The Bloodwater Mysteries: Skullduggery Read Free Page A

widened a few yards past the entrance. Brian congratulated himself for having a flashlight with him. True, it was a tiny thing, its beam of light no more powerful than a candle, but it was better than no light at all.
    The flashlight was one of several pieces of equipment Brian liked to have on his person. The other necessities in his numerous pockets included a small 10x magnifying glass, a Swiss Army knife, a short spool of copper wire, a six-foot tape measure and several pieces of hard candy. Because you never knew when you might get caught in the dark with nothing to eat.
    As he moved deeper into the cave, he noticed that the sour smell was getting stronger. He also noticed several sets of footprints on the dusty floor. He stopped and called out.
    â€œAnybody in here?” His voice echoed weirdly off the limestone walls. A few heartbeats later a querulous voice came from deeper within the cavern.
    â€œHelp! I can’t find the light switch.”
    Light switch?
    â€œI’m coming!” Brian said.
    The voice sounded fainter than before. Brian wondered how they had ever heard it from outside the cave. Some strange amplification effect, he supposed. Caverns did odd things to sounds. Following the twisting passageway, Brian noticed his flashlight beam getting weaker. How long had it been since he had replaced the battery? Too long.
    The passageway opened into a large chamber. The smell was stronger, and he could see why. The floor was black with bat droppings.
    Brian shined his light up and was rewarded with an outburst of angry chittering. Hundreds of bats hung from the ceiling twenty feet above his head.
    He heard the disembodied voice again. “Where am I?” After a moment, the voice answered itself: “Why, I’m right here! Of course I’m here. Where else would I be?”
    Brian shone his light in the direction of the voice and saw a low opening to his right. He ducked his head and crawled through into another chamber. Just as he entered the new chamber, his light gave out.
    Brian stood up slowly, blinking his eyes in the utter blackness. There is no dark darker than the darkness inside a cave, he decided.
    He could hear someone breathing, and then the voice again, very close.
    â€œIs that you, Sweetie Pie?”

7
    yorick
    Roni peered into the cave entrance. She thought she could hear faint voices.
    â€œBrian?” she called again.
    â€œBack here!” His voice echoed through the passageway.
    She took a few steps into the narrow opening.
    Maybe whoever was in there was holding Brian captive, forcing him to lure her into a fiendish trap. An escaped convict. Or a cave troll. You never knew.
    As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could make out the faint outlines of the cavern walls, but the deeper it went the less she could see. She took another step. The passage curved to the right and led into complete darkness.
    Roni plopped her backpack on the floor of the cave and rooted around in it. Her mom laughed at her for having so much junk in her backpack, but as she liked to say, you never knew what might come in handy. She found the lavender-scented mood candle she had bought a few days ago. In one of the side pockets she located a really cute box of matches she had nabbed from Bratten’s Café and Bakery.
    She lit the candle and held it out in front of her. Not much light, but enough to let her see where she was going. “I’m coming,” she yelled.
    As the passageway opened into a chamber, she heard an odd beeping sound, like someone’s cell phone put on hyper-speed. She looked up and almost dropped her candle. At first she thought the ceiling was alive. Then she knew it was alive. Alive with bats. They covered the ceiling like thick, leathery, wriggling carpeting.
    Roni wondered if they were disturbed by the candlelight. Too bad, she thought, I gotta see. She forced herself to enter the chamber, making a promise to herself that she would make Brian pay for