Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (9 page)

It was a life-sized statue, an Egyptian statue, of the jackal-headed god Anubis. Well that's a coincidence, Michael thought.
 
This fellow seemed to be popping up all over the place.
 
First, he'd seen the staff with the black jackal head in the portrait downstairs, then his parents had discussed a place called the Tomb of Anubis at the excavation site, and now here was his statue.

"Been getting around pretty good lately, haven't you, old man?"

The statue looked like it was made completely out of gold, or perhaps plated with gold, and was obviously ancient.

As Michael crept closer to it, he realized that it was actually more like half a statue, and hollow inside.
 
In many ways, it reminded him of the lid from an Egyptian sarcophagus.

Curiously, this appeared to be the source of the humming sound.

He approached the statue cautiously, and noticed that the eyes were hollow.
 
He touched it with two fingers; it was vibrating gently, and began to glow with a dim blue light.

He felt strangely compelled to step up behind it and try to look through the eyes.
 
Standing up on the tips of his toes, he strained to reach the empty eye slots.

Darkness.
 
He could see nothing at all.
 
But then, slowly, a little dim ball of light appeared.
 
It was odd, like a small planet hovering all by itself in the darkness.
 
Michael was reminded of the time he had visited Lowell observatory in Flagstaff, and got to examine Saturn through one of the small telescopes the astronomers had set up for visitors.
 
This little ball however, had no rings around it, and was colored white and blue.

"Is it…Earth?" Michael said softly.

Suddenly, and without a bit of warning, he felt as if someone had thrown a lasso around his head and was yanking him swiftly toward the ball, which was rapidly growing larger.

"No!" he shouted instinctively, but he didn't have time to struggle, and before he knew what was happening, he was thrust into an unfamiliar place.

Michael was running as fast as he could through the sand.
 
He was racing, and was full of joy and excitement.
 
His eyes were fixed ahead, not daring to turn around and look as it might give his brother some sort of advantage.
 
All four legs were working as fiercely as he could push them.

Four legs?
 
Michael thought to himself.
 
Of course I have for legs.
 
It was all becoming clear now.
 
He kept running as fast as he could.
 
His brother Horus was somewhere nearby, but he couldn't see his shadow on the ground anywhere.
 
He dodged around an outcropping of rocks and kicked a bunch of sand into the air, nearly losing his footing.

My name is Anubis, and I am racing my brother Horus, the falcon
, Michael thought to himself.

He tried to stop, but couldn't.
 
He had no control over what he was doing.
 
It was like watching a movie, but from the inside of one of the actors, and knowing and feeling everything that the actor would know, but without the ability to control any of it.

Suddenly, the shadow of the falcon soaring in the sky above overtook the ground in front of him.

"You won't get me this time," he said, but it came out as a muffled growl.

Horus shot down in front of him, just in time to pull ahead as they both passed the pile of large boulders to which they agreed would be the finish line.

Frustration and anger suddenly came over Michael as he realized that his brother had won.
 
He leapt off a flat rock, changed back into a boy, and tackled his half-brother who had just changed back as well.

"I'll get you next time," Michael said, as they rolled over backward onto the sand.
 
They were both laughing, although Michael's eyes were glowering slightly out of the frustration of losing to Horus once again.

Horus had a dark complexion, and jet-black hair.
 
He was…Egyptian.
 
And so am I
, thought Michael.

In fact, he now realized that he was speaking Egyptian, and completely understood what was being said.
 
He wanted to ask Horus what was happening.
 
How did he get here?
 
But he found that he had no control over what he was saying.
 
All he could do was watch the event unfold before him.

Anubis's thoughts and emotions were being revealed to Michael, he knew that he loved his brother very much.
 
They were best friends, although Michael was often jealous of his brother's ability to fly.

"If you would keep your eyes ahead of you and stop looking around for me, you might actually win from time to time."

"Maybe, but I can't help it.
 
Besides, I have the sand to slow me down, but you have nothing to hold you back," Michael told him.

"What about the wind?"

"Next time there's a storm, we'll race, and maybe the
lightning
will slow you down."

"Hey, that's a nice thing to say.
 
Maybe we can race along the Nile and see how fast you can swim."

Both boys began to laugh again.

"Come on," said Horus, getting up.
 
"It's time to eat, and mother will be expecting us."
 
The two began to walk back toward home.

Suddenly, just as Michael had been jerked forward into the scene in front of him, he was now being drawn backwards away from it all.
 
The desert and the two boys flew away from him as he reached out to grab onto them.

"No, Horus!
 
I don't want to go back.
 
Not without my brother!"

The globe was moving away, getting smaller and smaller until his head was thrown back gently from the statue.

Before he knew it, he was back inside the artifact room at McGinty Castle.

"What the heck was that?
 
That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Michael said to himself.

He remembered the entire experience vividly in his head, as if he really had just been there, but the emotions that made him call out to his brother were completely gone.
 
Horus's image was still fresh in his brain, but the jealousy and love he had just experienced had vanished.

Michael hesitantly looked through the eye slits again, but nothing was there.
 
He stepped away from the statue, and continued to examine it for a few moments, but nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" came a loud voice from behind him.

Michael thought for a moment that his heart had stopped.
 
Abigail was standing near the glass showcase by the stairs.

"Abby, what are you doing?
 
You almost gave me a heart attack."

The girl rubbed her eyes.
 
"I heard you walk past my room.
 
I got up and tried to follow you, and then I heard you running down the corridor."

"Well, I suppose you believe me now, don't you?" he said to her in an 'I told you so' sort of voice.

"I never said that I didn't believe you," she retorted.

Michael thought about it for a moment.
 
She was right, and he appreciated her for it.

"What's that thing?" she asked.

"Come here.
 
Take a look inside."
 
He picked up an empty wooden box that was on the ground nearby and stood it on its end for her.

Without hesitation, she stepped up and took a look through the eye slits.
 
"I don't see anything," she said.
 
"Did you see something through here?"

He wasn't sure he should say anything about what he saw, or even how he could tell her without sounding crazy.
 
After a few moments of hesitation however, he told her about the experience as best he could.

"That sounds really weird," she told him.
 
"Maybe we should go get Liam and ask him about all this stuff."

Michael agreed that this was a good idea.
 
Together they went back down the stairs and started off toward Liam's room.
 
It was on the other side of the castle in one of the towers.

"Abby, did you hear the sound of the pipes this time?" he asked her.

"No, the only thing I heard was you," she responded.
 
Michael was relieved that his sister now knew the reality of the hidden corridor, but was also looking for validation that the sound of the pipes wasn't in his head.

As they were passing the kitchen, Abigail suddenly got a concerned look on her face.
 
"I need to swing by the pantry for something."

"Are you hungry?" he asked her, thinking that a mid-night snack didn't sound like too bad of an idea.

"No.
 
Wait here for a minute."

She disappeared through the kitchen door, and the light came on.
 
Michael leaned his back against the cold stone wall and waited patiently.
 
After a minute, she came back out.

"What gives?" he asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," she said with a mischievous smile.
 
"Let's go."

When they got to the door of Mr. Finnegan's quarters, they passed stealthily so as not to disturb him, and soon afterwards came to the stairs that led up to Liam's tower.

Michael lifted his foot to the first step, when Abby quickly put her hand across his chest.

"No," she whispered, looking at her brother with determination.
 
"Yesterday afternoon Liam jumped out from behind a suit of armor and scared me.
 
It's time to exact my revenge."

This did not surprise Michael in the slightest.
 
He had learned a long time ago that a price must always be paid for wronging his little sister.
 
The girl bore serious grudges against those who dared to cross her, and payback was always much worse than the original deed.

"Don't try and stop me, or you'll share a portion of my wrath," she said with a look that was both maniacal and adorable.

Always so dramatic
, Michael thought to himself.
 
But he believed her, and raised his hands in surrender.

She slowly hopped up the steps, her long blonde ponytail whipping from side to side behind her.
 
She reminded Michael of a cat that was bounding sneakily up to its prey.

The large wooden door at the top of the stairs was not quite closed, and the girl gently pushed it open.
 
Its creak sounded like the laugh of an old oak tree.
 
She winced, hoping that it wouldn't disturb Liam's sleep, and then she pushed it open just enough for Michael and her to slip inside.

A night-light near the door filled the room with a faint glow, and Michael watched as his sister crept to the side of Liam's bed.
 
She reached into her robe and pulled out something with her right hand, holding it in close.
 
She then reached into her left pocket, and pulled out a feather.

Moving down toward the foot of the bed, she took the feather and gently began to tickle the bottom of Liam's feet, which were protruding from beneath the covers. He quickly pulled them back beneath the blanket, and turned on his side, unknowingly revealing his face to them.

Abigail moved back toward the head of the bed, and began to tickle Liam's nose.

"WHAT'S THAT?" he yelled as he shot up into a sitting position.

Abigail quickly reeled her arm back as if she were going to pitch a baseball, and threw something that landed with a hard smack directly into his face.

Michael flipped on the light, shocked at what his sister had just done.
 
A cloud of white powder hovered around Liam, and as it cleared, Michael was relieved to see that his friend was unharmed.
 
His ghostly face was covered with flour, and he looked confused and batted his eyes pitifully.

Michael broke into an uncontrolled laughter, while Abigail, with her arms crossed against her chest, examined her victim, trying to determine whether or not the work met her standards.

"Abigail, have you lost your ever-loving mind?" Liam said dryly, his eyes beginning to water from the flour.

"Humph," she squeaked indignantly.

"I tried to warn you about her," said Michael, shaking his head.

"THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE," the girl shouted while raising her hands in triumph.

While Liam washed his face, Michael explained that the corridor had appeared once again.
 
Liam was not convinced.
 
Although he had taken the mid-night assault surprisingly well, he was now under the impression that his friends were trying to play yet another trick on him.

"Hey, don't blame
me
for this," said Michael.
 
"I tried to warn you about the consequences of teasing Abigail.
 
She has always been one to hold grudges, but lately she's become down right dangerous to mess around with."

"Yes, you did try to warn me," he conceded, beginning to laugh about it.

They soon convinced Liam to come along with them down to the corridor, and when they arrived, he had such a look of shock on his face that Michael wished he'd brought a camera along.

"I've been by here a thousand times, and I've never seen this before," Liam said.

"Well, it appears only to show up at night.
 
Do you ever come over this way at night?" asked Abigail.

"No, wouldn't have any reason to.
 
We should probably tell my da about this," he said with a contemplative look on his face.
 
"Then again, having a secret corridor that nobody else knows about might come in handy."
 
He formed a mischievous smile.
 
"I think we should call this place
the night corridor
."