Escape From Riddler's Pass by Amy Green Page B

the rope!”
    His fingers shook as he undid Silas’ pack, trying to dig through their supplies. “Here!”
    Jesse passed it to Silas, who dropped it to Rae, bracing himself to pull her up. For a second, she just stared at it. Jesse knew what she must be thinking. How can she risk letting go?
    Then Rae’s hand slipped slightly. With a sharp gasp, she let go of the rock ledge with her right hand and gripped the rope. Her left hand followed, and she clung to the rope, her eyes tightly closed.
    Silas began to pull, the muscles on his lean frame stretching as he brought the rope up, knot by knot. As soon as Rae’s shoulders appeared, Jesse knelt to help her up. She scrambled onto the rock, moving as far from the edge as possible.
    As his heart returned to its normal pace, Jesse stared out at the gorge. All that was left of the straw was a pile at the bottom of the cliff. Dimly, Jesse could see the glinting metal of spikes buried in the ground.
    â€œI think,” Rae said at last, a slight tremble giving away the fear in her voice, “we picked the wrong way.”
    â€œThey spread the straw over a cloth,” Silas said, shaking his head. “It couldn’t hold our weight.” He shuddered, looking down at the spikes. “I had only taken one step. Any farther, and I wouldn’t have been able to jump to safety.”
    â€œWe can’t do this,” Rae said. “Who knows how many more tunnels there will be? We’ll die before we reach the headquarters.”
    â€œNot necessarily,” Jesse said. In the dark, he knew they could not see him smile, but he did anyway. “What if I told you I know a way to choose the correct tunnel every time?”
    â€œI would be interested,” Silas said, eying him carefully. “Skeptical, but interested.”
    Jesse led them back into the tunnel, then turned so he was facing the two archways. “See?” he said, pointing to the glowing stone above the second path. “A heart.”
    â€œJust like in the riddle,” Rae said. She stepped closer and fingered its rough curve.
    Now Jesse could see several symbols, each one carved into a glowing stone set above both archways. “‘Symbols of your destiny,’” he quoted. “The riddles mark which passage we should take.”
    Silas studied the archway. “But there are other symbols above this one besides a heart,” he said. “A fish, a bow, a bird. Why are they there?”
    Jesse shrugged. “To confuse people, I guess. Or maybe they’re important for some other reason. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the right path happens to be marked with the symbol of the first riddle.”
    Sure enough, when the path split again, Rae found the symbol they were looking for, again on the right. “Here,” she said, pointing to a stone at eye level in the archway. Three rows of three small circles, stacked on top of each other. The stones of a well .
    The first few steps into the new tunnel were the hardest, even though Jesse was sure his theory was right. No pits of snakes, raging beasts, or pots of boiling oil so far.
    â€œPots of boiling oil?” Rae questioned, turning back to him.
    Jesse felt his face turn red as he realized he had been muttering to himself. “Well, it’s possible,” he said, defensively. Rae just laughed and continued into the dark tunnel.
    Finally, the tunnel curved, then split again. Two more archways. They spread out and examined the symbols around the tunnels.
    â€œWhat exactly are we looking for?” Jesse asked, running his hands over the designs carved into the rocks by the left tunnel. “Did Governor Patrice have a symbol?”
    â€œNot that I know of,” Silas said. “Just look for something that symbolizes royalty or leadership.” A pause. “Like this!”
    Rae and Jesse joined him, as he pointed to a diamond symbol near the ground. “You see?