The next room they entered was small and dark. “This is a man made cave,” said Wolf.
“What’s in this man made
cave?” Shana was losing hold of her fake bravado. She was irritated at
him and the game he was playing with them. And she couldn’t understand
the hold he seemed to have over Linda. She, on the other hand, found him
to be loud and overbearing.
All of a sudden, black furry bats flew at them from all corners
of the cave, flying low, aiming at their heads. Shana and Linda cried
out in fear as they tried to protect their long hair from the low flying
rodents.
Wolf’s unhappy guests raced
away from the bats and back through the greenhouse. Shana couldn’t
believe her eyes: the tall trees were coming to life and reaching for
them with their long branches. Their shuddering trunks were digging up
their roots to join in the chase. A number of the trees were already
standing closer to the path; some of them had moved forward on their
own. The whole greenhouse was shaking. The earth rumbled as the trees
lifted up their heavy roots. She grabbed Linda’s hand and they ran out
of the greenhouse; she didn’t want to get trapped by the trees’ long
limbs.
In the art gallery, they sped past the somber faces and watching
eyes. The once-serious faces in the portraits were now laughing at
them. She felt like she was running through a fun house full of
distorted images. As they ran out the front door, she heard Wolf
bellowing in laughter behind them.
“I had thought that you were friends with these people! How could you have let this happen?” Linda yelled at Todd. Now she distrusted his motives.
“We were never friends, but
just business acquaintances,” replied Todd. “I didn’t know that he was
in any way associated with the company that owns End House.”
“We must be honest with
each other from now on if we’re going to find out what is really going
on in town,” Linda said to Todd as they sped away from the house. She
had always suspected that he hid secrets from her, but had never known
the full extent of those secrets until now.
“I have always been honest
with you,” said Todd. He was beginning to look annoyed and even angry,
so she dropped the whole subject. She couldn’t believe that she could
have been fooled by him.
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