The Secret of the Scarlet Stone (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book One) (18 page)

Zora
squinted at the walls
.
“This is so odd, and why are these torches lit? Interesting, very interesting
…
”

Rosalinda rolled her eyes with exasperation
.
“Oh
,
stop with the
‘
very interesting
’
nonsense.”

“Jeez, what is your problem
,
girl? Anything she says seems to make you angry. Relax
,
would you
?
” Gabrielle exclaimed.

Rosalinda slammed her hands on her hips
.
“Pardon me? I don’t see how that is any of your business,” she said rudely.

“Girl, you don’t want any part of me, so you better watch it,” Gabrielle said angrily.

Zora
adjusted her glasses
.
“Gabi, you don’t have to defend me
.
I can handle myself
,
but thank you.”

Jessica shifted from side
to
side nervously
.
“I don’t like this one bit. The Gabby Girls Adventure hasn’t even really started and we’re already fighting. I want to go back,” she wailed.

Gabrielle gave Jessica a worried stare.

“See what you’ve done? Now you have Jessica all upset. Great going
,
Rosalinda,” Gabrielle said.

“Excuse me? I didn’t do anything,” Rosalinda screamed.

Jessica wrung her hands nervously
.
“Oh
,
my
…
oh
,
my
,
” she muttered.

“Okay
,
everyone stop it right now. Just pull it together. We are going to finish what we started. Let’s go
,
Gabby Girls,” Gabrielle stated. She stormed off down the passageway and the
others
cautiously followed. As they walked towards the end of the passage,
Zora
suddenly stopped and touched the worn metal base of a torch.

“Wow! Do you know how old this torch is?”
she
exclaimed with excitement.

They gave her blank stares.

“It was made in the
nineteen hundred
s, right here in America. I think maybe Pennsylvania,” she continued matter-of-factly.

Rosalinda gave
Zora
a nervous stare
.
“
Zora
can you stop that? It’s really creepy
.
”

Zora
self-consciously pulled her hand back from the torch
.
“Sorry, I can’t help myself. I’ve been doing that since I was very young. My father and I would go on digs and I would just touch an object and could tell when it was made and sometimes where. That’s why
he
calls me his little p
s
y
ch
ic,” she said apologetically.

Gabrielle snapped her fingers impatiently and gestured for them to step inside the room. “Gabby Girls
,
will you focus here
?
Jeez
,
we’re wasting time
.
”

They cautiously stepped into the large room. Rosalinda and
Zora’s
mouths dropped open as their eyes scanned the contents of the room.

As if in a trance,
Zora
slowly walked over to the large wooden hourglass table, running her fingers across the intricate details etched into it. Quickly, she pulled her hand away as if it w
ere
burned by fire. Her face turn
ed
deathly pale as she warily backed away from the table.

Gabrielle walked over to stand beside her
.
“What’s wrong
,
Zora
?”

Zora
adjusted her glasses nervously
.
“Uh
,
nothing
.
”

Gabrielle gave her a disbelieving stare but did not push her further.

Rosalinda sauntered over to the table and boldly touched a chair
.
“Wow, what is this weird carving on the back?” she asked.

Zora
nervously dug into her backpack, pulling
out her magnifying glass. Her hands trembl
ed
slightly as she examined the chair.

Rosalinda huffed
,
“Why do you need your magnifying glass? Why don’t you use your weird p
s
y
ch
ic powers to figure it out?”

Gabrielle rolled her eyes at Rosalinda
.
“
Zora
, please ignore Princess Rosalinda’s nasty comment,” she said angrily.

Zora
ignored both of them as she continued to examine the chair. Her eyes sparkled confidently when she finally looked up.

“Gabi, quick
…
let me see your pendant,” she demanded excitedly.

Gabrielle unhooked her necklace and handed it over.
Zora’s
forehead crinkled with deep concentration as she examined Gabrielle’s pendant. Suddenly, her eyes lit
up; she quickly leaned down and looked at the carvings on the chair again. Her face flushed bright red with excitement as she walked
over to each chair, examining them closely.

“Gabby Girls, take off your necklaces. I think I’m on to something here,”
Zora
demanded. Her glasses slipped to the tip of her narrow nose and she pushed them up impatiently.
“Interesting, very interesting,” she mumbled.

“There she goes again with that
‘
very interesting
’
nonsense,” Rosalinda said rudely.

“Don’t start
,
Rosa,” Gabrielle warned.

“These chairs are awesome; just take a look at
them.
I mean, each one has a carving on it, a big one in the center and four carved symbols circling it.”

Gabrielle
’s
face glowed with excitement
.
“Awesome! Just like our pendants
,
right?”

“Exactly
,
but here’s the problem
.
T
he symbol in the center of the chair does not match any of our pendants,”
Zora
said with disappointment.

Gabrielle plopped down in the chair
.
“Okay
,
great, so we’re back to square one again.”

“Well, not exactly
,
Gabi
.
L
et me finish. You see
,
the carving in the center does not match the symbols on our pendants
,
but if you look at the chair closely, you’ll see the small symbols that circle the center symbol are similar to the small symbols on our pendants,”
Zora
said excitedly.

Jessica’s eyes clouded with confusion as she leaned down to examine the chair beside her.
  
“I just don’t get it.
M
y pendant looks nothing like the symbols on this chair,
”
she said as she handed the pendant over to
Zora
.

Zora
quickly examined
it
and her face slowly flushed with excitement. She walked around the table, examining each chair, her face glowing as she examined the fourth
one.

“That’s because you
’
re
standing next to the wrong chair. Quick, come over here
,
Jess
;
the first chair has a symbol that matches the first symbol on your pendant,”
Zora
said excitedly.

Jessica grabbed the magnifying glass from
Zora
and examined her pendant. She leaned down and looked at the carving on the chair again. Her face flush
ed
with excitement when she noticed that
,
indeed, the first symbol on the chair was an exact match o
f
the first symbol on her pendant.

“
Zora
!
You’re an absolute genius,” Jessica exclaimed as she hugged
her.

Zora
beamed with pride
.
“Okay, Gabi
,
you’re next. Take the magnifying glass and look at your pendant. Find the first symbol on it and look around for a chair that has the exact
same
symbol,” she demanded.

Gabrielle quickly grabbed the magnifying glass and examined her pendant. She impatiently circled the table looking for a matching chair. She stopped at the second
one
and examined it
.
“No match,” she said tiredly. She walked over to the third chair and examined it
.
“Di
tt
o,” she said flatly.

She walked over to the fourth chair, her eyes widening with excitement. “I found it! I found it! The first symbol on my pendant matches the first symbol on this chair exactly,” she said excitedly and jumped up
and
down.

“Okay
,
Rosalinda, it’s your turn. Take the magnifying glass and look for your chair,”
Zora
said quickly.