Maradonia and the Seven Bridges

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Prologue

…the feast was being prepared at the palace of

‘Apollyon, the King of the Evil Empire’. All the

principalities, powers and rulers of the air, the

underworld and the commanders of the ground

troops had arrived for the meeting of the general

council. Arabella, one of the spies in the service

of the underworld, was still waiting for her

opportunity to talk to King Apollyon, but the

‘Hoodmen’, the organizers of the meeting, gave

her no chance to talk to him. They advised her

to sit down at the end of the big hall, far behind

the oval table in the information area which was

prepared for witnesses and attendees without

voting rights.

At the oval table was enough room for the

seventy most high ranking rulers of the ‘Evil

Empire’. Abbadon, Plouton, Aruses, Gertrude,

Lorris, Ceara, Andromeda and Cassandra,

Persiano and Pegany and seven other powerful

fairies sat down at the table with the rulers of

the air, Sutornia, Juny and Uranimos, then the

three rulers of the Titans, Orphilios, Remmilos

and Marcarios and a great number of the ground

troop commanders.

It was very quiet in the hall before the meeting

started because everybody was waiting for the

~ 2 ~

appearance of ‘King Apollyon, the mighty ruler

of the underworld’. The congregation had to

wait a long time until finally a group of dwarfs

materialized in mid air and opened the big wing

doors of the ‘Kingdom Hall’ when King

Apollyon appeared. Everybody got up from

their seat and bowed down several times until

King Apollyon gave the sign to sit. Then he

took a seat by himself in the king’s seat at the

oval table and looked around with great

satisfaction.

King Apollyon started his speech with the

words, “I declare the ‘General Council of our

Empire’ as inaugurated and everybody at this

table has the opportunity to speak freely and

openly, but before we will jump into a dialog

and the exchange of new ideas, let me introduce

and greet my guests of honor.”

Arabella stretched up her neck and expected a

warm welcome. “Our guests of honor today

are… the ‘Seven Spirits’, our beloved ravens

and I want to place them at the seat of honor just

at the left side of my chairmanship.”

Arabella sat down again offended and insulted

that she was not honored at all… coming from

so far away… and with such an important

message.

~ 3 ~

“You might ask me why is it… that the seven

ravens are our guests of honor today, especially

at this important meeting. I will tell you why…

they brought us the message, we were waiting

for! We did not even know that we were waiting

for that message. You see my sons Abbadon and

Plouton sitting at my right side.

We learned recently that Abbadon lost a battle

in a very devastating crusade against the

enemies. Abbadon was accompanied by three of

our most feared fairies during this crusade…and

…as most of you know… he was defeated by

those kids, Maya and Joey and an army of

teenagers.”

The three leaders of the Titans, Orphilios,

Remmilos and Marcarios jumped up and hit

their fists so hard on the oval table that it

splintered as they yelled, “How could that be?

How is this possible?”

“Calm down my friends, calm down! Abbadon

tried to do his best to destroy the enemy as did

Gertrude, Lorris and Ceara also tried to

eliminate the troops of the enemy with their wall

of fire, waves of fire, walls of total darkness and

with the glowing heat cushion of burning

snowflakes! Nothing worked… and our

commanders left in terror, totally discouraged,

wondering what happened to their powers.

~ 4 ~

So…I was thinking… and …I went to my study

chamber and looked into some of my very old

books but I could not find the answer. Then the

spirits came back from their ‘spy trip’ through

the ‘Land of Maradonia’. From the outside of

the City Hall of Selinka, their capitol, they had

picked up the words ‘Pool of Blood’. When I

heard this news, it triggered some understanding

in my mind that there is indeed a pool of blood.”

“A pool of blood!? What do you mean?” asked

Abbadon. “What I mean is that in the triangle

between the ‘Thordis River’, the ‘Canyon River’

and the ‘Cornerstone Massive’… somewhere at

the foothills in the mountains is a hidden pool or

shall I say, a lake and… I remembered… that

‘Ruach, the King of Light’ once got angry with

us and threw the mountain, including our castle,

and some of our powers into that lake. Maybe

you remember ‘The fall of the Mountain

Gamma’! The water of this lake turned into

blood!”

“What does that old story have to do with us

today?” Plouton asked.

“Let me finish my son, I will answer this

question and what I try to explain, will help all

of us answer many questions.

The ruler of the ‘Land of Maradonia’, King

Astrodoulos, sent a small group of his troops,

commanded by these teenagers and led by

General Genarius, to this lake…

~ 5 ~

because anyone… including the horses… who

dives into the floods of this lake is

‘untouchable’ by our powers.”

Uranimos, one of the rulers of the air got up

from his seat and yelled, “I remember that

disaster!”

Apollyon got angry and said, “When that

mountain… with our former castle on top… was

thrown into that lake… several of our powers,

which were hidden in that castle, mingled with

the water of that lake and created a special red

substance, a liquid which makes everybody who

dives into that lake…. untouchable from our

powers.”

“That is very depressing news!” Plouton, the

younger brother of Abbadon and one of the high

ranked rulers said. “But it seems that we have to

live with the fact that we cannot touch several of

these people with our own powers any longer!”

Remmilos, one of the leaders of the Titans

started screaming, “This is unbelievable! How is

it possible that our leadership ignored such

important facts for such a long time? Maybe…

we need a change in the leadership of our

‘Empire’!”

King Apollyon was enraged, closed his eyes and

laid his hands slowly, flat on the oval table.

~ 6 ~

When he opened his eyes again he turned his

hands around and two glowing fire balls

appeared, hovering over the palms of his hands.

A sudden and a bitter fear of death covered the

hall like fog and this fear became visible in the

faces of all attendees.

Two of the dwarfs marched straight over to

Remmilos and one of them said, “You have no

right to criticize the leadership of our ‘Empire’

and our anointed King Apollyon.”

Remmilos shivered with fear and answered,

“But King Apollyon encouraged all of us at this

table to speak freely and openly and I thought

that we have the opportunity to exchange new

ideas!”

The dwarfs stepped rapidly back when they saw

that the king rose from his seat.

Apollyon looked at Remmilos without pity

when the two fire balls floated in mid air.

Then the king nodded and the fire balls melted

into one single unit, still hovering over the oval

table. When King Apollyon folded his hands

and nodded again, the fire ball hit the heart of

Remmilos, one of the three leaders of the Titans

and consumed his body completely.

One of the dwarfs filled the ashes, the remnant

of the Titan, into a bucket and disappeared with

all the other dwarfs in mid air.

~ 7 ~

Orphilios and Marcarios were outraged. The

remaining two leaders of the Titans looked at

each other with indescribable hate, which was

building up within them against King Apollyon

but both of them remained silent.

Everyone was exceedingly horrified and held

their breath when King Apollyon continued with

his speech, so as if nothing had happened.

“We will track these kids down and maybe there

is a way to eliminate them once and for all, even

if they are invincible or untouchable for our

powers. I could not locate the ‘Pool of Blood’

but I received the answer from our seven flying

spirits, which was a conclusion for me and the

reason why I made the ravens my special guests

of honor today.”

Arabella swallowed and repeated, “Lake of

blood? And Maya and Joey are…?”

Electric shockwaves, ponderous thunder,

blinding lightning’s inflated and filled the hall.

The dwarfs materialized again out of nowhere

when the ruler of the underworld, King

Apollyon, continued with his speech in a

boisterous voice and said, “Let me tell you a

secret…”

~ 8 ~

CHAPTER ONE

THE NEW SCHOOL

“Get up! It’s your first day of school.

Maya and Joey, you don’t want to be late.”

Their mom called from the kitchen.

Maya was very excited to go to the new school

and she was hoping to make some new friends.

She was starting tenth grade and her brother

Joey was going into ninth.

~ 9 ~

The family had moved during their summer

vacation to Oceanside.

Joey knew that the new school would be

challenging but he also knew that he could make

friends easier than anyone else.

Maya was different. She was tall and a very

beautiful girl and although she stood out of the

crowd, she was extremely shy and did not make

new friends easily.

Maya and Joey got along just fine but in many

ways they were opposites.

Maya was always hesitant and she was mostly

thinking before she started doing anything. Joey

was spontaneously acting before he started to

think about a situation. Often they disagreed on

private matters and it took them a while to agree

on something.

After Maya and Joey had finished breakfast,

they walked to the bus stop and waited for the

bright yellow bus to arrive.

Starting school at ‘Oceanside High’ was more

difficult then Maya thought.

Joey made friends instantly. He was always

popular. At his old school, Joey was once part of

a nationwide painting poster-contest and he won

this contest. He received many letters from

several congressmen in Washington, from the

governor and from the superintendent of all the

schools of the state.

~ 10 ~

He kept these letters in his treasure box in his

room and he is still very proud to have them.

During the banquet in honor of Joey in his old

school, a real senator from Washington was

greeting Joey in the name of the President and

was praising Joey’s ability by saying, “Joey, you

have great potential. When I look at your poster

I can see your ability as a bridge builder, who

can create in his fantasy bridges into different

dimensions.”

Many reporters from various newspapers took

pictures of Joey and the school received a new

section for their library.

When Maya saw her brother running in the

school park or walking in the hallways during

recess she always saw a bunch of teenagers who

gathered around Joey.

When Maya said “Hello” to anyone of the

students and tried to be friendly, no one really

responded. Most of them just looked at her and

treated her as a stranger in the new school. They

felt that Maya was somehow different than the

other students but they did not exactly know

what it was.

It took Maya several months to make a couple

of new friends but she made also some enemies.

One of them was ‘Alana Terence’! She was a

member of the ‘Gothic Movement’ and she had

a very rebellious spirit.

~ 11 ~

She was one of the ‘bullies’ in the school and

she was mean to everyone, especially to Maya,

because she sensed a different spirit in her.

Being fifteen and starting in a new school was

not easy. Joey was the one with all the friends

while Maya felt still like a stranger in the new

school.

Although Maya had several problems, she was a

highly unusual girl in many ways.

She was a very spiritual and a very serious

person. Soon after Maya was born, her

grandmother was holding her in her arms and

said, “This is indeed a very serious child!”

When Maya was four years old she started

painting huge oil paintings and worked with

water colors. With eight years, she had her first

exhibition in form of an article in the ‘National

Journal of Art’ with an interview and six of her

best pictures.

Maya wrote stories and poems and was building

statues from clay. She was a very optimistic girl

about everything in life but she was absolutely

unhappy in the new school and she could not

really figure out ‘why’ she was so unhappy.

Maya had the peculiar feeling that everybody

hated her for just being there.

~ 12 ~

CHAPTER TWO

SCHOOL FIGHT

Over the last couple of months Maya and her

classmate Alana had a lot of disagreements.

Every time Maya said something, Alana replied

something ugly in return.

Then one day, during lunch time, somebody at

Maya’s table was talking about Alana.

All of a sudden Alana Terence looked at Maya,

stood up from her chair and started walking

directly to Maya’s table as if she knew that

~ 13 ~

Maya was talking about her. She walked toward

the table staring at Maya, like it was her who

was talking about the ‘bully’ Alana.

When she finally arrived at the table she said,

“If you wanna say somthin’ say it to ma face!”

Alana was leaning over the table and then she

leaned back, crossing her arms and raising her

eyebrows.

Maya looked up and said, “I didn’t say anything

about you!” Then Alana’s friends stormed over

to Maya’s table and yelled, “Girl, you are jus’

askin’ for it!”

The administrator arrived and Alana and her

friends crept slowly back to their table. Maya

left the hall and ran down the stairways after the

administrator had dismissed Maya’s table.

Maya knew what could happen if she would

meet Alana and her friends in this situation and

so she was hiding behind the building and

waiting for the ring of the bell for the next class.

It felt as if it took forever. But then the bell

finally rang…Maya ran again upstairs to her

locker, as fast as she could. She opened the lock

and just grabbed her stuff when she saw Alana

Terence coming toward her.

Maya looked at her, stunned, as Alana pushed

all the people aside and out of her way.

~ 14 ~

When she finally came closer, she slammed the

locker shut, just passing Maya’s face. She

smiled in a way that said, “I’m better then you”.

“Move it,” said Maya, almost yelling. More

students arrived and started forming a circle.

Maya felt a sharp sting as Alana slapped her

face. Then she punched her. The people

chanted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Maya realized

immediately that this was going to be a real

fight!

Maya grabbed Alana’s long dark hair and

pushed her down. Maya had never told anybody

before in the school that she was a ‘Black Belt’,

one of the highest ranked belts in Karate.

Everything was blurry around Maya and she

couldn’t see too much. All she saw was Alana!

Alana was the center point of Maya’s focus and

all she could think of was just to hit her.

Maya found herself suddenly in the position of

sitting on top of Alana and smacking her face.

Maya continued hitting Alana, until she realized

what she actually was doing.

First Alana struggled a lot, then she was gasping

for air and then her face changed colors and got

‘red like a lobster’.

~ 15 ~

Tears poured out of Alana’s eyes and Maya cut

her loose. Alana pushed Maya off and ran out of

sight. The students looked stunned at Maya.

Nobody had expected that Maya had smacked

Alana, one of the strongest ‘bullies’, to the

ground.

Maya detected the face of her brother in the

astonished crowd. Joey was looking directly at

her and he could not believe what he just saw

because he always thought that his sister was

‘too shy to hit a fly’. It was just incredible for

him to see with his own eyes that his sister had

wrestled this aggressive ‘bully’ down.

Maya looked at Joey, grabbed her binders with

the words, “What are you looking at?!”

Then she paced straight to her class.

When they called Maya and Alana up to the

school office, the ‘Assistant Principal’

suspended Maya for one day from school and

Alana got suspended for three days because she

had started the fight.

The outcome of this fight had changed Maya’s

position in the school completely. When Maya

came back to school many students looked at

her and whispered, “That’s the girl, who

‘wopped’ Alana!”

~ 16 ~

CHAPTER THREE

THE PARTY

Joey invited Maya on Friday to go with him and

with Derrick Jones, one of his ‘skateboard

buddies’, to a birthday party on Saturday. It was

the birthday party of Derrick’s little brother and

also the birthday of his mom. Joey told Maya on

their way to the party, that the only reason he

invited her was the fight between Maya and

Alana which had made him even more popular.

~ 17 ~

Maya was really disappointed when she heard

what Joey’s reason for her invitation was and

she said sarcastically, “What a privilege…” but

then she said, “Okay… I’ll go with you!”

When they approached the hotel entrance where

the birthday party took place, the doorman

asked, “Are you invited to the ‘Jones Party’?”

Maya was about to say ‘No’, when Joey quickly

answered, “Of course, we are the guests of

honor!” Joey smirked at that thought. The

doorman smiled and moved aside so that they

could pass through the revolving glass door.

They walked through a big hallway. Lights were

flashing, loud music was blasting out of the

stereos and people were dancing. It was

definitely a spectacular birthday party. When

Derrick saw Joey, he greeted him with his

favorite saying, “Hey dude, what’s up?”

Looking at Maya, Derrick said, “and this is your

sister, Maya. I saw the fight! It was awesome!”

“Yup, that’s my sister!” Joey boasted.

“Let me introduce you to my mom and my little

brother.” Derrick guided them through the

crowd to the main table and introduced Maya

and Joey to his parents. They could not find

Derrick’s little brother and so they went to the

party table covered with delicious food, sweets

and drinks. Maya, wearing a brand new outfit,

~ 18 ~

walked slowly around the whole place after she

had refreshed herself.

Joey disappeared all of a sudden with his friends

and Maya found herself alone in the crowd.

Most of the children were younger then her and

ran around the tables. Some plates fell to the

ground and created a big mess.

The party was very boring for Maya because

one group of the guests included the older

people and the other one consisted more or less

the smaller kids.

Maya felt pretty lost. She walked back to the

hotel lobby and reached the pool area. She

started to walk around the pool, enjoyed the

blooming flowers, the trees and the fresh air.

That’s when she felt a huge force on her back.

Joey, her own brother, had pushed her into the

pool because he wanted to show off in front of

his buddy Derrick and some other kids.

Maya hit her head on the sharp corner stone of

the pool before she fell into the water and then

she sank deeper and deeper. She tried to get

back to the surface but she couldn’t. Something

was holding her down. The pool water was cold

and dark. Suddenly she saw a bright, blue light

and she heard a very distant voice of a woman

calling her, “Maya… Maya… come and

help us… come… and help us…”

~ 19 ~

Within a twinkling of an eye the thought hit her

mind,

“Who needs my help? I’m the one who needs

help and I need the help now because I am at

the edge of drowning?”

The doorman, who was also a life-guard at this

hotel complex, jumped into the water. He pulled

Maya out of the pool and pressed the remaining

water out of her lungs.

As Maya was laying on the side of the pool and

gasping for air, she heard Joey’s voice laughing

and making jokes about her misery. Also some

of Joey’s little troopers supported him in a choir

of laughter. Maya opened her eyes and looked

straight up at the tree above her and saw the tree

filled with white doves.

Maya couldn’t see how many of them were in

the tree but there were doves.

“This is strange,” she thought. The doves

looked down at her as if they wanted tell her

something… and off in the distance, Maya

heard the voices of several women,

“Maya… Maya…come…help us!”

Maya was exhausted and ‘The Voices’ were just

too much for her.

Everything was blurry and very confusing. Her

right ear was bleeding. The guard opened a first

aid kit, took some bandages out and gave Maya

several hotel towels.

~ 20 ~

When the bleeding did not stop, somebody

wanted to call the ambulance but Maya tried to

get up and said, “I want to go home…more then

anything else…”

When Maya finally got up, with the help of the

guard, the doves circled around them. They

circled two or three times around Maya’s head

and just before they disappeared, Maya saw that

one of the birds had a golden tail feather.

The guard said, “These doves are crazy! They

behaved strange, absolutely strange! Three of

them attacked me at the same time when I was

standing at the bell captains desk, close to the

poolside, holding the new guest lists in my

hand. I was just greeting one of our

distinguished guests, when these birds flew

straight through the open doors from the pool

area. One of them snatched the guest list out of

my hands and the two others pulled me by my

hair… and I don’t have too much hair. Anyway,

I followed them to the pool because I needed the

paper, when I saw you drifting under water.

That’s when I jumped and dragged you out of

the pool. I have never experienced anything like

this! I tell you the truth, these birds have saved

your life!

It seems to me as if you are very special to them

and I have the feeling that they are trying to

deliver some kind of a message.

~21~

If these birds would not have come to me I don’t

know what would have happened to you.”

When Joey realized Maya’s desperate situation

and saw that her new outfit was ruined by the

pool water he was not happy at all.

He was finally thinking! He started to think

about this incident and also about the trouble he

would get in when his parents would see Maya’s

wet clothing and would ask a couple of straight

and direct questions.

Maya had water in her shoes and it was very

difficult for her to walk home.

Joey was still afraid to tell his parents the truth

concerning this incident and begged Maya on

their way home to tell them a different story.

Big tears rolled over Maya’s cheeks because she

was deeply disappointed about the fact that her

brother asked her to lie to their parents and

about the occurrence that Joey did not even say

that he was sorry about his ‘ugly attitude’ during

the party.

Maya felt real pain in her heart and it was

absolutely depressing for her when they finally

arrived at the door steps of their home without

any word of regret from Joey.

~ 22 ~

CHAPTER FOUR

AT THE PEBBLE BEACH

It was several weeks later, during the time of the

thanksgiving weekend, when Joey and Maya, on

their way to the beach, met Mr. Perkins, their

neighbor. Mr. Perkins was an old man and he

told them in his high pitch voice that they

should always go to the north side of the beach.

Maya and Joey lived only a few blocks away

from the ocean and they went often to the beach.

~23 ~

“The south side of the beach is a pretty

dangerous place”, said Mr. Perkins, “and it is

called the ‘Pebbles Beach’ because it has many

rocks and stones on the beach, sharp oyster beds

in the shallow waters and even underwater

‘currents’. Several people disappeared in the

past in that area. Their bodies were never found

and it is anyway forbidden to trespass that

region.”

This new information about the pebble beach set

Joey’s imagination under fire and caught his

total interest. Joey said, “Maybe we will go

there and see what’s going on at ‘South

Beach’.” Maya was hesitant, as always, but then

she agreed and so they went this time to the

south side of the beach.

The farther they walked south at the beach shore

the less people they saw. The sky was blue as

the ocean itself, yet, no one was at the beach.

The sun was shining. It was a clear and beautiful

day. Maya jumped into the water. The water felt

good on the skin. It was a very warm day for

this time of the year and the water felt like a

cool ocean breeze.

As Maya was laying in the sun and later floating

again in the water all her school problems

seemed to be gone.

Maya started dreaming and snoozing in the

sunshine and she remembered the day when

Joey pushed her into the pool.

~ 24 ~

She remembered the bright, blue light which she

saw under the water… and she remembered the

voices … yes, the voices from far way…

Maya, Maya… come and help us…

… and the doves… Maya opened her eyes and

before she knew it… she was yelling, “Yes, and

what about the doves?”

Meanwhile, Joey was walking over the sand

banks, searching around and trying to figure out

why Mr. Perkins told them that they had to go

north and why this ‘pebble beach area’ was so

dangerous.

After a while the sky turned dim. Maya went

back to her stuff. As she arrived Joey wasn’t

there! Maya dressed quickly and looked for Joey

but he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

There was silence throughout the whole beach.

Maya could only hear the sound of the seagulls

and the spray of the waves. There was no one at

this side of the beach. Maya started walking

over the sand dune which the wind had formed

during a period of time around several palm

trees. Maya could not find Joey but she

discovered several white doves in one of the

palm trees, just like the ones she had seen at the

poolside at the birthday party.

~ 25 ~

Maya was very surprised to see the doves and

she asked herself, “Is this a sign?”

She was walking further inland and kicked the

sand with her feet, thinking where her brother

was.

She remembered the words of their neighbor,

Mr. Perkins when he told them that several

people had disappeared in this pebble beach area

in the past… never to be found.

~ 26 ~

CHAPTER FIVE

NO TRESSPASSING

Just at that thought Maya saw Joey and exhaled

a sigh of relief. Joey was standing in front of a

rusted fence that led from the forest all the way

down to the shore line.

“What are you doing?!” Maya almost screamed

at him. But there was no answer. As Maya

walked closer she saw that Joey was looking at a

sign which was nearly rusted away but they

could still make out the writing:

~ 27 ~

“No Trespassing! Government Owned

Property. Violators Will Be Prosecuted!”

Maya knew immediately what Joey was

thinking!

“Let’s go there” Joey finally said.

“Yeah, how?” Maya asked sarcastically.

“Over the tree, dumb shit!” he replied back.

Pointing to a broken tree leaning over the fence

and making a way like a bridge from one side to

the other side.

“Can’t you read the sign, Joey?” Maya asked,

“Imagine what could happen to us and how

much trouble we could get into.”

Joey was already on the tree, struggling to keep

his balance. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Yeah, yeah whatever” he replied back, still

keeping his balance on the tree. Then he jumped

off the tree and was already on the other side.

“Get back here!” Maya yelled.

“Shut up and get yo’ ass over the damn fence!”

Maya hesitated; now that Joey was caught in his

own excitement she could do nothing to stop

him. Against her better judgment she stepped

across the fence and climbed onto the tree.

When Maya finally got to the other side she ran

toward Joey. They walked for nearly one and a

half hours over the empty beach area but there

was nothing special to see.

~ 28 ~

“Why would somebody protect this emptiness?”

Maya thought about it for a while and then she

saw in a distance something like a hill of rocks,

like an elevation on the ground. Joey took off

running toward it. Then he disappeared.

When Maya finally reached the hillside, Joey

was nowhere to be found but when she looked

up she saw the doves again. They were sitting

lined up in one row on top of a heavy corner

stone. The stone separated several rocks on both

sides. This time, Maya counted the birds and

there were seven of them looking at her.

Suddenly, she remembered the words of the

hotel guard at the pool in Oceanside when he

said to her, ‘It seems to me that you are very

special to these birds and that they try to deliver

some kind of a message to you!’ Staring at the

birds Maya asked herself, “Why should I be

special to these doves and what kind of a

message could they deliver?”

Maya stopped thinking about the birds when she

realized that her brother had again disappeared

without any trace.

The rocks in the middle of ‘nowhere’ had sharp

edges and barnacles and moss stuck to it. One

wrong step could cut her foot open and ooze

blood. Maya looked toward the horizon.

She saw the sun with its brightness and the color

of pink in the sky. It was such a beautiful picture

that she almost forgot about Joey.

~ 29 ~

Maya jumped carefully down the rocks and

noticed that the doves had disappeared from the

cornerstone but she noticed also that the two

rocks across each other with the corner stone on

top were forming a very narrow path into a dark

opening. Maya was small enough to make her

way through this gap and she was so amazed

and so excited about her discovery that she

started groping around through the darkness. It

was very hard to see anything but she knew that

this was a real cave.

Maya started screaming, “Joey, Joey where are

you?” She wondered where Joey was and what

could have happened to him if he was already

deeper in the cave and he couldn’t find his way

out. “Joey!”… Maya screamed louder, “Where

are you …Joey… where are…’ouch’…?”

Maya felt some kind of a bump on her back. She

yelled because she was startled.

“Maya?” Joey asked surprised.

“Yes, it’s me. I am afraid. It is too dark here.

Let’s go home.” Maya said.

“Wait! We have to come back and find out what

else lurks in this awesome cave. This is so cool!

We will come back tomorrow and we will be

prepared!” Joey continued.

Maya thought the same. “We definitely have to

prepare ourselves.”

On their way back home Maya turned once

more around. She was looking for the doves but

they were gone.

~ 30 ~

CHAPTER SIX

FRIDAY MORNING

The next day was a Friday when Maya and Joey

woke up early. Maya grabbed her backpack and

opened it, “What should I take with me?” she

thought for a moment, but couldn’t think of

much. “Joey!” Maya called.

“Yo!” Joey came out of his room in a grey

sweat shirt with big pockets, black jeans, tennis

shoes and a black baseball cap, “What’s up”.

~ 31 ~

“Um… I don’t exactly know what to put in my

backpack”.

Joey looked stunned at Maya but then he said,

“Are you serious?”

“Why wouldn’t I be”, she replied.

“Well, you need at least an extra pair of clothes,

a blanket and…” Maya interrupted him and

asked, “Why do I need an extra pair of clothes?

I’m not gonna stay in that cave for days”.

“You never know what can happen”, Joey said,

“Maybe something ‘big’ will happen and if we

are not prepared, we might be in trouble or

maybe we find some treasures or underwater

rivers. Who knows where this adventure can

lead us?”

The same thought passed through Maya’s mind

when she said, “That’s true, who knows what

could happen? Imagine, if we would get stuck or

we couldn’t see anything and would step on

something bad? Oh, a flashlight would be great!

Joey, do you have a flashlight?” asked Maya.

“Yeah, I have two… one for you and one for

me. Why?”

“Just wondering… oh, and also what else did

you put in your backpack?”

“Believe me Maya; I have everything we need

and… also a couple of extra things. Let’s go!”

Maya went back to her room, grabbed some

extra clothes, socks, shoes and a blanket.

She walked through the kitchen before they left,

~ 32 ~

made some sandwiches quickly and pulled also

a bag of apples out of the refrigerator which she

stored in her backpack.

When both of them walked out of the house,

after a big breakfast, Maya called out, “Mom,

Dad we’re going to the beach.” Their father was

reading the newspaper while still eating

breakfast and their mother was washing the

dishes. Their mother answered, “So early?”

“Yeah, why not?” Maya replied back.

“But didn’t you go there just yesterday?”

“Yes, we did. But… um…we had a lot of fun!”

“Well, ok then, but be good and be home by six

o’clock for dinner!”

“Okay, thanks,” Maya said.

“Love ya,” Joey said.

“Love you too!” their mom said.

Soon they arrived at the beach. Everything

looked just like yesterday and… like yesterday

they didn’t go north. They turned immediately

south. Maya was ready to explore the cave and

her excitement level was today higher than

yesterday. She was wearing new clothes; a dark

jeans, a pair of tennis shoes and a purple tank

top. Without any disagreements they walked

pretty fast and soon they had reached the pebble

beach. They climbed over the gap of the fence

and marched straight to the rocky hillside.

~ 33 ~

When they finally saw the rocks they started

running and were filled with great expectation

and excitement. This time Maya reached the

cave side first and noticed instantly the presence

of the seven doves, sitting on top of the hill.

Maya knew that these doves were the same

doves because one of the doves had a golden tail

feather. “These birds drive me crazy. What are

they doing here? What do they want from us?”

Maya said but Joey did not notice the birds at all

and when they reached the mouth of the cave

Maya made sure that Joey went first through the

gap. Joey looked around and paused a while.

Then he pulled his flashlight out of his backpack

and so did Maya.

Walking through the cave was not so difficult

since they could see so much better with their

flashlights.

Joey and Maya walked very slowly forward,

looking at all the rocks and hearing the echo of

their own footsteps. The cave appeared to get

bigger and bigger to them as they walked further

and further, then deeper and deeper until they

came into a huge hall surrounded by

stalagmites.

These stalagmites stood like mighty columns all

around the hall and in the flashlight’s cone of

light they shimmered in all the colors of a

rainbow.

~ 34 ~

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE STALAGMITE

STATUE

It was exciting and beautiful but it was also very

frightening. Joeys was totally in “awe” and he

spoke all the time about some treasures of the

pirates and that he wanted to find the doors to a

secret chamber. The walls of the cave were

made up of different layers of rock and each of

the layers had slightly different colors.

~ 35 ~

Joey said, “In science class I have learned that

rock is made from dirt, dead plants, mud and

also the remains of dead animals. Over the

centuries all that was pressed together into solid

rock and each of these compressed rock layers

represents a time segment of hundreds or even

thousands of years. And do you know how they

call these ‘stalagmites’ that are growing down

from the ceiling of the cave?”

“Yes…I know,” answered Maya. “I attended the

same science class a year ago. They don’t call

them stalagmites at all. They are called

‘stalactites’ and they are ‘tight’ to the ceiling

and they grow down from the ceiling like

icicles.

The difference is that the stalagmites grow from

the ground and some of them, as you can see,

touch the ceiling of this cave.”

As they walked further down into the cave hall

the ‘stalagmite and stalactite’ looked like glass

pillars and it seemed that the cave vault led to

the mouth of a tunnel system. They choose to

walk through the middle tunnel and as they

moved forward Maya and Joey had the feeling

that the tunnel would never end. They were

already thinking of turning back when Maya

saw something shining. They followed the light.

A crack in the ceiling created a powerful beam

of light which was brighter than their

~ 36 ~

flashlights. This light hit a shining blue

‘stalagmite’ and the reflection of that light beam

was so bright that Joey and Maya had to cover

their faces with their hands.

When Maya opened her eyes again it seemed to

her that she saw a blue glass ‘stalagmite statue’

in the form of ‘a woman with a fish tail’. This

statue was placed on a large stalagmite

foundation.

At the same moment Maya saw her brother

Joey. He was rushing to the stalagmite, pushing

and pulling the statue with all his might and

power and he was very amazed and excited by

the discovery.

Joey yelled, “This could make me rich! I told

you so that we will find a treasure, a chamber or

a door to the ‘unknown’!” Maya kept her breath

and did not know what to say.

Joey broke the statue finally out of the

anchorage of the rock and the side walls started

trembling. Maya’s flashlight fell to the ground.

It was like an earthquake had happened with

several aftershocks. Maya picked up her flashlight

and Joey stood with the statue in his arm,

as the wall started to crumble and created a hole

in the wall. This hole was just big enough for

Maya and Joey to make an exit.

~ 37 ~

Maya looked at Joey. His body was shaking as

the walls continued to tremble, but he was still

holding and pressing the statue with his arms

against his chest as his greatest treasure.

“Put the statue back on the rock and don’t touch

it anymore”, Maya said.

“No way!” Joey snapped back and was pressing

the statue even closer.

“Set the statue immediately back into its

position and just leave it there before the walls

come tumbling down and bury us both alive!

Joey, please…just leave it…!”

Joey looked once more at his treasure but then

he set the statue carefully back into the

anchorage of the stalagmite base and the walls

stopped shaking.

That was absolutely incredible and a mysterious

event which both of them could not explain.

Maya turned around and looked back the way

they came and she saw that some of the

beautiful stalagmite pillars had fallen to the

ground. When she turned around again into the

direction of the opening in the wall and looked

for Joey, he was gone!

Joey had left the tunnel through the opening in

the wall. “Joey, where are you” but he didn’t

reply back. “Joey?” No answer.

~ 38 ~

CHAPTER EIGHT

EYES, EARS AND VOICES

Maya squeezed herself through the small exit of

the wall and when she was half way through

between the rocks she saw Joey standing outside

the cave in a very strange surrounding.

Everything looked different. There was no

empty coastal plain anymore. It looked like a

prehistoric landscape with huge plants and trees

which she had only seen in her science books.

~ 39 ~