Marika poked him with a finger. “It’s not going to get any safer, Pin.”
Jake knew that to be true. He remembered overhearing Kree and his men. They had something to do with the pharaoh’s coma, and they meant to keep him sleeping forever to maintain their power.
Jake turned to Djer. “We have to stay, to search for something we need.”
“Then I will remain at your side.”
“No. You have to get the others out of here. And the commotion you raise will help us. It’ll keep eyes looking out there, rather than in here.”
Djer looked ready to argue, but he glanced to the woman with the two boys. He slowly nodded and held out his hand. “Be quick about your quest. But remember. Sunset at the Crooked Nail.”
Jake clasped his arm. “We’ll be there if we can.”
As Djer whispered final plans to the other two men, Jake retreated a few steps with his friends.
Marika had found a half-open door and peeked inside. She waved Jake over and pulled the door wider. “Look!”
The small room was dark. Jake spotted a few chairs and tables. A hunk of chewed bone and moldy bread rested on a platter. Must be a break room for the guards, he thought. As Jake stared, a flurry of beetles dive-bombed off the table and scurried into the deeper shadows.
He began to turn away, disgusted, but Marika drew him inside. She pointed to the back wall. A set of garments hung from hooks. She crossed over and fingered one.
“Cloaks. Like the guards are wearing.”
She pulled off one and shrugged into it. It was overly large, but it hid her almost entirely.
“Good going, Mari!”
As she blushed, Jake followed her example and urged the others to do the same. The cloaks would help disguise them.
Pindor sniffed at his clothes and wrinkled his nose. “Mine smells like my brother’s dirty sandals.”
Kady perked up. “Your brother? That reminds me. How’s Heron doing?” Her casual tone was clearly forced. “I’m sure he’s got a slew of girlfriends by now.”
Pindor made a rude noise with his lips. “He’s always training with the Saddlebacks. He barely has time to wipe his—”
Pindor realized what he was about to say. Now it was his turn to blush.
Still, this news clearly pleased Kady. A skip entered her step as she swept into a cloak and tried various poses in it. “Not bad,” she decided.
Once they all were dressed, Jake returned to the hallway.
Djer’s eye found Jake again, the question plain in his gaze.
Are you prepared?
Jake nodded and turned to his friends.
“Be ready to run.”
17
MICE IN A MAZE
Jake had no time to question his decision.
Djer quickly snuck forward with the other two men, staying low. The Egyptian guards remained unaware, focused on the singing crowd in the square. Once a step away, Djer made a chopping motion with his arm—and the trio of prisoners rushed upon the guards.
Bodies fell without a sound.
In a breath, the way was open.
“Go!” Djer yelled—both to the other prisoners and to Jake’s group.
In a mad rush, they all fled toward the arched exit. Most headed out into the square, igniting surprised shouts from the crowd. Jake and his friends took off in the opposite direction, sprinting down the main hall and up the closest set of stairs. Even disguised, Jake wanted to avoid the most traveled sections of the pyramid.
It proved a wise choice.
As they raced up the stairwell, the pounding of hard sandals and the rattle of swords and shields echoed from the lower hall. Jake waved, and they flattened against the wall. Below, a line of Egyptian soldiers swept down the main hall, heading toward the square, spears in hand. None of them noticed the outsiders hiding up the steps.
Jake also realized that it wasn’t just his friends who were skulking in the stairwell. The gray-bearded madman sat on a lower step, digging dirt from under a toenail as if he’d merely stopped during a pleasant hike. He’d somehow managed to get a cloak and had followed them rather than flee with Djer.
Why?
Noting Jake’s attention, the man looked up and winked again. Jake didn’t have time to question or shoo him off. It looked like they had a new companion on their quest.
Jake lifted the gold watch and checked his bearings. The needle continued to lead them deeper into the pyramid.
“C’mon,” he said, and got everyone moving.
Creeping more cautiously now, Jake led them up to the next level, where the hallways were narrower than below, crisscrossing in all directions.
Jake kept checking his father’s watch, making sure they were on the right path. Still, even with the Key in hand, he felt like a blind mouse searching for a hidden piece of cheese.
Luckily, they only encountered a few people in the upper halls, mostly servants scurrying with armfuls of folded linens or marching with brooms on their shoulders. Buried in their cloaks, Jake’s group was ignored.
At last, his father’s watch led them to a set of tall wooden doors strapped in gold. Hieroglyphics had been painted on the lintel above. If Jake had the time, he knew he could figure out what they said; but instead his full attention focused on a single symbol done in a mosaic of metals that was imbedded in the center of the door.
He flipped open the watch and compared the symbol to the inscribed ankh inside. They were almost identical.
The scarecrow of a man stepped forward and touched the emblem on the door. “Ankh Tawy.”
Jake understood. The symbol inside the watch and the one on the door both represented the lost city. He should have made the connection. The watch’s inscription was an ankh, and the city was called Ankh Tawy. He mentally slapped himself on the forehead.
The madman leaned forward and shoved one half of the great door open, splitting the symbol in half. He waved them inside, mumbling all the while.
Jake was the last one through. The others stood only a few steps past the threshold, transfixed. He knew why. Possibly at the very heart of the pyramid, a giant sandstone model of a city glowed in the torchlight. Dominating the cavernous chamber, it had to be a mock-up of Ankh Tawy.
Bach’uuk tugged on Jake’s sleeve and directed his friend’s gaze to a stepped pyramid in the center of the city. It looked identical to the great temple of Kukulkan in the valley of Calypsos, but for one detail. This one was missing the winged serpent at the top.
All around the model of the city were stands of broken bits of statuary, shelves full of pottery, even standing chunks of walls covered in tiled murals.
Jake stumbled forward, studying the cat-headed painting of the goddess Bast. Beyond it stood a broken-winged statue of the falcon-god Horus. A few steps away, a black obelisk carved in hieroglyphics pointed toward the roof.