Free 05 - The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Page A

“He won’t be mad
when he sees what I’ve discovered. Look.”
    I shined my light onto a mummy crouching near the tar pit, then moved it to
another mummy, this one lying down, then to the row of mummy cases against the
wall.
    “Wow.” Sari mouthed the word silently. Her eyes grew wide with surprise.
    “Yeah. Wow,” I said, starting to feel a little more like normal. “The chamber
is filled with mummies. And there are all kinds of tools and cloth and
everything you need to make a mummy. It’s all in perfect shape, like it hasn’t
been touched in thousands of years.” I couldn’t hide my excitement. “And I
discovered it all,” I added.
    “This must be where they prepared the mummies for burial,” Sari said, her
eyes darting from mummy to mummy. “But why are some of them standing up like that?”
    I shrugged. “Beats me.”
    She walked over to admire the stacks of neatly folded linen. “Wow. This is
amazing, Gabe.”
    “Outstanding!” I agreed. “And if I hadn’t stopped to tie my sneaker, I never
would have discovered it.”
    “You’re going to be famous,” Sari said, a smile spreading across her face.
“Thanks to me saving your life.”
    “Sari—” I started.
    But she had moved across the room and was admiring one of the upright mummies
close up. “Wait till Daddy sees all this,” she said, suddenly sounding as
excited as me.
    “We have to call him,” I said eagerly. I glanced back at the scorpion nest
and felt a chill of fear tighten the back of my neck.
    “People were so tiny back then,” she said, holding her flashlight up close to
the mummy’s covered face. “Look—I’m taller than this one.”
    “Sari, use your beeper,” I said impatiently, walking over to her.
    “Yuck. There are bugs crawling in this one’s face,” she said, stepping back
and lowering the light. She made a disgusted face. “Gross.”
    “Come on. Use your beeper. Call Uncle Ben,” I said. I reached for the beeper
at her waist, but she pulled away.
    “Okay, okay. Why didn’t you use yours ?” She eyed me suspiciously. “You
forgot about it, didn’t you, Gabe?” she accused.
    “No way,” I replied sharply. “Mine broke when I fell into this place.”
    She made a face and pulled the beeper off her belt loop. I shined my light on
it as she pushed the button. She pressed it twice, just to make sure, then
clipped it back onto her jeans.
    We stood with our arms crossed, waiting for Uncle Ben to follow the radio
signals and find us.
    “It shouldn’t take him long,” Sari said, her eyes on the tunnel in the
corner. “He wasn’t far behind me.”
    Sure enough, a few seconds later, we heard the sounds of someone approaching
in the tunnel.
    “Uncle Ben!” I called excitedly. “Look what I’ve found!”
    Sari and I both started to run to the tunnel, our lights zigzagging over the
low entrance.
    “Daddy, you won’t believe—” Sari started.
    She stopped when the stooped figure leaned out of the darkness and
straightened up.
    We both gaped in horror, our flashlights making his mustached face glow
eerily.
    “It’s Ahmed!” Sari cried, grabbing my arm.

 
 
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    I swallowed hard.
    Sari and I stared at each other. I saw her features tighten in fear.
    Ahmed.
    He had tried to kidnap us. And now he had us all alone down here.
    He stepped forward, a flaming torch held high in one hand. His black hair
glowed in the flickering flames. His eyes narrowed at us in menace.
    “Ahmed, what are you doing here?” Sari called, grasping my arm so hard, I
winced.
    “What are you doing here?” he asked softly, his voice as cold as his
eyes.
    Holding the torch in front of him, he stepped into the chamber. His eyes went
around the room, as if inspecting it, making sure that nothing had been moved.
    “My dad will be here in a second,” Sari warned him. “I just beeped him.”
    “I tried to warn your father,” Ahmed said, staring hard at Sari. The flickering orange light from the torch made