The Hidden Beast by Christopher Pike Read Free Book Online Page A

mean is, you can talk to me whenever you want. About anything.”
    Watch hugged her back and spoke in her ear.
    â€œI’ll tell you a secret,” he said. “I’m never sad around you guys.”
    â€œGood,” Cindy said, and she meant it.
    They each drank from the dark pool and refilled their water bottles. Soon they felt refreshed. Watch was right, Cindy thought. The water was better than the stuff they had back in town.
    They started across the flat black cavern.
    â€œIf we’re going to find another way out,” Watch said, “we’re going to have to explore every corner.”
    â€œHow long will our light last?” Cindy asked.
    â€œIt’s dimmed slightly since we entered here, but that’s to be expected. There’s nothing like fresh batteries. But I’d say we have at least another three hours of light.”
    â€œAnd after that?” Cindy asked.
    â€œAfter that we’d better be back up at the door, or at least to the steps. We couldn’t walk for ten minutes in here without getting hopelessly lost.”
    â€œBetter to be lost than stumble into the beast.”
    â€œIt’s too loud to stumble into,” Watch said.
    The beast got a lot louder a few minutes later.

7
    T hey didn’t know what actually woke it up. Maybe it was simply time for it to get up. Maybe it smelled them, or finally heard them. It didn’t matter really. All they knew was that when they were about ten minutes from the dark pool, the breathing of the beast changed. The monster sounded as if it were coughing, and the faint red light that surrounded it suddenly flared. In the ghastly light they saw a massive figure slowly stirring. But they could see no details of its appearance. Cindy gasped and grabbed Watch’s arm.
    â€œTurn off your light!” she whispered.
    â€œI just turned it off,” he said calmly.
    â€œDo you think it saw us?”
    â€œI don’t know. I don’t want to ask it.”
    â€œWhat’s it doing?” she asked.
    â€œIt sounds like it’s getting out of bed.”
    â€œWhat should we do?”
    â€œNothing,” Watch said.
    â€œBut we have to do something!”
    â€œNo. If we run back the way we came, we’ll make more noise.”
    â€œThen let’s walk back,” Cindy said.
    â€œNo. I want to see what it’s up to first.”
    â€œBut we’re exposed out here in the middle of nowhere!”
    â€œWe’re assuming it’s dangerous. It might be friendly. Let’s be patient, and listen closely.”
    There were no more flares of light. They had to depend on their ears to monitor the creature’s movements. From what they could tell, it seemed to be moving away from them, moving in the direction of the treasure room.
    â€œIf it is going in there,” Cindy warned, “it’ll freak out when it sees that two of its crystals have been stolen.”
    Watch slowly began to back up. “I agree. Maybe we should get out of here.”
    The roar came a minute later, and there was no mistaking its meaning. The beast had reached its private treasure chamber and found that a thief had slipped in while it slept. The sound of its anger reverberated throughout the black chamber like a volcanic eruption under a deep ocean. Worse, they heard it moving rapidly in their direction.
    â€œIt must know that the thief came in through the tunnel,” Watch said.
    â€œWho cares?” Cindy screamed. “Let’s just get out of here!”
    So they ran, back toward the steps and the long tunnel that led up to the closed door. But the beast was obviously fifty times their size, and could move much more quickly than they could. And now there was no question as to whether it could hear them. It was obviously coming straight toward them, and the sound of its movements was terrifying. The very air seemed gripped by a deadly whirlwind. Watch and Cindy had to hold on to each other to