ANCIENT EGYPT:

THE BIRTH OF THE FANTASTIC FIVE

Addison Blake sprinted down the passageway of the recently discovered ancient Egyptian pyramid with Elani Rong in hot pursuit. Because of her shorter right leg and gimpy limp, Elani had difficulty keeping up with the thirteen-year-old even if he was overweight. Addison stopped and leaned against the tan limestone passage wall, panted, and then laughed. The dim yellowish light from the wall torches splashed across his face creating the effect of a shadowy hole on its left side. Above his head, carved hieroglyphics danced in the flickering feeble light. They consisted of symbols of people, animals, plants, and some markings of no recognizable shapes.

     Elani stopped in front of him and panted as well. With every inward gulp of air, the hot, dry mustiness almost forced up a cough with every breath.

     "Addy, what are you doing? Doctor Anderson ordered us not to leave the main chamber."

     Addy pointed toward the direction they had been running. "He told us about this throne room he found a month before we arrived, Elani. I was just going to have a quick look. I may want to do my report on it."

     "Holy snow peas. You always do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it." Elani's shorter right arm stretched up to her head and wiped the sweat off her brow the best it could. Then she changed to her good arm and did a better job of diverting the perspiration from her eyes.

     "Oh, booger beans. And why not, Elani? Doctor Anderson let us wander anywhere we wanted to go in the main chamber. It isn't going to do any harm to go just a little ways beyond it for a few minutes."

     "Well, let's get back to the others before we both get in trouble."

     Addy leaned back and laughed making his blubbery body jostle up and down like the bacon belly of a suckling sow. He leaned against the passage wall and threw a hand to his eyes to wipe the happy tears away.

     "Oh, Elani, you worry too much. Doctor Anderson is a like a substitute teacher … a real pussycat. He's easy, so stay calm and have some fun."

     "But what about our teacher? Mr. Sheepshanks is not afraid to punish middle school students."

     Addy grinned and thrust a hand toward Elani's handicapped right arm. "Help me off the wall."

     Without thinking, Elani thrust out her gimpy right hand, stretching her uncooperative fingers as best she could. Then she threw the arm back into its normal position, elbow near her skinny ribs and hand with uncontrollable curled fingers hovering near her underdeveloped right breast. Though tall for an eleven-year-old, Elani was too thin to be very far into teenage puberty just yet.

     The rumble of distant pounding feet drew closer. Into the weak light sprang Quanda Bare-Eagle, the twelve-year-old descendant of the Eastern Cherokee Nation and Elani's best friend since they met a year ago.

     "What are you two doing?" Quanda said, bending over with hands on hips panting to catch her breath. Far shorter than Elani, Quanda was of slight build; and though a year older, she had not yet developed a chest.

     "Oh, booger beans, Quanda," Addy snapped. "What's it to you?"

     Quanda stiffened up and stared into Addy's eyes. Then she darted hers aside and stared at the hieroglyphics above his head. "Nothing. I just don't want us to get into trouble, is all." She pointed at the hieroglyphics. "Hey, look at those markings. What do they say, Addy?"

     He spun around and looked at them for the first time. "Just because my father teaches Egyptology in college doesn't mean I know everything there is to know about reading hieroglyphics. Well, he has taught me a little." He stared at the Egyptian scribbling and planted his hands on his hips. "Hmmmmm. Interesting. Very interesting, indeed."

     Elani stamped a foot on the stone floor. "What is it? What does it say?"

     Addy drew himself back and turned his head to speak over his shoulder. "Well, Elani, it's like you said … we shouldn't have even come here. Forget what they say. Let's get back."

     Quanda threw a hand on her hip. "Come on, Addy, stop playing around and tell us what it says."

     More rumbling echoed from down the passageway and soon Riana Enriquez and Blaine Andrews joined them.

     "We saw you break away, Quanda," Blaine said, trying to catch his breath. A black boy of almost perfect proportions, Blaine's muscles and athletic stance would probably be the envy of every boy in his upcoming seventh-grade class-only he was too shy to take advantage of it.

     Riana, perhaps the shapeliest, tallest, most developed, and prettiest girl of the same class, huffed out her tiredness and gulped a deep breath. "Yeah, Elani. We didn't know you were chasing fat dinosaur Addy, the Obese-a-saurus, or we would have brought a gurney to wheel him back. He doesn't have the stamina to run very far, you know."

     Addy stiffened as fast as an army private snapping to attention. "Shut up, you little tomato-picking migrant."

     Riana slapped a hand against her chest. "Are you making fun of my Hispanic heritage? I'll have you know that not everyone with a Spanish name in this country picks vegetables, you fruitcake. My father's a lawyer, you extinct Dope-a-saurus."

     "Holy snow peas," Elani said, "will you two ever learn to get along?"

     Riana flipped a long, slender index finger at Addy. "It's him. He goes around picking on everyone." She thrust a thumb into her chest. "I'm not going to take that from anyone, so I give it right back to him."

     "Just ignore him," Elani said.

     "Be quiet, cripple girl," snapped Addy.

     Quanda stepped in front of him. "You leave my best friend alone. Her mother is resting in peace, so just leave her out of it."

     Wow, thought Elani, I've never seen Quanda stand up to anyone before. What's come over her?

     "Shut up, Quanda," Addy said. "You're just a Native American. No one really cares what you think."

     Addy shoved Quanda and Riana threw a shoulder into Addy sending him sprawling against the wall. His right hand flew upward and smacked against one of the hieroglyphic symbols before he slumped into a limp pile at the base of the wall.

     The others jumped back as they heard the grinding from some hidden mechanism followed by a grating of stone against stone. Their mouths drooped open as they watched a section of the wall behind Addy rise until he fell backwards into empty space, too terrified to look anywhere but up into the darkness.

     Seconds later the grinding stopped. Addy sat up, swung around, and the five children from Murphy Middle School stared into a mysterious darkness.