Dark Ride (29 page)

Chapter 107

They have searched every room in the ride, from the very first room to the last. After back-tracking to make one last check, they stand in the center of the ominous room where the empty cart sits.

“How could we have missed them?” Oliver asks. “Clyde, is there some escape route or somewhere we have not checked?”

“No, not as far as I know,” he answers.

“There has to be some secret passage in here. Either that, or the kids gave us the slip,” Colton suggests while placing one foot in the direction of the nearest exit.

“Should we go back and check the first few rooms again?” Oliver suggests.

“Maybe,” Clyde replies. He is weary and flustered.

Neither Oliver nor Colton had been working when Douglas Finch disappeared. If they had, they would have the same sinking feeling as Clyde right now.

The radio at Clyde's side squeaks with Gwen's voice: “Clyde, the police are here
.”

Oh boy, Snodgrass will love that
, thinks Clyde.

Gwen asks, “You found them yet?”

“Don't you think I'd have….” Clyde starts but cuts himself off, realizing he sounds a bit testy. After a pause, he says, “Nope, no sign of them. Are the cops coming in?”

“Yeah, I think. They're done questioning everyone out here.”

Clyde looks at Colton and Oliver and motions to them as he tells Gwen, “I am sending Oliver and Colton back outside. Tell the cops I will meet them about halfway into the ride.”

Oliver asks, “Are you sure, Clyde? We can stay if you would like.”

He looks back to Colton for agreement, but he is gone. He left the room as soon as he heard the old man's reply to Gwen.

“No, Oliver, go on. We've searched the building; that's all we can do. Let's let the boys in blue take it from here.”

“Okay,” affirms Oliver, who then heads out of the room.

As soon as Oliver is gone, Clyde hears the calliope music, which produces a complete feeling of dread in him. He peers over his shoulder to the space in the wall that seems to be the source of the sound, and despite having examined this spot at least three times before, he sees something
different now. This time there's a neon green sign with the word “Enter” glowing ominously.

Huh
, thinks Clyde,
That's new.

Chapter 108

The troll makes the boys stand together, threatening to drop Amy into the ravine if they don't comply. Scotty knows the situation is hopeless. Amy joins them, and now all four are prisoners of the troll, who nimbly ties a rope around his newfound detainees and forces them to sit with their backs facing each other.

While standing over them and licking his crusty lips, the troll relishes in his victory.

It says, “This is splendid indeed. I woke up this morning with the dry taste of goat still in my mouth. Little did I know I would have a much more enjoyable meal today!”

“But you did tell the Queen you would let us pass,” Jack implores, looking for some way out.

“Yes, I did. But how is she going to know? I think I will simply tell her you all stumbled into the ravine. She will almost certainly fall for that.”

Wicked laughter bursts forth from the creature. It is pleased with this play on words so much that it repeats the phrase: “Get it, fall for that?”

The troll looks back toward the bridge and wonders aloud, “Now, where exactly did I put my blade?” It walks away, searching the ground with a lowered head.

Scotty tries to free himself by wiggling, but this isn't working. However, an idea springs into his head.

He whispers, “Pssst! The rope is only tied in one spot. If we all squeeze together as tight as possible, it will relax. Then there might just be enough slack in the rope to get out.”

“What good will that do?” Mason utters while eyeing the troll. “If we make a break for the door, the troll will catch us. It's not like we could all get away. I think we would only make him mad.”

With a lowered voice, Jack declares, “We have to at least try. Just keep thinking. And, consider what we would do next if we can get out.” He turns his head to spy on the troll and asks, “Scotty, what have you read about trolls? Do they have a weakness?”

Scotty thinks, mentally scanning through the pages of dozens of books.

He says, “Well, in the Tolkien books, they turn to stone in sunlight. But there is no sun in here. In a book I read called
Three Kings and Three Lions
, they were scared of fire. They are usually dim-witted, but this one seems at least a little smarter, although his rope tying skills are lacking.”

Amy hurries her brother by saying, “Come on, Scotty, this is not the time for a lecture.”

“Okay, I'm trying…. Um, in another book, I can't recall the name of, the trolls are extremely ticklish.”

“Oh great—trolls are ticklish! Even if he is, what good will that do?” Mason comments, dismayed at the hopeless situation.

“I don't know,” Scotty admits.

“It's a start,” Jack encourages. “Scotty, which weaknesses does this troll have?”

“It is impossible to know, but maybe—just maybe….”

Scotty's face brightens, and he says, “That's it! It's a crazy idea but one that might just work.”

Chapter 109

“This is our only chance. You're going to have to trust me,” Scotty declares.

“Whatever,” Mason says.

“We have no other choice,” Jack points out.

Scotty continues, “When I count to three, squeeze together, push back against each other, and stand. Then, just follow my lead.”

The troll is several yards away searching for his blade. It turns back for a second and says, “I hear you talking. Keep your mouths shut.”

Lowering his tune to a faint whisper, Jack asserts, “Okay, Scotty, I'm game.”

“Me, too,” Amy adds.

Mason chimes in, “What else am I gonna do?”

“Just count, Scotty,” Jack asserts.

“I told you kids to be quiet!” the troll bellows.

“One,” starts Scotty as he fumbles at the outside of his pocket, checking for some item.

“Two.”

Scotty is sweating, concentrating on his exact moves. He's telling himself,
I will not freeze, I will not freeze
.

“Three.”

All four press together, and just as Scotty predicted, the rope goes slack and drops from their chests to their waists. After another shift, the rope falls to the ground.

With its back to the kids, the troll leans down and says, “Here you are.”

It stands brandishing a rough looking goat antler sharpened at the end to a sinister point. Then it turns and sees the teens standing free from the rope.

“Making me work for my supper, I see. Well, I'll fix that!” says the troll, and it charges toward them.

Mason shouts, “Run for it!” but before any of them begin their flight, Scotty steps boldly out toward the troll.

“Stop right there, troll! I am a powerful magician and can create fire.”

The lie provides just enough absurdity to make the troll stop and laugh.

Still, Scotty continues his farce, saying, “I am the Great Scott, and I will summon fire! You will burn to a crisp if you come any closer.”

The others are astonished by the sudden bravery of Scotty and watch as he pulls the matchbox from his pocket and lights one of the matches they had “purchased” from the girl.

Scotty sees a look of surprise in the troll's face and thinks,
Excellent! This troll is afraid of fire.

However, in spite of the obvious hesitance in the beast's face, the troll yells, “Think you're going to scare me off with a little flame, huh?”

“Stay where you are, foolish troll. This is just a mere taste of my power. Let us go and I will not incinerate you.”

The troll stands its ground and thinks for a second.

This is actually going to work
, thinks Scotty, but his confidence in the plan is dashed as the troll's face breaks into a devious grin.

“Then why didn't you already burn me, oh great magician?”

Jack, the quicker thinker, breaks in and says, “We were simply testing you to see if you would follow the Queen's orders.”

The troll stops grinning and says, “A test, huh?”

Just then, Scotty's match begins to burn out, and he immediately tries to light another from the matchbox.

The Troll's hideous grin returns, and it says, “This is just some childish trick. You ain't no wizard.”

Then, like a ball shot from a cannon, the troll springs at Scotty. He knocks the matchbox to the ground and lifts Scotty up by the legs.

There is nothing any of the others can do but watch since they have no hope of overpowering the giant troll.

“So here we are again,” the troll says and laughs while walking over to the bridge. It lifts Scotty's helpless body over the top of the ropes and dangles him down over the chasm. Then, he adds, “You young ones sure are causing me a bit of a headache. Maybe I'll just drop you. No, you're too tasty of a morsel.”

Although he is helpless, Scotty is unusually calm. He does the only thing he knows he can do as a last resort. He has spied the enormous bare feet of the troll, partially hanging off of the bridge, and he begins tickling them.

Chapter 110

Jack watches as Scotty begins to tickle the bare feet of the troll. To his astonishment, the troll starts laughing—not just giggling, but bursting out with howls of laughter.

“Stop that,” the troll mutters between breaths. All of a sudden, the troll drops the antler. Then he also drops Scotty.

“No!” Amy screams.

“Scotty!” Mason yells from behind Jack.

Jack does not want to look, but before he turns away, he sees Scotty grab onto the ropes on the side of the bridge. However, he's barely hanging on.

Jack charges to the matchbox on the ground and declares, “Now you're in for it!”

He attempts to strike a match as quickly as he can, but the first one breaks. Quickly, Jack nimbly retrieves another, and this time it lights. Then, with a gallant charge, he throws the burning match at the troll, who recoils in fear. It's a near miss.

Amy calls, “Mason, come on!” and runs toward Scotty.

Mason is standing with a look of fear that none of them has ever seen before. He watches, eyes fixed on Scotty ahead of him, just beyond is the next set of doors. Eventually, he moves and begins to rush in the direction of Scotty. But he does not stop to help his friend. Instead, he' headed for the door.

Amy is shocked by this sudden retreat of Mason. She struggles to pull Scotty from his tenuous hold.

Scotty cries, “I can't hold on much longer—my shoulder!” The pain is obvious in his wide eyes.

Amy drapes her arms underneath her brother's and falls back with all of her might. The desperate heave allows Scotty to lift one of his legs onto the floor of the bridge. Amy is then able to help roll the rest of him to safety.

Jack is slowly advancing toward the troll. With confidence beaming, he calls out, “Woe to you, troll. I am the true magician; the others are merely my apprentices.”

He is laying it on thick and enjoying the ruse, but then he thinks,
Time to go for the jugular.
Once he is less than five feet away from the vile creature, Jack lights the rest of the matches at once including the matchbox. This begins to burn his hand, but Jack ignores the pain for a second and throws the burning box at the troll.

The fiend cries in absolute fear and runs in full sprint back to the bridge. Then, with a fluent leaping motion, he vaults himself over both Amy and Scotty and plunges into the chasm. It is a full five seconds before they hear a crashing sound, followed by a cry of pain.

A sense of relief pervades the group. They hear another agonizing howl of pain waft up from the darkness below. The creature is alive but in no shape to pursue them.

Jack calls down into the abyss, “Do not bother us again, fowl creature.”

Then, looking back to his comrades, Jack motions them towards the door. The three remaining teens bolt to the exit, and as they run, Scotty lifts Lucky from the ground.

Just before Jack spills into the next room, he looks back. A goat has wandered onto the bridge and is peering over the edge. It turns its head to Jack, and he's taken aback by the expression on its face. He asks himself,
Can goats actually smile?

Chapter 111

In the next room, the four relieved teens spend a few moments in silent recovery.

Then Jack approaches Scotty and says, “That was brilliant, just brilliant,” while clasping his shoulder.

“Ouch!” the boy responds.

“Oh, sorry,” Jack apologizes.

In spite of the throb in his shoulder, though, Scotty is beaming, for he feels that his shortcomings from the previous encounters have been redeemed.

“Hey, big brother, you totally saved us back there,” Amy encourages.

Mason utters, “Thanks.”

Jack is confused by Mason's dour gratefulness. He shakes his head and asks, “What is it with you? You're totally acting weird.”

“I am not,” a defensive Mason counters.

“Sure you're not,” Jack gently responds in a sarcastic manner.

Mason takes out the map and quietly studies it.

Meanwhile, Scotty looks over all of Lucky's wounds, and Amy leans over to Jack and asks, “What's gotten into Mason?”

“I think he's scared.”

Their conversation is stopped, though, by Mason announcing, “I just don't get it. We should be in the vault.”

Jack scans the new room. There are some small trees, and a small pond, where three dark-brown ducks are gliding through the water here and there. A large goose mimics their swimming motion.

“We still don't have the key either,” Amy points out.

Scotty walks toward the pond.

“Not too close, bro,” Amy calls.

“I know, I'm just looking around, taking a gander.”

None of the others acknowledges this pun, but Jack knows that the witty comment indicates that Scotty is feeling better.

Scotty continues, “Don't worry, I'm just checking things out. Remember the matchstick girl room? Maybe the vault is behind another hidden passage.”

“Makes sense,” Jack responds. “Let's all have a…gander then.”

Mason folds the map and walks toward the other end of the room. There are once again two sets of doors located to the left and right.

He sulks and says, “But the map shows that The Vault is here.”

Amy and Jack spread out in different directions for more inspection of the room.

As Jack moves to one of the corners, he contemplates some of the unanswered questions:
Why did the words stop in the story? Does it mean something? Where are the missing pages? If there is no more story, how are we going to finish it? How do we get to the happily-ever-after?

“Found it!” Scotty exclaims.

Jack turns to see Scotty standing before a cleverly concealed ladder, which has been made in the image of a tree. This time, the ladder leads up instead of down. They reason that this must lead to the vault.

“Good going, Scotty! You are on fire,” says Jack.

None of them, not even Scotty, attempts to make a joke of Jack's last words.