The Sword In the Grotto
THE GROTTO
Wanda did not take too well to being trapped in the grotto, either. In fact, she took it even worse than she'd taken going around in circles. I told her that it was no good jumping up and down and yelling; we had to try and get out. First we tried to lift up the portcullis, but it weighed a ton. It didn't budge one little bit. We kept on trying, but I could tell there was no way we could move it in a million years. "And there's no point shouting `One, two, three . . . Heave' in my ear over and over again, " I told Wanda.
"It's not going to help if I go deaf as well. " After that we tried to dig down below the portcullis. The sand was soft, and I thought that maybe we could squeeze out under- neath, but it was no good. There was rock below the sand, and also a thick metal plate, which I guessed was part of the portcullis trap. "Come on, Wanda, " I said. "We've got to lift up that portcullis. " But it wouldn't shift. Then we tried stupid things that we knew wouldn't work, but we had to do them just in case.
It was the kind of thing that Aunt Tabby would bring back from a garage sale and Uncle Drac would sigh and ask why on earth did we need more garbage. But I still knew it was the per- fect birthday present for Sir Horace. "It's great, isn't it?" I said. "Sir Horace is going to love this; I know he will. " "If he ever gets to see it, " muttered Wanda, "which he won't. Because tomorrow on his birthday, we'll still be stuck here. And the next day. And the day after that. We're always going to be stuck here. I'm never going to see Mom and Dad again, and you're never going to see your aunt Tabby or uncle Drac again-- never mind Sir Stupid Horace. " "Stop it, Wanda, " I said. "Just stop it right now. We are going to get out of here. There is always more than one way out of a secret tun- nel. " "There used to be, " said Wanda, pointing to the pile of rocks that blocked off the grotto from the cave outside, "but there isn't any- more. " We went over to the rock pile anyway. I shone the flashlight everywhere, hoping to see a gap that we could squeeze through, but there was nothing.
"So--the sea was really far out this morn- ing, wasn't it?" said Wanda. I nodded. "And when it goes far out, that means it's a really low tide. Okay? But it also means that when it comes in, like it's doing now, it will be a really high tide. " I didn't like the sound of this. "How high?" Q I asked. "I don't know, " said Wanda. "But it's not high tide until seven o'clock.
That's when Mom was going down for her swim. " I looked at my watch. It said half past five. One and a half hours still to go. "Give me the flashlight, " I said. "I want to see the water inside the cave. " I found the gap in the rocks and shone the flashlight through. At first I couldn't see any- thing at all, but I kept the flashlight very still and stared until my eyes got used to it.
"That's why the sand is damp, " Wanda said, throwing herself down beside me. "What's why the sand is damp?" Wanda laughed in a funny way that I didn't like. "Because at the last high tide, the sea came in here. " "You don't know that, " I told her. She grabbed the flashlight and shone it around the walls of the grotto like she was looking for something. And then she found it. "Seaweed, " she said, waving the light over a piece of shiny green stuff stuck on the ceil- ing. "And it's still wet. " I tried to remember what Uncle Drac always says about not panicking, but I couldn't. Even Uncle Drac might panic a bit just now.
I didn't say anything for a while, and then Wanda--being her usual cheery self--said, "Araminta . . . " "What?" "Can you swim?" "No. Can you?" "Yes . . . With arm floats. " "Don't suppose you brought them with you?" "No . . . " There didn't seem much else to talk about after that.