Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx (36 page)

The important word being
reset
.

He searched his sister's face for any last regret.

She sighed in frustration. “Oh, do it already!”

He did.

With a flick of his fingernail, the stem popped out, and the massive gears around them began to turn—slowly at first, then faster and faster, becoming a golden blur.

Jake's hand clenched Kady's as force built beneath their feet, growing exponentially.

“Hang on!”

Then the world exploded and blasted them skyward in a blaze of light. The room shattered away—and an instant later, they landed in a new one.

For a moment, Jake kept hold of Kady to keep his balance. She did the same with him.

“I'll never get used to that,” she said. Finding her footing, she shook free of Jake and looked around.

They were back in New York City, back at the American Museum of Natural History, standing inside the reconstructed Egyptian tomb. Around them, artifacts glowed in glass cases. Anubis frowned at them with his jackal-shaped head. In the center, a dreadful mummy still lay sprawled atop a table, with its clawed hands and leathery, dry wings.

Jake had enough of grakyl—mummified or not.

“Let's get out of here,” he said.

“That's the smartest thing you've said in a long time.”

Together they rushed the tomb's door, wrestling a bit to get through.

Outside, they ran hard into Morgan Drummond. He
spilled a paper cup full of water, splashing it over his suit. “Watch where you're going!” he said sourly, slapping water from his tie. He fixed Kady with a baleful eye. “For someone who just fainted, young lady, you look awfully spry now.”

Jake and Kady shared a look. Just like before, no time had passed here. When Kady had pretended to faint earlier, Morgan had been headed to the drinking fountain to fetch a glass of water.

“Must be my strong constitution,” Kady answered, and hurried past.

Morgan frowned at Jake. Jake just shrugged and followed his sister toward the door. They collected Uncle Edward along the way.

Their uncle looked confused. “Are we heading out already?”

“We've seen enough!” Jake called back, and continued without stopping.

“That's for sure,” Kady added.

Edward checked his watch. “It's only been five minutes.” He followed after them. “But we spent two hours getting here.”

Morgan sighed. “Kids.”

By the evening, Jake had settled back into his own room at Ravensgate. The comfort of the familiar made the events of the past several days seem like a dream; but if he ever
doubted it had happened, he only had to pull out the flute hanging around his neck.

He crossed from his desk to his bed. His room had already looked like a Cabinet of Curiosity, with its fossils, excavation tools, charts, and maps; but now it had taken a distinctly Nordic turn. Across his bed were stacked his newest purchases: books and periodicals on Norse mythology, rune lore, and Viking history. He was ready to dig in, but Kady sat on his bed.

She tapped a knuckle on one of the piles. “Do you think all this brain food will help us find Mom and Dad?”

“We have to start somewhere. Mom said to go home.” He waved a hand around his room. “So here we are.”

Kady frowned. “But she also said to stay here.”

Jake shrugged. “Maybe I didn't quite hear her correctly.”

Kady locked eyes with him—then smiled. “You know, sometimes you're smarter than you look.”

She stood, mussed up his hair, and headed to the door. “Get reading, Brainiac … next time we go to Pangaea, I don't want to be turned to stone.”

“Fine, but what're you going to do?”

She pulled on the doorknob and headed out. “I saw the cutest snow parka online. I want to see if they have one in my size.”

With a firm goal in mind, she slammed the door behind her as she left.

Jake wanted to sigh, but Watson beat him to it. The old basset hound stretched from his doggy bed, gave a sorrowful shake of his head, and looked for another comfortable position to lie down—then his ears perked high.

His nose shot up, and he stared straight at Jake, as if he'd just caught the scent of a rabbit … a rabbit he didn't like. His lips rippled into a low growl, showing the edge of his teeth.

Jake leaned away. “Watson, what're you—”

Then something buzzed by his ear. A green blur shot in front of Jake's face, curling angrily in midair, hissing down at Watson.

Oh, great … just great …

It seemed that Jake and Kady weren't the only ones who'd done a little time traveling. He stared between the angry wisling and the growling dog and stood up. He'd had enough for one day.

“Quit it! Both of you!”

Dog and serpent turned toward him, looking sheepish.

He sank back to his bed, staring at the wisling.

How am I going to explain this
?

As if sensing Jake's mood, the wisling sailed closer, its head hanging low. Then Watson came up and put a paw on Jake's knee.

Jake sighed, unable to stay mad at them. He patted Watson on the head and carefully lifted a finger toward the winged serpent. He expected to be bitten, but instead
a small tongue flickered out and tickled his fingertip.

The wisling then slowly drifted and settled around his neck like a scarf. It folded its wings, tucking its warm head under his chin. In the quiet of his room, Jake heard a soft, contented trilling flowing from the creature, like the purr of a leopard cub.

Watson climbed up to his lap, sniffing at the dragon. The hound's tail wagged as he slowly accepted this newcomer.

Jake remembered what he'd told Marika earlier.

I have a way with animals
.

A small smile formed as he realized how true that was. For better or worse, he was stuck with the wisling. Recognizing that, he gave in and whispered to his new companion.

“Welcome to the family, little guy.”

As his two friends settled in with him, Jake turned and removed a book from his stack. Time to get to work.

I hope you enjoyed this latest journey to Pangaea as much as I enjoyed writing it. One of the best things about story-telling is that for months I get to be Jake Ransom, to go on this adventure with him: to be chased across the desert, to feel the wind on my face aboard the
Breath of Shu
, to walk through long-lost ruins.

Likewise, writing this story allows me to be that explorer of time and space. As many of you might know, I'm already an avid collector of all things ancient and strange. Even as I type this, I have a chunk of tyrannosaurus jaw (including teeth) resting on my desk, waiting to be added to my own Cabinet of Curiosities.

It is just such pieces of reality that I love to fold into Jake's story. For example, the introduction of this book's new character—Princess Nefertiti—came about from a true historical mystery. Nefertiti was a real queen who ruled during Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty. She was one of
the most famous queens in all of history, yet she suddenly disappeared and vanished without a trace. Archaeologists and historians have imagined many different fates for Nefertiti—from a falling out of favor to murder. Of course, within the novel I have imagined an entirely new destiny for this lost queen.

Additionally, I tried to envision how a tribe of ancient Egyptians might cope with being stranded in a prehistoric desert, how they might adapt their skill at navigation and boating into an entirely new means of transportation:
riding rivers of wind instead of water
. Also within these pages, I've added snatches of Egyptian hieroglyphs taken from real writings. Even the issues of grammar and alphabet critical to this story are based on fact.

As to the dinosaurs that appear in the book, they all exist in the fossil record—except, of course, for our winged friend, the wisling. By the way, feel free to send me names for Jake's new companion. Next time we visit Pangaea, we'll need to call him something. I'll post the best recommendations on my website,
www.jamesrollins.com
, and on my Facebook page. Email me your suggestion at
[email protected].

Lastly, for this series I've created a cryptic Atlantean language, more of which appears within these pages. The alphabet breaks down to English equivalents, so the more curious reader can translate these bits to reveal additional clues about what's to come.

Until then, get packing those bags and sharpening those swords—Pangaea awaits!

James Rollins
and his new protagonist, Jake Ransom, share many of the same passions. The author's interest in archaeology led him to amass his own Cabinet of Curiosities, which includes a 100,000-year-old mammoth tusk from China.

His
New York Times
bestselling books include
THE LAST ORACLE
,
THE JUDAS STRAIN
, and
BLACK ORDER
. James has a doctorate in veterinary medicine and his own practice in Sacramento, California. An amateur spelunker and a certified scuba enthusiast, he'll often be found either underground or underwater.

You can visit James Rollins online at