2

by James Phelan

  “I know,” Lora said.

  Eva could see that she was concentrating hard. “Where are you headed?”

  Lora tapped the compass in front of her. “There.”

  “The US base?”

  Lora nodded.

  “You know where that is?”

  “Not too far at this speed,” Lora replied.

  “But that’s near the last known location we had for Alex, right?” Eva said.

  “We can’t lead these guys to him, or Sam,” Gabriella said.

  “But what if we do?” Eva said. “Lead them toward Alex, I mean. If he’s with Hans, and Stella and her guys are headed there too …”

  Lora looked up from the controls. “One way or another, we’re going to find someone to make these guys think twice.”

  33

  ALEX

  “This way,” Alex said.

  The room beyond the wall was a vault. It was a room that seemed to hold things from several eras—a small wooden sail boat, barrels of whale oil, an ancient-looking stack of rough-hewn lumber. It was cooler in there, the lava was clearly not near the rock surface under his feet, and there was a cold wind.

  “How’d all this get here?” Alex wondered as he walked over to a corner of the room.

  “Travellers, over time,” Hans replied. “Sometimes the ice caves and lava tubes led out to inlets at the sea. They must have found this cavern and left what they needed for future expeditions. Or perhaps they hid things here, hoping to come back later to get them. There—look!”

  He pointed ahead, where some light trickled in from a spot in the ceiling.

  Alex looked back to the wrecked wall—it had looked exactly like the wall in that cave he’d found out in the snow, near the thermal lake. The realization hit him like a brick.

  Those smooth walls sealed off the pyramid complex. The cave I found was just another part of this complex, but I was coming at it from the other side. Now I’m inside.

  “It’s here,” Alex said, pausing by the boat. He looked around it. It could not have sailed here from far—it must have been a lifeboat for another, larger ship. “But I can’t remember exactly.”

  “Spanish, or Portuguese, I’d guess,” Ahmed said, closely inspecting the craft. “Fifteenth century, probably—from when they were sending ships to the far reaches of the seas, discovering the world.”

  “That fits our timeframe,” Hans said. He pointed to it. “Search it, top to bottom. Tear it apart if you have to,” he ordered his men.

  To Alex’s dismay, the men took to breaking up the boat with gusto.

  “You’re destroying history!” Ahmed cried out, desperately taking photographs as the men dismantled the boat.

  It took them only a few minutes to unearth a wooden chest, which Alex recognized as more of his dream flooded back.

  “Wait!” Alex said.

  “What is it?” Hans replied, preoccupied with a golden spear that he’d found among a stack of old weaponry.

  “I remember!” Alex said, looking around. “My dream—we’re not alone!”

  “What?” Hans asked.

  “I remember standing here, like this, talking about this wooden ship, and then …”

  “Then?” Hans said. “Who comes? What does it mean?”

  “He means,” a voice said. “Your days of treasure hunting are over.”

  Alex looked up. Stella stood there, leaning over the edge of the tunnel above, her rogue Agents leering down with her.

  “Really?” Hans said, then, quicker than Alex could have believed, he pulled out a grenade, yanked out the pin and flung it upward over the edge of the hole above them.

  Alex dived for cover.

  BOOM!

  Alex coughed, trying not to breathe in the billowing smoke all around them. Dr. Kader was on the ground next to him, frantically crawling away from the blast. Alex went down onto his hands and knees, feeling around in the thick smoke for the chest. He fumbled to open the clasps, the open chest falling from his hands. He heard the Gear tumble out onto the stone with a gentle tink.

  He looked up to see the hole above blocked with rocks and debris.

  Ha! Take that, Stella.

  Now I’ve just got to keep the Gear away from Hans.

  Alex stopped as he felt something.

  The Gear!

  His fingers wrapped around it and he lifted the palm-sized Gear up close to his face.

  Alex tucked it into his waistband and, taking a deep breath, broke out into a flat-out run.

  34

  SAM

  Sam saw the grenade go off just before his final fall. From where he’d landed on a huge pile of soft snow, he’d hiked through a tunnel, where there’d been nothing but darkness until he’d spotted Stella and her men. As the explosion ripped through the tunnel, the ground beneath Sam’s feet gave way and he fell downward into a large chamber.

  When he came to his senses and sat up, he saw Alex, dressed just in his shorts, running toward a light beyond.

  Sam sprinted after the fleeing figure of his friend. He skidded to a stop as soon as he ran up a flight of stairs. The heat was overwhelming.

  Is that lava?

  Is this a pyramid?

  What the—?

  Sam turned to gaze up.

  “Sam!” Alex called. “Over here! Up here, quick!”

  Sam ran up the pyramid steps, unzipping his snowsuit as he did so and as he reached the top platform of the pyramid, he ditched it.

  “Finally! It’s great to see you!” Sam said, the dream forgotten. He put out a hand to Alex.

  Alex ignored it. Instead, he grabbed Sam and hugged him tight.

  “I’m glad you’re OK,” Alex said.

  “Me too,” Sam said. “And that you’re still my friend—I mean, in my dream, I wasn’t sure. I thought you might have really sided with Hans.”

  “Yeah,” Alex said letting Sam go. “I was just faking him out. I got here and got the Gear, didn’t I?”

  “You sure did, buddy.”

  “It’s been so long since we were together,” Alex said.

  “I know, and so much has happened. It’s hard to know where to even—” Sam began.

  A muffled explosion rang out and lava bubbled up from a new fissure that was breaking apart in the rock floor.

  “Let’s talk later, we need another way out!” Sam yelled.

  “I know one. Being the person with the Gear dream has to have some advantages, right?”

  “Fine with me—” Sam stopped as he heard a whistling noise.

  Alex looked to Sam. Sam pulled him to the ground, just in time.

  WHOOSH!

  A jet of fire whizzed past them.

  KLAP-BOOM!

  The explosion echoed throughout the entire chamber, raining rocks and chunks of ice all around, a fierce hailstorm inside the cavern.

  “What—what was that?” Alex yelled.

  “Rocket launcher,” Sam replied, looking in the direction it had been fired from. “I remember the sound, from New York. And it was fired by the same person who did it last time,” Sam said. “Stella.”

  “But she won’t kill us, right?”

  “No, not yet,” Sam said. “But she thinks she’s that good that she misses on purpose.”

  “Huh?”

  “She’s not shooting to kill us, she’s corralling us. She wants us to head in some other direction.”

  “What’s in that direction?”

  “Probably a trap—her guys waiting for us or whatever.”

  “OK, well, follow me!” Alex yelled as another whistle filled the air.

  Sam followed close behind. The heat was intense. They ran around the pyramid and down the steps at the other side, and skidded to a stop.

  A tall figure stood in front of them, emerging slowly from the shadows.

  “Sam!” Alex said, shoving him away. “Run!”

  35

  “It’s OK!” Sam said. “It’s not Solaris!”

  The tall figure emerged. It was Jabari.
His Stealth Suit was charred and smouldering—he’d clearly had a close call, either with a missile or some lava.

  And he had a gun in his hands. It was pointed at Alex.

  “Jabari? What are you doing?” Sam shouted.

  Jabari came closer, silent. The gun remained trained on Alex.

  “It’s OK,” Sam said, moving toward him, his arms outstretched to reassure him. “Alex is on our side! We’ve got the Gear. Let’s get out of here!”

  “I don’t think that your new friend is on our side, Sam,” Alex muttered.

  Jabari nodded, smiling slowly.

  “We … the Egyptian Guardians are sworn to protect the Dream Gate, Sam,” he said, unsteady on his feet, the gun wavering at Alex. “Not Dreamers.”

  He’s injured.

  “But …” Sam paused. “You’re not going to let us finish the race?”

  Jabari shook his head. “Sorry, Sam. I liked you. I really did.”

  “You traitor!” Sam said. “You said you’d realized you were on the wrong path!”

  Jabari nodded. “I did, but that was a lie, Sam. If only you had not survived the helicopter crash in the first place. This could have ended there and then.”

  “What!” Alex’s mind was clearly reeling to catch up with current events. “This guy tried to kill us and you thought he was on our side?”

  “He admitted it,” Sam said. “Said the Egyptian Guardians had a change of heart, were going to protect us.”

  “It was more a change of tactics,” Jabari said. “I thought I’d see if you could get to the end, to the Gate, then I’d do what had to be done and bury the secret all over again.”

  “Why?”

  “The Dream Gate is too much power. It allowed my ancestors, the ancient Egyptians, to rule the world for centuries. There’s a reason it has been buried since. Some …” Jabari stumbled, unsteady on his feet, but he righted himself against the wall. The gun was steady in his grip.

  Sam tried to catch Alex’s eye.

  We have to rush him. Find a moment when he’s weakest.

  “Maybe the Gate is destined to be found,” Sam said, defiant. “If not by us, perhaps by another 13 one day—a hundred years, a thousand years from now.”

  “Maybe,” Jabari said. “But we will be even more ready.”

  “I don’t think so,” a deep voice said.

  They all turned in surprise to see another figure emerging from the shadows.

  “Professor?”

  “Jabari, put the gun down,” the Professor commanded. In his hand he held a small pistol, pointed straight at the leader of the Egyptian Guard.

  Nothing happened for a moment. Stalemate. Sam and Alex stood still, barely breathing, watching. The Professor didn’t move. Jabari was swaying slightly on his feet.

  He might pass out any second.

  Jabari moved fast—he turned his gun around to fire at the Professor.

  A shot rang out.

  Jabari fell.

  In the stunned silence, Sam looked from the fallen body of Jabari to the Professor. The pistol was smoking from the barrel.

  “Oh, man!” Alex gasped. “It’s really good to see you, Professor!”

  “Likewise, I’m sure, Alex,” the Professor said. “Now, I think we can all agree it is well and truly time to leave this place.”

  36

  “Wait!” A voice shouted. “Wait!”

  “Who is it?” Sam said, looking around. He rushed to Dr. Kader, who was dazed and lying on the ground. Sam and the Professor helped the Egyptologist to his feet.

  “Wait!” The voice was actually coming from below their position, from a huge crack in the ground.

  “Hold on!” Alex yelled. He got onto his stomach, looking down a fissure that was glowing red with heat. Sam could see Hans trapped down there on a ledge. He hadn’t fallen in—he’d climbed in to get the golden spear, which lay on another ledge below where he stood.

  “Leave it, Hans!” Alex yelled. “Climb up, you have to come now!”

  “Alex!” Sam shouted. Bits of stone began to fall from the ceiling of the cavern as the lava shifted and moved inside the dormant volcano. “We have to get out of here.”

  Alex looked at Sam and the Professor and shook his head.

  “We have our own race to win!” Sam said. “Come on!”

  “We can help him,” Alex said.

  “He’s too far down, we can’t reach him. Alex—it’s us or him,” Sam said. “There’s no time!”

  Alex looked from Sam to Hans, who was still reaching for the spear.

  “I’ll just be one more minute,” Hans called up. “Wait for me, Alex.”

  Sam ran toward his friend. Explosions from the volcano echoed around them. Debris rained down. Fire and brimstone.

  “Alex …”

  Alex looked up at Sam.

  “It’s time to go, you can’t save him if he doesn’t want to be saved.” He pulled at Alex’s sleeve. “Come on!”

  Alex looked down at Hans, edging toward the spear. “He’s not all bad, you know.”

  “Don’t let Hans fool you, Alex,” Sam said, his voice quiet. “He’s not your friend, no matter what he’s said or what you think. He sold you lies—he wants your Gear. He wants the Bakhu machine for himself.”

  “I know, I know you’re right!” Alex said, looking Sam in the eye. “But it seems wrong to abandon him now, after all this time together.”

  Sam could see that his friend was conflicted.

  Alex turned back to look down at Hans. “Let it go!” he screamed to him.

  Hans would not listen. He was on the tiny ledge below now, crawling along it and getting closer to the golden spear.

  “I am nearly there, Alex,” Hans said. “So close … I can get it. I can have it all. This, the machine, all of it!”

  Sam could see the ground they were standing on was crumbling. Every second, more stone fell away. In ten seconds, it’d be gone.

  “Alex!” Sam said. “Quick—come back from the edge, the whole thing’s going to go!”

  Another explosion echoed through the chamber and large rocks cascaded down. A deep rumble echoed through the volcano.

  “If we don’t leave now,” Sam said, wincing in pain as a falling rock hit his arm, “it’s over. This whole race. You and me, everything—finished. Do you understand?”

  Alex nodded, pulling back from the edge, even as he kept his eyes on Hans.

  More explosions rang out and a red river of lava broke through the rock wall and cut the site into two.

  As they came away from the edge, they were blown off their feet—an explosion soaring up from inside the crevasse, lava already spilling up over the edge.

  “No!” Alex yelled.

  “He’s gone!” Sam said. “Let’s get out of here!”

  The two of them ran. Sam glanced back. The lava was at their heels.

  “We’ll have to jump!” Alex shouted.

  Sam looked ahead, to where the Professor and Dr. Kader were standing.

  We’ll have to jump over the lava—it’s a big jump.

  “Faster!” Sam said, overtaking Alex at a sprint, hitting the edge of the crack and leaping. His arms and legs kept spinning as he flew through the air. Alex was next to him. The heat from the molten stone rose up and stung his face.

  We’re going to make it!

  Sam landed with one foot on the far edge of the crevasse and shifted his weight forward. Alex landed in a tumble, getting to his feet.

  “That was—” Alex said.

  Sam started to fall—the ground under his foot crumbled away and he dropped like a stone.

  But he didn’t drop into the lava. He stopped, as though in mid-air.

  “I’ve got you, Sam!” Alex said. He was on the ground with both hands gripping tight onto Sam’s arms.

  “Thanks,” Sam said, stunned at the sight of the lava ten metres below his feet. Sensing movement behind him, he turned to see the lava spilling over the edge forming a super-hot waterfall. “Get me up!”


  “I’m trying!”

  “Here!” A new voice said. “Quickly!”

  Sam looked up—Lora was there, next to Alex, and together they hauled Sam up.

  “Come on,” Lora said, pushing them along. “This place is going to blow!”

  Outside, a huge, bright yellow truck with tank treads and large stencilled letters proclaiming Amundsen-Scott Station—USA was waiting for them. Sam and Lora piled in after the Professor and Dr. Kader. Alex paused at the door and looked back at the mountain that was becoming a volcano right before their eyes, then climbed aboard.

  “The others?” Sam asked. “Eva and Gabriella and Arianna?”

  “They’re all fine,” Lora said. “I left them at the US station—it’s safe there. We were chased by some guys on bikes, we still don’t know who they were, but once we made it to the base, they disappeared.”

  Sam nodded and stared out the window.

  “We’ve got the Gear,” Alex said. “That’s what counts, right?”

  Lora nodded, smiling.

  “No sign of Solaris?” Sam asked.

  “No,” the Professor said.

  “And the others?” Sam asked. “The rest of the last 13?”

  “They’re in Egypt, with Dr. Dark,” the Professor replied. “Your mother’s there too,” he said to Alex. “She’s been worried about you. You must call her as soon as you can.”

  “What are they doing there?” Alex asked.

  “Laying low at Dr. Kader’s workshop,” the Professor said, “and waiting for us. We’ll get there soon enough.”

  “I suspect,” Dr. Kader said, “that Dark and your friends are having a good dig through my papers and research, looking for clues about the location of Bakhu.”

  “Bakhu?” Sam asked. “Stella mentioned it too. So it’s also a place? But how do we know we need to go there? To Egypt, I mean.”

  “Bakhu,” the Professor replied, “is the name of a place, Sam. But most believe it is more of a legend or myth. It is the mountain from which the sun rises, giving birth to the day.”

  Sam remembered the sunset from his dreams before, how it had been comforting. He couldn’t remember a dream about the sun rising.

  “And the machine was named after it?” Alex asked.