Leah whirled back towards the altar, scooping the amulet up and cradling it against her chest. She sprinted down the steps and leapt over the few snakes that had made it as far as the altar. She grabbed Mimi’s hand. Both of their palms were damp with sweat.

‘We need to move!’ Leah cried urgently.

‘But where?’ Mimi exclaimed, her eyes darting around the room. The only way out was covered by a giant boulder.

‘As long as it’s away from them, I don’t care!’ Leah said, dragging her friend away from the altar and through the statues. Bast leapt down from her perch, her back arched, fur standing up straight, as she hissed menacingly at the advancing snakes. They hissed right back.

It seemed that in the few short seconds it had taken them to get away from the altar, the snakes had multiplied. Everywhere she looked, Leah felt as though more were appearing every minute, and they moved surprisingly fast. Leah jumped over one, only to have to skip around another . . .

‘I think they might be cobras!’ she told her friends breathlessly.

‘What does that mean?’ George cried, as he leapt over a particularly big snake.

‘It means they’re very, very poisonous,’ Khalid answered. He had William’s arm draped over his shoulder as they hobbled towards the others. ‘So don’t let them bite you!’

‘And try not to turn your back on them, either!’ William added.

‘We can’t keep this up, L!’ Mimi panted. ‘We need a plan!’

Leah wracked her brains. How were they going to get out of this? They needed time to think! Her eyes scanned the room and landed on the statues.

‘Climb!’ she cried, pulling herself up onto the plinth holding the god Khalid had called Horus. She clung onto the tip of his hat as she turned and heaved Mimi up, and then George. William, wincing as he put pressure on his injured ankle followed, and finally Khalid. Bast leapt up after him, her fur standing on end and her eyes wild as she spat and hissed at the snakes.

It was a struggle trying to fit them all onto the plinth. Below Leah, Mimi clung to the side of Horus’s head, whilst George gripped his stone beak. At the bottom, William and Khalid wrapped their arms around his neck, with Bast balanced on Khalid’s shoulder. The statue wobbled beneath their weight.

‘Stop moving so much!’ Leah said, as the statue tilted alarmingly to the left. ‘We’ll fall off!’

‘We can’t help it!’ Khalid said through gritted teeth, but they all held themselves as still as they could and the statue stilled.

Below, the snakes swarmed around Horus’s legs. They reminded Leah unpleasantly of worms burrowing through the mud.

‘Is it just me, or are there more snakes now than there were a moment ago?’ William asked, his eyes filled with alarm.

‘It’s not just you,’ Leah said grimly, as she stared at the horde of cobras waiting eagerly for one of them to fall. ‘There are more.’

‘What are we going to do?’ George moaned. ‘We’ve got the amulet, but we don’t know where the exit is and even if we did, we’re stuck here unless we can get past those!’ He pointed at the snakes and then squeezed his eyes shut as if he couldn’t bear to look at them any more.

Leah’s mind whirled furiously as she thought through their options. George was right. Before they could focus on how to deal with the snakes, they needed to know where they were going.

‘Khalid, Amina’s secret exit. Where is it?’ Leah asked, desperately.

Khalid had already retrieved the map and he waved it frantically in the air. The statue wobbled and they all gasped, holding on tight until, thankfully, it settled. Leah blew out a breath of relief. Below, the snakes boiled like froth on a cauldron.

‘Sorry,’ Khalid said with a sheepish smile, but then he frowned. ‘I don’t know where the exit is. Neither did Amma. She only guessed there might be one here.’

‘It’s not on the map?’ William panted, his eyes fixed on the snakes.

Khalid shook his head in frustration.

‘So we really are stuck!’ George wailed.

‘Let me see!’ Leah said, thrusting a hand over Horus’s chest so Khalid could hand her the papyrus. She peered at the lines, locating the longest one. There was a square at the end to mark this room, but there was nothing else. Leah’s heart sank and all hope drained out of her body. They’d come so close. They’d even found the Pharaoh’s Fortune. But it didn’t matter anyway. ‘We’re stuck here,’ Leah said, her voice faintly surprised, as if she couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth.

‘Wait!’ Mimi said suddenly. ‘I have an idea! Leah, do you still have the amulet?’

‘Yes,’ Leah said. The scarab was still clutched against her chest.

‘Give it to me. And the map,’ Mimi instructed, twisting slightly and holding her hand up. Moving slowly so that they didn’t topple off into the swarm of snakes below, Leah handed the amulet and the map down to Mimi. They all watched her carefully spread the map out on the side of Horus’s head. Then she lifted the amulet above it and moved it backwards and forwards over the papyrus as if she were scanning it at a checkout counter.

‘What are you doing?’ William said desperately.

Mimi rolled her eyes. ‘You guys don’t watch enough movies. In the films, you always have to do some kind of trick to get the map to reveal its secrets. This is gonna work, I can feel it.’

Leah sighed, exasperated. ‘Mimi, you’re wasting time! That’s not going to— Wait!’ she cried. ‘Move the scarab wing back towards that box, so the ruby is facing towards the papyrus.’ She pointed at the small square that showed the room they were in.

Mimi did as she was told and Leah leaned forward squinting. As the light of the ruby shone onto the paper, a faint dot appeared along one line of the square.

‘I see it!’ Khalid exclaimed excitedly.

‘See!’ Mimi said triumphantly. ‘I told you!’

‘But which wall is it?’ George asked anxiously.

Khalid reached up, his fingers stretched out for the map. ‘Let me see,’ he said. Carefully, Mimi handed him the papyrus. Moving slowly so that he didn’t upset their balance, Khalid turned it this way and that. As soon as the ruby’s light disappeared, so too did the dot. ‘We came in there, so that means this wall is here . . . It’s there!’ He pointed to the wall directly behind the altar. ‘The exit is there!’

Leah beamed. ‘Great teamwork, guys!’

‘Uh, are you all forgetting something?’ William said, his eyes wide. He gestured to the floor below them. ‘We know where the exit is, but we can’t get there because there’s a million snakes doing their best to eat us!’

‘Aha!’ Khalid said with a smile. ‘I have a plan. Snakes don’t hear like we do, but they can sense vibrations in the ground.’

‘Khalid, we don’t need a biology lesson right now,’ Mimi said through gritted teeth, as Khalid dug around carefully in his satchel. She peered down at the tangle of snakes writhing around on the pyramid floor. Venomous fangs glinted in the torchlight.

Khalid once again pulled the white bag of hard-boiled sweets out of his satchel. ‘I’m explaining how we’re going to get out of this. If I throw sweets across the floor, the snakes will hear the vibrations. They’ll follow them, thinking it’s us.’

‘But when we get down, won’t they hear our vibrations?’ George said, his eyebrows knotted above anxious eyes.

Khalid laughed nervously. ‘That’s why we’ve got to be really quick.’

George inhaled sharply and squeezed his eyes shut, clinging to Horus so hard that his fingertips turned white. ‘We’re all going to be eaten by snakes.’

‘Trust me, this will work!’ Khalid insisted.

Khalid scooped out a handful of red sweets from the bag. He took a deep breath. ‘As soon as I throw these, we’ve got to move,’ he said. ‘Are you all ready?’

Leah bit her lip and looked at her friends. Their eyes were wide, their expressions filled with panic. Was she ready? She had to be. She had to be brave for them. If she wasn’t they’d never get out of here and they’d never get home. Steeling herself, she gave a firm nod. ‘We’re ready, Khalid. Do it.’

She shoved down the fear that whirled through her. If their plan failed, she didn’t think there’d be enough time for them to climb another statue. Which meant they had to get this right the first time.

With a flourish, Khalid flung his arm out, sending sweets spiralling across the room with a clatter.

The snakes moved instantly, turning and heading towards the source of the vibration. The base of the statue was finally clear.

‘Quick!’ Leah said. ‘While they’re distracted!’

‘And remember, tiptoes!’ Khalid hissed, as he hopped carefully to the floor. Mimi shimmied down the side of the statue, landing lightly on her feet. Leah watched the snakes, but they continued their pursuit of the sweets. Relief surged through her as George and William followed Mimi without incident, although William winced in pain as he landed on his ankle. Mimi moved to help him but he waved her away.

Leah was the last to climb down. She tried to imagine that she was as light as a feather, and when her feet touched the floor, she stayed on her tiptoes. Khalid gave her an encouraging thumbs up, and then he scooped up another handful of sweets, scattering them across the floor and sending a wave of snakes crashing after them.

‘Come on!’ he whispered, and began to slink across the room back towards the altar. The others followed behind him, trying to be quick and quiet all at once. As they left the statue of Horus behind them and crept towards a line of canopic jars, Leah glanced over her shoulder. Most of the snakes were still distracted, but a few must have picked up on their vibrations and were writhing their way across the floor towards them, hissing viciously.

‘Khalid!’ Leah breathed. Everyone froze, staring at the snakes surging towards them.

‘I have an idea!’ George exclaimed, suddenly. He reached over to one of the canopic jars and tilted it so that it was leaning on its side. Then, with a grunt, he sent it rolling across the floor. The snakes changed direction abruptly, chasing the jar as it rolled away from the children.

Leah’s shoulders sagged in relief. ‘Nice one, George!’ she breathed. There wasn’t far to go now, and Leah felt hope surge through her. They were going to make it! They were going to escape the snakes and get the Pharaoh’s Fortune back to Amina. They were going to—

Suddenly a gasp came from behind Leah, and she spun around, expecting to see a wave of snakes coming towards her. Instead, she saw William. He was bent over, gripping his bandaged ankle, his face a mask of pain. He reached a hand out to steady himself, bracing his body against Hathor’s legs. Leah watched in horror as the cow goddess began to wobble under his weight.

‘William, no!’ she gasped. But it was too late. The statue tilted to the side and William lost his balance as it toppled off its plinth, landing with a resounding crash that thundered around the room.

There was a beat of silence, and then Leah heard the frantic hiss and swish of hundreds of snakes weaving their way across the floor towards them.

‘Run!’ Khalid cried, all attempts at stealth and sneakiness forgotten.

Leah sprinted forward, grabbing William’s arm. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the wave of snakes ploughing towards them, but then William was up and they were staggering towards the others.

‘Quick!’ Khalid panted, sweat dripping down his forehead. He stood with a handful of sweets at the ready, a hissing Bast cradled in the crook of his arm. ‘Look for a lever, or a handle, or something! I’ll try to distract them as long as I can!’

Mimi and George were already frantically scanning the wall, running their hands over the craggy stone. As Leah and William joined them, Leah heard the familiar click of sweets as Khalid threw handful after handful, trying to distract the hissing horde of snakes. Leah knew he wouldn’t be able to do it forever – eventually, the sweets would run out.

‘I can’t see anything!’ William growled.

‘Me neither!’ George groaned, as he swung the torch left and right, searching frantically.

‘There must be something here, somewhere!’ Leah said urgently. They had to find the exit! If they didn’t, they were doomed!

‘Hey!’ William suddenly shouted, his voice full of excitement. ‘There’s a hole here!’ He pointed to a small dark circle in the wall. He put his hand in it, searching for a handle to pull, but he shook his head aggressively. ‘Ugh! There’s nothing in it!’

‘Guys!’ Khalid called, his voice full of panic. ‘I’m down to my last handful of sweets!’ Leah squeezed her eyes shut, thinking frantically. She felt like she was missing something.

Abruptly, she snapped her eyes open. That was it! ‘The amulet!’ she cried. ‘What if Mimi’s right and it’s all connected? What if it’s the key to the map and the door? That hole looks about the right size for it!’

‘Leah!’ William beamed. ‘You’re a genius!’

‘Quick!’ Mimi cried. She thrust the amulet towards Leah.

‘They’re coming!’ Khalid suddenly roared, sprinting to the wall, breathing hard, his bag of sweets finally empty. There was nothing between them and the horde of cobras surging across the floor.

Her fingers shaking, Leah pushed the amulet into the hole. She held her breath.

It was a perfect fit!

There was a grinding noise and then the wall in front of them slid open, revealing the sands of the Egyptian desert and the inky blue of the star-flecked night sky. As the wall gave way, the five of them tumbled through, desperate to get away from the swarm of venomous snakes coming for them. Leah just managed to grab the amulet from the wall as she went.

Behind them, there was a sudden whoosh as if all the air had been pushed out of the room. Leah spun around, just in time to see the ground in front of the exit split open into a yawning pit that reached all the way back to the altar. Snakes and rocks cascaded down into the darkness below like a great hissing waterfall.

Leah watched in astonishment. When the final snake had disappeared, quiet descended, the only sound that of the desert wind whisking its way across the sand dunes. Leah stared at her friends with wide eyes.

‘We made it!’ Mimi gasped.

Leah laughed. ‘Just about!’ she wheezed.

And then suddenly, they were all laughing, clutching at each other, dizzy with the relief of their near escape.

‘Come on,’ Leah said finally when she’d managed to get control of herself. She wiped her eyes and gave them all a brilliant grin. ‘Let’s go and find Amina and show her what we’ve discovered.’

‘Did you get it?’ Khalid said eagerly and Leah nodded, holding up the amulet. They all sighed in relief. It hadn’t been for nothing. They’d made it out and they’d found the lost amulet, too! In the dim light from their torch, the precious stones studding its surface twinkled and gleamed. Leah could see why it had earned the name of ‘Pharaoh’s Fortune’.

George suddenly shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. ‘It’s r-really c-c-cold up here,’ he said, his teeth chattering.

Now that they were out of the pyramid and the adrenaline was fading, Leah’s arms were covered in goosebumps as the brisk wind whirled around them in punishingly cold blasts.

‘Let’s get back down to camp.’

The doorway had led them onto a side of the pyramid facing away from the Great Sphinx. There wasn’t a staircase or anything, and the jagged pathway meant that the climb down was a little precarious in the dark. Next to them, the pyramid sloped away in an almost vertical drop, and they all kept as close to the wall as they could. Leah offered William her arm to help him navigate the uneven pathway, but he shook his head.

‘It’s okay,’ he told her. ‘The pain isn’t too bad now.’

Even so, the five of them made slow progress, testing every foothold. Khalid returned Bast to her usual position in his satchel, and every now and then, she let out an encouraging meow.

‘Look!’ Mimi suddenly whispered. ‘There’s a light down there! I can see people! Maybe someone from the camp has come to help us.’

Sure enough, they could see a bud of flame blooming in the darkness and a cluster of figures standing a little way down the pyramid, balancing unevenly on the rocky side. The children began to move faster. As they got closer, they finally made out a familiar moustache and thick bushy eyebrows.

‘There’s Professor Gladstone!’ Khalid said with relief.

‘Who’s that with him?’ George said, squinting.

‘Leah . . .’ William said from behind. His voice sounded uncertain. ‘I think we should stop.’

‘What are you talking about, William? We’re so close now! The professor will help,’ Leah said.

‘No, Leah, wait!’ William cried, and he lunged forward, grabbing her arm and pulling her to an abrupt halt. ‘Look at his face!’

Leah already knew what she would see: familiar eyes, crinkled with kindness, and a soft smile, inviting them to tell him all about what had happened inside the pyramid. Except, when Leah looked closer, she realised that the professor didn’t look like he normally did. Dressed in a thick fur coat to protect himself against the cold, he stared at them from beneath a furrowed brow with his arms crossed and a cold smile on his lips. And as for his eyes . . . they didn’t look very kind at all. On either side of him were the two burly bodyguards that had been stationed outside of the professor’s tent, their arms crossed as they glared menacingly at Leah and her friends.