The Secret of the Scarlet Stone (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book One) (26 page)

She abruptly twirled in a complete circle as she examined the walls
.
“Hmm
,
interesting…very interesting
.
” She walked over to the edge of the platform and peered down into a bubbling pit of black
ooey
goo.
Zora’s
glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose and she quickly adjusted them
.
“Well, at least I know what that horrible gurgling sound is. It’s some sort of black sticky goo.”

Jessica wrung her hands nervously
.
“Oh! Be careful
,
Zora
, you don’t want to fall in there.”

Zora
quickly took off her backpack, tossing it toward Gabrielle
.
“Gabi, catch
.
”
B
oldly
,
she quickly stepped into the bubbling black pit of
ooey
goo.

Rosalinda gave Jessica a panicked look
.
“Is she crazy?”

Jessica bit her nails nervously as she looked on helplessly.

“
Zora
, what in the world are you doing?” Rosalinda screamed.

Ignoring her,
Zora
quickly waded through the pit of goo toward the walls
;
with ankles way deep in the bubbling
ooey
goo
,
she slowly ran her fingers across the walls. “Interesting, very interesting,” she mumbled as she sloshed slowly along the wall.

Rosalinda’s eyes popped open with shock
.
“She’s insane, absolutely insane,” she mumbled.

“
Zora
, wait a minute, what about the gold stars we found? They must be a part of the clue,” Gabrielle screamed over to her.

Zora
carefully ran her hands along the wall
.
“Gabi, you might be right. Quick, take them out of my backpack.”

Gabrielle quickly opened
Zora’s
backpack and pulled
out the gold stars one
by
one.

“Gabi, do the stars have ridges?”
Zora
screamed over.

Gabrielle squinted at the gold stars firmly g
r
asped in her hands
.
“Yep
,
they do.”

“Okay, great, because I think I just figured out what we need to do with them,”
Zora
said as she squinted at the wall. “Okay, read the clue again
,
Gabi.”

Gabrielle cleared her throat loudly
:

The night sky is full of shining points that twinkle in your eyes. Twinkle five and
t
winkle four. Work together, use your gifts, turn clockwise
,
and do it quick
.

Zora
adjusted her glasses
.
“Well, these walls are obviously covered with stars—so that’s the shining points that twinkle in your eyes part
. B
ut here’s the strange part
:
most of the stars are painted onto the wall
,
but
…
” she paused dramatically, “
…
I just found a section of the wall that has a carved
-
out star
. S
o the way I see
it
, something definitely has to fit into it.”

Gabrielle clapped her hands with excitement
.
“Great work
,
Zora
.
S
o the stars fit into the wall.”

“That’s right
. S
o, it’s time to work
,
Gabby Girls. Each of us gets a gold star and we must find the section of the wall that our star fits into,”
Zora
instructed.

Jessica shifted nervously
.
“I don’t understand
;
we found five gold stars and there are only four of us. Are you sure it’s not just another trick?”

Gabrielle smiled confidently at Jessica
.
“It just might be but we don’t have a choice right now. We can’t just stand here
;
we have to do something,” she said with determination written all over her face. She handed Jessica a gold star and then turned around to hand a gold star to Rosalinda.

Rosalinda’s eyes popped open with panic as she violently pushed Gabrielle’s hands away
.
“No
way
…
I’m
not taking that stupid gold star. There’s no way that I’m stepping into that pit
.
” She flipped her long hair over her shoulder and pointed down toward her feet
.
“Do you know how much these shoes cost? More than you get in allowance for a whole year,” she screamed at Gabrielle.

Gabrielle smiled nastily
.
“Do I look like I care about your stupid shoes
,
Princess Rosalinda? Just like the clue says
,
we have to work together. Now, I know that you don’t like it but
,
frankly
,
I really don’t care what you think or feel. So, you can either get into the pit of goo voluntar
il
y or I’ll gladly help you.” She stepped menacingly towards her as she cracked her knuckles loudly
.
“Now, how’s it
gonna
be?”

Rosalinda crossed her arms defiantly
.
“Neither
.
L
ike I just said, I’m not stepping into that pit and you can’t make me,” she spat out angrily.

Gabrielle smirked as she lunged for her
.
“Fine, Princess Rosalinda
,
if that’s how you want it.”

“Gabby Girls!”
Zora
screamed at the top of her lungs.

Gabrielle and Rosalinda look
ed
over at her.

“We have a way bigger problem here,”
Zora
said quickly as she adjusted her glasses, smearing goo all over the lenses. “The goo in the pit is rising real fast. When I first stepped in, it was up to my ankles, but now it’s almost up to my knees.”

Jessica bit her nails nervously
.
“Oh
,
j
eez!
We have to get out of here now.”

Gabrielle huffed angrily, spitefully shoving two gold stars into Rosalinda’s reluctant hand
.
“Well, it seems so appropriate that you get two stars
,
Princess Rosalinda—you
know, just because you’re so special.” She abruptly turned on her heels
,
stomping over to the edge of the platform. She quickly leaned down and handed
Zora
a gold star.

“Thanks
,
Gabi,”
Zora
said as she quickly waded toward the wall with the star firmly grasped in her hand. She hurriedly snapped it into
place.

Gabrielle fearlessly jumped into the pit of goo, squealing with pure delight
.
“Awesome
…
this is not bad at all. It’s a little gooey but not tragically horrible,” she exclaimed as she dipped her fingers into the goo, pulling them out
and
watching with fascination as the goo ran down her fingers. She looked encouragingly towards Jessica
.
“Come on
,
Jess
,
jump in
;
it’s not so bad.”

Jessica nervously walked toward the edge of the platform and looked down. Gritting her teeth, she slowly stepped into the pit.

Still standing in the middle of the platform, Rosalinda looked over at them defiantly.

Zora
quickly looked over at Jessica and Gabrielle
.
“Okay, so here’s what we need to do.
We have to quickly look along the wall for a carved star then we have to snap the gold star into it.” Impatiently, she looked over at Rosalinda
.
“Rosa, you have to jump in here quickly if you want to get out of here. Remember—teamwork! It’s all about teamwork
.
”

Angrily, Rosalinda stomped over to the edge of the platform and slowly stepped into the pit, squealing with disgust as the dark goo quickly surrounded her legs.

Zora
looked at them encouragingly
.
“Okay, time’s a
-
wasting. Let’s find those stars.”

They quickly sloshed around in the dark
ooey
goo, frantically looking along the wall for a place to snap the stars in.

“I found one!” Jessica squealed with excitement as she quickly snapped the gold star into the wall.

With a frustrated look on her face, Gabrielle frantically sloshed around looking for a spot in the wall to snap the gold star in
,
as the
ooey
goo quickly crept toward their waists.

Zora
looked around frantically
.
“Hurry
,
Gabby Girls
,
the goo is rising fast.”

The goo quickly sloshed around Rosalinda’s body as she confusedly looked down at the glistening gold stars that lay in her palm. She looked at the wall
,
then at the stars
,
and back again at the wall
.
“Wait
,
one of my gold stars has four points and the other has five. And I don’t see any four
-
point stars on this wall.”