I clutched the statue tightly in my arms and started back toward the wall of light. I had to carry it close to my stomach with both hands. It was awkward and I kind of staggered under the weight of it. I was about halfway across the room when I sensed something was wrong.
For a moment I thought I heard laughter, that same weird guttural laughter that I heard before on the ship. Surely my ears were playing tricks. Then I heard a squeaky, clicking sound. It sounded familiar somehow, but I couldn’t place it. Then, a moment later, I felt and heard something go whooshing by my ear. When I turned and looked behind me, I let out a super-duper, grade A, Scary Movie 3, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Blair Witch Project horror-movie scream. I dropped the statue and went immediately into a Tae Kwon Do fighting position.
Because standing there before me was the skeleton of the Roman Centurion, come to life. It was holding its sword in one hand high above its head and was about to bring it crashing down on me.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Outrunning the Boogey Man
The blade came whistling down toward me. I pivoted to my left and tried to sweep the skeleton’s legs from under it with my right foot. The sword went swooshing past me and hit the ground where I’d been standing. Too close. The skeleton jumped over my foot sweep and brought the sword around again for another strike. I needed to get out of there. I jumped away again to my left and got the pedestal between me and him. Or was it me and it?
I circled around, keeping the stone pedestal between us. The skeleton kept trying to lunge across the pedestal and stab me with the sword, but I was able to keep out of his reach. I took a quick glance around the room. The only way out that I could see was the wall of light, which I’d come through. I couldn’t leave the statue, and every time I tried to circle around toward the light wall, the skeleton would go nuts, coming at me and swinging the sword like a madman…er, mad skeleton. There were no doors or secret passages that would get me away from this walking graveyard. I didn’t see any weapons lying around, either. A bazooka would have been nice.
Just then I heard the laughter starting again. It was definitely the same laughter that I’d heard that night on the ship. Aside from the fact that an apparently haunted skeleton was trying to kill me, the sound of the laughter totally freaked me out. Then I noticed that the skeleton was changing.
At first the laughter seemed to be coming from all around me, like it was floating on the air. But then it changed and the skeleton’s mouth began to move and it sounded like the laughter was coming from it. Also, the empty eye sockets on the skeleton’s skull began to glow with a mysterious red light.
Okay. I am so out of here.
I had to figure out a way to distract Skeletor so that I had time to make it through the wall of light. I wondered if the skeleton could follow me or if it wouldn’t be able to pass through like Alex and Brent. Not that I cared, because even if it did come through after me I was pretty sure that Alex and Brent could take care of it while I ran screaming for my life.
First things first. I had to get out of there. I was moving to my left when I stumbled. I grabbed at the pedestal to keep from falling and the pedestal kind of rocked back and forth as I landed against it. Aha!
The pedestal was a little taller than waist high and made of rock. It was about two feet in diameter and it was definitely too heavy to lift, but I might be able to use it to distract Bones.
I circled around until I was in just the right spot. All right. Here we go.
“Hey, skinny,” I yelled. “Looks like you’ve been on the Atkins diet for way too long. Eat this!” I made a move forward so that I was close enough to block his sword arm with my left hand. He came toward the pedestal and reached with his other arm to grab me. With my right hand I pushed on the pedestal with all of my might. For a moment it wobbled a little bit, but I dug in and put my legs into it and pushed harder, and it finally went tipping over and crashed into Mr. Walking Carcass. He fell to the ground with the pedestal on top of him.
I turned and sprinted to the statue. I dropped to my knees and lifted it into my arms. Dang, that thing was heavy. I heard the skeleton thrashing and clawing behind me, but I didn’t want to waste time looking. I staggered to my feet and started toward the wall of light. The laughter that I’d heard coming from the skeleton seemed to change to a grunting kind of keening sound. I could swear it sounded like an angry bull.
About ten feet away from the wall, curiosity got the better of me. I glanced over my shoulder, only to see the skeleton push the pedestal off itself and spring to its feet, still clutching the sword. It seemed to be moving a lot faster than it should have been able to. And it started toward me with a yell, red eyes glaring.
Feet don’t fail me now, I thought. I clutched the statue tightly to my chest and ran. Must move faster, I said to myself. Could move faster if dropped heavy statue, myself answered. I could hear the skeleton feet clicking across the floor of the cavern, getting closer. I was almost there when I felt a bony hand reach out and grab a handful of my hair. I screamed, jerked my head away, and tumbled through the wall of light and into the outer cavern.
I landed with a grunt right at the feet of Alex and Brent.
“Rachel, are you all right?” Brent said. He knelt beside me, his hand on my shoulder.
Alex took the statue and Brent helped me to my feet.
“Where have you been? What happened to you?” Alex asked.
“In there, trying to get the statue,” I said. “Didn’t you guys hear all that noise?”
“No, we didn’t hear anything. Rachel, you’ve been gone almost two and a half hours!” Alex said.
“What? That can’t be!” I looked at my watch, and sure enough two and a half hours had passed. What the heck? To me it had seemed like I’d been in there for only a few minutes.
“What happened?” Alex asked again, this time with definite concern in his voice.
“It was a Mithrian temple. So I grabbed the statue off this pedestal and then the skeleton of a Roman Centurion came to life and started whacking at me with a sword. So I scrammed out of there.”
They both gave me that “okay, she’s obviously gone crazy and we’ll just smile, nod, and back carefully away” look. Even Brent! Traitor.
“What?” I said.
“Nothing,” said Alex. “We’re just glad you’re okay.” He looked at Brent and smirked. So much for believing me about the weird stuff and about how figuring things out was my “gift.” Back to being Mr. Big Jerk.
“What are you smirking about?”
“I’m not smirk—”
Right then the wall of light disappeared. One minute it was there, and then poof! It was gone. It startled us all and we kind of jumped. Brent reached out with his arm to where the light wall had been just to make sure it hadn’t gone invisible or something, but it was definitely gone.
The cavern looked nothing like I had left it. There was no skeleton, no sword, nothing. No armor from a Roman Centurion. No rubies or diamonds lying around, no markings on the wall. Just an empty cavern.
“But—this isn’t right! There was a skeleton right there! And he had this ginormous sword and glowing red eyes. Just like I told you!”
“Told us what?” Alex said.
“What are you? Deaf? That I was chased around by a skeleton in Roman armor, with a sword. It was lying right there!”
“I don’t see any skeleton,” Alex said.
I wanted to blow my top. I was tired of this constant doubt and having to explain myself every five seconds. If it turns out that I really am the reincarnation of some old goddess, there are definitely going to be consequences for some people. But there was no time for me to lose my cool now. I stopped, took a deep breath, and ran my hand through my hair. I felt something hard and weird, something that shouldn’t have been there. It freaked me out, and I started grabbing at my hair to get it out. I pulled out what I guessed was a finger bone from the skeleton. I shrieked and dropped it on the ground in front of us.
> “What is that?” Alex asked.
Brent reached down to pick it up. “Looks like a finger bone,” he said.
I was still trying to wrap my brain around the incredibly gross fact that I had a centuries old dead guy’s finger bone stuck in my hair, yet despite that, I couldn’t resist a chance to say I told you so.
“I told you so!” I said. I was madly sweeping my hands through my hair, hoping like crazy there were no other pieces of Roman Centurion anatomy in there. I felt sick to my stomach.
“All right, I’m sorry. Anyway, we need to get to Pilar,” Alex said. “Come on!”
We retraced our steps out of the cavern through the tunnel and back outside the stone pillar, then we hiked back to the spot where Kanale had dropped us off. While we were running, Brent called him on his walkie and the helicopter was waiting for us when we got there.
As we traveled, I kept wondering why Flavius would send this statue all the way to Hawaii and then put up a force field that I could walk right through. I mean, what was the point of that? Alex and Brent couldn’t pass through it, but I could. Shouldn’t Flavius have had better protection for the statue?
And then something occurred to me. What if Mithras didn’t have anything to do with the force field? What if the force field was put there by someone to keep other people out and only let a certain somebody in? Like someone who had a beef with Mithras and didn’t want him to get that statue?
Someone like the goddess Etherea.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Showdown
Kanale put us down in the lava field outside the Mithrian compound, a short flight from Pele’s Point. They were waiting for us. Simon and Leikala and the Stupid twins stood there with Pilar between them. Parked a few yards behind them was their own helicopter. They obviously planned a quick getaway.
We got out of the helicopter and walked toward them. Alex was carrying the statue.
It would be morning soon, and some of the darkness of night was fading. It was light enough for me to see that Simon’s eyes got big when he saw the statue. His face contorted in a confusion of greed, excitement, and darkness. What a sicko.
“All right. We have the statue. Let her go,” I said.
“Not so fast,” Blankenship said. “How do I know that’s the real statue?” Blankenship had changed out of the ridiculous costume and was wearing his jumpsuit again. Still tacky, but not as lame as the giant-horned helmet.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” I said. “Like I’d have time to go to the mall and pick up a fake priceless relic. I brought you your statue, now let her go!” In case I haven’t mentioned it before, this guy ticks me off. What an attitude.
Blankenship was quiet for a few seconds.
“I think you’re up to something,” he said.
“You’re right. I am. Look behind you!” I shouted, and pointed over Blankenship’s shoulder.
Blankenship and the Stupid twins spun around and went into fighting stances. When he realized there was nothing there, Blankenship turned back and glared at me.
“Made you look,” I said.
“I am so going to enjoy killing you, you stupid girl,” he said.
“Really? Because I thought we could all join hands and sing ‘Kum-bye-ya,’” I said.
“Really enjoy it,” he said.
“By the way, just in case it slips my mind, if you have to choose between the black jumpsuit and the stupid costume with the bull horns sticking out of your head? Go with the jumpsuit. It’s much more supervillainy. I mean, that whole cow costume thing? Really, there is no excuse for that kind of fashion faux pas. You looked ridiculous.”
“Enough,” he said. “Bring me the statue.”
“Oh sure,” I said. “Where are my manners? Would you like us to just load it into your helicopter for you? We’re offering a free delivery special on priceless artifacts this week. What, you think I’m stupid? You give us Pilar and you get the statue.” I so wanted to go all Tony Soprano on this guy.
I didn’t notice while I was talking so much that Alex was slowly trying to slip behind us back into the darkness, probably thinking he could try to circle around and attack Blankenship from behind. But Blankenship noticed.
“Stay where you are!” He grabbed Pilar, pulled out that big dagger he’d had earlier, and put it to her neck.
“Stop!” I yelled. “Stop it. Calm down. Alex, stop.”
I heard Alex make a kind of hissing sound in frustration, but he stopped where he was.
“Okay,” I said, “I’m going to bring the statue over. When I start toward you with the statue, you let Pilar go so she can walk toward us. Then you’ll have it and me. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“How do I know you won’t try to run?” he said.
“You’ll just have to trust me. I know you have trust issues, but you can do it.”
“Just make sure you don’t try anything stupid. If your friends try to follow us, well, that will give me an excellent excuse to dump you into the lava flow.” Then he pulled out a very mean-looking gun and pointed it right at me. Gulp. I hate guns.
“Rachel—” Alex started.
“Shh. There’s no other way,” I said.
“Rachel, don’t do this,” Brent said.
I lowered my voice so only Brent and Alex could hear me.
“Look, I’ll figure out a way to get free. They have to perform a ceremony, so he’s not going to do anything to me right away. Wait a few minutes, then try to follow them and get me out of there. And don’t worry.”
It was weird how I was the one giving orders to the group now. But there was no time for niceties. I had a best friend to save.
I turned to Alex and took the statue from him.
“Be ready,” I said.
“Ready for what?”
“I don’t know. You’re good at this tactical-escape-from-hopeless-situation stuff,” I said.
“Be careful.”
Blankenship could hear us talking in low tones, and he hollered at me not to try anything sneaky. He actually said sneaky. Loser.
I hefted the statue into my arms. It was heavy for me, though Alex could lift it with no problems. The only way I could carry it was to cradle it in my arms like a baby. I started across the lava field toward Blankenship and his cronies. When I did, he let go of Pilar and shoved her toward us. She started walking toward me. When we met about halfway, she looked at me with a very scared expression in her eyes. Her hands were still tied behind her and her gag was in place. She tried to talk, but I couldn’t understand her. Her eyes were nearly bugging out of her head.
“Achel! Moog nat og ris! Jill pill og. Thun!” she said.
I couldn’t help laughing. She sounded hilarious.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “It will be okay.”
“No talking!” Blankenship shouted.
I turned away from Pilar and finished my walk to Blankenship’s group. Dumber took the statue from me and handed it to Blankenship. Dumb grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. Leikala laughed. Did I mention I hate her?
Blankenship took the statue and looked at it like he had been handed the keys to a new Ferrari. He held it up in the air and closed his eyes and kind of swayed back and forth. It was almost like he was dancing to music that only he could hear. For a moment I thought I heard the laughter again, floating through the air and mist around me.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Taking a Dive
Dumber pushed me toward the helicopter while Blankenship cooed over his statue. Then it happened.
“FREEZE!” someone shouted. I froze. There were lights all over the place, and all of a sudden a bunch of guys in black ninja suits with machine guns popped up out of the ground. At least that’s what it seemed like. I had no idea where they’d come from. Then I recognized Mr. Kim’s voice.
“Rachel, hit the ground!” he shouted. There were lights flashing all over everywhere and it was confusing and everyone was shouting. I tried to drop to the ground, but Dumber and D
umb grabbed me and left me sort of hanging in midair. Blankenship was shouting for them to carry me to the helicopter, which had started its engines. The pilot must have been on board already. Dumb and Dumber each had one of my arms and were running to the chopper with me between them. Blankenship still had the statue, and Leikala had disarmed one of the agents that had tried to grab her. She gave him a spin kick and he went down.
I saw somebody toss something that was smoking at our feet, but we were running fast and it hit a chunk of lava and bounced away from us. About three seconds later there was the loud pop of a stun grenade that knocked us all to the ground. I saw Blankenship drop his gun, but he wrapped both arms around the statue and held on. Unfortunately it hadn’t gone off close enough to us to really stun anybody. Dumb and Dumber scrambled back to their feet. When they reached for me, I spun away and tried to run.
Dumber grabbed hold of my right arm, so I spun around and gave him a palm strike right to the face with my left hand. He grunted and let go of my arm, but before I could get away Dumb grabbed me around the waist from behind, lifted me off my feet, and barreled toward the helicopter door.
He tried to shove me in, but I braced my legs against the door and pushed back as hard as I could. Dumb pushed harder. I held out as long as I could, but my legs buckled and we fell into the helicopter. Blankenship and Leikala scrambled in after us. The shouting and confusion were drowned out now by the sound of the rotors whirring above us. We were starting to lift off.
One of the FBI agents leaped up and tried to jump into the helicopter, but Leikala kicked at his face and he fell to the ground. Now the chopper was up and moving away, and I could see out the open door that Mr. Kim, Alex, Brent, and Pilar were running toward us. But it was too late. Blankenship had me and he was going to get away.
To Hawaii, with Love Page 11
