Alpha

cars, moves along the line, checking seat belts.

Everyone is buckled up? Good. Keep your hands inside and do not get out until the ride ends!

She climbs into the back of Athena’s car, so she’s sitting behind her, and Athena has Joel to one side and Gail on the other. There is a sense of urgency that leaves Athena breathless and excited, and she knows that’s silly, that there is nothing real about this, that it’s all an illusion. Joel is laughing, looking all around, trying to see everything at once, and Gail is squeezing her arm, pointing and signing, smiling big and delighted. Then their sphinx-car shudders, lurches, and suddenly they’re diving into darkness.

A bright light bursts before them, and Agent Rose appears, floating in the air ahead and above. It’s the same Agent Rose from the movies, and even though the one they saw before looks the same, Athena knows it wasn’t this one, the real one, because this one has removed her mask. She’s a projection, but all the same, she’s very pretty, but a little scary, too, her hair flowing out behind her in a blood-red nimbus, her black trench coat flapping. She holds a big red gem in both hands, the Eye of Ke-Sa, that’s the source of the light, and she’s raising it high above her head as she speaks. On the windshield of their sphinx-car, closed captioning appears. It’s well placed, high enough for Athena to read it without having to ever look away.

Agent Rose: YOU FOOLS! I HOLD THE EYE! YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE! I HAVE THE POWER! I AM INVINCIBLE!

Then Agent Rose lowers the Eye and looks right at them and smiles this very sinister, kind of sexy smile. Gail’s grip on her forearm tightens.

Agent Rose: YOU WILL SERVE ME…FOR ALL ETERNITY!

Then, out of nowhere, Flashman is there, swinging down from high above on a rope. Like Agent Rose, it’s not the same Flashman, another projection, and like Agent Rose, it’s the movie Flashman, too, played by that actor that Lynne has all those pictures of, the one who keeps going to rehab. He has a revolver in his hand, and he’s pointing it at Agent Rose.

Flashman: ROSE! DON’T MAKE ME DO IT!

Agent Rose: YOU CAN’T STOP ME!

A beam of light shoots from the Eye of Ke-Sa, just as Flashman fires his gun.

(SOUND OF A GUNSHOT. AGENT ROSE SCREAMS.)

The light goes out, total darkness, and the car dips, turns, it feels like they’re spinning out of control. For a second, Athena actually thinks they’re going to flip over. More ghosts race past them, dressed in tatters and dripping decaying flesh; one of them actually seems to be inside their sphinx-car, and then the ride begins in earnest. They race along the track as pieces of pyramid fall all around them, as snakes hiss and spit, as animal-headed gods and goddesses pursue them through twists and turns. Athena can’t tell if she’s laughing or screaming now, out of breath, buffeted by the ride. At one point, the canvas canopy of their car is torn away by an unseen claw, and she sees above them a sky of blood-red, clouds boiling away into an infinite darkness.

The sphinx-car judders to a sudden, sharp stop.

Joel, Gail, Athena, they’re all thrown forward, so hard that those seat belts Dana made sure they fastened dig into hips and waists, keep them from smashing into the windshield. Around them, the darkness flickers. All of them are turning in their seats, catching their breath as they crane their necks, trying to see a hint of what will happen next. There’s dim light in the car, and Dana looks puzzled. From that, from the expression and the posture and the way her mouth has just tightened like that, just a little, Athena knows this isn’t right.

Something is wrong.

She looks the question at Dana.

Stay seated.

Athena shrugs, shrugs to Gail, to Joel. The closed captioning on the windshield returns, this time with an image of Gordo, Betsy, and Pooch.

PLEASE REMAIN SEATED. WE ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES.

Nothing else. Just that message.

Athena’s starting to get a little nervous when the lights come on, dispelling the illusion of the Pyramids of Ke-Sa. Now Athena can see other sphinx-cars all along the track, cars that had been hidden in the darkness. Mom is in the one right behind them, riding with Mr. Howe, Leon, Lynne, and Miguel. Everyone is looking around, curious and confused. Joel taps her shoulder and then points at a mass of snakes on the ground ahead of them. They’re inert, rubber-looking, surprisingly fake in the light.

Movement on her periphery, and Athena looks about quickly, this time at all the other cars. People are straightening up, their chins raised, and she knows there’s a voice talking to them that she can’t hear. Then the car shifts slightly, and Athena twists around, watches Dana climbing out. There’s a man dressed like a jungle explorer, with a radio in one hand and a flashlight in the other, coming their way. She can’t read what he’s saying, but then Dana is facing them, signing.

Everyone get out follow me.

What? Athena asks, the question in her expression more than in her sign. Something wrong?

Dana shakes her head.

The park is closed.

So the man in the jungle explorer outfit, he walks them through a doorway marked Exit that’s almost hidden off to one side, and then into a tunnel that doesn’t look like the interior of the Pyramids of Ke-Sa at all. Lots of people are here, filing out, and now they’re mostly walking with their heads down again. Athena sees Agent Rose and Flashman, standing together, and they’re pointing the way to go, no longer playing at being enemies.

It takes less than a minute before they’re out of the ride, eyes readjusting to the sunlight. Athena can feel it as much as see it; something’s changed in the park. There are more people about, but unlike before, they’re all moving in the same direction. Men and women in park uniforms, directing people, and there is a tension, too, totally different. Before, the park felt like fun. Now that’s gone, and people are looking confused, and they’re looking scared, and some of them are upset, not only the little kids. She sees someone dressed in a Gordo costume, standing on the bridge they crossed, and he’s directing traffic back toward them. The man in the jungle explorer costume is talking to Dana, and he points, the same direction that Gordo is pointing. Not toward the entrance but in what Athena thinks must be the opposite direction.

Mom is beside her, holding her phone to her ear. She puts her other hand on Athena’s back, resting her palm between her shoulder blades. Mr. Howe flaps his hand for their attention, then begins to sign, but she’s only watching him peripherally, instead trying to read what Mom is saying. She’s talking to Dad, and it’s over, and Mom is looking at her phone, and she says a word.

Bastard.

Mom sees Athena looking at her. Forces up a smile, indicates Mr. Howe, and both of them turn their attention back to him. He talks as he signs, so she can read his lips at the same time. His hands are saying, Do not worry. All good. The park is closing.

His lips are saying almost the same thing, but there’s a word there Athena can’t make out, and she signs to Mom, tries to spell what she saw, curious. What word this “v” word?

Mom gives her the sign for “evacuate.” Everyone must leave.

Dana has joined Mr. Howe up at the front, and now they’re leading the way. Both keep looking back, Mr. Howe to make sure they’re all still together. Dana seems to be searching for something or somebody, frowning, though when she sees Athena watching her, she tries a smile. It’s not a real smile. It’s the kind of smile you use when you’re worried, and Athena knows that she’s looking for her boyfriend.

Why evacuate? Mom why evacuate? Dad coming?

Mom shakes her head slightly, hand still on Athena’s back, the pressure a little more than just guiding her. They’ve fallen behind, are being passed on both sides. There’s another group ahead of them, a big one, and there’s a woman wearing a navy blue blazer. She looks in their direction, calls out something that Athena cannot read at this distance. Dana raises her arm, and the woman nods, then turns and hurries to catch up with the larger group.

Athena looks back, over her shoulder, and she sees nothing but an empty park. It’s unnerving, to see nothing