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Amanda, Nora, and Riley couldn’t imagine the incredible adventure they were about to experience that morning. Their plan was to visit the city’s archaeology museum. And they were doing just that when, distracted by the stories of pharaohs Amanda was telling them, the three friends suddenly realized there were no other visitors around… They were alone!…
They had gotten lost in a deserted hallway of the museum! In a long and quiet hallway that led to a closed door with a sign pasted on it, that Riley read aloud: «Mastaba of the Egyptian Queen Nefertari»… And when Amanda opened the door, the three friends found themselves immersed in a surprising and unexpected adventure.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Visit To The Museum
- An Unexpected Surprise1
- The Journey To The Top
- The Papyrus Secret
- The Challenge
- A Huge Black Rock
- The River And The Moon
- Green, Blue And Red
The first four chapters of the book are reproduced below.
CHAPTER 1 • VISIT TO THE MUSEUM
Once upon a time, there were three great friends named Amanda, Nora, and Riley. They were an inseparable team. The three teenagers always played, learned, and had fun together. And today, they were very excited and happy because they were going to visit their city’s archaeology museum.
Amanda was the one who had the idea to go to the museum. She loved the books about ancient Egypt she had at home. And, during the visit, she was going to share with her two best friends some of the wonderful stories she had read about the pyramids and the pharaohs. And also about hieroglyphs. About that form of writing with drawings that the ancient Egyptians used to tell their stories on the walls of temples, tombs, and other monuments.
They had already been visiting the museum for two hours and enjoying everything Amanda told them about Egypt when, suddenly, the three friends realized there were no other museum visitors around. They were alone!…
What had happened?
Without realizing it, distracted, they had gotten lost in a quiet and deserted hallway of the museum. It was a long hallway, at the end of which was a closed door. And, taped to the door, was a sign that Riley read aloud: “Mastaba of the Egyptian Queen Nefertari.“
Seeing that both Riley and Nora were curiously looking at her, unsure of what could be hidden in that room behind the door, Amanda explained to them that a mastaba was a small and very old tomb that the ancient Egyptians built with stone blocks, giving it the shape of a large box with four sloping walls. And with the roof and walls decorated with hieroglyphs that told the story of the person to whom the mastaba was dedicated.
Very carefully, Amanda opened the door with the note and, followed by her two friends, entered a large and almost dark room. And the three of them opened their eyes, surprised by what they saw in the center of the room… It was, indeed, a mastaba!… with its four walls made of stone blocks decorated with beautiful drawings; with hieroglyphs, as Amanda had told them.
The three friends began to walk around the walls of the mastaba, looking at the hieroglyphs depicting queen Nefertari, to whom the mastaba was dedicated. In some of the drawings engraved on the walls, the queen appeared alongside beautiful animals. In others, Nefertari was strolling beside a great river, sitting on a large throne, riding in a chariot pulled by two beautiful horses, and engaging in many other activities. But, curiously, in almost all the hieroglyphs, Nefertari wasn’t alone… By her side, a small and beautiful fox with orange and white fur always appeared.
But what surprised the three friends most was that none of the four walls had a door or a hole leading into the mastaba. Amanda had read that some mastabas had a secret door, but even though they walked around the mastaba several times, carefully observing the hieroglyphs on the walls, they found no clue or sign to a secret door.
As the three friends were about to leave the room where the mastaba was located, Nora exclaimed, pointing at one of the hieroglyphs: “Look, look! There’s my favorite gem! Nefertari liked blue sapphires, just like me!…“
“Wow!… And there’s also an emerald“… Amanda said, pointing to another of the hieroglyphs, in which Nefertari was shown holding a beautiful green emerald.
“And there’s a garnet too!… My favorite gem!“ Riley added, pointing with her finger at the drawing of a red gemstone that hung from the bracelet Nefertari wore, in another of the hieroglyphs… “I think queen Nefertari would be a very good friend of ours, because her three favorite gems are also ours.“
“That’s right!… Well, let’s say goodbye to her by pointing with a finger at the gem we each like the most, while saying, ‘Goodbye, friend Nefertari!’… Okey?” Amanda suggested.
Amanda pointed at the green emerald drawn in one of the hieroglyphs; Nora pointed at the blue sapphire; and Riley did the same, pointing at the beautiful red garnet. The three friends smiled at each other and, when Amanda nodded her head, all three of them shouted happily… “Goodbye, friend Nefertari!“
And just at that moment, Amanda, Nora, and Riley saw the mastaba begin to shake, making a loud noise. Suddenly, one of the walls split in half, opening a door behind which was a staircase leading down into a dark passageway in the mastaba’s floor.
The three friends looked at each other with surprised and excited expressions. And without hesitation, they started to go down the stairs…
But they had only taken a few steps down the stairs when the mastaba began to shake again, with the same noise as before… And, looking up, they saw how the two halves of the mastaba wall that had previously separated, were joining together again and closing the door… And Amanda, Nora, and Riley were left in the dark, locked inside queen Nefertari’s mastaba.
What strange magic had caused the wall to close again? And what dark secret was hidden at the bottom of the stairs, inside the mastaba?
CHAPTER 2 • AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE
With those two questions swirling around in their heads, the three inseparable friends continued down the dark and narrow stone staircase.
As they descended, a faint light flickering at the bottom of the stairs became more visible. It looked like the light from a burning torch. And when they reached the bottom of the mastaba, Amanda, Nora, and Riley were in for another big surprise…
The staircase ended at the entrance to a room lit by two torches hanging on the walls. And in the center of this large room stood a beautiful statue of queen Nefertari. The queen’s two hands held a silver tray with three gems: an emerald, a sapphire, and a garnet. These were the three precious stones Nefertari adored… And, surprisingly, they were also Amanda’s, Nora’s, and Riley’s favorite gems.
“Look! It’s if the statue of Nefertari wanted to give us our three favorite gems,“ Amanda said, her eyes wide in wonder… “On the tray is a beautiful green emerald… My favorite gem! The one I pointed at earlier, in the hieroglyph on the mastaba wall,“ she added, excited.
“There’s also a blue sapphire on the tray… My favorite gem!… The one I pointed at in the hieroglyph when the mastaba wall opened,“ Nora added.
“And there’s also my favorite gem!… The garnet!“ Riley exclaimed.
“I think Nefertari was a magical queen. And I’m sure she knew that, thousands of years later, the three of us would discover the secret to entering her mastaba… Don’t you think so?“ Amanda said, looking at her two friends.
The three of them surrounded the smiling statue of Nefertari, excitedly looking at the three beautiful gems glittering on the tray. And Amanda had an idea…
“I have an idea!… Let’s each take our favorite gem from the tray!“ Amanda said, “Earlier, when we pointed at our favorite gem in the hieroglyphs, the door to enter the mastaba opened. And if the three of us take our favorite gem from the tray now, maybe the door will open again and we can leave.“
“That’s a great idea!“ Nora and Riley agreed. And the three of them took their favorite gem from the queen’s silver tray…
With the gem in hand, Amanda, Nora, and Riley remained silent, listening for any noise or movement in the mastaba, and glancing sideways toward the dark staircase they had descended.
But nothing happened… Nothing shook or moved… Until, suddenly, from the sapphire in Nora’s hand, a large jet of light the same blue color as the sapphire erupted. At the same time, another bright jet of green light began to emerge from the emerald in Amanda’s hand. And a third beam of vibrant red light emerged from the garnet in Riley’s hand… The three beams of light merged, enveloping the three friends in a whirlwind of luminous colors that lifted them off the ground and made them fly away, sucking them through a portal of light.
It was a magical journey. As in a dream, Amanda, Nora, and Riley flew with their eyes closed through a tunnel of light in green, blue, and red. A dreamlike journey that ended when the whirlwind of color that enveloped them stopped, and the three friends opened their eyes…
And, in doing so, they discovered, to their great surprise, the incredible place they had arrived at…
CHAPTER 3 • THE JOURNEY TO THE TOP
When the tunnel of green, blue, and red colors faded away, Amanda, Nora, and Riley appeared at the top of what looked like a very, very tall tower…
Looking up and to the sides, all they could see was the blue sky. And when they looked down, what they saw was an endless desert of sand, crossed by what looked like a long blue snake emerging from a black mountain… It was a river! A great river winding through the desert sand.
Amanda peered over the edge of the peak of stone blocks they had reached by traveling through the tunnel of light and, putting her hands to her mouth, cried out in amazement…
“We’re at the top of a huge pyramid!… Right in the middle of the desert!“
“But it’s a strange pyramid… It’s gigantic!… And it has many floors, one on top of the other,“ Riley exclaimed, looking down, also leaning over one of the edges.
“It looks like the step pyramid of pharaoh Anati!… It’s drawn in the ancient Egyptian books I have at home“ Amanda said. “The Egyptians made it by building seven floors, one on top of the other…“
Nora also leaned over the edge to see the floors that made up the gigantic pyramid and, turning her head toward her two friends, lamented: “The pyramid is very, very high… We’re never going to be able to get down from here!“
And suddenly, before Nora could finish saying it, a large hole opened at the top of the pyramid where they were standing, and the three friends slid down. The three of them held hands and, hugging each other, fell into a large round basket that occupied the center of a strange room.
Their first surprise was that the basket was filled with colorful fabrics that shone in the light streaming through the hole in the roof. Their astonishment was even greater when, peering over the rim of the basket, they saw that one of the walls of the room was filled with holes in which there were beautiful statues of animals.
“Wow! Those statues are of our favorite animal!“ Riley celebrated.
“That’s right, they’re all kittens!“ Nora said, delighted.
“And look, look what’s there!“ Amanda said, pointing at a stone chest, decorated with hieroglyphs, that stood against another wall in the room. “It’s a sarcophagus!” she added.
The three friends jumped out of the enormous basket and ran to see the collection of cat sculptures that occupied one side of the room. And they had fun choosing the cat statuettes they liked the most and inventing names for them.
They were still distracted, sharing laughs and also wondering why there was an empty space, without a cat figurine, in the center of the wall, when they heard a voice behind them: “Welcome to my pyramid!…“
CHAPTER 4 • THE PAPYRUS SECRET
Amanda, Nora, and Riley fell silent, startled. And when they turned around, they saw the source of that greeting…
Sitting on top of the large stone sarcophagus near the back wall of the room, there was a smiling figure. She was dressed in a long white cloak that covered her head and surrounded her surprising face… The face of a beautiful cat! And the most amazing thing was that this elegant figure was almost transparent… It was a ghost!…
“Hello. Welcome to my pyramid,“ she repeated in a sweet and pleasant voice… “My name is Bastet, the goddess of love and protection. And goddess of the Maus: the cats who protect homes and crops.“
Amanda walked ahead of her two friends and, confident, approached the beautiful ghost without fear…
“Hello, Bastet!“ she greeted her with a smile. “In my books about Egypt, it says that you are the protector of queen Nefertari… Is that true?“ Amanda asked curiously.
“Yes, I am her protector… And that’s why you’re here, in the pyramid where I live,“ Bastet replied.
“… But we were just visiting the archaeology museum.” Nora said, shrugging and raising her palms.
“We’ve had to wait centuries, but finally, you managed to enter Nefertari’s mastaba. And you have the gems that the queen and I prepared for whoever discovered the entrance. These magic gems are what brought you here and, if you’re willing, they will also give you superpowers so you can fight villains and help those in need,“ Bastet explained.
“Yes, please!… We would like to have the superpowers of the magic gems!“ Amanda said gleefully.
“But to have them, you must first overcome the great challenge.“ And if you succeed, I’ll tell you the magic words that will make the gems turn you into Kitkat Girls superheroes who protect people and animals.
“Yes, yes…! We’re ready!“ the three shouted at once.
“Well then, prepare to face the great challenge, the test you must overcome,“ Bastet said, as her image transformed into a swirl of white light that disappeared, entering like a jet of light into the stone sarcophagus on which she had been sitting.
Amanda, Nora, and Riley gasped, amazed by what they had seen. But before they had time to react, the jet of white light re-emerged from the sarcophagus and transformed, once again, into the almost transparent image of the goddess Bastet. Now, she stood in front of the three friends, holding a papyrus in her hands.
Slowly, Bastet unfolded the papyrus on which several words were written. Showing it to the three friends, she told them that this was the challenge they had to overcome. A test that, if they passed, would make queen Nefertari very happy.
But, upon seeing it, the three friends exchanged a look of disappointment… Because none of the three was able to read the words written on the papyrus:
xof eht, ceneF eucseR
kedoS nialliv eht yb derutpac
Seeing their reaction, Bastet told them that, to know what the challenge was, they first had to be able to read the papyrus. With a smile, she encouraged them, saying she was sure they would succeed. She added that if the three of them read aloud what was written on the papyrus, while each holding their gem, a tunnel of light would lead them outside the pyramid so they could try to overcome the challenge.
“Ah! And when you manage to overcome it, you’ll know how to return here, to the top of the pyramid, where I will be waiting for you,“ Bastet said, before transforming back into a beam of white light that disappeared, entering through a crack in the stone sarcophagus.