The Tomb of Shadows. Peter Lerangis

see was a small area around me, lit by moonlight and an old, dim streetlamp. Torquin turned, quickly handing me the flashlight. “Pah. Massa. I distract. You continue. Find door. Code is FLUFFY AND FIERCE.”

      “But—” He stalked away before I could say another word.

      I stared at the mound of rotten food and nearly puked. But the voices were getting closer, and they did not sound happy.

      There was one spot that looked as if the garbage had been stirred around recently. I hoped it was the right spot, and not just some jungle animal’s favorite snack location. Holding my breath, I thrust my hand into the goop. It was clammy and cold. My fingers slipped. I felt a rodent scampering out from underneath, nearly running across my shoes.

       Keep going …

      My wrists were covered now. Liquid dribbled down my arm. Each movement brought a fresh whiff of horribleness.

      There.

      My knuckles knocked on something hard. Guided by my flashlight in one hand, I used the other hand to fling away big gobs until I could see a kind of hatch within:

      

      “JACK … WHAT ARE you doigg?” Aly cried out, racing toward me from the Jeep. “Torquid’s holdigg off sub Bassa. Do subthigg.”

      I gestured toward the filthy screen. “Torquin said the code was ‘fluffy and fierce.’”

      “We’ve seed those words before,” Aly said. “Whedd we first got to the isladd, I foud Torquid’s pass code id the codtrol buildigg—‘all thiggs fluffy and fierce.’ How does that help with this—‘Epic fail’? How cadd you fail before you evedd try? Add why ‘you rodett’? Add what’s with the LCD screed?”

      “I don’t know!” I said. “Maybe it’s some kind of code. You’re the code person!”

      The voices were getting louder. It sounded like Torquin was arguing.

      “If it’s a code,” Aly said, “you should be able to edter subthigg. With a keyboard or dubber pad.”

      Keyboard. Number pad.

      I stared at the message closely. “The letters are in squares,” I said. “It looks like a keyboard.”

      “But it’s dot,” Aly said, looking nervously over her shoulder. “It’s a bessage! Hagg odd. Let bee look at it …”

      Together we stared at the dumb, insulting thing. I wasn’t seeing the words now, just the letters. They were swirling around in my head, arranging and rearranging. There was something about them …

      I reached out and touched the F of Fail. The LCD screen changed.

      “What did you just do?” Aly said.

      “Fluffy and fierce …” I murmured, quickly spelling out the words—pressing the L of Fail, the U of You, the F of Fail twice, and so on … “I’m just tapping the letters, spelling out the words.”

      “It would’t be that sibple!” Aly insisted.

      The door beeped. I jumped back. “It’s a keyboard!”

      Aly swallowed hard. “Subtibes,” she said, “it’s a gift to be sibple …”

      I pushed hard on the door, but it didn’t budge.

      “You’re dot puttigg your weight idto it!” Aly said.

      “You try,” I said.

      Aly recoiled. “Doe way!”

      I pounded again. I could hear voices getting louder. Aly and I both turned to see Torquin arguing with three Massa. I shut off my flashlight, leaned back, then thrust my shoulder into the door.

      A thick cake of hardened, putrid glop fell away, revealing a door handle in the shape of a pull-down lever.

      Grabbing it in my slippery hand, I yanked it down. The door creaked open, outward. I thrust my flashlight into the space. It was wider and deeper than I expected—maybe four feet in all directions. I stuck my head inside to see the whole area. And there, resting against the left side, were two canvas bags, full and round and exactly the right size. They were cinched at the top with a rope. One was an olive color, the other brown. Both of them were ragged and full of holes. I guessed Bhegad had hidden these in a hurry.

      Quickly I opened the olive sack and saw the glowing, whitish shape of the Loculus of Flight. With a smile, I cinched the bag closed and opened the other. Although I could feel the Loculus of Invisibility, I couldn’t see it.

      “Yes! Got ’em.” Making sure both bags were tightly closed, I pulled them out. I braced myself to run and turned toward Aly. I came face-to-face with a superbright flashlight beam. “Aly, will you please lower that thing?”

      A deep, guttural voice answered. “As you wish.”

      I jumped back as the beam dropped downward, revealing a hooded man, his face concealed by a cowl. In the dim streetlamp light, I saw Aly a few feet beyond him. Torquin was with her now, too. Their faces were ashen, their hands in the air. Behind them stood three Massa.

      “What a stroke of luck to find you here,” said Brother Dimitrios, pulling back his cowl. “We missed you in Egypt. But how considerate of you to return and find these for us.”

      

      BROTHER DIMITRIOS HELD out his hand, palm up. Behind him stood his two favorite henchmen. Brother Yiorgos was dark and balding, with a round face and a constant creepy smile. Stavros had a mass of curly hair, a thick unibrow, and a scowl, his chin blackened by beard stubble.

      Both of them held guns pointed toward Aly and Torquin.

      “I do not like to use such brutish tactics,” Brother Dimitrios said, “but I believe we are having some temporary trust issues. You left us rather abruptly in Giza.”

      “You kidnapped us!” I said.

      Brother Dimitrios chuckled. “We freed you from the people who had taken you from your homes. That is the opposite of kidnapping, yes? More like rescuing, I’d say.” He was moving closer now, hand still outstretched. “We extended an offer to you. A lifeline. An opportunity to prevent your own deaths. And instead you fled to your abductors. Tell me, how’s that working for you now?”

      I took a step backward. “You destroyed Babylon. You brainwashed Marco. You’re turning him into some kind of monster. And you promised him he’d be a king! How were we supposed to trust you?”

      “Because we are the ones who tell the truth, Jack,” Brother Dimitrios said. “We are the good guys.”

      “You destroyed the Karai Institute!” I said.

      “They would have destroyed us if they’d gotten the chance,” Brother Dimitrios said. “It has always been part of their plan. But none of that matters now. The KI no longer exists. We are the only game in town. Which is as it should be. I trust we will eventually earn your loyalty, Jack. But for now, you need only give us