Secret of the Ankhs: A Maggie Edwards Adventure (Maggie Edwards Adventures Book 2)

by Nellie H. Steele

  Henry blew more sand away and swept the last grains from the cavity.

  “That’s it!” Maggie exclaimed. “We found it!”

  “Excellent work, Ms. Edwards,” a new voice responded.

  Maggie’s eyes went wide, and she gulped. Her muscles tensed and her posture stiffened. Both Maggie and Henry swiveled slowly to face the new arrival. When she turned, Maggie raised her arms as she spotted the gun leveled at them.

  “You’re so clever, I knew you could find it and save us the trouble,” Bryson snarked.

  He stood inside the opening to the circular space. Behind him five other men, including James Michael Dean, stood with guns leveled at the other members of their group, all of whom had their wrists zip tied. Maggie cursed whatever method the group had used to circumvent their sentinel system, though the sight of Ollie and Emma with the rest of her friends added a measure of solace. At least they were reunited. Now, they needed a plan to get away.

  “I’m so glad we could help you. I knew your feeble mind couldn’t work it out,” Maggie retorted.

  “Maggie…” Henry warned under his breath.

  “What?” Maggie questioned. “He’s not that smart.”

  “Mmm,” Bryson murmured. “I did manage to capture the vast majority of your dim-witted friends, so I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Now, toss the ankhs over.”

  “Let our friends go first!” Maggie shouted back.

  Mr. Richards approached from the rear of the group. “Now, now, children,” he chimed in, “I’m sure we can come to some amicable agreement regarding our situation.”

  “The only agreement that would appease me is you letting our friends go and leaving,” Maggie argued.

  “Now, Ms. Edwards, let’s not be hasty,” Mr. Richards countered. “No one has harmed you or your friends.”

  “Yet,” Maggie interrupted him.

  “We can all share in this together,” he continued. “In fact, I believe that’s best. You keep the ankhs for now.”

  “Why?” Henry questioned.

  “Because we haven’t found the library yet,” Mr. Richards answered.

  “I’m sure we can,” Bryson added.

  “But wouldn’t it be more prudent to let them do it,” Mr. Richards countered.

  Understanding dawned on Bryson’s face and he smirked. “Why, yes, sir, I believe you may be correct.”

  “So, in other words, you mean to use us as guinea pigs to disable any traps,” Maggie surmised.

  “Given how clever you are versus how stupid I am, that seems to be the wisest solution,” Bryson replied. “I’m sure we can make it to the inner sanctum of the library before we run out of you.”

  Maggie set her jaw, disgusted by the turn of events but resigned to their situation. “Okay, fine, cut everyone loose and we’ll get to work.”

  Bryson chuckled. “No, Ms. Edwards, you may find me stupid. But I’m not that stupid. Garrity, tie up Taylor and give his girlfriend the ankhs to get started.”

  “What? No!” Maggie exclaimed.

  “Maggie, just go along with it for now until we have an opening,” Henry whispered.

  “I need a helper. I can’t do this alone!” Maggie argued.

  “Well, it’s not going to be Taylor.”

  “My Uncle Ollie then,” Maggie requested. “And Emma.”

  “No. One, not both.”

  “Take Emma,” Ollie instructed. “I can offer advice with my hands tied.”

  “Fair enough, professor,” Bryson answered. “Cut Ms. Fielding’s restraints and send her over with Ms. Edwards.”

  One of the men flipped opened a pocketknife while the man named Garrity approached Henry. “Give her the bag,” he instructed, waving the tip of his gun toward Maggie. Henry pulled the strap over his head and handed the bag off to Maggie. With a grunt from Henry, the man secured his wrists together in front of him. “Let’s go, Taylor, back with the rest of them.” He prodded him with the nose of his gun, marching him back toward the rest of the group.

  After Emma’s bonds were cut, the man led her toward Maggie.

  “We’ve really got to stop meeting like this,” Emma said.

  “Tell me about it,” Maggie answered. She slung the bag with the ankhs over her head and around her body.

  “Enough chit-chat, get to work, ladies!” Bryson snapped.

  “Okay, okay!” Maggie exclaimed.

  “What do we have so far?” Emma questioned.

  “We found a carving over here,” Maggie said, stepping toward the outcropping.

  “Whoa! Hold it right there,” their guardian shouted, leveling his weapon at them.

  “Really?” Maggie questioned, holding her arms up. She glanced at Bryson and shouted, “I can’t work like this. I can’t even move without Mr. Itchy Trigger Finger pointing his weapon at me.”

  “Ease off a bit, Reynolds,” Bryson advised. “Let the illustrious Ms. Edwards have room to work.”

  Reynolds rested the gun against his shoulder, a disapproving but resigned expression on his face. Maggie crossed to the stone. “It shows the three ankhs.”

  “I see,” Emma said, stooping to study it.

  “So, we figured we must be close. Just before you joined us, Henry found this.” Maggie stepped back toward the flat portion of the rock face. She pointed out the depression in the stone they had uncovered moments before.

  “This must be a marker for the library,” Emma commented.

  “I agree,” Maggie said.

  “Well, that’s a first,” Emma answered. Maggie gave her a wry glance.

  “This one is a lot bigger. Roughly the size of the ankhs. Do you suppose we use them here?”

  “But which one?” Emma queried. “And why is there only one? Which one do we use? Ollie’s probably the better one for this, he should have elected to do this instead of me.”

  “We need Uncle Ollie!” Maggie shouted back to the group.

  Bryson rolled his eyes, but Mr. Richards offered an approving glance and Bryson acquiesced. “Get moving, professor.”

  Ollie hastened across the opening. Maggie informed him of the developments, earning a warning from Bryson. “Stop stalling, Ms. Edwards,” he called across the space, his voice echoing off the rocks.

  “I’m not stalling. You’re hampering me at every turn. It’s your fault this is taking so long!”

  Bryson offered an unimpressed stare at Maggie, who shrugged her shoulders in response. Henry offered a chuckle. “What’s so funny, Taylor?” Bryson snapped.

  “You’re not going to win, mate. Believe me, she’s stubborn. It’s best to just let her go.”

  “I’d second that,” Charlie chimed in. “She’s really obstinate. I’ve never seen her lose an argument.”

  “Yep,” Piper added. “She’s my boss and…”

  “ENOUGH!” Bryson shouted. “I do not care to hear the opinions from the peanut gallery. The promise of a bullet should cure any hardheadedness on her part.”

  Henry set his jaw. He approached Bryson. The man named Garrity shoved him back. “Touch her and…”

  “And what, Taylor?” Bryson spat.

  “Stop arguing!” Maggie shouted. “I can’t hear myself think!”

  “You’re stalling!” Bryson countered.

  “I’m not!” Maggie argued.

  “Give them some time, Bryson. No need to be hot under the collar just yet,” Mr. Richards interjected.

  “Yeah, listen to your boss and calm down,” Maggie added.

  Bryson shut his eyes for a moment, his mouth drawn into a grimace.

  “Now, back to what we’re doing,” Maggie said with a sigh to Ollie and Emma. “Is this a trigger of some kind? But which ankh do we use to engage it?”

  “I’d bet it is,” Ollie said after examining it. “Though I do not see any indication of which ankh is appropriate.”

  “Caesar’s?” Emma conjectured. “He’s the oldest.”

  “Perhaps it’s the opposite order?” Maggie suggested.

 
; “There’s only one way to find out,” Ollie answered.

  “Okay,” Maggie agreed. She reached into the bag and found Caesar’s ankh. Maggie pulled it from the pouch and held it in front of the carved depression. She hesitated a moment before pulling it back. “Wait! What if we’re wrong?”

  “Then we’re wrong,” Emma answered.

  “What if it causes some cataclysmic thing to happen? Like the earth opens and swallows us all up?”

  Emma eyed the militant group behind them. “Does it matter?”

  “Good point,” Maggie agreed. She lined up the ankh with the cavity and inserted it. Nothing happened. “Did I do it wrong?” Maggie pressed on the ceramic item a few times.

  “Try another one,” Ollie suggested.

  Maggie nodded. “All right.” She dug in the bag for another ankh. Within the course of five minutes, Maggie had tried all three. None produced any noticeable result. She pulled the final one from the carving. “Ugh, now what?”

  With a furrowed brow and pursed lips, Ollie stared at the outline in the stone. “Hmm,” he murmured, “perhaps we haven’t cleared enough sand away to trigger any mechanisms. Each ankh you tried remained raised from the stone face when inserted.”

  “Oh, maybe!” Maggie exclaimed. “All I had was a little makeup brush.”

  “The makeup…” Emma groaned.

  “Well, it got us this far,” Maggie retorted.

  “It did some of the work, though a precise set of tools would be far better for us to remove the sand without damaging anything,” Ollie responded.

  “We need some tools!” Maggie shouted over to the group. Bryson sighed. “Like archeology stuff. Brushes.”

  “Yes,” Mr. Richards called, “we have a set of excavation brushes with us.” He motioned for one of the men to deliver them from the duffel bag he carried around his chest.

  The man pulled a pack of various sized brushes from his bag as he crossed to them. He handed them to Emma. She pulled two from the kit, handing one to Maggie.

  Maggie began on the left side of the carving as Emma began on the right. They carefully swept away sand from the cavity. “Wow, this is tedious,” Maggie lamented after a few minutes.

  “Welcome to archeology one-oh-one,” Emma said.

  “Every time I think I’ve got it, there’s just more sand. It’s endless!”

  They continued their work for a few more moments before Maggie smacked her lips. “That’s it, I quit.” She threw her hands in the air.

  “What is it, Maggie?” Ollie inquired.

  “I can’t get this sand out of here. I got one part down pretty far, but this is like solid rock! It won’t move!”

  “Let me see,” Ollie offered.

  “Right here,” Maggie pointed out. “This part goes in further and this…” Maggie’s voice stopped mid-sentence. Her brows knit together, and she cocked her head at the outline. “Wait a minute!”

  “What?” Emma asked, ceasing her work.

  “This IS solid rock. This isn’t going to be a flat depression in the stone. It’s a contoured one! We were using the ankhs wrong! They go in face first with the contours against the stone!”

  Ollie adjusted his glasses and squinted at the carving. “I think you may be right, Maggie.”

  “So, we still have some clearing to do,” Emma conjectured.

  “Yes, and then we should be able to match the contours of the carving to the contours on the ankh,” Ollie said.

  Maggie and Emma spent over forty-five minutes clearing grains of sand from the impression in the stone. “That’s it… I think,” Maggie stated as she shook her arm, trying to revive her sore muscles.

  “Let’s see which shape it matches,” Emma said.

  Maggie pulled two ankhs from the bag and Emma retrieved the third. They compared each shape to the carved curves in the stone. “This one?” Maggie questioned, holding up the ankh in her right hand.

  Emma studied it. “Yes, that looks like a match. The curve here matches the curve there.” She pointed to an area inside the recess.

  “Should we try it?” Maggie asked.

  Emma nodded. “Yes, let’s keep our fingers crossed it works,” Ollie commented.

  Maggie fitted the piece into the outline. “Here goes nothing,” Maggie said, glancing at Emma and Ollie before pressing it into the cavity. She took a deep breath and held it before her shaky hand pushed the ankh into the stone’s face.

  Maggie nudged the ankh further and further until it fit flush with the stone. As it slid into place, a boom reverberated in the enclosed area. The ground shook, knocking down everyone close to the flat rock face. The sight Maggie spied as she lifted her head and recovered her senses left her awestruck.

  A gaping hole yawned where the flat rock face had stood a moment ago. Maggie climbed to her feet.

  “Wow, incredible!” Emma exclaimed.

  Maggie reached to pull Ollie to standing as he struggled to gain his footing with his hands bound. Emma assisted her in getting Ollie to his feet. “Could you cut these off him?” Maggie requested. “He’s at a real disadvantage and could get hurt.”

  “Not my problem,” Reynolds barked at them as he climbed to his feet.

  “I’m not going another step until we’re not being put in harm’s way because of these restraints!” Maggie contested. She crossed her arms and refused to budge.

  “Get in there!” Reynolds shouted at her, waving his gun toward the new entrance.

  “What’s the problem?” Bryson shouted.

  “She’s refusing to go in unless I cut Dr. Keene’s wrist ties.”

  “You don’t have a say in this, Ms. Edwards. Now get moving!” Bryson answered.

  “I’m not going anywhere while he’s bound up like that. We’re risking our lives and that’s making it more dangerous.”

  Bryson stormed toward them. “I’ve had enough of your demands. Get moving and check out the next area now!”

  “You do it!” Maggie countered. She stood firm, her face set in stone.

  Bryson grabbed her by the arm and dragged her toward the entrance. “I said get in there.”

  The rest of the group approached them, driven forward by Garrity and his compatriots.

  “Fascinating,” Mr. Richards said as he stared at the gaping entrance.

  “I agree,” Ollie answered.

  “Tell your goon to get his hands off me,” Maggie snapped.

  “There’s really no need for violence, Bryson,” Mr. Richards advised. “I’m sure Ms. Edwards will accommodate our requests.”

  “I want my uncle cut loose,” Maggie demanded. “That wasn’t even a trap and he could have been seriously hurt! He needs his hands if he’s going to continue to help us.”

  “I don’t see the harm in it,” Mr. Richards said. “Go ahead, Bryson.”

  Bryson flinched, betraying his irritation, but followed orders. Ollie rubbed his wrists after his bonds were cut.

  “We’ll need flashlights at least before we proceed any further,” Maggie said.

  Garrity was already pulling several flashlights from one of the duffel bags. Ollie accepted two of them and handed one off to Emma. Maggie grabbed the last one from Garrity. She flicked it on and pointed it toward the entrance.

  “Just a moment,” Bryson said before she went any further. “There’s a new set of rules moving forward. You three will enter each new area and search it for traps. Reynolds will follow. Once it’s cleared, we’ll all join you. We’ll be keeping a close eye on you, Ms. Edwards.”

  “Whatever,” Maggie grumbled. She spun back to the entrance and approached. She waved the flashlight around the space as she peered inside.

  “Careful, princess,” Henry called to her.

  She turned to smile at him. “I will be,” she promised.

  Ollie and Emma joined her outside the cavernous entryway. “Simply incredible,” Ollie said in a hushed tone as they trained their flashlight beams inside.

  A large stone floor greeted them. In the center, a ma
ssive bas-relief depicting several scrolls protruded from the floor. Across the mammoth space, two colossal pillars held the mantel of a roof at bay. Large stone steps led upward past the pillars.

  “Wow,” Maggie whispered.

  “Yeah,” Emma agreed.

  “We must inspect the area for any booby traps,” Ollie stated.

  “Do you imagine they built this like a tomb? Full of traps?” Maggie inquired.

  “I’m not certain, but better safe than sorry.”

  “I agree,” Emma said. “If they went through the trouble to hide the ankhs, its likely they safeguarded the library entrance in other ways.”

  “Astute analysis, Emma,” Ollie said.

  They scrutinized the area leading inside the chamber. Maggie swept her flashlight beam along the ground. A faint line of sand marked where the stone face had stood moments ago. Maggie blew the sand away.

  “I don’t see anything on my side,” Maggie reported after searching the floor and wall.

  “Nothing on mine either,” Emma said.

  “I haven’t seen any noticeable triggers above us,” Ollie noted.

  “Should we try for it?” Maggie inquired.

  Ollie nodded. “Yes, let’s try.”

  Maggie lifted her foot. She hesitated, her foot floating in the air as she took a deep breath. With a glance at Ollie and Emma, Maggie crossed the threshold. After her second foot stepped onto the floor inside, Maggie whirled to face them. “Made it!”

  Emma and Ollie followed while Reynolds remained outside. “Stay there while we investigate the space,” Ollie advised.

  “No,” Bryson countered. “He goes.”

  “He should stay. We don’t know what may trigger a deadly trap inside this chamber!” Ollie argued.

  “I don’t trust you, professor!”

  “Where are we going to go?” Maggie snapped at him.

  “If it’s all the same, I’d rather wait here, boss,” Reynolds chimed in.

  “Fine, but don’t linger too long,” Bryson warned. “And you keep your eye on them,” he said to Reynolds.

  Maggie studied the chamber in a slow pivot. Light spilled into the chamber from the desert sun, illuminating the space. Her flashlight splayed across the undecorated walls. Maggie took a few steps further inside. Ollie grasped her arm, stopping her.

  “Wait!” he warned.