نفرین آرامگاه مومیایی فصل 4

The Curse Of The Mummy’s Tomb - Chapter 4

Two hands reached down for mine. They shot through the air and grabbed my wrists.

“Hold on!” Sari cried.

She had slowed my fall just enough to allow me to grab back onto the sides of the rope ladder.

“Oh, wow!” I managed to utter. That was the best I could do. I gripped the rope for dear life, waiting for my heart to stop pounding. I closed my eyes and didn’t move. I squeezed the ropes so hard, my hands ached.

“Saved your life,” Sari called down to me, leaning into the opening, her face inches from mine.

I opened my eyes and stared up at her. “Thanks,” I said gratefully.

“No problem,” she replied and burst out laughing, laughing from relief, I guess.

Why couldn’t I save her life? I asked myself angrily. Why can’t I ever be the big hero?

“What happened, Gabe?” Uncle Ben called from the tunnel floor below. His booming voice echoed loudly through the chamber. The wide circle of light from his flashlight danced across the granite wall.

“The rope cut my hands,” I explained. “I wasn’t expecting—”

“Just take your time,” he said patiently. “One rung at a time, remember?”

“Lower your hands. Don’t slide them,” Sari advised, her face poking through the hole above me.

“Okay, okay,” I said, starting to breathe normally.

I took a deep breath and held it. Then, slowly, carefully, I made my way down the long rope ladder.

A short while later, all three of us were standing on the tunnel floor, holding our lighted flashlights, our eyes following the circles of light. “This way,” Uncle Ben said quietly, and he headed off to the right, walking slowly, stooping because of the low ceiling.

Our sneakers crunched on the sandy floor. I saw another tunnel leading off to the right, then another tunnel on the left.

“We’re breathing air that is four thousand years old,” Ben said, keeping his light aimed on the floor ahead of him.

“Smells like it,” I whispered to Sari. She laughed.

The air really did smell old. Kind of heavy and musty. Like someone’s attic.

The tunnel widened a little as it curved to the right.

“We’re going deeper into the earth,” Ben said. “Does it feel like you’re going downhill?” Sari and I both muttered that it did.

“Dad and I explored one of the side tunnels yesterday,” Sari told me. “We found a mummy case inside a tiny room. A beautiful one in perfect condition.” “Was there a mummy inside it?” I asked eagerly. I was dying to see a mummy. The museum back home had only one. I’d stared at it and studied it all my life.

“No. It was empty,” Sari replied.

“Why didn’t the mummy have any hobbies?” Uncle Ben asked, stopping suddenly.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

“He was too wrapped up in his work!” Uncle Ben exclaimed. He laughed at his own joke. Sari and I could only muster weak smiles.

“Don’t encourage him,” Sari told me, loud enough for her dad to hear. “He knows a million mummy jokes, and they’re all just as bad.” “Wait up. Just a sec,” I said. I bent down to tie my sneaker, which had come undone again.

The tunnel curved, then divided into two tunnels. Uncle Ben led us through the one on the left, which was so narrow we had to squeeze through it, making our way sideways, heads bent, until it widened into a large, high-ceilinged chamber.

I stood up straight and stretched. It felt so good not to be scrunched down. I stared around the large room.

Several people came into view at the far wall, working with digging tools. Bright spotlights had been hung above them on the wall, attached to a portable generator.

Uncle Ben brought us over to them and introduced us. There were four workers, two men and two women.

Another man stood off to the side, a clipboard in his hand. He was an Egyptian, dressed all in white except for a red bandanna around his neck. He had straight black hair, slicked down and tied in a ponytail behind his head. He stared at Sari and me, but didn’t come over. He seemed to be studying us.

“Ahmed, you met my daughter yesterday. This is Gabe, my nephew,” Uncle Ben called to him.

Ahmed nodded, but didn’t smile or say anything.

“Ahmed is from the university,” Uncle Ben explained to me in a low voice. “He requested permission to observe us, and I said okay. He’s very quiet. But don’t get him started on ancient curses. He’s the one who keeps warning me that I’m in deadly danger.” Ahmed nodded, but didn’t reply. He stared at me for a long while.

Weird guy, I thought.

I wondered if he’d tell me about the ancient curses. I loved stories about ancient curses.

Uncle Ben turned to his workers. “So? Any progress today?” he asked.

“We think we’re getting real close,” a young, red-haired man wearing faded jeans and a blue denim work shirt replied. And then he added, “Just a hunch.” Ben frowned. “Thanks, Quasimodo,” he said.

The workers all laughed. I guess they liked Uncle Ben’s jokes.

“Quasimodo was the Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Sari explained to me in her superior tone.

“I know, I know,” I replied irritably. “I get it.”

“We could be heading in the wrong direction altogether,” Uncle Ben told the workers, scratching the bald spot on the back of his head. “The tunnel might be over there.” He pointed to the wall on the right.

“No, I think we’re getting warm, Ben,” a young woman, her face smudged with dust, said. “Come over here. I want to show you something.” She led him over to a large pile of stones and debris. He shined his light where she was pointing. Then he leaned closer to examine what she was showing him.

“That’s very interesting, Christy,” Uncle Ben said, rubbing his chin. They fell into a long discussion.

After a while, three other workers entered the chamber, carrying shovels and picks. One of them was carrying some kind of electronic equipment in a flat metal case. It looked a little like a laptop computer.

I wanted to ask Uncle Ben what it was, but he was still in the corner, involved in his discussion with the worker named Christy.

Sari and I wandered back toward the tunnel entrance. “I think he’s forgotten about us,” Sari said sullenly.

I agreed, shining my flashlight up at the high, cracked ceiling.

“Once he gets down here with the workers, he forgets everything but his work,” she said, sighing.

“I can’t believe we’re actually inside a pyramid!” I exclaimed.

Sari laughed. She kicked at the floor with one sneaker. “Look—ancient dirt,” she said.

“Yeah.” I kicked up some of the sandy dirt, too. “I wonder who walked here last. Maybe an Egyptian priestess. Maybe a pharaoh. They might have stood right here on this spot.” “Let’s go exploring,” Sari said suddenly.

“Huh?”

Her dark eyes gleamed, and she had a really devilish look on her face. “Let’s go, Gabey—let’s check out some tunnels or something.” “Don’t call me Gabey,” I said. “Come on, Sari, you know I hate that.”

“Sorry,” she apologized, giggling. “You coming?”

“We can’t,” I insisted, watching Uncle Ben. He was having some kind of argument with the worker carrying the thing that looked like a laptop. “Your dad said we had to stick together. He said—” “He’ll be busy here for hours,” she interrupted, glancing back at him. “He won’t even notice we’re gone. Really.” “But, Sari—” I started.

“Besides,” she continued, putting her hands on my shoulders and pushing me backwards toward the chamber door, “he doesn’t want us hanging around. We’ll only get in the way.” “Sari—”

“I went exploring yesterday,” she said, pushing me with both hands. “We won’t go far. You can’t get lost. All the tunnels lead back to this big room. Really.” “I just don’t think we should,” I said, my eyes on Uncle Ben. He was down on his hands and knees now, digging against the wall with some kind of a pick.

“Let go of me,” I told her. “Really. I—”

And then she said what I knew she’d say. What she always says when she wants to get her way.

“Are you chicken?”

“No,” I insisted. “You know your dad said—”

“Chicken? Chicken? Chicken?” She began clucking like a chicken. Really obnoxious.

“Stop it, Sari.” I tried to sound tough and menacing.

“Are you chicken, Gabey?” she repeated, grinning at me as if she’d just won some big victory. “Huh, Gabey?” “Stop calling me that!” I insisted.

She just stared at me.

I made a disgusted face. “Okay, okay. Let’s go exploring,” I told her.

I mean, what else could I say?

“But not far,” I added.

“Don’t worry,” she said, grinning. “We won’t get lost. I’ll just show you some of the tunnels I looked at yesterday. One of them has a strange animal picture carved on the wall. I think it’s some kind of a cat. I’m not sure.” “Really?” I cried, instantly excited. “I’ve seen pictures of relief carvings, but I’ve never—” “It may be a cat,” Sari said. “Or maybe a person with an animal head. It’s really weird.” “Where is it?” I asked.

“Follow me.”

We both gave one last glance back to Uncle Ben, who was down on his hands and knees, picking away at the stone wall.

Then I followed Sari out of the chamber.

We squeezed through the narrow tunnel, then turned and followed a slightly wider tunnel to the right. I hesitated, a few steps behind her. “Are you sure we’ll be able to get back?” I asked, keeping my voice low so she couldn’t accuse me of sounding frightened.

“No problem,” she replied. “Keep your light on the floor. There’s a small chamber on the other end of this tunnel that’s kind of neat.” We followed the tunnel as it curved to the right. It branched into two low openings, and Sari took the one to the left.

The air grew a little warmer. It smelled stale, as if people had been smoking cigarettes there.

This tunnel was wider than the others. Sari was walking faster now, getting farther ahead of me. “Hey—wait up!” I cried.

I looked down to see that my sneaker had come untied again. Uttering a loud, annoyed groan, I bent to retie it.

“Hey, Sari, wait up!”

She didn’t seem to hear me.

I could see her light in the distance, growing fainter in the tunnel.

Then it suddenly disappeared.

Had her flashlight burned out?

No. The tunnel probably curved, I decided. She’s just out of my view.

“Hey, Sari!” I called. “Wait up! Wait up!”

I stared ahead into the dark tunnel.

“Sari?”

Why didn’t she answer me?