“After the beach, we go to the cemetery,” Watch said.
Sally stopped him in midstride. “There’s no way we’re going there. Even you know that’s a stupid idea. Dead people live there. Live people die there.”
“She was buried in the cemetery,” Watch said. “To reach the end of the Secret Path, we must follow her life to the end. Bum made that clear.”
“Bum was anything but clear,” Sally said.
“Let’s worry about the cemetery when we get that far,” Watch said.
“Yeah,” Sally said sarcastically. “We might be ready for the cemetery by then.
We might be dead.”
They hiked up to one of the largest caves that overlooked Spooksville. Adam
was breathing hard by the time they reached it, and was getting hungry. From the outside the cave didn’t appear threatening. The opening was wide; none of them would have to squeeze inside. But the moment they stepped inside, Adam felt the temperature drop at least ten degrees. He asked Watch about it.
“Underground streams flow beneath these caves,” Watch said. “The water in them is freezing. If you listen closely you can hear the splashing.”
Adam stopped and listened. Not only did he hear a faint splashing sound, but an even fainter moaning sound. “What’s that?” he asked the others.
“Ghosts,” Sally said.
“There are no ghosts,” Adam said indignantly.
“Listen to Mr. Realist,” Sally mocked. “He doesn’t believe in ghosts even though a tree almost ate him an hour ago.” She turned to Watch. “We’ve done our duty
—we came here. We don’t have to stay. Let’s go.”
Watch agreed. They left the cave without being attacked and hiked toward the chapel. Sally wanted to visit the reservoir first, since it was along the way. But Watch insisted they stick to the correct sequence.
The chapel turned out to be the least scary place, although the church bell began to ring as they walked up, and didn’t stop until they walked away. Sally thought the bell was trying to warn them to turn back.
“Before it’s too late,” she said.
The reservoir was creepy, the water an odd color, sort of grayish. Adam was unhappy to learn that all the town water came from it. The area around it was similar to the space inside the tree; it was unnaturally silent. Their words, as they spoke, seemed to die in the air. Sally wondered out loud how many bodies were buried under the water’s surface.
“I don’t know,” Watch said. “But I do know no fish can live in this reservoir.”
“They die?” Adam asked.
“Yes,” Watch said. “They throw themselves onto the shore and die.”
“They would rather die than live here,” Sally said.
“Kansas City didn’t have these kind of problems,” Adam said.
They returned to the beach. By this time the day was wearing on, and Adam thought his parents would be worrying about him. But Watch was against his stopping home and telling them he was OK.
“We don’t want to wander off the path,” Watch said. “We might have to start over at the beginning.”
“You might also be about to disappear permanently,” Sally said. “It’s better you don’t give your parents any false reassurances.”
Bum was no longer at the beach, and Watch wasn’t sure where the angry crowd had tried to burn Madeline Templeton two hundred years ago. But Watch suspected they’d tried to kill her near the jetty because that’s where the wood from the ocean usually washed up on shore.
“They were lazy in those days,” Watch said. “When they wanted to burn someone to death, they didn’t like to search for wood.”
The jetty felt sufficiently creepy, but Adam was too distracted by the thought of the cemetery to worry about it. Ordinary cemeteries were not on Adam’s list of favorite places to visit, and he suspected Spooksville’s cemetery would be a hundred times worse than a normal one. As they walked toward it, Sally didn’t exactly try to put his mind at ease.
“A lot of people buried in Spooksville aren’t completely dead,” she said. ‘The local undertaker is always out hustling business. If you have a bad cold, he wants you to come down to his showroom to pick out a coffin, just in case the cold goes into your chest and you choke to death. I’ve got to admit, though, a tour of his stock can make you get better in a hurry.”
“I don’t believe any undertaker could be so crude and cruel,” Adam said.
“I’ve heard scratching sounds coming from underground while walking in the cemetery,” Watch said. “I think a few people got boxed up a little too soon.”
“That’s horrible,” Adam said, appalled. “Why didn’t you get a shovel and dig
those people out?”
“I have a bad back,” Watch said.
“And you don’t want to go digging up people who’ve been in the ground for a few days,” Sally said. “They might try to eat your brains.”
Adam began to have second thoughts. “I’ve had kind of a long day, moving and getting attacked by the tree and all. Maybe I should catch up with you guys later.”
“Are you chickening out?” Sally asked.
“No,” Adam said quickly. “I’m just stating a fact.” He paused. “Besides, you’ve been against this quest from the start.”