The Final Kingdom

by Michael Northrop

  “So they have telephones in the afterlife now,” said Hesaan. “Strange days … But they are both here. Just a second.”

  It was Todtman who came on the line. He listened carefully to what Alex had to tell him. “New York?” he said.

  “Yeah,” breathed Alex, hardly believing it himself. “Right back where it all started.”

  Todtman was silent, thinking.

  “Where it started and where it will end,” he said at last. “You must stay where you are. We will come to you.”

  Alex could only imagine how long that would take. “What if they find us first? They’re going to figure out where we went sooner or later.”

  “Then let us hope it is later. We are on the way. Stay out of sight, and keep the Spells safe.”

  Ren grabbed the phone from Alex’s hands and got right to her point. “I can’t stay here,” she said. “I have to go home and check on my parents. It’s not far.”

  “I am sorry, Ren, but you must stay there. We will need you for this. We will need everyone. You have been away from home a long time, but the risk is too great. Peshwar and her army control most of the city by now.”

  “But —” she protested.

  “Please, Ren, stay safe,” pleaded Todtman. “This will all be over soon … One way or the other.”

  The line went dead.

  But outside the office, a stronger buzz was already growing.

  Alex rushed toward the door and closed it as quickly and quietly as he could. He listened closely as the noise grew louder and angrier. “It’s coming from the hall,” he whispered.

  “It’s one of those bugs, isn’t it?” said Luke.

  Alex tried to think of something — anything — else it could be. But he couldn’t. He nodded slowly, his eyes on the frosted glass panes alongside the door.

  The buzzing grew louder, closer.

  A shadowy shape flashed past out in the hallway, and Alex gasped. He looked over at Ren, asking the question with his wide-open eyes: Did it see us?

  The buzzing grew softer and then, very suddenly, louder. Alex turned back toward the door — where a dark shape was hovering on the other side of the frosted glass. The spirit wasp flew back a few inches and then rammed its body into the pane. WHUMP!

  Alex’s hand fumbled beneath his shirt for his amulet.

  WHUMP! WHUMP!

  It tried two more times to break the glass, but then seemed to reconsider. For a long moment, it just stared in at them with dark, malevolent eyes. Then it turned and disappeared back down the hallway.

  “Oh no,” said Ren.

  “What?” said Alex. “Isn’t it a good thing it went away?”

  Ren shook her head. “It’s a scout,” she said. “It found us.”

  “Oh, snap!” said Luke. “It’s going back to snitch.”

  The three friends took off after it, but by the time they reached the hallway, they’d lost the speeding spirit.

  “We have to stop it before it goes back through the portal!” said Alex urgently.

  With his amulet, Luke was more than fast enough to catch the bug as it bugged out — but he didn’t know his way around the museum. Instead, he ran alongside the others as they navigated the twisty interior, taking every shortcut they knew. They finally caught sight of the thing in the Great Hall. “There!” called Alex.

  “Give me something to throw over it!” called Luke. But they had nothing. Luke tried to strip off his Under Armour top while at a full run and wiped out on the slick tile, sliding across the polished floor with his shirt over his head.

  It darted through the ticket booths, utterly ignoring the “suggested donation” sign.

  A few moments later, Alex and Ren sprinted into Room 100 just in time to see the infernal bug enter the big tomb.

  Ren tried to blast it with her ibis, but the bug was already inside the stone entryway.

  “No!” cried Alex as the thing flew full speed into the false door. The buzzing disappeared instantly.

  Whoomp! Luke appeared by their side, holding his shirt in one hand and his amulet in the other. “Where’d it go?”

  Alex lifted his chin toward the ancient portal.

  The only sound in the quiet room was the three friends, breathing hard.

  “I think we’re going to have company,” huffed Alex.

  A man’s voice boomed through the room: “Oh, but you already do.”

  “Gah! Todtman!” huffed Ren as Alex clutched his chest. “Don’t scare us like that!”

  “Tut mir leid,” said the German, leaning on his walking stick. “I am sorry. But I am more sorry that we could not stop that pest. I had just turned the corner when I saw it flash by.”

  As if to demonstrate the process, Dr. Bauer rounded the corner. Alex rushed over to hug her. “Careful, hun!” she said, and he pulled up short and did his best to hug her healthy side. She reached down and ruffled his hair. Then he did a double take. “Wait, where did you two come from?”

  Todtman flashed his quick, sly smile and said, “There are many false doors in this museum.”

  “But you only have one amulet,” said Ren.

  “I’m an Amulet Keeper, too, though,” said Dr. Bauer. “And I held on very tight.”

  Todtman waved away the pleasantries and scanned the three kids quickly. “Where are the Spells? Are they safe?”

  Ren swung the backpack off. Todtman clucked once in disapproval. “They are thousands of years old, irreplaceable. They are not … a math workbook.”

  “Actually, they’re surprisingly durable,” said Dr. Bauer, taking the backpack from Ren. “Strong magic makes for strong scrolls.”

  Alex watched his mom gracefully shift the backpack from one hand to the other.

  “You’re moving a lot better,” he said.

  She turned and smiled. “I am full of Hesaan’s arthritis medication.”

  “Is that safe?” said Ren, and it occurred to Alex just what a good doctor she would make.

  “None of this is safe,” said Alex’s mom, unzipping the pack and peering inside. “But it does numb the pain.”

  Alex watched her pluck out the extra scrolls and lower them to the floor. There was only one scroll that mattered now, in the pack and in the world. “Mom,” said Alex, hesitating, unsure of what exactly he was asking. “Can the Lost Spells do … other things?”

  “Yeah,” added Ren. “Can they, like, talk to the gods?”

  Dr. Bauer looked from one to the other. She knew when they were up to something. “All Egyptian spells invoke the old gods in some way,” she said. “But it’s not a conversation. It’s more like calling out a name and hoping for an echo. And the Lost Spells are quite specialized. They deal with the afterlife, its gateways and guardians.”

  “Guardians?” said Alex and Ren together.

  “Enough questions,” said Todtman. “We must use the Spells immediately. The Death Walkers and their army will be here in moments, too many and too powerful to oppose. We must repair the rift now.”

  He turned toward Dr. Bauer, put his hand on her arm, and looked her in the eyes. “Maggie,” he said. “Can you use the Spells here, now? We have little time.”

  She took one more look inside the pack, then glanced into the dark entryway of the tomb. “In there,” she said. “We should be close to a portal for this, within sight. It will have more effect that way. And if we close one, we close them all.”

  They filed back inside the old tomb. Before they made it halfway down the entryway, a huge crashing noise thundered out of the inner sanctum, followed by the brittle screech of cracking stone. All around them, the big stone structure began to rumble and shake. Something was coming through the portal. Something big.

  “Let’s get out of here!” called Alex.

  “There’s another portal in the Temple of Dendur,” said Alex’s mom. “We can use that!”

  They hustled out of the shaking structure toward the familiar temple. It was housed in the largest room in the museum, even bigger than the Great Hal
l. It had always been Alex’s favorite place at the Met. He’d spent days gazing out of the room’s soaring glass wall into Central Park, peering into its midnight black reflecting pool, or looking up at the ancient temple itself, brought over from Egypt and reconstructed block by block here.

  A heavy stone block crashed to the floor behind the friends as they headed deeper into the Egyptian wing. They wound their way through the maze of half-lit rooms, past grand granite statues and cases of glittering jewelry of gold, carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. A carving of the cow-headed goddess Hathor gazed out at them with big, sad eyes as they rushed by. A quick glance was enough for Alex to recognize each exhibit. He’d spent his childhood here, and many of the items were as familiar to him as the decorations in his own bedroom. Would it all end here as well?

  He shook his head hard to clear it, but the thought would not be cleared.

  They reached the temple quickly, but it was not the safe haven they’d hoped for. Daylight streamed through the panes of the soaring three-story glass wall, and just outside a battalion of mummies swayed in sun.

  “There are like a brillion of them!” said Luke.

  It looked more like a few hundred to Alex, a small fraction of the overall army, but it was still more than enough to tear the Keepers limb from limb. “What are they waiting for?” said Ren.

  The answer came in a brilliant flash of crimson light outside the windows. As the day turned red, Alex swung around and saw the leader of the undead strike-force. The lioness-headed Peshwar stood at the front of her troops, supersized in death just as Ta-mesah had been. In her long, clawlike hand was a crackling crimson energy dagger.

  “Take cover!” shouted Todtman.

  As the Death Walker whipped her hand up and forward, the friends ducked behind the row of statues just inside the double doors. An explosion shook the room as the energy dagger blew a huge hole in the massive glass wall.

  The mummies began clambering clumsily inside, pausing only to allow their leader to step gracefully through the jagged opening.

  “We have to get out of here,” called Todtman. But as he turned toward the door, Alex saw him stop cold. Todtman began to slowly back up as Ta-mesah dipped his fearsome head through the doorway. A moment later, the Stung Man appeared, and a fierce buzzing grew in the room behind him

  “Over here,” called Dr. Bauer. “This way.”

  Not daring to take their eyes off the approaching enemies, the group followed her voice toward the southeast corner of the hangar-like room.

  “You cling to your lives like you cling to those Spells,” rumbled Ta-mesah, leveling his lifeless gaze at the huddled friends. “And soon, you will have neither.”

  But Dr. Bauer knew the great museum well, and she’d chosen this corner for a reason. A small side door there connected back to the western edge of the Egyptian wing.

  Alex knew it, too. And he knew they didn’t need to conquer their enemies. All they needed to do was protect his mom long enough for her to use the Spells. He tightened his left hand around the scarab. “Go!” he shouted as hurricane force wind shot out from his right hand.

  He formed his fingers into a tight spear, concentrating the wind, and aimed it right for Ta-mesah’s face. The force had little effect on the massive Walker — but at least Alex couldn’t hear what the big creep was saying anymore.

  A handful of mummies, their formerly bone-dry corpses half-soaked from wading through the reflecting pool, attempted to scramble around Ta-mesah’s hulking frame. Alex dialed back the mystic wind and let them. Then he redirected the blast low, mowing the mummies down like bowling pins.

  With the powerful wind no longer blasting his face, Ta-mesah charged forward, but his thick legs got tangled with the squirming mummies on the floor in front of him. Trying to kick free, he snapped one of mummies nearly in half and went down in a heap on top of the others.

  The Amulet Keepers took advantage of the opening and darted through the side door, into darkness.

  The rooms on the western side of the wing had no windows, and were lit only by a few Exit signs. Alex blinked into the ruddy murk in time to see the others filing quickly into the next room. As he rushed to catch up, Alex could hear the shuffling stampede of bony feet behind him.

  As the group cleared the next room, Alex yanked the glass door closed behind them. That ought to hold them … he thought. For about three seconds. Empty eye sockets were already gaping at him as he locked the door with his amulet. Leathery hands were already pounding on the glass as he turned to run.

  They just needed a few quiet minutes within sight of a portal for his mom to use the Spells. So close to their goal, he got a wild, cornered feeling, knowing that the Spells could kill him. His mom knew that, too. She’d had the Spells for weeks and been unwilling to take that chance. His feelings a jumble, he both hoped and feared she’d risk it now.

  He looked up at his mom, one hand clutching the Spells, the other grasping her injured side. He wanted to run alongside her — she’d sacrificed so much for him — but he stayed a few steps behind instead. He wanted even more to protect her.

  Behind them, the glass door exploded under some massive, unseen force. The friends ducked their shoulders and entered Room 100 from the opposite side of where they’d left it. Pursued by a wave of mummies and Death Walkers, they could do nothing but rush straight past the last of the portals. Alex exhaled when he saw no sign of the founder as they passed the ruined temple — but he simply hadn’t been looking hard enough. From one shadowy corner, a hovering member of the hive began to beat its wings furiously. The buzz rose to a high-pitched whine.

  “Zap it, Ren!” called Alex.

  FWOOP!

  White light washed the corner clean of shadow and seemed to stun the wasp spirit. It dipped in the air, the outer layer of its body turning to purple vapor. The urgent whine fell back to a buzz, but it was too late. Another wasp turned the corner to join it, and then a dozen more.

  Ren let out one more burst of mystic light as covering fire as the friends rushed out of the room. As the thundering stampede of mummies began to merge with the angry hum of swarming spirits, Alex closed and locked the big glass double doors behind them.

  They rushed back through the ticket booths, but in front of them lay the wide-open expanse of the Great Hall.

  “We’ll never make it across,” said Todtman. “They’ll tear us apart before we get halfway.”

  “Behind there,” said Dr. Bauer, pointing to the long counter along the wall where the museum sold memberships and event tickets.

  Ren turned and, running backward, released two more blinding flashes at the bodies and souls massing behind the heavy safety-glass doors. If their pursuers saw them slip behind the counter, it was all over.

  A moment later, they were all crouched behind the tall, dark counters.

  “We need a plan,” said Ren in an insistent, hissy whisper. “We can’t just keep running and hiding.”

  “If we stop running and hiding, we’re dead,” said Luke.

  The pounding on the big glass doors was turning to a brittle crackling as Todtman crept up alongside Alex and his mom. “You two stay here,” he said.

  “What?” said Alex as his mom said, “No!”

  He ignored them both. “The nearest portal is right behind you. We will lead them away. Stay quiet and perfectly still until we are gone. Then move fast — and do not fail!”

  “But it’s me they’re looking for,” said Dr. Bauer. “Me and the Spells.”

  “I know,” said Todtman. He closed his hand around his amulet. His eyes closed and his face reddened with effort. Two shimmering shapes appeared beside him: a boy and a woman, rough approximations of Alex and his mom.

  “Whoa,” gasped Alex. He reached out to touch his phantasmal twin, but his hand passed through.

  “It is only in your mind,” said Todtman.

  Prr-KRISH! The big double doors exploded outward. The crimson light washing the walls left no doubt as to the cause.
As bits of safety glass rained down on the tile, the others sprang into action.

  “Good luck,” whispered Ren, before slipping out from behind the counter and into harm’s way.

  Alex was too stunned to respond and only managed to gasp “Ren” at the spot where she had been. It took everything he had, and his mom’s reassuring hand on his shoulder, to stay still as the others risked their lives leading The Order forces across the Great Hall and into the vast museum beyond.

  “Over here!” Alex heard Luke call as he used his speed to lure the lurching mummies and their deathly leaders as far away as possible. “No, over here!” he called as he zoomed farther down the hall.

  The strobe-light flash of Ren’s amulet washed the walls, followed by a crimson response from Peshwar. There was a loud explosion, but Alex exhaled as he saw a second flash, this one farther away. He knew that most of The Order’s forces would chase Todtman and his phantoms. He could only hope the old man could stay out of their deadly range.

  Just feet away, on the other side of the counter, mummies lurched and spirits buzzed. The big Death Walkers followed in turn, like tanks taking the field after the infantry. But after a few loud and terrifying minutes, the Great Hall fell silent. The others had succeeded in luring the enemies farther into the museum, up its marble stairs and into its masterpiece-filled galleries.

  Ren, Todtman, and Luke … They were all risking their lives for this. Alex felt overwhelmed by their bravery, but more than that, he felt an obligation to do his part.

  “Let’s go,” he said, helping his mom to her feet.

  They had one more shot — bought at great cost — and they could not waste it.

  His mom nodded and rose. Their feet crunched through the shattered glass as they approached the first tomb, the stone cracked from where the Walkers had come through. It was dark and quiet inside Room 100. Except for … an ominous and all-too-familiar buzzing.

  The founder was still inside the fractured tomb. The oldest Walker had released some of his hive to the chase, but the man himself had found his new nest.