re right
,
Zora
, we have to K.I.M
.
or we’ll send ourselves crazy with trying to figure out all this stuff by ourselves
.
S
o, what are we waiting for? It looks like the Gabby Girls Adventure has definitely just begun.”

Zora
gave her a perplexed look
.
“What in the world is K.I.M
.
?”

Gabrielle burst out with laughter
.
“Please help me! Do I have to break
down everything around here? Jessica, fill her in
,
will you
?
” She quickly turned on her heels and stormed down the hallway without looking back.

Zora
and Rosalinda gave Jessica a puzzled stare.

“Okay, K.I.M
.
means
‘
keep it moving,
’
so when she says
‘
K.I.M
.
,
’
you just say
,
‘
K.I.Ming
,
’
” Jessica explained self-importantly.

“Oh!”
Zora
and Rosalinda responded in harmony.

Zora
shined the flashlight down the dark hallway to guide them
.
“Well
,
what are you waiting for
,
Gabby Girls?
Let’s K.I.M
.
”
 

* * *

The old floors squeaked as they strolled down the dark hallway. They turned the sharp corner only to see the staircase blocked by a red velvet rope with a sign hanging from it:

Attention!

Do Not Enter

“Wait a minute, where did this sign come from? It wasn’t here before,” Jessica stuttered.

Ignoring her completely, Gabrielle turned around and looked over at
Zora
.
“
Zora
, since you have the flashlight, I think you should go first; it
’
s way too dark for us to see anything,” she whispered.

Zora
nodded her head in agreement then ducked under the velvet rope with Gabrielle, Jessica
,
and Rosalinda following closely behind.

As they crept
up the stairs, a big gust of wind swept through the hallway
,
causing the front door to slam open, which echoed throughout the hall.

With eyes large as saucers, Rosalinda yelped loudly.

“Shush
,
Rosalinda, you’re making too much noise. Besides, it’s only the wind,”
Zora
said anxiously.

“Sorry,” Rosalinda muttered.

They continued to creep
up the stairs with
Zora
in the lead.

When they finally reached the top,
Zora
looked around the hallway
,
confused.
“So, which way do we go?”
she
asked.

“Follow me,” Gabrielle whispered.

Rosalinda grabbed Jessica’s arm tightly as they silently walked towards the end of the long hallway.

When they arrived at the door, Gabrielle slowly pushed open the door and they stepped into the narrow passageway.

Zora’s
eyes glazed over with amazement
.
“Interesting, very interesting
…
it’s a passageway.”

Gabrielle smiled mysteriously
.
“
Y
ou haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until you see the weird room filled with all these books,” she exclaimed with joy.

As before, the passageway was filled with the warm glow from lit torches hanging along the walls.