The Bloodwater Mysteries: Skullduggery Read Free Page B

this. She would have him tortured and killed. Why had he left her side? What good was a sidekick if they weren’t there to kick when you needed them?
    She tried calling again. “Brian!”
    â€œHere,” a thin voice squeaked out of an opening in the far wall.
    She crossed to the opening. It was low and narrow. She would have to crawl. What if she got stuck? How embarrassing would that be? She didn’t like tight places; they made her feel squeamy.
    â€œCome out,” she shouted.
    â€œI can’t see! My flashlight died!”
    She held out the candle. “Can you see my light?”
    â€œYes! But I need your help.”
    â€œHelp doing what?” she asked.
    â€œThere’s a guy in here. I think he’s hurt.”
    Roni wished that she and Brian had a secret word they could say when they were in serious trouble to let the other one know to run as fast as they could and get help and not enter the scary other chamber. But they didn’t.
    â€œHurry up!” Brian said.
    Roni ducked her head and crawled into the opening, holding the candle in front of her. A few seconds later the passageway opened into a chamber, and she was able to stand up.
    â€œI love it!” Brian said when he saw her. “A candle! How nineteenth century.”
    â€œAt least the batteries don’t give out.”
    Brian pointed down and Roni saw a thin, bearded man slumped against the wall. He looked like he was about her mom’s age. His eyes were closed.
    â€œIs he alive?”
    â€œYeah, but he’s not making much sense.”
    Roni knelt down next to the man. “What happened?”
    The man’s eyes popped open. “Sweetie Pie?” he said in a quavering voice. “Is that you?”
    Roni looked at Brian. “Sweetie Pie?”
    â€œHe calls everybody that,” Brian said. “He’s a little out of it.”
    Roni noticed a trail of dried blood winding down the man’s neck. She bent closer to him and saw that he had a large cut on the back of his head.
    â€œWhat happened to your head?” she asked.
    â€œSomebody hit me.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œIt must have been a ghost,” said the man.
    Roni stood up straight. “Oh, great. A ghost.”
    â€œOr maybe a skinwalker,” he said.
    â€œWhat’s a skinwalker?” Brian asked.
    â€œAn evil shape-changing shaman.”
    â€œOh. I’ll take the ghost,” said Brian.
    â€œCan you get up?” Roni asked. “Can you walk?”
    â€œI could if everything would stop spinning.”
    â€œWhat’s that he’s sitting on?” Roni asked. It looked like a pile of oddly shaped yellow sticks. She moved the candle closer, then gasped. “It’s bones !”
    â€œBonesy bonesy bonesy,” the man cackled. He brought up his right hand, holding a human skull.
    Roni let out a yelp and jumped back.
    â€œAlas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio!” The man laughed, then suddenly became very serious. “Whatever you do,” he said, looking straight at Roni, “don’t let them eat your brains.”

8
    bulldozers and ghosts
    â€œYou stay with him,” Roni said. “I’ll go get help.”
    â€œOkay,” Brian said. “Except how about if I go for help, and you stay.”
    â€œI don’t think so,” said Roni.
    â€œLet’s flip a coin,” Brian suggested.
    â€œYou should stay. You’ve known him longer.”
    â€œI don’t actually know him that well,” said Brian.
    The man held up the skull and said, “He can hear you.”
    Roni said, “Let’s compromise. We both go back to the entrance, then you can have the candle and come back here to keep him company while I get help.”
    â€œThat’s a compromise?”
    â€œYup.”
    As usual, Roni got her way. Brian walked her out of the cave, then returned with the candle to keep the mad-man company.
    The guy had the skull again