Chapter 9

Chapter 9 "Something's down there!" Ruth Rose whispered. Josh's eyes were huge. "Not some-thing," he whispered. "Someone. It's the ghost of Emory Scott!" Dink put his hand in his pocket and felt the three green parrot feathers. Taking a deep breath, he put a foot on the top step. "I'm going down," he said. Dink walked down the steps, feeling along the cold stone walls. He tried not to think about slimy things that hung out in damp tunnels.

Then his hand touched something square and hard. A light switch! He flipped it up, and the space was suddenly flooded with light. "It's a long tunnel!" he yelled. Ruth Rose hurried down the steps. She turned to Josh. "Coming?"

"All right," Josh sighed. "But if anything touches me, I'm out of here!" The tunnel was cold and narrow. They walked along the dirt floor. Small, cobweb-covered light bulbs hung from the ceiling. The air smelled rotten. The tunnel went straight for a while, then turned a corner. "Listen," Ruth Rose said. "I hear water." "I hate this," Josh said. "I really do." Dink turned the corner and found himself standing in water. Something let out a screech, and Dink froze. Josh grabbed Dink around the neck. "What the heck was that?" he squeaked. "Josh, you're strangling me!" Dink croaked. "Sorry," Josh said. "Where are we?" Ruth Rose asked. They were standing at the entrance to a cave. The rock walls oozed, and the floor was under water. Off to the left, another tunnel continued out of sight. "I think I know where we are," Dink whispered. "Me too," Josh said, "We're in the dungeon. I'd better not see any skeletons!"

"I think if we'd kept going through the cave yesterday," Dink continued, "we'd have ended up here." "It's one long tunnel," Ruth Rose said. "From the playhouse to the ocean!" Then something behind them made a loud squawk. Josh jumped, nearly knocking Dink over. "Look, guys," Ruth Rose said. "Over there!" She pointed to a dark mound up against one wall. Dink walked over, splashing through the cold water. "It's a tarp," he said. Holding his breath, Dink grabbed one corner and yanked it away. Under the tarp were two cages, one on top of the other. Each cage held four large green parrots. The birds panicked, beating their wings against the cage bars. Their screams echoed again and again off the cave walls. "So much for the ghost of Emory Scott," Ruth Rose said. Josh laughed. "Good! I don't know what I'd have done if I'd bumped into him!"

Dink pulled the feathers from his pocket. He held them next to one of the parrots. "They're the same," he said. "What the heck is this place?" Ruth Rose asked. "Who'd hide parrots in a cave?" "I don't know," Dink said. "Guys!" Ruth Rose said. She was looking down. "The tide must be coming in. The water is getting deeper!" Dink and Josh looked down. The water was up to their ankles! "The parrots!" Josh said. The bottom cage was getting wet. The parrots shrieked at the rising water. "Let's get them outside!" Dink said, grabbing the top cage. He lugged it into the dry tunnel. Josh and Ruth Rose took the other cage. They hurried back along the tunnel with the parrots squawking in fear. Dink stopped at the bottom of the stone steps and looked up. "Uh-oh." "What?" Ruth Rose gasped. "I thought we left the trapdoor open," Dink said. "We did," Josh said.

"Well, it's closed now." Dink set his cage on the floor. He walked up the steps and pushed on the door. It didn't budge. Josh climbed the steps, and they both shoved against the door. "It's no use," Dink said. "The door must have fallen, and the lock snapped shut." "What can we do?" Ruth Rose asked. "If the tide floods this tunnel…" Dink walked back down the steps. "There's another way out. But we'll have to swim."