"Rocks over in that corner, leaves by the wall, and the beetles can have the right side of the place." Jonathan grumbled. He had made himself his own little village to pass the time. "Okay, spiders, no eating the poor beetles!" he snapped, flicking away one that was about to pierce its fangs in the creature. "We have to be civilized ladies!" he lectured, "Jessica, that means no bullying the ants!"

He sat in the middle of his fortress, holding a long stick. "Let's get things straight. I am your ruler, your awesome king! Obey my rules, get me food, and do whatever I want, or you'll be eaten." he declared to a bunch of insects. Jonathan must've walked past the sign that said to not touch the purple moss growing on the stone walls. Side affects may include: dry-mouth, constipation, bloating, suicidal or delusional thoughts, stupid actions, and possible bug addictions.

"Three days without food... Who needs food? I've got all my friends right here. Dragonflies, fire ants, spiders, and not the centipedes, they're big fat jerks!" he yelled into the darkness. "What am I talking about? Living in isolation with no women around me is driving me bonkers!" he shouted, destroying his new city of Jonathanburg. "Where did all you critters go?" he wondered, seeing no one in sight. A sudden draft blew over the room, making Jonathan shudder. Out into the eerie darkness, a pair of yellow eyes gleamed as they locked onto its prey.

The moon was shining high in the sky over the O'Connell's heads. "What time is it?" Evi groaned, trying to keep her eyes open.

"Two twenty five." he sighed.

"We can't even see where we're going!" Evi said.

"Tell that to the dog."

"Dog, I mean Max, can we please call it a night and I don't know, sleep?" she called. "Great, now I'm talking to an animal!" she laughed. Rick saw Adam starting to fall forward. He caught him right before he touched the ground, and heaved him over his shoulders. Adam was sound asleep before the sun was completely set. Max stopped at the top of a hill, and laid his head down between his paws. Rick put Adam down next to the fury animal and sat beside his wife. "Do you really think a dog is going to find Jonathan?" she asked, making herself a pillow out of her sweater. "We can only hope!" Rick sighed, "I'm probably going to regret ever saying that."

"There's something different about that dog, but I can't put my finger on it." Evi said, settling herself down in the grass. "it's not like he can talk or anything! It's like he was sent here to help." he said, turning over to Adam.

"Are you sure he should be sleeping with it?" she whispered so they couldn't hear. "Oh common Evi! It's just a dog, not an alien or a weird creature!"

"Are you sure about that?"

Adam tried listening to their conversations, but after a while, he couldn't even hear himself think. He didn't want them to take Max away from him. It seemed whenever he was with him, his nightmares would go away. He knew that his new friend would always be there to protect him from the dangers of the world.

The sun glared downward, already risen in the sky. Max was up before everyone else, so he went over to Evi and put his face up to hers. His breath shook her awake in an instant. "What's that horrible-" she yelled, jumping when she saw his doggy smile an inch from her face. "Get off!" she shouted, pushing his giant body off hers.

"He's just saying good morning!" Adam giggled.

"Well you can tell him that if he does that again, I'll chase him with a vacuum cleaner!" she snapped, "and he needs a mint."

She looked down at her watch to see the time. "It's already ten!" she gasped, shaking Rick awake. "What?" he mumbled, shielding his eyes.

"How could we sleep in so long?" she said.

"What's that?" Adam asked, pointing to the bag flapping in the wind.

"Wait, that's Jonathan's!" Evi cried, going over to pick it up. She opened it to reveal a half eaten sandwich and a rusty old quarter. "We must be on the right track!" Rick exclaimed, looking around.

"I'll say!" Adam said, looking at what Max was doing. He was standing right in front if the entrance to the underground rooms. "Ancient catacombs," Evi breathed, peering into the darkness. "Phew, that reeks!" she gasped, holding her nose.

"All the death lying around really brings out the exquisite fragrances!" Rick laughed, "So this underground place, does it have treasure, or not, because walking all the way here isn't really worth it if there isn't any."

Evi turned her head around and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. This place has money." she smiled, "why else would my brother be here?"

"Point taken." he laughed, "so when we get out of here, we'll have enough money to buy this whole country and China to go with it?"

"Don't get your hopes up. Nicolas had most his riches buried with his body!"

"His dead, most likely cursed, body."

"Like you would know," Adam smirked.

"And thus, opening his tomb won't only bring him back to life, but also release a horrible curse of biblical proportions." Rick sighed. "So are we going to go in or not?" Adam snapped, growing tired of the curse talk. "only if the dog stays on that side." Evi said. Max gave her a sad stare with his big eyes. "Not going to work," she sighed. He went up to her and brushed her side. "Fine fine I give!" she laughed, "don't think this makes us friends or anything."

"I think he likes you..." Rick whispered.

"You're going to have to try harder than that," Evi muttered, walking away.

"Wait- what?" he cried, catching up to everyone else.

When Jonathan opened his eyes, he was lying on a cold, stone floor. The room he was in was completely barren, none of his townsfolk in sight. He stood up, only to find there was no way of escape. The door was sealed with a giant padlock. "Get me out of here!" he wailed, shaking the wire gates violently. Jonathan squinted his eyes, and saw a light glow of a fire. He couldn't see anyone in sight. Then, Jonathan remembered his Christmas present from his old buddy Acalan. A 6 G IPhone from the twenty fifth century. His let his eyes august to the glow, then gave his family a quick text. A message popped up indicating that the connection was very poor. He kept on trying, again and again, until the red battery at the top right hand corner beeped loudly. "shh!" he snapped, banging his phone with his hand. After a few more seconds of warning signals, the screen turned to black with a sudden click. "Whew! Glad that's over!" he laughed.

"Quiet prisoner!" a sudden voice shouted from an unknown location. His face pressed up against the door, and he seemed to be enjoying himself with the torment. "Who are you?" Jonathan managed to say, once he got up the nerve to speak. "I think the real question is, who are you!" he snapped back.

"Hey I asked you first!" Jonathan said, backing away from the door.

"If you must know, my partners and I are going to be the first people to discover the Tsar Nicolas's treasure!" he laughed, "and let me guess, you're hoping to leave this place filthy rich!"

"Uh, no, coarse not! I'm just a local, wandering around..."

"Silence!" three more voices shouted. The keys jangled from one of their pockets, and slowly, the knob turned to the side. The room was filled with an eerie silence, one that made Jonathan reconsider running for king next year.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Adam whispered, scared to break the silence. "When the Europeans first came to Egypt, they could only rely on their gut instinct." she replied, feeling the walls for direction.

"That just a complicated way of saying you have no idea where you're going and we're all hopelessly lost." Rick laughed.

"Okay we're lost, happy now?" she snapped.

"We can't hardly see anything!" Adam said, holding onto his grandfather's hand. "We have no torches, no light, absolutely nothing!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Rick said, digging in his pockets. He pulled out his own IPhone, and checked his messages. "Who's it from?" Evi asked.

"Jonathan!" he laughed.

"Read it, read it!" Adam shouted, peering his head over the screen.

"It says, hep me, with twenty exclamation marks, my bugz r all alone without a boss making sure they don't get eaten, and don't touch purple moss." he said.

"Just as usual, I only understood half," Evi sighed. "So he's really in trouble," Rick grumbled. "That's score thirty three for the wife, and the husband is still... at... zero." she smiled. "Don't worry, you'll get there someday."

She pulled out her cell phone, and turned the brightness up to the full amount. "That's better!" she said, peering around a corner. Max ran ahead and sniffed around the area. He picked up a ratty bag with his mouth, and carried it over to Adam. "What ya got?" he asked, taking it from him.

"It's a map!" Evi gasped, grabbing it from his hands.

"Hey!" he cried, struggling to retrieve it back. She held it up above her head, and tried reading it. "Okay calm down!" Rick said, holding him steady.

"It's a map to the treasure," she said, pointing out all the individual rooms.

"Do you think it's Jonathan's?" Rick said.

"It can't be, see, this map has everything labeled properly!" Evi laughed.

"Who else is down here?" Rick wondered.

"I don't know, but whoever they are, Jonathan's with them!"

"Hold 'em tight boys." Bobby Hernandes instructed, showing him his jagged teeth. "Okay fellas, what are you going to do with me?" Jonathan asked, trying to breathe out of his nose to save himself from the deathly odor looming in the air. "If we let you go, you'll tell people about this place. We can't let that happen." Bobby snarled.

"Common, Bobby, Jack, big, strong, extravagant smelling boys, can't we just call it a night?" he tried to reason with the thieves. "not a chance pal!" Jack laughed. "throw him in the pitt!" Bobby yelled. The two other men picked him up, and dragged him to the giant room. A ragged old ladder stretched twenty feet above an endless drop of blackness. "You mean that pit, down there." Jonathan laughed hesitantly.

"Yes, that's the one!" Bobby smiled.

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Jack, where did you put my bag?" Bobby said, nudging his companion in the arm. "I didn't put it anywhere." he shrugged.

"We need that map!" he snapped.

"Wait- do you hear that?" Jack said, holding his breath.

"Voices." Bobby whispered. "We're not alone,"