Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (28 page)

'It's okay, sweetheart, you're just having night terrors.
'
 
He heard his mother's voice in his head and remembered how she used to comfort him when he was little, when he would wander into her room at night seeking the safety of her arms.
 
He still longed for her touch, though he found it embarrassing whenever she embraced him in public or in front of his friends.
 
He got a sick feeling in his stomach as he wondered where she was, what she must be feeling, and if she was safe.

Now he was wide-awake.
 
He put on his slippers, got his flashlight, and trudged down to the night corridor.
 
He made his way up to the chamber of antiquities, and to his delight saw that the statue of Anubis was humming an invitation.
 
Stepping onto the wooden box, he looked through the eye slits, and soon found himself in some sort of chamber; much different from the one he had just left.

It took a few moments for his head to clear before he knew where he was.
 
The gateway to Tartarus stood in the chamber behind him, and he was the gatekeeper.
 
His brother Horus was just arriving with another prisoner, who would be cast through the portal to be imprisoned forever on the other side.
 
He led his captive up the stone steps and onto the platform to stand before Anubis.

"Greetings, brother," Horus called out.
 
He was covered in bruises and had a deep cut on his left arm, and another near his ribcage.

"Greetings, looks like this one gave you quite a fight.
 
Who do we have here?"

"This is Zuriel, one of their generals," Horus told him.
 
The prisoner was bound with ropes, which emitted a dim, blue glow.
 
Michael knew that these were generated from Horus's staff, and used to help subdue his enemies.

"Yes, I remember you speaking of Zuriel.
 
You and your men have been pursuing him for some time now, as I recall."

Zuriel was a handsome, proud looking man.
 
Unlike Horus, he showed no signs of having been through a fight.

"Prepare the gateway," Horus told his brother.
 
"This one is dangerous.
 
We must not delay in sending him through."

"Dangerous?" Zuriel asked.
 
"I have done nothing to deserve this treatment.
 
My only desire was to live a simple and peaceful life.
 
Yet you have mercilessly pursued and attacked me.
 
It is I who have the right to call
you
dangerous."

There was something about this man's voice and manner that made Anubis want to hear him.
 
He hesitated.

"Don't listen to him, Anubis," Horus snapped.
 
"He hasn't got anything to say that we need to hear.
 
Now please, prepare the gateway."

"Anubis?
 
Yes, I've heard of you.
 
You are a great warrior, much like your brother here.
 
If only I could persuade you both that what you're doing is wrong.
 
I don't deserve this treatment and neither do my brothers, whom you have already cast into this pit.
 
But it's not too late to join us.
 
You can free my people and together we can rule mankind, creating a new era of peace and harmony."

"That's quite enough from you," Horus rebuked him as he pulled the ropes tighter.
 
"ANUBIS, PREPARE THE GATEWAY!"

Zuriel whimpered miserably.
 
It was obvious that the restraints were causing him pain.

"There's no need for that," Anubis told his brother as he watched Zuriel squirm.
 
"Besides, he does make a good point.
 
The humans are a violent race.
 
There is much we could teach them, and help them with if we ruled over them."
 
Anubis had entertained these thoughts before, but he had never found the courage to share them with his brother like this.

"Are you mad?" Horus asked him angrily.
 
"Have you learned nothing from the vain ambitions and deeds of our father?
 
He too desired to rule over humanity, and look where it got him."

"That's different," Anubis answered.
 
"Father was an evil man, and strove only to fulfill his own dark desires.
 
Apart from him, we could be different, we could rule men in a way that brings them success and happiness."

"No, that's not possible," Horus told him.
 
"Not only is it forbidden, it would never work.
 
You have not thought this through, brother.
 
Besides," he said, scowling at Zuriel, "you have not seen the horrific acts this man has committed.
 
I have.
 
He and others like him are no different from our father."

"I'm not saying we should free him," Anubis argued.
 
"Perhaps we should simply hear him out, listen to what he has to say before sending him through.
 
We won't get the opportunity again once he has been imprisoned."

Exasperated, Horus raised his hand and was about to say something when Zuriel made his move.
 
Noticing that his captor had loosened his grip, he jerked free, and somehow succeeded in knocking Horus away.
 
The warrior fell from the platform and crashed onto the hard stone floor below.

Anubis sprang at Zuriel, who had managed to shake loose his bonds, but the man was ready for him.
 
He reached out and grabbed Anubis’s staff, jerking it out of his hand.
 
Anubis got him in a headlock, and together they fell from the platform. As they fell, Anubis changed into his jackal form, and landed on his feet.

Zuriel's landing was not so graceful.
 
He crashed to the floor, but immediately sprang to his feet, swinging Anubis's staff like a baseball bat and cracking the jackal across the head.
 
Michael saw stars, and knew that Anubis had been stunned.
 
A piercing buzz rang through his ears.

Zuriel raced to the spot where Horus lay crumbled upon the ground, and snatching up his staff, snapped it in half across his knee.
 
A large burst of energy exploded through the chamber, shaking the dust from the walls and echoing about around them.
 
Stones and large bricks dropped down from the ceiling, and just as the black jackal was rising back up, one of them came crashing down upon him.
 
Michael felt his back snap, and howled out in pain.
 
He began to paw his way over to Horus, fearing that his brother would also be struck.

Zuriel was on his knees, hunched over and covering his ears.
 
The explosion had injured him, that much was clear.
 
He must not have guessed the result of snapping Horus's staff.

Anubis pulled his way along toward his brother, reaching him just in time to see a huge boulder land on his head.
 
Again, he howled.
 
The excruciating pain in his back was surpassed by the anguish in his heart, for he knew that Horus was gone.

The jackal pulled himself toward the exit as dust and rock rained down.
 
And then, as he felt something else strike him, everything faded to black.

Moments later, Michael opened his eyes in the chamber of antiquities, and stepped back away from the statue.
 
Tears were streaming down his cheeks, and the anguish he was feeling faded into sadness and despair as everything became clear.
 

Why had they entrusted Zuriel with the staff?
 
What had they done?

Elizabeth looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
 
"What do you
mean
you want to go back to Egypt?"
 
She looked at them as if they'd lost their minds.
 
But then her face softened.
 
"Does this have anything to do with the trouble you had in the woods?
 
Are you guys scared about staying here now?"

"No, Aunt Liz.
 
We aren’t scared.
 
Liam and I have some information that we need to get to Uncle Link.
 
It's a little hard to explain, but we have some things we really need to tell him that could help find Mom and Dad and Mr. MacDonald.
 
We think they're in really bad danger."

Abigail looked up at her pleadingly.
 
Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
 
"Please, Aunt Liz, PLEASE?"

Elizabeth put her hands on her hips, scanning them over with sympathy and skepticism.
 
"Listen," she said softly, "if you really want me to put the three of you on a plane to Egypt, then you're going to have to give me an
extremely
good reason, so you had better figure out how to explain yourselves."

They all sat down at the dining room table and Michael reluctantly told her about Zuriel and the staff of Anubis.
 
He told her how they had snuck into the tomb during the middle of the night (she did not look at all happy about that), how they had found the staff among some other relics displayed at McGinty Castle, and about how the staff was supposedly the key to finding their parents and rescuing them.
 
The three of them had agreed to be honest, but not to tell her everything.
 
They thought that talking about werewolves, faeries, and vanishing wings of the castle would only convince Elizabeth that they had cracked, and that she would probably have them committed to a mental institution for their trouble.

As it turned out, she seemed receptive to what they were saying, and patiently heard them out.
 
When they'd finished telling their story and answering her questions, she looked genuinely confused and frightened.
 
Michael felt sorry for her.

"Well, why don't we try to get ahold of your uncle over the phone, and you can tell
him
all of this.
 
Personally, I still believe that for your own safety, we should stay right where we are, but if he wants me to fly the three of you back down to Egypt, then that's what we'll do."
 
She sounded tired and defeated.

They followed Elizabeth out of the dining room and down the hallway, until they came to the library, where they sat down as she picked up the phone and dialed.
 
After talking briefly with Hasani Khalil, Link came to the phone, and she spoke with him as the three listened intently to her part of the conversation.
 
After a few moments, they got the feeling that something wasn't quite right.
 
Elizabeth turned around to face them; tears were running down her cheeks.

"That was Link.
 
Liam, they found your father a few hours ago, he's still alive, but he's in a coma.
 
Link wants us to fly back right away."

Michael and Abigail sat with Elizabeth in the waiting room outside of Declan MacDonald's hospital room.
 
Due to the unique symptoms of his case, he'd been brought to a specialist in Cairo.
 
Liam had been taken in to see him, and the only thing the rest of them could do was wait.
 
Michael pawed through the magazines, but most of them were in Arabic.
 
After a while he found a soccer periodical and just looked at the pictures.

As Abigail and Elizabeth were finishing up their second game of Go Fish, Uncle Link walked into the room.
 
Abigail dropped her cards and ran to throw her arms around him.
 
After everyone exchanged greetings, they sat back down.

Michael sat next to his uncle.
 
"What happened?
 
Where was Mr. MacDonald found?"

"Actually, it's kind of a strange story.
 
Last night, about an hour after everyone came out of the catacombs, Declan stumbled out and dropped right in front of the entrance to the tomb.
 
The guard started making a commotion and we all ran over, and there he was lying in the sand.
 
Scared the heck out of us.
 
We all thought he was dead at first, but as it turned out, he wasn't.
 
The doctors say it's something like they've never seen before, they don't know when he'll snap out of it, or if he ever will."

"And what about Mom and Dad?" Abigail pleaded, "have you found anything out about them?"

Link shook his head.
 
"No, sweetheart.
 
We went back down into the tomb and searched after Declan came out, but we still couldn't find anything, no signs at all."

"Michael, I think it's time to come clean with your uncle."
 
Elizabeth touched his arm.
 
"Tell him everything you told me."

Link looked at his nephew with a raised eyebrow.
 
"What's she talkin' about Mike?"

Michael hadn't been looking forward to confessing everything he'd done.
 
He'd put his little sister in danger.
 
He'd given Zuriel the staff, which may have risked the safety of his own parents.
 
He felt guilty and looked nervous, and knew that his uncle could see right through him.

Link stood to his feet.
 
"I think we need to take a walk."

They took the elevator down to the ground level and went outside, where a small garden was maintained for the hospital's visitors.

Despite his suspicions, Michael decided to throw caution to the wind and tell his uncle everything.
 
The gravity of his parents' situation meant that he needed to share every bit of information, even if it meant disappointing him.