blimey!” he exclaimed as he moved the beam of the torch along the walls, which were covered with what looked like the same ancient Greek script they had seen in the first room. “Would you look at that, Theo?” he said, fascinated.

But when he glanced at her, she didn’t appear to share his enthusiasm. Instead, Theo stood pensively in the cavern’s entryway with a fearful look on her face. “I really don’t like this place,” she whispered, her eyes never leaving the tunnel on the far side of the room.

But Ian was too distracted by the cavern to worry about her. He continued to bob the beam of the torch all about the cavern when suddenly something on the ground reflected the light.

“What’s that?” he exclaimed, racing across the large space to stand above a shiny metallic object. “Theo!” he called as he dropped to his knees. In front of him, half buried in the chalky floor of the cavern, lay a small silver box with ornate engravings. “It’s real treasure!”

He heard Theo come over to him, but when he glanced up at her, he noticed that her eyes were still warily darting to the tunnel leading deeper into the cliffs. “Can you get it out?” she asked him.

Ian set his compass down and tried to get his fingers around the edges of the box, but it was firmly planted in the ground. Thinking fast, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his Swiss Army knife. He opened the largest blade. “This could be an ancient artifact,” he said smartly as he chipped away at the chalk, careful to avoid scratching the silver box. “It’s best not to disturb it too much. We don’t want to damage it.”

Just then there was a distinct noise from somewhere deep within the tunnel opposite. It was lower and more menacing than a dog’s growl but had the same animal cadence. The noise made Ian pause and catch his breath. “What was that?” he whispered, his senses immediately alert.

“That’s what I heard earlier,” Theo whispered back, her hand gripping his shoulder. “And there! Do you smell that?”

Ian did smell something. It was a foul scent, a mixture of sulfur and something worse, like rotting meat. “Some animal’s died down here,” he said, but a moment later the growl echoed through their cavern again.

“Or something killed the animal,” Theo said, gripping Ian’s shoulder even more tightly. “And that something’s still here.”

Ian glanced back at the box gleaming in the bright light of his torch. It looked like it was worth some money, and for a boy who had nothing, leaving behind a treasure box was out of the question. “Come on,” he said quickly, scraping again at the chalk with his knife. “Help me get this out of the ground.”

“Leave it!” Theo whispered. “Ian, we’ve got to get out of here!”

Ian looked up into her frightened green eyes and felt a pang in his heart. “You go,” he said, handing her the torch. Then he dug into his pocket and pulled out a much smaller pocket torch. “Take the larger light and go. I’ll be right behind you as soon as I free this box.”

Suddenly, there was another growl, even more menacing and quickly followed by the sounds of furious digging and rocks tumbling. Theo took the larger torch but hesitated when Ian put the pocket torch in his mouth and began to jab his knife with great effort around the edges of the box. A moment later she had dropped down beside him and was helping him by pulling up on the treasure as he scratched at the chalk. “We’ve got to hurry!” she whispered, the smell of sulfur and decay filling their nostrils as they both heard the echo of more rocks tumbling from the second tunnel.

Slowly, inch by inch, the treasure came away from its earthen cradle, but it still wasn’t completely free. Ian heard a sound like a small cave-in coming from the darkness of the western tunnel, and he felt Theo shiver with fear. “We’ve got to go!” she insisted. Letting go of the box, she got to her feet and tugged at Ian’s shirt. “Leave it!”

But Ian wasn’t about to give up. His brow wet with perspiration, he gripped the sides of the artifact and pulled up mightily, and it finally gave way as he fell over backward. A howl louder and more horrible than any he’d ever heard before tore along the walls of the cavern. Ian