When the others joined Khalid, it took Leah a second to understand what she was seeing. She blinked twice and gave an astonished laugh, the terror of what had just happened momentarily forgotten.

The room in front of her was huge, bigger than the assembly hall at school. Every single wall was covered in exquisite paintings. Men, women and animals were all represented in vividly coloured images. Even the Nile hadn’t been forgotten, its ribbon-like waters painted a blue that was a surprisingly good match to the crystal-like river the children had travelled on. And amongst it all was gold. Not real, metal gold like Leah’s parents’ wedding rings, but gold paint that had been painstakingly applied to the images and glinted like magic in the light from the torches.

‘What is this place?’ William said, his voice filled with wonder.

‘Look at those statues!’ George said, pointing. In front of them, a path spread away, leading to an altar. Lining the path were dozens of marble statues. One had a man’s body, but a falcon’s head.

‘These are important gods and goddesses,’ Khalid explained, seeing Leah’s expression. ‘That one that looks like a falcon is Horus, the god of war and hunting. And, oh! That one next to him, the lady that’s half cow? That’s Hathor and she represents motherhood.’

‘What are all these jars for, Khalid?’ Mimi called from across the room. The others had all spread out and were busy exploring.

Before Khalid could answer, George piped up, ‘Oh! I know what those are. They’re canopic jars. Remember how I told you that when the Ancient Egyptians made mummies, they used to pull their brains out of their noses? Well, they stored all the brains and organs in those jars.’ George beamed.

‘Eww!’ Mimi exclaimed, taking a big step back from the largest jar. She looked a little queasy.

‘But what’s it all doing in here?’ Leah said thoughtfully. They hadn’t seen anything else like this in their travels through the pyramid.

Khalid pulled the map out and consulted it. He gave a sudden gasp and looked up. Then he looked down again. Finally, he grinned broadly.

‘What?’ Leah asked urgently. ‘What is it?’

‘We’ve done it!’ Khalid whispered, turning to her. ‘We’ve reached the end of the longest path on the map! This must be where the Pharaoh’s Fortune is hidden!’

‘Hidden?’ called Mimi. She was standing next to a carving of a regal-looking cat. Bast was curled up between its great stone paws. ‘I wouldn’t say it’s exactly hidden, would you?’ She pointed to the altar at the end of the avenue of gods and goddesses. Now that Leah was closer, she saw there was a golden box glinting on top of the marble pedestal. If the Pharaoh’s Fortune really was in there, and William was right, soon they’d be able to go home!

As the five of them approached the three shallow steps leading up to the plinth, with William leaning on Leah for support, the four torches surrounding the altar suddenly flared to life, flames bursting from nowhere. They all came to an abrupt halt, tensing in case another trap was about to be unleashed upon them, but nothing happened. Leah whistled in relief and let herself relax.

‘That is so creepy,’ Mimi murmured.

‘I can’t believe it,’ Khalid whispered, staring up at the box as if he was in a trance. ‘Amma Amina was right. The scarab amulet must be inside.’ He turned to the others, his eyes dancing with excitement. ‘Do you know what this means? Do you know how important this is? Now those scholars will have to take Amma seriously! Finally, they’ll see how clever she is and stop saying she can’t do it because she’s a woman!’ He jumped from foot to foot, and Bast meowed merrily from her position at the bottom of the cat statue.

Leah, though, eyed the box with suspicion. Surely it would be too easy for them to just walk up and take the amulet? There had to be some sort of trap hidden somewhere. ‘Let’s check the map before we do anything. Does it have any booby traps labelled on it?’

Khalid shook his head, his eyes fixed on the golden box. ‘I already checked. It’s clear,’ he said. But he didn’t move any closer to the steps.

There was a pause as they all looked up at the altar.

‘Well, someone needs to go and get it,’ William said, a trace of his old rudeness in his voice.

Leah bit her lip when none of them moved. Her stomach swirled with nerves, but she knew that if they wanted to get out of here, they needed to know if the amulet was in that box. She sighed. ‘I’ll do it,’ she said. ‘Just watch out, though. I might trigger something.’

The others didn’t speak as Leah edged her way towards the bottom step. She sucked in a deep breath and stepped onto it. She braced herself, waiting for the tell-tale click of an activated trap, but there was nothing. Breathing a sigh of relief, she climbed the second step and then the third until she reached the platform holding the pedestal and the box.

‘Everything looks good from down here!’ Khalid called. He was eagle-eyed, scanning the room for any signs of stones, or sand, or giant rolling boulders.

Feeling her confidence grow, Leah studied the box on the altar. It was by far the most elegant thing in the room. Made of gold, it was covered in beautifully carved hieroglyphs. Around the lid, black and red precious stones alternated in a dazzling band. Her fingers shaking slightly, Leah reached forward and opened it.

Or, at least, she tried to. The lid was stuck fast.

‘Ugh!’ she growled in frustration. ‘It won’t open.’

Khalid’s face fell in disappointment, as George called, ‘Is there some kind of catch, or a button?’

Leah shook her head. ‘No, but . . . there are a ton of hieroglyphs. Khalid, come up here. I’m going to need your help translating them.’

Khalid rushed up the steps. ‘Wow,’ he murmured as he admired the box. ‘It’s so beautiful!’

‘The hieroglyphs, Khalid,’ Leah prompted him.

‘Oh, yes, of course,’ Khalid said, jolting to attention and narrowing his eyes as he studied the markings on the box. ‘So, upright feather, and then vulture. Owl next . . .’ he worked in silence for a few minutes and then he straightened with a frown. ‘I think . . . I think it might be a riddle. Listen: “I am not man or thing, and few dare brave my sting. I coil like rope and I feed on useless hope. You’d best avoid my spring.”’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ George said.

Leah didn’t answer as she ran the riddle through her mind. Below, she could see that George, Mimi and William were doing the same thing.

‘Any ideas?’ Khalid asked, and Leah shook her head in frustration.

‘William, aren’t you supposed to be good at puzzles and breaking codes?’ Mimi asked.

William ran a hand through his hair. ‘Yeah, but . . . I’ve never been very good with words. Riddles aren’t really my thing.’

‘What about a bee?’ George suddenly piped up. ‘Bees sting, don’t they?’

‘Yeah, but what about that bit about the rope? “I coil like rope and I feed on useless hope.” Bees don’t look like rope,’ Khalid pointed out. Then his face brightened. ‘Oh! What about fire? The way fire moves, sometimes it can coil and spring.’

Leah shook her head. That didn’t seem right. ‘Fire burns,’ she said.

Mimi huffed in frustration. ‘Are there any more clues up there, L?’ she asked. Leah scanned the box, but there was nothing but the hieroglyphs. Then, her gaze drifted down to the marble altar it was sitting upon. Her eyes widened.

‘Wait! Yes! There are three pictures carved onto the altar! A lion, a scorpion and a snake. They look a bit like buttons.’

‘One of those must be the answer!’ Khalid said excitedly.

‘Well, it can’t possibly be a lion,’ William said. ‘They don’t sting, they just bite your head off.’

‘But it could be either a snake or a scorpion,’ George mused. ‘Both of them have stingers.’

‘I don’t think snakes sting,’ Mimi argued. ‘It must be a scorpion.’

‘Maybe we should just pick one and see what happens,’ Khalid said with a shrug.

‘But what if we pick the wrong one?’ George said anxiously, wringing his hands together. ‘What if we press the wrong button and something terrible happens?’

‘We can’t just stay here, though, George,’ William snapped. ‘We have to do something!’

‘I know that!’ George said, raising his voice. ‘But don’t you think this is kind of a big decision? We need to be really sure!’

‘Scorpion!’ Mimi suddenly shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. ‘Press the scorpion!’

‘No!’ William argued, glaring at Mimi.

Leah stared between her friends, dread rumbling in her stomach. They were wasting time. They needed to make a decision. This whole place had been one trap after the other and this didn’t feel any different.

‘Arguing about it isn’t going to get us any closer to the answer.’ Leah spun to face Khalid. ‘What do you think? Have you ever seen a scorpion before?’

He shook his head. ‘I’ve never seen one up close. I don’t think “spring” is the right word to describe how they move, though. They sort of . . . bunch up and then pounce.’

‘Leah, listen,’ William said urgently. ‘Snakes coil, just like rope. And their bite is full of venom, which stings. But it’s the second bit, where it says they “feed on useless hope” – that’s the most important bit. Because you shouldn’t turn your back on a snake. You might hope you can get away, but turning your back and running only means the snake will bite you faster.’

Leah chewed her lip in worry, but William caught her eye and held it. ‘Trust me,’ he said. ‘I’m right, I know it.’

‘I’m going to press the snake,’ she said loudly, her eyes pinned to the buttons on the altar.

‘L, no!’ Mimi gasped. She jerked forward, as if she might charge up the stairs and stop her, but it was too late. Leah had already reached out and pressed the carving of the snake.

‘Leah!’ George whimpered. ‘What have you done?’

Leah didn’t answer as she watched the button sink into the altar with a groan. The seconds seemed to stretch out as she waited for something to happen. Was the ceiling about to collapse in on them? Was a large pit full of spikes waiting to open and swallow them whole?

Had she doomed them all?

Leah felt cold all over, as if she’d been dipped in icy water. She’d made a terrible, terrible mistake . . .

Suddenly, as if someone had turned a key, the lid of the golden box sprang open. Leah gave a shout of triumphant relief, grinning even as her legs wobbled like they were made from jelly. Next to her, Khalid beamed.

‘I told you it was snake!’ William shouted happily, clapping a dazed Mimi on the back.

‘Is it in there?’ George called anxiously, standing on his tiptoes as if he might be able to see inside.

Leah leaned forward and gasped.

The inside of the box was lined with black silk, and nestled amongst the folds of fabric was a golden scarab beetle the same size as Leah’s hand. It was attached to a long gold chain. Almost every inch of it was encrusted with gems, and there, in place of its wings, were the two gleaming rubies that Leah had admired in the painting she’d seen in the bazaar. It was the most beautiful piece of jewellery Leah had ever seen. Suddenly, she understood why so many people were obsessed with it.

‘It’s here,’ she confirmed, reaching her hand in to lift it out. But as her fingers touched those ruby wings, Mimi let out a blood-curdling scream.

Leah spun around, the amulet momentarily forgotten. Mimi’s face was a mask of horror as she hopped from foot to foot. Writhing around on the floor was a snake, its body coiling as it tracked Mimi’s movements.

‘Mimi! Don’t panic!’ Khalid called. ‘It’ll only make it worse!’

‘It’s already getting worse,’ George gasped, as he pointed towards the entrance. Leah followed his finger and fright washed through her as she saw another snake appear from a hole in the wall, and then another, and then another. They had to move, and they had to do it quickly.

‘Run!’ she shouted.