The saying, “Life is a Box of Chocolates” was a good one, it says that life can be both sweet and salty. The Williams were now biting into the sweet ones, soon enough though, a whole new array of chocolates would soon befall upon them.
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The direct Williams family starts of with Mr and Mrs Williams, who were the residents of Number 7, Denver Street. Mr Williams was a tall and brunette figure with a stubble beard and a very wholesome smile that could blind just about anyone. He worked at a branch of the Gregory Company, which sold hardware for relatively cheap prices. His blonde wife always had to look up when talking to him to dive into eye-contact and had very thick and dark eye bags that were in the process of recovery. Why?
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The reason was simple, she had 3 children that were nothing more than wailing monkeys when they were babies and because of this they were well known among their neighbors for being a family that housed the loudest, most enthusiastic children they had ever seen.
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As the story begins, the sun had just dawned on the windows of the Williams’ house and Zachary was already awake, changing into his pants. He stumbled upon a few of Daniel’s beakers while doing so and got up, complaining about his brothers’ lack of cleanliness. He climbed up the ladder of the double-decker bed in which his brothers were sleeping in and-
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HONK
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The sound of a blasting horn went out, causing a ringing in James and Daniel’s ears.
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“What the-” Daniel said, although he couldn’t really finish his sentence of shock.
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“GET UP! IT’S TIME! YOU SCHEDULED IT, AND I WILL NOT LET THIS GREAT DAY GET CANCELED JUST BECAUSE OF YOU TWO LAZY, SLEEPYHEADS!” Zachary shouted as he sounded the horn again.
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“Zach, OK, we get it- we’re getting up,” Daniel said, rubbing his eyes as the image of Zachary, hanging on to one of the steps of the ladder, holding a white and red horn, which he remembered was from the dollar store down the street, appeared.
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Zachary was an average-height boy for his age. He had slick coffee-brown hair combed to the front, a few freckles and green eyes which he got from his father.
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“I’m not,” James said, getting comfortable again in his bed, drifting back to sleep.
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“I wouldn’t do that if I we-” Daniel said as he got cut again.
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HONKKKK
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“GOOD MORNING DEAR BROTHER OF MINE, I AM HERE TO REMIND YOU THAT YOU PLANNED THIS AND YOU WILL BE OH SO RESPONSIBLE FOR IT. OTHERWISE MY TRUSTY HORN AND I SHALL NOT MOVE”
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James bent his pillow over the other side of his head to cover his ears but then-
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HONK HONK HONK HONK
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“Zachary will you ju-” James tried to say, annoyed.
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HOOONK HOOONK
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“Zach, shut u-”
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A desperate attempt at shutting his brother up.
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HONKKKK
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“OK! You win! I’m getting up, too,” James said, annoyed, but Zachary was smiling.
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“Thank you.”
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He climbed down the ladder, took a donut that was left from last night’s robbery of mom’s kitchen and left, leaving the door open.
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“That kid’s mental.”
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“Truly.”
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James hopped down his bed and took his night braces off.
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As a kid, James’ teeth were messy beyond messy. They were scattered all over the place, his parents made him wear braces for a year and it neatened them up a bit, but growing up, James became a bit more embarrassed by his braces and told his parents he only wanted to wear them at night, it took 1 week of begging and 15 presentations on why he didn’t need them during the day for them to comply. Now, he probably won’t even need them anymore, they look like the teeth of a dentist’s child.
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5 minutes later, the twins came out to see that Zachary was waiting for them-tying his shoelace. James yawned as Daniel sat down on a nearby rock.
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“Oh come on, this is exciting! We’re going to see what is in that hole once and for all! Don’t you two want that?” Zachary exclaimed, getting up and patting his brother on the shoulder.
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“You know what I want Zach?” James said, Daniel tried to stop him from giving another one of his witty remarks but failed miserably, “I want a nice cup of water, along with some delicious breakfast-scrambled eggs would be great.”
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Zachary ignored his brother’s comment with a chuckle and started heading towards the sea, his brothers following behind him. The road to the edge of town was quite the view, summer had just dawned on the town, giving it a happy pallet of bright blue and green. There were a few people jogging, turning their heads for a second to watch as the 3 kids walked towards the sea.
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“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this, I’ve always wondered why light keeps glimmering from that cave,” James called, his eyes partially closed as the morning breeze was brushing against his body and face.
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“I know, crazy to think what might be down there,” Daniel replied.
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“Easy,” Zachary said, “treasure.”
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They walked on and on, Zachary kicking on a few pebbles that he found on the streets. Their shadows were slowly shortening as the sun rose higher into the air which finally allowed them to see the sand and the glimmering waters of the beach. Not knowing why, they went in the direction of a rock they all saw and raced to see who touched it first, Zachary got their first, James second and Daniel last.
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“Slowpokes” Zachary laughed..
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They passed the rock (Zachary jumped over it) and felt their feet sinking into the sand as they walked into the beach. They walked to the right to the foot of a cliff and left footprints on the sand that were all messed up to confuse the non-existent followers. Soon enough they got to an opening, the mouth of a somewhat vertical cave. It was big and was under the cliff they used to visit.
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The cliff was like a second home to them. It was their favorite spot in the town and they would protect it with their life. Everything crazy happened there, they once secretly bought little firecrackers and lit them up, shouting Happy New Year in the middle of June and confused the sleepy townsfolk. They even set up little chairs of stone for them to sit on and discuss their next trip/activity of the day/prank.
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The cave seemed to have multiple openings because there was a beam sunlight shining down the inside of the cave. The brothers looked at each other, Zachary grinning, and slowly crawled inside. The cave path to where the sunlight was coming from was steep and slippery so they had to be extra careful. Daniel walked down slowly, grabbing a hold of James’s shoulder, James was walking down while holding the walls of the cave but Zachary, he had a mind of his own. Grabbing a giant coconut leaf that had dropped from the tree outside, he placed it on the floor, pushed his brothers and himself in and pushed. The leaf slid down the cave, bringing the three brothers with it, Zachary shouted in approval of his idea, James yelled out the words (“ZACHARRYYY”) and Daniel shrieked like a girl.
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The leaf twisted and turned, bumping occasionaly as it made its steep descend towards the heart of the cave. The cave was deeper then they had thought and Daniel could have been worried and thought about their perilous journey to get to the top in the future but he didn’t have time, his body was too busy trying not to throw up. As they bumped to a stop at the bottom of the cave. Zachary got up and held his hand out to both of them and pulled them up.
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“Such a girl,” Zachary said to Daniel.
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“People have different screams, that was mi-” Daniel reasoned
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They looked back up at the entrance, it was now shorter than before. It was like the tunnel shortened because from their previous experience, the tunnel was definitely not that short, it felt like they went down 100 miles. But there was something way better in store for them, Daniel tapped their shoulders and they turned their heads.
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They looked over their shoulders to find a magnificent sight. There, standing right in front of them, was a tree, a beautiful one. It was ancient-looking with a lot of branches branching out of it to fill the empty space of the cave. Its leaves were light purple and looked untouched by the humans outside with a twisting trunk, dark purple in color. The tree swayed as a breeze that came from who knows where passed its leaves. Under this tree, was a giant pile of gold with various types of treasures among them. Their mouths were gaped open as they processed what they were looking at in front of them. James was the first to move and talk.
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“Let’s not touch any of that,” James said plainly.
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“Why ? That’s gonna at least get us 20 yachts,” Zachary said as he reached his hand out to touch a coin but Daniel slapped it.
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“James is right, we’ve seen enough movies to know that treasure like this, it’s a trap,” Daniel said as Zachary rubbed his poor hand.
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“Fine…” Zachary sighed, “so we’re just going to leave all this?”
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They walked closer to the pile, it was tempting. The coins shimmered in the beam of light provided by the sun, smiling upon them.
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“We can leave this,” James said, “but hey, check those out.”
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He pointed at the tunnels scattered around the cave’s walls. They were like gopher holes, some were big, some looked like only actual gophers can pass through, some of them even had light coming out of them.
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The children, satisfied, decided they should split up. Each of them picked their first tunnels and went in. Daniel theorized that this cave was once a bit higher than it was in the present because there were a lot of stuff that should be in a base: there were rotten rations (some oddly new), map rooms, sleeping quarters and even big common rooms.
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James bid his brothers goodbye and entered a man-sized tunnel. It was dark and damp, yet there were wooden supports so he guessed it wasn’t always like this. James hummed as he waited for himself to find a door…or anything for that matter, knocking his hands on the wooden supports every time he came across one. Finally, he saw a dim lantern flickering in the distance. It hung right next to a door, rusty and smelly. When the door flung open, dust exploded in the air making James cough and close his nose. Once the dust settled, he started slowly going around the room. The room looked like a very important room to whoever lived here once. There were rusty copper beams placed horizontally across the walls and the ceiling had weird sort of dream catchers hanging from them. 121Please respect copyright.PENANALbyzexbJdS
But what the most eye-catching thing to James was the table in the center of the room. It was a round compass. The table was made out of what looked like oak wood with a few cuts from who knows what and it had every feature of a normal compass, except for one thing, the directions. There was no N, S, W nor E. So if there were no directions, it couldn’t be a compass, right?
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James drew his hands around the table, his finger kept on moving until it elevated for a slip second. A bump. James went back to the place and felt it, it was like a hill and there were lines around which could only mean one thing, it was a button. The area was actually in the middle of the compass-looking table so it made sense. James wanted to press it, but who knows what would happen if he did, they were underground and, again, he had seen enough movies to not do that.
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Dread and Curiosity.
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Those two things were what filled James at that moment. He thought for a while but soon, curiosity won. He took a quick glance at the door and looked at the button again. He quickly pressed it and held his breath.
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For the first few seconds, nothing happened.
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“Oh,” James laughed to himself, his voice a bit wobbly, “I’d expected a near-death ex-”
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But then the dusty wooden floor began to shake.
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“Shouldn’t have said that," he said to himself.
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James held on a nearby swords holder and looked around. Dust was being shaken off the walls, ceiling and objects like a giant was shaking the room as if it were a box. James landed his gaze on the compass-table again, something must have happened to it, he had activated something. Soon enough, he would know what he activated.
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Everything stopped. Dust was now flying and gliding all over the room, ashes doing the same. James tilted his head in confusion until he saw the table.
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The entire alphabet started appearing around the edges of the compass-table and the button reappeared. That somehow told James to press it again because slowly, he walked towards the table. This is crazy, I’m crazy, words can’t just appear like that, he thought. He pulled his finger out again and pressed it again. Well that was stupid, a voice inside him said. This time, the button pushing was different, something red circled around his finger, like some sort of scanner, James drew back quickly, walking back, accidentaly bumping into the wall.
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The table started to whir. He must have activated something because the arrow of the compass, which was supposed to be leveled with the rest of the table began to rise itself up. Once it rose up a few inches above the rest of the table, it began to turn. The arrow first landed on G, U, I, D then lastly on E.
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GUIDE
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James was about to look for another button to press (he was getting used to it) because the room had become quiet but his thoughts were immediately interrupted by a bang.
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Two flaps, each of them half the table opened. The whirring came again and a kit or maybe a box started to rise up slowly, James eyes followed it. When it came to a stop, it burst itself open, James was thoroughly shocked. Birds came flying out of the box and James covered himself with his arms, once they all disappeared he finally saw what it was all for.
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A book.
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“Seriously?”
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After about 2 hours in the cave, they met up again at the tree, Daniel and Zachary with objects in their hands. They all looked both amazed. Turns out, they all had found physics-defying ancient technology in this “normal” cave.
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“-I could’ve sworn that wooden donkey’s head moved-”
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“-how though, I mean-”
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James was just as shocked as they were. How did whoever make this cave-bunker even get their hands on all this, he thought. Must’ve been really smart…pirates? He had seen a lot of cool pirate-looking stuff in this place, including a glimmering silver blade which he tried to restrain himself from touching, but ultimately failed.
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“James,” Zachary exclaimed, breaking James out of his trance.
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“Wha-yes?” he replied.
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“This place is crazy, it’s so cool but it looks so old…” Zachary said incredulously.
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They all somehow decided the rest of the “hidden treasure” wasn’t cursed but the gold they were standing next to was, but hey, it’s their story. Whatever their mindset was at the time they were firm with and swore to each other they weren’t going to use it….unless they had or maybe if there’s a good looking yacht, or….you get the point.
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“I promise I’m not gonna show this to anyone…unless-” James said but was cut of by a bump in the should by Daniel.
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“Oh, I have one! I swear I will not share this with any of those science-y people so they won’t dig this place up,” Zachary said.
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“Like Daniel,” James chuckled.
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Once they were done, they took one last look at the tree and started for the hole they went through. But Zachary stopped them mid-walk. He rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket and neatened it for everyone to see.
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“I found this hidden inside what I think was the captain’s quarters.” Zachary told them.
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It was the type of yellow you would see in a map. Its sides were ripped and it had both sharp and bent edges. It’s surface was crumpled and it smelled like reeked cheese.
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“What a wonderful piece of paper,” James said, most probably sarcastically.
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It had words written on it, Daniel spotted Jour which was French, meaning the thing was written in, well, French.
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“What is that?” Daniel asked.
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“It’s paper,” Zachary said, just realizing that sounded absolutely stupid.
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“I mean-magic paper!” he exclaimed, like a toddler who just got an early birthday present.
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They stared at him, waiting for an explanation. He realized this and quickly explained.
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“Look, when you trace your hand from one side of the parchment to the other,” Zachary said as he dragged his finger across the parchment. “It turns into a-”
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“Oh come on Zach, we just saw machines that look like they come from the future, do you really expect us to believe that piece of paper is mag-HOLY- (let’s just say this word is worthy of a slap in the face).”
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The parchment started to dissolve the words written on it and created a map from the ink that was once used to write words. Zachary and Daniel had their mouths ajar, what they were seeing was absolutely awesome. Zachary could tell by the look of his brothers’ faces that thought this was a really small example of magic, millions of questions were already rushing through their brain. He felt the same.
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“No…” Daniel said in denial.
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“Yes,” Zachary grinned, “and I thought we might follow it, you know, might be our first real ‘adventure’,”
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He ripped the map into three pieces and handed one to each of them, that shocked Daniel for a bit until he realized what it was for.
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“We’ll share it,” Zachary said, “we can’t keep all this to ourselves, we’ll tell someone eventually but I think it might be fun to first find it ourselves.”
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“That’s very far though, I think that’s in the Isle of Man,” Daniel said, “guess we’ll have to make a bigger boat than the on we made when we were 9, remember that floating wooden plank?”
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The brothers laughed as they started walking to the entrance.
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“Did anyone bring anything?” Zachary asked.
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“I got this telescope,” Daniel said.
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“I got a book,” James said, to the surprise of his brothers.
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“Wait, you two actually got stuff?” Zachry said as they nodded. “Wait here, I want to get something too.”
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“But you have a ma-”
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“I ripped it remember? For all of us!” Zachary shouted, running towards the hole he went through.
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After Zachary came back with a whistle, they climbed up the steep incline to the mouth of the cave. After 10 minutes of tiring climbing, they stumbled out of it and saw that it was morning already. The seagulls were cawing, the waves splashed the shores and they were standing under the shade of a young coconut tree. They decided to stay at the beach for a while and talk about what they each had done in the Wonder Cave (that was what they decided to call it).
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People were already sitting near them, some reading books, some tanning under the sun, not knowing that beneath them lies a cave full of mind-blowing stuff. James and Zachary began to predict how they were going to sail all the way to the Isle of Man, even though they knew it wasn’t possible.
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“Maybe the cave will give us a ship?” Daniel suggested, “Hey, maybe even a submarine. You know what, who knows what that cave can give us at this point.”
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“An F-16 Fighting Falcon jet…” Zachary said, a dreamy look on his face.
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Even after this crazy statement, James made no remark. Something about what he found intrigued him. Back in the cave, the evil compass-table made him wait a good 3 minutes in suspense only to give him a dusty book. He looked at the book in his hands. 121Please respect copyright.PENANAEQOBoY5Pt9
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It was very soft, even though it was covered in bits of rock and dust. Something told him that that book was special, just like the map. If the map got activated when you drag your finger across it, what made this book any different?
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“Am I right James?” Zachary asked.
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No reply.
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“James?” Zachary repeated.
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“Oh yeah, yeah, definitely.” James said.
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“You just agreed to me saying that cave was built by crazed, psychotic monkey-aliens,” Zachary said.
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How did their conversation even reach that point.
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Something made James hide the book from his brothers. Something told him he had to open it, like it was luring him. Whether it worked or it was James’ own initiative, he had made his mind.
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The book was to be opened.
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