The Demon Conspiracy (6 page)

“
Crawl
through a stream?” I shot a
distressed look at Travis, who was smiling. OMG! He couldn’t wait
to crawl through water! What a moron.

Anton led us to the opening of Pandora’s
Cave, where a ragged brown sign with white letters marked the
entrance. Off to one side a larger sign offered a brief description
of what to expect and how to treat the ecology. It also warned
people about going in without an experienced guide.

By now the sun was just rising above the
foothills in the east. The area was much brighter than before. Jon
surprised me when he took a digital camcorder from his backpack.
The entire unit was no bigger than some cell phones I’d seen, but
it looked like something a professional would use. He tested the
battery and the LED lamp.

“Where’d you get that?” I asked. “It’s
nice.”

“It’s Brandon’s. He wants me to make a sort
of documentary of the trip. He thinks we can use some of the cave
footage in one of our films.”

“Why don’t you just use your cell phone?”
asked Dr. Parrish. “That thing looks expensive.”

Jon wasn’t sure how to answer without
hurting Chris’ feelings. “Uh, Brandon wants decent sound, and all,
too. Not just good video.”

Chris was embarrassed. “Angie and I have
talked about getting the kids cell phones, but even the family
plans are pricey. They do need something, though.”

Anton changed the subject. “You’re going to
make films? That’s interesting, Jon, really. You and Brandon make a
good team.”

Jon agreed, as he turned on the camcorder
and aimed it at himself. “This is the great expedition into
Pandora’s Cave led by super cave explorer, Mr. Edwards. Also on the
journey are the brilliant Dr. Parrish, the amazing Chris McCormick,
and, of course, all the fantastic Bishops!” He turned the camera
briefly on everyone, and we waved back shyly. “Just act natural
while I’m taping, okay?”

All at once Anton and Parrish went from
acting natural to walking and groaning like zombies. Jon paused the
camcorder. “Never mind.”

Everybody laughed except Chris. “Please
don’t do that.”

“Sorry, Chris, I forgot.” Anton spoke as if
he knew something about Chris that I should know too. I was about
to inspect his thoughts and find out why Chris didn’t like zombie
jokes, when Jon approached me.

“Take this.” Jon handed the camcorder to me
and explained how to use it. “Try to keep the picture steady, okay?
Remember, what you see in the viewfinder is exactly what you’re
recording.”

I was taken aback. Was he kidding? That
thing cost a lot of money. “What if I drop it?”

“Don’t.”

“What do you want me to do with it?”

“Get me some cutaway shots.”

“What’s a cutaway shot?”

“You know, like a cat in a window, or a bug
crawling on the ground. You see them all the time in movies to show
what an actor is looking at, or to show continuity. They cutaway
for a quick look at a plant, or something.”

“I can tape anything I want?”

“Knock yourself out.”

I searched the area around the cave entrance
for a bug or a cat or a cool looking plant. Nothing. Just for
practice I got a close up of Ripper the wonder dog. Ripper tried to
lick the lens.

As we were about to go
into the cave, a yellow, original style VW Beetle raced into the
parking lot and skidded to a halt beside Anton’s car. Maria
Sanchez, Jon’s girlfriend, got out of the Beetle and ran to Jon.
Maria had thick dark hair and big, beautiful brown eyes that made
Jon want to hold her whenever she looked at him. I knew that
because I was inside his head again. It was
so
romantic being around them. He
quickly blocked me out.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and
they kissed without shame in front of everybody. She gave me a
quick girly hug and even rubbed Travis’ white hair, which messed it
up a little more than it already was. It seems funny to me how
people rub his hair like that. Is it because he’s got curly Troll
hair? I mean what’s the big deal? Does it bring good luck to rub
it?

As usual Travis blushed just being near her
and I knew exactly what he was thinking. Maria was drop-dead
gorgeous and genuinely kind all rolled into one.

“Want some gum?” Maria produced a pack of
gum from a pocket in her very tight blue jeans and passed it
around. Of course Travis took a piece, he always did. He’s got a
thing for gum like he does for food. I took one, too, to be polite.
Travis whispered to me.

“She’s pretty
and
she gives us gum! No
wonder Jon likes her so much!”

“No wonder.” I rolled my eyes at him. Not a
major roll, but enough to calm him down.

Travis popped the gum in his mouth and
wandered off toward the cave. I, on the other hand, hit the record
button and kept the lens pointed at Jon and Maria. This was good
stuff and I didn’t want to miss a second.

“I can’t believe you came here!” said Jon
happily. “It’s so early!”

“I wanted to wish you good luck,” said
Maria, kissing him again. “So good luck! And be careful, okay?”

I moved around them, taking in every
romantic shot with the camcorder. I even zoomed in on their
interlaced fingers. I’d call that a cutaway shot.

“That’s good. Now don’t move your hands.
Okay, I got it.” This directing stuff was kind of cool. Maybe I
should look into it.

“Get out of here,” said Jon, grabbing for
the camcorder. I dashed out of his reach but came back to finish
the scene.

“I wish you could come with us,” said Jon.
“Mr. Edwards makes it sound like a life changing experience.”

“Don’t change too much, okay? I like you the
way you are.”

“Do you want to go with us, Maria?” said
Anton, stepping over to greet her. I changed the camera angle to
include Anton in the shot. “I’ve got some extra equipment.”

“No, no, no, Mr. Edwards!” said Maria
quickly. “Thanks, but I don’t like dirty old caves. Call me when
you get back.”

“Absolutely.” Jon kissed her again and they
pulled apart. Maria waved and got back in her car. When she was
gone Jon caught up with the rest of us and got a big applause. He
blushed, but grinned from ear to ear as he took back the
camcorder.

“When a girl gets up this early and drives
forty minutes for a kiss, it’s serious. Nothing beats true love.”
Anton said it matter-of-factly, but Chris and Parrish both nodded
like they totally understood and approved. “Are we ready to hit the
underworld? Let’s go, team!”

***

The cave opening was half the size of a
normal doorway and made of smooth, gray rock. A path of loose dirt
led into the cave, where a jagged, curved ceiling gave it a
yawning, toothy look.

Anton stopped at the edge of the darkness.
“Follow me.” The way he said it was kind of eerie and when he
stepped into the cave he was completely swallowed up by gloom. I
couldn’t see him at all and it had a spooky feel about it. Chris
took a deep breath and went after him. Then Jon and I went in,
followed by Travis and Dr. Parrish.

Something about walking into pitch-blackness
made my stomach flutter, and not a little flutter either. But as we
entered I found out it wasn’t quite as dark as it seemed from
outside in the morning light. We passed through a sort of twilight
zone where the walls were lined with pale, ragged plants and spider
webs. Farther in it was like entering a dark movie theatre after
using the restroom. I couldn’t see a thing. Apparently Parrish
couldn’t see either. He bumped into Travis.

“Sorry, Travis,” said Parrish. “I’m walking
blind.”

Anton turned on his headlamp revealing
steep, rock walls on both sides. Parrish stood up straighter when
he saw the high ceiling.

“Stay close to me,” said Anton, who turned
and went ahead, leaving us all in total darkness. He laughed and
called back. “You can switch on your headlamps.”

Well, duh! I’d forgotten all about it.
Luckily, I wasn’t the only one. The others murmured with relief and
turned on their headlamps. Now I could see the smooth rock path
we’d been descending, which led into a narrow tunnel. So that’s
what the place looked like.

“The cave is named for
Pandora Wilby, a local heiress,” said Anton, giving us a little
history lesson along the way. “When she dies the property will
belong to the National Park Service. This cave is completely
natural. No electricity, signs, or handrails. But don’t worry, I
brought spotlights to show off the impressive stuff. Now pay
attention, everybody.” Anton bent down and drew a tiny arrow with a
piece of white chalk near the floor. “
I
know my way around this cave, but
if for some reason one of you needs to get out without my guidance,
just follow the arrows. I’ll rub off the chalk when we
leave.”

When the group moved again, I saw Travis
glance back, which of course made me look, too. The cave entrance
was out of sight. Travis was really good at finding his way around,
and I don’t think he’d ever been lost. He must have gotten that
trait from our real dad, who never got lost either. Even now I had
to fight off tears whenever I thought about the accident. But this
wasn’t the place to get sidetracked. I clamped my jaw tight and
focused on the cave.

Like I said Travis had
never gotten lost, though keeping track of where we were in a cave
was different. With all the turns, rises, passageways and drops, it
was hard for Travis to get his bearings. To make matters worse
there were pitch-black side tunnels, which seemed to drop into
nothingness. Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of
nothingness—especially the dark kind. I did
not
want to get lost in this place,
but I noticed Anton was careful to make a tiny chalk mark at every
intersection.

“Where do all the other tunnels go?” asked
Travis.

“Some just end,” said Anton. “A few go down
to an underground river. And one leads to a side exit. You could
lose your way in here very easily.”

“So there’s another way out,” said Jon. “Is
it hard to find?”

“Not if you know where to look. The other
way’s actually shorter than this one, but it’s boring. If there was
an emergency, though, I’d bring a rescue team in that way. Cuts
time and distance in half.”

Anton led us through narrow passages and
small holes where we had to crawl. Travis kept making weird sound
effects whenever we had to do something other than walk.

“Bierrrrol. Bierrrrol. Gudda-gudda-gudda.”
The echoes of his battle noises, if that’s what they were, sounded
distorted and alien.

“What’s that supposed to be?” asked
Parrish.

“I dunno,” said Travis. “I’m just havin’
fun. Blecka-blecka-bierrrrol.”

That was an understatement because I knew
Travis was having the time of his life. The only thing he wasn’t
sure about was his headlamp. Every so often it flickered like it
might go out, but Anton always got it to work again.

We hardly needed our headlamps since the
camcorder had its own bright light. Jon was recording practically
every step we took. He went ahead of the group and got shots of
everyone crawling through a shallow stream beneath a low ceiling.
This was the stream Anton had promised, and the water was cold.
Travis loved it. I didn’t. Parrish wasn’t too crazy about it either
when his glasses got wet. He came out of the stream and gave them
to Travis.

“Travis? Can you wipe these off? I can’t see
a thing without them.”

“Sure,” said Travis. He wiped them clean on
a dry part of his shirt and gave them back. Parrish put them on
again and blinked.

“Much better. Thanks.”

A half hour into the journey we stopped at a
dead end where a narrow path rose steeply to the ceiling. Anton
took a rope from his pack that had series of knots tied in it.

Parrish winked at us. “So, Anton, is this
the exciting part you were telling us about? The blank wall, I
mean.”

Anton just smiled. “Mark, you should do
standup comedy. You’re a real card.”

“Yeah,” said Chris. “He’s a card all right.
He ought to be dealt with.”

Chris’ joke was so bad everyone just stared
at him. He looked from person to person hoping for support. All at
once we burst out laughing, the noise echoing eerily around us.
Anton clapped him on the shoulder. “Chris, I beg you. Stay away
from anything related to humor. Please?”

“Yeah, Chris,” I said. “Please?”

“It’s funny!” Chris argued good-naturedly.
“You probably didn’t even get it.”

“Oh, we got it. Along with a case of
heartburn.” Anton pulled hard on the rope to tighten the knots.
Satisfied, he set it down.

Parrish looked up. “So,
Anton,
is
there a
way around this wall?”

“Not around—through.” Anton carefully
crawled up the incline until he reached the top. He looped one end
of the knotted rope around a rock column, then shined his light on
a hole about the size of a truck tire. “This takes us down to the
Cathedral room. You can use the rope to climb up, but coming back
is a breeze. I didn’t name it the Sliding Board Rock for
nothing.”

Travis looked at me. “Cool!”

Parrish groaned. “That hole’s small. I hope
we don’t have to leave in a hurry.”

Anton disappeared over the wall and called
for Chris to follow next. Chris wasn’t very athletic and he didn’t
climb so well, but he used the rope to slide, pull and kick his way
to the top. Eventually we all got up the slope and through the
hole, even Dr. Parrish. Luckily, the hole was bigger than it looked
from below. I’d gotten a little chilly after crawling through the
water, but the climb was a fun challenge and it warmed me up
nicely. I noticed the warmer I was the dryer my clothes got.