“What are you doing?” asked Louise.
Medhi’s grin stayed fixed. “Oh, you know, just sightseeing.” He waved a hand at the surrounding area. As he did so, Frankie saw a flash of gold on his wrist. It was a bracelet he was sure Medhi hadn’t been wearing before. Come to think of it, there was a silver ring on his finger, too.
“You’re the thief!” gasped Frankie.
“He’s a tomb robber, I’ll bet,” said Louise. “Looking to steal the pharaoh’s treasure.”
Medhi raised his finger to his lips. “Shhh! Anyway, what proof have you got?”
Max growled. “Maybe we should summon those guards with the sharp swords.”
Medhi spread his hands. “No need for that, fellow travelers. Can’t we make a deal?” He took the bracelet off his wrist and held it out to Louise.
Frankie was about to call the guards when he had a better idea.
“Maybe we can make a deal,” he said.
He saw Louise’s eyes grow wide. “But he’s a crook!” she said.
“Help us get inside the pyramid,” said Frankie, “and we won’t tell on you.”
Charlie smiled. “Good thinking, Captain,” he said.
Medhi stroked his chin and then nodded. “All right. I know there’s a loose block here somewhere leading to a secret passage. We just have to find it.”
Frankie gazed at the huge pyramid. “There must be thousands of stones!” he said.
But Max was already scampering through the sand, nose to the blocks. About halfway along, he paused. “Over here!” he barked.
Frankie and the others rushed over, including Medhi. Max rested his paws on the stone.
“How do you know it’s that one?” asked the pickpocket.
“I can smell the air on the other side,” said Max. “Not such a useless stray, after all?”
Frankie and Louise set their shoulders against one side of the block. They strained against the stone, but it didn’t budge.
“Are you sure?” Frankie asked Max.
“Come on, you weaklings,” said the dog.
Charlie pressed both gloves against the block and joined the effort.
“You too!” said Frankie to Medhi.
The robber laid his back against the block.
“On three,” said Frankie. “One … two … three!”
They all grunted and pushed. With a grinding sound, the rock slid into the pyramid, revealing a black passage beyond.
“We’re in!” said Frankie.
“You guys are naturals,” said Medhi, rushing back and grabbing a sack from the sand.
“We’re not thieves like you,” said Louise as she crept into the darkness. Frankie followed her, with Max at his heels.
“Wait until you see the mummy’s mask!” said Medhi, heading in last. “It’s solid gold and worth a fortune! You’ll soon forget about soccer.”
With only the sunlight from outside trickling into the passage, it was gloomy. But when Frankie’s eyes began to adjust, he made out smooth carved walls and a tunnel leading deep into the pyramid.
“Be careful,” said Louise. “My library book told me that the people who made the pyramids often set booby traps to stop tomb robbers.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” said Charlie.
“They just say that to scare us off,” said Medhi. “It’s perfectly safe.”
Frankie heard a scurrying sound ahead. “Is that you, Max?” he asked.
“Nope,” said his dog.
“I don’t like the sound of it, either!” whispered Charlie.
“Just relax,” said Medhi. “It’s just scarab beetles, and maybe the odd scorpion.”
“And that’s supposed to make us relax?” said Max. “No wonder you’re following up at the rear.”
Frankie heard a faint click, then …
WHOOSH!
A shape shot through the darkness straight toward Max, who froze. Charlie dove and stretched out an arm. The object rebounded into a wall with a crash. As the dust cleared, Frankie saw it was a stone soccer ball.
“Nobody move!” said Frankie.
No more balls came whizzing through the air. Frankie slowly crouched by Max’s side. “Lift your paws one at a time,” he said. As Max obeyed, Frankie saw a stone button under his left front paw, almost hidden under a coating of sand.
“Our first booby trap,” said Frankie.
“Let’s go back,” said Charlie. “It’s too dangerous.”
As he turned, Medhi blocked his way, raising a pickax threateningly. “I don’t think so,” he said. “We’re going to find that mask or die trying.”
“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you,” said Louise.
Frankie’s anger swelled, but he tried to keep a clear head. He looked at the stone ball that had almost squished Max. There could have been dozens of them hidden away, ready to shoot out.
“I’ve got an idea!” he said. He reached over and picked up the heavy ball.
Just what I need, he thought.
“Move it!” said the robber.
Frankie faced the empty corridor, then drew back his arm like he was at the bowling alley. He sent the ball rolling straight down the center of the passageway.
Click … click … clickety … click …
As the stone soccer ball bobbled over more hidden switches, stones shot from the walls like cannonballs. Some thumped into the ground, while others rebounded off the walls. Some collided and smashed each other to dust.
Slowly the cloud of debris settled.
“Good thinking!” said Charlie. “You set off all the traps.”
Frankie breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s go,” he said.
They set off through the rubble, making sure they walked exactly where the ball had rolled.
“So who else is on King Tut’s team?” said Louise. “We only saw him with a girl.”
“That’s his sister, Princess Cleo,” said Medhi. “The captain is King Tut’s dad … the Menacing Mummy.”
“A mummy?” asked Louise. “You mean, like a dead person wrapped in bandages?”
“Careful what you say,” said Medhi. “He’s very proud. King Tut’s dad was a huge soccer fan. He made sure that Tut practiced every day.”
“Who’s the fourth player?” asked Charlie.
Medhi grinned uneasily. “You probably don’t want to know.”
The passage became darker and darker, until soon Frankie could see barely five paces ahead. “At least there are no more flying soccer balls,” muttered Max.
They heard a deep rumble.
“What’s that?” said Medhi.
The rumbling grew louder, like approaching thunder.
“Uh-oh!” said Charlie, looking back.
Frankie glanced back, too. A huge shadow was rolling toward them — a stone soccer ball as big as a car that completely filled the tunnel.
Medhi dropped his pickax and pushed Louise out of the way. He took off down the passage at top speed.
“I don’t think I can save that!” said Charlie.
“Run!” said Frankie.
Frankie sprinted down the passage, barely looking where he was going. The ground shook beneath his feet. One fall and I’ll be a human pancake.
But the passage seemed to go on forever. Frankie checked over his shoulder and saw the ball was picking up speed. He saw Medhi just ahead of the boulder, throwing back panicked glances. Then Frankie stopped.
“Dead end!” he cried.
Frankie spotted dim light at the side of the tunnel. Another passage.
“In there!” Frankie pointed.
Louise skidded to a halt and jumped into the narrow gap. Charlie went after her, then Max. Frankie followed, squeezing his body through.
“Wait for me!” yelled Medhi. But he was too big. He couldn’t fit. The ball kept coming and the robber looked terrified. “Don’t leave me!” he begged.
Frankie grabbed Medhi’s arm. With a tug, he heaved him through the gap just as the crushing boulder rolled
past and slammed into the wall ahead. It blocked the passage completely.
“You saved my life!” said Medhi.
Frankie wiped the sweat out of his eyes and took in the chamber around them. It was a square, and a smoldering torch rested in a metal loop above the door they’d come through. The room was completely bare apart from another stone soccer ball in the center. Louise looked around. “We’re trapped!” she said. “There’s no way out.”
Max did the same, sniffing. “She’s right.”
Frankie took the torch from the wall and ran it along the walls, looking for a hidden doorway. Nothing. But as he lifted the torch to the far wall, he saw it wasn’t bare like the others. It was covered in carved symbols in neat columns and rows.
“Hieroglyphs!” said Charlie, proudly. “What do they say?”
Medhi looked at his feet. “I’m afraid I can’t read.”
“There must be a way out,” said Frankie. He touched the wall. It didn’t feel as cold as he expected. “It’s not stone,” he said. He rapped it with his knuckles and heard a hollow sound. “Wood!”
“I’ll get us out,” said Medhi. “Let’s throw the ball at the wall and smash through it. Stand back, everyone!”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” began Louise.
Medhi picked up the ball, and at the same moment dust showered down from the ceiling.
Then the roof began to inch closer.
“What have you done now?” Max whined. “You’ve set off another trap.”
Medhi hurled the ball at the wooden wall, but it didn’t even make a dent.
The ceiling shifted again, pressing down.
It’s going to crush us! thought Frankie.
Medhi picked up the ball and threw it again with the same effect.
“I think we need a Plan B,” he said.
Keep calm, Frankie told himself. He tried to ignore the ceiling edging ever closer as he peered at the hieroglyphs. But what hope did he have? He couldn’t read them any better than the tomb robber who’d brought them there.
One line of symbols, right in the center, caught his attention. They looked ancient, like the others, but somehow different. These three little drawings showed a man in various positions with a round object.
“He’s playing soccer!” said Frankie.
Louise came to his side. “I think I know how to get out,” she said. “You have to match the pictures!”
Frankie looked again. In the first picture, the figure was balancing the ball on his right foot. In the second, on his left. In the third, he was bent over, with the ball behind his head, resting on the back of his neck.
But with a stone ball …?
“Better do something quick,” said Charlie, pointing upward. The ceiling was six feet up and pressing farther down by the second.
Frankie snatched the ball off the ground and rolled it onto his right foot. It was so heavy he could hardly hold it. He flicked the ball up a fraction and tried to catch it on his left. It rolled off.
“No time to be nervous,” said Max. “Come on, Frankie!”
Frankie brought the ball back onto his right foot. He tossed it to his left foot. This time he managed to cushion the ball. Almost right away his left leg started to tremble with the weight.
“Get on with it!” cried Medhi. He began to crouch as the ceiling touched his hair.
Then the torch went out, and everything went dark.
Frankie took a deep breath. He’d done the trick a hundred times with a normal ball, but never in the dark. If I get it wrong, I’ll crack my skull. He grunted as he jerked his foot upward and then bent at the waist to stoop beneath the ball. He felt the ball land on the back of his neck and wobble. Frankie maneuvered for balance.
At the same moment, the wooden wall cracked open in the center, flooding the room with light. The ceiling kept descending.
“You did it!” shouted Louise.
Blinking, Frankie let the stone ball drop to the ground and followed the others as they barreled through toward the light.
As his vision cleared, Frankie gasped at the sight below.
They stood on a balcony, high above an enormous square chamber lined with stone seats, all sloped like the outside of the pyramid. A thin shaft of light came through a hole in the roof, casting a line of shadow across the arena. Two goals, marked with stone posts, stood at opposite ends. All around the outside of the field were figures of men and women in soccer poses — reaching, kicking, stretching. Weird, thought Frankie. All that was missing from each statue was the soccer ball.
“This wasn’t in my history books,” said Louise, mouth gaping.
“For the last time, will the challengers please step forward?” said a man far below, in the center of the arena. Though he wore long black robes, and his head was shaved to a shine, Frankie recognized the Ref. He had a whistle hanging around his neck. “Otherwise,” he continued, “the match is forfeit and the Menacing Mummy wins.”
“We’re here!” called Frankie without even thinking. Everyone turned to face them, and boos rippled through the chamber.
“You guys aren’t very popular!” said Medhi, ducking back out of sight. “See ya!”
“At last!” said the Ref. “And what do you call yourselves?”
“Frankie’s Fantasy FC,” cried Louise.
The boos and hisses intensified, echoing off the stone walls.
The Ref held out his hands toward a set of golden doors behind him. “And where are our champions?” he bellowed.
The crowd all shot to their feet at once, and began to chant “KING TUT! KING TUT! KING TUT!”
Through the gateway came the boy Frankie had seen before. His sister with the straight bangs was trying to walk beside him, but he kept skipping in front, as if he wanted to lead the way. They pushed and pulled at each other as they entered the arena.
But behind them came something that made Frankie’s skin crawl. A giant snake slithered across the sandy ground. Its mouth was big enough to swallow Max.
“Something tells me that thing is on their team,” said Max.
The snake had a rope tied over its neck and it dragged something very familiar: a huge oblong coffin, painted in bright colors and gold leaf.
“It’s the sarcopha-thingy from the museum!” said Charlie.
The Ref edged cautiously toward the coffin and unfastened two clasps on the side. Crouching down, he pushed the lid open with a creak. Frankie, along with everyone else in the arena, found himself leaning forward. Inside the coffin lay a figure wrapped in bandages, completely still.
“It’s the mummy!” whispered Louise.
The Ref stepped back, quaking. “Arise!” he called.
For a moment, nothing happened, and then the sound of a huge yawn came from the coffin. The mummy lifted one bandaged arm and gripped the side.
He sat up slowly.
“He’s alive!” said Max.
“That’s impossible,” said Louise.
As the mummy raised a leg to climb out, he almost tripped. Tut ran forward and gave him an arm to lean on.
“Steady, Dad,” he said. “You’ve had a long nap.”
“Let’s go,” said Frankie. He led the way down steep stone steps until they reached the bottom. The mummy turned stiffly to face them. So did the snake. It opened its jaws wide to reveal long, dripping fangs.
“Theeeessse mussst be our opponentsss,” it hissed.
King Tut puffed out his chest. “Shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.
Princess Cleo sneered, and the mummy let out a long moan. The crowd responded with a cheer.
The Ref reached into the open sarcophagus and took out a golden mask and a golden soccer ball. “The winner will take the mummy’s mask!” he said, placing it carefully on top of the coffin lid.
That must be what Medhi wanted to steal, thought Frankie. It certainly looks like it’s worth a lot of money.
The Ref pointed to the shadow that moved slowly across the floor. “And the game will end when t
he shadow has crossed the field!” He brought his whistle to his lips.
“Ready?” Frankie said to his team.
Charlie and Louise nodded. Max wagged his tail.
The Ref blew the whistle and tossed the ball high into the air.
Frankie ran for the ball, but so did King Tut. Frankie sprinted as fast as he could and got there a fraction before his opponent. He passed the ball out toward Louise. Cleo leapt from nowhere and blocked the pass.
“To me!” yelled her brother, hopping up and down. “Give it to me!”
Cleo ignored him and ran toward Charlie’s goal. Frankie could see she was lightning fast. Max tried to tackle her, but she dribbled past him.
“I want it!” cried Tut.
But Cleo wasn’t giving the ball to anyone. Frankie ran toward her, keeping his eyes on the ball. Max was chasing her, too. Cleo raised her foot to shoot …
Frankie slid across the ground, and knocked the ball away. Cleo ended up in a heap on the sandy ground.
“Why didn’t you pass?” said her brother. He looked at the mummy. “Dad! Tell her she shouldn’t hog the ball.”
The mummy groaned.
Frankie controlled the ball and kicked a short pass to Louise. “Let’s stay close,” he said. “That girl, Cleo, is quick.”
Louise knocked the ball to Max. “Sure thing, Frankie.”
As the dog turned, he came face-to-face with Viper, the snake. His eyes gleamed like black glass. “What’sss thisss tasssty morsssel?” he said.
Max skidded to a halt.
“Better watch out for Viper’s venom,” said Tut. “It turns people to stone.”
Frankie gulped, looking around at the statues at the edge of the arena. So they’re not statues after all, he thought. They’re ex-players!
Max backed off and then dug his front paws beneath the ball. He chipped it over the snake’s head and scampered around him.
Quick as a flash, Viper twisted around and stopped the ball with his tail, balancing it right on the tip. Then he flicked it in a loop right to the mummy’s feet.
The mummy groaned.
“Doesn’t say much, does he?” said Louise.
“He never did,” said Tut, his face sulky. “All he did when he was alive was play soccer. And when he wasn’t playing, he liked to watch soccer.”
Frankie vs. the Mummy's Menace Page 2
