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“I didn’t create this world,” said Jay. “You guys coming?”
“Hold on, we need to be careful,” said Mal. “Evie was almost poisoned back at the tree and who knows what that snake will do.”
“Fine,” said Jay.
“Let’s go in, but we all stay together,” said Mal. “Agreed?”
The others nodded, and they entered the cave. Jay was in the lead, his boots sliding on the sandy floor. He pulled the flashlight out of his pocket and hit the switch, but nothing happened. He tapped it again, and it glowed faintly, illuminating the path before them. A few minutes later, they heard that odd howling noise they’d heard when they first entered the desert.
“Do you think the cobra can make that noise?” Evie whispered.
“I don’t know, but I don’t really want to find out,” Carlos whispered back.
“It’s called the Haunted Desert,” said Mal. “What do you think it is?”
“Ghosts don’t scare me,” Jay said as they kept walking into the darkness with only the sputtering flashlight to light their way. “Hauntings aren’t a big deal.”
“Oh yeah, what would you know about that?” asked Carlos, trying to get his torchlight zapp to work, but his phone was dead. There had been no time to charge it back on the Isle of the Lost.
“A ghost might try to scare you by rattling his chains or slamming a door shut, but there’s nothing to be afraid of. They’re basically made of air,” said Jay, still following the faint sound of rattling.
“Why do I get the feeling,” said Carlos, “that someone is trying to convince himself of something?”
“Because someone is totally scared but won’t admit it,” said Mal, sneaking behind Jay and yelling in his ear. “Boo!”
Jay jumped. “Okay, so I might be little freaked out. But it takes a real man to admit his fears.”
“Oh, really,” said Mal with a laugh. “It seems to me that just a moment ago you were telling us that ghosts were nothing to worry about.”
“So what? Ghosts are the worst, okay? I just wish we could leave this cave already,” Jay said.
The howling grew even louder. Carlos plugged his ears and Evie did the same. “Maybe the ghost is deaf?” Mal said. “Why else would it be shrieking at the top of its lungs?”
Jay sighed. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.” He started to walk faster, but stopped when they reached a sharp corner where the passage was
a bit wider. The wind whistled through it, howling and screeching.
“So it’s not a ghost after all,” said Jay. “It’s just the wind flying around these corners. I guess it’s like a big flute that plays a note each time the wind blows through.”
“Look at Jay, getting poetic on us,” said Evie as she, Carlos, and Mal tried to follow Jay into the next passage. But the same force that had pushed Jay away from the tree earlier was acting against them now.
“Wait!” said Mal. “We can’t get any farther.”
Jay turned around to see his three friends standing at the corner. “I’ll meet you back outside. Don’t worry about me, I’ve got this cobra.”
“Okay,” said Mal, scowling. “I guess we don’t really have a choice.”
“Remember what Yen Sid said,” advised Evie.
“Good luck, man,” said Carlos.
Jay promised he would see them soon, and then turned to face the empty tunnel on his own. It wound deeper and deeper into the earth, and the flashlight finally gave out, leaving him in darkness. The howling wind was still kind of scary, but he reminded himself that there was nothing supernatural about it.
At last, he saw a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel, and when he reached it, he discovered it was the entrance to a hidden chamber.
And not just any chamber, but one piled high with gold and treasure. A mountain of shimmering coins reached to the ceiling, so bright it cast its own light around the cavern. Jay had seen such treasure only once before, when he was in the Cave of Wonders in the Forbidden Fortress.
“This isn’t real,” he said.
