Only Human

Chapter 3 - Finding a Solution Part II

"I've got it!"

The sudden sound of the voice almost made Drac jump. It had been silent inside the blimp for the past several minutes as the group tried to think of a way to help him. And now, it seemed that Murray was the first of them to come up with it. He grinned widely and began to eagerly tell.

"What if we performed a spell to bring Drac back to the time before he was even changed into a human at all!"

The monsters all stared at him in bewilderment.

"Whoa," Johnny said. "You can do that, Murray?"

"Does a mummy live in Egypt?" he laughed in response. "Of course I can! You up for it, Drac?"

Drac, in truth, was a bit uncertain about the idea. The last time he had witnessed Murray try to perform a spell had been when he had been showing Dennis out in the woods. And that hadn't even produced a spell. It had ended with Murray, splat on his side, with a measly little pile of sand next to him.

The sand, Drac thought. Always with the sand!

But, in contrast to his thoughts (and against his better judgement), Dracula found himself agreeing with a nod. It seemed like a stretch, but who knew what would happen. Maybe it really could make him his vampire self again!

"Okay," Drac said slowly. "Do it. Say your little spell, or whatever."

This pleased the mummy, and he eagerly rubbed his bandaged hands together. "All right, I got this! Everybody, stand back a bit. Frank, Wayne, Griffin, just try not to faint!"

The three gave him a look, but Murray did not notice. He was already planting his feet firmly on the blimp's floor and raising his arms up high in the air as he began chanting an Egyptian spell.

"Yad kabirat min alwaqti,

yueiduna 'iilaa mataa kan hadha

al'iinsan alhasha masas dima' qawi!"

The mummy clapped his hands together. It echoed like thunder inside the blimp, shaking the aircraft violently as a sudden sandy windstorm began to form inside.

Drac coughed and sputtered, shooting Murray a look as he attempted to find his footing. "Murray?!"

The sand then took form, swirling around himself and Dracula in a tall, tornado-like spiral. Murray's green eyes seemed to glow even brighter.

"It's working!" he cried.

Dracula wasn't so sure. He felt panicked and confined within the sand, even more so as he tried to look past the wall of sand to see the rest of his family but found that he couldn't. Things seemed to be happening on the other side, but he couldn't tell what until the sandy whirlwind around them finally fell away in the next moment. Now, as Drac rubbed his eyes to get the remainder of the sand grains out of them, he could see that they were not inside of the blimp anymore. Drac looked around in awe. "Wh... where are we?" he asked.

"We are back in time, my friend!" Murray said proudly. "To the time before you were even a human!"

Drac scrunched his nose. "Are you sure about that?" It sure didn't seem that way. For one, it didn't even look like they were at the hotel. Instead, they were outside in some jungle-like clearing, dozens upon dozens of trees with thick foliage surrounding them. The calls of various exotic birds echoed throughout the forest around them, their sounds blending together and creating a cacophony that could only be native to the wilderness. A wilderness, not unlike the one they had just been at. Drac shot Murray an angry look.

"You just took us right back to the Amazon!" he accused.

Murray grimaced. "Aw, man... and I really thought I had that spell down!"