Cadaver Island (6 page)

“
We need to be careful.
There are all sorts of dangerous animals in the desert,” Dr. Stine
said.

Angelique paused to pick up
Razor and kiss his forehead. The dog grunted in approval and licked
her face. After she put him down, he barked and chased his
tail.

“
I see something over
there,” Angelique said. She pointed at the silhouettes of large
structures to the west. When Dr. Stine smiled, she assumed he knew
what they were.

“
Ah, yes, it’s the ruins of
the archaeological site. My ancestors lived there two hundred years
ago,” Dr. Stine said. Angelique detected enthusiasm and joy in his
voice.

“
Have you been here before?
And how did you know that your ancestors once lived here? Is it
possible that my ancestors lived here also?” Angelique asked. Her
left fingernail picked at a mole on her left check while she
studied Dr. Stine’s facial expressions.

“
Yes, I’ve been here many
times. My ancestor, George Harrington, was in charge of an
archaeological site near a huge pyramid. He lived there with his
wife, Kristina, after they relocated from Helena, Montana.
Gradually, more people migrated from the United States and formed a
colony. At its peak, the population reached about 3,000 residents.
Years ago, I found George’s scrapbook, which is called
Notes
from the Ancient Tomb
.”

Angelique remembered how
she’d used Dr. Stine’s scepter to transform the three-eyed giant
into a gold statue. She realized that only members of Dr. Stine’s
family could use the scepter in such a manner. She wondered why Dr.
Stine’s face turned pale and he became nervous when he realized
she’d wielded magic with the scepter. She realized that if she
shared Dr. Stine’s bloodlines, then George Harrington was her
ancestor also.

“
I want to discuss the
scepter, Dr. Stine. I thought only members of your family could
cast spells while holding it. Am I somehow related to you?” Her
pulse quickened and she felt her mechanical heart skip a beat. She
was stunned by her own words.

“
I don’t think this is the
time or place to discuss such matters. When the time is right, I’ll
tell you everything I know,” he said. She noticed that Dr. Stine
was grinding his teeth.

As they walked toward the
tall, dark silhouettes of the deserted colony, Angelique noticed a
tall, stone fence which surrounded the compound. On the
southeastern side of the colony, a sand dune partially covered a
glass-and-steel shack, which stood adjacent to a large, rolling,
metallic gate. Angelique noticed that the gate was stuck in the
OPEN position. Beyond the gate, she noticed a stucco building that
was connected to a large patio, where a thin layer of sand covered
several tables. Black, stenciled letters above the building’s glass
doors said: OASIS CAFÉ. Hunger pangs caused her stomach to
ache.

Dr. Stine laughed when he
heard her stomach rumble. “You must be starving,” he
said.

“
I’ve been hungry for a
long time. I hope we can find some food,” she said.

As they stepped closer to
the metallic shack and the open gate, Angelique noticed bold, red
letters on a sign adjacent to a sliding window, which
advised:

SECURITY
CHECKPOINT!

All Visitors Must Complete
Background Checks!

All Bags and Packages Are
Subject to Search!

All Visitors Must be
Escorted by Authorized Personnel!

Beyond the gate and the
stucco buildings of the abandoned colony, the towering, angled
walls of a pyramid cast long shadows on nearby sand dunes. As they
stepped through the gate and approached the Oasis Café, a loud
beeping noise emanated from Razor’s underside. Dr. Stine’s eyes
widened and a smile blossomed on his face. Razor barked and ran
toward the pyramid. Angelique understood that the beeping noise
meant that a battery pack was nearby. She jumped up and down and
laughed out loud.

“
We found a battery pack,
Dr. Stine? Where is it? Am I dreaming?” she said.

“
No, you’re not dreaming.
There’s a battery pack nearby, but it’s not inside the colony. I
think it’s hidden inside the pyramid,” he said. His fingers
scratched his long beard.

“
How did it get
inside
the pyramid?” Angelique asked. Anxiety caused her to
tremble.

“
I don’t know. It feels
like a trap. We need to be careful.” He thrust his scepter into the
air. Brilliant light radiated from it. He strolled toward the Oasis
Café cautiously.

When Dr. Stine realized
that no one was hiding inside the café, he guided Angelique and
Razor toward a circular courtyard, where a flagpole rose from a
tangle of desert foliage and cacti. He glanced up at a torn, dirty
flag, which boasted fifty stars, thirteen stripes, and the colors
red, white, and blue. A strong breeze caused the large flag to flap
in the air. Directly across from the café, several wheelchairs sat
next to the glass doors of a white building. Above the door, the
word HOSPITAL loomed in bold, black letters. Several vehicles,
which boasted flat tires and rust-plagued frames, occupied slanted
parking spaces in front of the old hospital. Dr. Stine remembered
when his parents told him that people in The Old Times referred to
those vehicles as
ambulances.

“
Look, Dr. Stine! Is that a
cemetery?” Angelique asked. She pointed at a wrought-iron fence. It
leaned in the foreground of large, granite headstones and small
dunes of sand.

“
Yes. My ancestors are
buried there,” he said. He stared at the ground
solemnly.

Angelique walked quickly
toward a rusted, arched gate, which provided access to the front of
the graveyard. Dr. Stine and Razor trailed from a distance while
Stanley soared and dived in the air. Most of the epitaphs on the
headstones had been withered away by centuries of harsh wind and
sandstorms. Angelique located two graves in the back of the
cemetery which someone had cared for and maintained. A stone border
provided a perimeter around the wide plots of land. When Angelique
kneeled next to the headstones, she gasped. She looked at the
epitaph of George’s headstone and read it out loud to
herself:

GEORGE
HARRINGTON

Mayor of Science Colony
3

Loyal Husband and
Son

Born January 17,
1970

Died March 31,
2013

Always Loved and Never
Forgotten

“
He was an honest,
intelligent, and genuine man. He cared about all the people who
lived in the colony. He would’ve sacrificed himself for any of
them,” Dr. Stine said.

“
He was very young when he
died,” Angelique replied.

“
Everything was fine
until…that woman came along. George and Kristina, according to
entries in
Notes from the Ancient Tomb
, were soul mates and
their mutual love was something many colonists were amazed by. But
when two archaeologists opened a sarcophagus in a sealed room deep
in the pyramid, they released an immortal phoenix, who is reborn
each century.” Dr. Stine stared at the sky while he
spoke.

“
Why would the opening of
the sarcophagus come between George and Kristina? How could it
affect their love for each other?” Angelique asked.

“
The immortal phoenix
developed feelings for George. Her name was Sirlonah and she fell
in love with him. As a result, Sirlonah subjected Kristina to
unspeakable horrors. I’ll let you read
Notes from the Ancient
Tomb
when we have more time. Our main goal right now is to find
a replacement for your battery pack,” Dr. Stine said.

“
So we’re going to search
the pyramid?” she asked. Dr. Stine detected impatience in her
voice. She paced back and forth in front of George and Kristina’s
graves.

“
I guess we have no choice.
I’m worried about how
convenient
it is. For some reason, I
believe the battery pack was
planted
by someone,” Dr. Stine
said.

Angelique paused in front
of Kristina’s headstone and kneeled next to it. A cold, static
sensation seized her and caused gooseflesh to erupt on her skin.
The scent of perfume throbbed in the air. She leaned forward and
touched the grooves of the epitaph’s chiseled letters and read them
aloud:

KRISTINA
HARRINGTON

Devoted Wife of Mayor
George Harrington

Adored by Everyone Who Knew
Her

Born July 3,
1969

Died March 31,
2013

May Her Spirit Watch Over
Us

“
Come with me, Angelique.
It’s time to go to the pyramid. We can’t afford to waste any more
time,” Dr. Stine said.

Angelique responded to his
voice when she straightened her legs and turned away from the
graves. When Razor noticed that she’d lapsed into a daydream, he
jumped up and down and barked at her. She told him to “Be quiet!”
as they strolled by the Oasis Café and approached the colony’s
broken gate. Angelique paused next to the abandoned guard shack and
glanced over her shoulder. A red-headed woman, who wore a white,
transparent gown, stood near the entrance to the Oasis Café and
waved at her.

“
You and I are one and the
same. Please be very careful,” the woman said.

“
Are you okay, Angelique?
Is something wrong?” Dr. Stine said.

Angelique focused her
attention on Dr. Stine, Razor, and Stanley. Dr. Stine and Razor
stood next to the opening of a narrow passageway, which was
partially hidden by the bulk of a large sand dune. Stanley’s talons
clung to Dr. Stine’s outstretched, left forearm while the owl
hooted and blinked his eyes. Angelique glanced over her shoulder
and noticed that the woman was gone. The woman’s voice echoed in
her mind as she approached the entrance to the pyramid. Dr. Stine’s
scepter glowed and bolstered the dim light of lit torches, which
lined the passageway’s walls. As Angelique followed her friends
into the damp, dark corridor, she whispered: “You and I are one and
the same.”

***

Dr. Stine and Angelique
admired hieroglyphs on the walls of the passageway as they walked
carefully through the pyramid. Scarabs swarmed across the floor and
fled from the sudden glow of the scepter. Angelique pointed at a
faded hieroglyph, which depicted an enormous red planet in the
night sky. Dr. Stine nodded and aimed his scepter at two moons in
the foreground.

“
People in ancient times
knew about the planet Nibiru. At the end of The Old Times, one of
Nibiru’s moons was drawn into Earth’s orbit when the planet passed
close to the Earth. That’s why the smaller satellite is called The
New Moon today,” Dr. Stine said.

At the end of the corridor,
Dr. Stine noticed that the corridor forked to the left and the
right. Two torches, fastened to the wall by stone jackals, served
as bookends for the statue of a small, golden sphinx. More
hieroglyphs distracted Angelique and Dr. Stine: images of a demonic
hellhound, a giant praying mantis, and a swarm of gargoyles. Razor
barked when he realized they’d been staring at the hieroglyphs too
long. The sensor on his underside beeped faster, which meant the
battery pack was nearby. He licked Angelique’s ankle, then nudged
Dr. Stine’s hand with his wet nose. Razor guided them into the left
passageway. They followed him without hesitation.

The corridor spilled into a
huge room with a vaulted ceiling, which Dr. Stine estimated to be
about twenty feet high. The golden statues of Egyptian pharaohs
rose from tall hills of gold coins. Emeralds, rubies, and diamonds
sparkled on the mounds of coins when the glow of Dr. Stine’s
scepter illuminated them. Enormous, Egyptian rugs boasted bright
colors despite their frayed edges and old age. Dr. Stine and
Angelique admired the treasure in the room as they followed Razor
toward the tallest statue, which stood in the middle of the room.
Razor’s sensor beeped so loud that Angelique covered her ears with
her hands. Dr. Stine winced, bent at the waist, and pushed a red
button on Razor’s stomach. The noise ceased immediately. The
silence in the room made them nervous.

The battery pack rested in
the outstretched palms of the giant statue’s hands. Dr. Stine
scanned the area for sharp objects, trip wires, and booby traps. He
thrust the scepter toward dark areas of the room and sighed when he
didn’t see anyone lurking in the corners. He glanced over his
shoulder and noticed that Angelique had found a different corridor,
which branched off from the northern side of the room.

“
Don’t go in there without
me,” he warned. He sensed that they weren’t alone.

“
I can see an empty
sarcophagus,” she said. Her voice conveyed fear.

Dr. Stine’s fingers
quivered as he reached toward the statue’s hands and snatched the
battery pack. Angelique, who’d entered the adjacent corridor to
look at the sarcophagus, screamed when a huge block of stone slid
from the ceiling and blocked her path into the room. Dr. Stine ran
toward the block of stone, placed the battery pack in the pocket of
his robe, and pounded on the wall with his free hand.

“
Angelique! Can you hear
me?” he screamed. He blamed himself for not being
careful.