“I thought you were worried about my safety,” Sally said indignantly.
“I am,” Adam said quickly. “I’m just—”
“More worried about my own safety,” Watch interrupted.
“I didn’t say that,” Adam said.
“You were thinking it,” Watch said. He glanced at one of his watches. “If you are going to try to rescue us, you’d better do it now. The witch and her black knight will be back any second.”
Sally squirmed through the metal bars—getting stuck only once—and crouched on the stone window ledge. She eyed the chandelier—which had candles instead of electric lights—warily. It was only six feet away, but from her perspective, it was a huge six feet.
“What if I miss and go splat on the ground?” she asked.
“It won’t be as painful as being boiled,” Adam said.
“What am I supposed to do once I’m swinging from the chandelier?” she asked.
“We’ll worry about that if you make it that far,” Watch said.
“Somehow,” Sally said, “you guys don’t fit the hero mode.” She braced herself.
“I’m going to do it. One—two—three.”
Sally leaped. Her outstretched fingers barely reached the rim of the chandelier.
The shock of added weight immediately pulled down on the rope that suspended the chandelier from the ceiling, which wasn’t such a bad thing. Like Tarzan or Jane, Sally was able to ride the sinking chandelier all the way to the floor. The candies toppled and went out, their blood-colored wax spilling everywhere.
Luckily candles in the wall sconces still burned. When Sally was safely on her feet, she casually brushed herself off and walked over to them.
“Did you know,” she said, “that this castle is surrounded by a moat filled with crocodiles and alligators?”
“We’ll worry about them if we get that far,” Watch repeated. He gestured to their chains. “I don’t suppose you have the key to these in your pocket?”
“Can’t say I do,” Sally said, glancing around. “Where’s the witch?”
“Filling our bath,” Adam said. He glanced at Watch. “We have to face the fact we aren’t going to be able to break these chains. But what if we have Sally break something else?”
“What?” they both asked.
Adam nodded to the hourglass. “It’s her pride and joy. Most witches have a black cat, but she’s got that. Maybe it’s the source of her power. Knock it over, Sally. Break the glass and spread the dust over the floor.”
The idea of destruction appealed to Sally right then. Or so Adam supposed as he watched her attack the hourglass as if she were a hungry lion jumping a plump zebra. The thing was not welded down. Probably the witch had never had an unchained guest who hated hourglasses. A few stiff kicks and the thing fell over.
It hit the floor with tremendous force. The glass walls ruptured. The diamond dust flew across the stone floor.
Then everything in the nightmarish realm went crazy.
The candles on the wall sconces flickered, almost going out, which would have plunged the room into total darkness. The ground shook as if gripped by an earthquake. The noise was incredible. The castle’s stone walls began to crack, the dust from the splintering stones showering down on them. But best of all, the iron pole around which Adam and Watch were bound cracked in two. They were able to pull their wristbands up and over the pole. Deep in a lower room, they heard the witch howl in anger.
“We’d better get out of here quick,” Adam said, grabbing hold of Sally, his hand still somewhat tied by the handcuffs. “She sounds unhappy.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Watch remarked, straightening his glasses. They raced toward what they hoped was the front door. Then Adam stopped them.
“Wait a second,” he said. “We can’t just leave the others in the dungeon.”
“What others?” Sally demanded as the ground continued to rock. It was as if the castle were being ripped apart at the seams.
“There’s a bunch of kids in the dungeon,” Watch explained. “They seem nice.”
He added, “Except they’re missing a few parts.”
Sally made a face. “I do hope they have plastic surgeons in this dimension.”
“We have to get them out before the whole castle caves in,” Adam said.
Sally and Watch looked at each other. “He’s really into this hero thing all of a sudden,” she said.
“We should never have called him a coward,” Watch agreed.
Adam was impatient. “I’m going back for them.”
Sally didn’t protest. “We may as well. All we have waiting for us outside this door is a bunch of hungry crocodiles and alligators.”
Just before they left the living room, Adam stooped and picked up a handful of the diamond dust that had fallen from the cracked hourglass. It sparkled in his hands like a million tiny suns. Like magic, really. He stuffed it in his pockets.
Running, they found the door to the dungeon and hurried down the winding stairway. But when they reached the dungeon, they discovered that all the cells had burst open. The prisoners had already escaped.
“But where did they go?” Adam wondered aloud.