Chapter 2
The Book

Will led the way back to the cabin. Jane skipped light-heartedly, but Will was silent and thoughtful. When they arrived at the doorway, Jane plucked a brilliantly colored wildflower from a cluster and tucked it in her hair.
Will grinned. “Please, step in, good lady.”
Jane leaned forward and peered into the dimness that lay beyond the doorway. It seemed that a still hung over the clearing. The twittering songs of the birds had abruptly stopped, the squirrels watched quietly from the trees. In the silence, Jane thought she heard the scratching of tiny rat feet clatter from the inside of the dark cabin.
“Maybe we had better not go in,” she said, a little shakily.
Will shrugged. “If you really don’t want to go in, you don’t have to. I was just teasing you anyway. But I’m going in.”
“The cabin might- might not be stable.”
Will looked doubtfully at the sagging doorpost. “It has been standing for years, why shouldn’t it go on standing for a few more minutes.”
“It has to fall some time, doesn’t it?” reminded Jane.
Will ignored this comment and was about to move forward, when Jane grabbed his arm. “Please, don’t…” She would have gone on, but a sudden sound from inside cut her off.
Jane backed away, but Will remained at the doorway. Will’s mind was made up.
“I have to see what’s going on in there,” he decided.
Jane’s eyes widened in terror and she cried out to stop him, but it was too late. The boy had disappeared into the inky blackness inside the cabin. Suddenly, there was a thunderous crash! It seemed that the whole cabin quivered with the sound..
Jane screamed and dashed forward to enter the cabin and find Will, when suddenly the boy’s smudged and dirty face appeared from behind the door and grinned. “Did I scare you?”
Jane dramatically sank to the ground in a mock faint. Meanwhile, William threw back his head and roared with laughter.
As soon as she could, Jane stood up, a sheepish look on her face. “Do you want to see what’s inside?” asked Will.
Jane stopped, and she followed William into the cabin.
As soon as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Jane looked about her. Cobwebs hung thickly from the rough wooden ceiling and a timid mouse scurried into a hole in the wall. The cabin was divided into two rooms. Near the door in the first room stood a hefty oaken table, and the rotted remains of once must have been a stool. There were a few crates scattered about the room, and one that appeared to have been smashed against the floor. Jane now knew what the crashing noise that had scared her so badly had been. The adjoining room was bare, with the remains of an old cot.
“Well,” said William, glancing around, “This is the cabin.”
Jane looked around, a bit disappointed. “I thought, that is to say that…”
“...That it would be more exciting?” Will finished.
“Yes.” admitted Jane, leaning against the wall dejectedly. Then she jumped with a howl of pain. Will plugged his ears as the sound echoed off all four walls.
“Are you alright?” Will hurried to her side.
“Yes, I don’t know what happened. I must have leaned against a nail or something. It hurt.”
Will surveyed the wall. “Yes, I see what you leaned on now. It’s some kind of a knob.”
The knob was something like a door handle, but smaller, and shaped like an oval whittled crudely from wood.
“A knob? Why a knob in the corner of the room?” Jane wondered.
“I have no idea.” Will thought for a moment. “I wonder if it opens some kind of secret trap door or something.”
Jane felt excitement course through her veins like liquid fire.
“Go ahead, turn it!”
Will did so.
There was a creak, and a small door swung open to the children’s right. Will and Jane stood frozen for a moment. Finally, Will slowly walked over to the door, and peered into the dimness.
Inside the small opening, there was a crude wooden ladder leading up into a drafty black area.
“I believe it’s some sort of an attic,” Will whispered.
“Should we go up there?”
“That’s a good question.”
“I’m going,” Jane said.
Will turned to Jane. “No Jane, I’ll go first. This thing is dangerous, you know. It might crumble. The wood is half rotten. Just look at that crack in the first step.”
Slowly, Will began his dangerous climb up the ladder. When he reached the top and disappeared into the inky blackness, his head reappeared as he peered down at Jane. “Alright, you can come up now.”
Jane reached the top, and climbed into the dim opening of the attic. Eagerly, she looked all around her. The room was piled high with trunks and chairs, lanterns, and old picture frames. Jane thought she saw a face leering at them, but then realized it was only a doll. Will saw something that caught his interest, and lunged forward, only to hear the protesting groans of the aged wood beneath his feet. He instantly dropped to his hands and knees.
“We had better go on our hands and knees, and slowly!” He told Jane.
Jane crawled forward. She reached the box closest to her and looked inside it. She found the tattered remains of a ball dress, a few old pictures of a small boy dressed in a sailor’s suit, a ribbon-bedecked hat, and a doll crib.
Suddenly, she heard Will cry: “Look what I’ve found!”
Jane inched towards him. Will was pointing towards a lone chest in the corner, covered in a thick layer of dust. Jane crawled eagerly towards it, but Will grabbed her ankle and hissed, “Do you want to kill us both? Slowly, I say!”
As they made their way slowly over the creaky floor, they spoke excitedly to each other.
“Maybe the chest is full of gold!”
“Maybe my great-grandfather put all the wealth he owned in the box for his ancestors to find before he died,” Will wondered aloud.
They had reached the chest. Will leaned forward to pry the lid open. It was locked.
Jane groaned in disappointment.
“Don’t worry, Jane.” Will consoled her. “This trunk- just like the boards- is very old. I could probably break through the top...”
He slammed his fist through the top of the chest and, sure enough, ripped through the old, disintegrating chest as if it had been paper.
Will pulled the rest of the lid apart quite easily. Then, slowly, he and Jane looked inside the chest.