Wanda was good with the string. She kept unwinding it as we went, and when I looked back, I could see it stretching along the tun- nel. It was nice to think that the end of the string was still there, tied to the secret door under the attic stairs. We had walked for about half an hour, and I reckoned we were probably almost under- neath the mushroom farm, when we went around a corner and Wanda suddenly said, "Which way do we go now?" In front of us, the secret tunnel split off into two smaller tunnels. They both looked narrow and they both looked dark.
I didn't like the look of either of them. "I don't know, " I said. "Do you want some chips?" Cheese and onion potato chips help you think. I am sure of that, because after we had finished them, we knew what we had to do. "Right, " I said. "Left, " said Wanda. So we did rock, paper, scissors--best of three--and Wanda won. Then we did best of five and I won. So we went right. Big mistake.
It was okay to begin with. Kind of. The tun- nel I had chosen smelled funny. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't think what. And just as I was about to remember what it smelled of, Wanda said, "Now which way?" as if it was my fault that the tunnel had split up again--this time into three ways.
"Middle one, " I said. "Why?" asked Wanda. "Why not?" I said. "It doesn't matter if it's not right. We can always find our way back along the string and try the other one. " Wanda wasn't happy. "We could be here for days doing that, " she said. "And we haven't got much more string left. " We set off down the middle tunnel, which was an okay tunnel, as tunnels go, but still smelled funny--and then suddenly Wanda screamed. "Arrgh!" I dropped my flashlight. "Oh, yuck. Oh, errgh. "
Wanda was hopping about like something had bitten her. "Wh-what is it?" "II stepped on a dead body. . . . " Wanda squeaked. "I-it was all squashy a-and horrible. My foot went right through it. " She shivered and grabbed hold of me. "I want to go home, " she whispered. Well, that made two of us. I went to pick up my flashlight, and Wanda screamed again. "Everything's turned white, " she yelled. "Look. . . . " I didn't want to look, but I did. The flash- light shone along the ground, lighting up the floor of the tunnel. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen--a kind of knobbly white carpet stretched out in front of us.
"Mushrooms. You only stepped on a mush- room, " I told Wanda, annoyed. Wanda looked down at her feet. "Oh, " she Q said. Then she said, "Well, it was a giant mushroom, actually, Araminta. Look-- they're huge. You try stepping on a whole heap of monster mushrooms in a horrible, dark, smelly tunnel and see what you feel like. " "I just did, " I told Wanda, "and I felt fine. And I didn't go screaming in someone's ear, nearly making them deaf, either. " Wanda didn't reply. I thought maybe I should try to cheer her up a bit, so I said, "Well, at least we know where we are now. " "No we don't, " said Wanda gloomily. "Yes we do. These mushrooms must have escaped from the mushroom farm.
I bet we are underneath it right now. Which means we are nearly there. Come on, Wanda. It will all be worth it when we find the sword. " "If we find the sword, " Wanda muttered. We didn't say much after that except for, "left, " "right, " "left--no, right, " and "oh, I don't care, you choose. " The trouble was, the tunnel just kept splitting off into different directions, and we had no idea which one would take us to the cave. It was like being in a maze--a horrible mushroom maze, as the whole time we were stepping on mush- rooms. At first I felt sorry for them getting squashed, but after a while they just got annoying. They were really slippery, too. We kept on hoping that any minute we would find the grotto with the sword in it. But we didn't.
All we kept finding was the green string, so we knew we were back to where we had been before. Again. After a while Wanda said, "It's no good. We're just going around in circles. " For once she was right.
Chapter Eight
THE PORTCULLIS
Wanda was not good at going around in circles. She did not take it well. "All right, Wanda, " I said. "If we haven't found the sword in five minutes' time, we'll go home. " "Promise?" asked Wanda. "Promise, " I said. I knew we'd have to go home soon anyway, since our string was nearly finished.
Wanda spent the next four minutes and forty seconds staring at her watch and count- ing the seconds in a loud voice. It was very annoying, especially as I still really wanted to find the sword and give it to Sir Horace for his birthday. We were walking down a steep slope. The mushrooms had disappeared, and I knew we had not been here before. Wanda was so busy staring at her watch that she did not notice when suddenly we turned a corner and there it was--the little round grotto with the sandy floor and the sword lying there in the middle of it, just waiting for us, like I had known it would be. Incredible! "Wanda, " I said, "look!" But Wanda was still droning on, "Two hundred and seventy-eight seconds . . . Two hundred and seventy-nine seconds . . . Two hundred and--" "Wan-da, " I yelled.
"We've found it!" At last Wanda stopped counting and looked up. "Wow . . . " She whistled under her breath. Wanda was about to rush in when suddenly I remembered what it said in my Secret Tunnel Handy Hint Handbook.
Handy Hint #3: Watch out for traps, particularly at the beginning and end of a tunnel. How often has an intrepid tunneler battled through the most secret of tunnels only to come to grief in a cunning trap at the end of her journey? Alas, far too often, as we at the Secret Tunnel Handy Hint Handbook know to our cost.
"Stop!" I yelled to Wanda--and just in time. Because right above our heads, where the secret tunnel went into the cave, I could see five horrible metal spikes pointing down at us. Wanda stopped dead in her tracks. "What are you shouting about now?" she asked grumpily. "I thought you wanted to get the sword. It's stupid to stop now when all we have to do is just--" "Wan-daaa. " I sighed very patiently. "Just look up, will you?" Wanda looked up. "Oh, " she said. "What is it?" "It's a trap, " I told her. "A horrible trap. " Wanda stared at the spikes for a bit, then she said, "No it's not. It's a portcullis.
" Miss Know-it-all Wanda Wizzard folded her arms and looked smug. "I know that, " I said. "I didn't say it wasn't a portcullis. I just said it was a trap. Obviously it is a portcullis trap. " "Obviously, " said Miss Smug Pants. "What we have to do, " I told her, "is make sure there aren't any trip wires. " Wanda looked worried. "Why?" she asked. "Because if there is a trip wire and we trip over it, then the portcullis will come crashing down on top of our heads, that's why. " Wanda shuddered. "That's horrible, " she said. I shrugged. "Stuff like that happens all the time in secret tunnels. " "Well, you never told me that when you were trying to get me to come with you, " said Wanda, staring up at the sharp spikes.
"You never asked, " I told her. I crouched down and shone my flashlight along the ground, which was covered in thick sand. "It's okay, " I said. "I can't see a trip wire or anything, so I guess we're safe. " I don't think Wanda believed me. She got down on her hands and knees and had a real good look too. "I guess it's okay. . . . " she mut- tered. "Do you want to go first?" I offered. I was being polite, as Aunt Tabby is always telling me not to rush in front of people. Wanda gave me a funny look and said, "No thank you, Araminta. We'll go together. " She grabbed hold of my hand and yelled, "One . . . Two . . . Three . . . Go!"
So we went. We shot under the portcullis like a couple of bats out of a sack and nothing happened. The horrible spikes stayed just where they were, and there we were--in the grotto at last. "Yes!" I grinned at Wanda. "We did it!" Wanda ran around the cave, kicking up the sand and jumping about, yelling, "We did it, we did it. Yaay!" I think she was pleased too. And then there was a horrible clang and a huge thud. The grotto shook like an earth- quake had struck. But it was a whole heap worse than an earthquake. It was the portcullis trap--it had come crashing down. Now a massive iron grille barred our way home. Wanda and I stared at it. Even Wanda didn't say anything for a while. And then, when she did say something, her voice sounded all squeaky and trem- bling. "We're trapped, " she said. Wanda was right. Again.
Chapter Nine
/> THE GROTTO
Wanda did not take too well to being trapped in the grotto, either. In fact, she took it even worse than she'd taken going around in circles. I told her that it was no good jumping up and down and yelling; we had to try and get out. First we tried to lift up the portcullis, but it weighed a ton. It didn't budge one little bit. We kept on trying, but I could tell there was no way we could move it in a million years. "And there's no point shouting `One, two, three . . . Heave' in my ear over and over again, " I told Wanda.
"It's not going to help if I go deaf as well. " After that we tried to dig down below the portcullis. The sand was soft, and I thought that maybe we could squeeze out under- neath, but it was no good. There was rock below the sand, and also a thick metal plate, which I guessed was part of the portcullis trap. "Come on, Wanda, " I said. "We've got to lift up that portcullis. " But it wouldn't shift. Then we tried stupid things that we knew wouldn't work, but we had to do them just in case.
We tried to squeeze underneath, but we couldn't fit. Wanda tried wriggling through the gaps between the bars, as she is smaller than I am, but she nearly got her head stuck. We even used the sword to try to lever up the metal plate under the sand. But the portcullis stayed right where it was, blocking our way home. Wanda acted a bit strange after that. She started shaking the bars and yelling for help. I didn't see the point, so I went and sat down beside the sword and tried to think. But how- ever hard I tried, I couldn't think of anything. And soon all I could think was, "I wish Wanda would stop yelling. " "Shut up, Wanda, " I said. "Shut up yourself, " said Wanda. She sounded really annoyed, but underneath I could tell -90- she was as scared as I was. When I'm scared I get very quiet, but when Wanda is scared she just goes bananas. "Do you want a cheese and onion chip?" I asked. "No. I'm not hungry, " she said. But she stopped yelling and came and sat down beside me. I felt much better after I had eaten my potato chips. I decided I might as well have a look at the sword, seeing as we had come all this way to find it. You could tell that it had once been a really great sword. The handle had some nice patterns on it, and there were some lumpy bits under all the dirt and rust flakes that looked like they might be jewels. But I had to admit that my first impression of it had been better, because in fact it now looked like a piece of old junk.
It was the kind of thing that Aunt Tabby would bring back from a garage sale and Uncle Drac would sigh and ask why on earth did we need more garbage. But I still knew it was the per- fect birthday present for Sir Horace. "It's great, isn't it?" I said. "Sir Horace is going to love this; I know he will. " "If he ever gets to see it, " muttered Wanda, "which he won't. Because tomorrow on his birthday, we'll still be stuck here. And the next day. And the day after that. We're always going to be stuck here. I'm never going to see Mom and Dad again, and you're never going to see your aunt Tabby or uncle Drac again-- never mind Sir Stupid Horace. " "Stop it, Wanda, " I said. "Just stop it right now. We are going to get out of here. There is always more than one way out of a secret tun- nel. " "There used to be, " said Wanda, pointing to the pile of rocks that blocked off the grotto from the cave outside, "but there isn't any- more. " We went over to the rock pile anyway. I shone the flashlight everywhere, hoping to see a gap that we could squeeze through, but there was nothing.
Nothing but horrible, heavy rocks. Wanda peered through a tiny gap between two rocks. "This is where I looked through from the other side, " she said. "Maybe if we shine the flashlight through here, some peo- ple on the beach might see it. Or there might be someone in the cave exploring. " Well, it was worth a try. I didn't mention the fact that you can't see the end of the cave from the beach, or that it must be getting late by now and everyone would be going home. I just gave Wanda the flashlight. She shone it through the gap. "Coo-eee, " she called out, sounding just like Brenda does when she calls her cat. "Is anybody there?" Wanda put her ear to the gap and listened hard. "Can you hear something?" I whispered.
"Shh . . . Yes . . . Yes I can. " I felt really excited. How lucky was that, someone being in the cave just at that moment? "What-- what can you hear, Wanda?" I asked. "Tell me!" Wanda stood up and gave me back the flashlight. She had a really weird look on her face. "I can hear the sea, " she said. "It's inside the cave. " I didn't believe Wanda at first. I thought she was just doing another Wanda windup. But this time she was dead calm. "What do you mean, it's inside the cave?" I asked. "The sea doesn't come inside the cave. You saw where it was this morning. It was miles away. I've never seen it so far away. " "Then it was low tide, " muttered Wanda. "Now it's high tide. " "So?" I asked. I wasn't really sure what Wanda meant, as I hadn't been to the beach very much. Aunt Tabby doesn't like the way the sand gets inside her shoes, and Uncle Drac won't go out in the sun. In fact, until Wanda came to live with us I had never been to the beach.
"So--the sea was really far out this morn- ing, wasn't it?" said Wanda. I nodded. "And when it goes far out, that means it's a really low tide. Okay? But it also means that when it comes in, like it's doing now, it will be a really high tide. " I didn't like the sound of this. "How high?" Q I asked. "I don't know, " said Wanda. "But it's not high tide until seven o'clock.
That's when Mom was going down for her swim. " I looked at my watch. It said half past five. One and a half hours still to go. "Give me the flashlight, " I said. "I want to see the water inside the cave. " I found the gap in the rocks and shone the flashlight through. At first I couldn't see any- thing at all, but I kept the flashlight very still and stared until my eyes got used to it.
"Can you see anything?" Wanda asked in a hoarse whisper. "There's something moving . . . The light . . . It's reflecting off something. . . . " "Water, " said Wanda glumly. "Yes, " I said. "Waves. " "Waves, " Wanda repeated in a flat voice. "Only little waves, " I said, trying to cheer her up. Wanda didn't say anything. I didn't see the point of just staring at the water, waiting for it to come closer. It was still quite a few feet away, and I didn't totally believe what Wanda had said about high tide--Wanda can get a bit worked up about things. So I sat down on the sand to think.
"That's why the sand is damp, " Wanda said, throwing herself down beside me. "What's why the sand is damp?" Wanda laughed in a funny way that I didn't like. "Because at the last high tide, the sea came in here. " "You don't know that, " I told her. She grabbed the flashlight and shone it around the walls of the grotto like she was looking for something. And then she found it. "Seaweed, " she said, waving the light over a piece of shiny green stuff stuck on the ceil- ing. "And it's still wet. " I tried to remember what Uncle Drac always says about not panicking, but I couldn't. Even Uncle Drac might panic a bit just now.
I didn't say anything for a while, and then Wanda--being her usual cheery self--said, "Araminta . . . " "What?" "Can you swim?" "No. Can you?" "Yes . . . With arm floats. " "Don't suppose you brought them with you?" "No . . . " There didn't seem much else to talk about after that.
Chapter Ten
RINSE CYCLE
The sea kept on coming, and the sound of the waves washing against the walls of the cave outside got louder. Soon I could smell the sea in the air. I looked at the green string, which had ended just as we reached the grotto. It lay on the sand beside my backpack, and I thought of the other end tied to the secret door under- neath the attic stairs.
More than anything I wished I was at that end of the string. And then-- I saw it move. I didn't believe it. And then it moved again. Wanda saw it too. "Something's eating the string, " she whispered. "And soon it will come and eat us. " "Don't be silly, Wanda. How will it get through the portcullis?" "It probably set the portcullis trap in the first place, " said Wanda. "It will just press a button or something and--" "Stop it, Wanda!" I put my fingers in my ears. Suddenly there was a huge tug on the string, and it jumped underneath the portcullis. "Get it, get it!" yelled Wanda. I dived to grab it, but it was too late--the end was just out of reach. Wanda and I watched the green
string move jerkily along the tunnel until it disappeared around the corner. "Now we'll never find our way home, " I mumbled, "even if we do get through the portcullis trap. " "Which we won't, " said Wanda. We could hear the sea getting even closer. There was a kind of swishing sound as the water gushed into the narrow cave outside and swirled around the rocks, and then a sucking sound as the water washed out again, and then another swishhhh . . . And then it happened. The sea poured in. It came in through the tiny gaps in the pile of rocks like water through a cheese grater. At first all it did was sink into the sand and disappear, but it was not long before there was a pool of water in the sand that didn't go away.
And every time a wave threw itself against the rocks, more water poured in and the pool got deeper. The noise was horrible too. Now I knew how Brenda's cat, Pusskins, must have felt the day Aunt Tabby ran the rinse cycle while it was asleep in the washing machine. I decided I would never, ever laugh at Brenda's cat again. If I ever saw Brenda's cat again. . . The rinse cycle in the grotto just carried on. More and more water was coming in and, although Wanda and I were on the high bit of sand by the portcullis, we knew that it would not be long before the water reached us, too--and then kept going right up to that piece of seaweed way above our heads. Suddenly there was a massive thud against the rocks. A wave of water streamed in and splashed up at us.
Wanda screamed and dropped the flashlight. It rolled down the sand toward the water. "Get it!" I yelled. "Quick!" We both dived after it. I crashed into Wanda and fell into the water. Wanda yelled and missed the flashlight, which rolled into the pool. Any other time I would have thought how pretty it looked. It lit up the water as it sank, and the whole grotto turned a bluey-green. We watched as the light dropped slowly down and came to rest on the sand at the bot- tom of the pool. And then it went out. And everything went black. Wanda grabbed hold of me so hard that it hurt. "It's dark, " she whispered. "I--I don't like the dark. "
It wasn't the dark I minded; it was the water. But I didn't say that. I just said, "I-it's okay. I've got my key ring flashlight. " I pulled it out of my pocket and pressed the button. But it didn't work. It was wet. "Where's yours?" I asked Wanda. She fumbled through her pockets for ages, and then she said, "It's not here. I think I left it in the cave. . . . " "Never mind, " I said. "There must be some light getting in through the gaps in the rocks. Just wait until your eyes get used to it. " But our eyes didn't get used to it.