A chill raced down April’s spine as she heard an eerie singing behind them. It was the same song she’d heard before on the island. The song that had followed her home. It was the witch’s song.
“What’s that?” Pam asked.
“It’s the witch.” April grabbed Marlin’s hand and started to pull him. “Come on—let’s go. She must be close!”
“No, wait—” Marlin held back.
“Hurry!” Kristen cried. “If she comes back, we’ll all be trapped.”
“No—” Dolores protested.
“What’s wrong with you?” April cried.
“We’ve got to get out of here!”
She and Kristen and Pam took off, running toward the tunnel.
Marlin, Jared, and the other captives didn’t move.
April let out a gasp as something heavy landed on top of her.
Sticky and white. A net?
No. She saw the insects crawling over it. A cobweb. An enormous cobweb.
April heard Kristen and Pam shout in alarm. She turned and saw that the enormous web had fallen over them too. Only the witch’s captives were free. They stood quietly, watching the three girls struggle beneath the heavy net.
“Help us!” Pam called to them.
“We need something to cut through this,” April said. “A pocket knife, a sharp rock, anything!”
“Or help us lift it off!” Kristen pleaded.
The three girls struggled beneath the sticky web.
But Marlin and the others stood perfectly still.
“You shouldn’t have tried to escape,” Dolores said.
“We tried to tell you,” Jared added. “It’s useless. She’ll never let you go.”
Pam turned toward April. “Some friends!” she said. “They won’t help us.”
April tried not panic. “Okay, then we’ll find a way out on our own.” She grabbed two thick, sticky strands and tried to rip them apart.
They didn’t even begin to tear.
She tried two more strands—pushing down with her feet and pulling up with her arms. Nothing.
“I can’t break out of it!” Kristen cried. “This net feels likes it’s woven from steel bands.”
“It’s not,” April said, mostly to convince herself. “There’s got to be a way out.”
She searched for a weaker spot in the net—then howled in pain as something stung her arm.
The disgusting web was thick with living insects. Giant red ants, flies, beetles, and wasps crawled over April’s face, down her bare arms.
“Ohh.” She let out a groan as a fat beetle crawled up her nose.
She pulled it out, then slapped at her hair. She scraped bugs off the back of her neck, tugged out something buzzing in her ear.
The web tightened over her. It pressed into her face and arms and legs.
“Eeew! I can’t stand bugs!” Pam was punching at the net, but it didn’t help.
Kristen was down on the cave floor, trying to roll free.
“They’re biting me! Ow! They’re biting me!”. Pam wailed.
Buzzing wasps climbed over April’s face. She swatted them hard. But the web was closing in, tightening over her.
I’m trapped, she realized.
We’re all trapped here.
“Oh!” She felt a sharp sting on the back of her neck. She dropped to her knees under the weight of the web as the pain shot through her body.
“April, you led us in here,” Pam said. Her voice was angry and accusing. “And now we’re never going to get out!”
24
April fought back tears. Pam was right. She had led them into the cave. It was because of her that they were trapped under the net—dinner for all these insects.
“I’ll find a way out of here,” she told Pam and Kristen. “I won’t give up. I’ll get us out.”
Something else stung her elbow. A line of red-hot fire ran through April’s arm. Her eyes shut against the pain of the insect sting, April rolled over. She heard a ping and felt the thick web stretch—then give way.
She opened her eyes—and saw that she had rolled through a tear in the web.
“Hey—I’m out!” April cried.
She hurried to pull the heavy cobweb off the others.
Pam and Kristen stumbled out, rubbing at stings and bites.
“How did you do that?” Pam narrowed her eyes at April.
April shrugged. “I—I don’t know. I guess I just rolled through a weak spot.”
“Who cares? Let’s just go!” Kristen cried.
They started running toward the tunnel.
April couldn’t help turning back—and she saw that Marlin and the others weren’t following. “Come on! Hurry!” she called.
Marlin didn’t respond. Maybe he’s too weak, April thought. Maybe he’s afraid he won’t make it. She grabbed his arm and pulled hard. “You’re coming with us. I can’t leave you here!”
“Let go of me!” Marlin insisted, but April ignored him. She stared toward the tunnel on the right.
“That’s the wrong way,” Clark said. “It’s that tunnel.” He pointed in the other direction. “No. That way,” Jared argued.
Pam slowed down and pointed to a third tunnel. “I think we came that way.”
“We couldn’t have,” Kristen said. “We—” She broke off, looking confused. “I’m not sure where we came in.”
April suddenly felt dizzy. I’m all turned around, she realized.
I don’t remember which way we came. I can’t tell one direction from another.
They stood in the center of the chamber, arguing over which tunnel led out of the cave. Kristen kept sweeping her light from one opening to the other.
April’s head was spinning. She let go of Marlin’s arm and dropped to the floor again. “So dizzy…” she murmured.
“Me too,” Kristen said. Her eyes were rolling in her head. She dropped beside April on the dirt floor.
A scorpion from the cobweb crawled toward them. Its pincers opened and closed. April tried to look away from the scorpion, but she couldn’t raise her head.
Too dizzy. Too dizzy.
“The woman in the blue cloak,” April muttered. “She has us trapped here. She isn’t going to let us go.”
“But that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Marlin said, standing over her, hands on his waist. “We don’t want to go. We want to stay here.”
25
“Are you totally crazy?” Kristen shrieked.
“Marlin—what’s wrong?” April asked. “Why are you saying that?”
“He’s right,” Jared said, stepping in front of Marlin. “We have to stay here. This is where we belong.”
April felt sick with fear as she heard the witch’s song again. She got out of the path of the scorpion, then pushed herself to her feet. The dizziness faded a little. Kristen was standing again too.
“Come on! Come on! Stop wasting time!” Pam cried.
Clark tightened his hands into fists. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said through gritted teeth. “We’re staying.”
“But—why?” Pam demanded.
“This is our home,” Marlin said. He too, seemed ready to fight. “She needs us. And no one’s going to change that.”
The captured kids formed an angry circle around Pam.
April pulled Kristen aside. “The witch has messed with their minds,” she said. “She brainwashed them or something.”
Kristen bit her bottom lip. “What can we do?”
“We have to force them to escape with us,” April replied.
“But—how?” Kristen demanded.
They turned back to the captured kids. Their circle tightened around Pam.
“Get away from me!” Pam screamed. “You’re all crazy! We have to get out of here—now!”
“Maybe you should stay here with us,” Marlin said to Pam.
Pam gave Marlin a hard shove.
Startled, Marlin stepped back.
With a cry, Pam stumbled—and fe
ll hard onto a pile of sharp rocks.
April hurried over to Pam. “Are you okay?”
Pam gazed up at April, her face twisted in pain. She pressed her hands against the cave floor and tried to lift herself.
April leaned down to help her. “Pam—what’s wrong?”
“I—I can’t get up,” Pam said in a trembling voice. She grimaced in pain. “Ohh. My ankle. It’s broken. It’s definitely broken.”
26
Kristen knelt beside Pam. “Stay calm,” she said. “We’ll get you out of here. You’ll be okay.”
Pam’s face tensed in pain. “It hurts. It really hurts.”
The five captured kids stared down at Pam, their faces blank. Marlin nervously kept slapping his fist against the palm of his other hand.
What has that evil woman done to them? April wondered.
She dropped onto her knees beside Pam. Gently, she touched the injured ankle.
“Don’t!” Pam cried. “It’s totally broken. I—”
Pam stopped suddenly. Her eyes went wide as she stared up at April.
“Hey,” she murmured. Her expression softened. “Whoa.”
“What is it?” Kristen asked her.
“The pain,” Pam said, her face still twisted in shock. “It’s gone. My ankle doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Pam narrowed her eyes at April as she slowly, carefully climbed to her feet. Gently, she put her weight down on the hurt ankle.
“No pain,” Pam said. She shook her head. “It’s perfectly fine.”
April turned and realized that Kristen was staring at her, studying her. “April.” Her voice sounded shaky. “You touched Pam’s ankle, and the pain just disappeared.”
“Huh?” April didn’t understand what Kristen was saying.
Now everyone was staring at her.
“You cured my ankle!” Pam exclaimed. “I—I don’t understand it. But you cured It. The ankle was definitely broken. I heard it crack when I hit those rocks.”
Pam did a little dance, tapping her feet on the cave floor. “See? It’s cured!”
Kristen’s eyes locked on April. “And you broke through the web. You’re the one—aren’t you!”
April frowned at her. “I am the one? The one what?”
“You have powers, don’t you! You’re the witch’s daughter,” Kristen said. “You’re the one she’s waiting for.”
“No!” April cried. She backed away from Kristen. “That’s crazy! Totally crazy. I’m not her daughter!”
April realized her heart was racing in her chest. She could feel the blood pulsing at her temples.
She suddenly felt dizzy again. Her mind whirred.
I’m not the witch’s daughter, she told herself. No way. My parents are back in Ohio.
Okay, I touched Pam’s ankle, but I didn’t cure it. I don’t have any powers. I’m not a witch’s daughter.
Why are they all staring at me like that? Like I’m some kind of freak.
They all believe Kristen. But she’s wrong. She’s totally wrong.
April heard the flutter of bats’ wings from the front of the cave. Had someone awakened the bats? Was the woman in the blue cloak on her way?
“We can’t stand here, accusing one another,” she told Kristen. “We have to get out of this cave.”
She turned to Marlin. “Come with us—please! You don’t belong here. You belong with us.”
“Yes. We’ll prove it to you,” Kristen added. “Just let us get you out of this cave.”
“No way,” Marlin replied.
“No way,” Clark repeated, stepping up beside him.
“We have to stay,” Dolores said.
“Then we have no choice,” April told Kristen and Pam. “We have to leave without them. We’ll get help when we get back to the Academy Village. We can radio the main island.”
The three girls took off, running through the narrow tunnel to the next chamber. Rats scuttled at their feet.
They found the next tunnel and squeezed into it, running hard. Their rapid footsteps echoed through the cave. The only other sound was the soft rush of their shallow breaths.
The sleeping bats still clung to the cave walls like a dark curtain. The girls crept past them. Through another tunnel.
Yellow sunlight poured into the next chamber. Through the cave opening, April could see the blue afternoon sky.
“Yes!” she cried, pumping both fists above her head. “We made it!”
They raced out into the warm, fresh air. White seagulls circled, high over the green-blue ocean waves. Below the rock hill, the beach stretched like a smooth yellow ribbon.
“I’ve never been so happy to see the sun!” Pam exclaimed.
“We can’t stop to enjoy the scenery,” April scolded. “We’ve got to get back. We have to get help for the missing kids. We’ve got to rescue them from the cave as fast as we can.”
They started to lower themselves down the steeply sloping hill. The blue rocks glowed, slippery and cool despite the hot sunlight.
They had taken only a few steps, when April felt the rocks begin to shake.
“Whoa!” she cried out, and turned to the others. Their startled faces soon turned to fright.
“Is it…an earthquake?” Pam cried.
The rocks shook harder. A large, smooth rock broke free and tumbled down the hill. Another hard tremble made more rocks break loose.
“It…it’s an avalanche!” Kristen screamed.
The stone beneath April’s feet shook so hard, she toppled back. She landed hard on the trembling, quaking rocks.
Pock pock pock pock.
A dozen tiny rocks bounced down the hill. Rocks hitting rocks. The whole hill quaking harder…harder…
April opened her mouth in a scream as the rock beneath her shook loose.
And then, instead of falling, it floated into the air.
“Noooooo!” Pam shrieked as another long, smooth boulder rose off the hill into the air.
April’s teeth chattered with terror. “B-boulders don’t do that,” she said. “It’s the witch. She’s here. She’s the one doing this!”
The huge rocks tore loose from the hill with a roar like thunder. Tottering from side to side, they floated up. Above the girls’ heads.
So many of them, they darkened the sky.
April scrambled to her feet. But the hill trembled again—a hard shake—and she sailed onto her back.
Turning, she saw Kristen and Pam struggling to stay on their feet.
The rocks overhead covered them in shadow.
April stared up helplessly, unable to move.
The hill gave a hard shake. More rocks thundered down, cracking, rolling faster and faster as they neared the bottom.
Other rocks shot into the air.
April heard a hard thud.
She turned in time to see an enormous rock drop from the sky. It crashed a few yards behind them, then plunged down the hill.
Another rock fell—and shattered. Jagged pieces of the rock flew toward April. She ducked away, only to have a smaller rock hit her arm.
“Run!” Pam screamed.
“There’s no place to go!” Kristen screamed back as boulders crashed down on either side of her.
“We have to find shelter!” April shouted.
Boulders rained down all around them. It was only a matter of time before all of them would be hit. Hurt badly.
Pam crouched down on the ground. She covered her head with her hands.
April tackled her, shoving her out of the way seconds before a boulder landed on her.
Another blue rock fell. Kristen darted out of its way—and into the path of another boulder. She whirled around and fell to the ground next to April and Pam.
The ground bucked beneath them. The three girls huddled together.
“Make it stop!” Pam pleaded.
April opened her mouth in a terrified scream. “We’re going to be crushed!” she shrieked. “We’re all going to be crushed!”
27
<
br /> The rocks rumbled and cracked beneath them.
April struggled to her feet, only to be thrown down onto her knees again.
A rock fell from the sky and crashed at her feet.
Another. Another, even closer.
Beside her, Kristen was on her back on the ground. She gaped in silent horror at the rocks above her.
Pam hunched on her knees, trying to hold on to the quaking rock hill. She opened her mouth in scream after scream.
A giant boulder crashed down inches from April.
“NO!” she screamed. Even though it didn’t make sense to talk to rocks, she did. “Please don’t hurt us!” Her entire body shuddering from fear, April held her hands up—as if trying to shield herself.
Pam suddenly stopped screaming. Her chest still heaved. Her breaths escaping in noisy gasps.
All three girls stared up at the rocks.
Waiting.
Waiting for the pain.
Waiting to be crushed.
But now the rocks didn’t move. They floated low above them, bobbing, bumping each other. But they no longer fell.
Slowly, the hill stopped quaking.
A few small rocks rolled to the bottom, clacking against the stones as they dropped.
April stared in amazement as the big blue stones slowly, gently floated down to the ground. They dropped all around them, almost without making a sound.
“You—you stopped them!” Pam cried in a high, tiny voice. “April—you did it again. I asked you to make it stop, and you did.”
“She’s right. You really have powers,” Kristen said, not taking her eyes off the rocks.
“No,” April replied weakly. “No. How could I?
” But now she wasn’t sure.
She’d broken through the web.
Pam’s ankle had healed with one touch.
And now she had asked the rocks to stop falling. And they had.
What did it mean?
I’m not the witch’s daughter, April told herself. I know who my parents are.
I am not a witch.
So why do I suddenly have these amazing powers?
I can’t be her daughter.