Buried Secrets by Kristi Belcamino (book recommendations for teens txt) 📕

“Easy,” Dallas said. “Napoleon Dynamite.”

“I’ve got good visual,” Sam said. “You’re looking at that hunky partner of yours. Colton.”

“Sam called you hunky. It wasn’t a movie line, either,” Dallas said.”

Colton grabbed his own headset, strapped it on and wiggled his eyebrows at Dallas. “I didn’t know you had those sorts of feelings for me, Randall. You do know I’m your boss?”

The blush spread quickly across Dallas’s cheeks. He was still technically her boss, too. She reached over and punched Colton lightly in the arm. “Stop!”

He laughed.

“I’m ready,” she said.

Colton nodded at the crew and Dallas stepped over the hole.

The ropes were pulled tight. She hung, suspended for a second.

Colton leaned in and met her eyes. “Good luck. Don’t hesitate to yank on the rope if you need us to get you the hell out of there.”

“I’ll be fine, Colton.” Dallas said with a smile.

He turned away. “Let’s do this,” he told the crew.

Then he turned back. Colton and Dallas locked eyes as she was lowered down into the darkness, until her body was immersed in the hole, surrounded by dirt a few inches away on all sides and all she saw was black.

Seventeen

Dallas fought the clawing sense of claustrophobia that was trying to overcome her. The hole she was being lowered into seemed to drop for miles. She knew she’d been on the surface only a few seconds ago, but it felt like forever.

The light at the top of the hole was now a pinprick. “You doing okay down there, Dallas?”

Now it was Danny’s voice in her ear.

“Doing good. Thanks. Still haven’t got to the bottom.”

“All we see is black on the camera, Dallas,” Danny’s voice cracked in her ear.

“That’s because Colton’s big head is blocking the light,” she said.

Colton’s head immediately drew back. He’d heard her.

“Teasing you, Colton. It doesn’t matter. It’s pitch black down here no matter what. Can’t see a thing.”

Nobody answered and she got worried for a second.

“Are you reading me?”

There was the murmur of voices and then Danny spoke. “Sorry about that. Um, yes, we can read you fine.” Before he clicked off, she heard other voices again.

What the hell?

“Colton?”

“Got you loud and clear, Josie.”

Josie? When did he give her that nickname? And why did everyone above ground sound so distracted?

Just then Dallas felt something under her feet. She gave one tug on the rope, which meant they could stop lowering it. Two tugs meant “Get me the hell out of here.”

The rope stopped as her feet touched something solid.

“Holy crap, guys. I’m standing on something. Ground?”

She reached down and felt at her feet. A smooth rock.

As she raised herself to standing, she reached for the flashlight in her tool belt. Holding her breath for a nanosecond, she clicked it on. And gasped.

Eighteen

Her flashlight beam illuminated a life-sized, or rather, person-sized statue of Anubis.

She had dropped into a circular room the size of a small car. The Statue of Anubis stood between her and the opening to a tunnel. There was just enough room for her to step around it and enter the tunnel, but first she stood in awe of the statue. It was pristine. It had to be centuries old but the muscular onyx chest, torso, and legs gleamed as if it had been freshly polished. The gold, and Dallas was certain it was real gold, skirt, collar and jewelry, shimmered in the flashlight beam. The glittering eyes in the jackal head seemed lifelike. The lip on the ferocious mouth was up slightly on one side in a snarl. He stood some seven feet tall on a round pedestal with images of Isis and Osiris. He wore a gold ankh around his neck and held another massive ankh, as big as his head in his right hand. His left hand held a staff with a smaller version of his own head at the top.

For a second Dallas had to remind herself this was an inanimate object and not a beast that about to snarl and growl at her.

It was then she realized she’d heard voices in her ear the past few seconds.

“Oh sorry,” she said holding it up near her mouth. “I’m in. I’m safe. I’m in a circular room that leads to a tunnel and holy moly, a statute of Anubis is guarding the entrance. I can easily walk around it. Wait? Isn’t the camera picking this up?”

“Yes!” Colton said excitedly. “This is fantastic. Unbelievable.”

Dallas heard cheering in the background. “We are all gathered around the computer with our jaws dropped open.”

“I know, right!” but then her voice grew quiet. “I want to stay here and examine the statue, but I think I should go a bit further before we have to call it a day.”

“Good idea. We have about another hour of daylight and then I think we will have to pull you back up and hit it again early tomorrow morning.”

“I can’t have a sleepover here?” Dallas was joking. As exciting as it was, she wouldn’t want to sleep down here overnight with Anubis looking at her.

“Haha.” It was Colton. “Sorry, you’re coming home with me. Anubis can take a hike.”

Hearing his voice made her cheeks grow warm. She knew why he wanted her to come home and sleep tonight.

“Okay,” Dallas said, moving closer to the statue. “I’m going closer. And then I’ll check out the tunnel, see if I can get an indication of how far down or back it goes and what it leads to. Obviously, Anubis is guarding someone’s tomb and by the size of him, it must be someone important.”

Her voice shook as she spoke. Saying it out loud made it seem real.

“That’s the theory up here, too, boss.” Danny said.

“I thought Osiris was the god of the underworld.” It was Colton.

“Yes,” It was Sam speaking. “But Anubis was considered the protector of graves and a god who ushered souls into the afterlife.”

“It’s even more convoluted,” Dallas said, stepping forward, titling her head to see around the statue. “Anubis was also the son of