Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl (20 page)

Two of the Mystic Brothers conducted us up the little flight of stairs at the side of the stage. It turned out there was a door in the mural, right in the middle of the very big tree. The two brothers and Baas Kwaadwillig pushed us through and followed us. We were in a little room hung with ropes, and there was a big basket in the middle.

"The trials will take place in the sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-basement, beneath the temple," Baas Kwaadwillig said. "They are very scary trials, and once you have begun them no one can help you. Do you understand this?"

We said we did.

"I see you have the elf fear gong, and a trouble fez," Baas Kwaadwillig said. "And you have the Sacred Snooker Stick. These objects will protect you if your hearts are pure. Are you ready to begin your trials?"

We said we were.

"Step into the basket."

We stepped into the basket. It was quite large enough for both of us.

"They are in the basket," the two brothers said.

"Lower away," Baas Kwaadwillig said.

We felt something slide underneath us. It was a trapdoor opening. The basket rocked a little, and we began to sink into darkness. The last thing we saw was the brothers paying out rope. They were lowering us.

We automatically sat down to steady the basket. The dim light that came from the open trapdoor soon faded, and looking upward we could see the trapdoor as a gray square getting smaller and dimmer—and then we were in darkness. This darkness was of the blackest black, and then it got blacker. It was impossible to tell how fast we were descending, or even that we were moving at all. I couldn't remember ever seeing it so dark.

"I don't suppose you have a match," I asked Molly.

"All I have is this elf fear gong," Molly said. "And I'm getting ready to ring it."

It was impossible to tell how far we had been lowered, or how fast we were going, or even how much time had passed. At one point I reached out to see if I could feel a wall or anything, but all I could feel was nothing. And all I could hear was silence.

For some reason, I kept thinking about the girl who looked exactly like me, the one I had seen in the street while we were being taken here and there. Also for no reason I knew of, I thought it was important that I had seen her. I was going to mention it to Molly, but she spoke first.

"The Trial of Hot, and the Trial of Wet," she said.

"Would that be fire and water, do you think?"

"So, what are you thinking? We're going to be burned and drowned?"

"Well, something like that. Anyway, that's what it sounds like."

"Remind me why we agreed to this."

"Because he said if we didn't it would mean death."

"Oh, yes—that."

The basket hit bottom with a thump. It was every bit as dark as it had been on the way down. We just sat there for a while, not speaking.

When we did speak, there was an echo. I could feel that we were in an enormous open space—I sensed it was much bigger than the whole Mystic Temple. Except for our voices, and the echo, it was completely silent.

"We're in a mine or something," I said.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Molly asked.

"You don't think they lowered us down here and are just going to leave us to die, do you?" I asked.

"Or, has it occurred to you that these Mystic Brothers are crazy as bats?" Molly asked. "Maybe
they lower people down here expecting them to go through some goofy trials, and when they never see them again they assume they failed, or they just forget about them. I mean, these are grown adults who wear pussycat masks and pineapples on their heads."

"And we let them lower us into some kind of gigantic pit," I said. "We are the crazy ones."

"Shall we holler?" Molly asked.

"Yes. Let's do that," I said.

We started to holler, but the echo got so loud, it made us dizzy and scared us.

"Let's not holler," I said.

"What do you suggest?" Molly asked.

"Well, we can get out of the basket. And start feeling our way around."

We got out of the basket. The floor of the place we were in was covered with gravel and loose stones. When stepped on, it made an unpleasant high-pitched squeaking sound—except in some spots where the stones made a nice mellow sound like a woodblock being hit with a drumstick or castanets.

"Oh! I just thought of something," Molly said. "What if there are pits?"

"Pits?"

"Pits. In all this blackness, we could easily fall
into a deep pit and break our necks. How do we know there aren't pits?"

"Good point," I said. "We could just stay right here by the basket and wait for them to pull it up."

"I think we just did that," Molly said.

"What do you mean?" I said, and then, "Oh! It's gone! Do you think they pulled it up?"

"Presumably."

"And they would be able to tell by the weight that we weren't in it."

"Right."

"So they had no intention of pulling us back up. What's that noise?"

"That's me hitting the elf fear gong," Molly said.

"Well, stop for a minute, and let's think," I said. "What's the best thing to do?"

"Find our way out of here and not fall into any pits," Molly said. "You have a trouble fez. Put it on and see if anything occurs to you."

"Have you noticed that in some spots the floor makes an annoying squeaky sound and in others it makes a nice mellow clicking?" I asked Molly.

"I did notice that," Molly said.

"I am noticing that the mellow-clicking spots are grouped together, and contiguous," I said. "What happens if we step only on those?"

Molly experimented. "I think they are laid out in a line," she said. "It's like a path or a road."

"Maybe that is so we can follow in a direction even though it's completely dark," I said.

"So we..."

"Follow the mellow click road!"

"Follow the mellow click road!"

We made our way along, listening for the mellow clicks, stepping carefully lest we fall into a pit. I tried to be cheerful, but I couldn't manage it. It was depressing, and dark, and scary, and lonely.

"You know what?" Molly asked me.

"What?"

"I miss my mommy and daddy."

"You know what?" I asked Molly.

"What?"

"I miss my mommy and daddy too."

"I thought you didn't remember your mommy and daddy."

"I don't. That's the odd part. I think I am missing Elizabeth Van Vreemdeling's mommy and daddy."

"That is odd."

"I know. I think I am sort of working out the Elizabeth thing. I think maybe I am she, and also me. As to that other girl I saw who looked just like us—I mean her and me—I'm starting to have an idea."

The three little kids appeared, floating over our heads as usual. They each had a candle. "Take heart, brave girl, and brave pussycat companion," the three little kids said.

"I am a girl too," I said.

"Take heart! Take heart! Your journey nears its 234 end! If you are brave you will be rewarded, and all will be well!"

"So can you tell us if we are going in the right direction?"

"For if you are of pure heart, and have courage, you will overcome even the greatest dangers!"

"Is there a way out of here?"

"So be brave, girl and pussycat, and you shall prevail. And now, farewell. Your destiny awaits you!"

"Could you leave those candles with us?"

And the three little kids were gone.

"You know, I kind of hate them," I said.

"So do I," Molly said.

It seemed even darker once the three little kids had left with their candles. Of course, they had been
above us, and we had been looking up at them. Had it occurred to us to look around, we might have gotten an idea of where we were in the candlelight, but they had come and gone so quickly, we never had a chance to think of that.

Then we heard a voice. It seemed to come from all directions. "It is time! Prepare yourselves for the first ordeal. Prepare yourselves for the Trial of Hot!"

Prepare? Prepare how? On one hand, it felt sort of good that the Mystic Brothers had not forgotten about us and we were not completely alone. On the other hand, we were supposed to be preparing for the Trial of Hot, and we had no idea how to do that.

"If there's fire involved, that means there will be light too," I said. "Then at least we can get some idea of what's around us, and maybe even see a way out."

Something small and light bounced off my head. "What's that? A bat?"

Another one hit me.

"There are things hitting me!" I said.

"Me too!" Molly said. "We're being pelted with..."

I caught ahold of one of the things and felt it. It was smooth, and tapered, and had a stem. "This feels like a Mexican pepper!" I said.

"We're being pelted with jalapeños!" Molly said.

"Peppers? That's the Trial of Hot?"

I could hear wheezing and snorting and giggling in the darkness. It was obvious, the Mystic Brothers had gathered in the pit, or mine, or basement, or whatever it was, and were throwing little hot peppers at us.

"The Trial of Hot! You have survived! You live!" the voice that came from everywhere said. "Continue on your quest, worthy girl and worthy pussycat!"

"I'm a girl too!" I shouted.

"Oh, for pity's sake," Molly said. "Hot peppers! What's next? Squirt guns?"

Far away we saw a tiny twinkling light! It looked like a distant star.

"Look!" Molly said.

"I'm looking!" I said.

"Run!" Molly said.

"I'm running!" I said.

We were excited. The light looked friendly. It seemed brighter as we ran toward it. It was a lantern, or a candle—we didn't know what it was, but we felt it was our best friend.

"The Trial of Wet!" the voice from everywhere shouted, and we were squirted with water from all sides. This time the Mystic Brothers were giggling out loud.

Squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt. We were drenched.

"What idiots!" Molly said.

"Really," I said.

The squirting stopped.

"Once again, you have survived!" the voice said. "You are accepted into the Mystic Brotherhood. You may purchase robes, pussycat masks—only necessary for one of you—and sacred pineapple headdresses. Congratulations! You may depart the sacred chamber."

Then we were alone again. There was no sound of anyone else. We approached the light, which turned out to be a fat candle on a rock.

We stood there, wet.

"What do you think?" Molly asked. "We are in the ordinary basement of the temple, and the nitwits just lowered us very slowly?"

"Something like that," I said. "Let's take the candle and find the way out of here."

"I am never joining anything after this," Molly said. "Especially anything secret."

"That goes double for me," I said.

We found a couple of ladders that went up into the darkness. Painted on the wall with whitewash next to one ladder was a sign that read
ORDINARY LADDER,
and next to the other ladder was one that read
MYSTIC LADDER.