EPISODE ELEVEN:

INTRUSION?

"Whoa!" Matthew exclaimed as the travelers continued to stare at the golden city. "This is just too cool!"

Stephanie sat down on the step. "And I always thought writing papers for school was so boring! But nothing's better than seeing something in person! Come on, Ben! Let's go open up those doors to the building!"

Ben agreed that was an excellent idea. He and Stephanie ran up to the building and opened their bracelets halfway, remembering what the deck hand had told them about the dangerous power of the bracelets. Then they aimed them at the doors. Instantly, the sun's light shone on the bracelets and bounced off on the doors, breaking them down.

Stephanie and Ben hugged and kissed each other. "We did it!" they exclaimed.

The other travelers ran up the stairs to join them and each hugged Ben and Stephanie in turn. Then Lionel said, "Well, now that we've seen the outside, let's check out the inside!"

Everybody was about to go in when all of a sudden they were surrounded by a large group of men, women, and children. "What are you doing in our territory?" thundered one man.

"They're intruders after our gold, no doubt!" shouted a woman.

Lionel stepped forward. "I assure you, we are not thieves. All we want to do is--"

But before he could finish the whole group was grabbed by the invaders and taken to an underground prison where Lionel and Alexis were put in one cell, while the kids were put in the other cell.

When night came Elizabeth nervously asked a guard, "Just out of curiosity, what is the penalty for what we did?"

"It is either life imprisonment if you're from this country and invade or the death penalty if you're from another country," replied the guard before turning away.

Matthew glared at Elizabeth. "You just had to ask!"

Ben said, "Don't be mad at her. We should have checked to make sure the cities of gold weren't inhabited. Now everybody will get killed because of us!" He sank down to the floor and sighed.

"Oh, Ben," Stephanie said softly as she sat down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Well, maybe there's still a way out."

Alexis overheard her. "How?" she asked. "These walls are made of stone!"

Stephanie looked at Ben. "Our bracelets were strong enough to break down the doors to the Cities of Gold. Maybe they can break stone, too."

Ben agreed to give it a try. He and Stephanie aimed their bracelets at the stone wall. This time, the moonlight bounced off their bracelets and hit the stone wall. The wall came down! The four kids hugged each other and ran out excitedly, then let the adults out the same way and embraced them. Then they snuck away quietly into the shadows and far away from the prison, back into the airplane, and flew out of the Andes and into New York to rest on their way to Europe and other parts of the world to find the other Cities of Gold.

TO FOLLOW...

Lionel and Alexis have marital problems in New York when Lionel looks lustfully at supermodels. The kids try to get them to work things out. Read the next episode of THE MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD REVISITED.