They were clearly Norse runes. Jake had already examined them as best he could with the resources at hand. He’d even consulted the Vikings at Bornholm but had hit a dead end. Elder Ulfsdottir had said the writing was gibberish. But maybe it was written in a script the Vikings in Calypsos didn’t know. The only detail that made sense was the large rune in the center. He studied it again.
It was the rune called algiz, representing a raised shield. He remembered his mother’s words: the flute will help protect you.
Jake stared at the scroll.
“Beware of Loki,” he read aloud, and glanced significantly at Kady. “Loki was the Norse god of mischief.” He held up the flute. “Mom gave us this. It’s a flute covered in Norse runes. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“What is she trying to tell us?” Kady asked.
“I don’t know. She must have been in a hurry. That’s all she could write.” Jake locked gazes with his sister. “But she also told me to go home. Maybe we should listen to her. If we’re going to have any hope of figuring it all out, I’m going to need to consult experts in Norse runes and languages.”
“So you want us to go back home?”
He slowly nodded.
“When?” she asked.
The answer came from the doorway, in a voice hoary and old. “Before the moon sets this night, you must be gone.”
They all turned to find the Elder of the Ur tribe hunched in the doorway, leaning on a thick staff, his heavy brows shadowing his eyes.
Bach’uuk stood at the old man’s side and stepped into the room. “Magister Mer’uuk met with our people’s seers, those who dream in the long time.”
The Ur Elder nodded. “Something stirs in the great river. It is coming for you, Jake Ransom. You must be gone from here before that happens. For all our sakes.”
Kady grabbed his arm.
If Jake had any doubts about his decision, the Elder’s words ended it. The Ur were the first of the tribes to come to Pangaea. They had been living in the shadow of the great Temple of Kukulkan far longer than anyone else. They’d become uniquely attuned to the energy given off by the Atlantean technology, sensitive to time’s flow.
If they said it was time to go …
An hour later, moonlight still bathed the stone serpent wrapped atop the great Temple of Kukulkan. Jake stood with his sister on the top step of the pyramid, alone with Mer’uuk.
Bach’uuk had followed them through the Sacred Woods and stood a lonely vigil at the foot of the steps. Jake had already said his good-byes to his Ur friend, but he hadn’t had time to rouse Pindor or Marika. The moon had been too near to setting. Jake and Kady barely had time to dress.
And what could I have said anyway?
Jake had a hard enough time with Bach’uuk, hugging him tightly, leaving his friend with damp eyes. Jake made a promise he hoped he could keep.
We’ll see each other again.
“Take my hand,” Mer’uuk ordered.
Jake gripped the man’s fingers, then took Kady’s. They needed a Magister to lead them through the barrier that sealed this temple’s heart. As they passed over the threshold, Jake felt the telltale tingle wash over him.
Once through, Mer’uuk remained at the doorway, leaning on his staff. “From here, your path must be your own.”
Jake nodded. He knew what he must do. Last time, it had been an accident; now it would be on purpose.
“C’mon,” he told Kady.
In silence, lost in their own thoughts, they headed down the tunnel and through the chamber that held the crystal heart of Kukulkan. Jake didn’t stop, barely noting the giant sphere turning overhead, twin to the one in Ankh Tawy. He led the way down another tunnel to a room below.
Inside the smaller chamber, circled by maps of Pangaea, a golden mechanism spread across the floor. It looked like a cross between a Mayan calendar wheel and the inner works of some great clock. Jake stepped through a pair of giant gold wheels, one inside the other, intertwined by toothed notches like gears.
As he reached the center, Jake stopped and stared around, sensing something important, something that had been nagging at him since he first saw the Skull King’s pteranodon outside the pyramid.
Kady joined him and must have read his expression. “What?”
As he stood a moment longer, Jake continued to work a puzzle in his head, a riddle as tricky as any posed by a Sphinx. And like those brainteasers from that Greek myth, Jake’s puzzle also centered on time and involved a Sphinx.
“The Skull King’s mount,” Jake started, and turned to Kady. “I’ve been racking my brain trying to think how that monster could be frozen in the distant past.”
“And made into an omelet by your friend a week ago,” Kady added, crinkling her nose at that thought.
“Kalverum Rex rode that same pteranodon when he attacked us in the valley of Calypsos,” Jake explained. “For it to have been frozen in Ankh Tawny, he must have traveled into the past after we’d stopped him in Calypsos. Defeated, he went to Ankh Tawy looking for a new weapon, possibly drawn by something Mom was doing. That’s the only order of events that makes sense.”
Jake again heard his mother’s words.
A great war is coming, spreading across time.
“But Mom stopped him there,” Kady said, pride sparking in her voice.
Jake nodded. “The Skull King escaped, but his mount got frozen back in time. If I’m right, if Kalverum Rex came to Ankh Tawny because of Mom, I think that means she must still be alive, still a few steps ahead of him. Which means Mom and Dad could be anywhere, any time.”
“So how do we find them?”
Jake lifted the pocket watch. “First we go home.”
Kady’s expression turned reluctant. As she glanced back to the doorway, her heart was easy to read. They’d found their mother in this world, and now they were leaving.
Jake reached and took her hand. “Mom and Dad are out there. Lost in time. But I can feel them. Not out there, but here.”
He squeezed her fingers.
In turn, her hand tightened on his.
“We’ll find them, Kady. Wherever Mom and Dad are, we’ll be just as close to them at Ravensgate as we will be here in Pangaea.”
Her eyes met his. She took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded again, more determined this time.
With his free hand, Jake took out his father’s pocket watch. He’d recovered it from the folds of Kree’s abandoned robes. He hoped this method would still get them home again. He seated a fingernail under the watch’s stem. It was used to wind the watch—but also to reset the time.
The important word being reset.
He searched his sister’s face for any last regret.
She sighed in frustration. “Oh, do it already!”
He did.
With a flick of his fingernail, the stem popped out, and the massive gears around them began to turn—slowly at first, then faster and faster, becoming a golden blur.
Jake’s hand clenched Kady’s as force built beneath their feet, growing exponentially.
“Hang on!”
Then the world exploded and blasted them skyward in a blaze of light. The room shattered away—and an instant later, they landed in a new one.
For a moment, Jake kept hold of Kady to keep his balance. She did the same with him.
“I’ll never get used to that,” she said. Finding her footing, she shook free of Jake and looked around.
They were back in New York City, back at the American Museum of Natural History, standing inside the reconstructed Egyptian tomb. Around them, artifacts glowed in glass cases. Anubis frowned at them with his jackal-shaped head. In the center, a dreadful mummy still lay sprawled atop a table, with its clawed hands and leathery, dry wings.
Jake had enough of grakyl—mummified or not.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said.
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said in a long time.”
Together they rushed the tomb’s door, wrestli
ng a bit to get through.
Outside, they ran hard into Morgan Drummond. He spilled a paper cup full of water, splashing it over his suit. “Watch where you’re going!” he said sourly, slapping water from his tie. He fixed Kady with a baleful eye. “For someone who just fainted, young lady, you look awfully spry now.”
Jake and Kady shared a look. Just like before, no time had passed here. When Kady had pretended to faint earlier, Morgan had been headed to the drinking fountain to fetch a glass of water.
“Must be my strong constitution,” Kady answered, and hurried past.
Morgan frowned at Jake. Jake just shrugged and followed his sister toward the door. They collected Uncle Edward along the way.
Their uncle looked confused. “Are we heading out already?”
“We’ve seen enough!” Jake called back, and continued without stopping.
“That’s for sure,” Kady added.
Edward checked his watch. “It’s only been five minutes.” He followed after them. “But we spent two hours getting here.”
Morgan sighed. “Kids.”
By the evening, Jake had settled back into his own room at Ravensgate. The comfort of the familiar made the events of the past several days seem like a dream; but if he ever doubted it had happened, he only had to pull out the flute hanging around his neck.
He crossed from his desk to his bed. His room had already looked like a Cabinet of Curiosity, with its fossils, excavation tools, charts, and maps; but now it had taken a distinctly Nordic turn. Across his bed were stacked his newest purchases: books and periodicals on Norse mythology, rune lore, and Viking history. He was ready to dig in, but Kady sat on his bed.
She tapped a knuckle on one of the piles. “Do you think all this brain food will help us find Mom and Dad?”
“We have to start somewhere. Mom said to go home.” He waved a hand around his room. “So here we are.”
Kady frowned. “But she also said to stay here.”
Jake shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t quite hear her correctly.”
Kady locked eyes with him—then smiled. “You know, sometimes you’re smarter than you look.”
She stood, mussed up his hair, and headed to the door. “Get reading, Brainiac … next time we go to Pangaea, I don’t want to be turned to stone.”
“Fine, but what’re you going to do?”
She pulled on the doorknob and headed out. “I saw the cutest snow parka online. I want to see if they have one in my size.”
With a firm goal in mind, she slammed the door behind her as she left.
Jake wanted to sigh, but Watson beat him to it. The old basset hound stretched from his doggy bed, gave a sorrowful shake of his head, and looked for another comfortable position to lie down—then his ears perked high.
His nose shot up, and he stared straight at Jake, as if he’d just caught the scent of a rabbit … a rabbit he didn’t like. His lips rippled into a low growl, showing the edge of his teeth.
Jake leaned away. “Watson, what’re you—”
Then something buzzed by his ear. A green blur shot in front of Jake’s face, curling angrily in midair, hissing down at Watson.
Oh, great … just great …
It seemed that Jake and Kady weren’t the only ones who’d done a little time traveling. He stared between the angry wisling and the growling dog and stood up. He’d had enough for one day.
“Quit it! Both of you!”
Dog and serpent turned toward him, looking sheepish.
He sank back to his bed, staring at the wisling.
How am I going to explain this?
As if sensing Jake’s mood, the wisling sailed closer, its head hanging low. Then Watson came up and put a paw on Jake’s knee.
Jake sighed, unable to stay mad at them. He patted Watson on the head and carefully lifted a finger toward the winged serpent. He expected to be bitten, but instead a small tongue flickered out and tickled his fingertip.
The wisling then slowly drifted and settled around his neck like a scarf. It folded its wings, tucking its warm head under his chin. In the quiet of his room, Jake heard a soft, contented trilling flowing from the creature, like the purr of a leopard cub.
Watson climbed up to his lap, sniffing at the dragon. The hound’s tail wagged as he slowly accepted this newcomer.
Jake remembered what he’d told Marika earlier.
I have a way with animals.
A small smile formed as he realized how true that was. For better or worse, he was stuck with the wisling. Recognizing that, he gave in and whispered to his new companion.
“Welcome to the family, little guy.”
As his two friends settled in with him, Jake turned and removed a book from his stack. Time to get to work.
TRANSLATION GUIDE
ENGLISH-TO-ATLANTEAN
A NOTE FROM THE
AUTHOR
I hope you enjoyed this latest journey to Pangaea as much as I enjoyed writing it. One of the best things about story-telling is that for months I get to be Jake Ransom, to go on this adventure with him: to be chased across the desert, to feel the wind on my face aboard the Breath of Shu, to walk through long-lost ruins.
Likewise, writing this story allows me to be that explorer of time and space. As many of you might know, I’m already an avid collector of all things ancient and strange. Even as I type this, I have a chunk of tyrannosaurus jaw (including teeth) resting on my desk, waiting to be added to my own Cabinet of Curiosities.
It is just such pieces of reality that I love to fold into Jake’s story. For example, the introduction of this book’s new character—Princess Nefertiti—came about from a true historical mystery. Nefertiti was a real queen who ruled during Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty. She was one of the most famous queens in all of history, yet she suddenly disappeared and vanished without a trace. Archaeologists and historians have imagined many different fates for Nefertiti—from a falling out of favor to murder. Of course, within the novel I have imagined an entirely new destiny for this lost queen.
Additionally, I tried to envision how a tribe of ancient Egyptians might cope with being stranded in a prehistoric desert, how they might adapt their skill at navigation and boating into an entirely new means of transportation: riding rivers of wind instead of water. Also within these pages, I’ve added snatches of Egyptian hieroglyphs taken from real writings. Even the issues of grammar and alphabet critical to this story are based on fact.
As to the dinosaurs that appear in the book, they all exist in the fossil record—except, of course, for our winged friend, the wisling. By the way, feel free to send me names for Jake’s new companion. Next time we visit Pangaea, we’ll need to call him something. I’ll post the best recommendations on my website, www.jamesrollins.com, and on my Facebook page. Email me your suggestion at [email protected].
Lastly, for this series I’ve created a cryptic Atlantean language, more of which appears within these pages. The alphabet breaks down to English equivalents, so the more curious reader can translate these bits to reveal additional clues about what’s to come.
Until then, get packing those bags and sharpening those swords—Pangaea awaits!
—James Rollins
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Rollins and his new protagonist, Jake Ransom, share many of the same passions. The author’s interest in archaeology led him to amass his own Cabinet of Curiosities, which includes a 100,000-year-old mammoth tusk from China.
His New York Times bestselling books include THE LAST ORACLE, THE JUDAS STRAIN, and BLACK ORDER. James has a doctorate in veterinary medicine and his own practice in Sacramento, California. An amateur spelunker and a certified scuba enthusiast, he’ll often be found either underground or underwater.
You can visit James Rollins online at
www.jamesrollins.com
AN ORION CHILDREN’S EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Orion Children’s Books.
This eBook first published in 2011 by
Orion Children’s Books.
Text copyright © James Rollins, 2011
Map by Gary Tong. Illustrations by Joel Tippie
The right of James Rollins to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him.
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 4440 0497 7
Orion Children’s Books
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper St Martin’s Lane
London WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
www.orionbooks.co.uk
Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx Page 24
