The Kacheek Club: The Tomb of Tragedies - Part Two

     Lucky for her, Xana had immediately jumped into smart-genius mode."No need to worry, guys," she said calmly as she began to dig through her Air Faerie Backpack with a determined look in her eyes. "We won't be trapped in here for long. It's a known fact that most pyramids have many tunnels in them, and that means that there's a good chance that there's some other way out of Ashiri's tomb other than the main entrance."

     Sarina blinked her eyes anxiously. "But what if we're stuck in this tomb for more than an hour? You heard what Layla said!"

     Xana shot a hard glare at the Cloud Kacheek. "Don't ever speak of that Poogle's name near me ever again," she muttered as she pulled out a heavy maroon book from her backpack. On the side of the book was a glittering blue scarab. Xana quickly flipped open the book and began to thumb through the pages hastily.

     Gwen couldn't help but roll her eyes. It was just like Xana to consult a book during any sticky situation. "How exactly is this going to help us, Xana?" Gwen asked, walking over to her friend to get a closer look at the book. There seemed to be endless pages with different shapes and symbols printed on them.

     "This is a Lost Desert rune dictionary," Xana explained in the same way Bridgette would have done with her favorite fashion magazine. "I can use this guide to help me interpret some of the symbols on the tomb's walls. Since I don't see any tunnel entrances, I figured that the runes on the walls might help us to find a secret door or something." She hoisted the giant book off the floor with a bit of difficulty, then pushed her green glasses securely on her nose before walking around the tomb, her nose barely an inch away from the walls.

     Sarina sighed impatiently. "We're wasting precious time!" she exclaimed. "The longer we're in here, the more we're going to be affected by the curse! I say we each grab a statue and bust our way outta here!" She grinned excitedly and picked up a nearby stone Mauket.

     "Not the best idea, Sarina." Gwen shook her head firmly and watched as Sarina slowly placed the statue down on the ground with a gloomy expression on her face.

     While Xana was busy with her rune-reading, Gwen and Sarina made another trip around the tomb out of boredom. Sarina spotted a dazzling golden crown with a serpent sticking out of it in the front. Smiling mischievously, she slid the crown onto the top of her head and positioned herself right underneath Princess Ashiri's portrait. Gwen burst out in giggles as Sarina imitated the princess's moody expression. After a while, Sarina joined in the laughter, too. The Kacheek laughed so hard that the crown slipped off her head and shattered on the floor of the tomb.

     Gwen and Sarina gasped in unison, then quickly plastered innocent looks on their faces as they awkwardly ambled away from the broken crown.

     "Any luck, Xana?" called out Gwen as she approached the Disco Kacheek.

     Xana shook her head in frustration. "Nope. So far all of the runes have been beauty tips from the princess! There are tips for how to get sand out of your fur, how to treat a bad sunburn... You'd think the princess was Bridgette's long-lost twin or something." She sighed hopelessly.

     "Xana! Gwen!" Sarina's voice sounded from across the room.

     "Not now, Sarina. I really have to get back to the runes." Xana furrowed her eyebrows and turned a page of her book.

     "This is important!" insisted Sarina.

     Gwen and Xana quickly made their way towards the direction of Sarina's voice. Their mouths fell open as Sarina gestured with a flourish at the tunnel entrance that stood behind her.

     "I-I don't understand," stammered Xana, closing her book with a snap. "How could I have not seen that before?"

     "You know that sarco-fungus thing I was stuck in earlier?" said Sarina, beaming proudly.

     "Sarcophagus," corrected Xana with an impatient eye roll.

     "Yeah, that! Well, I just removed it from the wall to get a better look at it, and suddenly I saw the tunnel hidden behind it." Sarina's eyes sparkled gleefully.

     Gwen put her paw over her mouth to muffle her giggles as Xana cleared her throat and began to roughly stuff the dictionary back into her bag.

     "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Gwen fearlessly led the way into the tunnel. She smiled to herself as she walked; it was good to be back in control.

     The Kacheek Club (minus Bridgette, of course) advanced through the tunnel for a few minutes before it suddenly opened into a circular stone chamber. Gwen could see the tunnel continue again on the other side of the chamber. She was just about to walk towards the tunnel when Xana stuck a paw out to block her.

     "Quicksand," muttered Xana, her eyes wide with fear. The bubbly sand was like a river that flowed right across the middle of the chamber.

     "We could... jump?" tried Gwen as she brainstormed some ideas. But she knew that jumping wasn't an option, since the quicksand river was too wide.

     "Uh, where's Sarina?" Xana turned towards the tunnel they had just came from, but Sarina was nowhere in sight.

     "Over here!" chirped Sarina. She was waving happily from the other side of the quicksand.

     "Sarina?!" Gwen and Xana shrieked in unison.

     "How did you get over there?" asked Gwen.

     Sarina pointed up, where a dozen or so vines were hanging from the ceiling.

     "It was pretty simple," she replied nonchalantly. "You just choose a vine and swing across! It was kinda like climbing the rope in gym class." She paused for a second. "Actually, Xana, you might have a little trouble."

     "You have to admit, Sarina deserves a lot more credit than we give her," mumbled Gwen under her breath, impressed.

     Xana gulped apprehensively as she watched Gwen easily swing across the quicksand river. Fastening the straps of her backpack, she grasped a vine with her sweaty paws and squeezed her eyes shut as she clumsily swung across the quicksand. Within seconds, she could feel her feet land on the opposite side.

     "Yay!" Sarina cheered as Xana took deep, calming breaths. She glanced around at the chamber walls. "Take that, Princess Ashiri!"

     "What are you talking about, Sarina?" Gwen shot Sarina a confused look.

     "Well, isn't it obvious? The curse! We've been in here for more than an hour, and this is the first 'tragedy' that's happened to us!" replied Sarina, jabbing her paw at the quicksand. "But we managed to get past it! So, ha!" She glanced around the chamber, as if expecting Princess Ashiri's ghost to appear from nowhere and scowl at them for getting past the quicksand.

     "If you ask me, I think it was just a booby trap," said Xana to no one in particular as the three Kacheeks made their way into the tunnel.

      *~*~*

     Bridgette the Faerie Kacheek tapped her foot impatiently before taking a small sip of her Refreshing Oasis Water. She was sitting alone outside of Lost Desert Foods, with nothing to accompany her except numerous shopping bags stuffed to the brim with her desert-themed purchases. Bridgette was quite pleased with herself about how her shopping adventure had turned out. Various jeweled bangles glittered at her wrists, while a silver serpent crown sat gleaming atop her head. She now wore a luxurious lavender silk robe over her Pretty Negg Dress.

     But no matter how fabulous she knew she looked, Bridgette couldn't help but feel anxious sitting there by herself. She sighed in discontent and pushed her slice of Pyramicake away from her. Why were her friends late? Had they decided to bail on her, just as she had bailed on them with the tour?

     "Maybe I should have gotten them gifts," murmured Bridgette thoughtfully, eyeing her shopping bags. She knew for sure that nothing she had bought today would fit her friends' tastes, and unfortunately she had already cleared out all of the Neopoints in her Precious Kadoatie Purse. Bridgette looked wildly around her, hoping for a last-minute shock of inspiration to occur. The only thing she spotted was a Techo walking around the tables handing out free samples of Peppered Kersla Bugs.

     "They won't like those," Bridgette mused. She paused for a second, then said, "Well, Sarina might." She was just on the verge of calling the Techo over to her table when she saw someone out of the corner of her eye.

     It was a Brown Poogle seated three tables away from her. Bridgette vaguely remembered seeing the Poogle there at the tour before she had left. If the Poogle was sitting there having lunch, then that meant that the tour must have ended already.

     Bridgette stood up briskly and hurried over to the Poogle. "Um, excuse me? Hi, I'm Bridgette." She smiled sweetly.

     The Poogle slurped down her forkful of Puntec Fruit Pasta before acknowledging Bridgette. "Can I help you with something?" the Poogle asked in an irritated tone, her eyebrows lifting skeptically.

     Bridgette resisted the urge to dump the bowl of pasta over the Poogle's haughty head. "I'm looking for an Island Kacheek, a Disco Kacheek, and a Cloud Kacheek," she said urgently. "They were part of the Tomb of Tragedies tour. Do you know where they went off to after the tour was over?"

     The Poogle sighed heavily, as if Bridgette had just requested some sort of huge favor from her. "Look, I don't know where your little friends ran off to, okay? I'm a tour guide, not a babysitter." She sneered at Bridgette, completely oblivious to the spot of pasta sauce on the side of her mouth. Bridgette made up her mind to do the Poogle a favor and not tell her that she had Puntec pasta sauce all over her face.

     "This is important!" insisted Bridgette, stomping her foot on the ground.

     The Poogle rolled her eyes and finally said, "Okay, if you must know... I actually don't even remember seeing those three Kacheeks come out of the tomb. It was as if they were still in there or something." She shrugged innocently.

     Bridgette's eyes widened with horror. "Didn't you check that everyone was out of there before you closed up the tomb?" she asked indignantly.

     "Uh, hello? Last time I checked, my nametag didn't say 'babysitter' on it," the Poogle retorted.

     Bridgette didn't care enough to look at the Poogle's nametag, for that too was covered in pasta sauce. She turned on her heel and stomped away angrily.

     "How am I supposed to get them out of that pyramid by myself?" she muttered under her breath, pacing back and forth in front of her shopping bags. She could feel hopelessness sinking into her brain when suddenly she heard a yell from behind her.

     "Stop that thief!"

     "Huh?" Bridgette swerved around and saw a Kyrii dressed in all black sprinting in her direction. In his paws was a sack filled to the brim with gleaming jewels. Right behind him were three Lost Desert royal guards, a Gelert and two Grarrls.

     Without even thinking, Bridgette deftly untied the string of her Faerie Bubble Bracelet and watched as the brightly colored beads scattered on the ground. She leaped to the side as the Kyrii, who was so preoccupied with looking behind his shoulder to make sure the guards weren't advancing on him, slipped on the beads and fell in a heap at Bridgette's feet.

     "A million thanks, young Kacheek!" the Gelert exclaimed gratefully as he pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and clasped them to the Kyrii's paws.

     "You're welcome." Bridgette beamed proudly. "It was nothing. After all, that bracelet was so last season." She waved dismissively at the beads on the ground.

     "Is there any way we can repay you?" asked one of the Grarrl guards.

     "No, it's fine-" began Bridgette, but suddenly an idea dawned in her mind. "Actually, there is one tiny thing you could do for me."

      *~*~*

     Gwen rubbed her weary eyes as she continued to trudge down the tunnel. She, Xana, and Sarina had been traveling through the same tunnel for nearly twenty minutes now.

     "I'm... so... thirsty," panted Sarina, sweat running down her face.

     "Agreed." Gwen leaned against a vine-covered wall to rest her sore feet.

     "I just wish I had some water or-" Xana stopped mid-sentence and gasped. She swung her Air Faerie Backpack off her back and began to burrow through its contents. A couple of seconds later her paw emerged with a Grape Juice Carton. "I can't believe I forgot that I had this in here," said Xana, smiling in relief. "Since I only have one juice carton, we're gonna have to share."

     "Oooh, let me put in the straw!" Sarina grabbed the carton of juice from Xana and removed the plastic covering from the straw. "I've been practicing at home, so I'm really good at it now."

     "Phew, good thing you thought to bring the juice, Xana," said Gwen, licking her lips. "I don't know what we would have done without-"

     "Stupid... straw..." Sarina clenched her teeth and practically stabbed the straw into the top of the carton. She frowned as grape juice began to shoot out of the carton like a fountain. "Uh-oh."

     "Sarina!" Gwen and Xana stared at Sarina bitterly as the Cloud Kacheek began to lick the juice off of her paws.

     "Bleh! Was this one of those reduced-sugar juices?" Sarina wrinkled her nose in disgust and spit the juice out of her mouth.

     Gwen glared at Sarina. "At least you got to drink some of it," she muttered under her breath.

     "C'mon, guys, let's keep on going." Xana sighed and began to walk reluctantly. "I'm sure we're almost to the end of this tunnel."

     The three Kacheeks continued on for another five minutes until the tunnel abruptly came to a dead end. Something wooden was blocking them from moving on any further.

     "Ugh, what's this?" Annoyed that her feet were aching and her throat was parched, Gwen angrily stomped forward and kicked the wooden object that was obstructing their path. Immediately it fell forward to reveal... the room that they had gotten trapped in to start with.

     Crushed with defeat, Gwen stepped over the artifact that she had just kicked down (which turned out to be a gigantic Anubis totem pole) and slowly walked into the room that she had left over an hour ago.

     "I don't believe this." Xana seemed dumbstruck. "We spent over an hour walking in those tunnels just to end up the same way we started off... trapped." She shook her head morosely. "I guess the tomb's tunnels simply loop around to lead people back to this room."

     Sarina seemed determined to stay on the bright side. "Don't worry, I'm sure someone will open up the tomb and free us," she said. "After all, Layla will have to open the tomb again when she has another tour group to guide."

     "Sarina, the next Tomb of Tragedies tour won't happen again until next year," pointed out Xana. "Each year Sakhmet only holds three of these tours, and today was the last one. The tomb won't be opened again for a while." She gulped nervously, her paws shaking.

     Suddenly, the stone that blocked the tomb's entrance began to slowly roll away. Gwen, Xana, and Sarina swapped shocked looks before scurrying to the front of the tomb.

     The rock was completely rolled away from the entrance. The silhouette of a Kacheek was illuminated against the bright sunset of the Lost Desert.

     "It's Princess Ashiri! We've been inside her tomb for too long and now she's come back to haunt us!" wailed Sarina, covering her face with her paws.

     Xana giggled. "Ashiri is an Aisha, not a Kacheek, remember?" She gestured to the princess's painting on the wall.

     "Bridgette! You saved us!" Gwen squealed in excitement before racing over to give the Faerie Kacheek a hug. Xana and Sarina joined her.

     "It wasn't too hard," explained Bridgette once her friends had let go of her. "After I had found out where you guys were, it was simply the matter of moving this big stone out of the way."

     "Yeah, right." Gwen looked at her in disbelief. "There's no way you could have moved this rock away by yourself."

     "Okay, fine... I had a little help." Bridgette grinned and waved her thanks to the Gelert and Grarrls standing by the stone. The Faerie Kacheek turned back around to take a look inside of the tomb. Her eyes widened in wonder while her mouth fell open in shock.

     "Nice view, isn't it?" Xana laughed as Bridgette's eyes focused in on an assortment of royal gold crowns in the corner. The Faerie Kacheek raced over to give them a closer look.

     "Guys, we really need to close up this tomb now," said the Gelert from the entrance. "The sun's going down, and it gets dark pretty quickly out here in the desert."

     Gwen, Xana, and Sarina had to practically drag Bridgette out of the tomb with the Kacheek resisting them all the while.

     "Wait! Let me just check out those bracelets really fast!"

The End