The Stone Key (The Novel Adventures of Nimrod Vale Book 2) Read online

  With a groan I set the necklace on the desk and slunk downstairs through the kitchen to the backdoor. I was happy to see that Pepper had dressed wisely for our adventure. She had on a pair of black leggings and a leather jacket; her long black hair was pulled into a ponytail, and a backpack was slung over her shoulder.

  I waved at her to follow me upstairs, eager to show off my discovery. We walked to the attic, safely two stories above where Aunt Holly was sleeping. I went to the desk and picked up the cord. The stone swiveled in the air and came to a stop, pointing to the wall behind the desk.

  “What’s that?” she asked with her brows furrowed.

  “Look at this—” I pointed at the symbol etched into its side, barely holding my excitement. “It’s Frederick Stone’s mason’s mark! Grandpa must have gone to Crystal Springs!”

  Her eyes widened as she looked from the necklace to my face. “Where’d you find it?”

  “In his desk.”

  “Can I see?” She reached out to take the pendant from me. It swung in the air, and I watched the stone twist in movement. When it came to a stop, it was pointing at the same wall again.

  “Did you see that?” I asked.

  Pepper frowned at me. “What?”

  I reached out to shake her hand, causing the pendant to swing. After a couple twists, it stopped moving, and its sharpened end directed itself at the wall once more.

  “I think it’s a magnet,” I muttered. “It keeps wanting to point that way—north.”

  She opened the looped cord to slip over my head. The stone settled against my chest. Pepper slapped my shoulder. “That’ll be useful to bring along.”

  I glanced down at my new discovery and asked, “Think we should bring some extra tools, just in case?”

  “I came prepared,” Pepper answered, blinking her darkly lined eyes.

  I didn’t know how she could possibly think that. It was impossible to truly be prepared for anything, especially when you went spelunking through a fantasy world with only your dim wits and a backpack full of clutter.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something gleam from under the fur-lined cloak on the floor. I walked closer to it. A thick circular lens bulged out from a squat round lamp like a large eye. I picked it up by its thick wire handle and studied its charcoal black patina. I slid up a latch beside the front of the rounded glass and opened it. Inside, a short candle sat with a blackened wick: behind it, a mirror was mounted against the back.

  I whispered, “There’s nothing on this that would break going through the portal. Maybe it would be good to bring along.”

  I felt Pepper’s breath on my arm as she peered around me to get a better look. “It’ll be daylight soon—won’t need it.”

  “You never know,” I answered and shoved it into my backpack.

  Pepper reached past me to pick up an extra candle and two boxes of matches. One was slipped into her pant pocket, and the other was pressed into my palm. She tossed the candle into my hands, which I fumbled with and eventually dropped into my bag.

  “You ready?” she asked.

  “Never.”

  “Too bad,” she sang and dragged me across the room to the rolltop desk where the book and pen were waiting. “I don’t want them leaving without us. We’re part of their story now.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, but I wasn’t in the mood for an argument. Both of us rested our fingers to the pages of my grandpa’s book. I picked up the pen from its case and spoke the words, “Ars imitatur vita.”

  My eyes pinched shut, avoiding the blinding light. A gust of wind blew my hair from my face and pressed my clothing against my body. Then, there was only stillness.

  “C’mon,” Pepper said. I felt her grab my arm and pull me forward.

  I stumbled over before I could open my eyes. She caught me from hitting the ground. The frown on her face revealed her impatience.

  “Give me a sec.” I blinked at the scenery, taking in my surroundings. It wasn’t as dark as it had been the other night when we’d visited. The sky was a deep lavender, and the sound of chirping birds announced the coming day. The glow from the moss that grew around the lake was faint and not as noticeable.

  Pepper groaned and started walking away. “Time’s up.”

  I hurried to catch up to her. We jogged through the forest in the direction of the road, finally reaching it. Our pace picked up when we were on even ground. All I could hear was the sound of my own ragged breathing and thundering heartbeat in my ears.

  Before long, we reached the bridge and the boundary wall to the city. Light was beginning to crest the horizon, pouring onto the citadel and the waking town. Although it was obvious she was out of breath, Pepper pushed downhill, jogging ahead of me.

  “Hold up,” I panted.

  Her face tilted sideways. “The sun’s coming up—we’re late!”

  Our feet slapped against the road as gravity helped pull us downhill. The pretty aqua tint from the bioluminescent moss had disappeared. Instead, a butter yellow glow illuminated the valley from the rising sun. A few people were walking through the streets, and shopkeepers were opening up their doors. Pepper dashed around a man walking with his son, although I wasn’t as luck and nearly collided with them.

  “Slow down!” I called. “Or I’ll tell Ms. Pete that you want to volunteer to help her teach P.E.!”

  Pepper reduced her speed and glared at me over her shoulder. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Let me catch my breath,” I said. “We’re moving too fast for me to read the street signs. I think we’re getting close.”

  I squinted at the cross streets. Then I saw it—Vale Court.

  “There it is.” I pointed at the sign and almost immediately wished I hadn’t, because Pepper started jogging away again. I had no idea how she’d gone from complaining about getting exercise to running me completely out of energy.

  My throat burned with every breath, and I couldn’t feel my legs any longer. Somehow, I pushed myself after her. She was the black spot in my vision, always just out of reach. Finally, she stopped.

  A tall stone wall rose above us, like the very one we passed beneath on our way into the city. It took me a minute to realize that we were the only people standing there. Although, Pepper had clearly already come to that conclusion and was glaring at me with crossed arms.

  “You were too slow,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Are you kidding?” I answered, still panting. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever run in my life!”

  I had to lean against the wall for support. I didn’t care how annoyed she was with me—Pepper was plain crazy if she was going to try to tell me I wasn’t working hard enough to get here in time. I don’t think I’d ever tried harder to do anything than I did running at her pace before even having a drop of coffee.

  Something whizzed past my head and clanged on the ground. “Look out!”

  Too tired to move anywhere quickly, I stared at the object on the ground. It appeared to be a metal pickaxe which would have put me out of my misery if it had fallen one foot to the right. I tilted my head back to see where it came from. Two forms leaned over the top of the wall, looking at Pepper and me.

  “Are you okay?” Kyrah asked, then nudged Bardrick. “Anyone ever tell you you’re ridiculously clumsy?”

  “All the time,” he answered with a solemn voice.

  I still hadn’t recovered from our run and wasn’t able to answer, so I simply nodded breathlessly. Beside me, Pepper exclaimed, “You didn’t leave without us!”

  “No, but we have a long day ahead, so we need to get started,” Kyrah said. “You’ll find footholds in the rocks to climb up.”

  All I could do was shake my head. Of course there’d be climbing involved too. This was turning into an Olympic-sized challenge for me. What was next, swimming?

  Through the fog of getting too little oxygen, I was able to find rocks that jutted out from the rest of the wall. Luckily, they were more like miniature steps, and I didn�
��t have to use much strength to get to the top. If my balance was a little off to begin with, it took me a minute to stop wobbling and for my head to clear.

  “Maybe we should get out of the city and off the wall before we go over the plans,” Kyrah said, eyeing me closely. Her hair was swept into a complicated braid that fell over her shoulders. Her simple cotton shirt and textured brown pants were similar to Bardricks, and I felt a little out of place with my jeans and sweatshirt. Doomed to always stick out.

  “Sounds good,” I muttered.

  The four of us walked away from the city on top of the wall. It led up the valley and into the trees. From there, we jumped onto the ground and found a trail that led up the mountain. Bardrick stopped to take off his pack. He pulled out the leather journal and flipped it open to a map sketched onto its pages in ink.

  “Here we are,” Bardrick said, pointing to a place beside a thick boundary that looped around the city. “This is where the entrance of the caverns is marked.”

  I stared at the location on the map, then examined the mountainside. My body had already moved more than it was used to simply running here. Now, I’d have to hike up the side of a mountain. I was glad that I’d decided to exercise more often, because there was no way I could be a storybook hero by just sitting around. I just wished I’d come to that decision much earlier.

  “Father said he sent men to find the entrance of the caverns. They couldn’t seem to find it,” Kyrah said.

  Bardrick rubbed his jaw. “Grandfather has a sketch of the entrance in ruins—it may not look like much of an opening. Rather than standing around and talking about it, maybe we should just find it and see.”

  Kyrah started up the trail, and Pepper ran after her. Bardrick hurried to stow the journal back into his pack before running after. I took up the rear, because I wanted to make sure we weren’t being followed (yeah, that’s code for I was tired). Luckily I didn’t have a watch to stare at, so I wouldn’t dwell on the amount of time I spent in misery.

  We passed trees, rocks and more trees on our way up the mountain. The trail was overgrown in places, creating rough patches to climb through. Along the way Bardrick moved in front of Kyrah to take the lead. Pepper started losing strength and slowing down. I planted my hand in the center of her backpack, leaned in and pushed her forward.

  Over the sound of blood pumping through my ears, I heard Bardrick call out, “Look at this.”

  The Caverns

  Kyrah and Bardrick walked down a slope perpendicular to the trail. Pepper and I followed. Gravel lined the earth all the way to a cave-like opening. A tall stone was braced at either side of what appeared to be a rocky collapse. More rectangular stones filled the space, consuming the entrance.

  “This must be it.” Kyrah planted her hands on her hips. “But thanks to the earthshake, there’s no way in.”

  Bardrick rested his hand at the bottom of one of the tall stones and rubbed the surface. From where I stood, I could see the edges of an engraved design.

  “My grandfather’s masonry mark,” he said.

  “That reminds me,” I said and removed the pendant from around my neck. It swung in the air momentarily, then pointed toward the blocked entrance door. “I found this in my grandpa’s things—it has the same mark on it.”

  Bardrick looked closely at it and nodded. “Seems our grandfathers might have known each other.”

  “It isn’t any old stone though.” I swung it around so it would point yet again at the caved-in entrance. “I think it’s a magnet, which means it’ll always point north.”

  Lines creased his forehead while he thought. “I don’t know about magnets—we call it a lodestone here. I hate to tell you that you’re wrong, Nimrod, but they don’t always point north. Which is that way if I’m not mistaken—”

  Bardrick pointed diagonally to their left, and I couldn’t help but feel disappointment when I learned I was wrong about Grandpa’s necklace. He continued to speak. “They point north unless another stronger lodestone is nearby.”

  I stared at my magnet necklace again while Bardrick took off his pack and pulled out the journal. He leafed through the pages with a furrowed brow. Then he stopped to stare at the pile of rubble. He looked from stone to stone, brushing dirt and moss from their surfaces.

  Beside me Pepper gripped a small crowbar with both hands and said, “Let me at it.”

  She breezed past and thrust its tip between two rocks. Her grunts bounced off the stones around her. Bardrick set his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t waste your strength. They weren’t put here to move in that way.”

  From his pack Bardrick took out a long rolled up piece of leather. He pointed it toward Pepper’s tool. It shot out of her hands, connecting with the item in Bardrick’s grasp with a loud, clunk. Her eyebrow lifted as he pulled her crowbar off with obvious effort. When it was freed, he handed it back to her, then uncovered what had been in the leather wrapping. Kyrah, Pepper and I moved closer to see.

  Inside the folds was a long piece of charcoal black stone. Pepper frowned. “I don’t get it—is it another magnet?”

  “One of my grandfather’s lodestones—a little bigger than yours,” he said to me. “First, look at this, ” Bardrick said, pointing to the pages of the book.

  Ink strokes formed the same blockaded doorway of various sized rectangular stones as we were standing before now. On paper arrows were sketched on a few blocks, although I didn’t understand what they meant. Above the illustration, a phrase was written: Only those who seek truth may enter. An ocean without water, a forest without trees, and a door without keys. What am I?

  “What’s that mean? Maybe he was crazy,” Pepper muttered. I gave a warning glare at her, and she shot Bardrick an apologetic shrug.

  “It’s a riddle,” Kyrah said. “Although, I don’t understand what the answer has to do with getting through these stones.”

  Bardrick kept frowning at the journal. “It was when he started talking about making rocks levitate that people turned on him. Large stones, too large for one man to move, were stacked by him alone. But even then, he was run out of town. His tools were taken from him and examined, but the only one they couldn’t understand was the lodestone.”

  Kyrah flicked her braid over her shoulder. “I heard he waved it in the air like a wand.”

  “I don’t think he would have done that. My family lives in the house he built; I found this set of tools hidden there,” Bardrick answered, indicating his bag and the magnet. “There were notes too and pieces of rock. I think he used the lodestone on other rocks.”

  “Arrows—they usually mean motion, right?” I pointed to the illustration in the journal.

  One of the arrows pointed horizontally along the stone that laid at an angle across the top of two tall panels of rock which also happened to display arrows vertically along their lengths. Those large rectangular stones tipped together in an upside down V. Beneath the two large pieces, another smaller stone was wedged against them. Around the caved-in tangle of rock was a framework built from dark stone.

  I stepped toward the cave entry and tried to peer through the openings between the rocks, but only darkness filled the space beyond. There was enough room for small animals to squeeze through, although the heavy stones would crush bones if they slipped out of place. My compass necklace pulled away from my neck, toward the dark rock doorframe.

  “Hey, look at this,” I said. “Think it’s made of lodestone?”

  “Looks like it,” Bardrick answered, studying the gray mineral.

  My hands touched the caved-in stones—the place the arrows were marked on the drawing. Dirt and moss covered the surface. It crumbled away at my touch. I brushed the front of the stone clean and was disappointed to discover there weren’t any markings.

  “Sometimes you can find symbols on other surfaces.” Bardrick leaned in and rubbed the underside of the top panel, then peered at it. His fingers touched one end while he muttered, “There’s something here…a letter? Is it a W or an M?”<
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  “Let me see—” I waited for Bardrick to move out of the way before I leaned over to see what he’d found. “Are there any others around?”

  The girls pushed in on either side and began cleaning off the inside stone surfaces of the vertical doorframe. One after the other, they both called out, “Found one!”

  Pepper said, “Looks like a P.”

  “I’ve got an A,” Kyrah responded.

  “Together it spells PAW!” Pepper snorted.

  “Hold on a sec.” I held up my hand while I recalled the riddle. “An ocean without water, a forest without trees, and a door without keys…I think I know what it is.”

  Pepper folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at me. “And do you feel like sharing? Or do you want to enjoy your brilliance alone?”

  I ignored her irritated stare. “What did we need to get here?”

  Kyrah giggled and threw her hands in the air. “Of course—a map!”

  The others looked at the cave entrance with curiosity. Bardrick held up the lodestone and said, “I’ve done this before with the stones I found with my grandfather’s things. If you rub a lodestone in the same direction against something that contains lead, it will behave like a lodestone for a short time.”

  He reached it into the cave opening, and it snapped against the top frame. He struggled to pull it free. I grabbed hold too and, together, we got it out.

  “I’ll try that again,” he said, his cheeks a brighter shade of red.

  Carefully, he moved the lodestone against the top stone of the caved-in heap. He dragged it left to right, along the length of the rock. After a minute of repeating his work, the stone that slanted down from the top corner began to wiggle and move. Bardrick pulled the lodestone out just in time for the moving rock to slide up, parallel to the top frame.

  “Whoa!” he called.

  “Hurry—do the others!” Pepper encouraged.

  So, Bardrick moved to the left side of the doorway where the A was carved into one of the slanted stones and repeated the motion. This time, up and down along its length. Like the top piece, the tall rectangular stone that leaned against its mirroring rock began to tilt upright until it snapped in place, perfectly upright against the frame.