Christmas in Camelot - Mary Pope Osborne [12]
Another monster crawled through a different doorway, quickly followed by a third, and then a fourth.
“Yikes!” said Annie.
“The real Keepers of the Cauldron … ,” whispered Jack.
The four real Keepers of the Cauldron crawled closer to Jack and Annie, hissing and snorting blue fire.
“What do we do now?” whispered Annie.
“I don’t know,” said Jack. “We’re trapped.”
“I have an idea,” whispered Annie. “Let’s drink the water.”
“What?” said Jack.
“It’s the Water of Memory and Imagination, right?” said Annie. “So maybe if we drink it, we can imagine a way to escape!”
“That’s crazy,” said Jack.
The Keepers crawled closer, snorting more blue flame and filling the air with their rotten stench.
“Okay, okay, let’s try it,” said Jack.
Annie took a sip from the silver cup, then handed it to Jack. His hands trembled as he held the cup to his lips and took a sip. The water tasted sweet, bitter, and spicy, all at the same time.
Jack gave the cup back to Annie.
“Now imagine we’re saved!” she said.
Jack closed his eyes. He tried to imagine being saved. He pictured the four Keepers crawling back through their doorways.
“Okay. Ready to fight?” said Annie.
Jack opened his eyes. “What? Fight?”
Annie set the silver cup on the floor.
“Now!” she said.
Suddenly, Jack felt like he’d been hit by a bolt of lightning. His fears slipped away. He was filled with strength and fury.
Without thinking, he lunged with Annie toward the wood fire under the cauldron. They each grabbed two long, straight branches from the edge of the fire. They raised them high in the air. The branches blazed with purple fire like flaming swords.
“AAAHHH!” Jack and Annie shouted.
The four Keepers hissed louder than before. Great balls of blue fire exploded from their mouths and nostrils!
Jack and Annie slashed the air with their fiery weapons, jabbing at the Keepers. They fought fire with fire, blue flame with purple flame.
“Back! Back!” they shouted.
With each jab and shout, Jack felt stronger and braver. Waving their burning branches, he and Annie drove the Keepers toward the walls.
The Keepers’ blue flames grew weaker and weaker, as if they were running out of fuel. Finally, one by one, each Keeper slunk back into the doorway from which it had come.
When all the Keepers had disappeared, Jack and Annie placed a burning branch in front of each of the four doorways to keep the monsters from coming back out.
Then they brushed off their hands.
“Let’s go,” Annie said coolly.
Jack nodded.
Annie carefully picked up the silver cup of water from the cauldron. Then she and Jack squeezed through the narrow crack and strode through the bright crystal cave.
They stepped out into the daylight.
The glass key was still in the keyhole.
Jack calmly locked the door behind them. He handed the key to Annie.
Then Jack’s knees gave way, and he sank to the ground.
“I don’t believe what just happened,” said Jack.
“What part don’t you believe?” said Annie, holding the silver cup.
Jack laughed and shook his head.
“I don’t believe any of it,” he said.
Annie laughed, too. “That was cool, huh?”
Jack pushed his glasses into place and stared at her. “Seriously, what just happened in there?” he asked.
“I imagined us fighting the Keepers with flaming swords,” said Annie. “What did you imagine?”
Jack shrugged. “I—I just imagined the Keepers going back in their holes,” he said.
“Good,” said Annie. “We both got what we imagined.”
“Yeah,” said Jack, smiling. “But what you imagined made a much better story.”
A shriek of fury came from inside the cave.
“Yikes!” said Annie.
“Let’s get out of here!” said Jack.
He scrambled to his feet, and together they climbed back down over the big rocks to the thicket. Annie moved very carefully to keep from spilling the water in the cup.
When they came to the thicket, Jack pulled out Sir Percival’s compass. “If we came west to get here, we have to go east to get back,” he said. “East is