Eventually, we come across a very tall dune. One so tall that it blocks the sun and finally gives us a nice bit of shade to hide behind. We rest a bit, but then look at each other and nod—we must march on. It’s getting late and we need to find those pyramids before it gets dark, even if it means climbing up this enormous sand dune. Hopefully from the top we’ll be able to see the pyramids. So up we go.

  After an hour of slogging along, one foot after the other, we’re both just a few steps away from the very top.

  One more step and . . . we’ve made it. I slowly look up, hoping to see some form of pyramid in the distance and . . .

  NOPE. Nothing. Just a whole lot more desert, as far as the eye can see.

  You tap me on the shoulder and spin me around.

  “OH! Whoops! There they are! I was looking in the wrong direction. I must be really tired,” I say aloud.

  Right below us, at the base of the dune, stand three large pyramids with hundreds of words scribbled all over them. The Great Word Pyramids! We’ve finally arrived! One of the three pyramids (the largest one in the center) has a large opening.

  That must be the way in! Let’s head for it.

  We’re running so fast, we practically slide down the sandy slope and arrive at the entrance. As we step inside, we grab a nearby lit torch to help us find our way through the dark and eerie corridor. It’s not too long before we run into a stone wall with some engravings on it. Aha, some instructions!

  Welcome adventurer, you have reached the first word test of the Great Word Pyramids. Do you dare continue? The task is simple . . . or so it may seem. I will give you five country names paired with their capitals. Learn the pairings. And then continue through the door. There, you will find some ancient clay tiles, each with the words etched on them. You’ll need to arrange the tiles in pairs––the correct country with its correct capital. Once you do that, a mummy will come out of his tomb and make sure they are correct. If they are, the mummy will open the gate to the next room. But fail and you will remain here forever!

  Here are the countries and capitals:

  Such difficult words! But we can do it. Just remember how I taught you to memorize the country or state capitals from before. Come up with a picture and SEE it for the LHS, then the RHS, then LINK and GO! You know the deal!

  My memory isn’t doing too well at the moment . . . Not sure if it’s me just being tired or if the Memory Thief is really getting to me, but you’re on your own with this task. Just remember what I taught you and I’ll be here to support you.

  Take out a sheet of paper and write down the five countries from page 79. Memorize the capitals, and when you feel ready, close this book and see if you can remember them!). Don’t advance until you get it right without peeking! (Check the Appendix for some suggestions).

  We walk into the next room and you start arranging the tiles in the correct pairs. As soon as you finish placing the last piece in its correct order, we hear a slow shuffling behind us. Turning around, we see a mummy, arms outstretched, groaning softly. The mummy spends a minute looking over the arranged tiles, making all sorts of strange mummy-murmuring sounds as he confirms your answers.

  “MmmahmmmmMMM!” the mummy says, nodding his head and pointing to a now visible gate, creaking open, way in the back corner of the room.

  Nice job, kiddo! You’re a pro at this memory stuff! It looks like he’s telling us to continue on to the next and final challenge. Let’s do this!

  Into the final room we go, and again we’re met with a stone wall with some engravings on them:

  Well done, adventurer! But the first test was easy. Now for the final test. You must answer the following questions I will randomly ask you. One mistake, and you will . . . remain here forever! If you accept the challenge, step forward.

  We step forward.

  A booming voice shakes the room. “WHAT IS THE CAPITAL OF PENNSYLVANIA?” it asks.

  You know this one! Think back to earlier in our journey, what image did we come up with for Pennsylvania? What was the capital of that state?

  You say the answer.

  “CORRECT. TAKE ANOTHER STEP!”

  We step forward again.

  “QUESTION TWO: WHAT DOES THE WORD BOISTEROUS MEAN?”

  What are the chances! We know this one, too! Can you remember the definition of boisterous?

  You say the answer.

  “VERY GOOD. ONE LAST STEP!”

  We take one more step forward.

  “LAST QUESTION: HOW DO YOU SAY ‘KITE’ IN FRENCH?”

  Oh, that’s a tough one, but it’s one of the questions I gave you in an exercise. Did you do it? I hope so, otherwise we’re in trouble . . .

  Again, you say the answer.

  Nothing happens for a moment . . .

  Did we get it correct? What’s going to happen next?

  Out of the silence we suddenly hear a “Congratulations!” from behind us. We turn around and see an ancient pharaoh clapping slowly, clearly very impressed with the two of us for having made it all the way through to the center of the pyramid.

  “Well done to the both of you for making it through those difficult word tests. I have been trapped in here for thousands of years, held here against my will by an awful curse, and you have finally freed me. The curse could only be broken if someone made it through all the challenges. You two are the only ones who have ever done that! Thank you!” the pharaoh explains.

  “Also, it is only fair that I reward you for the freedom you have given me. Tell me what you would like and it will be yours!”

  We look at each other and yell, “THE PIECE OF THE KEY TO THE GATES OF MOUNT FOREVEREST!”

  “Somehow I knew you would ask for that. Apparently, it leads to some kind of treasure if you have the other pieces . . . or so I’ve heard . . .”

  We look at each other, confused. Treasure? All we know is that it leads to the Memory Thief. Could there be more to this key than we know? We can worry about that later. For now, though, let’s get the second piece and get out of here. Time is running out!

  The pharaoh reaches into a fold in his linen tunic and pulls out the key fragment to hand to us when . . .

  “ARGHHHHHH!!!!!” we hear a few unknown voices shout around the room.

  Suddenly, everything goes dark.

  BOOMs and CLANGs were the last sounds we heard before everything went dark. Somehow we were knocked out and now find ourselves in a dim-lit, wet, and stinky prison. From the way it smells (salty and fishy) and moves (the floor under us is rolling slowly up and down), I’d guess that we’re actually in the belly of a big ship sailing on the ocean.

  How on earth did we get here from the desert? Those noises we heard in the pyramids . . . what were they? And why is my head so sore?

  I rub my fingers through my hair and feel a small bump. I must have been hit over the head with something and then taken prisoner aboard someone’s ship! And you, too, by the looks of it. But why? And by whom?

  Uh-oh. The key piece.

  Do you remember what happened to it? I ask you.

  You shake your head . . .

  I vaguely recall that you helped us pass the word tests in the pyramid, that we met a pharaoh in the crypt, that he was about to give us the key piece, and that there were some loud sounds . . . a loud screaming of “ARGHHHH!” before everything went dark. Hopefully we’ll get some answers soon. For now, we need to find a way out of here.

  Looking around, we notice something very odd. Not only are we in separate prison cells, near to each other, but there are dozens of jail cells around us containing all sorts of different animals. I seem to be the only elephant and you the only human, and all the others are different. In the cells next to me are a dog on one side and a frog on the other. For you, a big iguana and a giraffe. How strange, indeed!

  Suddenly, up above we hear a lock being rattled and then opened.

  KASHLINK! The roof hatch flies open and a funny-looking pirate with a wooden peg leg plops down in front of our cell.

  “ARGHHH! Ye mateys! Ye be my prisoners!” he snarls at us.

  I knew it! We’ve been kidnapped by some pirates. They must have followed behind us as we passed all the word tests in the pyramid. Perhaps they’re after the key pieces as well. The pharaoh had mentioned something about treasure. Maybe that’s what they’re after. But why are they keeping us prisoner? Why not take the key piece and leave? I don’t like the look of this!

  “Argh! Thank ye for leadin’ us to the secret key piece in the pyramid! We are lookin’ for the other pieces so we can get to the treasure. Do ye know about the other ones? Argh. We are on our way to get the third piece, but not sure where the first is . . .”

  We shake our heads. Thankfully, they don't seem to know about the first fragment we already have. Better not let them find out!

  “Where are we headed?” I ask.

  “To the Himalayan MEMORY PALACE, of course! Argh! It’s the gateway to Mount Foreverest, after all, where at the top we shall find all the treasure in the world! Argh!” the pirate explains while tapping his pipe on his peg leg. “My name is Peg the Pirate, as ye can see from my peg leg here. And I am part of the pirate crew called the Pirates of the Periodic Table. We sure do love the periodic table! Yes, we do. ARGH!”

  Treasure? At the top of Mount Foreverest? He must be mistaken . . . or maybe the Memory Thief has gotten to him already and he’s forgotten what’s really up there.

  “Why did you imprison us?” I ask.

  “Ye both seem smart, argh! Who knows what kind of smartness I’ll need on the mountain to claim my treasure! Also, you complete my collection of beasts. As ye may have noticed, I have an animal here for every letter of the alphabet. Ye mateys are the letter E for Elephant and H for Human! ARGH!”

  And with that, he manages to leap back up through the hatch, slamming the door behind him.

  We look around and realize that there is indeed one animal for every letter of the alphabet, each in their own cell, and alphabetically ordered. How curious!

  Let’s try to memorize all these animals quickly, just in case. You never know—maybe it’ll come in handy later on when we try to escape . . .

  Since the animals are in the order of the alphabet, it shouldn’t even really feel like memorizing. You know the alphabet already, right? You know it so well you don’t even need to think about it if you want to say it. So adding an animal that matches each letter should be a breeze.

  Looking around the big prison, here are the animals we see:

  NOTE TO READER

  Again, don’t try to memorize these with a technique. The fact that they are alphabetized will make this very easy. Most of the animals you’ll see are ones you’d probably think of anyway. Like, hey, think of an animal that starts with a t. I bet you thought of a tiger, didn’t you? See what I mean? The obvious animal is typically the correct one on this ship.

  Now that you have that list in your head, we have to find a way out of here. While we’re at it, we should also find a way to free these animals.

  “Oh, look!” I point to a set of keys on the floor. “Peg the Pirate must have dropped them when he came into visit us. Those have to be the keys to our prison cells. If we can only reach them . . .”

  You point to the giraffe in the cell next to you, who oddly has a pair of nitro boosters attached to his sides.

  “I see where your head is at! Great idea!” I shout. Then, turning to the giraffe, I say, “Hey, giraffe! Can you shoot your nitro boosters at those keys and see if you can knock them toward either one of us?”

  The giraffe nods and does exactly that. BWOOOOOSHHHH! The nitro boosters zip right between the prison bars, hitting the keys as they fly past, causing the keys to bounce over to a spot where I can reach them with my long elephant trunk.

  “Nice!”

  We open our cells and, starting with A, we open each of the other cells. But we suddenly realize that these are not normal animals . . . Each one of them has a very strange feature about them. What is going on here? Maybe it’s important, so we better pay attention. As we make our way around the prison, freeing the animals, we notice the following weird scenarios:

  An alligator with a fire hydrant on its back

  A bear holding a helium balloon

  A cat with lithium batteries instead of paws

  A dog with a barrel for a torso

  An elephant (me) acting bored (I’m getting really bored in this cell, making really silly sounds and running around in circles. FIVE circles to be exact. What on earth?)

  A frog driving a car

  A giraffe with two nitro boosters strapped to his sides

  A human (you) Well, there’s nothing too special about you other than you’re breathing in oxygen.

  An iguana with a flower growing out of his forehead

  A jellyfish all lit up like a bright pink neon sign. Also, this jellyfish has exactly TEN tentacles (TENtacles!).

  A kangaroo drinking a soda

  A lion in the shape of a large magnet

  A monkey made of aluminum foil

  A newt covered in silicon computer chips

  FIFTEEN owls with faucets for wings (For whatever reason, there were fifteen owls in this cell, not sure why!)

  A panda sitting on a sofa

  A quail swimming in a chlorine-filled pool

  A rhino arguing really loudly with itself

  A snake slithering in and out of a large pot

  A tiger chugging TWENTY big glasses of milk

  A unicorn scanning some papers

  A vulture made of titanium metal and as large as a titan

  A whale driving a van

  A Xmas reindeer on the internet using a chrome bumper to pick his teeth

  A yak with TWENTY-FIVE mangoes all over him

  A zebra pumping iron

  Pause for a moment and go through the alphabet and see if you can remember each strange image. You should be able to do it! If you miss one or two, no problem, just peek back at our list and relearn it. Then try again!

  Just as we finish observing all the weirdness of the animals, the hatch flies open and a whole gang of pirates flood in.

  “WHAT DO YE THINK YE ARE DOING? ARGH??” they shout.

  We freeze. Uh-oh, we’re in big trouble.

  “SEIZE THEM!” Peg the Pirate orders.

  They grab us and carry us up to the deck of the boat, then tie our legs and hands together.

  “Ye must walk the plank, mateys!” Peg proclaims. “But we’ll give ye one chance to win your freedom! We love the periodic table A LOT—even more than parrots and rum—so if you can answer some questions about it, we’ll let you go! ARGH!!”

  “First question: What is the first element on the periodic table?” Peg says with an evil smile, probably thinking we don’t know anything about the subject.

  Okay, kiddo. Do you know anything about the periodic table? Probably not, eh? I used to, but my memory is so bad now I can’t remember anything.

  Peg takes out his sword and points it at us, forcing us a little farther out onto the plank. A shark snout peeks out above the waves below and sniffs a little.

  “Wait, something’s just occurred to me!” I whisper to you. “The animals downstairs . . . they were all really bizarre, right? We couldn’t figure out why, but I think I can now! Maybe each animal had something to do with an element on the periodic table. And since the alphabet is in order, maybe the first animal is linked to the first element, and so on.”

  Think back to your list of animals. Can you remember the one that went with the letter A? What was the silly image we had? What was on the animal’s back? If you can remember it, then you should be able to make a clever guess as to what is the first element! See if you can figure it out. (Peek to the full list on page 96 if you can’t!)

  You shout out the answer to Peg the Pirate. His mouth drops. He can’t believe you knew the answer.

  “That . . . is . . . uh . . . correct . . . ARGH!! Another question!” He nudges us farther onto the plank. “What is the seventh element in the periodic table?”

  What is the seventh animal? First think of the seventh letter of the alphabet, then think of which animal starts with that letter, then think of the weird image linked to that animal. Can you guess what element that is? (Peek to the chart again if you can’t!)

  You shout out the answer. He can’t believe his ears!

  “That . . . is . . . uh . . . also correct . . . ARGH!! ARGH!! One more question . . . You’ll never get this one!” He nudges us even farther until we are at the very edge of the plank, nearly falling off. “What number element is chromium?”

  You’ll have to work backward for this one. First, scan your memory and see if you remember any of the animals having to do with chromium or something related to chrome. Do you remember any? Once you have an animal in your mind, you’ll have to find out what number that letter is in the alphabet. You can either count from 1, if it’s early in the alphabet, or count backward from 26, if it’s later in the alphabet. Can you figure it out?

  After thinking a moment, you say your answer.

  “Correct again! ARGH!!! Boy am I disappointed I don’t get to make you a meal for the sharks, but also incredibly impressed! And anyone who knows about the periodic table as much as I do should be a friend of mine, not an enemy! Ye mateys are free to go!” Peg declares as his pirate buddies rescue us from the plank and undo our bindings.

  “Thank you for letting us go, Peg! But may we continue on with our adventure? We’re both heading for the same mountain, but you should know you’ll find no treasure there. Only an evil monster who is stealing everyone’s memories. He’s even stolen yours, which is probably why you thought there was treasure up on the mountain in the first place,” I explain as I pull out the first key piece. “Look, we’ve secretly had this first key piece all along. Please give us your piece and take us to the Himalayan MEMORY PALACE so we can get the final fragment and complete the key. Please help us save everyone from losing their memories!”

 

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