by James Phelan
How must she feel about the fact that Sebastian is alive … and that he’s Solaris?
Poor Lora.
The co-pilot came down the aisle from the cockpit, stopping to speak to Lora. Eva leaned over to hear what he was saying.
“We may have a problem,” the co-pilot said.
“What is it?” Lora asked.
“I’m not convinced we’re alone up here.”
“Do you mean you think someone is following us?”
The pilot nodded.
“Who would that be?” she wondered aloud.
“Possibly the UN—maybe when they were watching the Academy back in London they realized someone had slipped out,” he said. “Could be one of the countries alerted their air force.”
“Hmm, so they’re following us,” Lora said. “They want to see where we go so they can inform their governments and have people on the ground when we get to the Dream Gate.”
“So what do we do? Can we try to lose them?” Eva asked. Arianna and Gabriella were now crouched beside Eva, listening in.
“Depends what resources they have,” the co-pilot replied. “If they can follow the plane in Stealth mode, they’ll work out we’re heading to Cairo airport, I’m afraid.”
“What if we land someplace else?” Lora said.
The pilot looked at her. “Where did you have in mind?”
“We can use the fact that Cairo is in such turmoil to our advantage,” Lora said, “and break some rules. Take us to Cairo, as planned, but don’t land at the airport, land at the pyramids instead.”
The pilot looked at her in disbelief. Lora held his gaze. “Yes, ma’am,” he said and turned to return to the flight deck.
“With any luck,” Lora said, to Eva and the others, “we can land and disappear into the crowds before anyone following us can put together a ground team.”
Eva looked out the window as the jet slowed and then came into a vertical hover. Below them were the pyramids of the Giza Plateau. Dense black smoke blew across the sky in gusty waves.
“That’s coming from Cairo?” Eva asked, leaning over to look out the window. Alex moved closer for a better look. He whistled softly at the worrying sight below.
“Yes,” Lora said, buckling into her seat for the landing.
“It’s worse than I thought,” Eva said.
Arianna and Gabriella were watching out their windows, too. They seemed too shocked to speak at all.
“Is it safe down there?” Eva asked as the aircraft started to shake around from the turbulence of the jet engines blasting against the ground. She could no longer see outside for the dust cloud.
“Nowhere is really safe anymore,” Lora replied. “So stick close to me. Jedi messaged me a few hours ago and said they had Zara and Issey. He told me to meet him at the pyramids so we’re saving time by going straight there. But we don’t know where the others are. And we’ve possibly also got Egyptian security to deal with, so be prepared, OK?”
“Not going to be too pleased to have people land next to their pyramids, eh?” Alex said. “Let’s hope the fact that we’re trying to save the world keeps them happy.”
Eva felt the jet touch down with a bump, then heard the engines spooling down. Lora unclipped her belt, then took a case from the overhead locker. She pulled out two dart guns and passed them to Arianna and Gabriella, then brought out two more for Eva and Alex. She pulled her own gun from its holster and checked it.
“Ready?” Lora asked them, as she readied herself to open the door.
“Ready,” Eva said.
I hope we’re ready.
The door hissed open. The stairs folded down and Lora rushed out first. Eva was close behind her, Alex and the others two steps back.
The five of them stood on the sand and looked around. There was nothing to see. The place was deserted apart from the pyramids that loomed over them. The air smelled of smoke. Gunfire crackled in the distance, and every now and then an explosion rang out.
“Well, that was a bit of a surprise,” Arianna said. “I thought we’d be walking into chaos here.”
“I am glad, though,” Gabriella said, walking toward the Great Pyramid and looking up in wonder. “Wow …”
“The Egyptians must have already cleared the site and cordoned it off. With so much happening in the city, they’ve moved their security personnel there.”
They moved away from the jet and watched it take off, heading to the airport to refuel and then return for them.
“What do we do now?” Eva asked once the dust had cleared.
“We wait for Jedi, and hopefully Dr. Dark and the rest of them,” Lora said. “It’s all we can do.”
Eva nodded. A noise distracted her, a rustling of some kind and a muffled shout. Before she could wonder about it, a voice came out of nowhere.
“Now.”
The five of them spun around but could see no one. Eva realized what was happening a split second after Lora.
Stealth Suits, set to blend in with the environment!
At that very moment, the threat made itself visible.
Solaris appeared between them and the pyramid. Then another, and another and two more.
What?!
Lora fired at the closest, Eva following her lead—the five of them firing at the Solaris figures until their dart guns were empty.
Nothing happened. The darts hit their armoured suits and fell to the ground, useless.
“Are you done now, Lora?” one of the figures asked. It was shorter than the others, and took a step forward, putting a hand up to the mask to pull it back.
Stella.
Lora dropped her dart gun, flexing her fists, and moved in fast.
WHACK!
Lora smashed Stella to the ground.
“No,” Stella said, holding up a hand and wiping blood from her nose. “I don’t think so.”
Stella turned to the men to her right and gave a nod. They bent down and pulled back a large blanket of Stealth material.
There lay Zara and Issey, Jedi and Shiva, all tied up with their mouths taped over. They looked wild-eyed and desperate, trying to scream out to them. One of Stella’s men aimed a gun at them. It was clearly not a dart gun.
Stella’s playing for keeps now.
“Your friends here were as careless with their security as you, Lora,” Stella laughed as she got up, brushing off dust. “So, it seems that we are almost all here. This is becoming quite the party.”
“Yeah, and who invited you?” Lora said to her, scowling.
Stella held Lora’s gaze. “Don’t tempt me,” she said. “You are expendable, as are these other two.” She motioned over her shoulder to Jedi and Shiva. “I’m just collecting the last 13.”
“You’ll never capture them all,” Lora said. “So you might as well give up now.”
Stella’s face broke into a long, sly grin. “I think you’ll find that Solaris already has your precious Sam and the Professor,” she gloated. “Together with all your little friends we’ve got trapped underground, that gives us the full set. Game over, Lora.”
Her cruel laugh reverberated off the stones around them, making Eva shiver.
20
SAM
Sam woke up just as the helicopter touched down. His eyelids fluttered, his mind struggling to come back into focus. Then the memory of their kidnapping from Venice came trickling back and he sat bolt upright and gasped for air. Turning, he found the Professor next to him. His wrists were tied together, just like Sam’s.
“Where are we?” Sam said, peering outside.
“We’re in Egypt,” the Professor said. “Giza, to be precise. Solaris must believe, correctly I think, that Ramses took the Bakhu myth and used the pyramid to represent it in the prophecy.”
“So you mean the machine needs to be assembled at the pyramid,” Sam said.
The Professor nodded, “Perhaps at the—”
“Come on, you two,” Solaris’ henchmen growled at them from the open helicopter door, “out.�
��
Sam got to his feet, stumbling a little as he climbed out and waited to help the Professor. He turned to see that Solaris had set the helicopter down behind the largest pyramid. Solaris knelt a little way off, his back to them.
“What’s he doing?” Sam said.
“I suspect he’s rifling through your backpack,” the Professor said, “checking the Gears.” He stared at Solaris, his eyes flickered with sadness, anger—a vast range of emotions.
So I guess they haven’t spoken yet. How terrible for the Professor … but we have to stay focused. Focused on the race, the machine, the Gate.
Sam instinctively touched his chest where, under his Stealth Suit, the first Gear, the key he found inside the Star of Egypt, hung on a leather strap.
It’s still there.
What will tonight bring, if the machine leads to the Dream Gate and Solaris opens it?
Will he have control over the Dreamscape, creating endless nightmares?
Or will it turn out to be like my first nightmare, the world burning, everyone burning …
He looked around. A tall fence stood in the distance, marking the perimeter of the Giza Plateau.
If I could make it to the fence, then the road—I could get to Cairo and disappear. The machine would be useless without my Gear.
Sam looked toward Cairo. Black smoke rose into the evening sky. The city was tearing itself apart—nightmares and chaos reigning.
“Don’t even think about it, Sam,” the Professor whispered. “You’d never make it. You’d get twenty paces at most before they darted you.”
“I can stop this though, can’t I?” Sam said. “If I can get away with my Gear, the machine is incomplete—it won’t work. I can still save us.”
“No, Sam,” the Professor said. “Take a look around you. The world is coming undone. The Gate must be opened, the imbalance has to be set right.”
“But what if he controls it, then what?” Sam whispered desperately.
“We need to put the Bakhu machine together and see where that leads us. We will get a chance against him, I’m sure of it. We’ve come this far. We will prevail.”
Sam nodded, trying to look more convinced than he felt.
And where’s everyone else? I thought they were all meeting us here.
They watched Solaris put the astrolabe in the pack and sling it over his shoulder, walking back toward them. Sam felt the Professor bristle next to him, forcing himself to meet Solaris’ fixed gaze.
“So …” Solaris said, “seems like my secret’s out, eh, old man? How do you like your precious son now?”
“You’re no son of mine,” the Professor said through gritted teeth. “Not anymore. After everything you’ve done? All those innocent people you … I can’t believe you could … why? Tell me, why? You owe me that.”
“I owe you nothing,” Solaris muttered, stepping closer to the Professor for a moment. He turned on his heel, striding toward the Great Pyramid towering before them. He signalled to his men, “Holt, Pike, let’s move it.” They pushed Sam and the Professor forward. “Now, climb!”
21
ARIANNA
The group marched together through the entrance of the pyramid, prodded along by Stella’s men. They headed along the descending passage. Lora, Eva and Alex were up front, tied together and following Stella, with Arianna, Zara, Jedi, Shiva, Gabriella and Issey in a second group behind.
“So what happened?” Arianna asked Zara out of the corner of her mouth.
“Dr. Dark took us underneath Dr. Kader’s house, but I needed some air,” Zara explained. “When we came back up … the Agents with us had been killed.”
Arianna’s shock was clear on her face, even in the gloom.
“There is more,” Zara said, her eyes filling with tears. “We drove here, to the pyramids, but Dr. Kader and the Director, they were hurt when our car crashed. They … they …”
Arianna stopped in her tracks.
No, I don’t believe it!
How do we manage without them now?
“Move it!” the Agent grunted, shoving Arianna in the back.
She spun around, pushing angrily against their captor. “You take your hands off me!”
Quick as a flash, the Agent slammed the butt of his gun into Arianna’s side, making her double over onto the ground, Zara reaching out to grab her. “Keep moving, or there’s more where that came from,” he grunted.
Arianna swore loudly in Russian, getting to her feet as Jedi came to put her arm around his shoulders, pulling her up.
“OK, OK, she’s walking,” he said. “Leave her alone.” He muttered to himself, “You’ll get yours, buddy.”
“It’s alright, I can walk,” Arianna said, too proud to let Jedi help her for long. She held her side, trying not to wince too much. She turned back to Zara. “Tell me, where are Xavier and the others now? Where was Dr. Dark taking them?” she said.
“I’m not sure,” Zara replied. “He had a map, he was talking about some maze he’d found. I never met him before but he was acting a little crazy.”
“Stella said they were trapped down here,” Arianna said. “I’m hoping that she is bluffing.”
But something tells me this woman is not pretending.
They wound farther down the passage, the corridor narrow and steep as it cut through the pyramid. Soon the surface of the walls changed, from the smooth and sharply-cut pyramid stones to rough rock face.
We must do something before they get us trapped underground.
As though reading her mind, Lora turned around and gave them all a meaningful look. It was a kind of “hang-tight” look, one that Arianna had seen before on her missions with the Nyx. She hoped Lora had a plan.
They kept moving down the steep slope, lit by the Agents’ flashlights, until they came to a very serious-looking steel door blocking their path. Stella pulled out a key and opened it swiftly, leading them through to a level hallway cut into the bedrock. As they went on, the space suddenly opened up around them. The subterranean chamber was full of crates and boxes, scattered around the room. There seemed nothing extraordinary about it, but Arianna felt the mood in the room shift. The Dreamers were all shoved into a tight group, the Agents with their guns up and ready, looking around.
But for what?
She could tell by Stella’s face that something was wrong.
Arianna smiled.
Good.
22
XAVIER
“Shh!” Xavier said, running from the entrance of the descending passage into their chamber. “They’re coming back, get ready!”
He and the others quietly readied at their positions. Phoebe, Rapha and Cody were nearest the entrance, hidden behind the crates that the Solaris crew had been unpacking. Maria and Poh were the next row back, hidden behind a high outcrop of rock that protruded into the centre of the room. Xavier was hidden in the shadows, crouched in a carved-out niche to one side of the entrance. And his father was back at the hole that led there from the maze, ready to run out and create a distraction.
The first through the doorway into the chamber was a Solaris figure but the mask was off and Xavier recognized Stella immediately. She was followed by another Solaris—what’s left of her rogue Agents. He waited for the other three to pass by, but got a shock at what he saw next.
It was Eva and the others, all of them tied together, first around their wrists and then from one person to the next via another rope. The other Agents brought up the rear.
It was too late to call off or change their plans. Xavier slowly came forward and made his move—sneaking up behind the last guy.
Two things happened at once.
First, Stella saw that the Agent guarding the chamber was missing and signalled to her crew while shifting all the captives to the centre of the room.
The second thing was Dr. Dark. Xavier’s appearance was the cue for his father to make his move.
Xavier could not believe his eyes. His father, who he’d known all his life t
o be impeccably groomed and wearing expensive tailored suits, looked like a madman. And not just any madman, but the president boss of madmen. And it wasn’t that he only looked the part—he played the part too.
Dr. Dark came out running, screaming a battle cry, his eyes wide, swinging large wrenches he’d liberated from the crates in both hands. He charged at Stella like he was going to run right through her. In that moment, Xavier would have believed that his father could have taken on a brick wall.
But Xavier didn’t have time to think about it, because he was grappling with the Agent he’d snuck up on. Sensing his presence, the guy had spun round and he was huge, easily the biggest of the rogue Agents. Xavier made to strike at the same time as the Agent, and was swiftly put into a headlock.
This isn’t exactly going as planned.
Xavier grabbed at the arm around his neck, tugging at it, but it kept getting tighter. He was choking, and all his wriggling and squirming did nothing to shake off the Agent’s grip. He started to feel light-headed as a vision of his friends jumping into the fray and his father attacking Stella swam before his eyes.
23
SAM
Sam thought he was dreaming. There they were—him, the Professor and Solaris—all climbing the Great Pyramid to put together the Bakhu machine that would show them the location of the Dream Gate.
Some dream … more like a nightmare.
He climbed up the last step of the pyramid, a place he had been before, right at the start of all this. He sat down on the stone and rested, his arms and legs and every joint burning from the climb.
This is where I first saw the key inside the Star of Egypt.
He looked down at the Professor scrambling up, still a few minutes from reaching the summit, one of Solaris’ men behind him, prodding him onward. Solaris was on one knee, the contents of Sam’s backpack spread out over the stone. The Gears glinted in the moonlight.
“Get over here,” Solaris commanded.
Sam defiantly sat down where he was and watched Solaris trying to place the Gears in the right order. There was the Bakhu box itself that he had retrieved in France with Zara from da Vinci’s workshop along with Zara’s Gear, a crank-like handle. Then there were the other Gears, including Xavier’s, which Sam had not seen since Solaris took it from them in Berlin. But every one was a memory for Sam—of each Dreamer and each country and how hard they had fought to win the race and get the Gears.