“I don’t understand why you have to leave.” He whined as his mother tucked him in. She did it just right. She swooped the sheet over first, then wrapped him snugly in his Batman blanket. His father tried, but he just couldn’t get it right. She handed him his bear.

“Mommy and Daddy have to go back to Egypt. Do you remember the pyramid we went into?” Her soft blue eyes crinkled at the sides as she smiled lovingly down at him.

He nodded clutching his bear.

“Yes, but why do you have go back there? We already went inside the pyramid.”

She smiled again fighting back tears.

“I know, love, but there’s something Mommy and Daddy forgot when we left. It’s very important we get back inside that pyramid.”

Tears welled in his eyes. He didn’t want them to leave. Egypt was so far away and he knew they’d be gone a long time.

“It won’t be too long, love. Me-maw will be here in the morning to take care of you.”

“How long will you be gone?”

His mother was openly crying now. Fear began to churn in his stomach.

“About 10 days. Maybe a few more or less. I’m not really sure, love.” She brushed his hair back from his forehead. Her smooth hand felt cooling on his skin. He inhaled the scent of her lotion. It always smelled like cherries to him. How he loved that scent! It brought him such comfort as it made him think of his mother.

“I’ll miss you, baby boy.” She bent to kiss him on his cheek. Jax’s arms raised from the covers to wrap around her neck.

“I love you, Momma.”

“I love you, too.” She held him closely until he fell asleep.

When he awoke in the morning, they were gone.

That was the last time he ever saw them.

After Jax fell asleep, his parents crept into his room. As quietly as possible, they began searching his drawers looking for the pin. Finally, they came upon the tiny wooden box they’d given him as a souvenir from their trip to China.

“That’s it.”

“Henry, do you think it’s too late?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Sandy gasped as she held the box. She could feel it getting hotter in her hand. The very thought that her baby boy had been in the presence of pure evil sickened her to her core.

“Are you sure this will work? Going all the way back to the pyramid seems drastic. Maybe the pin isn’t evil. Maybe Jax’s illness and Jeremy’s accident were a coincidence.”

Shaking his head, Henry reached for the box with the pin in it.

“I’m certain it’s the pin. This pin is attached with an ancient curse. The reason that pin was there was to contain its’ power. An evil magician placed a curse on the U pin to get revenge on the Pharaoh’s daughter, Delia, whom he loved and was scorned by. The pin’s curse quickly claimed the life of Delia along with her father. When the Pharaoh died, a white magician named Hydra took the pin and placed it into his sarcophagus sealing it away from the world. But when we went into the pyramid, we disturbed his final resting place. Jax took the pin from his body thus unleashing the dormant evil. Now Jax is the keeper of the U.” Henry shook his head sadly.

“Oh, Henry, it’s all our fault! If we hadn’t brought him with us to the pyramid none of this would’ve happened.” Sandy’s hands fluttered to her mouth.

Jax stirred in his bed rolling over. His bear fell to the floor. Sandy rushed forward to retrieve the bear and place it next to him.

“Shhh,” Henry whispered pulling his wife away from the sleeping child.

She cast one more glance at her baby lying there sleeping so innocently with his fingers curled towards his mouth.

“I love you,” she whispered.

* * *

“Our only hope is to try and place the pin back into the body specifically right into the eye socket.” Henry studied the ancient text. Sandy couldn’t read Arabic as well as Henry so she was relying upon him to interpret the book.

“Will that release Jax from its’ curse?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s our only chance. According to this book, the curse settles upon whomever is deemed the keeper of the U. Jax uncovered the pin so he is the new keeper of the U. The pin was imbued with all sorts of power from its’ creator, Cyrus. Hydra, an ancient practitioner of white magic sought out this pin after his death in order to eradicate its’ evil. Unfortunately, there was a coven that Cyrus started, a Circle as they called it, who sought the pin as well for those very powers. They believed that it would give them the power to conjure up unseen forces making them able to command the heavens.” Henry read from the book. The pages were crumbling and yellowed with age. He had to turn them carefully to avoid having them fall apart in his hands.

“What happened to them?” Sandy asked setting uncomfortably in her seat. She pulled the sun visor on the plane window shut as she glanced out and saw the dark clouds swarming around them.

“The Circle? Let me look.” Henry flipped several more pages. The flight attendant came by to deliver their drinks. Sandy opened the tiny bottle of whiskey and downed its’ contents immediately ignoring the burning sensation in her throat. Henry stared at her.

“A bit early for that, isn’t it? We’ve got five more hours in the air.”

“Don’t remind me.” Sandy fought the queasiness in her stomach with another tiny bottle.

“Here. The Circle, originally called the Cyrus Coven, also known as the Order of the Silver Star are a group of people directly descended from Cyrus himself. The Inner Circle is comprised of thirteen people which represent a member from each descendant’s line.”

“Does it still exist?”

“According to this book, it does.” Henry reached into his backpack and retrieved another book written in English.

“The Circle is still seeking the U. They know it is buried somewhere beneath the pyramids, but they don’t know where.”

Sandy thought a moment. She felt a bit dizzy as those two tiny bottles started to affect her. She welcomed their calming effect.

“So we just accidentally stumbled onto the very thing they were looking for?”

“Apparently so. They’ve been looking for thousands of years according to these books. They believe that the U will only bless members of their Circle. For everyone else, the U is a curse.”

Sandy swallowed hard. All she could think about was her sweet innocent little boy lying in his bed.

“Like Jax,” she whispered.

“Yes. But if we put the pin back, it may let him go.”

“What about contacting the Circle members? They obviously want it.”

Henry’s face went pale.

“No. You see according to this book, the U can’t be given to them. If there’s a keeper of the U like Jax he has to….die in order for them to get it.”

Her eyes widened as her hand went to her mouth. All of a sudden, her stomach lurched. She grabbed one of the plastic bags from the back of the seat and vomited into it.

Wiping her mouth with a napkin, she leaned back. Tears streamed down her face.

“Oh God, Henry. What have we done to our baby?”

* * *

As they neared the entrance to the pyramid, they noticed several signs in Arabic and English warning visitors to stay away. The pyramid had partially collapsed the last time they were here.

Determined to help their son, the couple ignored the signs. They took their excavating equipment with them down into the pyramid.

As they descended the narrow tunnel, Henry took a rope and tied it to the top of the entrance. He handed Sandy a hardhat with light on it much like the kind miners use. She wrapped a length of the rope around her hands as they stepped into the darkness. The inside of the pyramid was much like a cave as it was deep underground. It was dank, dark, and cold. Sandy shivered inside her jacket biting her lip to keep from crying out from the pain in her calves from the sharp descent. The climb down was awful, but the climb back out would be murder. She fought the agony in her legs for her baby boy.

Henry stopped short as they reached the bottom. He shined his flashlight all around the pyramid. The portion of the pyramid that had collapsed had been roped off. Fortunately, the sarcophagus wasn’t behind that roped area. They could easily get to it once they turned the corner.

Suddenly, they heard voices. Henry held his arm up to stop Sandy from moving any further. They were speaking in Arabic.

Who would be down here?

Sandy held Henry’s arm as they froze in place trying to decide what to do. Henry listened to hear what they were saying, but they were speaking in such hushed tones they couldn’t understand.

“Sandy, stay back. We have to get into that room, but I don’t know who’s in there.” He whispered.

“Could it be other archeologists?”

“I’m not sure. I’m going to move over there to find out. You stay here and duck down.”

“Henry,” she hissed, but he moved away from her. The U pin was tucked securely in the front pocket of his jacket as he crept along the wall.

As he moved closer to the room that held the sarcophagus, he could see lights flickering. There were three men dressed in black robes holding hands raising their arms in the air.

Blood drained from his face as he realized what they were saying. He turned to Sandy still hidden across the corridor.

“Go back, Sandy! Go back---“

His eyes met hers briefly before something struck him on the back of the head. He crumpled to the ground. Sandy screamed as one of the men in black marched towards her. She tried turning to run, but was struck in the face.

As her eyes closed for the last time, she thought of her precious boy and whispered.

“I love you.”