Kai's Secret

Mystery at the Museum

Prologue

Baking under a desert sun, trying to hide in the sand with bullets whizzing past my head and bouncing off the canyon walls was not how I pictured my summer. While I had hoped for an exciting adventure full of history, museum displays, and digging up new archaeological finds, I had seen things going a bit calmer in my mind at least. Crawling through the rust colored sand, I curled up behind a massive boulder to shield myself from the madman below. I can hear his voice echoing in the canyon, " You are just delaying the inevitable, I will find you. Come on out and I will make your death a quick one. Much quicker than your parents." His thick Russian accent made him difficult to understand. Did he just mention my parents? I perked up because my parents had long been dead.

" Yes, that's right. I know the truth about your parents, the truth that everyone has been keeping from you. If you come down, I will give you the answers that you seek," his accent getting thicker and his words seeming to drip honey.

Knowing I should not trust this brute, curiosity got the best of me and I sputtered involuntarily, " You knew my parents..?"

" I more than knew your parents, my dear. We were the best of friends until they betrayed me that is. For that they had to pay the price," he said nonchalantly. Then he yelled, " Gotcha!" I heard the bullet travel down the gun chamber and through the air coming right in my direction. What seemed like hours passed while I stared frozenly at the bullet spinning towards my head. Unable to move out of the way in my trance, I felt a force slam into me and a piercing pain at my temple.

Feeling sluggish, I felt my mind fog over. I was drifting back in time, back to the beginning of the summer. The sound of maniacal laughter was the last thing I heard as my world went black.

Chapter 1

My hands were sweating and shaking as I hastily ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter. What was written inside could possibly change my whole summer, even my life, or perhaps the world! Well the whole world might be a bit of a stretch, but a girl can dream can't she? Once the letter was out, I just stared at it for a minute. I was so scared of what it would say. The words on this page had the power to crush my childhood dreams or bring them to life. Whenever you come to a crossroads in your life where the pathway is already decided for you because of road construction you can not help, but wonder what would happen if the other road was open. While I had been thinking I brushed my straight dark hair away from my face.

Staring at the pressed white page I blinked my hazel eyes as my mind returned to earlier in the year, the true beginning one could argue. I was excited as I filled out my application to be a summer intern at the Smithsonian. They had started a new program accepting high school students to help inspire an interest in the past. The program was a mixture of curating artifacts already in storage, helping design new displays, and even had the possibility of going to a dig site to see how artifacts were brought in for curation in the museum. I had penned in my cover letter how I was trying to discover my own past as I had recently found out that I was adopted and had never grown up learning my Native American traditions. I was hoping that by studying the artifacts of my people, I would have a better understanding of myself. There was a lot riding on this letter.

" Oh just read the darn thing already!" my older brother, Wyatt, exclaimed.

I jumped and replied, " How long have you been standing there?"

" Long enough... Do I need to read it for you? The rest of us are just as anxious to find out as you are, Kai," stated Wyatt hastily.

Gathering some courage I opened the letter and read, " Congratulations, you have been accepted into our summer internship program. Please read through the list of required items, immunizations...." I stopped reading and shouted my joy. " Ekkkk! Everyone, I got in! I'm going to Washington D.C. this summer!" I shouted as I ran downstairs to tell my parents.