Previously in Voices of Ancient Egypt #2 Jessica has met Zoey and Zach. There’s something fishy going on. At the end, a dark figure emerges from the shadows. Who is this mysterious person? What’s going to happen next? Read Voices of Ancient Egypt #3...

Panic crawled up my throat. Okay, well, they can’t see me! It must just be something somewhere else in the world! I started tip-toeing around them.

“FREEZE!” Zach’s eyes glittered with hatred.

“You can- you can- you can hear me?” I asked my voice stuttering unwillingly.

“Uh, duh!” Zoey laughed. “You are stupid if you think that we ACTUALLY couldn’t hear you! We just created a simple plan involving-”

“Excuse you?” The figure that had just appeared revealed herself as the librarian- Miss K! I stared. “I created this and I get to finish this! Let me talk!”

“Hi… Uh… Mrs. K? Are you okay? When did you get here?” I asked, my voice quivering as I spoke.

“Oh, Jessica! Are you okay? Oh my gosh! Seriously?” Miss K mimicked.

“Uh... Well… What are you doing here?” I wanted to get them talking while I figured out my escape plan.

“Well, we are geniuses! I had my sister send out a book project. It was all easy after that because you walked right into our trap! You grabbed the PERFECT book and got sucked in just   we hoped! Then we…..” I tuned out the rest of her words. Sneak around the side of her? No, too dangerous! What about under her legs? She could SLICE me! What about through the side? I could try…..

“And then here we are!” She smiled and the smell of chocolate chip cookies wafted up through my nose. The good old times! I thought. STOP! You can’t get hypnotized right now! On 3, 2, 1!

My feet pushed hard on the ground and I flew gracefully through the air, landing a few feet away. Zach, Zoey, and Miss K. jumped up in stunned silence for a few moments.

“GET HER!” Miss K. roared. Zach and Zoey bolted after me. I didn’t know where to head, but I just ran aimlessly as fast as I could.

I peeked a quick look at them to see how far away they were from me. All of a sudden, silver hair flashed in front of my eyes. Chocolate chip cookies danced in my eyes and I could smell them like they were sitting on my nose.

“Stop!” Zoey commanded. My soul kept on going, but my body stayed put.

“Come here!” Miss K. smiled. My legs started acting like robots and I walked right over to Miss K. and I stopped right in front of her.

“Grab me a chair!” Miss K. snapped at Zach.

“What about me?” asked Zoey.

“Some rope would be nice. This won’t last forever!” She walked over to me and grabbed my arm. The warm air wisped my hair around my face and I smiled in her presence.

“Right this way, Jessica! We will have so much fun and you can be of so much help!” Miss K. walked me over to an old tree. “Stand right here!” I obeyed.

“I’m coming!” Zach ran around the side of the house carrying a wooden chair. Did I mention how wonderful those cookies smell? Zoey followed close behind with a big bundle of rope that was falling apart. Zach placed down the chair next to me and smiled.

“May I?” He asked.

“Fine.” Miss K. sighed.

“Jessica! Sit down right here!” My body did as he said, although my brain screamed at me to run. Zoey panted as she came to a stop beside me. I looked up at her glittering silver hair. So pretty! I thought.

Zoey was a fast worker. Within a minute she had tied my entire body to the chair except for a spot on my arm. Surprisingly, she didn’t cover it.

With a loud screech in my soul, my body stopped listening to their voices and I snapped back to reality.

“HELP!” I screamed. “SOMEBODY HELP!” The three of them just laughed, although Zoey’s sounded scared.

“It’s too late.” Miss K. smiled. “We are going to use your blood and rule the world. We will start World War III and you will die along with everyone else.”

Her evil laugh echoed around the yard. Zach smirked. Zoey’s eyes flashed a look of fear.

“Everyone else?” Zoey’s voice was quiet enough to be a whisper.

“NO, IDIOT! NOT YOU GUYS OR ANY OF MY SERVANTS! JUST PESKY LITTLE BRATS LIKE HER NEED TO DIE! ANYBODY WHO SURRENDERS TO ME WILL LIVE AS LONG AS THEY ARE UNDER MY RULE! AS LONG AS THEY WOULD DIE FOR ME, LIKE MY LOYAL SERVANTS!” Miss K. yelled.

Zoey’s face relaxed and she nodded. “We are the ones stealing everyone’s belongings, we have done everything we can to make people worry.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you will die along with everyone else and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Miss K smirked again. Boy, I hate it when people smirk!

“Well, what other evil plans do you have?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation moving to postpone my death.

“Nothing that YOU need to know about!” Zach glared at me. Zoey tugged at Zach’s hand.

“Ah, yes! Time to DIE!” Miss K. shrieked.

“Wait! We have to get the equipment first!” Zoey urged.

“Argh! That’s your duty! NOW GET IT, ZOEY! UNLESS YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN MISS JESSIE!”

“You mean, Jessica?”

“SHUT UP!” She roared and then turned to face Zoey again. “NOW GET IT FOR ME!” Zoey ran off to a shed that I hadn’t noticed yet.

“Can I help, Ma’am?” Zach asked.

“GO HELP ZOEY AND STOP BOTHERING ME!” Miss K.’s face was turning a dark shade of red.

“On it!” Zach ran off to Zoey, who was bringing out a huge green wagon filled with machines, syringes, long needles, and more. Together, they pulled the wagon over to where I was wrapped.

Miss K. was pacing back in forth, glaring at me. I squeezed as far back as possible, trying to escape her gaze.

“WHERE IS THE ROCKET, YOU IDIOT?” She screamed.

“Uh… Sorry, Ma’am! It’s uh…. Right over here!” Zoey scampered off and returned moments later, wheeling a big rocket on silver wheels.

“Right here, Ma’am!” Zoey showed a false smile.

“Shoot it! SHOOT IT!” Miss K. started pacing faster.

“On it!” Zach hurried to a bunch of levers.

“MWAHAHAHAHA! YES! YES! FINALLY! THE START OF WORLD WAR III. OUR FIRST OF MILLIONS TO TORTURE! NOW, ON THIS MAGICAL SCREEN RIGHT HE- ZACH!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET THE SCREEN OUT HERE IMMEDIATELY! OK, SO ON THIS MAGICAL SCREEN YOU WILL HAVE TO WATCH YOUR FAMILY DIE!” My heart stuck in my throat as Miss K. roared.

I overcame my fear after a couple seconds and returned her with a snide comment. “The first? That explains why you don’t know what you’re doing!” I mean, I was going to die anyway! (Although, my knight in shining armor will appear and save me, so probably not… But you know, You got to do what you got to do!)

“YOU STUPID LITTLE, BRAT! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE IN AGONY!!”

“Yeah, right!”

“RARARRAARARRARARRRAGGH!” She screamed. Her voice echoed through the desert, bouncing of all of the pyramids. Men stopped and looked while they were holding the blocks. The whole place grew eerily silent.

On the screen, a video of my house showed up. I wondered what they were doing with my house!

“Ready, Ma’am?” Zach asked, his hand on a lever.

“DUH! SHOOT THE STUPID THING AND KILL HER STUPID FAMILY!”

I didn’t have time to process what they were saying before I heard a big BOOM. Too late to think about that, the whole house exploded with fire. There was ash and smoke everywhere. I could see my parents running around the house in panic. I couldn’t watch them die.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” I screamed.

I watched. Everything looked like it was in slow motion. Why were they doing this? I couldn’t tolerate this. I just couldn’t. I tried nagging at the rope tied around me it was no use. I watched Miss K. laugh as the bomb exploded my house. I couldn’t believe it, I fell for this stupid plan they had.

Flames engulfed the only place I had ever loved. The only place I ever felt safe. My family was dying and screaming. It was all my fault! I should have been home! I should have protected them!

“MOM! DAD! GET OUT! PROTECT YOURSELF! PLEASE!” I screamed. I kicked like a toddler in the chair. Tears streaked my cheeks and my voice grew hoarse from screaming. The laughs coming from all three of those STUPID people made everything ten times worse.

Blackened bodies fell to the ground around my beloved home. Ashes covered the grass and floors.

    

“JESSICA!” My mother screamed. She searched through the rubble. “HONEY!” She tripped over a fallen brick and collapsed. Her head did not come back into sight. All movement stopped. Sirens blared and red and blue lights flashed around the room. Screams and shouts were heard as water burst into view, creating a pool. Water covered the floor and red hats popped into the building. Tears flooded down my face. Zoey smirked as she saw my tears

“Now that MIGHT be enough agony!” Miss K. smiled. “Now for the best part- Death!”

     

Zoey and Zach intertwines fingers and smiled at each other.

      

“GET THE STUPID MACHINE OVER HERE!” The two let go of eachother and ran over to get the machine. My body trembled with the horror of what I’d just seen. I’m dreaming I thought This is all just a nightmare! I’m going to wake up and everything will be back to normal! I turned away from the screen. The red machine was carried over to my side. A huge needle at least two feet long was positioned on the side of the machine. Connected to the needle was a long pipe that winded down into a clear compartment inside.

       

“Who’s going to do it?” Zoey asked, curiously.

      

“Me! DUH!” Miss K. stated. Zoey’s shoulders sagged and Zach looked at her disappointedly.

Miss K. started to unravel the big needle from the side of the machine. Think, Mind, THINK! I couldn’t think of a way to get out.

“MOMMY! DADDY! HELP ME!” I yelled as loud as I could, a fresh flood of tears tracing down my cheeks.

“Don’t worry, Honey!” Miss K. smiled “We are just going to suck all of your blood out as the starting signal of World War III!”

“HOW DOES THAT FIT UNDER THE CATEGORY OF ‘Don’t worry!’?” I asked, maddened by her attempts. I mean, her winning attempts.

“DON'T MOVE!” She commanded me. My body obeyed. I HATE MY BODY!

My brain was overwhelmed with everything that I had seen and all the surprises from the day. I longed to be back home with my- Oh My poor parents. I want to wake up from this horrible nightmare and have everything go back to normal. I wish that I never had moved to my house and that I had never left Minnesota behind. I wish that I had never met Mrs. K or the librarian. I wish that I had never followed Zoey and Zach. I wish that I had never checked out that book!

I watched, my skin tingling, as she picked up the needle and held it next to my arm.

“Say your last words, little one!” The needle pierced my skin and pain flared up through my arm. The flame roared into an inferno, covering my entire body in a millisecond. My vision blurred.

“HELP! MOM! SOMEBODY! DAD! Help….me…” I was barely able to squeeze the last words out of my mouth. All of my energy was draining as my blood drained. My body crippled and started to fall over.

“You… will…. not…… win!” I forced the last words out of my mouth just as I fell into complete darkness, the sound of laughter echoing around the desert.