بازگشت مومیایی فصل 21

Return of the Mummy - Chapter 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.