Once In A Lifetime Adventure - Part 3

 

            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.