Chapter 1

The Sound diminishes as Muriel finally gains consciousness; she sat up right beside her bedroom window covered in sweat for the past few days she keep having this nightmare every night she was very frustrated and really annoyed because at her age she still has nightmares about things that bump in the night, she was now turning sixteen and these things should never affect her, she consider herself an adult, she stood up and slowly opens her window curtain as the sunlight glaze her room like it was being scanned from left to right it was a common thing on her daily life when she had the nerve to gather some strength she walked toward the other side of her room a bit hazy from lack of sleep she strides toward her mother's mirror and stare at it and starts to wonder on what are the new things in her life would change right after she becomes sixteen these questions are just a few things encircling her head. Muriel was about five four in height with green eyes and long black curly hair her skin was a bit pale, and she was a splitting image of her late mother's face but her eyes were definitely her father's The only ones that reminded her of her parents was a small locket that she always kept on top of her mother's desk. For almost fifteen years they were missing. Suddenly she saw a peculiar object right beside her mom's jewelry case, it was a book that was in the case on a leather cover that has an insignia of a flower and a cross-brand on it. It has a little note attached saying ''this is who you really are it's a gift from mom and dad, she uttered she was so excited that she forgot to even change her clothes to prepare for school, she pulled out a chair and started to read her parents journal, she was the daughter of Leonard and Mia Marquises two renowned archeologist known for their excavation of the lost city of Hamunaptra city of the dead.

''It was spring on the tent year of our expedition we followed the very tracks that the high priest made thousands of years ago Starting at dawn from the sprawling capital of Memphis along the west bank of the Nile River, me and your mother made an arrangement with a local fishing boat to guide us as we gave instruction to follow a particular path in the scared river, we first crossed a shallow lake by boat to reach the great necropolis a symbolic journey to the land of death this journey has been our curse and our sovereignty for we have suffered a lot to pursue this dream. I and your mother have felt so much sadness for we cannot be there to see you grow up and hear your first word, and nurture you as your grandfather did to me, the only thing that keeps our hope up is that gratification that you can be proud of us this is the things that surround our every thought and heart as the boat ride the vast river your mother was sitting right in front of the boat preparing our personal items as we are nearing the area on which we are seeking, your mother was a lovely gentle person she loves you so much Muriel my sweet daughter. After a few hours we are finally stepping ashore, we walked for hours end and began the climb up from the floodplain to the forbidding desert plateau. Silhouetted tombs of nobles from the 1st Dynasty appeared on the left, and, as the path curved south, ahead loomed the celebrated Step Pyramid tomb of King Djoser

As we arrive on winding up the barren hillside leads to a jumble of dun-colored mounds presided over by the crumbling Step Pyramid, shorn of its limestone seems to swallow up in the vast landscape and relentless sun of a late fall day. It is, at the same time, overwhelming and disappointing I'm not sure where to start. Thousands of miles of desolate sand wrap the very area that was supposed to be, After Years of research and a back-breaking journey we are at a lost as we saw nothing. We had no choice but to camp here for the night.

It's eleven pm as the moon lights up our sad feeling of dismay I took this chance to write to you my sweet Muriel and continue our tale and I hope you can learn from our voyage, this event made your father really displease for we had worked so hard to fund and plan this expedition for months all our sleepless night together researching for the sacred burial ground was last futile. Your father was so sure that the city of the dead is here where it was said to have spread across an area nearly four miles long and nearly a mile wide and covering more than 3,000 years of complex Egyptian history

The very sand moves to the wind's smooth breeze while I stare at the moon near the very footsteps of the pyramid by tomorrow we are going to journey to the west toward the mountains, that is where the temple of the four kings rests place. I could see your father is somewhat broken inside as I write these words down you are always in our hearts and mind, After all of these hardships, we shall soon become a family again. Till that day we love you with all our heart regards to granddad.

As Muriel reads about their journey she often wonders what kind of adventure her parents encounter her heart race as she was about to turn the page to reads some more when a loud knocking sound belch on her bedroom door. '' Muriel come on kiddo it's time for school'' shocked to realize that she was truly late, she ran in a frenzied state putting on mix match pieces of clothes she took her body bag and shove her parent's journal inside and ran down stared like a wild coyote, before her grandfather could ever say hello she jump into the dining chair grab a fork and just heave pancakes into her mouth.'' Hey kiddo takes it easy''

smell of that scented candle still lingers in her room for the past two days she remained indoors with her grandfather in there broken down house along the far end of the east garden street a few miles from where their mini shop was located, their home is a Victorian design on the very edge of the city limits an isolated area where most of the town people never even heard nor seen For their home was right beside the old English cemetery were most of the towns first ancestors was put to rest, Her very bedroom window faces the old cemetery but it never bothered her that much. The place was forgotten by the townspeople for almost seventy years the place became more of a garden than a creepy old cemetery as wild flowers covered the area as a child this was her personal playground were she could run free and play among the fields of flower all over the cemetery. at her third grand she was considered a outcast and a school weirdo but she never mind she loves to stay alone and rather stay in her small garden rather hang out with the other teens at her age, she had only one friend and it was Simon Deluca aka the Sid. He was considered the expert in creepy stuff and the towns clown , with his spike hair and thick reading glasses he was a bit shy when it comes to making friends Muriel was his first friend at the age of eleven the two got together by accident when Sid accidentally drop his book in front of Muriel, while she was reading a book under a tree located at the very back of the school's gym. After picking up Sid's book Muriel saw that it was about ancient rites and magic spells, after this incident the two became good friends.

Sid looked a bit younger than Muriel but his a month older than she was, he stands about five six in height and he always wear his signature attire of white shirt with a design statement of "we are not alone" on top of it a black jacket with an embroiled logo on the back of a skull, Muriel never mind that Sid was into aliens, monsters and things that bump in the night she was a bit interested in those stuff too, but not much as Sid. Every time she would go out she had to pass the cemetery about a ten minute walk east toward the old church where she must once again wait a few more minutes to ride a bus going into town and finally reach Ellenton Rose Middle High school. There on the very footsteps of the church, Sid was waiting, as always with a big smile on his face indicating yet another fascinating discovery concerning the supernatural. And yet Muriel was eager to share her newfound interest with his longtime friend before she could even speak Sid hug her and said happy birthday here my gift for you. Muriel saw in Sid's hands a pocket knife. Sid smiled and said '' there you go Mel you can use that to cut the flowers in your garden

and scare the plastics away '' he suddenly laugh as Muriel chuckled with delight.

yeah, i could use this to scare the hell off of those plastics. Hay! sid with a shock in his eye '' are you kidding me'' come on Mel that's insane...

you are just gonna use destructive powers to scare Olivia Masterson and her sidekicks? Muriel answered back '' yes why not" Sid just stood there and said nothing as the bus came sid was still thinking and suddenly out of nowhere when Muriel and sid were sitting at the end of the bus Sid looked at her and said'' are you insane you cannot just do that, better cast a curse spell rather destroy the world'' she smiled and rubbed his head. yet another day in Ellenton, she said to herself looking a bit annoyed As the bus drove slowly toward their school for a new chapter in her life was about to open.at age sixteen her life will suddenly become a desperate struggle for balance between the very things that have consumed her imagination and fear. and be a normal teen in a jungle full of tech-savvy and social media-dependent schoolmates.