بازگشت مومیایی فصل 08

Return of the Mummy - Chapter 8

“Wh-what’s wrong?” I stammered.

“We’re twins!” Nila declared. She reached under her suit jacket and pulled out a pendant she wore around her neck.

An amber pendant, shaped exactly like mine.

“How unusual!” Uncle Ben exclaimed.

Nila grasped my pendant between her fingers and lowered her face to examine it. “You have a scarab inside yours,” she told me, turning the pendant around in her fingers.

She dropped mine and held hers up for me to see. “Look, Gabe. Mine is empty.”

I gazed into her pendant. It looked like clear orange glass. Nothing inside.

“I think yours is prettier,” Sari told Nila. “I wouldn’t want to wear a dead bug around my neck.” “But it’s supposed to be good luck or something,” Nila replied. She tucked the pendant back under her white jacket. “I hope it isn’t bad luck to have an empty one!” “I hope so, too,” Uncle Ben commented dryly. He turned and led us into the pyramid opening.

I’m not really sure how I got lost.

Sari and I were walking together behind Uncle Ben and Nila. We were close behind them. I could hear my uncle explaining about how the tunnel walls were granite and limestone.

Our helmet lights were on. The narrow beams of yellow light darted and crisscrossed over the dusty tunnel floor and walls as we made our way deeper and deeper into the pyramid.

The ceiling hung low, and we all had to stoop as we walked. The tunnel kept curving, and there were several smaller tunnels that branched off. “False starts and dead ends,” Uncle Ben called them.

It was hard to see in the flickering light from our helmets. I stumbled once and scraped my elbow against the rough tunnel wall. It was surprisingly cool down here, and I wished I had worn a sweatshirt or something.

Up ahead, Uncle Ben was telling Nila about King Tut and Prince Khor-Ru. It sounded to me as if Uncle Ben was trying to impress her. I wondered if he had a crush on her or something.

“This is so thrilling!” I heard Nila exclaim. “It was so nice of Dr. Fielding and you to let me see it.” “Who is Dr. Fielding?” I whispered to Sari.

“My father’s partner,” Sari whispered back. “But Daddy doesn’t like him. You’ll probably meet him. He’s always around. I don’t like him much, either.” I stopped to examine a strange-looking marking on the tunnel wall. It was shaped like some kind of animal head. “Sari—look!” I whispered. “An ancient drawing.” Sari rolled her eyes. “It’s Bart Simpson,” she muttered. “One of Daddy’s workers must have drawn it there.” “I knew that!” I lied. “I was just testing you.”

When was I going to stop making a fool of myself in front of my cousin?

I turned back from the stupid drawing on the wall—and Sari had vanished.

I could see the narrow beam of light from her hard hat up ahead. “Hey—wait up!” I called. But the light disappeared as the tunnel curved away.

And then I stumbled again.

My helmet hit the tunnel wall. And the light went out.

“Hey—Sari? Uncle Ben?” I called to them. I leaned heavily against the wall, afraid to move in the total darkness.

“Hey—! Can anybody hear me?” My voice echoed down the narrow tunnel.

But no one replied.

I pulled off the hard hat and fiddled with the light. I turned it, trying to tighten it. Then I shook the whole hat. But the light wouldn’t come back on.

Sighing, I strapped the hat back onto my head.

Now what? I thought, starting to feel a little afraid. My stomach began fluttering. My throat suddenly felt dry.

“Hey—can anybody hear me?” I shouted. “I’m in the dark back here. I can’t walk!” No reply.

Where were they? Didn’t they notice that I had disappeared?

“Well, I’ll just wait right here for them,” I murmured to myself.

I leaned my shoulder against the tunnel wall—

—and fell right through the wall.

No way to catch my balance. Nothing to grab on to.

I was falling, falling down through total darkness.