Here’s chapter 2. Hope you all like it!

Eric woke the pack of teenagers up considerably earlier than what they were used to. He explained that if they really wanted to learn anything they would have to use all the daylight possible. He laid out the boundaries, never extending them farther than he could see, and explicitly forbade anyone from entering any of the pyramids. They were many more choices, but exploring the elaborate tombs was not one of them. Eric made it crystal clear that they would be able to take a tour of a lesser pyramid later.

One that had already been excavated and pillaged, with not an ounce of its historic atmosphere left about it, Sasaki thought dimly as she leaned on Mandi’s shoulder. She turned to her friends.

“Let’s go exploring,” Sasaki said with a mischievous smile.

“You mean around the site, don’t you, Sasaki?” Mandi asked with anticipation. She had been on field trips with Sasaki before, and on almost every one Sasaki managed to pull her into some kind of trouble.

“Heck no!” Sasaki declared. “I plan on doing what I came to do.”

“Which would be...?” Chloe pushed.

Ami’s face brightened with an accusing look. “She wants to go into the Great Pyramids!” Ami announced.

“Bingo!” Sasaki smiled excitedly.

“Into the pyramids?!” Chloe spat the question out. “Are you nuts?! With all that dust, and bugs, and dead people....?” Chloe shivered at the thought.

“Well, you don’t have to come with me,” Sasaki said. She hoped her feigned independence and courage would cause Chloe, or one of the others, to become slightly offended and protest to her going alone. The truth was she was almost scared to go herself.

“You can’t go. Eric just said we weren’t allowed,” Ami reminded her innocently.

“Rules are made to be broken,” Sasaki argued. “Besides, it’ll be fun. We might find jewelry, or some other little treasures....” Sasaki hoped that pulled them in. The looks on their faces told her she was succeeding.

“I thought everything had been taken out,” Ami said skeptically.

“It was supposed to be, but I know there’s something in there. I can feel it.” Sasaki had them now.

“I guess I’ll go,” Mandi said, “On one condition: as long as we’re back before lunch and we don’t get caught. Someone has to keep you out of trouble.” Mandi shook her finger in her Sasaki’s face.

Sasaki smiled. Hook, line, and sinker. “All right then.”

Chloe and Ami looked at each other, knowing that they had lost. When Mandi and Sasaki agreed on something, that was it.

“Let’s make a little detour first,” Sasaki said, leading the way.

“Where are we going?” Mandi asked.

“To the professor’s tent.”

“What for?” Chloe wondered as they walked.

“There may be something that will help us to find whatever it is that wants to be found,” Sasaki explained.

That one went over their heads. The girls shrugged and followed Sasaki as she half pushed her way through the small mass of students and others going the opposite way.

“How do you know which one it is?” Ami asked.

“Simple,” Sasaki said. “It’s the biggest one.” She pointed straight ahead.

They headed toward the tent, watching for any responsible looking adults, then quietly snuck inside.

“Well, look at that,” Sasaki declared, mildly surprised. “Eric shares a tent with the Prof.”

The girls saw that there were indeed two cot-type beds. One side of the tent was immaculate, the other looked like Chloe’s older brother’s room.

“Finally! A sight I’m familiar with!” Chloe sighed, eyes watering with meaningless tears. “And it belongs to a hot guy, too.” Chloe threw herself upon what she decided was Eric’s bed and made herself at home. The other girls rolled their eyes. Chloe was hopeless.

The memory of the night before made Sasaki uneasy to be around Eric’s things. Deja vu was a little unnerving when not explained. Though it usually never was explained. And what she had felt wasn’t exactly deja vu. So she got right to the point. “Look for anything that seems important, maybe something with a lock on it,” Sasaki instructed her friends, save Chloe, who was too busy drooling over Eric’s belongings.

They rummaged around, through drawers and shelves, until Mandi found a small chest, the only thing with a lock on it in the tent.

“This looks promising,” Mandi said. She put the chest on the table.

Chloe was out of her daydream long enough to ask, “What did you guys find?”

She reluctantly removed herself from the atmosphere she only knew too well and joined her friends.

“How do we open it?” Ami asked, looking wide-eyed at Sasaki.

Sasaki turned the lock around in her hand. “Looks like we’ll need a key. But we’ve looked all over this place already, so where can it be?”

“Most likely on a keychain. In the professor’s pocket,” Mandi responded with a look on her face that said: “Obviously.”

Sasaki shot her a glare. “Any ideas then?” She waited for an answer.

Then Chloe suggested, “Why don’t you use your power?” She smiled mysteriously.

“You really think it could work that way? I’ve never tried it for anything like that.” Sasaki frowned in thought, trying to picture what should happen if she did.

“What are you guys talking about?” Ami asked, confused.

“Well Ami, I have a little bit of power that no one else seems to have. I can move stuff around with only thinking about it. It’s some type of telekinesis . . . I think,” Sasaki explained as well as she could. She herself wasn’t really sure what it was. All she knew was that she had possessed it since before she could remember.

“Oh,” Ami replied, still not following the train of thought that seemed to be stopping for all her friends. It had totally passed her station.

“It’s worth a try,” Mandi said doubtfully, folding her arms.

Sasaki studied the lock, concentrating on opening it. Suddenly she felt a force flow over her, gather itself in her hand, and work to get the lock open. A small spark flashed in the keyhole, followed by a thread-thin curl of smoke. The lock popped open.

“I didn’t expect for it to work!” Sasaki exclaimed, surprised, holding the chest away from herself.

Mandi stared at the open lock. “Well, it did,” she said, totally amazed. She brought her gaze to Sasaki’s face. “Let’s see what’s in it, then.”

Sasaki nodded, looking down at the chest as she carefully removed the lock. The clasp fell and hung loose. Slowly lifting the top, time seemed to slow for Sasaki. She folded it back and let it drop as she beheld the contents of the tiny chest.

Inside the small chest, resting on a cushion of red silk, were four elaborate necklaces each with their own special personality and style. Each had an ornate etching, obviously carefully crafted and in undeniable perfection. One etched on a red jewel, lined with feather-like sheaths of gold, was the eagle: the bird of prey that ravaged the skies and oases. Another was the cat on a purple jewel rimmed with gold, commonly worshipped as a small deity itself and guardian of the underworld. The next was on a blue jewel: the fish, decorated with thin ringlets and curls of silver like waves on the shore. The last drew all of Sasaki’s attention. It was an emerald green jewel and etched on this was the form of a snake. It was decorated with both silver and gold curves and spirals in perfect balance. Sasaki lifted it with the force of her mind, slowly spinning it in front of her, studying every detail. A scene of herself in Egyptian garments flashed across her mind. Her eyes widened. Surprised, she grabbed the floating necklace out of the air. Mandi, Chloe, and Ami were still admiring the other three. They each had picked out their own: Mandi chose the cat, Ami the eagle, and Chloe the fish.

“Right. I think this is what we need,” Sasaki concluded.

“How are necklaces going to help us?” Chloe asked quite sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. She couldn’t help admitting, however, that she was getting caught in Sasaki’s excitement.

“I don’t know, but I’m itching to find out,” Sasaki grinned.

After insisting that her friends at least bring a pack with some type of entertainment in it, she dragged her friends to the pyramid of choice, the largest. The girls stood in front of the entrance to the monument, Chloe suddenly developing a fit of obviously fake coughing.

“I think I’ll stay here,” Chloe began to turn around but Sasaki caught her shoulders. Chloe turned her head with a plea in her eyes. “ Oh, come on Sasaki! There are bugs, and dead people, and dust,--you know I’m allergic to dust-- and not to mention spider webs.”

“Correction” Sasaki said, holding up a finger. “There are most likely no bugs, since there have been archaeologists tromping around in there. And as for dust, there’s bound to be some of that.” Sasaki shrugged. “Just hold your nose,” Sasaki said, pushing Chloe towards the pyramid.

Sasaki headed into the darkness. Her friends hurried to catch up to her and were engulfed with shadows as they passed beyond the point the light last touched. All four girls broke out their flashlights and looked cautiously at the walls and floor. They didn’t split up. In fact no one even thought of splitting up. The girls stayed close together and walked, and walked, and walked until they finally stumbled, literally, upon a small discovery: a loose floor stone.

Sasaki was the one who had stepped on it. “I thought these pyramids were supposed to be precisely put together.” She knelt down and her friends did the same. “Not to mention, people have already been walking through here. How could they miss something that was planted right in front of them?”

“Then maybe it’s here just for us,” Ami concluded, seeing no other explanation.

Sasaki eyed the loose floor stone and, putting her flashlight down, perused the edges of the slab. She came to the conclusion that it could be lifted. “Hey, help me lift this thing up. There may be something under it.” Sasaki said hopefully.

“Yeah, like a snake,” Chloe said.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Sasaki scoffed.

They lifted the stone cover and Sasaki sat back as she dragged it into her lap. Underneath they found a hole filled with dry sand.

“There’s nothing there,” Ami blinked, peering into the hole, slightly disappointed.

Sasaki, pondering a thought, leaned forward and put her hands into the sand, caught hold of the edges of a flat surface and heaved it up. It was a tablet with Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics inscribed on it.

“We found something!” Sasaki grinned as she dragged the second stone in her lap.

“We can’t read the darn thing....”Chloe said flatly.

Sasaki looked at her, eyes glittering with determination. “You can’t, I can. You forget I can read hieroglyphics.”

“Oh yeah. Your useless obsession seems not to be so useless after all,” Chloe said. Sasaki promptly pinched Chloe behind her knee.

“Oww!”

“Ehem. Now then....” She grabbed her flashlight and began reading. Sasaki’s eyes flew over the familiar hieroglyphics, translating them almost instantly.

“What does it say?” Ami asked, excited.

“Maybe it’s someone’s diary,” Chloe suggested.

Mandi looked at Chloe dryly. “How much do you think they could fit on a tablet that size, Chloe? About two sentences?” she exaggerated. Chloe looked irritated.

“Do you guys want me to read it to you or not?” Sasaki asked impatiently, looking up at her friends.

“Go ahead, Sasaki,” Ami answered.

“Keep in mind this is only a rough translation.” The beam from Sasaki’s flashlight flickered and the silence in the tomb enveloped the trespassers. Sasaki began to read: “ ‘Four strangers will appear out of the pyramids, destined to save Egyptian civilization from the evil which remains hidden in the walls which support it. Four souls with unbelievable power and strength. They will oust the evil that wields unyielding power, which even the combined strength of the mages of the royal court of the pharaoh cannot overcome. They must take care around every being that they encounter, for if they do not, it could mean the end of them and of Egypt. May the gods watch over them and guide them in their quest.’”

“Wow, sounds like a prophecy or something,” Ami said, enjoying the mere thought of such an adventure.

“Sure does,” Mandi agreed, dumbfounded.

“Hey, it looks like the bottom of that piece was broken off. Maybe there’s still another piece in the sand,” Chloe noticed. She didn’t reach in herself. She didn’t want to get her nails dirty. So Ami did it instead.

Ami dug around a little bit and finally found the small corner of the larger tablet. Sasaki again scanned it with her eyes, and then began to read out loud.

“ ‘On this depends the future of Egypt: the curse that affects one of these four and one of the world of Egypt must be broken or there is no hope for the kingdom. The evil beings will surely triumph if this does not occur.’ Sounds serious.” Sasaki looked up at her friends.

“Maybe it’s just a story,” Chloe suggested.

“I doubt that,” Sasaki countered. “Why would they have it in a tomb instead of a library?”

“Good question,” Mandi agreed, leaning over Sasaki and taking a look at the tablets.

“Well if this is a prophecy, then there should be some kind of trigger to make it all happen,” Sasaki said, forming a plan in her head.

“We’re not going to look for it, are we?” Chloe whined. “I’m getting claustrophobic.”

“The operational word is if. Come on. It might not even be real, right? What’s the harm in looking for it?” Sasaki reasoned.

“I say keep going,” Ami said with determination. “I’m sure we’ll find something else and it isn’t too close to lunch time yet.” Mandi and Chloe shook their heads at Ami, unfortunately to no avail. They sighed, resigned to their fate.

“All right! Onward into the darkness!” Sasaki ordered.

* * *

The girls kept on walking, passing numerous paintings on the walls and hieroglyphics that told stories of the life of the pharaoh buried in the ancient monument. They stopped to rest against the dusty walls of the corridors.

“Boy... I guess I should have gotten a blueprint of this thing,” Sasaki said as she wiped her forehead. She leaned against the wall--and quite directly fell through it. A cloud of dust lifted into the air and Chloe immediately started coughing and sneezing.

Sasaki coughed, sitting up and removing herself from the pile of rubble. “Sorry about that Chloe,” she apologized, her eyes watering from the irritating dust. The dust cleared, slowly but surely. “Hey, look at this.”

Inside the hole Sasaki had made in the wall, amidst the broken bricks, was a small box. It was covered with dust, yet she could see that there was writing on it. Sasaki blew the dust off gently, careful not to get it in Chloe’s face, recognizing the minuscule hieroglyphics immediately. They were almost identical to the ones on the tablet.

“Well? Are you going to open it or what?” Chloe questioned impatiently.

“I’m not sure we should. Maybe there’s a booby trap in it. Egyptians were known to do such things,” Sasaki answered.

“But on something so small? And well hidden?” Mandi questioned the reasoning, looking from the box to Sasaki.

“I suppose you’re right, Mandi,” Sasaki relented. “All right, let’s see then.”

Sasaki slowly opened the small box to find a golden scarab resting on white silk, yellowed with age. Its jeweled wings winked in the beams of their flashlights, scattering a kaleidoscope of color over the dark halls. The scarab was clear of dust even after thousands of years of its disuse.

“Whoa!!” Chloe yelped as she leaned over Ami. “Is that solid gold?!” Her eyes were transfixed by the small scarab.

“Do you really need to gawk so?” Mandi scolded Chloe.

“But that’s solid gold! Isn’t it?” She asked Sasaki.

“That’s what it looks like. Wow, do you know how much this thing is worth?” She shook her head, banishing any selfish thoughts. “Anyway-- Back to the matter in hand...”

Suddenly the wings of the scarab clicked open, startling the girls. Inside, the scarab had four hollowed out spaces. In each space was a symbol. One had a fish, another a cat, the third an eagle, and the last a serpent.

“Looks like we’ve found some instructions,” Sasaki declared as all of them reexamined the necklaces they had taken from the Professor’s tent. Sasaki placed hers in the hollow with the serpent symbol, while Chloe, Mandi, and Ami were hesitant at first. After an expectant look from Sasaki, the three girls placed theirs in the respective hollows.

As the last stone was placed in the scarab, a white light exploded from the edges of each depression and engulfed the girls.