“Come on!” Dane cried, taking Jade by the hand and sprinting down the pathway toward the exit. He heard an anguished scream behind him, and he stole a glance over his shoulder. The platform had completed its descent, settling neatly between the tombs of Moses and Nefertiti, and the Elder had not made it out from underneath. His head, arms, and shoulders jutted out from beneath the massive stone block. The swarm of flies was gone. Dane heard Bones gasp, and he realized they had all stopped in the doorway, staring back at what the platform held.
The Ark of the Covenant.
Jade took two steps back toward the island, entranced by the sight. Dane took her by the arm and yanked her back, not bothering to be gentle.
“You can’t,” he said. “Don’t you feel it?” His body tingled as if he was badly sunburned. “We have got to get out of here!” As if to punctuate his statement, the water that had been pouring from the leaking capstone chose that very moment to become a deluge. The movement of whatever mechanism it was that operated the chain had put undue stress on the surrounding rock. Cracks appeared at the pyramid’s peak, creeping down the walls like the claws of a hungry predator. “The ceiling’s going to come down! Let’s go!”
Chapter 32
Dane led the way back across the stepping stones. The water level was rising, and by the time he reached the final stepping stone, it was underwater. He clambered out of the hole and helped the others out. They dashed through the cathedral-like treasure vault, where the canals there were also roiling with the increased flow of water. He spared a glance at Solomon’s throne as they sprinted by, a pang of regret pinching the back of his throat as he realized it might be the last time human eyes gazed upon its beauty.
“Maddock!” Bones shouted. “Behind us!”
Dane looked over his shoulder to see a pack of the chupacabra creatures pour out of the doorway from which they had just fled, and hurtle toward them with relentless rage, gaining ground with every leap. Where were these things coming from? “Keep running!” he shouted to Jade and Amanda, and turned to face the beasts.
Bones dropped to one knee and opened fire with the Elder’s gun. He brought down the one in the lead, but the others leapt over it and kept coming. When he brought down two more, the rest slowed down. Apparently they had some degree of intelligence, because they spread out, encircling Bones and Dane.
“Any ideas?” Bones muttered, letting the Elder’s gun fall uselessly to the floor and drawing his knife.
Dane’s mind raced. Could they survive an attack from seven of these beasts? Then he realized he was still holding the staff. In his desperation to think of a way to get everyone safely away, he had not spared it a thought. It obviously had power. The creatures slunk closer.
“Maddock?” Bones’ voice was strained.
What could the staff do? Assuming what happened with Issachar and the Elder held true, he could kill one of the creatures by striking it, but one at a time was not going to be good enough against these lightning-fast predators.
“Get back!” he shouted, striking the end of the staff to the floor. He immediately felt foolish. Were these beasts truly going to obey him like a well-trained pet? But then…
“What the hell?” Bones stepped back as a hole appeared in the floor where the staff had struck it, and out poured… frogs!
Hundreds of the small amphibians poured forth, hopping in all directions. The chupacabras began to turn in all directions, sniffing the air and snarling.
“They’re confused! They must rely on their sense of smell!” How long would it be, though before they singled out the scent of humans? He and Bones took off toward the exit, leaving the confused beasts behind, but not for long. They had not gone forty yards when the monsters again took up the pursuit. “Leave me. Find the girls and get them out of here.”
“No way. We stay together.”
They turned to face the charge of the remaining beasts.
Figuring he had nothing to lose, Dane struck the floor again, and this time a writhing, contorting ball of bronze grew out of the floor. The ball split into seven pieces that each twisted into a bronze serpent that slithered out to meet the chupacabras. The beasts never smelled the snakes, which must have been actually made of bronze. The snakes went for the creature’s throats, and with each bite came instant death. Dane and Bones slowly backed away from the scene as, one by one, the bronze serpents swallowed the beasts. Then, as the final creature was devoured, the serpents flowed together, melted into a ball, and dissolved into the floor.
“Time to go,” Dane whispered.
They sped out of the cathedral and down into the water gate chamber. Here, the canals had overflowed, and the water was an inch deep. The spiral staircase that descended to the room of waterfalls was now a waterfall itself, and they took care to keep from falling. Jade and Amanda waited at the bottom.
“Thank God!” Jade cried as she wrapped her arms around Dane.
“You don’t know how true that statement is,” Dane replied. “Let’s go.”
“There’s a problem. Amanda and I already tried going through the waterfall. The bottom level is completely submerged. You can’t even see the tunnel we came down. We could try to swim for it, but the current…” She shrugged and stared at the curtain of water that blocked their view of the next room.
“Should be no problem,” Bones said. “You’ve got Moses’ staff. Did he ever let a little water get in his way? You know, ‘…and Moses stretched out his hand over the sea…’”
“‘The waters were divided,’” Amanda whispered.
“You two left out a little bit in the middle,” Dane said, “but I get your point.” Dane’s first thought was that Bones was crazy. There was no way he could do what his friend suggested.
“You already made boils, flies, and frogs, Mister Plague-Bearer. Then you made serpents that devoured the chupacabras. Does somebody need to whack you over the head to make you see the obvious? Now hurry up! This water is cold.”
Bones was right. Even more water poured out of the stairway behind them, and the level had risen almost to his calves. His feet were going numb from the cold. He extended the staff.
Nothing happened.
And then, as if a strong breeze were blowing into it, the waterfall in front of them wavered, and then the curtain of water parted. Down below, a channel opened along the pathway that led to the way out.
They walked between walls of roiling water. It surged and pulsed, and with every step he took, Dane was more and more certain that it was all going to collapse in on them at any moment.
“It’s like Sea World!” Bones said. “But without all the cool fish.”
They reached the other side safely and ascended the exit tunnel that was now a vertical tube of water.
“Anybody else feel like a hamster?” Dane asked, watching as the water raged around the circular passage. The path opened for them as they made the climb, and closed behind them when they passed. The glowing cavern was soon left behind, and they had to rely on their flashlights to light their way.
They emerged in the gargoyle pit, which was now an angry vortex. Water gushed from the gargoyle’s mouths, swirling about the circular pit and spiraling into a violent maelstrom that was swallowed up by the tunnel through which Dane had originally entered the pit. He had hoped that would be the avenue of their escape, but now they would have to retrace the path by which Bones and Amanda had come.
Dane extended the staff again, and a pathway opened that led them to the stairs that wrapped around the pit wall. He took the steps two at a time, the narrow beam of his flashlight bobbing as he climbed.