This Was Our Pact

Chapter 4 begins with a wordless, frameless, two-page spread that depicts the entrance to Madam Majestic’s cave. The platform the boys are traveling on is tiny in this enormous space, and it throws a small shadow against the light blue and white clouds that roll through the bottom of the drawing. Inset frames at the bottom of the page offer close-ups that encapsulate Ben’s reaction to the cave entrance: On the right is the cave’s entrance, glowing with pink light, and on the left is Ben’s alarmed face, two pink rectangles in his glasses reflecting the light coming from the cave.

The boys land at the cave entrance and enter; the visuals’ colors shift from dark blue to light pink inside the cave. There is an ornate door bearing the name “Madam Majestic.” Since neither boy wants to knock, they agree to do so together. At their knock, the door swings open and they step into a large interior room depicted in dark blues and purples. Madam Majestic shouts from another room, mockingly asking if they need a map to find her, as well. The boys are alarmed when she warns them to stay out of one of the other rooms, as “the last thing [she needs] tonight is someone dying up there” (119).