“Run out of fire, old lady?” A girl’s voice echoed through the cave.
“Charlie?” a tortured Maybeck whispered.
Charlene dropped through a ceiling hole in the next room, sticking a perfect landing. Irate, Maleficent wound up and threw the fireball in Charlene’s direction. Charlene cartwheeled. The fireball missed and ricocheted off the cave’s ceiling in a shower of sparks.
In that moment, two things happened:
The fireball caused the snakes to release and slither away, clearing a path to the exit. And as the fireball exploded into the ceiling, ten thousand bats took flight.
Maleficent, blinded by the swarm, spoke a curse that turned a thousand of the feckless bats into rats.
Tia Dalma cursed at Maleficent. “Rats? You make the rats?”
“Children hate rats.”
“I no like the rats, neither, you lizard-skinned fairy!”
“You shut your trap, or I’ll turn you into one yourself.”
“You talk like that, missy; I give you the gift of pain. Pain like none you felt.”
For Maybeck, Charlene, and Storey, escaping the cave was like trying to run underwater. The churning, screeching, flapping bats were like windblown leaves, batting against faces and arms, making it hard to see, to breathe. The rats crawling on the floor only made matters worse; no foothold was secure. The three teens held their breath, squinted, and dashed for the entrance. Maybeck hollered as he ran. Charlene and Storey covered their faces, peering through the cracks between their fingers.
Gasping for air, they followed the bats out the cave, bursting into the sunlight. There, twenty feet away, a Japanese tour group that had gone off-map cowered back from the black wave escaping the cave. Without noticing Charlene, Storey, and Maybeck, the tourists ran for their mini-bus. The kids headed for the street and Maybeck’s taxi.
“Where did you come from?” Maybeck asked Charlene. Looking at her, he couldn’t help the huge smile breaking out on his face.
“My first cave was no good, but my driver recognized the sketch. Sorry I was late.”
“Me, too.”
They dove into the cab and slammed the door shut. The driver came awake, banging his head against the steering wheel and sounding the car horn.
Looking back, Maybeck saw Maleficent at the mouth of the cave, bats flooding out past her. She swiped her cape up, posing for the running tourists.
The taxi sped away.
“So?” Maybeck asked Storey.
“It was some kind of ceremony or ritual,” Storey said. “Tia Dalma was crouched over a pile of bones. She was burning a bird’s nest, or maybe twigs? I couldn’t see that well in that weird light. She was chanting and kind of half-singing, and Maleficent said nothing. Just stood there, watching her.”
The driver was turned, listening to Storey.
“Drive!” Maybeck shouted. “Fast!”
The taxi driver sneered. The cab gained speed.
“And there was this yellow flower,” Storey said. “It seemed like that was what the crazy lady was focused on.”
“A key flower?” the driver said, his eyes locked on theirs in the rearview mirror. “You actually saw a key flower?”
“Yellow,” Storey said. “The only flower I saw.”
The driver nodded. “You are special, missy. And so very lucky! A key flower! Imagine!”
“I take it, it’s special,” Maybeck said.
“Special?” The driver scoffed. “Only blooms between a new moon and a full eclipse. You tell me, mister. Special?”
“They picked it,” Storey said. “They did their little ceremony, and they picked it.”
The driver’s eyes filled with terror. “They killed a key flower?”
He sounded horrified.
“What?” Maybeck said.
The driver shook his head, refusing to answer.
* * *
Finn and Willa reboarded to the ship after Philby, but before the others. While Philby returned to his stateroom to review the ship’s security video for Luowski and the stolen computer, Finn and Willa watched for their friends on the dock over the stern rail of Cabanas restaurant.
“Have you kissed her?” Willa asked.
“W…h…a…t…?”
“Amanda. Have you guys kissed?”
“We barely even talk anymore. Why are you asking me this?”
“Conversation breaks the tension. We all need conversation.”
“You need your head examined,” Finn said.
“It’s a simple enough question. Have you kissed her?”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“You guess!? Was it that bad? Seriously?”
“I didn’t say it was bad.” Finn felt like jumping over the rail.
“You don’t sound too impressed.”