Curse of the Mummy's Uncle (14 page)

“What?” Carter asked.

Nick pointed to a loose piece of yarn hanging from the bottom of Carter's serape.

“No!” Carter said. “Do you have any idea how hard this was to make? I love it like a brother.”

“It's the only way,” Nick said.

Carter bit his lip. “Do you have any idea what you're asking?”

Nick patted him on the shoulder. “We don't have to use all of it.”

Carter hugged the serape to his chest. “That's like saying, ‘We don't have to cut off all your fingers.'”

“It's for Nick's mom,” Angelo said.

Carter grimaced. “Fine.” He closed his eyes, grabbed the threaded end of the yarn, and tugged.

“It's okay, little fellah,” Carter said, petting his serape.

Nick looked at Angelo, and they both raised their eyebrows at the same time. Nick had no idea how long they'd been down here. All he knew was that so far, Carter had unraveled almost a third of the yarn from the front of his serape, and they'd walked so long Nick's feet were getting blisters.

They hadn't managed to find their way through the maze. But at least thanks to the yarn they hadn't ended up back where they started. Now they reached a dead end—one of at least a dozen they'd been blocked by so far. Carter patted what was left of his serape. “Daddy still loves you.”

“You know, it's just a piece of clothing,” Angelo said as they doubled back.

“
Seriously?
” Carter glared at him. “If your friend's cat died, would you say, ‘It's just an animal'? When Travis had to shoot Old Yeller, did his mom say, ‘Stop blubbering. It's only a dog'?”

Angelo looked away. “Sorry.”

“Point taken,” Nick said. “We really appreciate the sacrifice you're making. And if it helps, I promise I'll buy you like twenty packages of yarn if we make it out of this.”

“Skeins,” Carter muttered. “Yarn comes in balls and skeins.”

“Fine. I'll buy you twenty
skeins
of yarn.”

“Look,” Angelo said. “It's a door.”

Nick could barely believe his eyes. After all this time, he'd started to wonder if there even
was
a way out of the maze. The thought had crossed his mind that this was just a trap where they'd wander aimlessly until they died of thirst or starvation.

They hurried to the door, which was covered from top to bottom in Mayan script.

“What does it say?” Nick asked.

Angelo squinted at the carvings and shook his head. “I'm not sure. I should have spent more time
studying Mayan before we left.”

“Only one way to find out,” Nick said. He pushed the heavy stone door and all their torches went out at once.

“What happened?” Nick asked.
Appened-appened-appened
, his voice echoed, as if they had entered a large cavern. Had they gone through the door then, or were they still in the maze? He reached out but couldn't feel anything. It was so dark that even when he waved his hand in front of his face he couldn't see so much as a shadow of movement.

“No clue,” Carter said. “But I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume the writing on the door said something about darkness.”

“Didn't you say something about darkness being one of the tests in that book?” Nick asked.

“Yes. The house of darkness,” Angelo said.

That didn't sound too bad. Nick didn't exactly like the dark, and he had to admit he felt a little freaked out about having no idea where he was or what might be waiting for him. But he could live with that.

“Now isn't the time to panic,” Angelo said. “Although I think this is where the first set of brothers died.”

“Died!” Carter yelped. “How did they die?”

Angelo coughed. “I . . . don't remember. I know
there was a house of darkness, and four or five others. A house of blades maybe?”

“
Blades
,” Carter said. “Now is definitely the time to panic.”

“We can get through this.” Nick moved in the direction Carter's voice had come from, his hand held out in front of him.

Carter squealed. “Something touched me!”

“It's just me,” Nick said. “Put your hand on my shoulder.”

Carter poked him in the face.

“I didn't say pick my nose,” Nick said, moving Carter's hand to his shoulder.

“Now, Angelo, walk toward the sound of my voice.” A moment later something bumped into his chest, and he barely kept from screaming.

He turned Angelo in the direction he thought was forward and placed his hands on his friend's shoulders. “Okay, Angelo, you lead the way. One step at a time. Shuffle your feet and hold your hands in front of you. There could be pits or walls. If you start to fall or run into anything, yell and I'll pull you back. Carter, you hold on to me, and keep feeding out your yarn.”

“What if something grabs me from behind?” Carter asked.

“Scream like a little girl and hope it goes away.”

Step by step, the three of them moved through the darkness. Nick tried to keep cool, but with nothing to see or feel, every little sound made him sure something was about to grab him.

“Do you feel anything?” Carter called from the back.

“Only your hand digging into my shoulder blade,” Nick said.

Carter snorted. “Well, excuse me for not wanting to get separated.”

Angelo stopped suddenly and Nick banged into his back. “There's something here. It feels like . . .” There was a wet squelching sound, and Angelo backed away. “Disgusting. It's all squishy.”

“Taste it,” Carter said. “It might be Jell-O.”

“It's not Jell-O.” Angelo sounded slightly nauseated. “And I'm not tasting it. It smells like pig guts.”

Nick felt his stomach roll over.

They moved around the squishy stuff and walked for several minutes in silence. Suddenly Angelo cried out, “I'm falling!”

Nick felt his friend tilt forward and pulled back with all his strength. For a second, Angelo continued to lean, and Nick felt his fingers slipping. He yanked as hard
as he could and Angelo fell backward against him. His breathing sounded loud and harsh in the darkness. “What was it?” Nick asked.

“Some kind of drop-off,” Angelo gasped. Nick felt Angelo kneel down, and a moment later he said, “I can't feel the bottom.”

“We can't keep going like this or one of us is going to get killed,” Nick said. “If only we had some light.”

“Hey,” Carter called. “I feel something.”

“You feel
me
,” Nick said.

“No. Right after you said we need light, something bumped my foot. It felt kind of like . . .” There was a shuffling sound, and suddenly a flame lit the darkness. “It's another torch,” Carter said, holding the flaming stick over his head. “Look, there's a pile of them right here.”

Angelo's face went pale. “Put it out!” he yelled, grabbing the torch from Carter's hand and stubbing out the flames on the ground.

“Are you crazy?” Nick shouted. “What did you do that for?”

“Hang on,” Carter said. “I'll get another one.”

“No.” Angelo sounded terrified. “I remember now. When the first two brothers went into the house of darkness, the lords of death gave them sticks to burn.
They told them they had to return the sticks uncharred, but the brothers used them to light the darkness. That's why they cut off one of their heads.”

Carter's gulp was so loud, Nick could hear it in the darkness.

“That book of yours didn't happen to say how to get through this place, did it?” Nick asked.

“I'm sure it did,” Angelo said. “But I didn't put it in my . . .” He snapped his fingers, the sound clear and sharp in the darkness. “My notes. That's it!” There was a crinkling sound in the darkness.

“What are you doing?” Nick asked.

The crinkling sound came again. “Okay, when I say now, light another torch. Then put it right back out. Now!”

Nick heard Carter moving around, and a torch burst into flame. Angelo shoved something into the fire and yelled, “Put it out! Put it out!”

Carter smashed the torch into the ground, but this time the room didn't go dark. Angelo held something that guttered brightly over his head. It took Nick a second to realize what Angelo was burning. It was a page from his monster notebook. “Dude, you can't do that!” he yelled. “That means more to you than anything.”

As the flames reached the bottom of the paper,
Angelo tore another page from his notebook and dropped the smoldering remains of the first page. “If Carter can unravel his serape to help us, I can burn some of my notes,” he said. “Come on, let's get out of here before I get to the Mayan section.”

Stopping and starting with each new burning page, like a bizarre game of Red Light Green Light, they at last found a door. Nick grabbed the handle, and the door swung open with a metallic squeal. Gray light blinded them all.

“We made it,” Nick said, stumbling forward. He blinked his eyes, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness.

“Hang on,” Angelo said. “This could be another one of the tests.”

“It doesn't feel cold. What if it's the blade room?” Carter asked.

“Don't get cut,” Nick said. It was the only advice he could think of.

Slowly their surroundings came into focus. They seemed to be in a cavern of some kind. The ceiling was hidden in darkness and the ground was covered in leaves and twigs, all coated with a powdery white substance. The air was filled with the strong stink of ammonia.

Nick shrugged. “Other than the smell, this isn't too bad.”

Angelo frowned. “That's what I'm afraid of.” He knelt to the ground, touched the white powder, and sniffed his fingers. He dropped his hand with a jerk, stood, and looked up with an expression of alarm. “I think we're in the bat room.”

“The bathroom?” Carter laughed. “What's so scary about a bathroom?”

“Not bath,” Angelo said. “
Bat.
As in the killer kind.”

From overhead came a pounding of wings. All at once, a huge black cloud raced down at them. “Get out of here!” Angelo yelled.

With no idea where he was going, Nick broke into a sprint. Something sharp clawed at the back of his scalp, and he looked back to see thousands of bats diving toward him.

“That way!” Angelo yelled, pointing toward a rock that curved over to form a small shelter under the bottom of it. The three boys dove under the rock, pushing
handfuls of leaves and sticks into the opening to keep the bats from getting in.

It was a tight squeeze, and Nick could feel sweat start to form on his head.

“Well, that was interesting,” Carter said. “Honestly, it looked a lot cooler in the Batman movies.”

“Tell me the
Popol Vuh
has something for this situation,” Nick said. With the three boys jammed side to side it was already getting hot and stuffy. He didn't know how long they could stay here.

Angelo coughed. “Actually, this room didn't end up so well. Even for the second set of brothers who made it through. They hid for a while. But eventually one of them stuck out his head and the bats cut it off and took it to the lords of death. His brother replaced his head with a turtle until they could get the real one back.”

“Please tell me you're kidding,” Nick said.

“Sorry,” Angelo muttered.

Nick wiped a hand across his face. “Let's think of something better than that.”

“Hang on,” Carter said. “I have an idea.” He started squirming around, which was difficult for everyone.

“Careful,” Angelo said. “You're jabbing me in the ribs.”

“Would you rather have a turtle for a head?” Carter
continued to poke and move until Nick was about to go crazy. But at last he handed something to Nick. “What do you think?”

In the almost complete darkness, Nick could see only what looked like a small basketball. It felt sharp and prickly.

“I made it out of leaves and twigs,” Carter said.

Nick appreciated the effort but wasn't sure what they were going to do with a big ball of leaves. “It's, um, nice.”

“Don't you get it?” Carter asked. “It's a fake head. One of us pulls our shirt up over our head, holds the ball against his collar, and when the bats take the bait, we make a break for it.”

“Sounds great,” Angelo said. “Until they realize it's a fake and rip off the real thing.”

Nick thought it through. He remembered reading something in science class about how bats didn't have good eyesight. Instead they used sonar—or was it radar? “I'll do it,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Angelo rolled onto his side to face him. “There are a lot of bats out there with sharp teeth and claws.”

“We can't stay in here forever,” Nick said. “You guys have some serious body-odor issues. Besides, you
burned pages from your monster notebook and Carter unraveled his serape. What's my head compared to that?”

He pulled his shirt up over his head, accidentally bopping Angelo in the eye.

“Scream really loud when they pull it off,” Carter said. “So they think it's really your head.”

“If they pulled off his head, he wouldn't be able to scream,” Angelo said, and Nick could practically hear him rolling his eyes.

Carter grunted. “They don't know that.”

Nick pushed the leaf ball against the top of his head and wormed his way out. For a moment, nothing happened, and he wondered whether the bats were still there. Maybe he could take a quick peek. Then something that felt more like an eagle than a bat ripped the ball from his grasp.

“Are you still alive?” Carter asked.

“I think so,” Nick said. Slowly, he peeked out from the top of his shirt. The bats were gone. “It worked!” he shouted, climbing out of the hole. Carter and Angelo quickly followed him.

With the bats roosting back on the ceiling, it was easy to see the next door on the other side of the cavern. “Any idea what's through there?” Nick asked.

Angelo checked his notes. “Let's see. Lords of death. Roads. Maybe I wrote something in the back of—”

“Guys,” Carter interrupted. “I think we might have a problem.” He pointed toward the ceiling, where the bats were beginning to flutter around again. Suddenly a dark sphere dropped from the air and exploded on the ground. “I think they just figured out the head is a fake.”

Like a great black glove, the bats flew from the ceiling and straight at the boys.

“Run for the door!” Nick yelled.

“Run for your lives!” Carter echoed.

The cloud of bats was nearly on top of them as they reached the other side of the room. With no time to worry about what was on the other side, Nick yanked open the door and slammed it shut as soon as his friends were through.

Trying to catch their breath, the three of them looked around. They were standing in a small, round room with a pit in the center. On the other side of the room was another door. But standing between them and the door was a powerful-looking black-spotted jaguar.

The big cat stretched its limber body and bared a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. “Welcome to the house of the jaguar.”

All three boys stared silently at the green-eyed predator.

“Cat got your tongue?” the jaguar asked, flashing what looked to Nick like a grin.

Carter was the first to speak. “We hate to bother you. It's just that, um, Nick's mom turned into a, uh . . . And we need to, well . . .” He edged left, and the big cat moved to block him.

“I know what you seek.” The jaguar swished its tail toward the door behind it. “It's right through there. And I'll be happy to let you pass. For a price.”

Nick tried to swallow, but his throat was so dry, his Adam's apple refused to move. “What price?”

The jaguar lunged toward them, snarling when the boys fell back against the wall. “There are three of you, and only one of me. But I'm dreadfully hungry. I can't remember the last good meal I've had. Let's strike a bargain. Let me eat one of you, and I'll let the other two through the door. Or refuse, and I'll eat all of you.”

Nick pressed against the back of the room, his hands slick with sweat on the wall. Even if they'd been armed, they might not have been able to kill the jaguar before it reached them. With no weapons they didn't stand a chance.

He glanced at Angelo, who looked as terrified as he
was. There didn't seem to be any way out of this.

Carter rubbed his chin. “Let me make sure I understand. We feed you, and you let us go?”

“That's right,” the jaguar snarled. “But decide quickly or I'll eat you all.”

“I've already decided,” Carter said. “I'm the smallest of the three of us. So you don't want me.”

“What are you doing?” Nick whispered.

The jaguar licked its chops. “Go on.”

Carter moved back to his right. “And Nick is too bony. Which leaves only one choice. Something big, a little crunchy, and filling.”

Angelo stared at Carter. “If this is about me making fun of your serape . . .”

“An excellent choice,” the jaguar said. It bunched its haunches and prepared to leap.

“No!” Nick cried.

At the same second the cat jumped, Carter reached behind him and yanked open the door. Clouds of small black bats flew through the opening and into the jaguar's mouth. The cat coughed, spat, and clawed, but the bats smothered it in a thick black cloud.

“I'm fresh out of bones, but how about a thick, juicy bat sandwich!” Carter yelled, and the three of them ran across the room and out the last door.

Nick clapped Carter on the back. “Dude, that was the coolest thing ever. I totally thought you were going to feed Angelo to the jaguar.”

They were back in the maze again—their torches once more burning—but for the moment, Nick didn't even care. He was just glad they hadn't been eaten. “Didn't you think so too, Angelo?” he asked. “You should have seen yourself.”

Even though they had escaped the jaws of the cat, Angelo's face was still drawn.

“What's wrong?” Nick asked.

Angelo pointed ahead, through an archway Nick hadn't noticed the first time, if, in fact, it had been there at all. On the other side of the arch, two figures stood on polished stone pedestals. “I'm pretty sure those are the lords of death.”