The cave entrance yawned dark and forbidding, and Dalen Baker eyed it with a peculiar mix of interest and dread. Bro. Joey Diaz pointed to the dark cave scooped out of the side of the sheer cliff and said to the six seniors standing around him, “The Senior Task this year is to navigate the Cavern of Wishes. You succeed only if you can conquer the maze and come out on the other side.” Bro. Joey grinned and added, “Simple, right?”
Makenna Macari apparently didn’t believe it for a second. She asked, “Nothing is ever simple with you, Bro. Joey, so what’s the catch?”
Bro. Joey shrugged and said, “All the other students are in the cave. They are to try and prevent you from reaching the other side if they can. But to help you, you each get one wish that you can use once you’re inside the cave.”
Josh Beck piped up, “An actual, real, wish?”
Bro. Joey nodded.
Josh’s wicked grin stretched from ear to ear, making Dalen think that he looked like the Cheshire cat from Alice and Wonderland. Josh asked again, “A true, honest to goodness, fully functioning, do-anything I want, wish?”
“Yes,” Bro. Joey replied exasperated. He added, “Each of you get a single wish. The purpose of the wish is to try to help you get through the maze—and no, Kiana, you can’t wish for more wishes.”
Kiana Washington looked innocent. “I didn’t say anything,” she said.
Bro. Joey eyed the seniors like one would a pack of wild, unruly dogs. He said, “Right. Now listen. The wish will be granted according to your true heart’s desire, what really lies within your heart, not what you necessarily say. So be careful of what you wish for. You might just get it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kim Evans asked in a tone bordering on disbelief.
Bro. Joey looked at her and said, “It means exactly what I said.” He pointed to the cave. “Now go.”
With Dalen leading, the six seniors moved to the cave mouth and peered in. A dim light radiated from the walls, providing just enough light to see by. Dalen knew that once inside their eyes would adjust enough that they should have no problems seeing. The cave ran straight into the side of the cliff. Dalen couldn’t see any branches or turns, but if this was really a maze, there likely would be false trails and wrong turns.
“I don’t like this,” Crystal Chandler muttered. “Who thinks up these things, anyway?”
Josh shoved his way forward, entering the cave a few steps. “See,” he said, turning around. “There’s no problem. Come on.”
“He would say that,” Crystal said to Makenna, “this probably reminds him of his room.”
“It does not!” Josh protested weakly, looking just a bit embarrassed.
“Come on,” Dalen said, moving into the cave. “Let’s see where this takes us.”
As they walked, Josh began talking. Perhaps he was nervous. Perhaps he was excited. But whatever the reason, he talked nonstop. His choices of topics ranged all over from how Po the panda would solve the maze to what might have happened to Bro. Joey at birth to make him so short. The others watched him in disbelief until finally Kim, exasperated well beyond her very limited patience, muttered under her breath and just loud enough for the rest to hear, “I wish he would shut up!”
Instantly, Josh’s tongue elongated, spilling out his abruptly slack jaw and began flapping around like a cloth in a stiff wind. He froze in place, his eyes as big as saucers, staring at his long waggling tongue that had to be as long as a cow’s! “Whawrt, asieth ed?” he demanded.
“What?” Kiana asked, hand covering her mouth in astonishment. “What did he say?”
“Seiwh, aspfed meael capeprl rederf!” Josh roared—or tried to roar. It didn’t have the same effect at all what with his tongue flapping around like some red cloth tied to the back of an oversized load going down the highway.
Dalen didn’t know what to make of it all. What happened? Then it dawned on him. He looked at Kim and said, “You made your wish!”
“No, I didn’t,” she shot back, giving Dalen her famous glare. Then her eyes widened. “Did I? But I didn’t mean it!” She stared at Josh as he hopped around trying to speak but finding it impossible. “I’m sorry, Josh!” she cried, “I didn’t mean it!”
Makenna looked from Kim to Josh. She shuddered once. “We were warned,” she said. “We have to be careful what we wish for!”
Kim looked from person to person. Finally, she sniffed coldly and folded her arms. “Well, he deserved it,” she said.
Crystal rolled her eyes. “Let’s keep moving,” she said. “Maybe it will wear off later.”
So, with a dejected Josh trailing behind and trying to stuff his tongue back into his mouth, the six of them proceeded down the cave until they came to a large cavern with two branches in the tunnel. Brooke and Beth stood to either side of one of the branches, watching the approaching seniors with a certain malevolent excitement.
Dalen spotted a sign posted on the wall. He read it aloud, “One always speaks the truth. One always lies. Ask your question to find the way through. Ask but once, for twice is forbidden.” Dalen looked at the two sisters standing by the cave branches. “I know this,” he said to the others. “My dad tells this riddle. One will always lie, no matter what. The other will always tell the truth. We can only ask one question.”
“One always lies?” Makenna mused.
“She’s the liar!” both Brooke and Beth shouted at the same time, pointing at the other. Glaring, they stuck their tongues out at each other, but then noticed Josh’s long floppy tongue hanging down past his chin. Beth said, “Eww! You win, Josh!”
Josh tried to look stern. The effect was completely wasted.
“This is easy,” Crystal said. She looked Brooke right in the eyes. “What color are my eyes?”
“Pink!” Brooke snapped, smirking. “Anyone can see that!”
Crystal smiled. “She’s the liar!” she said.
“Am not!” Brooke protested. Beth looked smug.
“We go that way,” Crystal said, pointing to the cave branch that Brooke stood next to.
But Dalen was shaking his head. “That’s not how this works,” he explained. “We only know that Brooke is the liar. We don’t know which branch is the right one. What if Brooke is standing by the right tunnel? And now we can’t ask any more questions!”
Kiana looked from tunnel to tunnel, frowning. She said, “Dalen’s right. One of us needs to use a wish.”
“Naw eee!” Josh blubbered, his long tongue flapping about. Dalen peered closer at the pink appendage. Was it shorter now?
Kiana gave Josh a withering look. “I’ll do it,” she said, all practical and straightforward—typical Kiana. “I wish to know which tunnel is the quickest way out of here!” she said.
Nothing happened for a moment and then Makenna burst out, “The quickest way out of here is the way we came in!”
Kim groaned, covering her face. “She’s right!” she mumbled.
Kiana looked stricken. “But nothing happened,” she protested. “Maybe the wish didn’t work.”
“Not true,” Dalen said. “You wished to know. Now you know.”
They stared at each other in consternation. Makenna spoke up, “So that leaves four wishes left. Should we use another one?”
Dalen shook his head. “We may need them later. Let’s split up. Three one way and three another. We’ll walk for say ten minutes and then come back here. Maybe we’ll learn something that will tell us which way is the right way without using anymore of our wishes.”
Makenna took charge, pointing out two of the seniors. “Kim, me, and Josh. We’ll go that way.” She pointed down one of the passages.
Dalen shrugged, unwilling to contradict her. If he’d learned one thing after all the years he’d known Makenna, it was that she wore stubbornness like a second skin. It was easier to move a mountain with a tablespoon than to challenge her.
Beth and Brooke had been watching this exchange. Beth sang out in her best imitation of an evil voice, “You’ll…be…sorry!”
Not sure how to take that, Dalen decided to ignore her. He rounded Crystal and Kiana up and they made their way to the other tunnel. Makenna and her group did likewise toward the one she’d chosen. But the moment both groups stepped through, a solid wall slid down behind them, trapping them inside their respective passages. Barring the use of another wish, there was no going back.
* * *
Makenna stared at the blank wall for a long time. Kim stared over her shoulder and said, “So now what? We’re separated from the others!”
Josh said, “We have no choice. We go on.”
The two girls looked at Josh in surprise. “Josh!” Makenna exclaimed, “You’re back to normal!”
Josh shuddered. “Praise God! That was the most horrible thing ever!”
Kim, however, looked peeved. “You mean my wish wore off? It wasn’t permanent? How’s that fair?”
“Hey,” Josh exclaimed, “that’s not nice!” A cunning look came over Josh’s face as he faced Kim. He said, “Kim, I’m terribly—”
“Don’t say it!” she interrupted, a pleading look settling on her face. “Please don’t say it!”
“—disappointed in you,” Josh finished.
Kim hit him. “I told you not to say it!” she yelled.
Grinning, Josh rubbed his arm, looking terribly satisfied. Makenna sighed, wondering if her choice to take these two with her had been the right one. “Come on,” she said. “We better go.”
They walked only a short distance before coming to a huge chasm that fell away beneath them into pitch darkness. A skinny rope bridge spanned the gulf to a suspended platform connecting three other rope bridges in the shape of a giant plus sign. In the dim light, the other three bridges disappeared into misty darkness, presumably leading to three other tunnels or passages. And standing on the center platform were Demond and Antonio Jordan.
Antonio waved cheerily and yelled, “Come on over!”
Kim took one look at the skinny bridge, the worn looking bridge planks that swayed as if from a breeze, and the endless drop and shook her head. “No way am I getting on that thing,” she declared.
Makenna wasn’t all that excited about it either but going back wasn’t an option. “We don’t have a choice,” she insisted. “We have to cross. Just don’t look down.” So saying, Makenna took a deep breath and praying that Bro. Joey wouldn’t put anyone in any real danger, she took a step onto the first wooden plank, grabbing the coarse ropes to either side that acted as a railing. The plank held, much to her relief. Taking slow careful steps, she edged her way along, focusing on the ropes and where to place her feet more than on the endless fall if she should slip.
Behind her one of the planks creaked ominously as Josh stepped out to follow. “This better hold,” he grumbled, “or I’m going to sue someone.”
Kim remained where she was, wringing her hands. “This is a mistake,” she called after them. “Just use one of your wishes! Wish us to the other side!”
“Which other side?” Makenna called back. “There are three of them!”
“Wish us to the maze exit!” Kim answered.
Makenna froze. Could it be that simple? Could she really just wish them to the exit? Doubt assailed her and she found herself frozen on the rope bridge. Josh was urging her on, but she wasn’t listening. Bro. Joey’s words came to mind. The wish could help them, but it would reflect their true heart’s desires more than the words they spoke. It was a wish of the heart, not a wish of words. What did she really want?
Looking down into the depthless darkness, she wanted more than anything to not fall. So if she spoke her wish, would anything happen? She didn’t know. She decided to wait, not to use her wish at that moment. Looking back over her shoulder, she urged Kim, “Come on. It’s safe. If Josh can cross over, you can.”
Kim screwed her face up into a look of disgust and fear. “As if that will make a difference if I fall,” she said. Taking a deep breath, she edged out onto the rope bridge, her knuckles white where she gripped the rope.
Makenna turned back to her own progress, moving ahead steadily and slowly until she reached the other side to where Demond and Antonio watched them. Josh, who had been impatiently waiting for her to move, was right on her heels.
“See,” Demond said when Josh stepped onto the platform, “nothing to it.”
Makenna ignored him. She was good at that, ignoring people when she wanted to. Looking around, she could see all four rope bridges radiating out from the raised platform like spokes on a wheel. At the end of each, lay a dark tunnel, lit just enough to see them.
“Which way now?” Makenna asked.
Antonio shrugged. “Pick one,” he suggested.
Makenna guessed it really didn’t matter. Taking one at random, she put a foot on the rope bridge. No sooner did she do so than Luke Gieseler and Irvin Espinoza appeared at the other end, each holding a long knife. Luke put the knife to one of the ropes that made up the bridge and looked at Makenna with an evil look. And if anyone could look evil when up to mischief, it was Luke.
Makenna froze again, watching him. “You wouldn’t dare!” she yelled across.
Luke simply shrugged, grinning at Irvin and keeping the knife on the rope. Both Josh and Kim—who’d finally crossed—came up behind Makenna. “Are you sure that’s the right way?” Josh asked.
“No,” Makenna answered, “But what choice do we have.” Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward.
Immediately, Luke and Irvin slashed at the rope. With a whipping sound, the rope snapped, springing back like a snake and then falling into the abyss below. The rope bridge began to spin along its central axis. With a small, embarrassing scream, Makenna leaped back, knocking Kim down, but only causing Josh to grunt slightly. He didn’t even budge.
“Why that little—” Makenna raged, rising angrily to her feet.
Josh moved over to one of the other undamaged bridges, but as soon as he set foot on the bridge, Niko Alvarado and Ryleigh Miranda appeared on the other side, each also holding a knife. Josh stepped back hastily.
Kim tsked in exasperation and approached the final remaining, unexplored bridge. But as soon as she tried to step on it, Edwin Pillado and Alex Roper appeared at the other end, wielding similar knives which they put to the ropes. Kim backed off. “This is impossible,” she cried. “We can’t get across.”
Makenna looked from Luke to Ryleigh to Edwin. All looked quite willing to cut the ropes. “We have to use a wish,” she said to Josh.
Josh looked around. “But what do we wish for? We still don’t know which way is the right way.”
Demond and Antonio approached. “Let us make it more difficult for you,” Demond said.
“More difficult!” Kim exploded. “We don’t want it more difficult!”
Grinning, both Demond and Antonio quite casually pushed Kim off the edge of the platform. Time froze in place for Makenna. She could only watch in horror as Kim simply disappeared over the edge. A long, anguished scream followed her down, fading into stunned silence.
Makenna looked at the twins. “You pushed her off!” she roared.
Antonio shrugged. “So?”
“You—you…” Makenna trailed off, speechless.
Demond cocked his head to one side. “Listen,” he said.
Makenna did, and faintly she heard something, growing louder. It sounded like a growing scream. But it wasn’t coming from below. It was coming from above. Makenna jerked her head up and saw something falling through the dimly lit darkness.
It was Kim.
“How’d she get up there?” Josh demanded.
Stunned, Makenna could only watch as Kim fell from above, her scream waxing and waning as she fell past the platform and disappeared into the darkness below once again.
They waited. Sure enough, Kim once again fell from above. This time, as she passed the platform, she paused in her screaming just long enough to shout, “I hate you!” Then she was gone again, only to reappear from above.
Antonio grinned. “She doesn’t really,” he said.
Makenna sighed. “Of course this would happen,” she mumbled.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Dalen found himself in a crystal-like cavern, light from some hidden source refracting and reflecting off smooth, faceted surfaces that created a mirror-like maze of crystal stalagmites across the cavern floor.
He looked for an easy way across, but every time he picked a path, he got turned around and ended up right back where he started. Crystal, her hands firmly planted on her hips gave him the look. “So, Mr. Smarty-Guy, any more brilliant ideas?” she demanded.
Dalen waved his arms around. “You pick a direction this time!” he told her.
Kiana was studying her image captured in one of the crystal facets nearby. “This makes my hair look like a sailboat,” she complained.
“Nah,” Dalen drawled, “it always looks like that.”
“Dalen!” Kiana protested.
Crystal chuckled, but it came off sounding like a pinched off laugh. She broke off, looking embarrassed. She pointed. “I think we should try that way.”
Dalen waved his hand. “Go ahead. I’ll wait here.”
“What if it’s the way out?” Crystal asked.
“It isn’t,” Dalen said.
“How do you know?”
Dalen shrugged. “Because you picked it.”
Reddening, Crystal lifted her head, trying to look imperious. “I’ll show you.” She marched off. “Kiana, are you coming?” she called over her shoulder.
Kiana nodded slowly. “Sure,” she said.
Together the two girls disappeared into the maze. Dalen waited. He gave it about three minutes before they would show back up. Every time they’d tried it before, that’s what had happened. Why should it be any different this time? He was frustrated with the effort. There had to be a solution and wandering about aimlessly was not the way.
Sure enough, about five minutes later, the two girls reappeared, moving carefully through the crystals that grew from the cavern floor. They froze when they saw Dalen. Crystal chuckled again in a self-deprecating way. The girl, Dalen noticed, had about a dozen different chuckles she could use for any situation. This one was the slightly embarrassed, but not completely repentant chuckle. It told Dalen everything he needed to know about how she felt.
“Didn’t work, did it?” he asked.
Faking a look of shock, Kiana widened her eyes and tightened her lips. “Wow. You are soooo smart,” she drawled. “Obviously it didn’t work.”
“Well at least I tried,” Crystal shot back at Dalen. “What now?”
Dalen turned to study the crystal structures that rose out of the floor like stalagmites. Each one had at least seven sides, and the light from the room somehow captured his image within. He looked like a pinched clown in this one. Looking deeper, he noticed something else. A face. But not his, Crystal’s or Kiana’s. He peered closer.
The face blinked, and he jerked back, momentarily surprised. He leaned in again, squinting. It looked like Laura Adair. “Laura?” he called, unsure. “Is that you?”
“Who else would it be?” she responded as if biting off her words distastefully.
Dalen jerked back again, looking around. Her voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He tapped the crystal facing. “Are you inside?” he asked doubtfully.
“Of course not, you idiot!” she shouted. “Do I look like I’m inside?”
“Well, actually—” Dalen started to say.
“Forget it,” Laura cut in. “Listen, if you want to get out of this room. You need the right resonance.”
Both Crystal and Kiana had come over and were also peering at Laura within the crystal structure. Kiana repeated, “Resonance? What does that mean?”
Laura smirked. “That’s for you to figure out,” she retorted. Dalen watched her turn around inside the elongated crystalline structure. “Now, how was I supposed to get out of here?” she muttered to herself. She began walking, growing smaller and smaller inside the crystal until she disappeared completely.
“Now what?” Crystal asked. “Does anyone know what she’s talking about?”
Kiana nodded slowly. “Maybe,” she said, looking around. Her eyes narrowed in thought. Finally, she said, “We need to create vibrations.”
“Like singing?” Dalen offered.
“Exactly,” Kiana said, growing excited. “What do we sing?”
Dalen thought about it. “Something easy, and something we all know.”
“Amazing Grace?” Crystal suggested.
“Okay, let’s try it,” Kiana said.
With Dalen standing between the girls, they all faced the crystal maze. Dalen started off, his bass voice lending a deep, clear tone to the song. Crystal and Kiana joined him a moment later. Dalen watched the crystal structures carefully as they sang. Sure enough, they began to vibrate and quiver in response to the song. They sang louder. With a loud crack, one of the nearby crystals split in two. Encouraged, Dalen realized that if they kept on singing, the crystals would shatter, and they’d be able to see clearly to the other side of the cavern.
But then other voices rose, singing willy-nilly a dozen different songs at the same time. The discord counteracted the senior’s song and the crystal-like structures stopped quivering. It wasn’t harmony anymore. It was just noise, and it was having no effect whatsoever. Dalen and the two girls exchanged startled glances and stopped singing. Dalen had recognized some of the other voices. Kaiden Painter had been one of the singers, singing like he was in a race. Other voices belonged to Annaliza Alvarado, Ella Macari, Tristian Pahe, Mia Robbs, and Jazmin Martinez. When the seniors stopped singing, the other voices did too…or mostly. There was an awful lot of giggling, chuckling, and laughing from the opposing choir hidden among the crystalline stalagmites.
“We need to use a wish,” Crystal said. “We’ve got to keep them quiet so we can sing.”
“What do we wish for and who does the wishing?” Dalen asked.
“Do you think my wish is gone?” Kiana asked. “I did make a wish before, remember? But nothing happened. Maybe I can do it.”
“Try,” Crystal urged. “But what do you wish for?”
Dalen shook his head. “Be careful,” he said. “Remember what happened to Josh?”
“Wish for quiet,” Crystal suggested. “If it’s quiet, then we can sing.”
“Okay,” Kiana said. “Here goes. I wish for quiet!”
Kaiden’s laugh echoed through the cavern. “Didn’t work…” he sang out.
Kiana looked aggrieved. She tried again. “I wish for quiet.” Nothing happened. “I wish for a horse!” No horse. “I wish for a million dollars!” No money. Frustrated, she threw her hands up. “I did waste my wish! One of you has to make the wish instead.”
Dalen looked over at Crystal and raised an eyebrow. “Fine,” she sniffed, “I’ll do it.” She set herself like one preparing to lift something heavy and faced the crystal stalagmites. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I wish it were quiet!”
Everything went absolutely quiet. The giggles and laughs and discordant songs all went silent. Dalen couldn’t hear a thing. The wish had worked. He turned to the girls and said, “Okay, let’s sing now.” Or at least he tried to say that. His tongue said the words, but no sound came out. He had a flash of panic as he thought of what happened to Josh. He tried again, but again, he couldn’t hear himself speak.
Both Kiana and Crystal were talking now too, but though Dalen could see their lips moving, he couldn’t hear a thing. They tried again, but clearly neither of the girls could hear themselves speaking either. Swallowing, Dalen clapped his hands together as loud as he could. Nothing. Not a sound. With dawning horror, he realized that Crystal’s wish hadn’t been so much for quiet as it had been that she really didn’t want to hear the other kids anymore.
It wasn’t quiet. They, the three seniors, were completely and absolutely deaf.
* * *
Meanwhile, Makenna and Josh were trying to figure out how to help Kim. For about the dozenth time, Kim had fallen past the raised platform, her voice growing more and more shrill by the moment. “We’ve got to help her,” Makenna told Josh.
Josh folded his arms, trying to look innocent. “Why? You saw what she did to my mouth,” he protested.
“She didn’t mean it!” Makenna argued.
At that moment, Kim, falling past, screamed, “Yes I did!”
Makenna regarded Kim’s dwindling form as she fell into the blackness below. “No she didn’t,” she said to Josh. “Look, one of us is going to have to use our wish to help her.”
“Well, it’s not going to be me,” Josh protested. “Use yours.”
“Whatever,” Makenna said, defaulting to her go-to word when she was frustrated or irritated. She flung the word around like a weapon, directing it at anyone who got in her way. At the moment, she aimed it at Josh, and “whatever,” in this case, meant “grow up and stop being a baby.” She turned away from Josh and looked at where Demond and Antonio had been standing. But they were gone. In their place, Leah Mecklenburg and Madisen Reily stood. “Hey, where’d you guys come from?” Makenna asked.
Leah shrugged. “From over there.” She pointed with her chin back across one of the rope bridges.
“Well? Can you help rescue Kim?” Makenna asked.
“Nope,” Leah said brightly. “We’re here to watch.”
Madisen watched Kim fall past and shuddered. “That doesn’t look all that fun,” she said.
“Well, it’s up to you and me then,” Makenna told Josh.
“Hey, it’s your wish,” Josh said, backing away. “Go for it.”
Makenna half sneered at Josh. “Whatever,” she said again. “All I want is for her to be safe.”
“Careful,” Leah pointed out, “Technically, she is safe. She’s just falling.”
Makenna’s lips pursed tightly together. “Right,” she whispered under her breath. Frustration grew inside her. This whole year had been filled with little disappointments, and they had built up inside her until she felt ready to burst. The stupid coronavirus had killed her senior trip, something she’d been looking forward to for years—even going so far as to strongarm everyone else into agreeing to go to New York. This was her senior year for crying out loud! Even her graduation ceremony was being threatened by the virus. She’d planned it all out, envisioned it down to the littlest detail. It should’ve been perfect! And now all the seniors were scattered about in this stupid maze. In frustration, she burst out, “I just wish everyone were here!”
And suddenly everyone was.
* * *
Dalen blinked. One moment he’d been standing within the cavern of crystals, and the next he was standing on a narrow platform suspended in the middle of a large empty cavern with a couple of bridges spanning the darkness from the platform to tunnels across the way. Makenna was there and so was Josh. Both were gapping at him like fish out of water. He blinked again. Crystal and Kiana stood nearby too, staring around them in astonishment. How’d they all get here? And where was Kim?
Then everyone was screaming at him and pointing. Of course, he couldn’t hear a word of it, being deaf still, but he did understand the frantic finger pointing. He turned to look. Kim was falling from the blackness above, her arms flailing, her legs kicking, and her mouth opened in what Dalen could only assume was a scream. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion. Instinctively, without thinking about it, he reached out in a moment of heroic effort to try to catch Kim as she fell past. And beyond all expectations, he actually succeeded in grabbing her wrist.
That’s when the inadvisability of what he was trying to do kicked in, and he knew of a certainty that he would be yanked into the darkness right along with Kim. He didn’t have the strength to prevent it. But Josh did. Just as Dalen felt Kim’s weight and momentum settle against his arm, Josh reached out and grabbed his other arm with both hands.
The pain was intense. Kim wasn’t exactly a heavy girl, but her momentum was enough to yank him right off the platform after her. If it wasn’t for Josh holding on to Dalen’s other arm, he would certainly have tumbled in after Kim. As it was, he was dangling from Josh’s grip over the edge, barely able to hold onto Kim. It felt as if his arm had nearly been torn from its socket, but he refused to let go. Everyone was screaming, but Dalen was grateful he couldn’t hear a word of it. For him, the whole thing was happening in total silence.
Josh’s face was turning bright red in the dim light as he strained to keep both Dalen and Kim from falling. The others poked their faces over the edge to shout encouragement, but Dalen’s eyes were locked on Josh’s face. He silently pleaded with his friend not to let go. With sweat breaking out on his forehead, Josh tried to pull both Dalen and Kim up at the same time. He got perhaps four inches when Leah and Madisen appeared to either side of the straining young man. Both carried large, pink feathers.
Dalen saw instantly what they intended to do and tried to shout a warning, but he had no idea how it came out. With deliberate glee, the two girls began tickling Josh with the feathers. Josh jerked, his eyes going as wide as they possibly could go. He tried to shuffle to the side, dragging Dalen and Kim along with him, but Leah with single-minded persistence followed, tickling him right under the chin.
Dalen felt Josh’s grip slip and he took a deep breath, preparing to fall into the darkness along with Kim. Makenna, Crystal, and Kiana were trying to push Leah and Madisen away, but with only marginal success. The end result was that Josh just couldn’t muster the strength to pull both Dalen and Kim up, at least not while being attacked by giant, pink feathers. Looking into his friend’s face, Dalen read desperation there, and then as plain as if he could hear it, Dalen watched Josh mouth, “I wish none of this had ever happened!”
And just like that, they were all standing back at the entrance to the cave with Bro. Joey looking at them with a single raised eyebrow. “You’re back,” he said, sounding completely unsurprised.
Dalen blinked. All six seniors were standing exactly where they had been when Bro. Joey had first been instructing them outside the cave. Dalen worked his arm and was happy to find that it no longer hurt. He was also thrilled to be able to hear again.
“What happened?” Crystal wanted to know, perhaps more loudly than needed. She looked around in a daze.
“Josh used his wish,” Makenna answered. “I heard him.”
“I had to do something. I was being attacked!” Josh protested.
“By giant feathers?” Kiana asked, one eyebrow raised incredulously.
“They were wicked, evil feathers,” Josh muttered. He glared at everyone. “And they were pink!” he shouted.
Kim was staring at the cave entrance. “Does this mean we have to start all over?” Her voice, Dalen noted, was a bit shrill.
Bro. Joey shrugged and asked, “Did you conquer the maze and come out the other side?”
Everyone stared at him speechlessly.
“Not doing it. Nope,” Kim said, stepping back. “Absolutely not. Not going to happen.”
Dalen watched the others. They seemed to be in agreement. Then a thought struck him. “But in a way,” he said slowly, struggling to find the right words, “we did conquer the maze.”
Bro. Joey looked at him. “How so?” he asked.
“Well,” Dalen said, working his way through his thoughts, “you said that the wishes were a true reflection of our heart, not so much our words. We all learned that we don’t know our own heart as well as we think. What we sometimes think we want is not necessarily what we really want deep down.”
“You’re getting there,” Bro. Joey agreed. “The Bible tells us in Jeremiah that our hearts are deceitful and wicked and hard to know.”
Makenna’s eyes widened as she picked up on Dalen’s train of thought. She said, “And since we did not guard our hearts like Proverbs warns us to, we often made wishes that were not really the right ones. It didn’t come out like we expected.”
“Exactly,” Bro. Joey agreed, pleased. He looked around. “Seems to me that you did conquer the maze after all. Remember that, like the maze, your hearts are difficult to fathom—and this is what God wants you to learn. If you do not guard them, you let all sorts of desires and emotions in that may not be very good. They can all come out at the wrong time, when you least expect it, and make your life much more difficult than it needs to be. Witness what happened to you in the maze.” He looked at the six seniors. “Good job. You learned something and that means you passed the test.”
Dalen realized something then. “Hey! I never got to make my wish!” he said. They all stared at him. A sly grin spread across his face and he rubbed his hands together. “What should I wish for?” he asked.
“Forget it, Dalen,” Kiana said. “It’s not worth it.”
“But…” Dalen began, then an idea hit him. “Hey, Bro. Joey, want to be taller?”
Josh sucked his breath in and protested, “Don’t wish for that! Likely, you’ll end up making us all shorter!”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Dalen said, his eyes bright. “What about you, Makenna? Here’s your chance to be taller. You know you want it.”
“Whatever,” Makenna grumbled, turning. “Go away, Dalen.”
Looking mischievously around at his friends as they all started walking away, Dalen said in a loud, drawn out voice, “I wish…”
The End