Sonora and the Scroll of Alexandria (Book #2)

by T. S. Hall

  Mr. Swan dropped down under the water and disappeared, and they followed. Amazingly, Allora could see great distances through the murky water as though she had on binoculars. Up ahead, Mr. Swan beckoned them to follow as they descended into the depths. Allora slowly breathed in, feeling the strange air that flowed into her lungs. The glue illuminated the path ahead, as if it had magic light filters. After about twenty minutes, they reached the bottom. Littering the lake floor were intricately carved stone blocks. Allora fluttered past a large head of an ancient pharaoh. The eyes stared back as if they guarded a secret. Suddenly, as if they had triggered some sort of trap, the eyes projected a wave of force, pushing the five of them back.

  “What was that?” Katie asked. The strange echo of her voice was easily heard in the eerie quiet that followed.

  As if on cue, the depths sprung to life with a chorus of screeches. Allora squinted her eyes, seeing distant movement approaching.

  “Swim!” Mr. Swan said.

  They quickly fluttered their feet, trying to gain momentum. Allora peered back. Whatever was coming was gaining on them. Ahead, an arching black entrance signified the opening to the original monument. Calculating the distance, Mr. Swan stopped, allowing the others to swim past.

  “What are you doing?” Allora asked.

  “We won’t all make it,” he said. His tone revealed his intentions.

  “We are not leaving you,” Allora replied.

  There was no debating. The elongated reptilian creatures were only seconds away. In the dark of the depths, hundreds of beady, yellow eyes swam at them at an alarming speed. Their long snouts opened to reveal their piranha-like teeth. They moved in the water like otters, swaying their scaly bodies and kicking with webbed feet. Allora’s heart beat against her chest, and a cold chill ran down her spine. Seconds passed in slow motion. Mr. Swan’s hands burst into green, glowing balls, illuminating the battle group ahead.

  “Ready yourselves!” Mr. Swan yelled.

  Allora pulled the hadrons from the water, focusing the power into her hands. Five figures floated still in the water, each one with a ball of energy churning majestically. The beautiful array of color was drowned out by the foreboding army of malevolent creatures who descended upon them. In a flurry of spinning water, they pushed the balls of energy forward as the swarm of creatures attacked. In an explosion of color and force, the battle began. The front line of attacking creatures was knocked out from the impact, as the five pulled knifes from their belts.

  The next wave of creatures shot at them. Allora grabbed the throat of one, thrusting her knife into its abdomen. It went limp as the next creature sliced her arm with its razor-sharp nails. It mounted another attack but was unsuccessful. Allora swung her hips and moved to its side, jabbing the creature in its back. Pulling more hadrons, Allora shot another burst into three more creatures, knocking them out cold. Unconscious, they floated toward the surface. An array of colors exploded around Allora. She joined her friends, shooting a hadron burst into two creatures that had caught Katie unaware.

  The swarm was too much. One of the creatures grabbed Allora’s wrist, while others took hold of her other limbs. She struggled helplessly in the overwhelming mass of reptiles that were about to take the final blow. Bubbles escaped her mouth as she screamed. Between the bodies, a glint flashed in the distance. Suddenly, a few of the attacking creatures floated limply. The sudden scattering revealed the translucent blue of a familiar ally.

  The aquanos shot through the water with the elegant speed of a dolphin and the deadly skill of a shark. In minutes the creatures retreated. One of the aquanos swam up, his eyes glowing blue in the depths. A wall of blue eyes lined up behind him, like a platoon of disciplined soldiers.

  “Thanks for the backup,” Mr. Swan said. “I wasn’t sure if you guys were going to make it.”

  “ Baymar said that he had enough for the assault on the compound,” the aquanos said in a somewhat British accent. “I hope that what you’re doing down here is important. There are very dangerous things that lie in the depths.”

  “More important than you know,” he replied.

  “What were those things?” Katie asked.

  “Ashrays,” the aquanos answered. “Nasty little buggers.”

  “You can say that again,” Dax added.

  “Do not linger then,” the aquanos said. “We will stay here long enough for you to get to where you’re going, and then we must go back to the assault.”

  “Thank you,” Allora said.

  They swam toward the dark entrance, leaving the aquanos to guard their exit. The fight had tired Allora’s legs, but she pressed on. As they approached the entrance, a monstrous statue of a pharaoh glared down at them. They reluctantly entered the black opening. Mr. Swan turned on his flashlight, but it only projected a few feet ahead of them.

  The passageway was narrow. Allora breathed slowly, feeling the angst of the unknown and the memory of almost drowning. After a few hundred feet, the path turned upward. It opened into a large pool, and soon the group popped up out of the water into a large cavern. Walking onto the bank, Mr. Swan shot a spark at each of them and collected the balls of pharynx glue. They wrung their clothes out and looked around at the dark cave.

  “I can’t see a thing in here,” Dax said.

  “Watch this,” Mr. Swan said, walking up to a waist-high stone pillar stuck in the ground next to a dark corridor. He placed his palm on the top, and a green spark flowed into the round stone. Suddenly the right side of the corridor lit up as fire burst from a crevice along the top of the wall. Allora went to the other side of Mr. Swan and mimicked his magic, sparking the other stone pillar and lighting the left side. “And now we have light.”

  Along the walls of the corridor, intricate carvings of pharaohs, warriors, slaves, and strange creatures were depicted in lines of pictures like the progression of a comic book. It seemed to be a pattern, or warning, in every part of the ancient world, as if the guardians of old were trying to tell them something. The graphic images of death were abundant. As if foreshadowing their path, the images became even more explicit and lifelike. Allora had to turn away, looking down at the sand that covered her still-wet shoes.

  Mr. Swan stopped up ahead, feeling his way along a wall of rock. Rubbing the sand away, he kept searching unsuccessfully.

  “What am I looking for?” Dax asked.

  “Something…,” Mr. Swan answered.

  “Oh, OK, that helps.”

  The others pitched in, but after about an hour, Allora sat down in the sand at their feet. Her legs had become Jell-O from the fight with the ashrays, and she couldn’t stand anymore. While the others kept searching, she sifted sand through her hands. She pulled the mysterious sapphire orb from her backpack and placed it on the sand. Staring at the strange blue ball, she wondered why the thing was so important. A slow swirl of gray smoke appeared from the middle of the object. For reasons she couldn’t explain, Allora sent a purple spark of hadron into the orb. A cloud of sand erupted upward, and the orb shot into the ceiling. The surprised faces of her friends turned to terror as they dropped into the ground. The floor had given way, plummeting them into the dark void below.

  Eighteen

  ALEXANDRIA

  The plunge curved as they felt a smooth surface beneath them. Cramped together, they slid along the winding tunnel, eventually crashing onto a pile of sand. The massive tangle of legs and arms groaned and moaned as they tried to free themselves. The sand was cold, the air was dank, and visibility was minimal.

  “Well, this is familiar,” Katie said.

  Allora got her arms free as a small, round object came speeding through the tunnel, landing in the sand inches from her face.

  “How in the world did that happen?” Dax asked.

  “Looks like this thing is a little handier than we thought,” Allora said, holding up the sapphire orb. The artifact’s glow was slowly dissipating, leaving them in the darkness. She explained what she had done. Mr. Swan was amazed
but also seemed cautious. They found the light pillars and sparked the tops, illuminating the area. The light crawled along the walls like lightning from a cloud. It proceeded down a long corridor, which bent around to the right and sloped downward. The air was dry but cool. A few hundred yards, and the path curved, and the ceiling arched upward. Illuminated along the walls, the cave stopped at a deep abyss. Across the chasm, a very small ledge hung out over the canyon with a dark doorway in the middle.

  “Can we port across?” Allora asked.

  “The ledge is too small,” Mr. Swan said. “There would be no room for error, and porting isn’t that exact.”

  “Great. Now what?” Katie said.

  “Well,” he said with a smirk, “Yeti did teach you guys how to bubble jump, right?”

  “Yeah, but I suck at it!” Katie said.

  “Katie, we don’t have a choice, so you can either stay behind or improve rather quickly,” Mr. Swan said.

  Apprehensively, they prepared themselves for the jump. Mr. Swan went first and skillfully launched himself over the ravine. He slowed his momentum with a hadron bubble as he landed. Obviously their teacher had done bubble jumps many times before. Allora went next, pulling in the hadrons from the cave. She ran forward and then shot hadrons down into her legs as she jumped. Her feet lifted onto an invisible field of energy, as if landing on a trampoline. Then the force beneath her launched her into the air. She flailed, awkwardly flying across the deep crevice. Luckily, Allora was able to swing her arms to balance her body, pushing the hadrons down through her legs as she flew toward the ledge. Mr. Swan caught her as she landed, pushing them both back against the cavern wall.

  “Nice job,” Mr. Swan said.

  “Yeah, right,” Allora said.

  Tanner and Dax followed, landing just as awkwardly as Allora had. They all stared back at Katie, who paced along the edge of the ravine, looking down at the blackness below.

  “You can do it, Katie,” Allora said, trying to instill some confidence in her reluctant best friend.

  For a few minutes, Katie contemplated the jump. Finally she stepped back, preparing to make the leap. They stood still, staring at Katie as she ran forward and slightly cringing as she got to the edge. Something went terribly wrong as Katie was launched into the air. Her body flipped backward as she spun forward.

  “She’s not going to make it!” Allora screamed.

  With only moments to react, Dax became frantic. Allora glanced at him in the seconds before Katie lunged into the black abyss. His eyes grew wide with a scary determination. He pulled his hands back, and Allora felt an energy that she had never felt before. The ground beneath them jerked as if they were on a moving platform. Dax’s body emanated a green hue, and then the ledge where they were standing shuddered and moved out from the wall. Off balance, they all fell back as the ledge extended out into the ravine right underneath Katie. Dax caught her, and they tumbled into the others and smashed into the cavern wall. Prying themselves from the pile, they checked on Katie, who looked to be unconscious from the fall.

  Dax laid her down gently and pulled the hair from her face. Then he shot a spark into her abdomen. Katie jolted awake.

  “Ow!” she said.

  “Yeah, well, it serves you right!” Dax said. “Next time maybe you should train harder.”

  He got up and stomped into the dark opening on the right side of the ledge. Allora glanced over to Mr. Swan, who had the same perplexed expression.

  “How did he do that?” Mr. Swan asked.

  “He’s a fermion as well,” Allora responded. “So is Katie.”

  “I don’t get it,” Katie said, unaware of what her brother had done. “What happened?”

  “Never mind,” Allora said, pulling Katie from the ground. “We should go.”

  Following Dax into the tunnel, they moved along the dark corridor with only the wall to guide them. They stopped at arching golden double doors.

  “Mors Tyrannis,” Mr. Swan read aloud from the words engraved in the top of the archway.

  “What does that mean?” Allora asked.

  “Death to tyranny,” Mr. Swan said.

  Allora placed the sapphire orb into the round indent in the middle of the crack between the two doors.

  “Here goes nothing,” she said, sparking the orb.

  The cracks in the doors lit up, glowing gold in the dim light of the cave. A clicking sound came from the hinges, followed by grinding gears. Dust blew out from the cracks, and the heavy golden doors swung outward. The stench of mold, mildew, and dirt escaped the dark. The familiar glow of firelight never appeared. They stared into the blackness, wondering whether to move.

  “Come on,” Mr. Swan said, taking a torch to the fire along the wall. He entered the dark room slowly. They were only able to see a few feet in front of them, but the area seemed expansive. On either side were large marble pillars extending to a ceiling that couldn’t be seen. Every step was heavy, like they had weights on their ankles. On either side were half-built spaceships covered in roots and sand. The floor was littered with metal parts, and it was like they were stepping through a factory. The putrid smell became more organic, like the stench of death.

  Mr. Swan stopped suddenly.

  “What’s wrong?” Tanner asked.

  The flame of the torch danced, blowing slightly in the darkness. Mr. Swan swung around. “Run!”

  They picked up their feet, sprinting through the unknown. Allora turned her head to see a gigantic figure crashing through the marble pillars as it chased its prey. A cloud of dust trailed behind them. The creature’s silhouette gained ground. A pair of red eyes bobbed above them.

  “What is that?” Allora said.

  “A chenoo!” Mr. Swan replied. “I met one of those in Peru last year.”

  “What do we do then?” Katie asked.

  “Pray,” Dax responded.

  Mr. Swan handed the torch to Allora.

  “Keep running as fast as you can,” he said, disappearing into the blackness to the left of them.

  Allora handed the torch to Katie and then shot a few hadron bursts at the chenoo. The glowing purple balls of energy bounced off the creature’s skin. The chenoo seemed to be covered in rocks, which gave it an impenetrable shield against attacks. It had no neck and an oblong head that stretched across its shoulders. As it swung its arms, Allora could only see stubs for hands, with no sign of fingers. The chenoo swung its stubbed arms downward. Allora pushed Katie, who bounced off one of the marble pillars. The creature again swung to the right, crashing into the pillar as Allora slipped onto her butt. Shards of marble exploded as the chenoo relentlessly smashed the pillar, trying to get to Allora. Tanner dove onto the ground, pulling Allora behind the wrecked pillar as the creature smashed the ground.

  Just then Mr. Swan jumped out from the darkness and leapt onto the chenoo’s head. Pulling hadrons, he shot a burst into the creature’s eyes. Flailing blindly, the chenoo swung around, tossing Mr. Swan into a pillar. His body slumped upon hitting the hard marble. Thrashing violently, the chenoo stumbled around, swinging its arms. Dust and rock exploded in every direction.

  Crawling on the ground, Allora and Tanner found the twins, who were trying to help Mr. Swan.

  “He’s unconscious,” Dax said as a large slab of ceiling dropped from above, shattering on the ground next to them. “We have to get him out of here before that thing brings this whole place down on top of us.”

  They grabbed Mr. Swan by his shirt and dragged him along the ground in the dark. The torch illuminated the creature as it kept up its violent thrashing. They could hear the roof cracking above them.

  “We gotta move!” Dax yelled.

  Allora got up and created a hadron ball in her hands to guide them forward. Pieces of rock crashed onto the ground. The ceiling was caving in. The marble pillars began to burst, unable to hold the weight of the roof. Up ahead there was a golden door with a round indentation in the middle. Allora pulled the blue orb from her pocket placed it in the door
, and they all jumped through as the entire ceiling gave way, crashing down on the chenoo. Dust and rock billowed from the opening, as the doorway became blocked by large boulders of sandstone. The group coughed in relief as they glanced around at the expansive new chamber.

  Seeing the familiar stone pillars, Allora sparked the dome top. A trail of fire crawled along the ground, climbing up the Romanesque pillars and jumping to bronze basins that burst into flames. They stood at the foot of a grandiose marble building that resembled the Pantheon. Climbing the steps, they walked through an arching doorway into a massive room filled with all sorts of ancient items. Lining the walls were statues, books, golden plates, orbs, paintings, slabs of hieroglyphics, jewelry, vases, pots, and shelves of scrolls. As they moved between tables of coins, goblets, and candlesticks, in the middle of the building was a round platform that seemed somewhat out of place. Allora noticed a small, round indent on the panel at the base of the platform. Pulling the sapphire orb from her pocket, she contemplated her next move.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Dax said while leaning Mr. Swan against one of the stone pillars in the interior of the dilapidated building.

  “We didn’t come all this way for nothing, right?”

  She gently placed the orb into the socket and stepped back. Upon the platform, a hologram appeared. An amazingly realistic image of a beautiful woman took form. She wore an elegant white toga, sandals, and a laurel wreath upon her head. Her flowing brunette hair hung at her shoulders, and her warm smile gave away her benevolence.

  “Hello, Allora,” the woman said.

  Allora stepped forward. “How do you know my name? Who are you?”

  “I am the library’s interactive construct. I have been designed to store all the information of the past. My visual characteristics are based off my creator, whose name was Athena. I know your name because you have created a synaptic link with the key that you have placed in the activation portal. It is able to download, filter, and process the information stored in your mind, including a link to memories, language, thoughts, and even feelings.”