Amos turned to his companions and gestured toward the cave entrance, “I want to take a closer look before we go inside.”
He patted his jacket pocket and was reassured his red dragon was still there. Then he stepped into the portal. Instantly, he decided he’d made a mistake. A whirling vortex of dust swirled up around him and enveloped him in its grasp. He clamped his mouth shut and threw his arms up over his face. He was spun around and lifted into the air. All he could think of was the tornado that swept Dorothy away to the Land of Oz. Where was this scary cloud taking him? A few seconds later - it seemed like an eternity - he landed on his back on a cold, hard stone surface. Cautiously, he opened his eyes, sat up, and looked around. He appeared to be in the center of an immense black grotto.
Back at the portal, another dust cloud swirled about and rose into the air. It began moving in his direction. Amos covered his face and watched the cloud sway back and forth as it came closer and closer. He tensed, expecting it to engulf him. Instead, it dropped Jake on the floor nearby and whooshed back toward the portal. Jake was doubled up with one hand over his eyes and the other firmly gripping his sword. He sat up, took a deep breath, and shrugged his shoulders.
“I told the others to wait while I went in after you,” Jake explained.
Amos pointed toward the entrance and exclaimed, “Oh, no! Here comes another dust cloud.”
A giant cloud of dust had just whooshed through the portal and was swirling toward them. It spun around a few feet away and dropped Bobby, Clarence and Millie on the floor. Then it whirled back to the portal and, like some ghostly spirit, disappeared into the ground.
Clarence lifted his magic elf hat from over his eyes, “We weren’t going to be left behind. I pulled my elf hat down and told Bobby and Millie to cover their faces and grab onto me. Then we marched into the opening.”
While Clarence was talking Millie was reaching out, feeling the floor of the grotto with her fingers, and mumbling. She had a tense expression on her face as if she were in pain.
“Millie! You okay?” Jake asked, his worried tone conveying real brotherly affection.
“I’m okay,” she responded, slowly rising to her feet. “But look at these Celtic symbols in the floor. They’re all around us in a circle!”
“Celtic symbols? Good,” Clarence replied, “I bet it’s a welcome mat.”
“Not good! Bad! VERY BAD!” Millie shouted, “It’s a Celtic enchantment ring like the ones in Wales Pa used to warn us about. These are the rings dark elves use to trap people. We could be locked in here forever.”
“We better move!” said Jake, leaping to his feet. “This ring could put us to sleep for a hundred years. That’s what happened to Elidurus, the Welsh shepherd boy.”
Jake ran to the edge of the circle and collided with an invisible barrier. Millie took one step in the opposite direction, and bumped into the same mysterious wall. Bobby and Clarence tried to crawl out of the circle and were stopped by the barrier.
“That hurt,” said Clarence patting the top of his head. “I hit an invisible brick wall.” <B styl