Arcade and the Golden Travel Guide

by Rashad Jennings

  “No, it’s NOT, Arcade. It’s made of dirty rocks! That’s what I just climbed. Dirt and rocks! I couldn’t care less what shape. Why did you choose to go back? And where is everyone else?”

  I turn to ask the old woman, but she’s vanished. So inconvenient! I have hundreds more questions for her.

  Loopy scrambles up one side of the pyramid. His chocolate-colored fur is now a dusty orange color.

  “Loop! There you are, you silly dog!” I pick him up, and then I hear a scream.

  “ARRRRCAAAAAAADE!” It’s Doug. He’s afraid of heights.

  Zoe runs to the opposite side of the pyramid. “Arcade! We’ve got trouble!”

  I rush over to where Zoe is. Doug is about a hundred feet down, his arms stretched over his head, his fingers clinging to a stone. His right foot is planted on a ledge, but his left foot . . . it’s dangling, looking for a place to land.

  “ARCCCCAAAAAADE! HELP!”

  I set Loopy down, and I take off my sweatshirt. “He’s gonna fall. I gotta go get him!”

  Zoe digs her fingers into my shoulder to stop me. “Arcade, the stones are crumbly, you could slip and fall yourself!”

  “But I can’t leave him there alone.”

  “We’re right under you, Doug! Don’t panic!” I spot Celeste just below Doug’s feet. And Derek is not that far behind her.

  “I . . . can’t . . . move!” Doug looks up at me. “I . . . can’t . . . breathe!”

  I lay on my belly on the top of the pyramid. “I’m going to go pull him up.”

  I begin to descend feet-first, and Zoe reaches her hand out to grab my shirt. “Arcade, be careful!”

  It’s hot, and my glasses start to slide down my nose. I let go of a stone to push them up, and my other hand slips! I tumble down a few feet, but I’m able to catch myself and plant my feet on a ledge.

  Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Please, God, don’t let me fall!

  I take a minute to catch my breath, and then I ease myself down to where my foot is resting on the same stone as Doug’s fingers. I pray I don’t step on them.

  “Arcade, I think I’m going to pass out.”

  “Hang on, Doug. Take a breath. You have friends above and below you. Try to take one step down.”

  “NO! I’m going to fall!”

  “Would you rather step up, then?”

  “Would I rather step up?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “NO!”

  By now, Celeste is on Doug’s right, and Derek is on his left. They both grab him by his belt.

  “You’re safe, Doug. We gotcha.” Celeste is smiling ear-to-ear.

  “When I count to three,” Derek says, “we’re gonna push you, Doug. You just relax and place your feet on the stones as we go up.”

  I take a few steps up myself so I’m not in the way.

  Doug whimpers, and his fingers slip a little. I pray again.

  “One . . . two . . . three!” I pull myself up several feet, and Celeste and Derek heave Doug to the next stone.

  Zoe watches with Loopy from above. “You got this, Doug!”

  Derek calls out again. “One . . . two . . . three!” And this time they haul him a few more feet.

  “I’m gonna die!” Doug’s eyes look dazed and his arms shake. Clearly his fear has overtaken him.

  “One . . . two . . . three!” Celeste and Derek heave, and Doug inches up some more. One more good lift and he’ll be on top. But since the triangle is narrowing, Celeste and Derek have to push Doug up and wait to follow after him.

  I pop myself on top of the pointless pyramid and turn to reach a hand out to Doug. “You got this! It’s solid ground up here!”

  Doug reaches and I grip his hand. I have to throw myself backward to drag him up.

  He lies there on his stomach, kissing the crumbly rocks.

  “H-h-h-ow are w-w-we going to g-g-g-et d-d-down?” Doug has tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

  “I wish I knew.”

  It’s all part of the adventure.

  Celeste comes up the side of the pyramid next, followed by Derek and his yellow visor. “Great choice, dude! Looks like we’re in ancient Egypt! Hey, where’s the apex?”

  “Apex?”

  “Yeah!” Derek takes a look around. “You know, the pyramidion. The Benben stone. The top.” Derek puts his fingers together to form a point.

  Zoe laughs. “Derek, have you been studying pyramids?”

  He shrugs. “A little. I’m intrigued by how they were built. It’s math. Kind of.”

  “That’s right, you like math!” When we were in fifth grade it was the only subject he didn’t almost fail.

  “It’s better than any other subject, that’s for sure. Uh-oh. Wait a minute.” Derek takes a look over the side of the pyramid. “Whoa, baby! I think I see the Benben!”

  “Where?” I walk over next to him.

  “Down there, on the ramp at the bottom. In front of all those people. I think they’re celebrating it coming up here!”

  I watch as the Benben begins to move up the ramp, ropes pulling the massive stone inch by inch. It reflects the light of the sun, and it looks like solid gold! “But we’re up here!”

  Screams come from the people at the bottom of the pyramid.

  “Arcade, they’ve spotted us.” Derek backs up a few feet. “We better get down.”

  Zoe smacks her forehead with her palm. “Let’s climb down the back.”

  “Back?” I pick Loopy up and hold on tight. “Which side is the back?”

  “Arcade, stop it!!! This is no time for questions.” She grabs my shirt and pulls. “This is the back!”

  We make our way over to the edge. Ropes are hanging down that side, too, and people are pulling on them, staring up at us.

  “Okay, nix that,” Zoe says. “We’re going down the side.”

  “But what about Doug?” I point to the lump of anxiety that is Doug, lying face down and holding onto the ground for dear life.

  “We’ll carry him.” Celeste flips him over, sits him up, and drapes his arm around her shoulders.

  I place Loopy up on my shoulders. “Hold on, boy, we’re descending a pyramid in ancient Egypt. Who knows how it’s all going to turn out?”

  I turn and throw my feet over the edge, pushing my glasses up again. Man, I wish I could be on the other side to watch the apex, or whatever it’s called, finally make it to the top of the pyramid. I drop down a step. “Are you guys gonna be okay with Doug?”

  Celeste has pulled a bandana out of her pocket and is wrapping it around Doug’s eyes. “Yep. Because he’s not going to look. Right, Dougie?”

  Dougie?

  Despite what we’re about to attempt to do, I have to stifle a laugh.

  “Right, Celeste.” Doug holds his shaky hands out. “Just get me down quick.”

  “And what do we do after that?” Zoe—always the planner. It’s an annoying trait, even here in ancient Egypt.

  “I . . . don’t . . .” I look to the sky, and something coats my glasses so I can’t see. I grab tightly to a stone with one hand so I can lift them off my face with the other. They’re covered in silver and gold flakes.

  Oh, yeah! Glitter to the rescue!

  I drag myself back up to the top of the pyramid, where I see golden elevator doors in the shape of an apex. I feel a jolt of heat through my body as the token drops back on the chain.

  “It’s gold, Arcade!” Derek points to the apex.

  I take in the view. The top of the pyramid really is gold. “That’s DOPE!”

  The coin slot appears in front of the doors, and I reach for the token to drop it in.

  “Hey, Dougie! You might want to remove your blindfold for this.”

  “Hey, Celeste, I might want to remove my blindfold for this.”

  Celeste smiles and pulls the bandana off Doug’s eyes. He rubs them a second before opening them. He pops up on his feet when he sees the doors and the coin slot. “SAVED! LET’S GET OUTTA HERE!”

 
I drop the coin in, make the parting motion with my hands, and we all rush in.

  “UP or DOWN?”

  I’m getting pretty tired of my voice giving me choices that I don’t understand. But at least I know not to choose back this time.

  “How about Weeda’s?”

  I push the red button.

  CHAPTER 12

  Sneaking Out

  We landed back on Weeda’s couch.

  Oh, the softness.

  Doug rubbed his eyes some more and stared at the ceiling. Then he turned on his side, grabbed Loopy, hugged him, and burrowed into the cushions. “This is my new favorite place in the entire world. I’m never going to leave this couch again.”

  “He’s in shock. I’ll get him some fluids.” Celeste jumped off the couch and ran to the kitchen.

  “Can you bring some food too?” Doug whimpered.

  “Sure! I’ll make a plate of snacks.”

  “Man, I don’t remember Celeste ever being this nice. Did she get hit by lightning or somethin’?”

  Zoe punched me in the arm.

  Derek stared at me. “No, but I think something happened to you in New York that you forgot to tell me about.”

  I pulled the Triple T Token out of my shirt and twirled it around on the chain. “Um, yeah. There is this little thing.”

  “It’s a little thing that makes big things happen,” Zoe added as she pulled a hair tie from her wrist and put her hair up in a ponytail.

  “Like taking us to ancient Egypt?” Derek leaned in closer to examine the token. “That was the SCARIEST but COOLEST thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  “Stick around. More and better terrifying things await.” Zoe rolled her eyes.

  Derek turned his face to the front window and pulled his visor off his head. “Arcade, did any time pass while we were gone?”

  I shrugged. “When we’ve gone through the doors before, we’ve always come back at the same time we left. Why?”

  Derek slid off the couch and crawled on the floor. He stopped right under the window and peeked out. “That’s what I was afraid of. The truck is still there.”

  “The truck?” Zoe crawled over next to Derek. “What truck?”

  “The truck that’s been following me ever since I took a post-it note with Arcade’s name on it out of Mr. B’s house.”

  “You’re talkin’ nonsense. And who’s Mr. B?”

  “He owns Forest Games and Golf. You know the guy. A little old and a lot grumpy.”

  Zoe ducked down lower. “Forest Games and Golf? This is getting creepy, Arcade . . .”

  “Yeah, but it’s finally making some sense! Derek, maybe we can see him better from your room.” I rolled my shaky body off the couch and crawled to the hallway. “Zoe, stay here and help Celeste take care of Doug.”

  “Okay. I’ll keep watching out this window. Let us know if you see anything down there.”

  Derek and I crawled to his room. “Arcade, we can’t see anything better from my room.”

  “Shh. I know. But that will get us downstairs, and we can sneak out the back door, duck behind trees till we reach the other side of the cul-de-sac, and watch him from the woods.”

  Derek’s eyes lit up. “That’s brilliant! I knew everything would be okay once you got here.”

  “Yeah. I hope so. Just leave the bright yellow visor at home.”

  “Good idea. We’ll go camo.”

  We quickly threw on some green and brown camo T-shirts and pulled Derek’s camo net off his wall to cover us as we ran.

  I pulled out my phone to make sure it was charged and ready for action. “He’ll never know we’re watching him. I’ll log his license plate and other clues in my phone.”

  “Okay, dude, I gotcha covered!”

  Derek and I snuck out of his room, tiptoed down the hallway, and gently opened the backyard screen door.

  CREAK!

  “Man, Derek, you gotta oil that door! I bet Zoe heard that.”

  Derek threw the net over both our heads. “Let’s jam!”

  It was just like the old days when Derek and I used to run away and hide from our sisters. But it was never because a truck was tailing us. And it was before I owned the Triple T Token.

  Maybe this wasn’t the greatest decision. But it was fun. And what could happen in our little neck of the woods?

  “Arcade, you gotta slow down a little.” Derek’s taller than me, so he was having trouble keeping up since he had to bend his legs as he ran, to stay under the net.

  “What if we crab-walk?” I suggested. “Then we can keep our eyes on the truck.”

  We flipped over and walked side-by-side on our hands and feet with our eyes peeking out of the net. We jetted between the trees, staying as low as we could. Derek’s street is a cul-de-sac, so we were able to stay in the woods behind the houses and cross over to the truck side without stepping foot on the street.

  “This is genius, Arcade.” Derek huffed and puffed. “How close do you think we can get without him noticing?”

  We crab-walked behind the house he was parked in front of. Then we settled in behind a hedge and took some pictures.

  “Ha! This is just like when we used to spy on Celeste and Zoe.” I snapped some more pics, and then crawled out from under the net so I could get a picture of the truck’s license plate.

  “Be careful, Arcade.”

  And just as Derek said that, a guy opened the driver-side door of the truck and jumped out!

  Derek hurried over to me and threw the net over my head. We both hit the ground. I was sure the guy saw, because he turned and jogged in our direction.

  “That’s him, all right. That’s Mr. B.”

  I strained to see him through the netting. His head was covered with a hood, but I could see his face. He looked like the same guy who fought me on the street in New York. And the same guy who yelled at me at the arcade.

  Is that Lenwood Badger? I thought he was in custody in New York City.

  Mr. B slowed and approached the house where we were hiding behind the hedge.

  “What do we do, Arcade?”

  I couldn’t think of anything, but . . .

  “Run to the hideout!”

  We dropped the net and ran to the place we always went when we were in trouble and didn’t want anyone to find us. Inside the old, hollowed-out tree trunk, deep in the Cimarron neighborhood woods.

  CHAPTER 13

  Journey Box

  It took us a minute to catch our breath.

  “That . . .” Derek doubled over and put his hands on his knees, “was a close one.”

  “Too close. But no one will find us in here.”

  The log of the huge fallen tree had been a refuge anytime our moms were looking for us when we were little kids. Derek and I made a pact never to tell any grownups about the tree.

  We climbed in a few feet. “I hope there are no biting ants in here.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and used the flashlight to see inside our hiding place. “Looks the same as the last time we were here. Hey, here’s our tub of Red Vines!”

  “Probably stale by now,” Derek picked up the tub and shook it. The clump of Red Vines plopped around in one big glob.

  “I bet Doug would eat ’em.” I pointed to a wooden box that was hidden behind the tub. “What’s that sittin’ by the Red Vines?”

  Derek reached over and brushed a bunch of bark off the top. He stared at it for moment before looking at me with wide eyes. “Dude, I think it’s the journey box!”

  “What? It is not! Let me see!”

  Derek handed it over. I opened it. Inside was a bunch of envelopes.

  “It is the journey box! I wonder how it got in here?”

  “Beats me. I haven’t seen this thing for a couple of years. I thought it was buried and lost somewhere.”

  “Here, hold my phone,” I handed the phone with the light still on to Derek, and he shined it while I pulled out envelopes that represented all the years we were in elementary school. Each envelope
held clues that the junior high kids left for us, so we could find treasures in the Cimarron woods. The clues also included encouraging and challenging words to help us through life. It was a super fun neighborhood game that we all played every summer, and Derek and I looked forward to the day when we would be the junior highers who would leave the notes. But then I moved, and the box was lost. Or so I thought.

  “What’s that one?” Derek shined the light on a gold envelope that stood out from the tattered white ones. It didn’t have a year written on it, but it looked like it was stuffed full of notes!

  I lifted the envelope out of the box, and the Triple T Token heated up. I put my hand to my heart.

  Not now. Not without Zoe here.

  The token cooled. But my hands holding the envelope warmed up. I turned the envelope over and lifted the flap. I pulled out a folded paper that had the number one printed on it. I opened it up and read:

  Hole number one: The journey starts with a humble heart.

  “Hole number one?” Derek scratched his head. “What’s that?”

  I stared at the words for a few seconds. The token lay right against my pounding heart, and my stomach churned.

  I know.

  “It’s hole one of the windmill course at Forest Games and Golf.”

  “The windmill course? That thing’s all broken down. How could a journey start there? And what kind of journey?”

  “I don’t know. But we have to go there and find out.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Sister Wrath

  Zoe and Celeste were waiting for us in the backyard of 2300 Cimarron Road.

  “Get in here!” Celeste grabbed Derek by the ear and pulled. “You two gave us a heart attack. First you show us some stalker truck and then you disappear! What kind of stupid trick was that?”

  “We had a deal, Arcade.” My sister didn’t have to say anything else.

  I know, I know, Zoe. We promised to never be out of each other’s sight unless we were at school, in case the token acts up.

  “I’m sorry, Zoe. I just wanted to spy on the truck. I didn’t know we’d be running from the guy into the woods.”