Chapter 25 – Deserted
Hidden from the rest of the city within the back alley, Kendra climbed up onto Raxtus' back. Likewise, Warren mounted himself upon Geminus' back.
"Hey, what about me?" asked Seth, who was still trapped in the body of a dragon.
"Well, you can fly now, can't you?" retorted Raxtus.
"Yeah, well that's not to say I'm very good at it. You real dragons are better at it."
"Technically, I was once a fairy," noted Geminus. "Of course, even then I had wings."
"This isn't the time for technicalities," said Raxtus. "Seth, you just keep near us. We won't be going too fast."
Raxtus and Geminus proceeded to flap their wings and had soon lifted their bodies off the ground. Seth copied their movements as best he could, but had trouble keeping a perfect balance once his feet were off the ground.
"Looks like somebody could use training wings," Raxtus said to Geminus, as the three dragons rose up behind the buildings that were in front of them.
The dragons continued flapping, and rose higher and higher into the air, leading them all further away from the ground.
"Okay, Kendra," said Warren. "It's time for the Oculus again."
"Right," said Kendra, pulling the artifact out from her bag and clenching it in her hands. Everyone else watched as Kendra closed her eyes and used the Oculus for a good moment.
"I see them," said Kendra, her eyes still closed. "The taxi they're in is going... that way!"
The dragons began to fly off in the direction that Kendra was pointing. Raxtus and Geminus took the lead, while Seth struggled to maintain last place.
"Not so fast," said Seth.
"You wanted to be a dragon?" asked Raxtus. "Learn to fly like one."
Although Seth struggled, he ultimately managed to keep up with the others. After flying around at a moderate speed for several minutes, the city limits of Cairo were soon directly beneath them.
"Hold it!" exclaimed Kendra. "The taxi seems to have pulled over."
"Are they getting out?" asked Warren.
"I don't know, the car just seems to have stopped. I think I'll take a closer look."
Kendra, who was looking down on the taxi from above via the Oculus allowed her view to shift to the inside of the vehicle. Although she was unable to hear any sound, Kendra could see that that Matthew and Hespera were both arguing with the cabbie.
"They seem to be yelling at the cabbie about something," noted Kendra. "But what?"
"Well, I think this is the edge of the city," said Warren. "And I bet that the taxi isn't allowed to leave the city."
"So what's arguing going to accomplish?" asked Seth.
"Oh no!" gasped Kendra. From what she could see, Hespera had snapped her fingers, causing the driver's door to swing open. She then snapped her fingers a second time, which resulted in the driver's seat belt unbuckling on its own. A third snap caused the cabbie to go flying out of the car and crash upon the far side of the road.
"Sounds like they're stealing the taxi," said Warren.
"Now what're they doing?" asked Kendra. She watched as Matthew and Hespera stepped out of the back seat and over to where the cabbie was lying on the road. Matthew then rubbed his hands together and shot a blast of magic at the cabbie, transforming him into a chimpanzee. The two then laughed and Matthew entered the front seat of the taxi, while Hespera got in the passenger seat, and they proceeded to drive off into the desert.
"Those two don't know when to quit!" yelled Seth.
"What about the cabbie?" asked Kendra.
"Leave him to us," said Bright, appearing in the air alongside Clover. The two fairies held hands together, then held their free hands forward. A rainbow then formed together from out of their palms, arcing down towards the ground.
Kendra followed the end of the rainbow through the Oculus, and watched as the colorful light hit the chimpanzee, restoring him to his human self, before if abruptly faded away.
"He should be okay," said Clover, as the dragons continued to fly off after the taxi. "Though I don't know what we can do about the taxi."
"We can't worry about that," said Warren. "Besides if you try using magic, their shield will repel it."
"Wait a minute," said Seth. "What about your weapons? Surely you can blast them with something now that there's nobody else around?"
"That won't work. We can't get near them because of the barrier, so I won't have a clear shot at them. And I don't want to risk getting their attention because of a badly aimed shot."
"I know," said Raxtus. "What if we fly ahead of the car, find a place where Warren can snipe it without getting caught and drop him off so he can take them by surprise as they pass?"
"It's worth a try," said Warren. "Full speed ahead, dragons!"
Raxtus and Geminus spurted ahead, only for Raxtus to make a sudden u-turn. He then grabbed Seth by his tail and proceeded to tow him backwards along across the sky.
"Uh, thanks," said Seth, feeling somewhat useless.
As the sun began to set in the distance, the dragons soared high across the desert, before eventually descending down towards to ground. Eventually, they discovered a small incline just to the side of the road, which they landed on top of. The top of the incline was roughly fifteen feet above the rest of the ground.
"So the plan is, I hide out on top of the incline, and snipe out Matthew and Hespera with my bazooka once I get a clear shot," said Warren. "The rest of you keep your distance."
Bright conjured up the bazooka in Warren's hands, then backed off.
"Okay," said Warren. "They should be coming around soon. Everyone, stand back and wish me luck."
Kendra, Seth and the others all backed away from the top of the incline, away from the road, until they were a good twenty feet away from Warren. While Kendra had access to the Oculus, the others wished that they could see everything from Warren's point of view.
Kendra used the Oculus to scope out where the taxi was. Sure enough, it was approaching the incline at a steady pace. Looking over at Warren, Kendra could see that he was peering through the cross-hair on the bazooka, getting ready to blast the taxi once it reached him.
Once the taxi was within Warren's range, Warren pulled the trigger on the bazooka. A rocket shot out of the bazooka's barrel, making a beeline towards the approaching vehicle. Before it could hit the car, the rocket suddenly combusted, as if it had hit an invisible wall.
"The rocket," said Kendra, watching as the taxi came to a halt. "Something caused it to fail."
Warren shot another rocket at the parked taxi, but it too blew up in midair, a good ten feet in front of the car.
Matthew and Hespera stepped out of the parked car and pointed towards the incline. Kendra could only hope that they had failed to notice Warren.
"I think they're on to us," said Kendra nervously. "They saw where the rocket came from."
Drawing her view away from the Occulus, Kendra could see that Warren was writhing his body backwards through the sand, away from the incline, trying to not get spotted by Matthew and Hespera.
"Guys," muttered Seth in fear, "what are we going to do?"
Bright and Clover appeared, and used their magic to seemingly teleport the group somewhere else.
"Where are we?" asked Kendra, shaking her head to and fro.
"A short distance from where we just were," replied Bright.
"We can see the incline from this spot," said Clover. "If they don't spot us there, maybe they'll just move on."
Kendra peered over towards the incline, and watched as Matthew and Hespera magically floated up to the top of it and looked around. After about a minute, they floated back down to the road and got back into the taxi, then continued down the road.
"Great," said Warren, sounding rather disappointed. "They must've seen the tracks we left in the sand. Now they know someone's after them. God, I never should've tried to shoot them."
"We didn't know that they were so prepared," said Kendra.
"The Society is always prepared," said Warren. "Even when you least suspect it."
"Well, if we can't attack them like this, what can we do?" asked Seth.
"We better continue to follow them," said Warren. "Maybe we can think of something else along the way."
Kendra and Warren mounted themselves back upon Raxtus and Geminus respectively, and the dragons took off, carrying Seth along with them by having Geminus hold his claw. The dragons flew off after the taxi, which continued down the road and further into the desert.
After close to half an hour, the taxi suddenly made a sharp turn off of the road, and began plowing across the sand at a high speed.
"Where do they think they're going?" asked Seth.
"Somewhere without a driveway," replied Warren. "And knowing them, they're probably going to be the first visitors in a long time."
The taxi continued across the desert, until a pyramid suddenly came into view.
"Is that a pyramid?" asked Raxtus, as the triangular structure slowly drew nearer.
"Yeah," replied Kendra in awe. "I've never actually seen one in person until now."
"What pyramid?" asked Seth. "I don't see anything!"
"You don't see it?" asked Geminus.
"I think I'd notice something like a pyramid among the rest of this boring desert," said Seth.
"I don't see it either," said Warren.
"It must be a distractor spell," said Kendra.
After flying a bit further, Seth could suddenly see the pyramid that they were nearing. How could he have missed it?
"Now I see it!" said Seth, who had now noticed the pyramid. Strangely, there appeared to be a massive black gemstone protruding from the topmost point.
"We must be past the barrier," said Warren. "I can see it too."
"I thought the pyramids were cultural landmarks," said Kendra. "If there's a distractor spell around this one, wouldn't somebody realize that nobody can find it?"
"Perhaps nobody ever did find it," said Warren, as the dragons soared down towards the ground, just as the taxi came to a halt not too far from the pyramid. "I've never heard of a pyramid with a huge gem stuck on top of it."
Once the dragons landed on the ground, they made sure to stop behind a sand dune, just to ensure they wouldn't be in plain sight from Matthew and Hespera.
Peering over the sand dune, Kendra and Seth looked up at the pyramid. From the ground, the pyramid looked to be massive, It was as wide as her old school, while the topmost point, where the base of the gemstone was situated, was about as high as a twenty-story building.
Everyone then gazed over towards Matthew and Hespera, who had gotten out of the taxi and were now approaching the pyramid on foot.
"What pyramid is this?" asked Kendra.
"I don't know," said Warren, doing some research on a tablet device. "This pyramid isn't accounted for on any map. The gemstone on top only makes it stranger."
"What's the deal with that gemstone?" asked Kendra, as she pulled a pair of binoculars out from her bag and looked up at the gemstone. The black jewel, which was oblong-shaped and the width of a house, had to be several stories high, and was held into place on the pyramid by a golden frame attached to its bottom.
"What are they up to?" asked Seth, pointing to Matthew and Hespera. Everyone watched as the two dark magicians allowed themselves to float into air, and rise up towards the top of the pyramid. Once they reached the base of the gemstone's frame, they landed upon the highest row of blocks.
"What's the deal with that big black gem?" asked Seth.
"I think it's an onyx," said Warren. "But I've never seen any stone that huge before in my life."
Matthew and Hespera attempted to blast the onyx's frame using some sort of magical force, but failed to make so much as a dent in it.
"What do they want with that thing?" asked Geminus.
"I hope Matthew isn't trying to give that thing to Hespera as an engagement gift," said Warren jokingly.
"If a man ever gave me a rock like that, I'd don't think I'd want to marry him," said Clover. "Not that I've ever had a boyfriend. Not enough male fairies, of course."
Kendra glanced over at Clover, and saw that she blushed upon looking at Warren.
"What was that?" asked Seth.
"Not now!" exclaimed Bright. "Hespera's floating back down the pyramid, but Matthew's still at the top!"
Everyone watched as Matthew suddenly grew larger. As his size increased, he wrapped his hand around the onyx, as he gripped the side of the pyramid with the soles of his enlarged shoes. Matthew was now as big as he had been previously at Fablehaven.
Grabbing the onyx with both hands, Matthew pulled as hard as he could, but failed to loosen it even slightly from the pyramid. He then snapped his fingers and transformed himself into an equally large black gorilla, and continued to try and pry off the onyx.
"What does he think this is?" asked Seth. "The Empire State Building?"
"It's no good!" boomed Matthew from atop the pyramid. He then snapped his fingers again, and transformed into a humongous crab. As a crab, Matthew clamped his pincers around the onyx's golden base, and pressed against it fiercely.
As clamping the frame resulted in nothing, Matthew transformed back into a gorilla. However, he still retained the crab pincers in place of what would've been gorilla hands. His head then transformed into that of a lion's, and he proceeded to gnash on the frame with his jaws.
"This is getting weird," said Kendra. "But, what'll happen if he sees us?"
"He may be a gorilla monster," said Seth. "But he doesn't seem that tough. What's he gonna do to us all the way up there? Throw a barrel at us? He can't even break that frame!"
"Ten to one says that there's magic protecting the onyx," said Warren.
"I give up!" roared Matthew, who had removed his lion mouth from chewing on the frame. "Nothing I do seems to work!"
Matthew then transformed from a gorilla/crab/lion hybrid back into his normal human body and floated down to where Hespera was waiting.
"I guess they can't get what they came for," said Seth. "Now what?"
"They don't seem intent on leaving," said Warren. "They're still gazing upon the pyramid."
"So what's the deal with this pyramid and that onyx?" asked Kendra.
"Wish I knew," said Warren
Everyone then watched as Matthew and Hespera walked over to the large door at the base of the pyramid. They proceeded to blast it with magic, and the door instantly crumbled into rubble.
"Looks like the builders of this pyramid blew their budget on protecting the onyx, rather than guarding the door," said Seth, as Matthew and Hespera proceeded to enter the pyramid.
"Getting in was easy," said Warren. "Too easy."
"But what's the deal with the onyx?" asked Kendra. "They must want it for something. But what?"
"Wish I knew," said Warren. "It wouldn't surprise me if they went into the pyramid so that they could try to loosen the onyx from the inside."
"Guys!" said Raxtus, appearing before the others! I found something!"
"Raxtus, where have you been?" asked Geminus.
"I was flying around invisibly, seeing if I could find anything. This way! You have to see it!"
"As long as those two are inside, I guess we can look," said Warren.
The dragons flew the group around the the other side of the pyramid, where Raxtus directed everyone to a pit in the ground. The pit was octagonal, with smooth walls running down the sides. Looking down into the pit, the walls folded into the floor, a good forty-or-so feet from the top.
Kendra took a good look down into the pit, then looked up at the onyx atop the pyramid. "You don't think?"
"That the onyx would fit into this hole?" asked Raxtus.
"It looks like it could," said Warren, examining the hole more closely. He then leapt into the air and flew up the pyramid to the onyx. After flying around the onyx, Warren flew back down to the pit.
"Well, I didn't bring my tape measure, but from what I can tell, that onyx seems to be a perfect fit for this pit."
"So, suppose someone were to successfully dislodge the onyx from the pyramid and place it in this hole," said Kendra. "What would it do?"
"Beats me," replied Warren. "But if Matthew and Hespera are after it, it probably isn't good for us."
"I don't get it," said Seth. "If you don't want people placing that onyx in the hole, then why put it right next to the pyramid?"
"That's just the thing," said Warren. "The builders of this pyramid must've done this on purpose, so that anybody powerful enough to set the onyx in the hole would have the choice to do so."
"Matthew and Hespera want to release Navarog and take advantage of his true potential," said Kendra. "What's that got to do with placing a huge gemstone into a hole?"
"Yeah," said Seth. "What's that going to accomplish?"
"That..." said Warren, "is not something that I want to find out."