بازگشت مومیایی فصل 19

Return of the Mummy - Chapter 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 flashlight 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.