Curse of the Mummy's Uncle

by J. Scott Savage

  “Fake?” Mr. Jiménez huffed indignantly, then chuckled. “I mean, well, I had to make it seem real, didn’t I?”

  Carter’s forehead crinkled. He frowned at Nick and Angelo, before understanding crossed his face. “Yeah, it was totally cool. I especially liked the cutting-your-hand thing. Only, how did you make it storm like that?”

  The archaeologist’s smile froze. “I, um, well . . . It’s a rain forest. Storms happen all the time.”

  “It was great!” Nick said, hoping his enthusiasm didn’t sound as forced as it felt. He held out his tied arms. “Now that it’s over, you better untie us. My parents are probably getting worried.” Once they were free, the first thing he would do was tell anyone who’d listen what a raving maniac Mr. Jiménez really was.

  Perhaps the archaeologist heard something in Nick’s voice. Or maybe he wasn’t quite as gullible as he seemed. His eyes narrowed and he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You know, if I were to release the three of you, and you tried to claim this was anything more than a fun little game, it could get awkward for all of us.”

  “What kind of awkward?” Angelo asked.

  Mr. Jiménez reached into his bag and removed the metal book. “The kind where the wrong conclusions might be made. I have strong connections with the state authorities. It would be quite unfortunate for you—and your parents—if the policía federal were to get the impression that outsiders had attempted to steal national treasures.”

  Nick’s gut went cold. “If we say anything about what happened here, you tell the police we tried to steal that book?”

  “Among other things. Your mother and father have spent the last two days with their hands on all manner of valuable items. It would be a shame if some of them turned up in your tent.”

  “That’s blackmail!” Carter shouted, yanking at his ropes. “Nick’s mom and dad would never steal anything. And neither would we.”

  “Take it or leave it,” Jiménez warned. He put the book back into his bag and took out the knife. He turned it left and right, the blade flashing silver in the light of the moon. “Do you agree to say nothing about what happened here? Or do I find another way to shut the three of you up?”

  They didn’t seem to have much of a choice. “Fine,” Nick said. “Get these ropes off us.”

  Jiménez grinned and cut the three boys free. “Don’t forget,” he snarled. “One wrong word and you and your family spend the next twenty years in a Mexican prison.”

  Nick turned and stomped away with Carter. Angelo stopped to grab his monster notebook. “Where’s my backpack?”

  “And my hat?” Carter demanded. “I’m not leaving my yarn and needles behind.”

  “It’s all in the temple,” Jiménez said, looking more than a little flustered. “We can come back for it in the morning.”

  “If we all rush him, we can take him down,” Carter whispered. “Then we can tie him up and tell everyone what really happened.”

  Nick shook his head. “He’s probably got a dozen men ready to swear he was with them all night. Right now, Jiménez has the power. But once we get back home, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he gets punished.”

  “I knew that guy didn’t have any idea what he was doing,” Carter said. “He probably copied that ceremony from some old horror movie.”

  “It was real,” Angelo said.

  Nick and Carter stared at him like he’d gone as crazy as Jiménez.

  Angelo leaned close and whispered, “The reason it didn’t work wasn’t because it was fake. It’s because his blood isn’t royal.” He flipped open his monster notebook and turned to a page where he’d been copying pictures from the different carvings they’d seen. He pointed to a drawing of a line of people, one above the other. “Remember this?”

  “Yeah,” Carter said. “It was on the wall of the temple of the moon. What did you call it? A Jenny something?”

  “Genealogy,” Angelo said, making sure to speak softly enough that Jiménez couldn’t overhear him. “It’s a lineage of power passed from one king to another. See, here on the bottom is the child king buried in the pyramid. Above that is his father, grandfather, and so on. Look at the second-to-last picture—the baby’s father who was killed along with his wife. I didn’t notice at the time, but see to the left where his siblings should be? According to this, he had only a sister, not a brother. When the king and his wife were killed, his sister would have been charged with looking after the baby.”

  “So it wasn’t the king’s uncle who had the power,” Nick said. “It was his aunt. Which means her husband was royalty by marriage, not by birth. The mummy’s uncle didn’t have royal blood, and Jiménez doesn’t either.” He thought for a minute. “How could Jiménez not have realized that?”

  “Everyone’s been so focused on the pyramid of the sun, they never took time to study the pyramid of the moon. And you know what? I think the royal family might have been buried there. Why else would the entrance be sealed off?”

  Carter brushed a few stray pieces of hail out of his hair. “But if Jiménez didn’t have royal blood, why didn’t we all disappear like the first group of explorers did?”

  Angelo glanced up toward the pyramid of the moon. “Maybe we still will.”

  By the time they reached the base of the pyramid, they could tell something was wrong. Lights were on all over the camp, and a small crowd was gathered outside the meal tent.

  “They’re probably organizing a search party to come find us,” Angelo said.

  But as one of the men moved aside, Nick spotted a familiar figure sprawled out on a cot. “Mom!” he screamed, racing through the crowd. His mom was lying down in front of the tent with thick white bandages wrapped around the top of her head.

  He skidded to a stop at her side, and she looked up at him and smiled weakly. “There you are. I was worried about you.”

  “Worried about me?” He reached out to her bandaged forehead, then pulled back his fingers, afraid he would hurt her. “What happened? What did Dr. Canul do to you?”

  Carter turned to face the crowd, arms raised in a boxing stance. “Where is he? I’ll make him wish he’d never been born.”

  Dr. Canul stepped out of the tent. “Your mother slipped and hit her head. It’s possible she has a slight concussion, but she’s going to be fine.”

  Nick’s mom nodded. “It’s true. We were finishing our dinner when it started to rain. Dr. Canul suggested we go into the temple. We went inside and there was a bright flash—lightning, I guess. I tripped and hit my head on the altar. But I’m fine, really. I just feel a little . . . woozy.”

  Carter lowered his fists, and Nick’s shoulders slumped with relief. “Where’s Dad?” he asked.

  “Over here.” Nick turned to see his dad sitting in a nearby camp chair. He was bent over, head in his hands.

  “Are you okay?” Nick asked.

  Dad moaned and rubbed the back of his neck. “On top of the pyramid, I started feeling sick. My head is spinning and my stomach feels like I ate six corn dogs and went on the Tilt-A-Whirl over and over. It must have been some bad tamales.”

  Mr. Jiménez pushed his way through the crowd. “When exactly did you start to feel this way?”

  “What are you doing here?” Nick growled, stepping between the man and his father.

  The archaeologist ignored him. “Think. Did you begin feeling sick before your wife hit her head or after?”

  Dad shivered as if he’d just had a bad chill. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t sick when we went into the temple. I think it might have come on at about the same time.”

  Nick turned on Mr. Jiménez. “I told you to leave my parents alone.” Carter and Angelo moved to his sides.

  Mr. Jiménez shook his head. “This isn’t possible.”

  Nick was about to tell the archaeologist he’d reveal the whole story, threats or not, when his mom suddenly sat up.

  She looked around the crowd, her eyes so wide her pupils seemed to be lost in a sea of white. Slowly, she
reached up and pulled off her bandages, revealing a nasty-looking bruise and at least a dozen stitches.

  Nick stepped toward her, then froze as she held out her hands. Her palms glowed with a faint green luminescence.

  “Mom?”

  She stood, and the glow spread from her hands, up her arms, and over her entire body, like a shiny green cloud rising from her skin. She turned her head, and a pearly silver light shined on the crowd as if her eyes had been replaced by twin flashlights.

  Mr. Jiménez stumbled backward, his jaw slack with terror. “No. This can’t be. It’s not possible. I’m the one who should have . . .”

  Nick grabbed the man’s sleeve, yanking him violently around. “What did you do to my mom?”

  Mom raised her hands, and dark black clouds swirled above her head like a tornado. The crowd fell back, horrified.

  “I. Have. Returned,” Mom said. Only it wasn’t her speaking. Her voiced sounded deep and powerful, like a monster or a . . .

  “A god,” Angelo whispered.

  Mom grinned a fierce smile, baring all her teeth. Her face burned with such a bright green radiance that Nick had to squint to keep from being blinded by it. “It is I, Awilix of the Nija’ib’ noble lineage. Goddess of the Moon. Queen of the Night.”

  There was an audible gasp from the people gathered before her. Several of the men turned and ran.

  “Mom!” Nick cried. He turned to his father for help, but Dad was collapsed in his chair, his head thrown back and eyes closed.

  Mom raised her hands, and twin bolts of lightning shot out from the clouds, striking the temples on both of the pyramids. “I go to gather my forces and reclaim my power,” she roared, her voice like cracking thunder. “You’ll all regret the day you disturbed our rest.” With that she turned and began to climb the pyramid of the moon.

  Carter watched her go, his mouth hanging open. He turned to Nick and grabbed his shoulder. “Dude, did you know she could do that?”

  Nick stared at his mom’s retreating figure. Except clearly she was no longer his mom. She’d turned into—what? Some kind of immortal being? He hurried to his father and tugged his hand. “Dad, wake up! Mom’s in trouble.”

  Dad’s eyes fluttered, and he mumbled something that sounded like sick, before passing out again.

  “Dad, wake up!” Nick shouted. He hesitated, then slapped his father’s face. How could he be sleeping at a time like this?

  “He’s not asleep,” someone said behind Nick. He spun around to find Dr. Sofia Lopez, the librarian, standing behind him.

  “What do you mean?” Nick shouted. “I need his help. Did you see my mom?”

  Dr. Lopez nodded, her lips pressed tightly together. She searched through the crowd of people anxiously watching the glowing figure scale the pyramid of the moon. She grabbed one of the men by the shoulder and dragged him over. “Jiménez, what have you done?”

  Mr. Jiménez blinked up at the librarian, who was a good six inches taller than him. He glanced nervously toward the boys. “I, um, don’t know what you mean.”

  Dr. Lopez snatched his bag and pulled out the metal book. “I should have known. You were trying to steal the power of the gods.”

  “Not steal. Claim.” He grabbed for the book, but she held it out of his grasp. “I am a direct descendant of the king. The power of Kinich Ahau should rightfully be mine.” He stared in the direction of Nick’s mom, who had nearly reached the top of the pyramid of the moon. “I don’t understand what happened. Why did she get the power?”

  Angelo, who had been silently watching everything, clapped a hand to his mouth. “The DNA test,” he said, jabbing Jiménez in the chest with one finger. “What did you do with the paper I gave you?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” The archaeologist reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled slip of paper.

  Angelo snatched it from his hands and ran a finger down the numbers. “Of course. I thought something was off. But I was so focused on the matching pairs, I missed it completely.”

  “What does the DNA have to do with Nick’s mom?” Carter asked.

  Angelo slammed his hand against his forehead. “How could I have been so stupid? First I assumed that Dr. Canul was the one with the DNA match. Then I thought it was Jiménez. But the matching DNA sample wasn’t from one of the men here in camp—it was from the control group. Your mom’s DNA matches at least one of the DNA samples we found on the treasures in the underground room.”

  “What are you saying?” Nick asked, feeling dizzy. “My mom is . . .”

  Angelo crushed the paper in his hand. “Mayan royalty. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Jiménez is related to the uncle who isn’t royal. Your mom must be a descendant of the aunt.”

  “Now just a minute,” Mr. Jiménez said. “Of course my blood is royal. It’s not even possible that—”

  Carter cut off the archaeologist’s pompous speech with a punch to the jaw that dropped him to the ground. “That’s for cursing my best friend’s mom.”

  Jiménez wiped blood from his lip, but he didn’t try to get back up. “How could she possibly have royal blood? She’s an American.”

  Dr. Lopez turned to Nick. “Is there any chance your mother could have Mayan ancestors?”

  Nick remembered the conversation he’d had with his mother in the kitchen just before they’d left on this trip. “I asked her how she knew Spanish, and she said her great-grandfather was from Mexico.”

  “That’s it, then,” Dr. Lopez said. “Your mother must be of royal lineage. She probably left some of her blood on the altar when she hit her head. When Jiménez performed the ceremony, it worked, but not on him.”

  “Glad you’ve got this all figured out,” Nick snapped. “But how are you going to change her back from the moon goddess to my mom?”

  “It’s not that simple,” Dr. Lopez said. “First, Awilix is not just the goddess of the moon. She is also the goddess of death, one of the most powerful goddesses in Mayan lore.”

  “The book wasn’t specific on exactly which god’s power was being summoned,” Jiménez said. “I didn’t really care as long as I got the power.” He flinched when Carter glared at him. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to help.”

  Jiménez grabbed the book from Dr. Lopez and turned its metal pages until he came to a picture of a woman pulling a man out of a flaming pit. “Here. You must go to your mother, take her hand, and call her back from the dead. By now, she’s already entered Xibalba. In order to get her back, you’ll have to get past the lords of death.”

  “He’s not going anywhere,” Dr. Lopez said. “If anyone’s going into Xibalba, it should be me.”

  Jiménez shook his head. “She can be brought back only by a blood relative.”

  Dr. Lopez shut the book. “It’s too late to do anything tonight. But we’ll begin searching first thing in the morning.”

  “That won’t work,” Jiménez said. “By morning the curse will be unbreakable. And your father won’t last that long.”

  Nick’s teeth clamped down so hard he bit his tongue. “What are you talking about?”

  Jiménez sighed. “I told you, the ceremony requires a sacrifice. The life of an innocent—an outsider free of any Mayan heritage.”

  “That’s why you brought us here,” Angelo said. “You were going to sacrifice Nick.”

  Nick glared at the twisted little man. “You’re saying my dad is the sacrifice? If we don’t break the curse by morning, he’ll die?”

  Jiménez nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

  “Fine,” Nick said. “How do I get to Xibalba?”

  “Your mother went to the pyramid of the moon,” Dr. Lopez said. “I say we start there.”

  Carter grabbed Mr. Jiménez’s bag. “Where’s that item of power you said you had?”

  Angelo shook his head. “Whatever he thinks he found, it won’t work. He was looking for something belonging to the king’s uncle. We need an item that belonged to the king’s aunt.”

&
nbsp; Jiménez sighed. “He’s right. It will be something that meant a great deal to her. And possibly the child king as well. Unfortunately it will likely be with all the other treasures the king’s aunt took to the underworld with her.”

  Nick closed his eyes. “So the item I need to guarantee safe passage past these demons is in a treasure room I can’t get to without passing the demons.”

  “Sounds like my kind of challenge,” Carter said. “When do we leave?”

  “I’m going too,” Angelo said. “The Three Monsterteers always stick together.”

  Dr. Lopez nodded. “Very well. I’ll go with you.”

  Nick shook his head. “I need someone to watch my dad.”

  “I can’t let you go alone,” the librarian said. “Mr. Blackham would never forgive me if anything happened to you.”

  “You know Mr. Blackham?” Angelo asked.

  Dr. Lopez blushed as if she wasn’t supposed to give that way. “We’ve done business together from time to time. He knew I was in the area and asked me to keep an eye out for you.”

  A thought occurred to Nick. “You were the one who left the folder for us, weren’t you?”

  She nodded. “Sí. I thought if you were going to be here you should at least know what you were getting into. Bartholomew warned me strange things might happen when you three showed up. But I was not expecting anything like this. ¡Cielos!”

  From the way she used Mr. Blackham’s first name, Nick wondered if they were more than just coworkers. “Look,” he said, “Mr. Blackham would want you to watch out for us. But he would also know that I can’t save my mom unless I know my dad is okay. Besides, if anything happens to us, you’re the only one who knows what Mr. Jiménez is really up to.”

  “Trust us,” Carter said. “We’ve done this kind of thing before.”

  Dr. Lopez sighed. “All right. But be careful.”

  Nick bent over his dad and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll break the curse and bring Mom back.”