"You all spoil this brat rotten. She's going to grow up into a monster," David said, moving away from the crib.
"Are you done so I can get back to my explanation?" Uncle Wendell said. He waited a moment and then continued. "The first thing we do is roll the largest rock we can find in front of the cave. Instead of putting it over the real entrance, we use it as a red herring. And there will be a nasty surprise waiting for anyone who tries to move it. Now the real entrance we'll block off with smaller rocks that should blend into the scenery to throw anyone off."
Molly looked around the front of the cave for the real entrance Uncle Wendell had mentioned. She tried to pull aside a smaller boulder about six feet away, but it wouldn't move. Veronica came over to help, the two of them straining to move the boulder aside. Behind it they found only solid rock. "This isn't it, honey," Veronica said. She patted Molly on the head. "We'll have to find something to move the big one aside."
"No," Molly said. "This is it. I know it." She closed her eyes until she was back in the crib again listening to the grownups discuss how to protect the fountain.
"What if they find your real entrance?" David asked.
"The rocks are only the first layer," Uncle Wendell said. "Behind that is another door. This one is a little trickier to open. It will take some very precise carving, but we can create a lock of sorts for the second door."
Molly ran her hands along the face of the cave wall until she found a lump. "Pull it out all the way, turn it once to the right, twice to the left, and then all the way around," she repeated the words Uncle Wendell had said as she did this. She heard a creak followed by Veronica gasping.
"Molly, you did it!" Veronica hugged her so tightly Molly thought she would suffocate. "You opened the door. Now we can go inside and find the fountain."
"Wait," Molly cautioned. "There's more."
"Trick doors won't be enough," Aunt Samantha said. "We'll need some booby traps inside, just in case. Prudence can give us some black thread to use for tripwires around the cave ready to bring rocks down on any uninvited guests."
"Couldn't that hurt someone?" Aunt Prudence asked.
"That's the point," David growled.
"I don't like this," Becky said. "There's almost as much chance we'd get caught by these traps as an intruder. What if there's an emergency?"
"We'll have to take that chance," Aunt Samantha said. "As these kids get older you don't think one of them will go snooping around that cave and get ideas? The last thing we need is for someone like Helena to become another Reverend Crane."