23 - Return of the Mummy Page 6

  Dr. Fielding.

  As he stepped into the moonlight, I caught the strange expression on his face. His tiny black eyes were wide and seemed to be rolling around crazily in his head. His eyebrows twitched. His mouth was twisted open. He seemed to be breathing hard.

  Dr. Fielding brushed himself off with his hands and began walking away from the pyramid. He was half-walking, half-staggering, taking long, quick strides with his lanky legs.

  “But—where’s Daddy?” Sari whispered.

  Leaning out from the rocks, I could see the pyramid opening clearly. No light flickered. No sign of Uncle Ben.

  “He—he isn’t coming out!” Sari stammered.

  And before I could react, Sari leaped out from our hiding place behind the stones—and stepped into Dr. Fielding’s path.

  “Dr. Fielding,” she cried loudly, “where is my dad?”

  I pushed myself away from the stones and hurried after Sari. I could see Dr. Fielding’s eyes spinning wildly. He didn’t answer her question.

  “Where is my dad?” Sari repeated shrilly.

  Dr. Fielding acted as if he didn’t see Sari. He stepped past her, walking stiffly, awkwardly, his arms straight down.

  “Dr. Fielding—?” Sari called after him.

  He hurried through the darkness toward the row of tents.

  Sari turned back to me, her features tight with fear. “He’s done something to Daddy!” she cried. “I know he has!”

  19

  I turned back to the pyramid opening. Still dark and silent.

  The only sound now was the howling of the wind around the stone pyramid wall.

  “Dr. Fielding totally ignored me!” Sari cried, her face revealing her anger. “He stormed past me as if I weren’t here!”

  “I—I know,” I stammered weakly.

  “And did you see the look on his face?” she demanded. “So evil. So totally evil!”

  “Sari—” I started. “Maybe—”

  “Gabe, we have to go find Daddy!” Sari interrupted. She grabbed my arm and started pulling me to the pyramid opening. “Hurry!”

  “No, Sari, wait!” I insisted, tugging out of her grasp. “We can’t go stumbling around the pyramid in the dark. We’ll just get lost. We’ll never find Uncle Ben!”

  “We’ll go back to the tent and get lights,” she replied. “Quick, Gabe—”

  I raised a hand to stop her. “Wait here, Sari,” I instructed. “Watch for your dad. Chances are, he’ll be climbing out in a few moments. I’ll run and get some flashlights.”

  Staring at the dark opening, she started to argue. But then she changed her mind and agreed to my plan.

  My heart pounding, I ran all the way back to the tent. I stopped at the tent opening, and gazed down the row of tents, searching for Dr. Fielding.

  No sign of him.

  In the tent, I grabbed up two flashlights. Then I went hurtling back to the pyramid. Please, I begged silently as I ran. Please be out of the pyramid, Uncle Ben. Please be safe.

  But as I frantically made my way over the sand, I could see Sari standing by herself. Even from a distance, I could see her frightened expression as she paced tensely back and forth in front of the pyramid opening.

  Uncle Ben, where are you? I wondered. Why haven’t you come out of the pyramid? Are you okay?

  Sari and I didn’t say a word. There was no need.

  We clicked on the flashlights, then made our way into the pyramid opening. It seemed much steeper than I remembered. I nearly lost my balance, lowering myself to the tunnel floor.

  Our lights crisscrossed over the dirt floor. I raised mine to the low ceiling. Keeping the light high, I led the way through the curving tunnel.

  Creeping along slowly, I trailed one hand against the wall to steady myself. The wall felt soft and crumbly. Sari kept on my heels, her bright beam of light playing over the floor in front of our feet.

  She stopped suddenly as the tunnel curved into a small, empty chamber. “How do we know we’re going in the right direction?” she asked, her voice a quivering whisper.

  I shrugged, breathing hard. “I thought you knew your way,” I murmured.

  “I’ve only been down here with Daddy,” she replied, her eyes over my shoulders, searching the empty chamber.

  “We’ll keep going until we find him,” I told her, forcing myself to sound braver than I felt.

  She stepped in front of me, shining the light over the chamber walls. “Daddy!” she shouted. “Daddy? Can you hear me?”

  Her voice echoed down the tunnel. Even the echo sounded frightened.

  We froze in place and listened for a reply.

  Silence.

  “Come on,” I urged. I had to lower my head to step into the next narrow tunnel.

  Where did it lead? Were we heading toward Prince Khor-Ru’s tomb? Is that where we would find Uncle Ben?

  Questions, questions. I tried to stop them from coming. But they filled my mind, pestering me, repeating, echoing in my head, as we followed the tunnel’s curves.

  “Daddy? Daddy—where are you?” Sari’s cries became more frantic as we moved deeper and deeper into the pyramid.

  The tunnel curved up steeply, then leveled off. Sari suddenly stopped. Startled, I bumped into her hard, nearly making her drop her flashlight. “Sorry,” I whispered.

  “Gabe, look—!” she cried, pointing her beam of light just ahead of her sneakers. “Footprints!”

  I lowered my eyes to the small circle of light. I could see a set of bootprints in the dirt. A heel and spikey bumps. “Work boots,” I muttered.

  She circled the floor with the light. There were several different prints in the dirt, heading in the same direction we were.

  “Does this mean we’re going the right way?” she asked.

  “Maybe,” I replied, studying the prints. “It’s hard to tell whether these are new or old.”

  “Daddy?” Sari shouted eagerly. “Can you hear me?”

  No reply.

  She frowned and motioned for me to follow. Seeing the many sets of prints gave us new hope, and we moved faster, trailing our hands along the wall to steady ourselves as we made our way.

  We both cried out happily when we realized we had reached the outer chamber to the tomb. Our lights played over the ancient hieroglyphs that covered the wall and the doorway.

  “Daddy? Daddy?” Sari’s voice cut through the heavy silence.

  We darted through the empty chamber, then slipped through the opening that led to the tomb. The prince’s burial chamber stretched out in front of us, dark and silent.

  “Daddy? Daddy?” Sari tried again.

  I shouted, too. “Uncle Ben? Are you here?”

  Silence.

  I swept my light over the room’s clutter of treasures, over the heavy chests, the chairs, the clay jars piled in the corner.

  “He isn’t here,” Sari choked out with a disappointed sob.

  “Then where did Dr. Fielding bring Uncle Ben?” I asked, thinking out loud. “There’s nowhere else in the pyramid that they might come.”

  Sari’s light came to rest on the large stone mummy case. Her eyes narrowed as she studied it.

  “Uncle Ben!” I shouted frantically. “Are you in here somewhere?”

  Sari grabbed my arm. “Gabe—look!” she cried. Her light remained on the mummy case.

  I couldn’t figure out what she was trying to show me. “What about it?” I demanded.

  “The lid,” Sari murmured.

  I gazed at the lid. The heavy stone slab covered the case tightly.

  “The lid is closed,” Sari continued, stepping away from me and toward the mummy case. Her fight remained on the lid.

  “Yeah. So?” I still didn’t understand.

  “When we all left this afternoon,” Sari explained, “the lid was open. In fact, I remember Daddy telling the workers to leave the lid open for tonight.”

  “You’re right!” I cried.

  “Help me, Gabe,” Sari pleaded, setting her flash
light down at her feet. “We have to open the mummy case.”

  I hesitated for a second, feeling a wave of cold fear run down my body. Then I took a deep breath and moved to help Sari.

  She was already pushing the stone lid with both hands. I stepped up beside her and pushed, too. Pushed with all my might.

  The stone slab slid more easily than I’d guessed.

  Working together, Sari and I strained against the lid, pushing… pushing.

  We moved it about a foot.

  Then we both lowered our heads to peer into the mummy’s case—and gasped in horror.

  20

  “Daddy!” Sari shrieked.

  Uncle Ben lay on his back, knees raised, hands at his sides, his eyes shut. Sari and I shoved the heavy stone lid open another foot.

  “Is he—? Is he—?” Sari stammered.

  I pressed my hand on his chest. His heart was thumping with a steady beat. “He’s breathing,” I told her.

  I leaned into the mummy case. “Uncle Ben? Can you hear me? Uncle Ben?”

  He didn’t move.

  I lifted his hand and squeezed it. It felt warm, but limp. “Uncle Ben? Wake up!” I shouted.

  His eyes didn’t open. I lowered the hand back to the bottom of the mummy case. “He’s out cold,” I murmured.

  Sari stood behind me, both hands pressed against her cheeks. She stared down at Uncle Ben, her eyes wide with fear. “I—I don’t believe this!” she cried in a tiny voice. “Dr. Fielding left Daddy here to smother! If we hadn’t come along…” Her voice trailed off.

  Uncle Ben let out a low groan.

  Sari and I stared down at him hopefully. But he didn’t open his eyes.

  “We have to call the police,” I told Sari. “We have to tell them about Dr. Fielding.”

  “But we can’t just leave Daddy here,” Sari replied.

  I started to reply—but a frightening thought burst into my mind. I felt a shudder of fear roll down my body. “Sari?” I started. “If Uncle Ben is lying in the mummy case… then where is the mummy?”

  Her mouth dropped open. She stared back at me in stunned silence.

  And then we both heard the footsteps.

  Slow, scraping footsteps.

  And saw the mummy stagger stiffly into the room.

  21

  I opened my mouth to scream—but no sound came out.

  The mummy lurched stiffly through the chamber doorway. He stared straight ahead with his vacant, tarry eyes. Under the ancient layers of tar, the skull grinned at us.

  Scrape. Scrape.

  His feet dragged over the dirt floor, trailing shreds of decaying gauze. Slowly, he raised his arms, making a terrifying cracking sound.

  Scrape. Scrape.

  My throat tightened in terror. My entire body began to tremble.

  I backed away from the mummy case. Sari stood frozen with her hands pressed against her cheeks. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back with me. “Sari—get back! Get back!” I whispered.

  She stared in terror at the approaching mummy. I couldn’t tell if she heard me or not. I tugged her back further.

  Our backs hit the chamber wall.

  The mummy scraped closer. Closer. Staring at us through its vacant, blackened eye sockets, he reached for us with his yellowed, tar-encrusted hands.

  Sari let out a shrill shriek.

  “Run!” I screamed. “Sari—run!”

  But our backs were pressed against the wall. The mummy blocked our path to the doorway.

  Moving stiffly, awkwardly, the ancient corpse dragged itself closer.

  “This is all my fault!” I declared in a trembling voice. “I said the words five times. I brought him back to life!”

  “Wh-what can we do?” Sari cried in a hushed whisper.

  I didn’t have an answer. “Uncle Ben!” I shrieked desperately. “Uncle Ben—help us!”

  But the mummy case remained silent. Even my frantic screams could not awaken my uncle.

  Sari and I edged along the chamber wall, our eyes locked on the approaching mummy. Its bandaged feet scraped over the floor, sending up dark clouds of dust as it moved heavily toward us.

  A sour smell rose over the room. The smell of a four-thousand-year-old corpse coming to life.

  I pressed my back against the cold stone of the chamber wall, my mind racing. The mummy stopped at the mummy case, turned stiffly, and continued lurching toward us.

  “Hey—!” I cried out as an idea burst into my mind.

  My little mummy hand. The Summoner.

  Why hadn’t I thought of it before? It had saved us last summer by raising a group of ancient mummies from the dead.

  Could it also summon them to stop? Could it make them die again?

  If I raised the little mummy hand up to Prince Khor-Ru, would it stop him long enough for Sari and me to escape?

  He was only seconds away from grabbing us.

  It was worth a try.

  I reached into my back jeans pocket for the mummy hand.

  It was gone.

  22

  “No!” I uttered a surprised cry and frantically grabbed at my other pockets.

  No mummy hand.

  “Gabe—what’s wrong?” Sari demanded.

  “The mummy hand—it’s gone!” I told her, my voice choked with panic.

  Scrape. Scrape.

  The foul odor grew stronger as the ancient mummy dragged nearer.

  I was desperate to find my mummy hand. But I knew there was no time to think about it now. “We’ve got to make a run for it,” I told Sari. “The mummy is slow and stiff. If we can get past him…”

  “But what about Daddy?” she cried. “We can’t just leave him here.”

  “We have to,” I told her. “We’ll get help. We’ll come back for him.”

  The mummy made a brittle cracking sound as it stepped forward. The sound of an ancient bone breaking.

  But it continued toward us, moving stiffly but steadily, its arms outstretched.

  “Sari—run—now!” I screamed.

  I gave her a hard shove to get her going.

  The room blurred as I forced myself to move.

  The mummy made another loud, cracking sound. It leaned its body forward, and reached out as we dodged around it.

  I tried to duck under the mummy’s outstretched hand. But I felt the scrape of its ancient fingers against the back of my neck—cold fingers, hard as a statue.

  I knew it was a touch I would never forget.

  My neck tingled. I lowered my head from his grasp—and plunged forward.

  Sari let out low sobs as she ran. My heart raced as I hurried to catch up to her. I forced myself to run, but my legs felt so heavy, as if they were made of solid stone.

  We were nearly to the doorway when we saw a flickering light.

  Sari and I both cried out and skidded to a stop as a beam of light swept into the room. Behind the light, a figure stepped into the doorway.

  Shielding my eyes from the sudden brightness, I squinted hard, eager to see who it was.

  “Nila!” I cried as she raised the flashlight beam to the ceiling. “Nila—help us!” I choked out.

  “He’s come alive!” Sari shouted to her. “Nila—he’s come alive!” She pointed back toward the mummy.

  “Help us!” I screamed.

  Nila’s green eyes widened in surprise. “What can I do?” she asked. And then her expression changed quickly to anger. “What can I do about you two kids? You shouldn’t be here. You’re going to ruin everything!”

  “Huh?” I cried out in surprise.

  Nila stepped into the room. She raised her right hand.

  In the dim light, I struggled to make out what she was holding up.

  My little mummy hand!

  She raised it toward the mummy. “Come to me, my brother!” Nila called.

  23

  “How did you get my mummy hand? What are you doing?” I demanded.

  Nila ignored my questions. She held the flashlight in one hand. She
gripped the little hand in the other, holding it up toward the approaching mummy.

  “Come here, my brother!” she called, waving the hand, summoning the mummy. “It is I, Princess Nila!”

  Its legs cracking, its brittle bones breaking inside the gauze wrappings, the mummy obediently dragged itself forward.

  “Nila—stop it! What are you doing?” Sari shrieked.

  But Nila continued to ignore us. “It is I, your sister!” she called to the mummy. A triumphant smile crossed her pretty face. Her green eyes sparkled like flashing emeralds in the darting light.

  “I have waited so long for this day,” Nila told the mummy. “I have waited so many centuries, my brother, hoping that someday someone would uncover your tomb and we could be reunited.”

  Nila’s face glowed with excitement. The little mummy hand trembled in her hand. “I have brought you back to life, my brother!” she called to the mummy. “I have waited for centuries. But it will all be worth it. You and I will share all this treasure. And with our powers, we shall rule Egypt together—as we did four thousand years ago!”

  She lowered her eyes to me. “Thank you, Gabe!” she cried. “Thank you for The Summoner! As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. I knew it could bring my brother back to me! The ancient words weren’t enough. I needed The Summoner, too!”

  “Give it back!” I demanded, reaching out for it. “It’s mine, Nila. Give it back.”

  A cruel laugh escaped her throat. “You won’t be needing it, Gabe,” she said softly.

  She waved the hand at the mummy. “Destroy them, my brother!” she ordered. “Destroy them now! There can be no witnesses!”

  “Nooo!” Sari shrieked. She and I both dove to the doorway. But Nila moved quickly to block our path.

  I shoved my shoulder against her, trying to push her away like a football lineman. But Nila held her ground with surprising strength.

  “Nila—let us go!” Sari demanded, breathing hard.

  Nila smiled and shook her head. “No witnesses,” she murmured.

  “Nila—we just want to get Daddy out of here. You can do what you want!” Sari insisted desperately.