Selina squeezed her cross in her hand as she looked around nervously at the night-shaded, disused carnival rides. “Are you sure this is OK?” she asked the others.

“It’ll be fine, Sel, relax, would ya? I mean, we’re solving a mystery here.” Helen replied. Helen was a sheepdog, a thick, powerful Briard with long hair half in her eyes, and Selina’s best friend. There were the usual jokes with Selina being a sheep, but they had learned to ignore them.

Selina released the cross back onto her curly fur. “I know that no one owns this place anymore, but the ‘No Trespassing’ signs just bug me,” she admitted. She offered a silent prayer through Saint Sylvester, for their safety in this.

Jack rolled his eyes. The strong, handsome wolf had dragged them along, all six of them. She wasn’t sure about everyone, really. Jim, Jack’s younger brother, had come along because Jack was babysitting him. Selina supposed they weren’t doing anything illegal or dangerous, really, but an abandoned amusement park probably wasn’t the best place for Jim. The other two were Ryan, the class nerd and a gecko, and Mia, the goth raven. Selina didn’t hang out with them. Ryan was smart, but kind of odd, really, more interested in science than the church. As for Mia, she read a lot of books about the supernatural and the like. Others called her a devil worshipper or worse, but it truth, the worst thing Selina had seen her do was smoke.

“Here we are,” Jack was saying. “Six years ago, six kids took a roller coaster ride into here and never came out again. We’re just going to walk the tracks and look.” Selina shivered. That had to be just a rumour, didn’t it? Six of them, too. Selina crossed herself at the number.

The ride’s sign had deteriorated enough to be almost unrecognizable, only a faded red dragon head and ruined letters remained. Selina glanced at it from behind Helen, last in line. Jack had the light at the front, then Jim behind, Mia, Ryan and then Helen. The floor was concrete, and their footsteps echoed in the darkness. Tracks and mechanisms were rusted and the whole place felt ancient. “I can’t believe you talked me into this,” she whispered to Helen.

“C’mon, we’ll be legends, and I need you with me.”

The tunnel passed through textured concrete and felt claustrophobic as they went deeper. It seemed to stretch longer than it should. “Shouldn’t we be coming out the other side by now?” Selina thought, and then there was the light.

It didn’t come from the front, where Jack was, but from all directions at once, blue and ethereal and weird. She screamed, and heard the screams of the others as the floor seemed to fall away and they fell into a glowing void. Bright yellow rushed up to meet them and they crashed with a thump into…sand? Why was it so hot? Where were they?

“Welcome, adventurers!”