The Secret Path (7 page)

“You mean, the witch who died two hundred years ago might be holding us captive?”

“Yeah. Or else Ann Templeton's counterpart in this dimension is keeping us prisoner. It's hard to tell which.”

Once more, Adam remembered Ann Templeton's words to him.

“I will see both of you later—under different circumstances.”

“I think it's probably Ann Templeton's counterpart,” Adam said, thoughtful. “I hope it is. Ann didn't seem that mean.”

“You haven't met her,” Watch said. “I have. She sends her black knight out to collect boys
and girls. I've seen some of the kids who've been here awhile. They're all missing at least one body part—either a nose, or eyes, or ears. Or even a mouth.”

“You have such nice eyes, did you know that, Adam?”

Adam was horrified. “What does she do with these—parts?”

Watch shrugged. “Maybe she just collects them, the way I collect stamps.”

“You collect stamps? I collect baseball cards.” Adam shook his head. “I don't suppose she'd want to trade our collections for our freedom.” He paused. “How did you get here? Did the black knight grab you?”

“Yeah. He got me as soon as I came through to this side. He was waiting for me in the cemetery.”

“Then he must have known you were coming,” Adam said.

Watch was thoughtful. “I was thinking that myself. That means Ann Templeton must have been watching us from her castle and realized what we were doing. She must have been able to communicate that information to the witch
on this side.” Watch shook his head. “But I don't see how we can use that fact to escape.”

“Were you awake when they brought you in here?” Adam asked.

“Yeah. The castle is bizarre. Besides having this dungeon, it's filled with clocks.”

“You must feel right at home,” Adam remarked.

“There's something funny about these clocks. They all run backward.”

“That's interesting. We followed you here by walking toward the tombstone backward.”

Watch nodded. “That's the key. That's the answer to the riddle.”

“But when we tried to go back through the tombstone the same way, nothing happened.”

“You tried to go back? You were just going to leave me here?”

“We took one look around and figured you were as good as dead.”

Watch was understanding. “I would probably have done the same thing.” His head suddenly twisted to one side. “I think she's coming.”

I
t was not one figure, but several, who appeared through a large iron door at the end of the dark corridor. The black knight led the way, the metal soles of his boots ringing on the hard floor with a sound all too familiar to Adam. Behind him stumbled three kids, girls, all chained together. The first was missing her mouth, the second her eyes, the third her ears. But where
the parts had been removed was not gory and gross. Rather, each of the girls looked as if she had been sewn up like a doll. Where the parts had been removed there was just skin.

Behind them all strode the witch.

It was Ann Templeton—and it was not.

Her face was the same, but, as Watch had remarked, her hair was red instead of black. It flowed down her back, moving like liquid fire over her seamless black cape. Also, the way she held herself was different from that of the woman he had met earlier in the day. Ann Templeton had seemed easygoing, possessed of a wicked sense of humor, true, but not scary. A pale light shone from this woman's face. Her eyes, although green like her interdimensional sister's, glittered like emeralds. She certainly didn't look like the mother type.

Across from them, the three deformed girls were thrown into a cramped cell and chained to the wall, where they huddled together, broken. The witch stopped in front of Watch and Adam's cell, the black knight at her side. For a long time she stared at them both, her eyes finally coming to rest on Adam. A faint smile touched her lips, as cold as her eyes.

“Are you enjoying Spooksville?” she asked. “Seen all the sights?”

Adam had to remember to breathe. “It's very nice, ma'am.”

Her smile widened. “I'm glad you approve. But tomorrow it might not look the same to you. It might look very black indeed.”

Adam realized she was talking about removing his eyes. “But, ma'am,” he stuttered. “Remember how I saved your car from the shopping cart? You said to me, ‘Thank you, Adam. You have done your good deed for the day.' ” He added weakly, “I thought you were my friend.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “You mistake me for someone else. But that mistake is understandable. All the mirrors in this castle are dusty. One reflection can look much like another.” She moved closer to the bars that separated them and put a hand on the metal. Adam saw that she wore a ruby ring on her right hand. The interior of the stone burned with a wickless flame. “I am not Ann Templeton, although I know her well. The skeletons you found in that house do not belong to your
parents, although they might in the future. But none of that should concern you now. You are about to enter eternal darkness. You have only one chance to escape. That is to tell me where your friend Sally is hiding.”

Sally must have escaped, Adam realized. He was happy for that at least. He stood proudly as the witch waited for his response. The chain held him close to the wall.

“I don't know where she is,” he said. “But even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Not if you threatened to boil me in a pot of water.”

“You don't want to emphasize the pot of boiling water,” Watch muttered.

The witch smiled again, this time maybe a little sadly. “You have such beautiful eyes, Adam. They look so nice where they are.” Her voice hardened. “But I suppose they will look nice on one of my dolls.” She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. “Take them upstairs. We will not wait until tomorrow to operate.”

The black knight drew his sword and stepped forward.

C
hained together, Adam and Watch were dragged up a long stone stairway to what appeared to be the living room of the castle—if castles had living rooms. It was a place of shadows, of candles that burned with red flames, and of paintings with eyes that moved. The dark ceiling, high above their heads, was all but invisible. While the witch watched, the knight chained them to an iron post in one corner of the room.

All around them, as Watch had said, were clocks that ran backward.

And there was something else. Something that appeared to be magical.

In the center of the room, on a silver pedestal, was an hourglass. Tall as a man, it was wrought of polished gold and burning jewels. The sand that poured through its narrow neck sparkled like diamond chips.

Not only that. The sand flowed from the bottom of the hourglass to the top.

The witch noticed his interest in the hourglass.

She smiled. “In your world there is a fable about a girl who walked through a mirror and ended up in a magical land. The same principle applies here. Only you walked into a tombstone and ended up in a place of black magic. But you might be surprised to know that there also exists an hourglass like this in your Spooksville. There the sand flows down and time moves forward. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Adam said. “And here the sand flows up and time moves backward.”

She nodded her approval. “But for you now it will stop. Without eyes, without day and night, time moves very slowly.” She took a step
toward them. “This is your last chance, Adam. Tell me where Sally is and I will let you go.”

“Don't you want to give me a last chance?” Watch asked.

“Shut your mouth,” the witch said. “While you still can. In a few minutes you won't have one to shut.”

“You give me your word you'll let me go?” Adam asked.

“Of course,” she said.

“The promise of a witch is useless,” Watch said. “They're all liars.”

“Are you just saying that because she isn't giving you a last chance?” Adam asked.

“Maybe,” Watch admitted.

Adam considered a moment. “You won't let me go,” he finally said. “The moment you have Sally, you'll cut my eyes out. You may as well take them now and save us both a lot of trouble.”

A flash of anger crossed the witch's face. But then she smiled and reached out and touched his chin with her long fingernails.

“It is no trouble for me to take my time with you,” she said softly. “And since you mentioned
a pot of boiling water, I think I will have you take a bath before your operation. An especially hot one, one that will melt off your skin. What do you think of that?”

Adam swallowed. “I prefer showers to baths.”

The witch laughed and glanced at the knight. “Come, we must get everything ready for our brave boys.” She scratched Adam's chin, drawing a drop of blood, just before she withdrew her arm and turned away. “We'll see how brave they are when they start screaming.”

Watch spoke up. “I don't like baths or showers, ma'am.”

“You have no choice in the matter,” the witch called over her shoulder as she strode away, the black knight following her. They disappeared into another room.

Adam apologized to Watch. “Sorry about volunteering you for the boiling pot.”

Watch shrugged. “There could be worse things.”

“Such as?”

Watch frowned. “I can't think of anything worse at the moment.” He nodded to the hourglass. “That's a fancy piece of magic there. The
witch made a big deal of it. I wonder if it actually controls the movement of time in this dimension.”

“I wondered the same thing,” Adam said.

A minute of strained silence settled between them.

“What are we going to do now?” Watch finally asked.

“You don't have any brilliant ideas?”

“No. Do you?”

Adam yanked at the chain that bound them. “No. It looks like this is the end.”

Watch pulled at his chains, getting nowhere. “It does look hopeless. Sorry I talked you into taking the Secret Path. It wasn't the best introduction to Spooksville.”

“That's all right. It wasn't your fault. I wanted to go.” Adam sighed, feeling tears fill his eyes. “I would just feel a little better to know that Sally was safe.”

A voice spoke from above and behind them.

“Isn't that sweet,” Sally said.

S
ally was peering in through a barred window approximately twenty feet above their heads. She was dirty and tired-looking but otherwise no worse for wear.

“Sally!” Adam cried. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm trying to rescue you guys,” she explained. “But I haven't found a way inside this stone house.”

“You should get out of here,” Adam said. “We're doomed. Save yourself.”

Watch cleared his throat. “Excuse me. I wouldn't mind getting rescued.”

Adam considered. “You're right. If she can save us without getting caught, that might not be a bad idea.” He turned back to Sally. “Can't you crawl in through those bars? They look far enough apart.”

“Oh, I can crawl through the bars all right,” she said. “But then what am I supposed to do? Fly down to you guys?”

Watch nodded above their heads. “There's that chandelier there. You might be able to jump and catch hold of it.”

“It isn't that far from the window ledge,” Adam agreed.

“Who do you think I am?” Sally demanded. “Tarzan? I can't swing from a chandelier. I might get hurt.”

“That's true,” Watch said. “But we're about to be boiled to death. I think the time for caution has passed.”

“I agree,” Adam said.

“I thought you were worried about my safety,” Sally said indignantly.

“I am,” Adam said quickly. “I'm just—”

“More worried about my own safety,” Watch interrupted.

“I didn't say that,” Adam said.

“You were thinking it,” Watch said. He glanced at one of his watches. “If you are going to try to rescue us, you'd better do it now. The witch and her black knight will be back any second.”

Sally squirmed through the metal bars—getting stuck only once—and crouched on the stone window ledge. She eyed the chandelier—which had candles instead of electric lights—warily. It was only six feet away, but from her perspective, it was a huge six feet.

“What if I miss and go splat on the ground?” she asked.

“It won't be as painful as being boiled,” Adam said.

“What am I supposed to do once I'm swinging from the chandelier?” she asked.

“We'll worry about that if you make it that far,” Watch said.

“Somehow,” Sally said, “you guys don't fit the
hero mode.” She braced herself. “I'm going to do it. One—two—three.”

Sally leaped. Her outstretched fingers barely reached the rim of the chandelier. The shock of added weight immediately pulled down on the rope that suspended the chandelier from the ceiling, which wasn't such a bad thing. Like Tarzan or Jane, Sally was able to ride the sinking chandelier all the way to the floor. The candies toppled and went out, their blood-colored wax spilling everywhere. Luckily candles in the wall sconces still burned. When Sally was safely on her feet, she casually brushed herself off and walked over to them.

“Did you know,” she said, “that this castle is surrounded by a moat filled with crocodiles and alligators?”

“We'll worry about them if we get that far,” Watch repeated. He gestured to their chains. “I don't suppose you have the key to these in your pocket?”

“Can't say I do,” Sally said, glancing around. “Where's the witch?”

“Filling our bath,” Adam said. He glanced at Watch. “We have to face the fact we
aren't going to be able to break these chains. But what if we have Sally break something else?”