“Ah, so that’s the egg…”
Yuuma shaded his eyes with a hand as he stared up at the tower on the roof of the haunted mansion. The weather vane stood proudly against the darkening red of the sunset.
They had gone out to the street to see it. Hinata had pointed out a spot at the bottom of the iron pole holding the weather vane. The orb at its base was indeed shaped like an egg.
It appeared almost as if the rooster above had been born from that egg and was now rising up to look out over the town below.
“Th-the first time I looked at it, I thought it was strange that there was something round there,” he explained. “I think that m-maybe if we climb up that ladder, we can reach a hand into…the inside of the egg.”
“To the ladder!”
Yuuma rushed back into the mansion. The rest of them hurried after him.
The four of them (plus one dog) were once again standing around the ladder in the upstairs hallway, facing one another.
“Please do the honors, Yuu,” Akane said, prodding Yuuma onward. But he pulled a pathetic face and circled back behind her, scratching his head awkwardly.
“A-actually, I’ve got this thing about heights…”
Mayuka, too, hid behind Hinata’s back.
Well, I’m not surprised, he thought. Even bright and bubbly Mayuka had a weakness: She, too, was afraid of heights.
“Well, I can’t exactly do it,” said Akane. “Not dressed like this anyway.”
Everyone looked at Akane’s dress and agreed she should be exempt. That left only…
Hinata sighed and handed Chris’s leash to Mayuka. “Make sure you hold it tight, in case there’s another spider. I’ll be right back…”
“All right, don’t worry!” she said, waving happily. “Good luck up there.” Now that she was off the hook, it was like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“Woof!” Chris barked encouragement as Hinata grabbed the rungs.
“Oh, hang on. Take this with you.” Yuuma turned on the flashlight on his smartphone and stuck it into Hinata’s pants pocket. “It’s dark up there, so you’ll want some light.”
“Th-thanks…”
Hinata began to climb.
He quickly reached the hole in the ceiling. It was about six feet to a side. Once his head was through it, there was nothing but darkness above. But by the time he got a bit higher, his eyes adjusted, and he could make out a few faint outlines.
It was like climbing a square chimney, and it occurred to Hinata that maybe this was how it felt to be Santa Claus. Wow, it would be really difficult to climb through here lugging a big sack of presents!
Down below, he could see the faces of everyone staring up at him. Even Chris was there, looking concerned.
Hinata glanced up again: pitch-dark. If there were windows up here, light could get in, and he’d have a great view of the area. Too bad…
How far had he come? Was he at the top of the tower yet?
He tensed his legs against the rungs, kept a tight grip with his left hand, and reached back toward his pocket for the phone.
Suddenly, the space lit up. There was still more room above; the ladder continued.
Slightly higher, there was a spot where the ceiling closed in, but only halfway. The ladder continued through the narrower space.
Hinata put the phone back into his pocket, plunging his surroundings into darkness once more. Cautiously, he stuck his head into the second stage of the shaft. His back brushed against the lip of the opening. Uh-oh. Gotta be careful…
After a few more hesitant steps up, he reached for the next rung and grabbed nothing but air.
Oh, the ladder ends here.
He took out the phone again to light the area and found that the space above his head was pointed, like the inside of a hollow pyramid.
That’s the tip of the tower!
Hinata carefully reached out with one foot to touch the flat area above the ceiling and leaned until he was certain it would support his weight. Then he put both feet down and rested the smartphone on the floor so its beam of light shot upward.
Jutting out from the floor of the tiny attic space was a black iron pole. Hinata felt certain that this pole went through the tip of the tower to support the weather vane above.
There were short side bars extending up along its length like more rungs that could be climbed. Hinata left the phone where it was and continued upward.
The pyramid got tighter and tighter around him. Hinata reached up and stuck his arm alongside the iron pole into the tip of the tower’s roof. He was most likely reaching inside the egg structure.
Hinata curved his wrist, feeling for the floor of the egg. After changing the angle and position of his hand a few times, he touched something.
His fingers closed around it, and he pulled it back down.
A key!
It was rusted and green but made of firm metal and shaped like a key.
Hinata felt his heart begin to race.
Amazing! I just found the key to a treasure!!