Chapter 7—The Intruder

Early the next morning, the twins and Jesse ate fast while Chef Marie rushed around baking breads and desserts for the inn's guests. Since Marie didn't know English, the three cousins felt free to discuss their plans.

Glancing around to be sure no other adults were in the room, Jesse whispered, "I made a list of things to look for—maybe in the cellars here and in the mine itself. I remember seeing a shack at the far end of the base. That could be where mining tools were kept."

"Oui," Aimée said. "There's a shed that has old tools."

"It would help to have headlamps if we can find some," Jesse added. "And they might need batteries, so we'll have to find those too. We should have rope, and flashlights, and a first aid kit." He pinched his nose to indicate the witch. Juliette coughed and began twirling her ponytail.

"After we eat, we can go to the cellar and the garden shed." Aimée watched Chef Marie to be sure she didn't understand the conversation. Juliette's eyes widened but she didn't speak.

"Est-ce que Jacques est au village aujourd'hui?" Aimée asked Marie.

"Oui, pour toute la journée," Marie said.

"Très bien." Aimée's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Jacques, our caretaker, is gone to the village for the day. We can look around without his snooping eyes."

Still chewing the last bites of croissants with strawberry jam, they brought their dishes to the sink, gulped down their juice, and rushed through the main hallway, out the front door, and around to the back of the inn before anyone could spot them. They stood there for a full minute staring at the thick wooden door and then pulled hard. The door resisted at first but finally creaked opened, allowing space enough for them to dash inside unseen.

Aimée pulled on a chain, and a single yellow bulb lit up. It cast a dim glow over wide stone steps that led down to dungeon-like rooms. The inn was well over three hundred years old, and its underbelly smelled rank and moldy. Jesse's asthma threatened to act up, but remained at bay long enough for them to gather up some items on their list.

Jesse saw a series of barred openings to mysterious looking rooms. "What did they keep in there?"

"We don't know and never dared to ask," Aimée said, pinching her nose closed.

Scavenging around, they found a splintered old cabinet that held batteries. More snooping turned up rope and a sharp buck knife inside a scarred leather pouch. During the search, Juliette stayed at the bottom of the stairs to act as guard. She hated the dungeons.

"We'll have to get all this back before Jacques notices anything is missing," Aimée said as she loaded the supplies into a canvas sack. She was expert at sneaking things out of the inn.

"Juliette, go up and make sure no one's around." Juliette exhaled noisily and ran up the stairs. She peeked out the opening and, seeing no one in the area, yelled, "All clear."

Next they searched in the garden shed near the orchard and found a first aid kit. Jesse looked up to a high shelf and saw a bottle marked "POISON." It had a skull and crossbones on the label. He didn't add it to the pack, but hid it under the porch stairs. For self-defense later against the witch, he thought. He wasn't so sure about taking poison into the mine.

Waiting for the old man's daily nap took great effort. But soon the crystal searchers and Le Nez were back inside the mine, having passed through the dark forest with no sign of the witch. A cursory look around the stone house had assured them that Monsieur Voyeux was asleep or away. It seemed they would be safe for a while.

Once inside the mine, Le Nez led them to a different opening. He ran in circles, eager for them to enter. Jesse bent over and rubbed his head. "Be patient, little buddy. We know you've found something, but we can't go in without light."

They trekked to the opposite side of the base toward the supply shack. The building was a small, one-story hut with rotting wood and a crumbling foundation. The windows were too dirty to see through to the inside. Jesse shook the door—it was locked.

"Figures," he said, and walked around to try all the windows. Those too wouldn't budge. Then he had an idea. "Aimée, get that knife out of the sack. I'll pry open a window; maybe it's just stuck." Sure enough, the window on the back side of the shed lifted up enough for one of the twins to fit through. "Who's going in? I'm way too big," Jesse said.

Aimée looked at Juliette, who shook her head and lifted her hands as if to ward off the possibility. "Non, pas moi," she said stubbornly. Jesse looked at Aimée, who glanced down at her clean shorts and T-shirt. She shook her head.

"Well, one of you has to go in and get what we need," Jesse said, glaring at the twins.

Neither twin budged. Now what? he wondered. A battle of wills isn't getting us anywhere, and time's wasting. Then he had an idea and removed a coin from his pocket. It was a lucky silver dollar his mother had given him, and he carried it everywhere.

"See this coin?" He held it out between his thumb and index finger. "I'm going to toss it in the air, and if it lands heads up, Aimée goes in. If it lands tails up, it's you, Juliette. D'accord?"

With lips tightly pursed, the twins nodded in reluctant agreement.

"Okay, here goes." Jesse threw the coin high. All eyes followed as it flew up, stopped for an instant, and plopped down onto the gravelly ground. They closed in—it was tails.

"Juliette goes," Jesse said, as if there was nothing more to argue about. She blanched.

They walked to the back of the shed, and Jesse lifted her in through the small opening. Once she was inside, he handed her a flashlight and then peered in.

"You remember the list, right?"

"Oui," she answered, and disappeared into the darkness.

For a few minutes Jesse and Aimée could hear her rummaging around. Then she began to cough, and Jesse backed out of the way of flying dust. More minutes passed and Juliette screamed. They could hear her thrashing while babbling in fast French.

"What now, Juliette? Aimée yelled through the window.

"Mon Dieu," she yelled back. "Spiders and crawlers are everywhere, and dust; there's so much dust." There was another coughing jag. Finally the coughing stopped and all went quiet. Jesse and Aimée looked at each other with brows raised. Soon they heard another series of shrieks. Aimée rolled her eyes. "I should have gone in. She's such a baby sometimes."

Suddenly the front door flew open, and a screaming Juliette barreled out of the hut, followed by two irritated bats. Her hands waved over her head in a blur of ponytail and fingers.

After a while, she finally settled down, but refused to go back inside. Jesse and Aimée went in through the open door with flashlights lit. They also started coughing, but within a few minutes found what they were looking for: miner's helmets, a battery charger, and hammers and chisels.

Once back outside, they dusted the bugs and debris off their clothes and charged up the helmet lights. Jesse loaded everything into the canvas sack and tossed it over his shoulder. He pulled out his aspirator, put it over his mouth, and gave it a good squeeze. Not wanting to waste more time, he and Aimée trotted across the base to find Le Nez barking wildly and dashing back and forth, beckoning them to follow. They geared up and were finally ready to enter the new tunnel.

"Carry on, Le Nez—we're right behind you," Jesse said.

Suddenly Le Nez stopped moving and craned his neck in the opposite direction. Then he took off running toward a small figure.

"Who is that?" Jesse snapped, looking in the direction the dog had run. A short, skinny kid stood kicking at the dirt as if trying to scare the dog away. Greasy, brown hair hid his eyes, and his clothes were worn and soiled. He looked like he could benefit from a long shower.

"It's Daniel, Monsieur Voyeux's grandson," Aimée said. "He doesn't bite." Then Juliette approached to scold Daniel. "You're always kicking something," she said to him.

"I only k-kick things that are not alive," Daniel stuttered back. "I would n-never hurt the dog. What are you doing in the m-mine then?"

"We...we're searching for something, and it is not your business."

"Mais oui, it is so. Grand-père is in charge of this m-mine," Daniel said. "I see you around here all the time, and I will squeal like a p-pig if you don't tell me why."

Jesse held up his hand and motioned the twins over for a little chat. Meanwhile Le Nez sat like a perfect prince at Daniel's feet and looked up at him, his tail fanning the ground.

"Look at Le Nez," Aimée said. "He's an expert on people." Then the little dog began to run back and forth between them, as if encouraging a friendship. But Juliette was firm. "Non, I don't trust him, that one."

"Hold on," Jesse said. "I think the dog has got something." He closed his eyes just as a wind gust blew dirt everywhere. His eyes flew open. "Let's bring Daniel with us. If Le Nez finds a crystal for him, he was meant to join us. What do you think?"

Aimée paused, open to the possibility, but Juliette frowned. "What if he tells anyway?" She covered her eyes as another strong wind blew in her direction. I know what that wind is, Jesse thought, and smiled. "Let's see if he'll promise not to."

Daniel, having overheard, placed his hand over his heart. "I promise, on the mem-memory of ma mère, who has passed on to heaven." He grabbed a locket hanging around his neck and looked up at the sky.

"That's good enough for me," Jesse said, understanding an oath of that magnitude.

Juliette stomped her foot. "Non," she said. Aimée agreed with Juliette, but mostly because she didn't want to expand their little group.

"He's going to tell if we don't let him come," Jesse whispered. "Then our search will be off for good." Everyone went quiet.

"D'accord," Aimée said. "We'll let him come." She looked at her sister, who still wore an unhappy frown. But then that was nothing new for Juliette.