“I’ll be the judge of that,” the creature replied. “Besides, I’m the one who’s supposed to ask questions. I’m famous for that.”
As the beast stepped forward, light began to soften the shadow. I could see the outlines of its face now—a square jaw and chiseled cheeks, its fur combed straight on either side of its head. If I had any lingering thought this might be a griffin, that was totally gone now. Griffins did not have broad, humanlike noses and piercing round eyes, like this creature did.
“Don’t you know my face?” the beast bellowed, its breath hot and musty. “Don’t you know my name?”
“Let’s see. The hair . . . um, you’re George Washington?” Marco said.
“NOOOO!”
Aliyah was on her knees. “Get down, you fools,” she whispered. “I don’t know how this thing got here! It was protecting the Loculus. I thought we’d managed to sneak away from it in Egypt.”
“THING? THERE’S THAT WORD AGAIN!” the beast roared.
It lunged toward Aliyah, reaching to swat her with its paw, but she rolled aside with the quick reflexes of an extremely scared ninja warrior.
The creature retracted onto its haunches, sitting tall.
Wings. Body of a lion. From Egypt. Looks weirdly like George Washington. I had an idea what this was. “The Sphinx of Egypt, disappearing overnight . . .” I murmured. “That was what Crazy Farouk said. She’d heard it on the news. And Wenders’s notes . . . also mentioned something about a sphinx. . . .”
“What?” Eloise blurted. “But that’s impossible! The Sphinx is a statue. Statues don’t just come to life!”
Cass pressed his eyes shut. “Hasn’t she learned anything?”
“As you know, I am here to collect something,” the Sphinx said, its eyes moving to focus on me. “And I believe you have it.”
“M-m-me?” I said.
“The Loculus of Language,” Cass whispered.
I stood, backing away. I needed to make it to the tunnel. The entrance would be too small for the Sphinx, and it would get stuck. It was my only hope. Manolo stood beside me, eyeing the Sphinx defiantly. I could sense the others gathering, too.
With a sudden roar, the beast reared its head back and belched a plume of fire. It scorched a stray tree root that jutted from the caldera wall. “I do not fear your bullets, nor will your meager brains outwit me. You will return what is mine or you will die.”
The Sphinx leaped into the air and landed inches from me. I felt the burn of its breath like the sun. “I was inanimate until the prince of Atlantis gave me inner life. Though caught in stone, I could see the world, the beauty of the pyramids. What glory! But this magician knew the nature of Sphinxes. We are creatures of logic. We feed on choices. Riddles. So he presented me with one: What in peace sees all but moves not, in distress sees death and moves swiftly, in success is released to eternal life, in failure is turned to dust?”
“I—I give up,” I said.
“The answer was me,” the Sphinx said. “You see, I was given a choice if I wanted life. Would I remain in stone and watch over the magical orb he had placed in the Great Pyramid, coming to life only to retrieve it in the event of its theft? My reward for success upon Massarym’s return would be freedom, like the birds and lizards! But if the Loculus were stolen and not found, I would turn to dust. To this I agreed. And to this I remain faithful.”
“But Massarym can’t return,” I said. “He’s dead.”
The Sphinx glared at me with colossal eyes. “I have no reason to believe this. But I am who I am, and as Massarym did for me, I will give you a choice. Answer me this question correctly, and I will take back the Loculus and let you live. Answer it wrong, and I will kill you for it.”
“What kind of choice is that?” Cass blurted. “It’s not fair!”
The Sphinx turned to Cass. “Then you shall be the one I ask.”
Cass gulped. “On second thought, it is fair. Very fair. But there are people here a lot smarter than I am—”
“What is it,” the Sphinx said, “that has four feet in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?”
“Ooh! Ooh! I know!” Eloise said.
Cass spun around. “You do?”
“Of course!” Eloise replied. “Everyone does. It’s famous!”
“I asked the boy!” The Sphinx reached out with its paw and placed it on Cass’s head. “He must answer or he must die.”
“Um . . . um . . . wait,” Cass said. “So . . . four feet, you said? Hmmm, let me narrow the possibilities. Actually, can you repeat the question?”
The Sphinx let go of Cass and sat back on its haunches. As it glanced at me, it began to drool.
“Wait!” Cass said. “I’ll get it! I will. Just let me think. Do I have a time limit?”
Shaking, I unzipped the Loculus of Language from my pack and held it out, ready to hand it over. I wouldn’t let Cass die, not like this. If the Sphinx took back the Loculus, we would just have to return to Egypt and get it—after we got Aly.
“Jack . . . ?” Aliyah said.
“It’s a dude!” came Marco’s voice from the caldera. “He crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two legs as a grown-up, and has to use a cane in old age! Ding, ding, ding! And Marco wins the daily double!”
The Sphinx spun around. “I did not ask you!” the beast roared.
But Marco wasn’t worried about the rules. He raced out of the darkness, holding aloft the golden, bejeweled sword that had been keeping the rift shut. The magic sword King Uhla’ar had called Ischis.
It had been stuck in the rift for centuries. It regulated the flow of energy and kept the rift from blowing open. Removing it had let loose all the beasts and destabilized the island.
If Marco could have picked the one colossally idiotic thing to do, this was it.
“What are you doing?” I shouted. “You can’t remove the sword!”
With a roar, Marco leaped at the Sphinx. The beast unfurled its wings and lunged toward him. Spinning away, Marco swung Ischis and sliced off the tip of a wing.
The creature’s screech filled the caldera. Blood spurted from its wound. It planted its feet, bared its teeth at Marco, and went into a crouch.
As it pounced, the ground lurched. A low moan echoed in the caldera. The Sphinx tilted and fell to the earth on its side.
Leaping to his feet, Marco plunged the sword directly into the Sphinx’s chest.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
NO MERCY
“RUN!” MARCO SAID.
“What do you mean, run?” Aliyah said. “Where?”
The Sphinx was writhing on the ground. Nirvana raced to a pile of supplies and tools that the rebels had collected in the caldera. “We can subdue it!” she said. “We have shackles!”
“We don’t have time for that!” I shouted. “Marco, put the sword back. Close up the rift—now!”
Marco turned back toward the Heptakiklos. But the rift was widening, a mass of green flesh emerging from underneath. I could make out one jewel-like eye, rolling slowly to take in the surroundings. As the creature rose higher, two more eyes emerged. And then two more. Its body began spilling out of the rift, billowing like the ooze from my science fair volcano. It had the rolling flesh of an octopus and the wet sheen of an impossibly massive slug. And it was ripping open the gash farther and farther.
Eloise screamed. “What is that?”
“An ocean of blob?” Marco said, moving closer. “If it keeps this up, it’s going to take over this whole space.”
“Marco, th-th-this is the thing you stabbed after Aly was pulled into the rift,” Cass said.
“Dude, excuse me—are you related to Greenie the Hungry Mu’ankh?” Marco called out. “Like his ugly uncle?”
My hands were shaking. I couldn’t even grip the zipper of my pack, let alone return the Loculus of Language to its pouch. The orb slipped out of my grasp and rolled onto the ground, toward the creature.
As I stepped toward it, Cass grabbed my shoulder. “Leave it alon
e!” he said. “Or that thing will turn you into Jack McSlimely.”
As the creature rose, its many eyes moved independently, sizing up the space. It spilled out over the empty dug-out bowls of the Heptakiklos, the places where the Loculi were once kept.
The Sphinx let out a screech, causing the enormous creature to turn its eyes in her direction. “Do not let this monster free, not under any conditions.”
“We—we weren’t planning to,” Cass stammered.
“Send it back!” the Sphinx pleaded. “Send it back NOW! This is the Great Atlantean Behemoth. It is a killing machine, built of the earth itself, with no capacity of intelligence or mercy.”
“Yeah, unlike you?” Nirvana yelled out.
“Does it speak?” Cass asked.
Marco circled it, holding tight to his sword. “How could it, Brother Cass? It has no mou—”
Spinning to face Marco, the beast lifted its slimy body upward like a cobra. As the rolls of flesh unfolded under its eyes, a gaping hole opened. It was a perfect black circle ringed with saberlike teeth. The Behemoth let out a hiss, spitting a thick, clear liquid.
“Never mind,” Marco said. “Anybody have some Altoids?”
“Marco, this is not a joke!” Eloise screamed.
The Behemoth’s eyes rolled toward Eloise—and Marco pounced. With a loud cry, he swung Ischis like a home-run hitter. Bases loaded, bottom of the ninth. He made contact just below the creature’s mouth.
The sword sliced through cleanly and emerged through the other side of the creature’s body, sending up a gusher of yellowish fluid. The Behemoth’s head tumbled off and splatted heavily on the ground, a network of severed veins dangling like wires. The rest of its body drooped, then fell limply in a pool of slime.
Marco jumped back, his eyes wide. “Whoa. That is some sword . . .”
The Sphinx was moving now in the shadows. Limping. Its eyes were on the Loculus of Language, which had rolled to the opposite caldera wall. “Heads up!” Nirvana yelled.
I sprinted toward the wall, beating the Sphinx to the Loculus. As I snatched it off the ground, she screeched and shot me a furious glance. “This was not wise,” she hissed, as she flapped her wings and crouched into attack position.
I bolted. Despite her injury, she managed to pounce fast. One of her claws ripped through my shirt as I jumped away. She hit the wall with a thud and a shred of shirt fabric, howling in anger and frustration.
I got up fast, clutching the Loculus of Language, and I raced toward the Heptakiklos. Toward Marco. But behind him, the Behemoth’s beheaded body had begun moving again, undulating slowly. It was still stuck in the rift, plugging it up like putty. Its severed veins and arteries were moving, melding back together. Their pale yellowish-white color was turning green. Before my eyes the beast was growing again, forming into a smooth lump.
Marco swept his arm back, keeping me from getting too close. “This doesn’t look good, Brother Jack,” he said, staring in awe at the Behemoth’s transformation.
“Watch your back!” Eloise cried out.
We both whirled around to see the Sphinx hobbling toward us. Marco kept it at bay with a threatening swipe of his sword. “En garde! Take that!”
“En garde?” the Sphinx hissed.
“I heard that in a movie once,” Marco replied. “Loosely translated it means come any closer, you’re Sphinx patties!”
A gurgling noise bubbled up from behind us. I looked over my shoulder to see the Behemoth’s body repairing itself, sprouting eyes, growing a new mouth. “I don’t believe this . . .” I moaned.
Marco’s head whipped around. “Oh, great. It’s regenerating. Just what we wanted.”
“Jack!” Nirvana screamed.
The Sphinx took advantage of the distraction. But instead of attacking us, it catapulted on its good leg, managing to leap over our heads. Marco swung at it with Ischis, but the creature cleared him easily and landed just beyond me.
It stood between us and Behemoth now. With the glob growing behind it, the Sphinx seemed smaller but no less fierce. “This fetid hole has become quite unpleasant,” she said. “So I will have that Loculus right now, please, and leave for Egypt.”
“Or . . . ?” Marco said.
“Or the ground will slicken with the blood of children!” the Sphinx snapped.
“Lame dialog, drama queen,” Marco said. “You need a new writer.”
The Sphinx jumped toward us. Marco swung but managed only to chop off a few feathers. Off balance, the beast landed on my foot, nearly wrenching it off. I saw red. All I could do was scream.
The ground lurched. A chunk of stone, soil, and roots smashed to the floor from high on the caldera wall.
The sword. Up till now I figured that with the Behemoth stuck in the rift, the energy was still trapped underground. But the crack was spidering outward in lightning jags. The rift was becoming a network of cracks. Clenching my jaw against the pain in my crushed foot, I looked for Ischis but couldn’t see it in the chaos.
Marco leaped into the air and landed a kick directly in the Sphinx’s face. As the beast fell back, I could see someone rushing toward me. I had to blink away the pain a few times to see it was Cass. He knelt over my legs, touching the Loculus of Healing to my ankle. “One Mississ-ss-ssippi, two Miss-ss-issippi . . .” he stammered, while the orb did its work.
The pain quickly disappeared. I thanked Cass and stood, surveying the mess around us. Marco was emerging from behind the Heptakiklos, Ischis aloft. He had found it in the shadows.
The Sphinx fixed a cold glare at him, but she wasn’t going to go near Marco as long as he had the sword. The Behemoth was moaning, resuming its rise from the rift. Its new head was darkening, solidifying. Cass ran back to the pack of Massa and rebels. Many of them were firing at the green blob, but that was having no effect. Their bullets disappeared harmlessly into its gelatinous skin.
“Anybody got salt?” Marco said.
“What?” Eloise shot back.
“Ever see what happens when you put salt on a slug?” Marco said. “The thing shrivels up and dies.”
“You need a salt mine for that thing!” Cass said.
The Heptakiklos was a mess now. The seven stone bowls, where the Loculi were supposed to be placed, were being split by the network of cracks. “What do I do now, King Jack?” Marco said. “As long as that blob is stuck, we’re protected. If it escapes, or if I chop it to bits . . . what happens to the rift? It’ll just grow, right?”
“I don’t know . . .” I said.
Nirvana was shouting at me now, waving her arms, gesturing toward the tunnel. Something about Eloise. “What’s she saying?” Marco asked.
His sword drooped. That was all the Sphinx needed. She leaped again, out of the shadows. Marco swung wildly. I jumped away, landing closer to the Behemoth. It was rising, changing by the second, nearly fully formed now. Its mouth gaped like the opening to a furnace.
The Sphinx rolled on the ground, her legs twitching. Obviously Marco had done some damage.
In that moment, I knew what to do. But I would have to channel some of Marco’s ability.
I stood, holding the Loculus high. “Sphinxy!” I shouted. “You want it? You really, really want it?”
The Sphinx righted herself, shaking off the pain.
“Jack, what the heck are you doing?” Marco shouted.
“Yes . . .” the Sphinx rasped. “Of course I want it, accursed child.”
“Well, go get it!” I said, rearing my arm back and holding tight to the Loculus.
Turning to face the Behemoth, I threw it with all the strength I had.
I watched the Loculus leave my hand. It arced high into the air. The great green beast roared, turning its mouth upward.
And the Loculus disappeared into the wet, gaping blackness.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
KARST POOL
I KNEW THE Sphinx would go nuts, and I wanted to be out of its way.
Everyone else in the caldera thought I wa
s nuts, too. And maybe I was. I ran toward Cass for safety. I felt the whoosh of the Egyptian beast’s injured wings as it flew, shrieking, toward the Behemoth.
“Jack, why the heck did you do that?” Cass shouted, stiff with shock.
“‘In failure . . . is turned to dust . . .’” I said, catching my breath. “Remember? The Sphinx’s job is to protect the Loculus. Or it turns to—”
“Eeeeaaaahhhhh!” With her front paws extended, the winged beast dove after the Loculus.
The Behemoth bit down tightly. I could hear a muffled screech. The Sphinx was stuck, trapped below her front haunches. Her head, shoulders, and wings were deep inside the blob. The two beasts shook violently—but the mighty Sphinx was like a toothpick in some extremely ugly Jell-O.
The Behemoth slid slowly back into the rift, pulling the Sphinx in, with a sick, slurping sound. It scooped up soil as it swept over the caldera floor, squeezing its mass back through the crack. As the last slimy piece of it disappeared inside, the rift contracted. The spidery cracks filled with rocks and dirt.
All that remained was the rear end of the Sphinx, jammed into what remained of the crack. Her rear legs were stuck in our world, kicking furiously.
“Follow me,” I said to Marco.
“Dude, that,” Marco said, staring in awe. “Really. That.”
“I said follow me!” I think I sounded way more confident than I felt. The guards and rebels were staring, dumbfounded. I headed straight past them, farther from the Heptakiklos, into the light. We needed to act fast. With one plan.
I could see Cass, but not his sister. “Where’s Eloise?” I demanded.
Nirvana was standing by the tunnel, looking helpless and agitated. “Gone, Jack,” she said. “With Torquin.”
From inside the tunnel Aliyah came running, her footsteps sloshing in the puddles left by the waterfall. “I followed them, but that big oaf is faster than . . .” Her eyes drifted toward the Heptakiklos, where the Sphinx’s butt was gyrating helplessly.
“I needed to immobilize them both,” I explained quickly. “The Sphinx wasn’t going to give up until it got that Loculus. So I threw it into the Behemoth’s mouth.”