The Hidden Beast Read online

  Watch also stood. “I don’t have to ask anyone where I can go.”

  Adam heard the sadness in his friend’s voice. He knew that Watch’s family was spread all across the country, although he didn’t know why. Watch lived with some relative, but Adam forgot who.

  “Doesn’t anybody ever ask what you do?” Adam asked.

  Watch shook his head. “Not usually.”

  Sally patted Watch on the back and smiled.

  “But if you come home with a pile of treasure,” she said, “all your relatives will talk to you plenty.”

  2

  It took them longer than they planned to get ready. First, Adam had no equipment, neither a sleeping bag nor a backpack. Sally borrowed stuff from other friends for him. Then Bryce and Leah went off for a long time, and didn’t return until eleven-thirty. By then Watch was worried they wouldn’t even get close to the Teeth before the sun set.

  “It really is a hard hike,” he said as they climbed in the back of Leah’s white truck. Bryce was sitting up front in the cab with his cousin. Watch continued, “The Teeth are pretty high. You have to hike on an incline for a long time. Plus there isn’t much water up there. Whenever we come to a stream, we should drink and refill our bottles.”

  “Are you guys comfortable?” Leah shouted out her window.

  “Yeah,” Sally said, excited. “We’re ready to rock and roll.”

  Leah started the truck and they headed onto the main road that led out of Spooksville, going north. They were in fact taking the same road Watch had taken when he successfully rescued Cindy from a pterodactyl. But when that road finished this time they’d have to take a dirt road to within twenty miles of the Teeth.

  As the warm wind blew in their faces and they veered away from the ocean and their hometown, Adam spoke quietly so that only the four of them could hear.

  “Did you notice how little Leah said at our meeting?” he asked.

  Watch nodded. “Nothing we said seemed to surprise her much.”

  “I think she’s just shy,” Sally said.

  Cindy also nodded. “I’m not sure I trust her completely.”

  “You don’t like her because she’s prettier than you,” Sally said.

  Cindy sighed. “Oh brother.”

  “If I was her,” Adam said, “and my own private treasure map had just been decoded, I would have been jumping up and down.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t know how to jump,” Sally said.

  “Maybe nothing we said was new to her,” Watch answered slowly.

  “I don’t understand,” Cindy questioned.

  Adam and Watch glanced up front. “I think we should keep an eye on both of them,” Adam said.

  Sally laughed. “Cindy is already keeping an eye on Bryce. I don’t think she ever takes her eyes off him.”

  Cindy snorted. “Who’s the one who gushes over him all the time?”

  “Yeah, but he almost got me killed,” Sally said. “And he almost destroyed the world in the process. I have trouble forgiving a guy for that.”

  “Money and treasures bring out the worst in people,” Adam said. “We have to watch our backs.”

  They drove for well over an hour. The bumpy dirt road was more of a path for walking than for driving. Eventually they dead-ended at the sheer side of a rocky cliff. They had gone as far as they could on four wheels and piled out of the truck. Adam helped Cindy on with her pack. She groaned at its weight.

  “This thing is heavy,” she complained.

  “Wait until you’re walking up a steep incline with your lips cracked and bleeding and poisonous snakes biting at your exhausted legs,” Sally said. “Then it will feel ten times as heavy.”

  Watch gestured to the sheer cliff in front of them. “We have to hike around this. At first the way is really hard—rocky and steep. Then it levels off some.”

  Adam tugged on the bill of the cap he had brought to keep the sun off his face. He removed the water bottle from his pack and gulped down a big drink.

  “Where’s the first place we can stop and refill our bottles?” Adam asked Watch.

  “About four hours from here,” Watch said, once more checking his watches. “We won’t get there until around five. But we can’t stop there, not if we plan to get to the Teeth by tomorrow morning, early enough to catch Venus in the dark sky.”

  “I’m confused,” Cindy said. “I thought we weren’t going to try to search until the morning after?”

  “We’ll see how far we get today,” Leah interrupted.

  “Yeah,” Bryce agreed. “Let’s play it by ear.”

  They started off. As Watch had said the way was grueling at first. Several times Cindy slipped on loose gravel and scratched her knees. Because it was hot, she was wearing shorts and the scratches were rather nasty. They had to stop while she bandaged them. Luckily Sally had remembered to bring a first-aid kit.

  Sally was the most comfortable hiking. In fact, she was the most experienced climber, even though she didn’t know these mountains as well as Watch. For the most part it was Sally and Watch who led. Sally talked about what she’d buy if they did find the treasure, as they moved steadily upward.

  “The first thing I want is a house in a town other than Spooksville,” she said. “Then I’d be able to sleep peacefully at night and not have to worry about whether I’d be dead in the morning.”

  “But if you moved to another town,” Adam said, trudging along behind her, “we’d miss you. And you would miss all our great adventures.”

  Sally laughed. The mountain air seemed to put her in a good mood.

  “I could come back and visit whenever you needed me,” she said.

  “But we need you every day,” Cindy gasped, bringing up the rear.

  “We’re forgetting that some of this treasure might be of historical significance,” Watch said. “In that case we might be obligated to donate at least a portion of it to a museum.”

  “We’re not donating any of my treasure to a museum,” Leah interrupted.

  Watch was not taken aback. “I was speaking of our half. I assume we can do whatever we want with it.”

  Leah glanced at him and her pretty green eyes flashed with light. But whether it was a harsh light or a gentle one Adam wasn’t sure. Leah gave a quick smile and spoke in a gentler voice.

  “Of course you can do whatever you want with your share,” she said.

  The area had been largely dry and barren, but now they were beginning to pass some trees. The high green branches, although sparse, provided welcome shade. The ground began to level out and even Cindy got a second wind. They began to walk faster, and talk less, and for three continuous hours made excellent time. Indeed, they came to the waterhole Watch had described twenty minutes ahead of schedule. It was a shallow but clear pool that was formed by a spring that seemed to shoot straight out from the side of a cliff. As they kneeled to refill then-bottles, Adam was pleased to see their reflections in the pool.

  “Look!” he exclaimed. “Before anyone touches the water. There we are—there are two of each of us now.”

  Sally crouched beside him and made a face at her reflection. “I wish I’d brought my camera,” she said. “It’s beautiful here.”

  “It is very peaceful,” Cindy agreed, picking a flower and smelling it.

  Bryce threw his pack down beside the pool. “We mustn’t take any pictures of the treasure,” he said. “We mustn’t ever let anyone know what we have found.”

  “We understand,” Watch said.

  Bryce glanced at him. “Just wanted to make sure we’re on the same wavelength.”

  They rested for half an hour before starting out again. Now, according to Watch, they were entering an area even he didn’t know well. Yet he apparently did have an idea of where he wanted to camp for the night.

  “There is a large bowl-like valley at the foot of the Teeth,” he said. “We’ll be sheltered from the wind and hopefully from any wild animals.”

  “Are there wild animals up here?
” Cindy asked nervously.

  “Just mountain lions and brown bears,” Sally said. “Adam, did you bring your laser pistol?”

  “No,” Adam said.

  Leah frowned. “Do you really have a laser pistol?”

  “Yeah, he does,” Sally said with a laugh. “He stole it from an alien seventy million years ago.”

  Bryce turned to Leah. “I told you they had been interesting places,” he said.

  They reached the bowl-like valley at eight o’clock. Now they had less than half an hour of light left to set up camp. It would be hardly enough. But the group worked well together, and soon they had their tents and sleeping bags nicely laid out. They even started a fire and heated up a dinner of soup and beans in the crackling flames. Cindy had brought along bags of chips to share.

  Above them the black silhouette of the Teeth waited for them. There were six peaks altogether, but the farthest one was clearly the tallest and the narrowest. Cindy pointed to it as they ate.

  “How far away would you say that is, Watch?” she asked.

  “At least six miles,” he said. “Maybe more. I don’t think we should try for it in the morning before dawn. It would be better to hike to it after the sun comes up and try to find the treasure the following morning.”

  “Do you think that’s wise?” Bryce asked. “The clues were specific. We should be there when Venus is at its highest, which you say is tomorrow morning.”

  “But, as I explained, I don’t think it’ll make much difference,” Watch said. “Besides, to hike there in the early morning hours, in the pitch-black before the sun rises, could be dangerous. One slip and someone could break a leg or be killed.”

  “Wouldn’t the police send a helicopter back to rescue us?” Cindy asked.

  “Not the Spooksville police,” Sally said. “They’re all afraid of heights.”

  “And the dark,” Watch added.

  Bryce glanced at Leah. “I don’t agree with this,” he said. “What do you think?”

  Leah shrugged and stared at the farthest peak, which was so narrow and tall it looked unnatural. “If Watch says it’s too dangerous, I agree with him.” She raised a hand to stifle a yawn. “Besides, I’m exhausted. I’m not used to this much exercise. I want to sleep for ten hours straight. I don’t want to get up in the middle of the night to hike in the dark to an unfamiliar place.”

  “All right,” Bryce said reluctantly. “If that’s the feeling of the whole group.”

  “I agree with Watch,” Sally said quickly.

  “So do I,” Adam said. “Safety first.”

  “A difficult motto to live by in Spooksville,” Cindy said. Then she added, “Do we need to have someone stand guard? Against wild animals, I mean?”

  Watch shook his head. “If we keep the fire going, it will keep any animals away. To be sure it doesn’t go out, I’ll set an alarm on one of my watches so I can get up and put a few logs on it.”

  “What time will you be getting up?” Leah asked.

  Watch shrugged. “Maybe two in the morning. Why?”

  “I was just wondering,” Leah replied.

  3

  Adam was dreaming about fire when he was roughly shaken. He was almost relieved to be awake. The dream had not been pleasant, more of a nightmare really. It was as if everything he loved and cherished in life had been burned to a crisp by some incredible force.

  He sat up and found Watch staring at him in the dark. The fire had burned down low; it was little more than glowing cinders. The dim red light heightened the worried expression on his friend’s face.

  “What’s the matter?” Adam asked anxiously.

  “Leah’s gone,” Watch said.

  “Are you sure? Maybe she just had to go to the bathroom.”

  “No. She’s been gone too long.”

  Adam wiped at his eyes and glanced up at the Teeth. It was still pitch-black. There were a million stars in the sky; like bright dots on a black painting. The stars traced an unearthly outline of the peaks.

  “How long is long?” Adam asked.

  “I’ve been up fifteen minutes,” Watch said. “She’s been gone at least that long.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”

  “Because I kept thinking she’d come back.” Watch paused and sighed. “I should have known.”

  “What?”

  “That she would double-cross us. I suspected that she’d already figured out the map long before she met with us yesterday morning.”

  “Then why bring us along?” Adam asked.

  “There could be a lot of reasons. She obviously doesn’t know this area as well as I do. She may have used us to get this far. Also, she might want to use us for something yet to come.”

  “So you definitely think she’s set out for the tall peak?”

  “I haven’t the slightest doubt of it. Do you?”

  Adam hesitated. “No. Is Bryce here? Are they in this together?”

  Watch gestured. “He’s sleeping sound as a baby. But that doesn’t mean anything.”

  Adam understood. “He could have stayed behind to fake us out.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What should we do?” Adam asked.

  Watch drew in a deep breath and frowned. He studied the nearby peaks.

  “I still think it’s dangerous to try to scale any of these peaks in the dark,” he said. “But if we want to get our share of the treasure, we might not have a choice.”

  “Do we care about the treasure?” Adam asked. “Is it worth risking our lives?”

  “It’s more the principle of the thing,” Watch said. “Leah made a deal with us. She should keep her end of the bargain. I hate to see her get away with her scheme.”

  “The two of us could go after her alone,” Adam suggested. “We could leave the others a note.”

  Watch shook his head. “The girls would be mad. They’d accuse us of being sexist. Or at least Sally would. Plus there is safety in numbers. I say we either all go or all stay. I don’t think we should separate.”

  Adam pointed to a bright white star low in the eastern sky.

  “Is that Venus?” he asked.

  “Yes. See how bright it is.”

  “How long till the sun comes up?”

  “Three hours. But we really only have two if we’re to catch any shadows Venus casts on the tall peak. Once the dawn begins to break, the shadows will vanish.” He paused. “Leah must have known that.”

  Adam nodded. “She must have known a lot more than we thought.”

  “Yeah. She may even know what the ancient pet really was. Maybe her father told her.” Watch added, “Maybe that’s the other reason we’re here.”

  Adam didn’t like the sound of that.

  Hiking toward the tall peak in the pitch-black turned out to be as difficult as Watch feared. Even though they had a couple of flashlights, they kept bumping into one another and sliding on loose gravel. When they started up the actual peak, the way became even more treacherous. The mountain had no path to the top. They found themselves clinging to rocky ledges they could hardly see. And the worst thing was they weren’t even sure where they were going.

  “How do we know this supposed doorway isn’t lower down on the peak?” Sally asked Watch, who carried one of the flashlights in his free hand.

  “We don’t,” Watch said. “But it seems logical the important spot should be high up.”

  “Why?” Cindy gasped, laboring beside Adam, who carried the other light. They had brought three flashlights, but Leah took one.

  “Because between us and Venus is another peak,” Watch explained. “It’s only when we get near the top that the planet’s light will shine clearly on this peak.”

  “It’s hard to believe Leah went all this way by herself,” Bryce said.

  “Believe it, buster,” Sally snapped. “She stabbed us in the back. Are you sure you didn’t know what she was up to?”

  “I’ve already answered that question three times,” Bryce muttered.
r />   “But how couldn’t you know?” Sally insisted. “She’s your cousin. You were always off talking to her alone.”

  “I don’t know Leah that well,” Bryce said. “She only just returned to town.”

  “I bet no matter what happens, you end up with your share of the treasure,” Sally said.

  “Cut it out,” Adam said. “We’re together now. We have to work together. If Leah did try to go this way by herself, she could be in danger.”

  “Like I’m dying to rescue her,” Sally said.

  Because the peak was so narrow it looked taller than it was. An hour of hard climbing brought them close to the top. They stopped short of the summit because they suddenly came to a ledge of rock that was smooth and flat, at least twenty feet square. As they pulled themselves up on the smooth ground, they were sure they had arrived at the right place.

  In the center of the flat square was a single smoothly polished boulder. On top of it, standing on edge, was a smaller circular stone with a hole in the center of it. Behind these stones was another rock. Unlike the two center stones, it seemed to have been recently placed there. Watch studied the collection of rocks, straightened his thick lenses, and pointed at Venus, which shone in the eastern sky like a warning beacon.

  “The light of Venus, if I am correct, should pass directly through the hole in this small stone,” he said. “That should create a round shadow—defined by the white light—that should trace a circle on the cliff here.”

  “You mean this will happen if you take away the rock behind the other two?” Adam asked.

  “Yes,” Watch replied.

  “You think Leah placed that rock there to block the shadow from forming?” Sally asked.

  “I’m sure of it,” Watch said. “The other two rocks look as if they were carved there, thousands of years ago. But the small stone seems to mess up the arrangement.”

  “Take it away,” Cindy said. “Let’s see what happens.”

  Watch reached out and removed the rock. The white light of Venus pierced the hole in the center of the circle. Its rays, as they flared out on either side, described a perfect circle of shadow and light, a circle as tall as a man.