Refreshed with food and drink, the group took a collective deep breath and resumed their mission. They men hacked vines and pulled branches aside. The women warned of spider webs and snakes.
Ani, in the lead stopped in his tracks and shouted, “Quick sand.”
“Aw crap,” Roland said explosively.
Lilly looked at him, “We can go around it.”
“Yea,” Roland said, “I don’t like mushy ground. I draw my strength from the earth. Soggy places drain my energy.” He picked up his machete and walked gingerly around the quicksand.
Ani gave a high pitched whistle. Lance raised his arm and everyone stopped for a moment. Lance signaled the group to come forward. They gathered around the two brothers and turned their eyes up expecting to see a pyramid towering through the trees. Not finding a magnificent structure before them, their eyes turned to Lance. He pointed down and they saw the peak of a small pyramid covered with green moss, barely visible in the marshy jungle.
“It’s small!” Lilly exclaimed.
Lance shook his head, “No, it isn’t small, its sunken into the mud. This is the top of it.”
“Let’s find a way in,” James said with a tremor of excitement in his voice.
The two Fae brothers, the Druid Priest, James and Roland, walked around the pyramid. They walked around it clockwise, counterclockwise and clockwise again. They stood in silence for long minutes at each side of the pyramid.
Within an hour they were unanimous in their opinion. James turned to the little group looking wilted as they mopped sweat off their faces and fanned themselves with leaves, “There is some leakage of energy on the North side. That is the only direction we are getting any reading on this thing,”
The digging was slow and difficult. The muddy earth continuously slid back towards the pyramid and the men found it difficult to keep their footing as they shoveled. Swarms of mosquitos gathered and hung in the air as the sun began to set. The group decided to give up for the day. They followed their path back to the old house. Lucky found a broom in the kitchen closet and went to work clearing a work space in the kitchen.
Lilly found the bathroom and decided to turn on the water faucet to the bathtub. Brown water gushed out of the faucet. Lilly let it run down the drain. Eventually, a slow trickle of clear warmish water flowed into the tub. Closing the drain, Lilly left the slowly running water and went to clean a room where the group could sleep.
Anticipating a relaxing bath and looking forward to being clean again, Lilly opened the door to the bathroom. “Oh, my stars, everyone come see this.” The bath water, nearing the top of the tub, glowed an eerie florescent green in the dark room.
Quietly, Aunt Pearl advised, “We’re going to have to skip our baths tonight.” Laughing and shaking their heads everyone headed out of the bathroom.
Roland turned to Lilly, “Are you going to pull the bath plug or are we going to use the glowing water for a night light?”
Lilly was disappointed. She turned to James, “Why is the water glowing?”
“I’m not sure, Lilly. I would bet the tub filled with river water. There are so many chemicals dumped in the Mississippi River as it flows to the Gulf of Mexico, the combination could easily become fluorescent and very toxic.”
“Maybe that is why the family left. The water became too toxic to bathe in much less drink,” Lucky said. Laughing nervously, the group gathered in the kitchen for sandwiches washed down with the water from their canteens. A gibbous moon was rising when everyone lay on top of their bedrolls and fell into exhausted sleep.
Chapter 51
Pyramids and Portals
The sun peaked over the horizon, as Jolene and James stood on the porch ready to finish the work they had come to do. Ani, Lance and Lucky came out looking refreshed from a good night’s sleep. Kumira arrived with her long braid pinned in a coil on the top of her head. Roland and Lilly joined them, their faces glowing with excitement.
As the men excavated, the women went to work clearing the top of the pyramid. When the vines, moss and tenacious foliage were pulled away, the crystal capstone of the pyramid reflected the morning sun.
Lilly stepped back, “It’s a crystal! The capstone is a crystal!”
Kumira stood beside her, “This pyramid has powerful potential. Now that the capstone has been revealed, the sunlight can activate whatever ancient magick lies within.”
Around noon Ani called Kumira to the North side of the pyramid. She came forward and inspected the portion they had cleared. With a quiet whoosh of air, Kumira was gone. The Atlantean priest stood in the mud leaning on his staff. His ancient eyes fixed on the pyramid.
The priest spoke indecipherable words in a commanding voice. He ran his hand around an invisible seam on the side of the pyramid. There was a clunk and the stone moved slightly. Lance turned to grab a tool. Using a metal bar, he forced the stone to open so everyone could slip inside the cool dry interior of the pyramid.
With flashlights on, they took a few tentative steps inside. Lilly looked around for the Atlantian priest, but saw Kumira, her eyes huge as she peered pass the entrance. Turning her focus back to the pyramid she shone her light on the smooth stone of the floor and walls.
The group moved toward an arched opening beyond the entrance and stopped. Lucky made eye contact with each of them, “Shall we go on?”
There was a moment of hesitation. Lilly stepped forward, “Of course we shall.” Stepping through the archway she entered total darkness. Their flashlights offered pinpoints of light in the cavernous room. The group scanned the walls, ceiling and floor. All eight flashlights landed on a ledge on the far side of the room. The group neared
