Chapter 06

    Max spotted Banshee Cave a few hundred meters away. He hurried to its entrance. He controlled the axe with his mind: Illuminate the cave! Instantly a dazzling beam shot out of the axe. Max closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he found the cave was brightly lit by thousands of torches. He rushed inside. He was eager to find the fourth map. He ran into a long hallway, which had paintings on the walls. One of the paintings was a ghost coming out of a bottle. A banshee! Max thought to himself. He discovered that some white letters were written on the frame of the picture. He read them out loud, “Painted by Mark Spirit in…1096?” Max opened his mouth and panted. “If the paintings in the cave are so old,” he mumbled, “how old must this cave be?”
    Max went around, looking at the other paintings. They all had white letters carved on the frames. “Painted by Andrews Ghost in 971; Painted by Winston Grave in 733; Painted by Carl Undertaker in…104.” Max trembled with fear. He did not dare to stay there any longer. He sprinted down the long hallway, and soon found himself in a peculiar room. He looked around and saw a wooden throne in the middle of the room. The throne was large. It had jewels encrusted in the wood. It must be the throne for the ruler of the cave! Max thought. Then he saw a cupboard beside the throne. When he opened it, he gave a horrible cry. A human skull, with some bones scattered around it! Max was literally frightened out of his wits. He charged out of the room and dashed into what looked like a dining hall, with tables and chairs scattered across it.
    Max heard voices coming from the hall where he had seen the paintings. The cave was basically empty, so echoes spread far away. Max quickly hid under a table. Using his mind to control the axe, he told it to form a shield. He watched in fright as a woman came inside. She had dark hair and blue eyes, with a golden necklace around her neck. Max nearly screamed when he found that the woman had no feet! Then he saw more footless women floating into the room. They sat down and the woman that first came in started talking, “My sisters! Greetings! I am calling a meeting here today, because we want to gain our lives once more! Now, a brief selfintroduction. My name is Madame Horror. The ruler of Banshee Cave. And we will gain our lives once more by catching the little thief that goes by the name of Max! Oh, that wretched boy! He used his axe and killed two of the monster fish tribe’s guardians!” All the other banshees nodded in agreement.
    Max was so scared that he began to tremble! Madame Horror saw that the tablecloth was shaking. So she lifted it and saw a frightened Max curled in a ball. Madame Horror screamed, “The little pest is under the table! Get him!” The banshees all charged forward, hoping to get Max. Max thought hard: Freeze the banshees! An orange beam shot out of the axe, and the banshees froze there, as still as statues. Max ran past them, dashed into the hall, and hid behind a curtain, trying to think of a plan. But he could not come up with one. Just then, he heard the banshees shrieking at the end of the hall. They had found a way to break the spell. “And they are coming to get me!” Max slowly lifted the curtain. “I’ve got to face them!” he thought. He ventured out into the hall. Madame Horror and two other banshees saw him, and rushed ahead to get him. Max thought: Attack! A red beam shot out of the axe, and struck a banshee. It went right through it, but failed to hurt it! The banshee giggled, “You can’t kill us! We’re already dead! Hahaha!” Madame Horror let out an earpiercing scream. The other banshees started screaming, too. Max covered his ears tight, but it was no use, for the sound was too loud. Suddenly he remembered the first picture that he saw in the hallway. A banshee coming out of a bottle! Maybe a bottle could contain a banshee! Max thought. So, with his mind, he told his axe to get a bottle. A purple beam shot out of the axe. Then he saw a bottle floating in the beam. Yes! Max told the axe to use the bottle to contain the banshees with his thoughts. A green beam shot out of the axe. The banshees screamed, “No! No!” But it was all too late. Every banshee in the cave was sucked into the bottle.
    Max cheered. But he soon realized that the banshees could easily come out of the bottle. So he quickly found a wooden cork and plugged it into the bottle’s opening.
    Max found the fourth piece of map on a table. He put the big piece of map and the small one together. Red words showed on the map: “You must go to Werewolf Swamp for your next piece of map. Good luck!”
Max was excited. He carried his axe and stepped onto the red brick road again, heading for Werewolf Swamp.