Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell: Loving treasure-hunting couple.
Niko Lowell and Omaria Al-Bashir: A linguistics and Egyptologist couple.
Abheek and Abhik: A sibling pair of former Overlord spies.
The Chief and Necklace Man: The leaders of an ancient tribe.
Extended Summary
Cassie and Derek are in for a unique adventure this time. Their supervisor, Henry Decker, claims to have found evidence of a pair of lost cities that went unrecorded by history. Seeing this as an opportunity to get his company noticed, Cassie and Derek are split up and sent to different parts of the world to find these lost cities. During their adventure, they are confronted by a tribe descended from the lost city who wish to find the lost cities and a group of former Overlord spies. Even when in different parts of the world, no human obstacle can stop the unstoppable duo of Cassie and Derek.
But maybe a titan can.
"At all times and in every country, the priests gird up their loins and try their best to preserve the ancient customs and usages, while on the other side stand in opposition kings like Janaka, backed by Kshatriya prowess as well as spiritual power. We have dealt at length already on this bitter antagonism between the two parties,"
Quotes about King Janaka
Seventh Century B.C.
Chapter 1: Old and New
June 2041
Maui, Hawaii
Archaeology Institution
Cassie Drake, a girl with everything someone like her could ever ask for, could not get her hands on a simple object. All she wanted was just one slice of pizza, cheese pizza, and here she was, reaching over, and just as she was about to grab the last one, her co-worker, Marcus Cote, snatched the last piece.
"Seriously?" Cassie huffed. "Marcus, I hate anchovies and cheese pizza is the only good type left on this planet."
Marcus had already taken a bite of the pizza. "Sorry, Cass, but if you snooze, you lose."
"Whatever." I don't need pizza; I have soda. She took a sip of soda and spat it out. I think that is mostly Chlorox and drainage fluids.
Cassie got up and moved away from her table and decided to go back to her cubicle. Due to the recent success of discovering several new pyramids in the region of British Columbia, Cassie's supervisor, Henry Decker, decided to show his appreciation by buying a lot of good pizza for his employees. He told them to enjoy themselves because they had a big assignment, one that would top their BC job.
Deciding that she would rather have pepperoni than nothing, she went back to the conference room, took three slices of pizza, and went back to her cubicle. Cassie sat down in her leather chair and took a few bites of pizza before looking over the framed photo of Evan in the corner of her desk. She decided to eat only one pizza and save the last two for her son.
Marcus Cote approached her, the last half-eaten cheese pizza on a plate in his hands. "Cassie, did you get any details on this new job coming up?"
Cassie looked at him. "Hey, pizza thief. No, Decker said nothing revealing too much about the job. But I'm pretty sure it's going to be a big job."
"Why don't you take a break this time around?" Marcus suggested. "Last month, you helped us find Xibalba so why don't you take a break this time around? I mean, you've earned it."
Cassie shook her head. "Nah, no thanks, man. I'll take a day in the field over a day in the office any time of the week now."
"Are you sure?"
"Why don't you take a day off? You've earned it."
Marcus smiled at her, which seemed unnatural. "Nah, I hate sitting on my ass all day." And it's because of a bitch like you that I'm sitting on my ass all day. You being out there in the field, stealing my glory, forcing me to be a background character, you selfish bitch.
"Hey, be grateful, Marcus; you never know the last time you'll be able to sit on your ass."
"I'll keep that in mind." He turns around. "See you." Next Tuesday.
As Marcus walked away, he bumped into Derek. "Sorry."
"Hey, as long as you don't bump into my car, then I'm forgetful and forgive-full about you bumping into me." Derek looks at Cassie. "Hey, Cass."
"D-Man." Cassie spun around in her rotating leather chair. "I got some dinner for tonight."
"Not feeling like cooking?"
"Nope."
"Good, because neither do I."
"Well, this is win-win because no one has to play each other to do the dishes."
"Yeah. Losing against me would've been embarrassing... for you."
"I am a master of third-person shooter video games."
"Life is a first-person so you should be mastering first-person shooter video games."
"But it is no ice to see things from all kinds of different perspectives."
Marcus rolled his eyes and left.
After a few minutes, Henry Decker finally called everyone to the conference room with Cassie and Derek sitting next to each other at the end of the table.
Henry Decker, the supervisor who usually had a serious look on his face, now had a giant grin plastered on his recently Boxtox-treated face. "Guys, now that everyone is fat on pizza I paid out of pocket, it's time to get down to business." He looked at his watch. "It's five minutes to five o'clock so I'll keep this brief so you all can go home on time." He slapped his hands together. "A contact of mine contacted me - hence the term, 'contact' - recently and he delivered me some excellent news." His smile widened. "Apparently, there's evidence to suggest that there are a pair of lost cities."
Cassie looked up. Oh, two lost cities, how invigorating.
"That's right, you heard me correctly, evidence that two lost cities are interconnected to each other." He pulled out his phone to read over notes. "She texted me details on my phone which I will only show you when you need to know but when I went over these notes and pieces of evidence, it struck me: there shouldn't be lost cities existing. At least not in these regions." He put his phone down. "All you need to know about these lost cities is that, one: they are believed to be located in Alaska and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and they are unnamed."
The co-worker named Gil raised his hand. "Uh, sir, if there are-"
"Please note that if you ask questions, you risk staying longer past five."
Gil hesitated then put his hand down.
"I know what you guys are mostly thinking: two lost cities without a name? That doesn't make a lick of sense but let me explain it to you. Yes, while archaeologists like us typically try to look for evidence of existing civilizations, and maybe mythical legendary lost cities like Xibalba last month, discovering the unknown is something else we specialize in. And these two lost cities being interconnected makes the find that much bigger. If we manage to find evidence of two lost cities that went unrecorded by the history books, then think how it can boost our reputation. And the best part of it, is we get an opportunity to name not one but two lost cities. We will be naming two lost cities that will be recorded on the internet as legendary lost cities that were found... by us."
Cassie tilted her head. Huh, looking for a lost city that has no name, certainly is a step up.
"A fine this big will give us a lot of recognition and more potential job openings. In the long run, we could be a very successful team of archaeologists. That means more revenue for all of us. Do you understand this? Finding proof of these lost two cities is a big help for all of us. I hope you guys are as hyped up as I am because we're going to have to divide our resources."
"What?" Marcus asked.
"Yes, because the two lost cities are allegedly located in the DRC and Alaska, then we're going to need at least two teams." He looks at Cassie. "Cassie, Derek, as much as I would love to pair the both of you up on this adventure, I'm splitting you guys up on this adventure."
"What?" Cassie gasps.
"You both are capable of finding a lost city on your own so splitting you up will benefit all of us. Derek, I'm assigning you and Gil to Alaska and as for Cassie, you're going to the DRC." He held his hand up. "If you have any questions, please write them down for me to answer tomorrow." He looks at his watch. "This operation begins at the end of the week. By then, I will have texted all the necessary information for all of you to gather and decipher. Plane tickets have been bought and most of all, my contact has everything set up. We leave for Egypt where we will meet our contact."
As everyone left the conference room to go home, Cassie and Derek picked up their son from the daycare center.
As Cassie strapped Evan in the car seat, she looked up at her husband who took the driver's wheel.
"It's been a while since we went on an adventure together." Cassie hops into the passenger seat. Derek starts the car up.
"I'll say."
Cassie buckles her seatbelt. "The last time we went on an adventure together was our Noah's Ark adventure."
"Yeah, it's been so long. Like three years too long."
"Yeah, being a parent sure kicks a lot out of ya." She looks at Evan in the rearview mirror. "But don't worry my little prince, you are still adorable and we don't regret having you."
Evan ignored them and ate Flamin' Hot Cheetos from a bag in his lap.
"I love you, Evan."
"I love you too, Mommy," Evan babbled.
Cassie reached back and ran her hand through his thin, silky hair.
"And we're still not going on one together," Derek pointed out. "If this job is legit, then that means we'll be on opposite ends of the world."
"True. But, as Decker said, if we do this and we succeed, then that's more zeroes on our paychecks. More money to invest in Evan's college fund."
"Yeah." Derek rubbed his lips. "We gotta call our parents, and ask them to babysit Evan when the time comes."
"My parents can do it. They love babysitting Evan."
"So do mine." He looks at her. "Should we decide on a coin flip?"
"Nah. Whoever is available on whatever day this operation takes place, we'll call them."
"Good idea." Derek looks behind him. "Guess what, Evan, you'll spend more time with your grandparents."
Evan ate another hot Cheeto, not showing any reaction. "Okay, okay."
Derek smiles before putting the car in reverse.
"Let's go home," Cassie told him.
Chapter 2: Niko and Omaria
Cairo, Egypt
Reaching blindly for the bag of popcorn near the side, Niko Lowell took a handful and took very careful bites. Once he was halfway done with all the popcorn in his hand, he held his hand out to his companion. Omaria Al-Bashir took out three pieces of popcorn and consumed them. The two of them got comfortable on the couch in Omaria's flat as the volume on the TV was turned up. The movie they were watching was The Mummy from 1999. When the movie went on an ad break, Niko and Omaria took this opportunity to talk to each other.
"I love seeing movies like this," Omaria admitted, "I love seeing movies that explore other mythologies aside from Greek and Roman mythology."
"Good for you." Niko mutes the TV. "If anything, what I like about this movie is that I can decipher any ancient words shown on the TV and decide if it is translated correctly or not."
"Must be good being able to read any language in the world."
Niko smiled. "Yes, it is such a luxury, and the best part, is I don't have to use Google Translate."
"Goodie for you." Omaria took another handful of popcorn. "You know the best thing about learning about ancient Egyptian symbols? I didn't charge you anything when I taught you."
"That's a good thing... because I'm short on cash anyway."
"Well, hopefully after this whole operation with the two lost cities goes smoothly, we'll get paid generously for our find. A nice little finder's fee."
Niko said something in Arabic. (Maybe we'll get paid in gold coins.)
Omaria looked at him and responded in Arabic. (We'll see about it.) "We'll see about it," she switched to English.
Niko looked around and saw that no one was in the flat. "You know, it is just the two of us... so... why don't we break out the candlewax?"
Omaria smiled, her face heating up. "Nah, we'll have plenty of time after our job is done."
"Good, because as a man, I can't be pent up for too long."
"Maybe traveling to the cold will help you out a bit."
"That's what I'm hoping for." He sighs. "I'm used to the snow back in Boston."
"But what about snow in the Arctic Circle?"
"I should be asking you that question, Mars, are you able to endure the cold? I mean, you live in Egypt, a country that mostly has warm climates. So..."
"You're right," she raised her hand. "I give up, uncle, the cold is no place for little old me." She folds her arms over her chest. "If we are told to help with this archeology team, I'll head to the DR Congo while you go to Alaska."
"Yeah. I'll be sure to bring you back snowball."
"Aw, I've always wanted a snowball that melted in my hands my entire life. And I'll be sure to bring you back sand. Sand, sand, and more sand. Enough sand where you can build your own sand castle in your bedroom."
"And once I build this sand castle, you can live in it... as my queen."
"Aww... but I've always wanted to be a pharaoh, not a queen. I would love to be Cleopatra and you can be my Antony."
Niko grinned and thought back to their adventure five years ago where they joined Cassie and Derek on a globe-trotting adventure to find the Tomb of Cleopatra and Antony in Saudi Arabia. "And we can get married and when we die, we can become mummies. The sexiest mummies you'll ever know."
"I would like that. But... if I'm going to have my organs removed, I would rather have my heart in your hands and vice versa."
"Aww, so romantic." He sighs with fake sadness. "But sadly, while we live and rule this sandcastle, I fear we may not be able to use fire for our roleplay, less you want to turn our sandcastle into a glass castle."
"Still good enough. And... as long as it's candlewax and not fire then I should be a-OK. And I'll be sure not to serve champagne... only lemonade."
"Lemonade... my favorite." He smacks his lips and eyes Omaria hungrily. "Speaking of which, I could use a refill of lemonade." He sits up and takes his cup. The commercials were still airing so he had time. As he poured himself some freshly made lemonade, he looked over a few documents on the kitchen table. Some photos showed people wearing animal skin and wielding spears in a desert and barren snowland environment.
As Niko looked over the photos, he poured some sugar into his lemonade. "You want to hear something, Mars?"
"You're thinking of conforming to Judaism?"
Niko laughed. "No, these natives that offered to help us." He licked his lips. "Usually in my experience... or my cousin's experience, usually the natives will do whatever it takes to protect the lost city from outsiders. But these natives are going out of their way to help us." He narrows his eyes. "You think something fishy is going on?"
Omaria stretches her legs, the leather on the couch cracking. "I don't know but I'll keep my guard up either way."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing too. I mean, modern-day guns should be able to stop them but it still baffles me about these natives.
"You never know; real life is very different from fiction. Maybe their intentions are pure."
Niko closed his eyes. Never let your guard down around people who know just a little bit more about a lost city or who are actively seeking your help. Cousins and friends are an exception.
"Should we call Derek about this?"
Omaria shook her head. "Nah, why spoil the surprise? After all, this Henry Decker guy is flying out to Egypt with the crew, Cassie and Derek included, and we get to surprise them. It'll be nice to see the old gang again."
"And what will they say when they see us together in the same room, watching movies that came out like forty, fifty years ago? Something like, 'Oh, we were just feeling nostalgic and decided to save time and money and watch movies here?'"
Omaria smacked her lips. "I may have let it slip that you and I were an item to Cassie about a year ago. But it's nothing to worry about."
Niko looked back at her. Noticing that her cup was empty, he went to retrieve it and poured some soda in for her. Once both of their cups were filled, he returned to the couch. "I will admit that I am a bit hesitant to tell Derek that we're dating because I like the two of us just fooling around."
Omaria shrugged. "Hey, if we get married, then we can't beat around a bush with your parents."
"Eh, true, I guess."
"And... if we get married, that would make Cassie, Derek, and Evan my cousin as well. We'll be one big happy family."
"Would we have kids?"
Omaria shrugged. "I've never really been sure about kids. What about you?"
Niko rubbed his lips. "Well, Derek does say that Evan can be a bit of a handful but he doesn't regret having him. Even so, I heard kids can be monstrous."
"Hey, we'll worry about kids when we get there. Right now, this is just casual. Casual dating."
"Yeah. Just casual."
The commercials were over and the pair went back to watching The Mummy.
Chapter 3: Innocent and Guilty
The next morning, when all was good, a group of men approached the airport where Cassie, Derek, and their archaeology team disembarked off a plane. The five scientists approached the group of eight men and the man in front looked delighted to see them.
"Hello," the man in the front said, "so, you must be our client's friends. It is such an honor to meet you. My name is Abheek."
Henry Decker gazed a the man. "Who are you?"
"We are ex-Overlord spies who were discharged several years ago and gained jobs by providing paramilitary armed services to high-bidding clients." He smiles. "That's a fancy way of saying we're mercenaries."
Cassie's eyes widened. "Wait, did you say that you're Overlord?"
Abheek turns to her. "Yes, we are ex-Overlord soldiers."
Cassie winces. "What were you discharged for?"
"Medical purposes." He points to a hearing aid.
"Does the term Code: Black mean anything to you?"
He shook his head. "Nah, doesn't ring a bell."
Cassie narrows her eyes at him. "Where's your serial number?"
Abheek rolls the sleeve on his right arm up. 616161 - EX.
I saw something similar like that on Casey Blake's forearm before she died some years ago. So he's telling the truth... I hope. "So you're an ex-terrorist?"
"I am embarrassed for what I have gotten myself into. I thought I was fighting the good cause, to bring fairness back to this unfair world but I was so horribly wrong. I was scared if I told them I wanted to leave, then they would kill me. So I rendered myself deaf in one ear and have myself a boxer's fracture in both hands." Abheek looks at Cassie. "Do you have experience with Overlord?"
"They do," Marcus blurted out. "Plenty."
"Oh..." Abheek licked his lips. "Then I apologize tremendously on their behalf. What did they want with you? Were you a bystander or something?"
Cassie looks confused at Derek. She turns back to him. "When were you discharged from the group exactly? What year?"
"2035."
Derek and I didn't meet Overlord until 2036,... one year AFTER his alleged discharge.
"Were you arrested for your terrorist activity?"
"Time served. I got a reduced sentence for giving the police information on stopping a terrorist cell."
"What are you from?"
"Me and my brother, Abhik, are from Nepal. We served in the Gorkhali Army together."
"What's your poor background? Overlord usually recruits people from unfair or broken backgrounds so what's your baggage."
"My younger brother and I were from a corrupt community. Overlord offered us a chance to break the corruption by taking over the community and installing a new kind of government."
"And what went wrong? Why did you decide to turn your back on Overlord?"
Abheek narrows his eyes at her. "Why are you asking so many questions? I'm a mercenary, I-"
"Yeah, you shoot first, ask questions later. I understand but as a treasure hunter, I'm free of that code. So... I'm going to keep asking questions until I get fatigued. Why did you leave Overlord?"
"Overlord killed innocent people. I didn't like it."
Huh, that's strange; despite the propaganda against Overlord, I have never seen them kill innocent people before. Maybe my memory is a little foggy but I can't recall the last time Overlord killed an innocent bystander. The one that DID try and kill innocent bystanders, i.e., Angie, Derek's ex-flame, was Casey Blake and even then, she was a disgruntled employee discharged from Overlord. In fact, whenever there have been soldiers harming innocent people, then they would have been discharged or Code: Blacked. Ie, Casey Blake, Jared Jablonski, and Graydon Del Ross. All those people, who harmed innocent people, were kicked out, and because of them, Cde: Blacks were put in place.
Maybe Overlord was killing people but I'm a little doubtful to believe if they were actually innocent or not.
Then again, they DID target me in Egypt.
"Okay, so they were killing innocent people; I'm sorry to hear that."
"Not your fault." He clicked his tongue. "So tell me, old wise one asking so many nonsensical questions; what is your affiliation with Overlord?"
"We're bystanders," she answered. "Innocent bystanders."
"Then like I said before, I am truly sorry for what Overlord might have destroyed of yours."
"Thank you. But, you don't need to apologize. I am curious about your spy life. As someone who grew up watching Spy Kids, I'm curious what an actual spy is like."
"It's definitely not James Bond, I'll tell you that."
"Great, after giving such specific answers from before, you finally give a vague answer."
"Yeah, that's how I roll, civvies."
Cassie cocks her head. "Who is your employer?"
"My client? Oh, I'm not allowed to disclose her name but I'm sure you'll meet her soon enough."
"Her, huh?"
"Yep."
As the scientists and mercenaries walked away, Cassie and Derek stayed behind and looked at each other.
"I don't trust these ex-Overlord spies," she admitted to Derek.
"Yeah, I don't trust them either. And our client put them in her employment? Who the hell is this contact of Decker?"
"I don't know."
"And all of this just to find lost cities to name? This seems a little excessive."
"You're speaking my language, D-Man, and I can speak 33 languages."
"Not fluently."
"Yeah, not fluently."
"I'm glad we found a common tongue, though, so we should all be good." Derek reached for his pocket, almost instinctive-like. "We should've brought guns with us."
"Well, Abheek is our gun."
"But we should have guns for our guns. If this is a simple expedition, then why do we need mercenaries?" He looks down. "Remember the last time we had mercenaries with us?"
"I haven't forgotten about Tyler and Alec," Cassie told.
"My mother misses them dearly."
"Hey, these Overlord guys might be legit about being desserters. After all, the 'EX' on his serial number is the same as I saw on Casey Blake."
"The disgruntled Overlord soldier?"
"Yeah. Apparently, EX is written next to a serial number to indicate their status as an ex-Overlrd soldier."
"We can't trust them," Derek reminded her, "have you forgotten? They hate us, utterly despise us. For all we know, they're feigning innocence."
"But what would they stand to gain by revealing they are Overlord soldiers? Wouldn't it be better if they kept their Overlord life a secret?" She rubbed her lower lip. "But... I'm going to stay on Abheek's bad side... namely the side he's allegedly half-deaf on."
"Good; the one time I don't mind you getting on someone's bad side." He clenches his fists. "But let's not forget what's at stake; our son. If we slip up, let our guard down around Abheek, then we risk Evan's safety."
"Right." Cassie looked at Abheek, who had his back turned. "I won't let my guard down around him, no matter what. It'll be snowing in Jamaica by the time I trust Abhik." She narrows her eyes. "But there is something I'm curious about; if these Overlord bastards are real and they're after something, what do they stand to gain?" She wipes her forehead. "After all, the two lost cities we're going after aren't recorded in any history books so what do they stand to gain?"
"Maybe they know something we don't."
"Now it makes me wonder what's going on with these two lost cities we're about to find."
"Is Decker in on it?" she wondered aloud. "Graydon was an ex-Overlord bastard who was leading us to Lemuria to kill us. Decker, on the other hand, is fairly recent and I can't help but notice that I've never seen what Decker's social life is. Gil and Marcus, I know about them but..."
"I don't know what to think." Derek smacked his head. "I can't think right now."
"Let's keep a low profile."
They were escorted to several cars run by Abheek and the younger brother known as Abhik and Cassie and Derek insisted on staying in the same car so they couldn't be separated. Abheek was going to drive before he hesitated and had another mercenary drive.
When Cassie asked, Abheek replied, "I was in a car accident recently and I do not feel compelled to drive very much."
Cassie laughed. "Hey, I know all about being in car accidents; my insurance companies say that I'm a high risk."
"And that is why I never get in a car with Cassie driving," Derek said. "That trip to Cambodia -"
"It's always about Cambodia, D-Man."
"You almost launched me out of the jeep!"
"I can only apologize so many times."
Does Abheek know something we don't? Cassie wondered. Why is he so hesitant to get in a car? Is there a bomb? No, if there was then there he wouldn't get inside. Unless this was some kind of kamikaze attempt but then again, the only time I see Overlord soldiers commit suicide is when they're being interrogated or when death is their only option.
If you're trying to get me to lower my guard, Abheek, it won't work. I'm watching you... like a hawk.
Chapter 4: Expected and Unexpected
"What the hell?" Cassie gasps upon coming up to a familiar place. She smiled suddenly when a familiar resident came walking out of the front door.
"As I live in breath," Omaria Al-Bashir smiled, "my bestie in the whole wide world."
Cassie laughed. "The one and only, honey." Cassie marched towards her and caught the girl in a bear hug. "Oh my god, how have you been, Omaria? Still getting sunburns?"
"Eh, it's an obligation when you live in a desert country like Egypt. But if you were smart, you wouldn't forget to reapply the sunblock."
"Yes." Cassie looked over at Decker. "Is this the contact you were talking about?"
Decker nods. "I was unaware you two knew each other."
"I wanted it to be a surprise," Omaria claimed. "After all, it's not often she comes to Egypt to visit."
"Hazards of a long-distance relationship. Plus, I have a job and a mortgage and a child to take care of."
"And high car insurance bills," Derek blurted.
"Yes, thank you so very much for reminding me, D-Man."
Derek nods. "My pleasure, Cassie-Blanca."
"So, Omaria, what other surprises do you have in store for me and my husband and my merry band of treasure hunters?"
Omaria smirks mischievously. Niko Lowell came walking out the front door with a nervous smile.
"Hello, cousin."
Derek flinches. "Niko?"
"How's my favorite cousin doing?"
"Uhh..."
"I mean Evan."
Derek smiles. "Oh, I was going to say because my son should be your favorite cousin." He laughs a little. "He's doing fine and dandy. He's been knocking me out with his constant crying."
"Thank you for the honesty."
Cassie looked at Omaria and smiled mischievously. "You two have been hanging out?" Omaria responds by flashing a shit-eating grin at her. "Been playing with candlewax?" Omaria blinks slowly and sensually. "Not to be a pervert but where?"
Omaria rolls her sleeves up her arm and points to her elbow. "Touch."
Cassie ran her hands over a warm piece of flesh on her friend's elbow. "Nice."
"What are you two doing here?" Derek finally asked.
"Cousins visiting cousins," Omaria answered first. "Come inside and we'll hang out with my cousins visiting."
Cassie, Derek, and Niko arrived at Omaria's house. The three found the view from Omaria's house to be beautiful. "Welcome back to my homeland, Cairo is most certainly a paradise," Omaria said happily.
Cassie smiled. "It sure is, Omaria. I have not been to Egypt in a long time."
"Neither has Moses since he led the Israelites across the Red Sea," Omaria replied snarkily.
"I know; I've read the bible before." Cassie sat down and a woman poured Cassie a cup of coffee. Derek and Niko were playing with Omaria's nieces and nephews. She had two nieces and two nephews. "I gotta say Omaira, the years have treated you kindly." Cassie waited for Omaria to sit down in the chair opposite of her before speaking. "When did the Overlord spies get caught?"
"You mean Abheek and Abhik? Oh, they weren't caught or anything; I hired them."
"When?"
"Two days ago."
Cassie sighs heavily. "You hired ex-Overlrd spies? Why? Have you forgotten about Kamille? And that shit back in Sudan last year?"
"No," Omaria's voice booms, "I have not forgotten, not a single bit. I have not forgotten how they brainwashed my cousin into becoming a terrorist. Kamille was mentally ill and unstable and those terrorists made it seem like they had a cure for her. I don't like Overlord but these hired guns are not malicious Overlord soldiers. I did very thorough background searches on them. They are all clean and legit. Their prison sentence is true and their cooperation to get a reduced sentence, is all true."
"There are some Overlord soldiers who have inside access to certain prisons around the world."
"Remember your Cold Iron adventure? By the time you were climbing pyramids in Bosnia, they were already discharged and had their prison sentence underway. I think you can rest somewhat easily. Even so, aren't you curious about this orb I found?"
Cassie tilts her head. "This orb? Of course, treasure hunters like us always need a MacGuffin. So, where is this orb? In a museum and if so, where is the museum?"
"Not everything is in a museum, Dr. Drake."
Cassie's eyes widened. "What did you call me? 'Dr. Drake'?! Do I look like a doctor to you? I am not a doctor, I am an archaeologist, not a doctor. I may have earned my doctorate and that means I can use the title, 'Doctor', but that does not make me a doctor."
Omaria narrowed her eyes. "For such a treasure hunter, I thought you would love to be called Dr. Drake."
"No, only Indiana Jones can be called Dr. Jones."
"Sorry."
Cassie shrugs. "No problem." She sips from her mug. "So, this orb thingy, what about it."
Omaria reached over for her backpack that was stashed under her chair and pulled something out. The object in question was a circular orb that was spherical in shape but was split down the middle, yin-yang style. What that meant was that one side had a glowing firey yellow light while the other side had a glowing icy blue light. The orb seemed to barely fit in Omaria's hand and when Cassie held her hands out to grab it, she spotted several symbols on either side of the orb, looking like it had been carved in by a rock.
Man, humans had such a way of decorating ancient artifacts.
Cassie grabbed the orb and stroked it like a kitten. "Is this how the cavemen played baseball?"
"Dodgeball," Omaria laughed, "very much so."
Cassie realized that the symbols spelled out some kind of sentence but the sentence was cut off at the halfway point when the colors collided. "Is this how you came to the conclusion that these are two halves of an orb that had been separated?"
"Exactly."
"Where did you find this?"
"The DR of Congo. A team of mine was doing some excavation work on Egyptian symbols found on pyramids in the DR of Congo and we stumbled upon this object. Niko over here managed to decipher the symbols on this orb and discovered two different locations the orb was pointing to. When we made this trip, it led us to people wearing animal skin who told us about these lost cities they have been seeking to find for the last century or two. When we confronted these people, they said that they would help us find these two lost cities their ancestors spoke about. A kingdom of ice in the Arctic Circle and a kingdom of fire at the Equator."
Cassie furrowed her brows. "Ex-Overlord spies and ancient people that are descendants of these lost cities are cooperating with us instead of trying to kill us to defend the lost cities?" She shook her head. "Aside from everybody, I don't trust everybody. Only my friends. And family."
"We can trust Abhik and Abheek," Omaria claimed. "The descendants, I'm not sure about them." Omaria's eyes drifted to the side and she suddenly burst out laughing.
Several women were dressing up Derek and Niko in wedding groom garb. Cassie and Omaira burst out laughing.
"I know, we look sexy," Derek said with a chuckle.
"No, it's not that, I can't believe you're going through with this," Cassie laughed hysterically.
"What?" Derek asked.
"You and your cousin Niko are getting married," Cassie burst out laughing again.
Derek and Niko looked very confused. The woman told them they were just gonna dress them up.
Omaria got up from her chair and approached the two boys. "In Egypt, this is a wedding ceremony, and Niko is the bride and Derek is the groom," She answered.
Derek and Niko gave an embarrassed look. They told the woman that they were gonna get married and walked off, the woman laughing at their prank.
"We got pranked," Niko monotoned.
Derek rolled his eyes. "Really, no shit, bruh."
Cassie and Omaria laughed once more.
"I've always wanted a sister-wife," Cassie chuckled. "Nah, not really."
Chapter 5: Left and Right
The Democratic Republic of the Congo
After everything had been decided, Cassie, Omaria, Marcus, and Abheek would travel to the DRC where they would look for the Fire Kingdom while taking the fire half of the orb while Derek, Niko, Gil, and Abhik would head to the Arctic Circle.
Since they already knew where to go, when they climbed in a jeep and drove off, Omaria was driving with Abheek riding shotgun. Cassie and Marcus sat in the back.
"So," Omaria began, "Marcus, I'm curious to know a little more about you. What got you into a treasure-hunting career?"
Marcus looked ahead. "Oh, you know, just a casual interest. It looks fun so I figured that I should get into it. I mean, Indiana Jones and Lara Croft made it look fun." And they're remembered for it.
"It's not an easy thing," Omaria claimed, "and I study ancient Egyptian."
"Well, nothing in life is easy. And I'm sure you already heard this but how can we trust these native guys?"
"I've built a relationship with them. It took two months but I managed to build a relationship with them."
"And for the ones in the Arctic Circle?"
"Is Alaska in the Arctic Circle?" Abheek wondered aloud.
Cassie chimed in. "As someone who failed geography, I can say with one hundred percent certainty, that the very top of Alaska in the Arctic Circle."
Abheek nods. "Good to know."
"Utqiagvik," Omaria answered. "That's where the Ice Kingdom is."
"It's not often we get to look for a lost city or ancient artifact in our own country."
"What about the Fountain of Youth?" Marcus asked. "The last time I checked, it's in Florida."
"Nope, we haven't found the Fountain of Youth yet."
"Man," Marcus smiled. "Can you imagine? To drink from the fountain and be young forever? I would be the first in line to drink from that spring."
"You wouldn't like immortality," Cassie claimed. "As someone who tamed with an object that can give you immortality, trust me, it is not worth it. You outlive your family as they die around you. Friends, family, everyone."
"That sounds good to me." Marcus smiles. "My parents ignore me; I wouldn't miss them."
Cassie narrowed her eyes. Oh shit, that's something I never thought of. What if Evan grows up thinking we don't love him? Or that we ignore him? What if he thinks all these trips are our way of getting away from him? She rubs her forehead and sighs heavily. I don't want to think about it. No, I won't.
"I would rather my parents have ignored me and my brother than use us," Abheek said.
Omaria looked at Abheek. "I don't get this opportunity to talk much to a former Overlord guy but how does your recruitment go about?"
"Oh, recruiters are the ones who do the recruiters," he answered without hesitation. "As a foot soldier or grunt, my job is to do things I am ordered to do. Any information from the top is purely and strictly need-to-know."
"Who is the leader of Overlord?"
"I don't know but I suspect that there are multiple leaders."
"Even multiple people have to be governed. When was Overlord officially founded?"
"October 25th, 2024. We celebrated Overlord's birthday, at least back in the time when I served there."
"How many soldiers have suicide pills in their mouths?" Cassie asked. "Whenever I encounter an Overlord soldier, at least one of them commits suicide by popping some suicide pill in their mouth."
"Suicide pills only go to soldiers who are fully committed to the cause. After all, asking random people to commit suicide for you would be extremely impractical and unrealistic. So if you saw someone commit suicide in Overlord's name, they were fully committed to their cause."
"Have you ever tangled with treasures from the past? Like, I don't know... uh... Easter Island, the Peaches of Immortality, Atlantis, or Ultima Thule?"
"Nope; I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about, except for Atlantis. My job was to spy on rivals and keep an eye on them."
"Were you a sideline soldier?"
Abheek looked at Cassie. "How do you know so much about Overlord?"
"Experience. A lot of experience with Overlord."
Abheek chuckles. "I can see that you are untrusting."
"You have a response for almost everything."
"Because I've been asked these questions countless times that I can recite them in my sleep. I would be annoyed by it but it's nothing compared to the way my government grilled me."
"Good to know. How many Overlord soldiers are there?"
"When I was sworn in, I was told the total population was 484,020,504." He smiled at Cassie's confused expression. "But then I found out that the number was smaller and that big number given was something of a psychological tactic or some form of propaganda within the organization. I don't know exactly how many members there are but I do know that they have at least one thousand active agents in every country on this planet, even in Antarctica. They may have lied about their initial population but they weren't lying when they said Overlord was indeed active everywhere. In every country and continent. There's also an equal number of inactive agents too."
Marcus held his hands up and counted by moving his fingers back and forth in a rapid motion. "So, assuming that there are at least 195 countries and one thousand active and inactive agents in each country, then that means there are at least 390,000 Overlord soldiers."
"600,000?" Cassie asked. "Is it possible there's over 600,000? Or over 700,000 because when I was here in Sudan, I met an inactive Overlord agent with a serial number starting with 7."
Abheek shook his head. "No, the first digit in the serial number does not correspond to their number placement; it's used to keep track of who would be a front-line soldier. If you have a serial number starting with 5 or 6, then you were a front-line soldier. 7 and 8 are used for inactive or reserved soldiers."
Cassie licked her lips. "Were you let in on details on how you would conquer the world?"
"Nope, just bare minimum information."
"And... if Overlord was founded in 2024 and it's currently 2041, then that means they've been active for almost 17 years; how did they rise to power so fast?"
"That is a story for another time because I was never told how they rose to power."
"It's almost like they just appeared out of nowhere," Omaria said.
Cassie narrows her eyes. "I have one more question. I thought -"
XXXX
Utqiagvik, Alaska
"- you weren't supposed to kill Omega targets," Derek smiled.
Abhik looked at him. "What the hell is an Omega target?"
Derek's jaws drop. "Okay then. Sorry, I was thinking of Dungeons and Dragons; my bad."
"I thought that was from The Nameless City," Niko cast out.
"Nope, an Omega target is definitely Dungeons and Dragons."
Gil smirked. "As someone who regularly cosplays as a dragon, I can assure you that-"
Derek interrupted and announced, "And as someone who actually encountered a dragon -"
"I hate Dungeons and Dragons shit," Abhik interrupted firmly. "I hate Medieval fantasy shit."
"Whatever you say. I mean, what's Medieval fantasy compared to the real thing."
Abhik scoffed. "Whatever, shit." He looks to Gil the driver. "How long until we get to our destination."
"Five more minutes," Gil answered, "keep your panties in a bunch."
"I don't wear panties, shit."
"Don't worry," Derek reassured, "where we're going, panties are the last thing you want to wear."
As they arrived at their destination, the four of them disembarked from the jeep and met up with several mercenaries who all gathered around Abhik.
"Shit, I could've sworn that there were more of us," Abhik said after examining the number of mercenaries.
One of them spoke up. "Sorry, we had three more with us but we're pretty sure their balls froze off."
"Shit, I hope they weren't planning on having kids."
Derek, Niko, and Gil were parked in the middle of a frozen wasteland, wearing the best kind of comfort clothing for this weather. They shivered and looked up when they saw a group of men coming in wearing bear skin as clothing.
The man at the very front had a necklace of teeth from a saber-toothed cat around his neck. When the mercenaries saw the incoming bear-skinned people, they readied their weapons before Niko held his hand up.
"We meet again," the man with the necklace spoke. "Niko, I believe your name is."
"Yep; when was the last time you saw a Niko in Alaska?"
"True." He looked around. "Now, where is your girlfriend?"
"She's in the DRC with the Chief."
The Necklace Man smiled. "Excellent. And who are these lovely gentlemen?"
"This ugly bastard is my cousin."
Derek laughed. "It should be noted that this ugly bastard got laid more times than Niko over here did."
"And this is Gil, my cousin's associate who cosplays as a fire-breathing blizzard in his spare time."
"Despicable. If only you knew the kind of animals we deal with" The Necklace Man sighs. "And as for the trigger-happy ugly people in the back."
"Oh, these are soldiers for hire. Or, a fancy way of saying it would be mercenaries."
Chapter 6: Hot and Cold
DRC
When Cassie met The Chief, she was a bit put off by the animal skin he wore which covered up his private parts but left his abs and muscular arms exposed. When Cassie shook hands with him, the Chief smiled at her before kissing her on the back of her hand. He licked his lips.
"When Omaria spoke of her friend, she understated how beautiful she would be," the Chief smiled. "I hope you do not mind the compliment."
"No," Cassie batted her lashes, "I appreciate it."
Why aren't you kissing my hand? Marcus mentally fumed. I'm ten times more attractive than this bitch!
Cassie looked back to the other animal-clothed people and nodded to them. "Is there a name I can call your people?"
"You may call us the Descendants of the Ancestors."
Cassie smirked. "How very creative of a name. So, DOA for initials?"
"And if my English is correct, DOA means 'Dead on Arrival'."
"It does but I'm curious how an ancient culture such as yourself came to learn English."
"Oh, we had some of our warriors travel out in the world and keep us updated on the most popular language on Earth. Took me ten years to read English... and then another twelve years to speak it. And eight more years to converse with it. So what you're hearing from me is twenty years of practiced English."
"Thirty," Marcus corrected. "Thirty years."
"What is your native language?" Cassie questioned.
"Hrrah gnaah gukluu makah."
Cassie narrows her eyes. "I have no idea what language that is."
"Neither could the short one with light brown hair could."
Huh, not even Niko could identify their language. Cassie smiles. "Well, let's keep this in English to make all of our lives easier." She looked ahead. "Now, onto important matters."
The DOA led Cassie, Omaria, Marcus, and the mercenaries to a bonfire where the DOA served them food that had been cooked thoroughly, so thoroughly that a professional chef would be green with envy. When Omaria presented the fire orb, the Chief got to work.
"Wow," the Chief smiled. "Still as beautiful as the 99th time I've stared at it."
"Yeah, things usually get prettier after you stare at it for the umpteenth time or so. Where did you find this orb?"
The Chief took the orb and looked over it. "We found it in a temple, a temple belonging to our ancestors. We have been living in this region for the last few centuries or so and we are still discovering stuff about our past. This temple spoke to us in a language only our family knew. Tales of a city run by our ancestors that was ruled by fire, and abandoned because the city would turn our ancestors into titans made of either ice or fire."
"Wait, this lost city could turn people into ice titans or fire titans?" Cassie laughs. "That's hilarious."
"No, only those with our blood. Apparently, there is an element in the air of these lost cities that reacts violently with our genetics. Apparently, we were born with unnatural genetics in our DNA, anomalies that can only be triggered by the unnamed element that infests these lost cities. Do we believe this tale... we do not. After all, it makes no sense."
"But why do you want to find this lost city?"
"Because it is part of our culture." The Chief looks down. "This lost city is part of our history and the DOA is a firm believer in tradition. Have you ever believed in the values of your family tradition?"
Cassie and Omaria look at each other with mischievous grins. "Yes," they said in unison.
The Chief nods. "We have been unable to decipher to message on this orb but we will take you to the temple where we found it and maybe we can shed some light on this creation."
"Of course."
XXXX
Alaska
The temple the Necklace Man led the Lowells and other guests to was one buried in deep snow. Derek shivered slightly but he ignored the cold feeling as he took in the environment around him. The temple looked to be the size of a parking lot with ice crystals forming on the ceiling. The only things that stood out were the frozen ancient symbols on the wall and a miniature city on the ground made of clay frozen over the years.
"I really could go for a dragon costume right about now," Gil said, "after all, fire=breathing lizards are warm."
"And greedy," Niko argued. "Give them so much as a blanket and they'll never let it go."
"Duly noted."
The Necklace Man went by Derek's side. "This orb which your cousin sought out is right here." He handed Derek the orb. "I am curious as to what you're going to do with the device."
Derek looked down at the orb. "Well, in my experience, I do what is known as 'reading' and then the answer will come to me, either through education or the answer is pulled out of my ass."
The Necklace Man shook his head. "I do not understand that metaphor; how can you pull an answer out of your ass? I mean, if you pull an answer out of your ass, wouldn't the answer have to be in your ass already? And if that was the case, wouldn't you have to put the answer there first? This means you have to find out the answer, then shove it up your ass, then pull it out of your ass. But if you have the answer, why bother shoving it up your ass?" He sighs. "This is why I hated learning English."
Derek laughs. "Not my fault we decided for the English language to be complicated."
Niko held his hand up. "Trust me, Necklace Man, learning Spanish was ten times easier than learning English... and I'm from Boston."
"Tell me something, Niko, if you can understand every language in the world, how come you have not heard of my language?"
"Uhh... probably because the language of the DOA went unrecorded for the last two thousand years or so."
"Really?"
While Niko and the Necklace man chatted the snow away, Derek got down on his knees and looked around the room. Usually with an orb like this, well, half an orb, it usually meant that it had to be connected but so far, the entire room was covered in snow. There were symbols on half the orb but with the other half missing, he couldn't figure out the meaning of the symbols. Then, aside from the symbols on the wall, which appeared to be incoherent, there were long staggered lines of various patterns spread all over the wall from the right side to the left side.
Derek chuckled and took out his journal. He quickly sketched half the orb in very deep detail in his notebook along with the symbols. He also sketched the room out and put major emphasis on the lines sprawled on the wall. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed something.
You know when you have a photo you edit on your electronic and there's an option to stretch something out so it almost looks unrecognizable? That's what Derek noticed with these lines on the walls. There was a vertical line with two diagonal lines cutting through it on the orb and the same markings appeared on the wall, only longer and the lines were slightly fatter. Then he looked at another symbol on the orb, an oval, and an elongated oval was shaped on the wall with very thin cracks. A third symbol he spotted was a zig-zag line and surprise, surprise, a crack on the wall was in a zig-zag fashion.
Hold up; all these symbols on the wall are the same symbols on the orb but there's a big difference: the orb is spherical and missing its other half while the room is shaped like a cube and all the symbols are mixed up and only barely resembling the symbols on the orb.
He looked over his notes once more.
Yes, this orb is basically a miniature, half-sphere version of this room, which means that the key to finding this Ice Kingdom is on the other half of the orb.
Derek smiles. "I think a lightbulb went off in my brain."
Necklace Man and Niko faced him. "Tell us," they both eagerly said.
Derek explained his theory. "This room is on the orb but as to why, I have no idea why."
"We did not see that," Necklace Man gasped, "how did we not see that?"
"Overly excited, perhaps, who knows." He licks his lips. "I need to call Cassie."
"A call from Alaska to the DRC is going to be one hell of a phone bill," Niko warned, "you want to make long-distance calls?"
"Very much so because life is so boring when everything is within five hundred feet of your porch." He took out a satellite phone. "That's why the McDonald's by our house sucks."
He dialed the number for Cassie's phone and waited patiently.
XXXX
DRC
"Oh yeah," Cassie licked her lips. "I definitely noticed that little tidbit pattern on the half-orb. Only on this end, the symbols are on the left side of the wall." Cassie holds her phone to her left ear. "And your symbols are on the right side?"
"Yeah," Derek's muffled voice came through.
"Okay, this reinforces the idea that these orbs are connected to two different lost cities." She sighs. "So what does this mean?"
"Well, maybe the orbs are supposed to be connected."
"But the orbs have been connected before and nothing happened."
Derek sighs loudly. "Maybe there's another piece to the puzzle. I'm going to send you an image of my temple."
"Good, and I'll sketch my temple and send it to you. Hold the line please."
Cassie took out her journal, sketched the temple, and sent the image to Derek while Omaria held the phone to her ear.
"I got the image," Derek said. "Yeah, the symbols are an identical match."
Cassie quickly threw the symbols together with interconnected lines. When the lines looked to be connected, she noticed that the lines appeared to be pointing somewhere. Namely, the center of the room.
"Derek, do you see something in the middle of the room?"
"Yeah, looks like a hole for the orb to be fitted in." Derek pauses. "Our DOA man says that they tried inserting the orb in this keyhole but nothing happened."
"There's no keyhole for my orb." Cassie suddenly looked up at the ceiling where she saw a faint keyhole the size of a half-circle in the center of the ceiling. "Scratch that, my keyhole is above."
"Why is my keyhole on the bottom and yours on the top?"
Cassie clicked her tongue. "Well, this is supposed to be the fire kingdom and the hottest source of fire is the sun, which is above us."
"But what about the core? Isn't the core supposed to be hot?"
"This is a city of ice and fire, not Agatha."
"Okay, I guess that's true."
The Chief looked up. "I swear, I have never seen the keyhole on the ceiling before."
Cassie takes out a grappling hook. "It's a good thing I came prepared." Cassie took out a grappling hook and spun it in her hands. "Derek looks like I'm going to be climbing."
"You better put those Drake skills to good use then. And don't break your neck."
"No premises. But when I get to the top, we'll count to three then insert the orbs at the same time. Let's hope something happens."
"Don't worry; I'm only freezing my nuts off here so take your sweet time."
"Hey, I'm at the equator in the middle of summer; I'll be sweating in the valley of my breasts."
"Shame I'm not there to see it."
Cassie laughs. "Pervert."
"We're married."
"Don't forget to remind me; it's so hot here that my wedding ring might slip off from sweat."
"And mine might freeze to my hand."
"For better or worse, hubby."
"Yeah."
Chapter 7: Above and Below
Long story short, Cassie used her Drake-climbing abilities to climb up handholds on the wall and used her climbing piton to assist her. Once she reached the very top, she tossed her grappling hook outward caught a vantage point that was able to hold her weight, and swung over. She climbed up the rope to the very top of the ceiling and with the orb in her pouch, she looked down at Omaria and nodded to her.
Omaria counts to three on the phone and Cassie pushes the orb into the keyhole.
"Did anything happen?" Cassie called out. Omaria repeated the question into the phone. "Did D-Man say anything?"
Omaria looks up. "He's saying that he thinks there's a giant snowman about to attack them because a doorway is appearing in front of him and snow is parting. Oh, and a stairwell opened up and is leading downward."
"Why hasn't that happened to us then?"
And right on cue, Cassie's wondering came true. Omaria, Marcus, the Chief, and Abheek backed away as a doorway that blended almost perfectly into the wall opened up and revealed a long and narrow hallway with torches that lit up one by one.
Cassie laughed. "Tell Derek I said never mind."
Omaria smirked. "Cassie said that she has no mind." She laughed. "Yes, she said she has no mind and has been feeling like a robot lately." She laughed again. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to program emotions into her mind when all is good."
Cassie lowered herself to the ground and took her grappling hook back. When she took the satellite phone, Derek had already hung up. "What did you tell Dear Delusional Derek? That I'm a robot?"
"Yeah, and he seemed to buy it."
Cassie laughed. "You know one thing I like about robots?"
"They dance like the Tin Man?"
"Any punch they bestow is a Charlie horse." She punches Omaria on the arm. She winced and Cassie laughed. "Charlie horse."
"You're lucky I've been eating protein otherwise, you would've broken my arm."
"Don't worry, I would've gotten you a very beautiful cast and I would've given you my autograph."
"Guys," Marcus called out, "the Fire Kingdom?"
"Ahh, yeah." Cassie looks ahead and takes the first step forward. "Nameless mercenaries, I would honestly prefer if you guys went first but I have enough experience to know what to experience so, because I'm such a nice person, I'll go first." She sighs heavily. Maybe I should've brought a gun with me.
She takes her first step into the hallway and is mindful of the torches. Because the hallway was so narrow, there was only enough room for one person to walk through one at a time and spaces were tight so not enough room to move their limbs. If that wasn't bad enough, there were plenty of torches at risk of scorching their skin. Damn, I wonder how D-Man is doing; I bet he doesn't have any frozen torches.
XXXX
Alaska
"Brr," Derek gasps, his breath visible in the air. "I am never going to the Arctic Circle again after this," he declared."
"It could be worse," Niko tried to assure. "But I get what you're saying. I'd rather be in Egypt with Omaria."
"Oh, speaking of Omaria, you and I need to have a big chitty-chatty after this, cousin. Because..."
"Omaria and I are just casual."
"Are you sure? You're not just saying that because as your cousin, I'm obliged to embarrass you in front of your first serious girlfriend."
Niko rolls his eyes. "Casual."
"We'll see."
The icy hallway didn't have torches but the deeper they went through, the colder it got, and thicker their breath was when they breathed. They left about six guards, three mercenaries, and three DOAs outside to guard the entrance while the eighteen of them continued onward.
When Derek felt the spot he was stepping on sink into the floor, his eyes widened. "Get back!"
Spears frozen in ice shot out of the wall and launched at the other side of the wall just inches away from Derek's front. There were about four spears launched from the wall, all lined from the bottom to up and when they connected to the other side of the wall, it cut off the hallway like bars in a prison cell.
"Shit," Abhik grunted after seeing what happened.
"Shit is right," Derek said. His eyes widened. "And in my experience, if you're trapped at the back of a hallway, then it usually means there's something in front of the icy hallway coming out way."
"Ahh!" a DOA shouted in the back. More of those spears launched out of the wall and this time, they impaled the DOA and stuck him to the wall.
Trapped on both ends, Derek uses all of his strength to break through the frozen spears and he mentally thanks the God in the sky that ice froze these spears over the years and made them easier to break. However, things weren't looking too good when floodgates at the bottom were hidden by snow opened up and let ice-cold water flow in.
"Shit!" Abhik hissed as the cold water pierced his skin like needles.
Derek sprinted for it, knowing that he only had a limited time to act. He would've gone back but aside from the impaled DOA person blocking the way, the entrance they came through was closed off but another one opened at the other end of the hallway.
Derek sprinted for it.
XXXX
DRC
"Lava?!" Cassie gasped. "Why did it have to be lava?!" Cassie sprinted for it and was on the doorway at the very end of the hallway. Being at the very front, she was the farthest away from the lava but the haunting screams of the men caught in the laa and being melted alive nearly made her trip up. She dives through the doorway and gasps when she sees a door from above the doorway descending. "Come on!"
Omaria runs through, almost hitting her head with Marcus following close behind.
Abheek barely made it but he had to crouch to get through. The Chief had to dive on his stomach to get through and by that time, he had to pull himself in quickly, or else the door would crush his feet. He managed to get his feet through in time as the door closed and the lava melted everyone in the hallway.
"We're trapped!" Omaria gasps. "Oh man, this is all my fault."
"What do you mean?" Cassie picks herself up.
"Whenever I have a whipped cream smile on my waffle, I have a good day; I skipped out on the whipped cream smile on my waffle this morning."
"Yeah, blame your problems on Reddi Whip." She helps Omaria to her feet.
"My men," the Chief gasped. "They're all dead. This is the trap my ancestors set up?" He shook his head. "What the hell?"
"A trap like that..." Abheek began, "designed to kill..." he choked on the last word, "boil my men alive, was designed to make sure not a single clump of human cell got in."
"Then why didn't the door close on us earlier?"
"I'm sorry about your men, Chief, Abheek." Cassie sighs. "But... " She suddenly realizes that there was light in the room and she wasn't even using her flashlight. Cassie gasps and looks around to see herself in a wide-open room and the light is coming from the pools of lava just under the bridge in the center of the room.
"Oh my god," she gasps. "Is this..."
Omaria's eyes widened. "Oh no, I'm really starting to regret coming here. That's lava." Her breathing picks up. "Fire, hot fire."
Cassie pulls Omaria behind her. "Pay attention to the back of my head and nothing more."
"Yes; staring at the back of your head has always been on my bucket list."
"My pleasure."
Marcus looked over. If I play my cards right, maybe I can shove Cassie into a pit of lava.
Cassie wanted to say more comforting things to Omaria but she couldn't take her eyes off the lost city before her.
The Fire Kingdom that Omaria had described truly lived to its name. A kingdom, or monastery of some kind underground in the mountains where there were pools of lava under the bridge and torches that had been lit for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. And yes, there was nothing complicated with how the Fire Kingdom looked; it was a large monastery with a bridge interconnected to all buildings with a pool of lava underneath.
But what stood out were the statues made of lava.
XXXX
Alaska
"It's so beautiful," Derek sighed as he took in the sight. "So beautiful."
"And cold," Niko shivered.
Derek tilted his head at the frozen monastery but the statues are what caught him off guard the most. The statue of giants is made of pure ice. "Man, it would take an entire construction crew to move these statues. Maybe we can make a career delivering ice statues."
Niko tilted his head. "Or we can use it for ice in our soda; we'll never have to buy ice made from dishwater ever again."
"Aww, but it was such a good way to recycle."
Derek, Niko, Abhik, and the Necklace Man took their first steps across the bridge and were mindful of the ice water under the bridge, the ice water that had almost drowned them like it drowned the DOA and mercenaries behind them.
Derek took a couple of photos on his phone and smiled. As they were walking across the bridge, they stopped at the halfway point.
The Necklace man stopped suddenly and groaned loudly. The others turned towards him.
"Shit, are you okay?" Abhik asked.
The Necklace Man touched his forehead. "Yes, I'm okay, just a headache."
"Shit, well, if you're feeling bad then let us know."
"Sure." The Necklace Man began sweating, despite the cool temperature.
Niko spoke up. "Derek, if you had to make a few assumptions or so, then what would your analysis be about this place?"
Derek licked his lips. "Well, if what the DOA said is true, then I speculate that the Fire and Ice Kingdom aren't actually kingdoms but places their ancestors discovered that are contaminated with some element that riles them up. Do I believe that theory, too early to say but they did say that there are some anomalies in their DNA so maybe there's some merit."
"Nothing more than a ghost story," Gil debated, "this is real life, not some kind of science fiction show. If it was a Medieval fantasy, I would be inclined to believe it but no, science fiction, no."
Derek laughs. "You believe in Medieval fantasy but not science fiction?"
"Yeah, because science fiction is fake, Medieval fantasy has some merit."
"Whatever you say, Gil-Man."
The Necklace Man's eyes widened. "You..." he panted, "you guys talk too much." The others turned toward him. "You're all a bunch of assholes. You come into our land, lead my people to death, and then you have the audacity to joke around. You're not scientists; you're goddamn thieves. All of you are, the entire lot."
His eyes were bloodshot red.
Chapter 8: Fire and Ice
DRC
The Chief falls to the floor, howling like a dog in pain, and goes on all fours. He squeezed his eyes shut and stuck his tongue out which gradually turned from pink to blood red. The tinge of his skin, which was a dark brown color, was now shedding away and the muscles underneath his flesh dominated the top part of his body. When his skin peeled away and left nothing but muscle, his arms, which had the right amount of muscle mass for a man of his BMI, started to expand and increase. The veins on his body bulged out and looked like they were about to burst when he finally found the strength to stand up. But as he stood up, his spine elongated, following his arms and legs and his neck stretched out further than necessary.
Cassie, Omaria, Abheek, and Marcus made a run for it and decided to hide in the monastery house at the very end of the bridge. They closed the door behind them and got down to kneeling positions as the rest of the bodily horror the Chief was going through continued to take effect.
It seemed to be going on for hours when Cassie's watch said it had only been about two minutes. Gradually, over time, the howling coming from the chief seemed to die down and was replaced by raspy breathing, as if something had clawed its way into his throat and was choking him. But even then, he was still gagging loud enough for the four of them to hear.
And just like that, when the gagging sounds sounded like they were going to go on forever, they just stopped. If one was playing music on their phone in an empty and silent house and they pressed the pause button and the music went silent like the flip of a switch, that would perfectly describe how Cassie and the others felt.
Silence, absolutely nothing but ear-splitting silence that threatened to make them crazy unless they knew what was going on out there.
"What happened?" Omaria whispers very quietly.
Cassie holds a finger to her lip. "I'll go check it out." She opts not to check it out by leaving the room but by very carefully pulling the door until a very slight crack appears. She put her eye to the impromptu peephole and took a look around.
Nothing. Nothing was out there, nothing she could see at least. The silence, the lack of any physical entity on the bridge left Cassie with a bad sour flavor down her throat. Where had the Chief gone? Maybe he jumped into the pit of lava. She closes the door and crawls back to Omaria. She shook her head.
"I'll go out there," Abheek volunteers in a hushed voice.
"No," Cassie begged in the same volume. "We don't know what's out there."
"I'll be fine," Abheek insisted. "Besides, I got some amends to make. Being an Overlord bastard turned mercenary won't look good on my resume."
"I don't care that you're Overlord; don't go out there."
"I'll be fine," Abheek insisted once more. "I got this."
When he pulled the door open to see through the crack, he realized how wrong he was when a beast of epic proportions was staring him through the cracks.
XXXX
Alaska
"Could this day get any worse?!" Derek exclaims as he and the others make a break for it. "For the love of God, take the hint!"
Abhik opened fire on the approaching Titan and didn't say a word when it picked it up. With the exception of one word: "SHIT!"
The titan was about nine feet in length and had the muscle mass proportionate of a nine-foot-tall bodybuilder and certainly, the strength to match. It lacked any flesh and had nothing to show for it except muscles, especially augmented muscles. Abhik stood no chance when the gun was smacked out of his hands and he was snatched by the neck. The titan turned Abhik over and pulled at the back of his head, not stopping until the head came clean off the neck. He threw Abhik and his head over the edge and into the cold water below before it went after the surviving three members.
"I don't like this one bit!" Gil yelled. "What do we do?!"
The titan was nearly upon them when Derek told them to move out of the way. They dodged the titan's attack before they slid into one of the monasteries above. They closed the door behind them and Derek instructed the duo to hide behind a crate.
"I'll distract it."
Giving the titan a distraction was their best option right now. Niko and Gil hid behind a crate as the ice titan broke down the wall. Derek clenched his hands like a cowboy getting ready to duel and he moved out of the way when the titan brought its hands down on him.
Derek rolled out the way, doing a somersault, and ran for the exit. Outside the monastery, he headed for the bridge and picked up Abhik's fallen weapon. He quickly siphoned off several magazines before he fired at the incoming ice titan.
The bullets sank into the ice titan's muscles but didn't quite slow him down. Derek winced when the gun jammed in his hands and he quickly worked on unjamming it but the ice titan was almost upon him. When the titan threw its arms up to smash him, he instinctively backed away while holding the gun up.
The AK-47 took the blow of the ice titan and the gun crumbled into a million pieces. Derek staggered toward the edge but not intentionally, of course. He came up with a plan in mind but he had no time to execute it when he fell over the edge just as the ice titan was about to grab him.
XXXX
DRC
Cassie wanted to believe that things would get better but after seeing the fire titan tear Abheek to shreds, there was no doubt that things were going to get much worse. Abheek was pulled through the door and torn up but the fire titan didn't seem to notice their presence, so they still had some time to spare. Moving very carefully away from the door with the huge hole punched in, they hid behind a crate where Marcus kept a lookout while Cassie and Omaria began discussing things.
"The myths," Omaria realized, "the myths about the DOA turning into monsters is true; they really do have some abnormal anomaly in their genetics." She looks around. "If we had been related to the DOA or had whatever it is they had in our DNA, we would be toast."
"I hate the idea of being toast," Cassie muttered. "But eating toast, especially with jelly, is another story."
"What are we going to do?" Marcus asked. "What the hell are we going to do?"
Cassie looks over the crate and listens for the fire titan. "We're going to push the titan into the lava." She looks to her friends. "Think about it; they tried to flood the hallway with lava to kill us, which means, the lava was intended to keep things in, not keep people out."
"But it closed up," Marcus pointed out.
"I have an idea; we're small but fast. On the other hand, he's big, slow, but very strong. The way I see it, we can either destroy the bridge and take him down with us or we can get him to smash through the front door we came through. That way, we'll have an exit and the lava will take care of the titan."
"That is if the lava doesn't melt us first," Omaria reminded. "I like to keep my flesh where it belongs."
"And so do I," Marcus agreed. "But if we're being completely honest, Cassie, you look like you could lose a few so burning off some muscle might be good for you."
Cassie mockingly laughs at him in a hushed tone. "Regardless, since I'm the most agile one here, I'll do it. I'll lead that titan away, get him to charge into the wall, and bam, wash the titan melt away." She smacks her head. "On second thought, that should be an emergency plan. But... at the very least, we need the titan to smash the gate so we can get out."
"Sounds like a plan," Omaria nodded.
"Okay, good. Now, stay here and keep quiet. And when I give you the signal, get to higher ground." Cassie looked ahead and heard the soft growls of the titan on the other side of the door, its soft breathing filling up the room but letting her know the titan was a good distance away. "Leave this to me."
XXXX
Alaska
They say life wasn't fair but this was ridiculous. All Derek tried to do was get out of the way and here he was, hanging by his fingertips on the bridge and what awaited him below was a pit of ice cold water that would murder him of hypothermia. He wanted to blame this situation on some higher being above but he learned from a couple of adventures that anytime he is in a dire situation, it's usually his fault.
But he wasn't going to moan and groan now. Especially with the ice titan looking down at him. The ice titan lifted its foot up to stomp on his fingertips. Derek was able to climb a few inches away to the right. The ice titan realized his mistake and went to stomp again to correct himself. Derek quickly climbed to the opposite side this time and narrowly avoided facing the wrath of the ice titan's feet. This time, the ice titan wasn't going to take it anymore. Without wasting a single second, he stomped down on the ground. Derek knew he couldn't climb to the other side in time so dropped the hand that was being targeted and was left dangling by his right hand.
Taking out his grappling hook, he releases his other hand as the titan is about to stomp once more and falls. He uses his grappling hook to hook himself onto a vantage point under the bridge and swings. He collides with a wall and manages to catch himself with a handhold. Once he is secure, he turns around and sees the ice titan glaring at him like a lion stalking a gazelle destined to be wounded and chowed on.
Not today, titan. It's 'Attack ON Titan', not 'Attack on Derek'.
He uses his grappling hook to swing back onto the bridge on the opposite end. Once he touched down, he waited for the ice titan to charge for him. When he was within range, Derek leaped off the bridge, intending to swing back until he felt himself stop mid-flight. He looked back to see that the ice titan had caught him and was preparing to crush his foot.
Before the titan could get a squeeze in, a gunshot went off and the titan flinched and his head recoiled. Niko, who had taken a pistol off of Abhik's body, had turned the tides and used his sidearm to shoot the titan in the face. Niko fired a couple more shots at the ice titan in the wrist, forcing him to let go of Niko's wrist and allowing him to swing across.
When Niko ran out of bullets, he gasped in horror upon seeing that the ice titan was nearly upon him. He trips and falls on Abhik's headless body but moves out of the way when the ice titan moves to grab him. The ice titan ended up grabbing Abhik's body instead and he tossed him over his head like a ragdoll.
Unbeknownst to the titan, he threw the corpse at the sealed-off door hard enough to crack it and force ice-cold water to start to spill through.
Chapter 9: Lava and Water
Alaska
Derek was still safely away when the ice titan charged for Niko. Niko was fast but not faster than Derek. He moved out of the way, only to get scratched by the ice titan on the shoulder and wince. He falls to the ground and shoots at the back of the ice titan's head, missing a few times before he makes a run for the other end.
Derek finds a foothold for him to stand on. He quickly uses the grappling hook as a whip and throws the end at the ice titan's head. It coiled around the ice titan and the titan stumbled before reaching for the hook. Derek is pulled with the hook and falls, the only thing stopping him from falling into the ice-cold stream below is that he was swinging from the grappling hook. The ice titan let go of the grappling hook and quickly went back to chasing Niko.
The hook of the rope latched onto the bridge and left Derek dangling.
The ice titan cornered Niko and Gil and he charged for them. He threw his fists up to strike at them but ended up smashing through the sealed door and causing hundreds, maybe even thousands of pounds of water to come pouring out. Whatever the weight, it was enough for the ice titan to lose its balance topple over the ground, and be carried by the current. It didn't just end there as apparently, a lot of water from the hallway had come pouring out and violently slammed the ice titan into the monastery.
The weight of the water and the impact caused by the titan caused the monastery building to collapse forward and bury the ice titan in debris. The monastery landed on the center of the bridge, causing water to divert and go over the edge and the bridge eventually gave away.
Luckily, Derek was able to swing to the wall and grab a handhold in time. Thank you for all those climbing lessons, Cassie.
XXXX
Cassie picked up Abheek's fallen gun and when she was directly behind the beast, she decided to distract it by picking up a piece of rubble and flinging it to the opposite end of the wall. With the fire titan distracted, it ran toward the debris, leaving Cassie behind. Cassie decided to go over the bridge and hang by the ledge. She had a very faint idea of what to do but the entire thing relied on her being able to fill the room with lava or at the very least, push the fire titan into lava.
When she was hanging by her fingertips, she was something that stood out to her: the structure of which the bridge was built. Despite the bridge being able to hold the combined weight of at least three humans and one titan, she figured that the bridge must be sturdy. Then again, when Cassie thought about it, the fire titan may be big and strong but it didn't look to be extremely heavy, which meant that this bridge could hold its weight. But what if it couldn't?
She was going to shoot the support beams and have this fire titan plunge into the bottom of the lake of lava. Yeah, she could already smell the charred barbecue smell and she hated it.
She had two hands but she needed one to hang onto the ledge and the other to shoot. The good thing was that she was left-hand dominant so she could easily shoot with her dominant hand while hanging from her right hand. The only problem was that she couldn't reload with one hand, despite seeing her father do so various times. She could try later but now was not the time.
She quickly holds up the AK-47 and aims at the support beams just under the bridge. What helped make aiming easier for others was the fact that the beams were rusty and red. Thank god for that.
She fired her machine gun full blast and when the first support beam went, she quickly shot the other one. The bridge rumbled slightly but didn't budge in the slightest. So she turned to the support beams on the other end of the bridge and fired on them. When they both gave way, the bridge finally felt like it was going to collapse. Only one problem though.
She was hanging by the bridge.
"I did not think this through!"
She drops the AK-47 into the lava below and takes out her grappling hook. She tosses it to a vantage point on the wall and swings from it just as the bridge collapses and took the fire titan with it.
Having found a secured grip on the wall for her to hang from, she watched the fire titan kick and thrash and let out a howling sound as it sank into the lava, never to be seen again.
Cassie sighs. "Guys, the titan is gone!"
Omaria and Marcus emerge from the monastery and stop just a few inches away from the edge. Omaria smiles while Marcus looks nonchalant.
"Damn, is this what you go through?" Marcus sighs. "Hazard pay."
"That's why she's a legend," Omaria elbowed him gently.
Marcus looked at her and sneered.
"What's your problem?"
Marcus narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry, in case you hadn't noticed, there's no bridge for us to cross now. And the door is sealed so what in god's name are we supposed to do?"
Omaria looked around. "We'll figure it out."
XXXX
Alaska
Derek manages to climb back onto solid ground and stands on a foothold protruding from the wall that Gil and Niko are standing on. With the water still pouring in and the collapsed monastery in the center of the bridge causing the incoming water to split in opposite directions, the trio began to feel the cold and nearly shivered but they kept their hands pressed tightly to the wall.
"What now?" Gil asked. "How are we supposed to get out of here?!"
"I'm thinking." Derek looked at the only doorway. "That water has to be coming from somewhere. Which means..." He smiles. "I got it; we'll swim out through the way we came."
"How?"
"By lowering the water pressure. Because there's only one place the water can go, there's so much coming out of the hallway. That's why we'll create more holes in the wall and cause the water pressure to lower slightly, at least in the hallway so that way, we can swim out."
"And how do we get out of the sealed-off door?"
"The mercenaries guard the place, we'll ask them to shoot at the door."
Niko sighs. "Okay. Let's start digging."
Derek began climbing across the wall until he felt a couple of rocks give away. He caught him and was amused when he saw some water about to pour out. He made it his mission to keep on climbing so more and more rocks could be pulled out of place and weaken the structure of the wall.
This is going to take a while.
Abhik's body had been washed away in the flood but Niko managed to grab a few magazines off of his body for the sidearm. Derek took Niko's sidearm and when he climbed to a safe distance, he fired at a weak spot in the wall that was about to give away. Once the wall gave away, a wall of ice water came flooding out and pouring into the room like a waterfall. Derek swings back to solid ground so he can reload swings to another handhold and fires the last magazine on another weak spot in the wall.
With two waterfalls now pouring into the room, the water coming into the room by the main door began to die down slightly and ease up on the pressure.
With the water in the hallway flowing at a steady stream, the three of them quickly ran out of the hallway, tripping over a body that got stuck in the narrow hallway but had an AK-47 on him with a full magazine. They decided to use that to shoot their way out.
XXXX
DRC
On the other side of the world, Cassie had developed a similar idea and bit her lips when she realized that swimming in lava was not a good idea. So, instead of shooting their way out, she decided to think of another way out. The approach she took was to look above at the ceiling where there would be a less likely chance of encountering lava.
Cassie was no stranger when it came to geography; it was a required class for her to take for her archaeology degree so she could figure out what types of rocks could be found in certain parts of the world. If this temple was built a long time ago and was uncovered and exposed to the weather at the same time, then chances are, the structure of the wall, like the bridge, was strong enough but still weak.
Swinging back to Omaria and Marcus's side, she instructed them to climb to the very top of the monastery. Cassie had just enough magazines left in her AK-47 to enact her next plan.
"We're going to shoot our way out," she told them.
"Of course, because violence solves everything," Marcus groaned.
"This is a temple that was built on the surface; if it's been exposed to the weather, then weathering would've weakened the structure, one way or another." Wait a second, that myth the Chief said, if I destroy this temple, then I could be really this unidentifiable element and cause it to be released into the world. In that case, I won't blow open the roof of this temple but rather, the surface just above the lava hallway door.
She fired at the wall above the hallway door and when it looked weak enough, Cassie flung her grappling hook to a vantage point and swung across. She kicked with both feet at the wall, making her go back but managed to knock the wall back and create a pathway for them to walk through.
Landing inside the pathway, she swung the rope over to Omaria, who caught it and swung forward. She felt the vantage point shift under her weight and panicked slightly but she managed to land safely. Omaria tossed the rope back to Marcus, who repeated Omaria's actions but this time, the beam the hook was attached to shifted and nearly sent him falling back and into the lava.
Cassie grabs Marcus by the collar of the shirt and pulls at him.
"Please save me," Marcus begged.
"Don't worry," Cassie grunted as she pulled Marcus. "I'll save you." She pulled him all the way to the surface and he fell into her grip in a hug-like position.
As Cassie coiled up the rope, Marcus stared at the back of her head. You NEVER should've saved me, bitch. "Wow," Marcus pants. "I'm so glad to be done and over with that."
"Yeah," Cassie pants. "I think it's time for us to get out of here."
"Yeah," Omaria nods. "We should definitely leave."
"The mercenaries and the DOA outside," Marcus reminded them, "what should we tell them?"
"That their employer is dead and that their leader was turned into a titan?" Cassie asks. "I mean, we should be honest with them but..." She hesitates. "Yeah, we should just tell them, no sugar coating."
The three of them turned and worked on finding a way out of there.
Chapter 10: Alive and Well
DRC
To say that Henry Decker was upset about what happened would be a massive understatement. He would deal with Derek, Niko, and Gil later but for right now, reprimanding Cassie, Omaria, and Marcus would have to do.
"The assignment was to look for a lost city that hadn't been named," Decker reminded them, "not destroy it. We were trying to make history for ourselves and you destroyed that history, Cassie Drake? Do you have any sense at all? Do you have any idea how to look for a lost city or ancient remains? Or do you like destroying things?"
Cassie sighed. "Sir, we technically didn't destroy the lost city... we just destroyed a bridge in the lost city. As for that fiasco in Alaska, Derek said that they only caused a building to collapse so technically, we didn't destroy the lost city."
"Then how do you explain the temples being blown up?"
Cassie smiles nervously. "Oh, the remaining DOA and mercenaries came to a mutually beneficial agreement that it would be better to destroy the temples leading into the Fire and Ice Kingdom so they're the ones you should be mad at."
Decker stared at her, his lips pressed tightly together. "Cassie Drake, I am trying to retire when I am 55 years old, which I will turn in four years and so far, I got nothing to show for it. Unless someone would be willing to invest in a company known for destroying lost cities rather than preserving them, I see no reason to keep you around. Sure, you may be useful in finding these lost cities but you're just as destructive nevertheless. When we get back home, I am ordering that you get suspended from work."
Cassie glared at him. "Hey!"
Omaria walked up to him. "Decker, this woman saved our lives; had it not been for her, you would've been short several archaeologists. Marcus, Gil, and Derek would've died and they're all rising stars. Sure, there may have been destruction but you didn't see the titans; trust me when I say that destroying the city was necessary."
"Even if it was to save the world, I can't let something like this slide. She is costing me business and she must be punished somehow."
"I'll take a suspension," Cassie suddenly smiled. "After all, the contract I signed explicitly says that I can only get suspended without pay if I commit sexual harassment, violent, unorderly conduct, etc. As far as I can tell, I have committed none of those, which means when I get suspended, I'll still be getting paid."
"What?" Decker's eyes widened.
"But I agree with what you said, Henry, after all, I can't get away with the destruction of too many citizens; I think being suspended is a proper punishment."
XXXX
The Next Day
The second it was possible, Cassie and Derek hugged each other as tightly as they could and held on as long as possible. An unspoken agreement was between them, how they had so much to talk to each other about. And it was true, so much to talk about and just enough time.
"This was an interesting adventure," Derek had to admit. "I know that we used to go on adventures all the time when we were younger but this adventure was something else."
"Yeah," Cassie agreed, "looking for two lost cities at the same time." She smiles. "But something good came out of it; Decker suspended me... with pay."
"Aww, how kind of him. I mean, I knew he'd probably blow a fuse upon finding another lost city destroyed but-"
"Yep, was kind enough to suspend without thinking of the fact that to suspend me with pay, I had to do unsavory acts."
"And we saved the world so that definitely counts as a savory act."
"Yeah."
"Well, looks like we won't get to work for the next few days."
"Yeah, that's more money in Evan's college fund." She smiles. "Oh Evan, I can't wait to go home. We should go to Disneyland when we get back."
Derek nodded. "Yeah, sounds wonder."
Cassie chuckles. "Well, it's certainly a glamorous life."
The End of Chapter 19
