The Hidden Beast by Christopher Pike

Author:Christopher Pike
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

7

They didn’t know what actually woke it up. Maybe it was simply time for it to get up. Maybe it smelled them, or finally heard them. It didn’t matter really. All they knew was that when they were about ten minutes from the dark pool, the breathing of the beast changed. The monster sounded as if it were coughing, and the faint red light that surrounded it suddenly flared. In the ghastly light they saw a massive figure slowly stirring. But they could see no details of its appearance. Cindy gasped and grabbed Watch’s arm.

“Turn off your light!” she whispered.

“I just turned it off,” he said calmly.

“Do you think it saw us?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to ask it.”

“What’s it doing?” she asked.

“It sounds like it’s getting out of bed.”

“What should we do?”

“Nothing,” Watch said.

“But we have to do something!”

“No. If we run back the way we came, we’ll make more noise.”

“Then let’s walk back,” Cindy said.

“No. I want to see what it’s up to first.”

“But we’re exposed out here in the middle of nowhere!”

“We’re assuming it’s dangerous. It might be friendly. Let’s be patient, and listen closely.”

There were no more flares of light. They had to depend on their ears to monitor the creature’s movements. From what they could tell, it seemed to be moving away from them, moving in the direction of the treasure room.

“If it is going in there,” Cindy warned, “it’ll freak out when it sees that two of its crystals have been stolen.”

Watch slowly began to back up. “I agree. Maybe we should get out of here.”

The roar came a minute later, and there was no mistaking its meaning. The beast had reached its private treasure chamber and found that a thief had slipped in while it slept. The sound of its anger reverberated throughout the black chamber like a volcanic eruption under a deep ocean. Worse, they heard it moving rapidly in their direction.

“It must know that the thief came in through the tunnel,” Watch said.

“Who cares?” Cindy screamed. “Let’s just get out of here!”

So they ran, back toward the steps and the long tunnel that led up to the closed door. But the beast was obviously fifty times their size, and could move much more quickly than they could. And now there was no question as to whether it could hear them. It was obviously coming straight toward them, and the sound of its movements was terrifying. The very air seemed gripped by a deadly whirlwind. Watch and Cindy had to hold on to each other to keep from stumbling.

They were still a ways from the stairs when Watch realized they were not going to make it. The creature was seconds from reaching them, from crushing them as it clearly intended to do. But the dark pool was only a few feet up ahead and Watch pointed to it as they ran.

“We have to jump in there!” he yelled over the roar.

“What?”

“In there! We have to jump!”

“No! We’ll die!”

“We’re going to die before we reach the steps!” Watch tightened his hold on Cindy’s hand.

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