Breathless: The Adventures of A Gymnast (Marci Book 1) Read online

  move in an unusual fashion. Was it trying to speak?

  Although no audible sounds were heard, vivid

  images and feelings slowly formed in Marci’s mind.

  She had always had a healthy imagination but this

  was somehow different. Without any effort on her

  part, a wave of thoughts and emotions gently

  flowed into her. It was as if the spider communicated

  telepathically, through mere thoughts.

  "I am a spider," came the response. “We are

  made for places such as this.”

  "What was that?" Marci inquired to herself.

  Had the spider really spoken? Or was it just her

  imagination running away with her again? just

  then another stream of thoughts flowed into her

  mind.

  "Yes, it was I who spoke. Did you think the

  power of communication only belonged to humans?"

  By now, Marci was astounded. Amazed, she

  sat in disbelief staring at the spider. Every-one

  knows that spiders can't speak. How could this one

  have spoken? She moved closer to see if there was

  anything unusual about the spider something special

  that might give it the ability to communicate.

  Like all spiders its body was segmented into two

  parts, a cephalothorax and an abdomen. Marci paid

  particular attention to the spider's chelicera, or

  mouth, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Its

  mouth was also segmented into two parts. It had a

  hairy stout base for the bottom, and for the top,

  two long, sharp, black fangs. Other than being extremely

  large there was nothing abnormal about her.

  With no physical evidence that the spider had

  actually spoken, Marci was a little embarrassed for

  even considering it a possibility.

  "What are you thinking Marci? Spiders can’t

  talk," she silently assured herself.

  "You're just making the whole thing up in

  your head."

  Again, more thoughts flowed into her, “ Are

  you?" it interrogated. ,,Why do I even bother to

  speak to you? You humans are all alike, too scared

  to listen to anything other than yourselves.,,

  With that, the spider turned and began a slow

  climb back to its hiding place. It had said enough

  and would say no more. Though still not sure that

  the spider could actually communicate, Marci

  suppressed her inhibitions.

  "Wait a minute you!” she thought angrily.

  "Who are you calling scared? I’m not scared of a

  spider." The little girl insisted.

  Upon hearing the girl’s thoughts, the spider

  stopped its ascent, then turned and faced Marci

  again. When it did so, all initial doubt disappeared.

  Miraculous as it may sound, she final had conclusive evidence that

  the spider could understand her and vice versa. At the revelation

  Marci gasped and put her hands over her mouth, and leaned back

  in amazement. The spider interrupted her surprise.

  "Are you sure you’re not scared?” teased giant the spider,

  as it waved two of its legs in front of her face.

  "Don’t my six eyes and eight legs frighten you?"

  Regaining self-control she spoke, “Not at all. What do you

  think I’m, a sissy?” Marci accidentally whispered aloud.

  Craig overheard Marci’s last statement.

  "How’s it goin’, Rat? Are you doin, all right over there?”

  he whispered, in low airy tones.

  "I'm fine!” She spoke into the darkness. “I’m just talkin’ to

  this smart aleck spider.

  With little reason to believe she was serious,

  Craig laughed and then fell silent.

  "You are not frightened? Then you are a rare

  human indeed," said the spider.

  Marci smiled, "Tell me something I don’t

  know," she replied jokingly.

  Changing the subject, the spider interjected,

  "why have you come down here? And what are

  you looking for?"

  "We're hiding," answered the girl.

  "Hiding? You mean from the two men on the

  stairs?" the spider questioned.

  "Yeah! Are they coming?" Marci fearfully replied.

  "They are coming,” said the spider confidently.

  "How do you know they're coming?” she

  queried in her mind. "Can you see them?”

  "No! I cannot see them, but to me their movements

  are like a violent storm, and each step like a

  crash of thunder. I can hear my sisters and brothers

  on the stairs speaking about them. They say that

  these men are very rude. They care only for themselves.

  I have seen humans like them before. We

  call them dark clouds because wherever they go

  they bring destruction. It will not go well for you.

  Would you like some help?"

  Marci hesitated for a moment. Being a strong minded,

  independent little girl she hated the idea

  of asking for help from anyone.

  "Besides, what kind of help can a spider give

  me?" she wondered.

  Though this spider was indeed one of the

  largest she had ever seen it was still only a spider.

  It was no match for Rob and his pudgy accomplice.

  On the other hand if a spider can talk, there's no

  telling what else it might be able to do. Finally realizing she

  had few options, she decided to accept

  the offer.

  "Yes, I'd like some help” she reluctantly admitted.

  "Good!" said the spider ,"I am pleased you've

  gotten over your human pride. If you would like

  my help then I will help you. At the back of my

  tunnel is a trick wall which slides to the right. It

  leads outside.'

  "Why didn't you tell me before?" asked

  Marci.

  "Because you never asked, and besides, I

  wanted to see you squirm," said the spider with a

  flash of its teeth.

  Marci interpreted its show of dark fangs to

  be an attempted smile, so she smiled back'

  "They're almost down here," warned the

  creature. "You'd better hurry."

  Marci slowly backed away from the web. On

  her hands and knees she crawled past her brother,

  all the way to the back of the tunnel. As quietly as

  she could, not wanting her brother to realize what

  she was doing for fear he'd laugh, she placed her

  hand firmly against the stone wall and pulled hard.

  But there was nothing, the wall would not move'

  Through the darkness the spider sensed the trouble.

  "Remember," emanated a message in the distance.

  "The door slides to the right. It hasn't been

  opened in years, so it won't be easy."

  "No problem," thought the gymnast "I can

  handle it."

  Realizing she would need Craig's help, but

  not quite sure what to tell him, the little girl hesitantly

  whispered to her brother in the dark.

  "Hey Mop,” I think there’s an exit at the back

  of the tunnel."

  "I've been back there already,” replied Craig.

  "There's nothing back there but a brick wall.”

  "I know it looks like a brick wall, but I heard

  some noises coming from the other side. I think it’s

 
; a secret passage,” Marci countered.

  There was a long pause. Craig, unable to see

  Marci's face because of the darkness, sat in disbelief.

  Was the pressure too much for her? Had his

  sister gone crazy? What was she thinking?

  As far as lying goes, Marci wasn’t very good

  at it. Though she knew her idea sounded totally

  unbelievable, she didn't have time to formulate a

  better one. Besides, it still sounded better than, ”the

  spider told me so.”

  From out of the darkness a voice echoed from

  the foot of the stairs, “Hey! I think there’s light

  down here. I can kinda see some stuff.”

  "Come on," said Marci, “they’re almost here.

  We have to at least try it. What do we have to lose?”

  It was a persuasive argument. With the arrival

  of the criminals, it didn't take much to convince

  him. The children grabbed hold of the stony

  wall and pushed and pulled as hard as they could.

  The wall scraping against the floor slid two inches

  to the right and then stopped. They tried again but

  to no avail. From lack of use the sliding wall was

  probably stuck, or even worse, broken.

  The shuffling of feet grew louder as the villains

  approached in the dark. Craig, feeling responsible

  for Marci's safety, had to think of something

  to keep her out of harms way, in case the situation

  got violent.

  "Good going, Rat! It does move,” whispered

  Craig. "You stay back here and find another way

  to open it. I'll guard the entrance. When you get it

  open call me."

  With his stone in hand, Craig positioned himself

  close to the entrance and waited.

  Through the darkness the spider watched as Craig

  moved closer to the entrance. From her web she

  spoke, the silent language of spiders.

  "What are you doing? Why are you still

  here?"

  "It's stuck," said Marci, "I can’t open it"'

  "Can’t?" repeated the spider, "what is that?"

  "It means it's too hard, it's impossible,” replied

  Marci in despair.

  "Impossible," echoed the spider forcefully'

  "Where I come from there is no such word' I have

  only heard words like that spoken by humans. You

  rely on brute force, and when that doesn't work,

  you whine by saying, ‘I can't do it, it's impossible'

  It is possible, and you have no choice' Get through

  that wall ," said the spider with an air of gravity.

  For a moment the spider's demands began

  to remind the little girl of her gymnastic coach. Her

  coach, a young woman of 27 , was a former member

  of the U.S. national gymnastics team. A petite

  yet surprisingly strong woman, her teacher stood

  about five feet one inch in height. She had long

  cherry blond hair, and penetrating green eyes, like

  those of a cat. Nicknamed "The Lion" by her students

  because her hair sometimes settled around

  her shoulders like a lion's mane, she was a woman

  of few words.

  "We are a team of winners," she was fond of

  saying before each meet. "We win because we don't

  focus on the negatives."

  Marci paused in careful thought as she remembered

  the words of her coach. The spider was

  right! It was possible and she had only one choice.

  The wicked men who were approaching were not

  coming for fun and games. They had chased the

  children into the castle for one reason and one reason

  only, to keep their crimes a secret. And from

  the looks of Rob, Marci suspected he would be willing

  to do anything to maintain his anonymity.

  In deep contemplation she squinted her eyes

  and pursed her lips. When she arrived at a possible

  solution, she transmitted a message to the

  spider.

  "O.K., O.K.” said Marci, "Stop nagging. I'll

  get it open."

  The little girl carefully felt along the wall until

  she located what appeared to be its weakest point.

  Then lying on her back with her feet up by the weak

  point, she yelled as loud as she could simultaneously

  kicking the wall again and again. The ancient

  stone cracked and then crumbled filling the

  passage with clouds of dust. Her efforts produced

  a sizable hole. Craig, hearing Marci’s yell, raced to

  the back to see what had happened.

  " Are you all right?,,

  "Yeah! Fine. I made a hole. quick, let’s go,”

  said Marci trying to ignore the pain in her ankle.

  The passage, partially filled with leaves and twigs,

  slowed the children's progress. The villain also attracted

  by the scream, stood at the entrance to the

  spider's tunnel.

  "They're in here!” said Rob,” you go in and

  check it out. I’ll stay here and make sure they

  haven't tricked us into going the wrong way or set

  any traps."

  His assistant stared at all the insects dangling

  from the massive cobweb in fear. Then embarrassed, he admitted,

  "I'm too scared. I can’t do it. Why don’t you

  go in? I'll watch your back.”

  Rob rolled his eyes in disbelief.

  "I can't believe you’re such a coward. How

  do you find the courage to even get out of bed every

  morning?" he grumbled.

  Rob nervously placed both hands into the

  center of the web and ripped it asunder. The spider

  was nowhere in sight. Though he looked, he

  could not find her. She witnessed the whole scene

  from the safety of her hiding place. From a large

  crack in the ceiling of the tunnel she watched Rob

  rip through her web in a frenzy.

  Then, realizing the children would need more

  time to escape, the spider attacked the villains.

  From her hiding place she sprang and descended

  on a silken line landing on top of Rob’s head. When

  she bit him, Rob screamed and hurled himself backwards.

  At the front of the tunnel he jumped about

  while hitting his head with his hands. His associate,

  watched from a distance in shock.

  "What was that? Why are you hitting yourself?

  Did you forget to take your medication,” he

  asked.

  "I don’t take medication!” Rob thundered

  angrily. "something bit me!”

  Running his fingers through his hair, Rob

  sneered as a leg from a large spider fell to the

  ground.

  "One thing’s for sure; it won’t bite anyone

  else. Now I’m going back in there and you’re comin’

  with me! You got it?" he demanded. The assistant,

  more frightened of Rob than of the spider, agreed.

  Chapter 9

  Fight or Flight

  Crawling on their hands and knees, the children

  burrowed their way like moles through a

  mound of crinkly dried leaves And dirt. As they

  continued to dig and push their way up the narrow

  passage they came upon a door made of wood.

  Shoving with his hand, Craig forced the cellar door

  open. With its wood old and rotting, it opened in a

&nbs
p; shower of splinters and dirt. A surge of wind

  streamed into the cavity, filling the void with the

  honey-sweet smell of lilacs which grew nearby. It

  was the children's first breath of fresh air since entering

  the castle. Energized by the promise of clean

  ai4, the children eagerly pushed their way up and

  through the opening. On top, they stopped to rest

  for a moment and survey their environment. At the

  bottom of the crag following the curves of the

  Rhine, rested train 27.It looked like a large snake

  stretching its self out for a nap. There was still time;

  the train hadn't moved. The broken remnants of

  the cellar door crackled and snapped under their

  feet, like wooden chips on a playground and the

  sky up above was dim and cloudy.

  Since neither child wore a watch, the kids estimated

  the time from the position of the sun. They

  thought it to be roughly five in the evening. If their

  estimate proved to be correct! the children had been

  in the castle for nearly two hours. While resting,

  Marci's ankle began to swell and throb with pain.

  Having had similar sprains in gymnastic, she could

  tell this one wasn't very bad and knew exactly what

  to do. In order to keep it from getting worse, she

  walked as normally as possible instead of hobbling

  on the ball of her foot. The sprain then became only

  a minor inconvenience.

  As a gymnast she had competed while in

  pain, but only on a few occasions. And as a result

  the injuries forced her to do the skills correctly in

  order to avoid Pain.

  "It should not hurt you," her coach would

  tell her. "lf it hurts, it means you are either doing

  the skill wrong or your injury is too severe."

  Once, in a thrilling finish to her floor routine

  at an invitational, she pulled out all the stops.

  Springing into the air she performed a dramatic

  yet very risky, one and a half twist punch front. It

  was, as her teammates noted, "one of the most exciting

  combinations" they had ever seen at their

  Ievel. Her ending, though breathtaking to behold,

  had a minor problem with timing. As she was

  punching into the front, her ankle rolled to the side

  and bounced off the floor with a crunch. When she

  hobbled back to the bench, her coach carefully inspected

  the injury.

  "How does it feel? Do you want to continue?"

  asked her coach while wiping tears from Marci's