The Secret of the Scarab Beetle Page 8

  As the four of them moved forward, Horace began to wonder how safe the inside of the temple might really be. It would only be a matter of time before Smenk’s army descended upon it.

  Finally they came to the end of the tunnel, where they met a solid stone wall with a rusting bronze knob in the shape of a lion’s head. Meri reached out and pulled on the handle, and a giant slab of stone slid to the side. The second door opened, releasing a wave of hot air.

  The sacred halls of the temple opened before them.

  Chapter Thirteen

  No sooner had their eyes adjusted to the light of the temple’s interior halls than the flickering of moving torches danced across their faces. “Quick! Someone’s coming.” Meri pointed toward a wooden door. The four of them, desperate for cover, dashed across the hallway and disappeared from view.

  Another minute passed as they huddled in the dark closet, and a wave of footsteps rushed by. Horace was about to step back into the hall, when a pair of feet paused outside the door.

  With the help of the torchlight from the hallway, the four of them looked around and saw what appeared to be shelves on one side and giant jars along the other. Horace pointed at the jars. He and the others scurried out of the way and hid behind two particularly large clay vessels. The door opened and light filled the room, exposing their old hiding spot.

  As a man peered cautiously around the door, Horace could see his twisted nose and deformed spine against the light of the hall. It was Eke, Smenk’s closest henchman. Eke peered down at the three big jars and sniffed. For another few seconds he searched the musty space. Then, convinced no one was there, he finally closed the door again. Horace let out a long exhale.

  The four kids waited another moment and then popped out into the dark corridor. The shadow of Eke’s disfigured body shuffled down the hall.

  “Who was that guy?” Milton asked. “He smelled terrible.”

  “You don’t want to know.” Horace shook his head, remembering his encounter with Eke in the classroom.

  Meri looked around the door’s edge. “We need to stay away from him. He’s up to no good. Let’s try this way.” She pointed in the opposite direction.

  Everyone quietly tiptoed down the hall. They caught a last glance of Eke as he took a left turn at the end of the corridor.

  By the time they reached another hall, they thought they’d escaped danger and lost him for good. The walls of the temple had completely changed from limestone to black marble, and Horace knew where they were.

  “This must be the West Wing,” he said. “But where do you think Tut is?”

  Meri had no answer. There was no sign of anyone, and even she seemed lost. When they turned to retrace their path, suddenly the sound of approaching footsteps echoed through the stone halls, and again the four of them dashed for cover.

  This time, however, the door they’d slipped into didn’t lead to a storage closet, but to a giant rectangular room lined with torches. A raised granite platform rested in the center. Horace wondered if it were one of the ceremonial rooms used by the priests.

  They heard approaching voices and Meri quickly led them behind a column near the door.

  In a matter of moments two men entered the room. Horace immediately recognized Eke, but he didn’t know the lanky second figure. He was even more sinister-looking than Eke and at least a head taller. They seemed to be debating something. Horace’s heart started to race.

  Four more men marched in, each holding the ends of two long poles. In the center was a golden platform holding a black, speckled stone covered in ancient symbols. It was about the size of a pumpkin and shaped like a pyramid. The black stone shimmered a purple hue from beneath its granite surface.

  “Be careful with it,” the man next to Eke commanded in a shrill voice. “Steady, steady. We must make sure it is in perfect condition.”

  With great care, the men lowered the apparatus onto the altar in the middle of the room. From their effort, it appeared that this small stone was heavy—incredibly heavy—for its size. As soon as the stone touched the altar, the men slowly removed the two long poles and stepped back toward the doorway.

  “What about the priests?” Eke asked.

  “Bring them in,” the tall man answered.

  There was a shuffle of movement, and four more men entered. The two with swords hanging from their belts were clearly guards. The other two were shackled prisoners. Horace recognized their shaved heads and white robes. They were priests from the temple.

  The tall man ignored the two prisoners and began circling the stone like a vulture over a field. Horace could hear him whispering under his breath, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was—perhaps some ancient spell or sorcery. Finally the man stopped, and he reached his fingers out to touch the intricate symbols. As he rubbed the stone’s dark surface for the first time, it pulsed a deep purple. Then it went still. He ran his fingers frantically over its fine etchings, but nothing happened—no color, no sound, not even a spark of light this time.

  His face contorted into a mixture of frustration and anger.

  Horace felt like a pail of cold water had been poured down his whole spine. There was something deeply unsettling about the man’s hollow eyes and bony fingers.

  “There is a way. I can see it on your faces.” The man’s voice crackled with rage as he stepped away from the altar. He pointed to the priest on the right, and Horace’s eyes widened. It was Ay. “You! Fix it.”

  But Ay stood still, courageously, without flinching or making a sound.

  A red bolt leaped from the man’s staff and struck Ay in his chest. He fell, writhing on the ground. The man spun and pointed his staff at the second priest. “If you do not speak, I will kill him.”

  The priest sighed in defeat. “I will tell you.”

  A horrible smile came across the tall man’s face. “These priests have little tolerance for pain,” he whispered to Eke.

  He motioned for the second priest to continue, but when the terrified man hesitated, another bolt of light struck the ground inches from Ay’s face. “Don’t waste my time!”

  “It can’t work, Smenk. It will not work without the key,” the priest cried.

  Horace felt his stomach drop. The evil man was Smenk, Tut’s uncle.

  “Key? What key?” Smenk scoffed. “There is no such thing.” He sent another bolt of red light directly to Ay’s chest. Ay screamed.

  “I’m telling the truth,” the other priest begged.

  Smenk narrowed his eyes. “Then what is it? An ankh, an amulet, a word, a name? A sacred spell? What is the key to the Benben Stone?”

  The priest shook his head. “A scarab beetle.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The weight of Ay’s words dropped in Horace’s stomach like a rock. Was his beetle also the key to the Benben Stone? He looked down and noticed the scarab was glowing in his pocket.

  A muffled sneeze caught his attention. Milton had his arm across his mouth, making a choking sound and trying desperately to hold back a second sneeze.

  “What was that?” Smenk pointed his torch in the direction of the column.

  They had been spotted. Horace stood there for half a second longer before finding his voice. “Run!”

  All four of them bolted out of their hiding spots at the same time. They shot past the guard at the door, easily dodging his slow reaction, and darted into the hall.

  “Get them!” Smenk commanded.

  But Horace and his friends were already sprinting down the marble corridor. Horace couldn’t see well in the darkness and narrowly avoided a fatal collision with a wall when he took a hard right turn. He could hear the soldiers behind them getting closer.

  Out of nowhere, Horace felt the floor drop from below him and realized he’d found the steps. Fortunately, it wasn’t a big drop. He rolled across the floor as he hit the hard ground. Milton, more aware of his surroundings, jumped down the steps two at a time. A wave of relief swept over Horace as Milton, too, made it safely to t
he underground passage. But then he saw Anna, still at the top, tangled in her robe. Meri was with her, trying to help.

  “Hurry, Anna!” he cried.

  But as he called out her name, Eke appeared at the top of the steps with two more soldiers and grabbed both girls by the arms.

  Horace and Milton stood at the base of the stairs, staring up in dismay. “Anna! Meri!”

  Anna looked down at Horace. “Get out of here. Don’t let them catch you.”

  But he couldn’t leave Anna and Meri behind. And where was Tut? They’d all be killed!

  He felt a pull on his sleeve. “Horace,” Milton urged. “We’ve got to get out of here or we’ll never be able to help them.”

  Horace looked up as several more guards came running toward them. At the same time, Horace could see Eke starting to tie Anna’s wrists with rope, and another guard was holding Meri by her robe.

  Milton was adamant. “I don’t want to leave her either, but if we want to be able to help, we’ve got to leave now!”

  Horace caught Anna’s eye.

  “Go!” she yelled down the stairs.

  “What do we have here?” Smenk’s voice had an unmistakable crackling sound to it. “The temple is always full of little treats.” He pointed down at Milton and Horace. “Now grab them.”

  That was all the encouragement either boy needed.

  Horace darted down the long underground hall with Milton in the lead. When he finally caught up to him, it was just in time to hear Milton yell, “Jump!”

  Horace expected to land on another staircase. Instead came a current of cold water. His head popped back up above the water’s surface, and he gasped for air.

  “Well, I think we found the tunnels out of here,” said Milton, his head bobbing just a few feet in front of Horace. Despite everything, he still held on to his sense of humor.

  “We can follow them out to the city gates,” answered Horace, remembering what Meri had told them.

  They were being carried by the water at top speed as the tunnel twisted and turned its way through a maze of underground passageways, the walls changing color from seaweed green to a dim yellow. The shadows of their pursuers receded into the distance.

  It looked like they might have finally escaped, until Horace heard another problem.

  “What’s that sound?” he shouted to Milton.

  The two of them could see a light in the distance and hear the growing roar of water—a waterfall.

  “Swim to the left side!” shouted Horace. “There’s a ladder carved into the wall of the tunnel up ahead.”

  Horace could see the outline of a ladder getting closer. He began to maneuver his body as Milton did the same in front of him. “Grab the ladder and don’t let go!” yelled Horace. The waterfall was approaching rapidly. He wasn’t sure how he was going to do it, but it didn’t look like he had much time. He saw Milton grab the bottom rung of the ladder. Horace closed his eyes as he reached up. He held on tightly to something.

  As he opened his eyes, he realized he hadn’t grabbed the ladder, but Milton’s arm. Horace looked across his right shoulder and found they were only feet away from being thrown over a huge drop. The thunder of the water was now almost deafening.

  “Hurry!” Milton yelled. “Pull yourself up.” Horace could see him struggling to hold on to the slippery stone.

  Horace turned back, tensed his muscles, and gritted his teeth. He began to pull himself up off his friend’s arm and onto the ladder.

  “Keep going!” Milton urged.

  And then he was fully on the ladder. He looked down, and Milton was starting to pull himself up too. Horace turned around and began to climb. It was only about eight rungs high, not much taller than the ladder on the school playground, but the rushing water below made it infinitely scarier. When he reached the top rung, his fingers grazed a grate. Horace reached out with his right hand and, to his relief, it easily popped open. He pulled himself onto the dirt street above. He blinked in the midday light, a sight he hadn’t been sure they’d ever see again. In the distance stood the obelisk at the city gates.

  Milton was right behind him, panting, his robes dripping with water.

  Horace could feel his tears mixing with the moisture from the cisterns, partially from relief, but also from despair. Anna was now in the clutches of Smenk, and Horace could hardly bear the thought of what he might do to her.

  And his beetle wasn’t just a key to the portal. It was the key to the Benben Stone. He knew it in his bones. That was why Herman didn’t want him going through the portal. Horace had unknowingly almost delivered the beetle right into Smenk’s hands.

  The two boys walked over to the obelisk, and Horace turned toward Milton. “Listen, time goes by really fast here. When we get back to Michigan, we have to find a way to return soon. A couple of hours in Niles is days in Amarna.”

  “What are we going to tell our parents, then?”

  Horace was now deep in thought. “We’ll tell them we were working on a homework assignment and we need to meet up to finish it.”

  “But what if they start asking about Anna?”

  Horace swallowed. “We’ll just tell them she went to the library.”

  “Horace, the library closes at five. No one is going to believe that.”

  He was struggling to come up with a better idea, but luckily Milton had one.

  “I’ve got it. You tell them she went to my house, and I’ll say she’s at your house. By the time they figure out she’s not at either house, hopefully, we’ll be back here.”

  “Good idea.”

  “But one more thing, Horace.”

  “What is it?”

  “How are we going to rescue her from Smenk?”

  Horace bit down on his lip. “I don’t know.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Horace walked into the kitchen of his house and dropped his backpack onto the floor. He tried to wipe the sand from his arms and with it, any suspicion of what had happened. Unfortunately, it wasn’t more than a matter of moments before his mom began to pry.

  “So, where were you this afternoon?”

  “Oh, just finishing homework with Milton and Anna.”

  “Was that it?”

  “Well, we went for a bike ride,” Horace answered, hoping this was all she’d ask.

  “Is there something else you want to tell me?” his mom dug.

  Did she know about Anna?

  “Your uncle told me he saw your and your friends’ bikes out at the farm. I thought we talked about this.”

  Horace hesitated. One part of him desperately wanted to tell his mom all that had happened, but he also knew she wouldn’t understand and it would only make Anna’s situation worse.

  “Horace?”

  “I . . . I guess we rode out there. We just walked around. I wanted to show them the fields in the back.” It wasn’t completely untrue.

  “Did you go inside the house?”

  “No,” Horace answered sheepishly.

  “Horace?”

  “I promise we didn’t. It was locked.”

  “Listen, your uncle is doing some renovations, and it’s not safe for you to be walking around there. You understand?”

  “Yes,” he answered quietly.

  She continued, “Now, Anna’s parents called. They said she hasn’t come home for dinner. Do you know anything about that?”

  He cringed. He had to play it cool. “Yeah, after the farm we went over to Milton’s. I think she’s still there.”

  “Oh, okay. I’ll just call her mom and let her know.”

  “No!” Horace realized his response was a little too forceful. “I mean, I’ll just text Milton. You don’t have to call. I’m sure they’re finished with their homework by now.”

  “Horace”—she walked over and gripped him in a warm hug—“I know it’s been tough since Grandpa died. We’re all trying our best. It takes time. But if something is wrong, you’ve got to let me know. Okay?” She seemed to be hinting at something more bu
t wasn’t saying it.

  Horace buried his head into her sweater, hoping to squeeze out all that had happened that afternoon. If only she knew the half of it.

  For the next hour as he sat at the kitchen table Horace pretended to be busy with his math homework, while in the margins he listed out every possible scenario of what might happen to Anna if they didn’t rescue her soon. First, Anna could die. Smenk clearly had no problem killing people. Second, Anna and Tut could both die! Although Horace still wasn’t certain where Tut was. And third, all of them could die, Anna, Tut, Ay, and Meri! He quickly crumpled up the paper and threw it into the trash. It wasn’t helping.

  Finally his dad’s car could be heard in the driveway. When he walked into the house with Horace’s sisters, all three immediately sensed something was up.

  “What happened to you? Did one of your fish die?” asked Lilly as she poured water into his glass at dinner.

  “Just leave me alone.” Horace’s hair was a mess, and he’d been chewing on his pencil so hard, it was down to a nub.

  “Fine, but you really shouldn’t mope around like that. You look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

  Horace grabbed his glass and took a big gulp of water. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was after the trip through the portal.

  Sara reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Horace. It’ll get better. I promise. We all have bad days.”

  Horace looked up, confused. Was this his same sister? The one who had threatened to sell all his toys at a yard sale? Sometimes he forgot Sara had once been his age too.

  “Thanks,” he answered meekly. He really hoped more than anything things would get better soon. He just wasn’t sure how.

  Another few minutes passed as their mom finished serving dinner. His dad went around, asking them each how their day was. Then halfway through dinner, it became clear their dad also had something else on his mind.

  “I want to talk to you guys.” His voice sounded earnest, never a good sign.