Chapter 5—The Ancient Mine

On the way to Joyeux, Jonathan and Jesse passed small, quaint villages that hadn't changed much in hundreds of years, except for the occasional paint job.

The little blue Fiat sped by farms with sleepy cows lying in deep grass and goats grazing around them. Row after row of gnarly grapevines filled the fields, and hills of neatly terraced olive groves looked like nature's own chess board.

Jesse had learned to read the map in kilometers, which was different from measuring by miles, and he guided them right onto the dirt driveway of L'Auberge Etoile. He could see the estate looming ahead, large and castle-like. Jesse was relieved to see the sun still high. Now he could start his explorations.

"Dad, I'm getting out," he said, and opened the door and leaped out before the car stopped.

"Wait! Jess...where are you going?" Jonathan yelled.

Jesse waved a hand and ran toward the inn.

"Jesse, Jesse," his twin cousins called out. Aimée and Juliette raced toward him with Le Nez, their nutty mongrel, who kept stopping to chase his tail in a whirlwind of excitement.

I do love hearing my name in French, Jesse thought.

The twins, a year younger than Jesse, caught up, and each grabbed one of his arms and shook it. "We've got something important to show you, tout de suite," they whispered.

Celeste came out on the porch to greet her twin brother, Jonathan, and her nephew with a warm smile. Madame Printemps, the large and sprightly housekeeper, followed behind, drying her hands on the folds of her old-fashioned dress. Madame had worked many years for Celeste and was like family. Her silver hair was piled into a soft bun, and she wore thick glasses, making her blue eyes look ten times their normal size. Her smile formed a tiny slot, or at least it looked small below her big eyes.

"In France, it's good luck to kiss both cheeks," Aunt Celeste said, as double kisses were passed around. Her honey-colored hair shone bright in the sunlight, and she looked a lot like Jesse's dad.

The younger twins shook Jesse's arms again. "Viens avec nous, Jesse, we have something to show you." He looked up at his dad.

"Go ahead," Jonathan said. "I'll get us settled."

"Thanks, Dad," Jesse said as the cousins sprinted back down the dirt driveway. It was as if no time had passed since their last, shorter visit with each other a year earlier.

"Where are we going in such a hurry?" Jesse said between breaths as he ran after the girls.

While it was a challenge telling his cousins apart, Jesse remembered that Aimée had a small dark freckle under her left eye where Juliette had none. Otherwise they looked much the same: about a foot shorter than Jesse, with twinkling blue eyes and blonde hair tied into single braids. They both wore purple shorts, orange tank tops decorated with yellow suns, and orange sneakers.

Aimée looked back at Jesse as she ran. "We're taking you to our secret hideaway."

"A secret hideaway? Where?"

"You'll see soon enough."

Jesse cast a last glance over his shoulder and saw Madame Printemps watching them intently. Her thin mouth was drawn down into a frown. She worried about them going into the mine nearby. It had been closed for years and was rumored to be unsafe. Shaking her head, she stepped into the inn where she needed to prepare the dining room for twenty guests.

The trio ran halfway down the dirt driveway before turning right onto a trail behind a mass of low, thick brush. Walking now, they followed the trail into a tall, dark forest. Le Nez barked, happy to be in the lead on such a grand adventure. The deeper into the woods they went, the darker it became. Goosebumps cropped up on Jesse's arms as he sniffed the musty foliage. After a while his neck tingled, and he could sense someone watching them. Then he heard sounds and stopped to look around.

"What're those sounds? They don't sound normal."

The surroundings had changed, and the cousins were now adjacent to an olive grove, a very old one by the look of the trees. The trunks were huge, and a dense jungle of branches shaded the path. The branches moved as if they might come alive any minute and attack.

"Madame Villars is probably spying on us," Aimée said without concern. "She owns the olive grove. She's a witch, you know. Our chef Marie says she'll put a spell on anyone who goes into her grove." Jesse looked at Juliette, who pulled on her braid but remained quiet.

"It's probably an old wives' tale," Jesse said, picking up the pace. Eventually the narrow path left the grove and opened up onto a dirt road. The little group rushed ahead. Farther along, Jesse spotted a stone house set back from the road and surrounded by a number of dead trees. At one end of the house a chimney crumbled, and the windows looked like they had never been washed.

"Who lives there?" Jesse felt another tingle.

"Oh, that's Monsieur Voyeux," Aimée said. "He keeps an eye on the old crystal mine where we're taking you. Kids aren't supposed to play there."

"A real crystal mine?" Maybe this assignment will be easy, Jesse thought.

"What if he catches us, this monsieur?"

"Non," Aimée said with certainty. "He naps after a big lunch and a bottle of wine."

They continued along the dirt road, shadowed by tall trees, until they reached a high wooden gate with spikes on top. Jesse shaded his eyes and looked up, wondering how to climb over it without getting his leg speared.

"Pas ici," Aimée said, and pulled on her cousin.

They continued walking until Aimée stopped near a short fat tree surrounded by dense overgrowth. "Ici," she said, and approached the tree. Someone had carved a face into the thickest part of the trunk, stuffed the eye sockets with black coal, and added a bone for a nose. Below the nose a dark hole gaped with pointed teeth along its bottom edge. A carved skull and crossbones warning appeared above the odious face. It had obviously been designed to keep people away.

"Here?" Jesse asked. Things seemed unnaturally quiet.

"Oui," Aimée said. Squinting, she stood up on her toes, stretched her small hand deep inside the frightening mouth, and pulled down on something no one could see. A fence behind the overgrowth began to move and a path appeared on the other side.

"Wow, definitely cool," Jesse said. "How did you discover it?"

"We watched Monsieur Voyeux open it one day, but he didn't see us."

"What if he catches us?"

"That's what I worry about," Juliette said, and her lower lip trembled. Le Nez nosed her leg.

"Don't act like a baby, Juliette," Aimée scolded, yet held her sister's hand. "He won't see us. We never come into the mine unless he's napping."

Jesse wondered how she could be sure. It did feel like someone was spying on them.

Aimée put her finger to her lips, and they walked along a nearly invisible path, pushing away thick brush and spider webs as they forged ahead. Finally the foliage opened up, and Jesse saw that they had reached the top of an enormous, deep hole. It looked as if it had been used for mining for many years, but now everything was silent. Eerily so—not even songbirds could be heard. Le Nez sniffed the air and then barked, eager to get going.

"Kind of spooky. Is your hideaway down there?" Jesse leaned over the hole and looked down.

"Oui, so let's get to it," Aimée said as she stepped ahead and motioned them to follow.

They walked along the edge of the giant hole, being careful not to slip on loose dirt and fall in. Le Nez ran ahead and then disappeared.