“You will give it to me.” Kree stepped forward, lifting his dagger. But from the way the Egyptian’s arm shook, even this small gesture took great effort from the Skull King as he possessed Kree’s body. Even with the bloodstone, the Skull King’s reach through the storm was weak. Proving this, his next words were softer, sounding farther away. “Give me the Key of Time and I’ll let you and your friends free.”
Now it was Jake’s turn to laugh. Fat chance he’d let them live. If Jake had learned anything from his previous adventure, he knew that Kalverum Rex could never be trusted. Beyond his alchemies, his best weapons were lies, deceit, and betrayal. And if he wanted something in this desert land, Jake was not about to help him get it.
The Skull King must have sensed Jake’s determination.
Dark flames burst more strongly out of that single eye. “If you will not give me the Key, I will take it from you!”
Kree swung away toward the witch, wobbly and poorly controlled, as if a drunken puppet master pulled his strings. The voice of the Skull King grew fainter, echoing out of an ever-deepening well as the connection faded.
“Get the Key … then kill them all!”
15
LOCK AND KEY
Kree suddenly fell to his knees, a puppet whose strings had been cut. The shadows around his head broke away like a flock of crows and vanished. With a groan, the Egyptian lifted a hand to his forehead, as if checking to see if his head were still on his shoulders. Fingers probed the tattooed eye above his brows. It was just a tattoo again.
The Skull King was gone.
Heka made no move to help Kree get up. It took him two tries to get back on his feet. Even then he clutched a hanging chain to hold himself up. He swung around to face Jake. That calculating, wary look from before had changed to pure hatred, as if Jake were to blame for his weakness.
Kree stumbled toward Jake, stopping only long enough to grab a curved blade from Dogo’s table. The weapon looked like a giant version of the paring knife Aunt Matilda used for skinning chickens. From the look on Kree’s face, skinning was a distinct possibility.
He lifted the blade to Jake’s throat. “Where is the Key?”
So the Egyptian must have been conscious while the Skull King took over his body, listening from inside. Fear glowed in Kree’s bloodshot eyes. The experience plainly shook him down to his bones, and he was determined to give his master everything he wanted.
“Hand over the Key!” Kree pressed the knife harder.
“I … I don’t have it.”
As the lie slipped from Jake’s lips, the slug oozed a slime that burned like a hot poker shoved into his ear.
Jake screamed as loudly as he could.
Beyond his cry, he heard Marika call out, “Leave him alone!”
Kree smiled with satisfaction and straightened, taking his knife with him. “It seems the witch’s pet disagrees with you.”
Jake panted as the pain of the burn eventually ebbed.
“Shall we try again?” the Egyptian asked. “Where’s the Key?”
Jake continued to breathe hard, calming his heart. The slug slid from behind his sore ear and squirmed along his jawbone to rest at the edge of his mouth.
“Answer me,” Kree said, “or I’ll pull one of your friends out of the cell and start feeding fingers and toes to the fire.”
Jake finally gasped out, “No! I have the Key.” He struggled with his arms behind his back, fighting the iron cuffs. “Free my hands, and I’ll show you.”
Kree grabbed a ring of keys hanging from a wooden beam. He crossed behind Jake’s back. “Do not move,” he said, punctuating his order with a poke of his knife in Jake’s shoulder.
Jake heard metal scrape metal—then the cuffs fell off and clattered to the floor. Kree stepped back to the front as Jake brought his arms around and rubbed his wrists.
“The Key …” Kree said. “Now!”
Jake reached behind his back and fished into the seat of his pants. He found what he was looking for, pulled it free, and held it out toward Kree. It was Kady’s cell phone. He had to trust that Kree did not know what the Key of Time looked like. The pocket watch remained tucked beneath his undershirt, resting over his heart where it belonged. He would never give it up.
“Is this the Key of Time?” Kree asked, turning the phone around in his fingers. The witch drifted closer, looking over the other’s shoulder.
“See for yourself,” Jake said, sidestepping the question. He pantomimed how to flip open the phone.
Kree followed his directions. As the home screen blinked to life, displaying again Kady’s cheerleading squad, Kree clutched his throat in shock. “What strange alchemy is this?”
If you only knew …
“And this is the Key?” Kree asked again.
Jake had no choice but to lie. “Yes. Yes, it is.”
The slug ignited on his cheek, and Jake kept his face stiff, expecting the burn this time. A moment ago he had screamed, but he had overplayed it, yelling extra loud on purpose, making it look as if he had no tolerance for pain. As the slug continued to sear his cheek, tears welled and rolled from the corners of his eyes.
Let them think I’m crying because I gave up the Key.
Kree didn’t bother even looking over, mesmerized by the glowing screen of the phone. He had fully fallen for the deception, but Heka turned her cloaked face toward Jake, plainly wary. She moved closer, drifting as if afloat.
Before she could reach him, the door to the dungeon banged open. All eyes turned in that direction. A trio of black-robed figures rushed inside, followed by Dogo, looking sheepish and running a palm over his bald head.
“They wouldn’t stop,” the dungeon master said.
The head of the trio came forward and dropped to a knee. They were all clearly members of the Blood of Ka. “Master Kree, I have word from the pharaoh’s bedchamber. He wakes faster than we expected. I think the two princesses suspect something is amiss. Especially that nuisance, Nefertiti.”
Kree shoved the cell phone into his robe. “I will go and speak with them. Calm those waters before suspicion ruins our plans. You and the others prepare more of the elixir. It is time we sent Pharaoh Neferhotep back to sleep. This time forever.”
He swept toward the door, trailed by the others. As Kree passed the dungeon master, he pointed an arm at Jake.
“Kill them. All of them. Slowly.”
Dogo nodded, relieved. He rubbed his palms together as the party cleared out of the chamber. Jake didn’t see the witch leave, but she was also gone.