Sonora, and the Scroll of Alexandria

by Travis Hall

  “Yes, from people we trust,” Milly added, standing up next to Baymar’s image display. “I feel like if we go to Shangri-La, whoever is feeding information to Salazar will quickly inform them of our intentions. We need a few volunteers to join us.” A number of hands raised, including those of Jarrod, Maureen, Sas, Sumatra, Aunt Lizzy, and Mr. Swan. “All right, we leave in an hour. I need everyone in battle suits, with at least two different types of weaponry—one melee and at least one projectile or pistol. Dismissed.”

  As they were leaving, Allora tugged on Mr. Swan’s coat sleeve, whispering to him about what they had found underneath the school. His eyes grew wide, and he quickly turned back around.

  “I think that it would be best if I stayed behind,” he said, walking back toward Milly. “I think Winters may need some help with tidying up the school. It seems she has a rat problem.”

  Milly glanced at her daughter, who looked away, rolling back and forth on her heels.

  “Fine,” she said after some contemplation. “But if I hear that you have taken those four anywhere outside of this town, there will be hell to pay. You hear that?”

  Allora nodded profusely. Milly left Allora with her teacher. Allora pulled out the jade orb, handing it to Swan. He looked it over excitedly.

  “I tried everything, but it’s not working,” she whispered.

  “Have you tried an element?” he asked.

  Allora glanced over her shoulder, squinting in the dark hallway to make sure no one was looking. Then she held the jade orb, focused, and produced a slight purple flame within her palm. The fire consumed the orb, flickering slightly as it surrounded the object. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

  “Let me try,” Tanner said, stepping forward.

  Allora extinguished the flame and handed the orb to Tanner, who bobbled the burning-hot object. Once it cooled, he pulled in the moisture from around him, focused it into his arms, and swirled the liquid around the orb. Suddenly the object lit up and projected light all around them. It was a green image of Earth, spinning around them. Stepping out of the projected image, they noticed a small yellow light near the northeast side of Africa.

  “Egypt,” Allora said, remembering her geography.

  “Of course,” Mr. Swan said. “It’s Abu Simbel.”

  “Abu huh?” Katie said.

  “It’s a temple site that was dedicated to one of the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Ramesses II,” Mr. Swan said, thinking back to a book he read over the summer. “It makes perfect sense. They relocated the temple when they built the dam on the Nile, which created Lake Nasser. Alexandria must be located in the original temple site.”

  “You mean underneath the lake,” Allora said, cringing at the thought of going underwater so soon after almost drowning. “Great.”

  “And how are we getting to Egypt?” Dax asked.

  “Well, from what I’ve learned from my research, this orb is one of the original keys made after the Titan Wars. It should be able to transport us directly to the site. We’ll just need to get outside of the port inhibitors to test it out.”

  “And how do you suppose we breathe underwater?” Allora asked, completely terrified of another drowning episode. “I’m not scuba certified.”

  “Don’t you worry about that,” Mr. Swan said, grabbing her shoulder. “Just go put on some summer clothes, and fill a backpack with some snacks, weapons, and other gear for cave diving, which I hear you guys are very good at.”

  “Spelunking,” Katie added proudly.

  “Right. Then we’ll meet back here. We’ll need to leave today so that we can get back before your mother and the others return.”

  When they returned to the living room, Milly was clad in a complete battle suit and was placing black throwing knifes in sleeves around her right thigh. Dax, Tanner, and Katie left to pack as the rest of the assault team was preparing to leave. Milly gave her daughter a hug and then headed toward Sas’s cave to take one of the stationary portals to the jumping-off point. Once she was gone, Allora changed into khaki shorts, a white tank top, and brown hiking boots. After filling her backpack with supplies, she grabbed her bow and the quiver of arrows out of the garage and waited for the others to arrive. Then they got onto their skippers and took off over the forest canopy, arriving at Crystal Lake after about ten minutes. They got down off the skippers, placed them in their backpacks, and made a circle around Tanner, who held out the orb.

  “All right, you guys ready?” Tanner said, preparing to activate the jade orb. They each placed a hand on his shoulders and waited as Tanner focused the surrounding water into his palm. The orb lit up green, and they were pulled downward into a portal, which spit them back out into an incredibly hot desert. They landed on the hot sand, looking out on an expansive lake, rolling sand dunes, and a large temple with four fifty-foot statues. A few feet away, a group of people stared at the five as they got up from the sand.

  “Is this the tour group?” Mr. Swan asked, brushing off his arms and legs. They all nodded with mouths open, wondering how these five people came from out of nowhere.

  Mr. Swan ushered the other four to follow him behind the tour group as the other people began whispering to each other.

  “All right, people, now make sure to follow close behind me,” the tour guide said loudly. He had on a Hawaiian shirt and a hat with an overly large bill. His shorts came halfway up his thighs, and he had on large hiking boots with his socks tucked over the top. “We have a lot to explore and not that much time to do it.”

  The heat was brutal. Allora brushed the sweat from her brow and put on her sunglasses. High above, the sun stood still like a guard on his watch, reminding those who entered the sands of Egypt that they were in his dominion.

  Up ahead the monument of Abu Simbel stood tall, a grandiose symbol of Egypt’s long-lost civilization. Four proud pharaohs made of stone sat as lookouts, staring out into the grand lake before them.

  “Abu Simbel was built sometime in 1264 BC in honor of the ancient pharaohs who built Egypt’s empire. This is, however, not the original location of the monument. In 1967, the Egyptian government had to move the stone monument because of the dam that filled this valley with water. The preservation was done brilliantly, but some say that the original location still holds some precise artifacts that have yet to be discovered.”

  “You can say that again,” Mr. Swan whispered.

  After ditching the tour group, they hiked along the shore of the lake until they found a dock where they rented a boat. It was motorized but looked barely able to fit everyone. They slowly stepped into the craft, squeezing onto the small wood seats. A small amount of standing water splashed against their feet, and the paint was chipping along the boat’s sides. After about ten pulls on the motor, Mr. Swan sat down for a quick breather.

  “Are you sure this thing is even going to keep us afloat?” Dax asked.

  “Only one way to find out,” Mr. Swan replied. He finally started the motor, which blew out a plume of noxious black smoke. They all coughed profusely as Mr. Swan pushed the boat away from the dock and out into open water. He guided the boat about two miles along the western shore until he found what he was looking for. A lone red-orange balloon bobbed in the waves about a hundred yards ahead. “You see that buoy out there? That is where we start from.”

  “Well, I hope you have some magical way of breathing underwater because I don’t see any scuba gear in this boat,” Dax said. Mr. Swan pulled the boat alongside the buoy, tied a rope around the chain that secured it to the bottom, and then fished five balls from his pocket. He handed one to each of them. “This is pharynx glue. When activated, it bonds to your pharynx in your throat and nasal passages, allowing the oxygen in the water to filter through. It’s a very weird substance, so don’t freak out when it coats the back of your throat.”

  He then had them watch as he put the ball into his mouth and sparked the glue. The substance engulfed his face, like the popping of blown-up bubblegum. It melted onto his face, ove
r his eyes, around his head, and over his ears.

  “Easy!” he said. Mr. Swan’s voice was very nasal, as if he had a serious sinus infection.

  “Gross!” Katie said, flapping her arms. “There is no way I’m doing that!”

  Mr. Swan jumped out of the boat with his flippers and crashed into the water. Reluctantly, they put the strange balls of pharynx glue into their mouths and sparked them. Katie shrieked as the weird substance covered her face. Then they jumped into the water and put on their flippers.

  “OK, guys, the pharynx glue will allow you to hear each other talk underwater as well. Think of it as a whale’s sonar. It will sound distant, like an echo, so make sure you enunciate your words.”

  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 of the creatures, 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 of creatures 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.

  A battalion of aquanos shot blue hadron bursts into the creatures, allowing Allora, Tanner, Katie, Dax, and Mr. Swan to become free from the grasps of the creatures. 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. “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,” Mr. Swan said.

  “What were those things?” Katie asked.

  “Ashrays,” the aquanos answered. “Nasty creatures.”

  “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 began swimming toward the dark entrance, leaving the aquanos to guard their exit. The fight had tired Allora’s legs, but she pressed on, not wanting another battle with those ashrays. 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 rung 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 of the corridor. “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 searching 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 jade orb from her backpack and placed it on the sand. Staring at the strange green object, 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 jade orb. A cloud of sand erupted upward, and the orb shot into the ceiling. The surprised faces of her friends turn
ed to terror as they dropped into the ground. The floor had given way, plummeting them into the dark void below.

  chapter

  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 jade 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.”