After
coming face-to-face with a cursed mummy once, Annie had no desire to do it
again. She was ready to get out of this haunted pyramid. She led the group of
actor archaeologists down the long pathway, her torch held high in front of
her. Moving quickly, they soon came to a place where the way branched off into
three separate directions.
“Which way is the right way?”
Although she tried to hide it, worry still seeped into her voice. She turned
around to face Cody, Justin, Daniel, Evie, and Megan. Seeing the twinkle in his
eye, she knew what Cody was going to say before he spoke.
“How would
we know? We’re all here for the first time together, right?” He gave her a
reassuring smile and shrugged his shoulders.
Annie
doubted that he didn’t know which way to go, but it was obvious that no one was
going to tell her. She blew out a breath in frustration. “Okay, I guess we’ll just
have to pick one or split up.” She looked directly into the faces of those
around her. “What do you guys think?”
“There’s
safety in numbers,” Evie said in a quiet voice.
“I agree,”
Justin said as he reloaded his gun. “If we split up, we won’t be able to help
each other when the mummy returns.”
A queasy
feeling threatened to overwhelm Annie as she thought about running into the
mummy again.
“All right,”
she said as she nodded. She headed toward the passage on the right. “Let’s try
this way, I guess.”
Megan
cleared her throat nervously behind Annie. “Don’t you think there’s a better
way to choose than just blind guessing?”
“Do you
know which way to go?” Annie asked her, trying not to sound angry that Megan
hadn’t volunteered this information earlier.
Megan
looked almost embarrassed. “I couldn’t tell you that, but can’t you feel
which way to go?”
Annie
looked at her blankly. What did she mean by that?
Looking
like she might be breaking the rules, Megan gave her a guilty smile. “Remember
how you felt your way away from the mummy before?”
It was
obvious that Megan was trying to give her a hint, but Annie couldn’t think what
it could be. Then she remembered. “Oh!” she cried in excitement. Brushing her
hands along the walls, she searched for anything out of the ordinary. The stone
walls were rough, but they were definitely made of stone this time. Perplexed,
she dropped her hands and thought what else Megan might have been trying to
tell her.
Closing her
eyes in concentration, Annie debated which path to choose. She had no idea.
Giving up, she opened her eyes to see something strange. Had that been there
before?
The path on
the left shone brilliantly, the light source coming from somewhere farther down
the tunnel. Where had it come from? Walking partway down the left path, she
knew that this was the right way. She wasn’t sure how, but she knew. “This
way!” Confidently now, she led the others down the now brightly lit corridor.
They came
to more intersections where they had to choose which way to go. Each time,
Annie would close her eyes and think about the way to the treasure. When she
opened her eyes, one of the ways would be brightly lit.
Now they
were deep inside the pyramid. Annie led the group at a near sprint. An ornate golden
door stood at the end of their path, and Annie’s heart leapt to her throat. It
had to be the treasure room!
All she had to do was
get inside, and then she could go home.
Hurrying
toward the golden door, she put both hands on it and pushed.
Nothing
happened. It was locked. Of course it had to be another locked door.
Thankfully, she knew what to do. Closing her eyes tightly, she concentrated on
getting inside. A loud clicking noise sounded next to her, and she opened her
eyes.
The big
door hadn’t opened, but the mummy had appeared right next to her. She screamed
as she jumped backward, nearly knocking over Evie, who had been standing behind
her. Daniel was the one who kept them both from falling, but Annie was focused
on only one thing—getting herself away from the monster. She ran back the way
they had come, not bothering to see what the others were doing. Justin’s gun
fired once… twice, and she ran faster.
A door
stood ajar up ahead to her right, and she headed straight toward it. She waited
for the others to follow as she stood on the inside of the door, ready to close
it. But no one was there. Chancing a look back toward the ornate door, the
entire hallway was empty. What had happened? Nothing but silence filled the
area.
She leaned
back against the wall, trying to figure out where the others could have gone as
she sucked in big gulps of air. What was she going to do? Had they all been
captured by the mummy somehow? Thoughts raced through her head before she
forced herself to slow down and focus. Once she could finally breathe a little
easier, she took several more deep breaths to slow her racing heart.
When she
was finally calm enough to think properly again, she looked around her. The
door she had run through led to a large room. She jumped when she realized what
this room was. Piles of treasure lay everywhere. Her jaw dropped when she saw
mountains of precious gems, golden dishes, and other trinkets. This was the
treasure room, not that other place with the beautiful door.
A laugh
escaped through her open mouth. She’d done it! She’d made it to the treasure!
She could go home now, right? She spun around, looking for the door that had
led her to this adventure in the first place. She scanned the entire room, but
it wasn’t there. What was she supposed to do now?
The answer
came to her as she thought about Cody and the others. Where were they? They
were just actors and part of this adventure, right? Had they really been
kidnapped by the mummy?
Guilt over
not being able to escape the mummy with them made her realize that this
adventure wasn’t over yet. She had something else she needed to do before she
could go home. She summoned her courage and walked back to the last place where
she’d seen her friends. Somehow, she had to go find them and rescue them from
the mummy. For the first time in this adventure, she deliberately sought the
danger she had been trying to avoid.
