whispering. “Do you girls have something to do with this?” The girls shook their heads
innocently.
“Alright. We’ll keep digging for another 30 minutes before we leave, okay?”
Not long after that, another shout came.
“I found a sword!” The girls were shocked.
Drew scratched his head and sighed. “Let’s go back to the hotel and figure this all out.” The
team packed up and the sisters secretly brought the box with them.
Chapter 3
The next day, the team went to the desert again. The two girls slinked off with the box. It was
just too bad they were quite far from the rest of the group because a mysterious man and woman
approached them. The woman had tangled, unruly hair full of sand, and had ruined clothes and
long dirty fingernails. Yet her voice was as smooth as honey, making the girls tempted to believe
every word the woman said. The man was dressed immaculately, not a wrinkle in his suit, his
aging hair gelled and brushed, and teeth blindingly white. The only thing the pair had in common
was the greedy glint in their eyes and smooth voice.
“I’m Dr. Murray and this is-”
“A.K.,” the woman interrupted.
“I’m going to make this quick. We. Need. The. Box.”
Alex clutched the box protectively, and Nicole shook her head.
“You don’t understand. That box has great power. Give. It,” Dr. Murray said threateningly.
Nicole started to tug on her sister’s arm, slowly backing away.
“Trust me. If you won’t give it to me, I’ll find you. I’ll get it,” replied A.K menacingly before
they left.
That day the girls did some research on the desert. They found that thousands of years ago, an
ancient Chinese civilization was built on those grounds. Not much was known about it, but they
found that the Chinese believed Summer and Spring was the time of good, whilst the Autumn and
Winter was a time of ghosts and evil.
Alex gasped. “Wait. Isn’t it going to be Autumn tonight?” Nicole nodded.
“I want to study the sword and the crown.” So the girls silently took out the crown and sword.
There wasn’t really anything special about them. But when turned against the light, you could see
little words. On the sword read “strength”, and on the crown was the word, “loyalty”.
Nicole and Alex were lying in bed, and the clock read exactly 12:01 AM, indicating that it
was Autumn. Reflected on the moonlight, the girls saw the words on the sword and crown change.
The sword’s word no longer said ‘strength’, it said ‘death’. The crown no longer read ‘loyalty’, it
read ‘power’. The engravings on the box weren’t gold; they were black.
Nicole sat up and turned on the light. Alex immediately got up to study the strange objects
once more. But there was nothing on the table.
“The crown, sword and box are gone!” Alex gasped.
“And I bet A.K and Dr. Murray took it!” Exclaimed Nicole.
Quickly, the girls gathered the box, dropped it into Alex’s backpack and quietly slipped out.
In the distance, on an Altai mountain, they saw thousands of torches lit by fire, placed around
a crowd. On a platform were two shadows knelt down, holding two objects in their hands, as if
