Cryptid Quest: A Supernatural Thriller (The John Decker Supernatural Thriller Series Book 8)

by Anthony M. Strong

  “This just gets weirder by the minute,” Rory said, turning his attention to the stone walls. “Glowing rock.”

  “Weird or not, it’s true.” Cassie looked around in wonder. “This is incredible.”

  “And fortuitous,” Ward said. “Because without it, we’ll be stumbling around in the darkness.”

  “I wonder if the whole place is like this?” Cassie asked.

  “Probably. It appears to be a deliberate design feature.” Emma was running her hands along the smooth stone surfaces, examining them up close. “I can see what looks like specs of crystalline material in these rocks. That must be what’s causing the glow.”

  “I don’t get it. How can rocks be glowing?” Garrett asked.

  “It’s not unheard of,” Rory said. “There are many types of rock that give off luminescence in the dark, including fluorite, autunite, and scapolite.”

  “Except you normally need ultraviolet light to make a rock glow,” Cassie said. “And at least one of those rocks is highly radioactive.”

  Garrett took a step backwards. “Wait. These rocks are giving off radiation?”

  “Hard to tell without a Geiger counter,” Cassie said. “I can’t even identify the mineral. Like I said, you normally need ultraviolet light to make a rock glow. These are giving off light visible to the naked eye on their own.”

  “Relax,” said Decker. “I’m sure whoever built the pyramid wouldn’t have used this rock if it was going to make them sick or die.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Garrett said.

  “Me too,” Decker told him. “Because we aren’t leaving the same way we arrived, so we’re going to be stuck inside here for a while.”

  “You’re not making me feel any better.”

  “I wasn’t trying to.” Decker adjusted his backpack and looked around the group, then peered past them down the unexplored tunnel. “Who wants to go see what other secrets this pyramid holds?”

  50

  They made their way deeper inside the pyramid, following the strangely luminescent tunnel. It ran on an incline, Decker noted, meaning they were traveling higher into the building. It was also getting colder the further they went.

  “I’m freezing,” Emma said after they’d been on the move for ten minutes, wrapping her arms around her upper body for warmth.

  “The temperature inside the pyramid is always going to be much lower than the jungle,” Rory said. “The air in here gets no sunlight and the rocks leech heat, too.”

  “Plus there’s no airflow,” Decker said.

  “Our wet clothing doesn’t help either,” Cassie said. “At this rate we’ll catch pneumonia before we ever find a way out of this place.”

  “Cassie’s right,” Ward said. “We’re losing too much body heat. We should change into something dry.”

  Decker brought the group to a halt. “Our backpacks should have kept most of the wetness out. We’ll swap clothes before continuing.”

  “Right here?” Rory asked. “It’s not very private.”

  “No time to be shy,” Emma said. She was already pealing her clothes off. She discarded her sodden shirt and pants, then rummaged in her backpack. “Looks like my stuff survived without getting too wet.”

  “Mine too.” Cassie said, quickly changing her underwear and pulling on fresh pants and a white shirt almost as dirty as the one she had discarded, only not as wet. “That’s better.”

  Decker waited until everyone finished changing, then picked up his backpack and started along the tunnel once more.

  It wasn’t long before they came to another archway with a square room beyond. In the middle was a dais made of stone, upon which stood an intricately carved statue. It stood ten feet tall-a bronze figure weathered to a green patina. Upon its head was the Atef crown. In its hands were the crook and flail. Beyond this, on the far wall, a second archway led deeper into the pyramid.

  “Oh, my gosh.” Emma raced forward. “That’s Osiris.”

  “Another Greek monster?” Ward asked.

  “Not Greek. Egyptian,” Emma replied. “One of the many gods of the underworld.”

  Rory said, “Again, with the underworld theme. I’m seeing a pattern here.”

  “Clearly the Egyptians, and the Greeks that came after, both associated this place with the land of the dead.”

  “Back at the cliff,” Decker said, “when we found that stele, it mentioned the meeting of the two lands.”

  “Yes.” Emma nodded. “Where the beasts from the realm of the gods are free.”

  “When they wrote realm of the gods, perhaps they meant the underworld.” Decker took a step closer, reached out, and touched the statue. He looked at Emma. “Are you okay with all this?”

  “I’m an Egyptologist. What do you think?”

  “No, I meant-”

  “I know what you meant. Osiris was the father of Anubis. At least, depending on which mood the Egyptians were in at the time.”

  “And we know Anubis is real.” Decker ignored the strange looks he received from the rest of the group. “Stands to reason Osiris would be, too.”

  “If he is, I don’t think we have much to worry about,” Emma said. “It took a crazy cult to bring Anubis back. I don’t see any robe-clad nut jobs around here, do you?”

  “Good point.” Decker glanced around. “What do you think this room is for?”

  Emma studied their surroundings. She stepped away from the statue and approached the walls. “Does anyone have a flashlight? It’s hard to see in here, even with the luminescence.”

  “I do,” Cassie said. She rummaged in her pack and produced the flashlight they had used the day before to explore the bottom deck of the ship and the pens. She turned it on and played the beam around the room. What it lit up elicited a gasp of surprise from the small group.

  Hieroglyphics.

  Lots of them.

  They covered all four walls from top to bottom and side to side. It reminded Decker of photographs he’d seen of rooms inside the pyramids on the Giza Plateau in Egypt.

  “Wow.” Emma’s eyes were wide with disbelief. “This is more than I ever expected.”

  “The Egyptians weren’t just here,” Decker said. “They were really here.”

  “Can you read it,” Rory asked, breathless.

  “I think so.” Emma took the flashlight and played it across each wall in turn, before stopping in front of one. “This room tells the story of how the Egyptians came to be here. It’s a written record of how they discovered the Amazon, and why.”

  “This is some kind of Egyptian library?” Garrett asked.

  “Not so much a library,” Emma replied. “But more like one volume inside the library. A big, room-sized history book.”

  “What does it say?” Rory joined Emma and stared up at the wall as if he could decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphics himself, simply by concentrating on them.

  “I’m not sure I have time to read it all, but I can paraphrase,” Emma said.

  “Make it quick.” Decker didn’t want to linger ay longer than necessary. They still had to find a way out.

  Emma spent a few more moments studying the hieroglyphics, her lips moving silently as she took in their meaning. Then, in a hushed voice, she told them what the writing on the wall said.

  51

  “This is a very rough translation,” Emma said, her eyes still fixed on the hieroglyphics. “Around fifteen hundred BC, when the Egyptian civilization was beginning their transition from the Second Intermediate Period into the New Kingdom, a strange ship from a far-off land arrived on the Nile River. It was like nothing they had ever seen and crewed by men of complexion even darker than their own who spoke a foreign and unintelligible language. The ship had spent many weeks lost at sea, finally making its way into the Mediterranean. By the time it arrived at the Nile Delta, many of the men on board had succumbed to thirst or were sick.

  “There was something else on the ship, too. A towering beast with a single eye on its forehead. At first t
he Egyptians were terrified, but the animal was not in good shape, and quickly died. Some of the crew though, lived, and over time learned to communicate with their rescuers. They told of a faraway land across a vast ocean, filled with wondrous creatures and untold riches. A place where gold could be dug out of the ground by hand and a mighty river fed a forest of vast proportions.”

  “Sounds very much like the stories that propelled the conquistadors thousands of years later,” Yates said. “All except the monsters. This is big. Imagine when I announce that we’ve proved the Egyptians came to the Americas?”

  “When you announce?” Rory said. “That’s a bit presumptuous, isn’t it?”

  “Who better than me to tell people about this magnificent discovery?” Darren Yates’ chest was puffed out. His eyes glinted. “I’m a world-renowned archeologist. Top of my field.”

  “Yeah.” Rory rolled his eyes. “Sure you are.”

  “Guys, let her finish,” Cassie said.

  Emma waited for the conversation to die down, then continued. “Driven on by tales of wealth and curiosity about the one-eyed creature that accompanied the visitors from across the ocean, the Egyptians constructed a ship bigger than any built before. They copied the design of the stranger’s vessel, thinking they could sail to this strange and mystical land. But fate was not on their side, at least at first. The expedition was never seen again, probably wrecked in a storm.

  “Undeterred, they sent a second vessel, and this one sailed all the way to the Amazon, following a crudely drawn map they had discovered on the stranger’s ship. They returned with news of their discovery, and a captured beast with one eye.”

  “The Cyclops,” Rory said. “Can you imagine what they must have thought, arriving here, and seeing what inhabited this land?”

  “They thought it was where the Gods lived,” Emma said. “After the ship returned, they sent an entire fleet. Six vessels dispatched in secret. Only the Pharaoh and his closest advisers knew this land existed. But it didn’t stop them from exploiting it.”

  “So where does the pyramid come in?” Asked Cassie. “And the Greeks.”

  “Be patient. I’m getting to it.” Emma cleared her throat. “The Egyptians explored the area and found what they describe as an enormous gemstone half buried in the ground near the river. It was said to have mystical properties. When the sun shone upon it, the stone would reveal a second land within the first and bring with it the creatures of the underworld. But the stone lay half buried, and the trees allowed little light to penetrate. The Egyptians wanted to amplify its power, so they built this pyramid to amplify its power.

  “They used a modified design borrowed from the smaller step pyramids at the base of the pyramid of Menkaure on the Giza Plateau, mining the blocks from the bedrock around the gemstone.”

  “I wonder if that’s why these rocks glow?” Rory said. “Maybe they have some special quality associated with this enormous gemstone you’re talking about.”

  “It’s possible,” Emma said. “They dug up the gemstone and used it atop the pyramid. They believed that by building across the river, they would also tap into the natural energy of their surroundings, especially since they believed the river was an underworld representation of the Nile.”

  “This really is great stuff,” Yates said. “God, I wish I had my camera with me.”

  Decker shot him a look.

  “What?” Yates shrugged.

  “I want to hear the rest of this,” Decker said. He looked at Emma. “Go on.”

  “Thank you.” Emma played the flashlight across more wall. “The Egyptians stabilized the gemstone and the two lands emerged, coming together in one. They established a sect of priests here, whose job it was to converse with these new gods. But the Egyptian civilization was failing, and these new deities did nothing to stop it. The Egyptians could no longer support the sect, and the ships stopped coming. The sect of priests was left stranded.”

  “What happened after that?” Yates asked.

  Emma shrugged. “That’s pretty much where the story ends, at least in the hieroglyphics.”

  “Darn. Just when it was getting interesting.”

  “It doesn’t take much to figure out the rest,” Emma said. “My guess is that the priests probably died out since they were all male. We already know from history that the Greeks, who were a rising force in the region since at least the second millennium BC, slowly infiltrated Egyptian culture. They probably learned of the secret Egyptian sect and the land they controlled. They must have mounted their own expeditions to this land. But they weren’t interested in worshiping these gods. They wanted to tame and put them to work. Over several centuries, they captured and brought them back to the Mediterranean where they used them for their own nefarious purposes.”

  “All highly speculative.” Yates shook his head.

  “I disagree.” Rory said, glaring at Yates. “It makes perfect sense. That’s how they ended up weaved into the region’s mythology. The Cyclops and Hydra, to name a few. All real living creatures removed from this part of the Amazon rainforest.”

  “But wait,” Ward said. “You’re saying that the Greeks and the Egyptians merged?”

  “It wasn’t so much a merger as an invasion,” Rory said. “By around six hundred BC, the Greeks and Egyptians were pretty much co-mingling. Egyptian culture was on the decline, and Greek civilization was reaching its pinnacle. By three thirty-two BC, Egypt was under Greek rule, thanks to Alexander the great. Even their gods ended up mingling with each other.”

  “Which explains why there is both Greek and Egyptian influence here,” Decker said.

  “Yes.” Emma nodded. “The Egyptians found this land, thanks to the timely arrival of a ship from some long-lost Amazonian civilization. It probably got blown out to sea during a storm, or simply lost its way, and ended up traversing the ocean. The Egyptians apparently kept this place a closely guarded secret through the centuries. But then the Greeks came and decided it was worth plundering.”

  “There’s still one thing I’m not sure about,” Ward said. “The giant crystal. What could it have been?”

  “Who knows?” Emma said. “But it appears to be why the Cyclops, and all the other strange creatures, are here.”

  Decker looked at Rory. “The energy source CUSP detected must be coming from the gemstone.”

  Rory nodded. “Sounds likely.”

  “What energy source?” Cassie asked.

  “The one inside this pyramid,” Decker said. “My organization sent a classified satellite over this region. It picked up an unusual energy reading coming from the area.”

  “You think it’s the crystal?” Cassie said.

  “Yes.”

  “And that it’s responsible for all the mythological creatures running around in the jungle?”

  “That’s exactly what I think,” Decker said. “And not only that, but I have a theory how.”

  52

  “My goodness, this is going to make a great episode,” Darren Yates said, his voice tinged with excitement, as Decker led everyone out of the hieroglyphics room and into the dark corridor beyond. “If only I had my camera.”

  “So you keep saying,” Decker said. “And FYI, it wouldn’t matter if you did. I’d just take it from you.”

  “Now look here,” Yates said. “I don’t know who put you in charge, but this is my expedition. Understand?”

  Decker came to a halt and turned on Yates. “This is not your expedition. In case you hadn’t noticed, most of the people you walked into this jungle are dead or missing. I’m in charge now.”

  “Take it down a notch, Darren,” Cassie said. “These people are here to rescue us. You can think about your show later. Right now, I just want to get out of this and survive.”

  “You need to be careful how you speak to me, Cassie.” Yates glowered that his co-presenter. “I’m the one that hired you. I can fire you.”

  “Don’t bother, I quit.” Cassie pushed past him and continued along the tunnel.<
br />
  Decker glanced at Ward, who shrugged, and said, “Guess that’s taken care of.”

  “Yeah. Let’s keep going.” Decker started after Cassie. He caught up with her and glanced sideways. “You okay?”

  “I am now.” Cassie was walking at a brisk pace. “Should have quit long ago. Show was stupid, anyway.”

  “I don’t know,” Decker said. “I watched a couple of episodes on the way down here on the plane. It wasn’t high art, but it was entertaining enough.”

  “You’re trying to cheer me up, aren’t you?”

  “Little bit.”

  “Thanks.” Cassie managed a smile. “What’s the deal with you and the Egyptologist woman?”

  “Who, Emma?”

  Cassie nodded. “I’ve been sensing some tension there. Especially when she first showed up. You two have a history?”

  “That’s one way to put it.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really,” Decker said. “Besides, there’s not much to tell. We dated for a while, and she left. Her career was more important than me.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” Cassie shot him a quick look. “You’re a nice guy.”

  “It’s all good. I’m with someone else now. We are engaged to be married.”

  “Well, congratulations,” Cassie said. “No wonder it’s tense between you and the Egyptologist. Can’t be easy having the girl you never resolved things with tagging along on your expedition when you’re about to marry someone else.”

  “We worked things out,” Decker said. “At least, I think we have.”

  “That’s good.” Cassie cast a furtive glance back toward Rory, who was near the back of the group. “What about him?”

  “Rory?” Decker wasn’t sure what she was asking.

  “Yes. Is he spoken for?” Cassie smiled coyly.

  “Oh.” Decker nodded. “There is no Mrs. McCormick, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “So, he’s on the market?”