Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (19 page)

Who could he trust?
 
Who could he depend on?
 
These were questions he was not used to asking.
 
Life used to be so much simpler and easier to understand.

Michael sat up in bed, clicked on his reading lamp, and thumbed through one of the books on ghosts that Liam had given him from the library, but he wasn't able to focus on anything he read.
 
He was eager to go and search for the staff in the chamber of antiquities.
 
He and Liam had agreed that if it had been brought to the castle, this was surely where it would have been placed, but neither of them had remembered seeing anything like it there.

Before long, Liam showed up; the two had agreed to go and explore down the night corridor.
 
Moving past Abigail's room, they poked their heads in, where she appeared to be sleeping.
 
Michael was surprised that they were actually going to be able to sneak away without her.

After entering the corridor, they examined things again as they walked along, just to be sure that they hadn't missed anything from before.
 
They re-checked all the doors as well, but all the locked doors were still locked.

When they got to the portrait of the wolfish man holding the staff, Michael stared at him and frowned.
 
"What in the world did you do with that staff," he demanded, half hoping the man would answer.

Liam patted him on the back.
 
"Sorry to disappoint you, but the portraits in
this
castle don't talk back."

They continued all the way to the stairwell, finding nothing unusual, and headed on up to the armory.
 
Knowing that the staff could be hidden anywhere, they took their time to search out every possible hiding place.

"Here you go."
 
Liam tossed something to Michael, who dodged back a little so he could catch it.

"Hey, this is a pretty cool recurve bow," he said while looking it over.
 
The weapon looked like it had been carved by hand, was a deep blood reddish color, and had Celtic designs carved into its surface.

"You should keep it," Liam told him.

"Thanks, but doesn't it really belong to your father," Michael responded, "whether or not he even knows this place exists?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right.
 
Borrow it then, at least until I can tell him I gave it to you.
 
I'm sure he won't care, I mean, its not like there aren't dozens of other bows in here, and he doesn't even know how to shoot one as far as I know."

Michael considered this.
 
"All right, I'll borrow it for now."

Liam nodded.

They found a leather quiver and some arrows that Michael thought were about the right length for him.
 
"Cool, now let's keep looking for that staff," he said.

They finished searching the armory, but couldn't find anything that resembled the Staff of Anubis, so they continued on to the chamber of antiquities.
 
Here they found a number of interesting things that they hadn't taken the time to notice before, but still there was no sign of the staff.

Michael and Liam both looked through the eyes of the golden statue, in hope that a clue would be given, but nothing appeared for either one of them.

Michael was visibly frustrated.
 
"We've searched this place from top to bottom, and still we've got nothing, not even a clue.
 
Is there anyplace else in this castle that you can think of that might be a good place to look?"

"I can't think of anyplace in particular, other than just doing a search of the whole castle.
 
The place is loaded with antiques and artifacts, but I certainly would have seen the thing if it had been placed on display anywhere."

Michael noticed that it was starting to get very late, or very early depending on the way one looked at it, and he and Liam agreed to give up the search for the night.
 
They were walking back to their rooms, and just before they got to the end of the disappearing corridor, Michael had a thought.

"Hey, remember how Zuriel said that the staff was rumored to have been stolen by the MacFarlanes who lived in the country north of here?"

"Yes, I think I know just where he was talking about too."

"Well, what if we headed out there to take a look?
 
It's not really much to go on, but you never know, we may find something that could help us figure this out.
 
We could search for ruins and talk to people living in the area.
 
Might even meet somebody who knows something about the staff.
 
Even a legend or old-wives tale might give us some kind of clue."

"Well, I suppose we could go give it a shot.
 
I'd still like to finish searching the castle before we go traipsing off into the woods though."

"Yeah, of course we should finish here first," agreed Michael.
 
"Hopefully we'll find what we need right here under our noses, but if it comes down to it, heading to what used to be MacFarlane clan territory might be the best lead we've got."

After more than a week of turning McGinty Castle inside out, the boys and Abigail had still found nothing that brought them any closer to obtaining the staff of Anubis.

"I sure wish we could get behind some of those locked doors in the night corridor," Michael told Liam as they began to pack their bags.
 
"No telling what's in those rooms, maybe there's a clue on how to find the staff, or even the staff itself."

Liam stuffed a shirt into his backpack.
 
"That may be, but until we figure out how to unlock them, we'll never know, will we?"

Liam had told Finnegan that he'd been invited to camp out with the family of John Pegg, a friend from school, for the next three nights.
 
He had camped with the family on many occasions, and believed that the butler would easily buy into the story, which he did.

Since hearing about their plans to head north in search of clues, Abigail had pestered them mercilessly about going.

"If you don't let me go," she had told them, "I'll tell Mr. Finnegan and Elizabeth about your plans.
 
That'll end your trip before it begins now won't it."

Michael felt like pinching her little head off.
 
"Do you really want to risk our chances of saving Mom and Dad, and Mr. MacDonald?" he yelled at her.
 
She looked dejected, but remained persistent.

After much argument, they came to the agreement that she could ask Elizabeth for permission to join them.
 
Michael and Liam didn't think there was any way that she would be allowed to go, and if Elizabeth said no, then Abigail agreed to keep their secret.

Much to the boys' surprise, and to the joy of Abigail, Elizabeth said she could go.

"Finnegan says that the Peggs are very delightful and responsible people, so I don't see a problem with it," Elizabeth told her.
 
"Just promise me you'll be careful and stay near the adults."

Of course Abigail agreed to do just that.

The little liar
, Michael thought to himself.
 
Then it occurred to him that he was the one who had set the example for her, and he got a sick feeling in his stomach.
 
He felt horrible about lying to Finnegan, and especially Elizabeth, but was there any other choice?
 
They had to find that staff as soon as possible if Zuriel had any chance of helping their parents.

Michael and Liam were both getting tired, and Abigail was downright exhausted.
 
They'd been searching through the forest for three days, and hadn't come across anything that might lead them to a clue in their search for the artifact.
 
Michael had hoped to find the ruins of a village or run into someone who could provide information or help direct them, but now he was growing more frustrated by the minute.
 
Maybe after camping for the upcoming night, the best thing to do would be to return home in the morning, just as Finnegan and Elizabeth expected them to.
 
Perhaps they could return to the night corridor and search for another clue, anything that might help them find that staff.
 
Michael was getting very concerned about Abigail, and knew that Elizabeth would be worried sick if she knew what they were doing.

They found a good spot to stop and set up camp for the night.
 
The sun had gone down, but the moon shone brightly overhead.
 

Abigail started to get some food out to prepare dinner, and Michael and Liam set up the tent.
 
They started a campfire and began to discuss the prospect of returning home in the morning.

"I don't care what we do," Abigail told them, handing Michael a small piece of jerky.
 
"Whatever you think is best.
 
I just want to do whatever’s best to help Mom and Dad."

In a way, this made Michael feel even worse than he had before.
 
He didn't know how to help his parents.
 
He felt completely lost, but knew that Abigail was looking up to him and expecting him to have answers.

"It doesn't look like we're going to find anything out here," said Liam.
 
"If we were, we would have done so by now.
 
I think you may be right about the corridor.
 
I know we all searched as hard as we could for clues, but maybe we missed something.
 
There must be something about that painting…."

Abigail took a bottle of water from her pack.
 
"Why don't we tell Mr. Finnegan about the night corridor.
 
He might know something that could help us find the staff."

"Maybe he could, but remember that Zuriel said we shouldn't tell anyone what we're looking for."
 
Michael threw a few sticks on the fire.
 
"He said that to tell anyone what we were doing would put them in danger.
 
I don't want to do that to Finnegan."

"And just what
DO
you think you're doing," came a deep voice from somewhere in the trees.

They looked around frantically, trying to see who'd spoken and if he was a threat.
 
All three children scanned the trees for several long moments, yet they could see nothing.

The voice came laughing at them maniacally through the darkness.
 
Next they heard whispering, which seemed to be coming from several directions.
 
Michael and Liam grabbed the daggers they'd taken from the armory and stood on either side of Abigail.

"I think we'd better take you all in to meet the boss."
 
A large wild looking man stepped out of the shadows.
 
He had unkempt hair and a scraggly beard, and reminded Michael of a grizzly bear.

"Who are you?" Michael demanded in a shaky voice.

"Who am
I
?" repeated the man condescendingly.
 
"No, the question is, who are the three of
you
?
 
And just what do you think you're doing in MacFarlane territory?"

"MacFarlane territory?" Liam held his dagger out threateningly.
 
"What in the world are you talking about?"

The man just crossed his arms and smiled.
 
He came closer, where the firelight bouncing off his face made him look particularly devilish.

Michael reached up and took hold of his sister's hand.
 
"Maybe we'll just be on our way then."

"Oh, the three of you won't be walking out of here, lad.
 
You’re coming with us."

"U-us?" Liam stuttered.

The man simply nodded as three of his companions stepped out of the dark forest.
 
None of them were as big as the first man, but they all looked just as menacing.

For a moment, they all stood in silence.
 
A hundred thoughts sped through Michael's mind as he wondered what to do.
 
His instinct was to run, but the men had them surrounded, and there was little chance that all three of them could get away.
 
"What are you planning on doing with us?"

"That depends on what the boss has to say about it," the man responded.
 
"Nothing to worry about, probably just have you for dinner."

Michael didn't like the way he said this, or the way he looked when he said it.

"RUN," he shouted before he even knew what he was saying.
 
In an instant, all three children took off at a sprint.
 
Without much effort, they dodged past the two men who stood in the direction of what they knew to be home.

Michael was relieved, but also shocked to see that none of the men were chasing them.
 
Maybe they'd just wanted to give them a good scare to drive them away.
 
The four men could be heard laughing out hysterically as the children ran away.

Just when they were convinced they had escaped, a blood curdling howl rang out from behind them, which was answered by several more.
 
Michael got a sick feeling in his stomach, as his worst fears about the men were being realized.

"Keep…keep going," he huffed to Liam and Abigail, who had both come to a stop beside him.

"You don't think…you’re not saying…" Liam managed to sputter out, but he didn't have time to finish before they noticed a dozen dark shapes bounding through the forest around them.
 
The wolves began to dart out and spring at them threateningly, only to turn back and retreat into the woods once more, disappearing into the shadows.
 
They howled ominously while playing their game, which went on for several agonizing minutes, before a large, brown wolf sauntered up before them.