“These tracks look too big for crocodiles, right?” Jay asked, inspecting them. “Plus, I think these are paw prints.”

“Way too big,” agreed Mal.

“Great,” said Carlos. “Huge scary monster ahead.”

They went deeper into the cave, moving forward cautiously.

Then, from somewhere in the darkness, a faint sound drifted through the cave, almost like the snuffling of an animal of some kind.

“Stop it, Jay!” said Mal, whirling to face him just as he was about to make that snuffling noise again.

“Couldn’t resist,” said Jay.

He offered Carlos a high five, but Carlos just shook his head. “Not cool, man. Not cool. We need to find the Poisoned Lake,” he said, studying one of the maps from Yen Sid. As far as he could tell, the body of water that surrounded the Toxic Tree with the Fruit of Venom should be the first of the underground lands they would pass. “I wonder how the tree can grow. I mean with all this darkness, how can anything live down here?”

“Maybe it feeds on poison from the lake,” said Evie.

“For that matter, how can there be a lake underneath the ocean?”

“We’re underneath the ocean floor, obviously. Plus, everything is made by magic down here,” Mal said. “Don’t you remember?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” said Carlos as he stared at the tree. “All the books said that the magic creates the ideal location for each talisman. Okay, let’s go this way.”

They followed the path as it led them farther down into the earth, so steep at times that they were almost sliding. The tunnel narrowed and then widened again. Some passages were flooded, and they had to roll up their pants to cross. Eventually, the cavern grew so enormous that they could no longer see the top of the cave. They kept walking until the path split in two directions.

Just then, they heard that strange snuffling sound again. Carlos looked petrified, but Mal slapped a hand on Jay’s mouth in annoyance. “Stop!”

“Okay, okay, it’s hard to resist. It’s boring down here,” Jay said, his voice muffled behind her hand.

“Where to?” Mal asked Carlos.

Carlos looked down at the map. “It doesn’t say.” He studied the two tunnels in front of them. One of the paths was covered with the same large tracks they’d noticed earlier, but the other was clear. “I don’t know.”

“Hmm,” said Mal. “The lake is poisonous, right? Whatever lives down here would know that, so instead of following its tracks, maybe we should choose the opposite direction. We need to find the one place the big guy doesn’t go.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Carlos, who wasn’t looking forward to meeting a large animal—or whatever it was—underground.

They set off down the undisturbed path. After walking a few feet, the flashlight went out, but Jay knocked it against the stone and it flickered back to life. The cave was smaller here, just big enough for them to pass through.

“I think we’re close to water now,” said Mal. “The air is damp.”

“And that smell,” said Evie. “Talk about toxic!” Carlos was already pinching his nose and Mal and Evie did the same. Jay pulled off his beanie and held it over his face. They kept moving, until they heard the sound of water as it washed against sand. It had to be the Poisoned Lake.

They broke into a run, Jay shining the light and pointing it at the end of the cavern.

A large, deep purple lake bubbled with toxic gas. In the middle of the water was a small rocky island where one lone apple tree stood, its fruit ripe and red and luscious. The four of them stared at it, not quite believing what they were looking at. It was impossible to think that anything grew underground, and that, after all that walking, they had actually found one of the most dangerous objects in the world.

“Okay, let’s figure out how to get me over there,” said Evie, rolling up her sleeves. The fruit was her mother’s talisman.

“We need to find a way to make a raft,” said Carlos. “Maybe with some of the branches we saw back there, and anything else we can find.”

They walked back into the dark tunnel, searching for anything they could use to build a boat, when a strange sound echoed all around, distant but growing louder by the second.

Snuffle, grunt.

Mal ignored Jay. She hated it when he goofed off like that.

Grunt, snuffle.

Much louder now.

Snuffle, grunt.

The snuffling and grunting noise was so loud it was hard to concentrate. Mal had had enough. “JAY! I SAID STOP DOING THAT!”

“Yeah, man,” said Carlos as he rolled the map back up and shoved it in his pocket. “Lay off on the sound effects.”

“Seriously,” said Evie, with a toss of her hair. “You’re getting on my nerves.”

As they turned around to confront their friend, they realized he wasn’t standing behind them anymore. His flashlight was on the floor. “Jay?” Mal called uncertainly.

Jay appeared from the darkness, carrying a bunch of dead branches in his arms. “What?” he asked as the sound grew louder and louder. “I left the light here for you guys.”

“Jay’s not making that sound!” Evie screamed. “RUN!”

Carlos grabbed the flashlight, and they sprinted back toward the lake. But something was blocking the passage. Something large and hairy with huge fanged teeth.

Snuffle, grunt.

Grunt, snuffle.

The four of them ran from the creature and hid, huddling together in a nearby recess, trying not to make any noise as whatever that thing was that was snuffling and grunting moved away. It sounded awful, like some kind of hideous monster. Evie shivered, hoping it would move away without discovering them. She knew she was first up against her talisman, and wanted to get it over with as soon as she could.

“What is it?” Carlos whispered, shaking.

Mal stuck her head out of the hollow to see if she could see it. “It’s big and…pink. Like a huge cat, or a tiger, I can’t tell.”

“A huge pink tiger, great; we’re scared we’re going to get eaten by a creature that looks like a puff of cotton candy,” said Jay.

The snuffling and grunting sound faded.

Evie exhaled. “Okay, let’s figure out a way to get across the lake.”