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“I didn’t say anything,” said Jay, who was now wearing numerous gold chains around his neck and stacking diamond bracelets up his arm.
“Who was that?” asked Evie nervously.
They looked around. Nobody else seemed to be there.
“Fine. It’s nothing. Now, let’s find that door,” said Mal.
“You won’t,” said the booming voice again. “And you will be trapped here forever if you don’t answer me correctly!”
“Great,” Jay groaned.
“Is this another riddle? This whole fortress is, like, booby-trapped or something,” Evie grumbled.
“Multiple defenses—I told you,” Carlos said. “Burglar alarm. Probably for the Dragon’s Eye, don’t you think?”
“Cave? Should I call you Cave?” asked Mal.
“Mouth of Wonders will do,” said the voice.
Evie made a face. “That’s a terrible name.”
Mal nodded. “Okay, Mouth, what’s the question?”
“It is but a simple one.”
“Hit us,” Mal said.
The booming voice chuckled.
Then it asked in somber tones, “What is the golden rule?”
“The golden rule?” Mal asked, scratching her head. She looked at her team. “Is that some kind of jewelry thing? Jay?”
But Jay was too busy grabbing as much gold as he could get and didn’t seem to hear the question.
Carlos began frantically reciting every mathematical rule he could thing of. “Rules of logarithms? Rule of three? Rules expressed in symbols? Order of operations?”
“Is it maybe something about being nice to each other?” asked Evie tentatively. “Do unto others what you want done unto yourself? Some kind of Auradon greeting-card nonsense?”
In answer, the cave began to fill with sand again. The Mouth of Wonders was not happy, that much was clear. Sand appeared from everywhere, filling the room, filling the spaces between the stacks of gold coins, rising like water filling a sinking ship. They would soon suffocate if they did not give the Mouth the correct answer.
“It’s the Cave of Wonders, not the Fairy Godmother!” shrieked Carlos. “The Cave doesn’t care about being kind! That’s not the golden rule!”
The cave continued to fill with sand.
“Come on—this way!” Mal tried to climb the stacks of gold coins—thinking she could avoid the sand by getting closer to the ceiling—but they collapsed beneath her each time she attempted to scale them, and she only ended up buried in more treasure. She tried again, and this time Evie gave her a push from behind, so that she was able to grab on to the tall statue of a sphinx.
She mounted the creature’s back and reached to pull Evie up beside her, but the sand was still rising, already engulfing her leg, threating to keep her down.
“I can’t make it!” Evie shouted.
“You have to!” Mal yelled back.
But Evie had disappeared under the flood of sand.
Jay couldn’t believe it when he watched her go under. “Evie—”
“Come on—” Carlos said, feeling beneath the sand for her. “She has to be down here. Help me find her.”
