‘Professor,’ Khalid said with surprise. ‘What’s wrong?’ He eyed the bodyguards nervously.

‘Oh, children,’ said Gladstone. He came forward, shaking his head. ‘I’m not the one you should be worrying about! I saw you go into the pyramid – what were you all thinking?’

Khalid’s shoulders relaxed at the professor’s kind tone and a wide smile broke out across his face. ‘Oh, Professor, you won’t believe what happened to us—’

‘Khalid,’ Leah interrupted, her gaze still fixed on Gladstone’s bodyguards. Her stomach was churning. Something didn’t feel right. ‘I don’t think we should—’

‘Whatever are you talking about?’ Gladstone said, speaking over her as he hobbled awkwardly towards them across the uneven stones. He winced slightly as his left knee gave a painful crack. ‘What happened to you?’

Leah thrust the hand holding the amulet behind her back. She didn’t know why, but something was telling her that she couldn’t let Gladstone know she had the Pharaoh’s Fortune.

There was silence as the professor stared at them. Leah shivered, the wind raking over her bare arms. She suddenly became aware of how high up they were as the icy breeze sent stones rattling down the sheer side of the pyramid.

Suddenly, Gladstone burst into laughter. There was no happiness in the sound. It echoed around them, full of something like desperate relief. There was definitely something wrong.

‘You marvellous, wonderful children. You’ve actually done it, haven’t you? Do you know what you’ve achieved?’ he cackled.

‘P-professor, we don’t know what you’re talking about,’ George stuttered. He’d never been very good at telling lies.

Gladstone waved a dismissive hand. ‘Oh, there’s no use denying it. I know what Amina has been searching for. Say, would you mind very much showing it to me? I’d love to see it before Amina takes it away to study.’ It was hard to see his expression in the darkness, but Leah thought she saw a flash of something hard and hungry in his blue eyes.

The others looked at Leah uncertainly. Even Khalid seemed unsure.

‘No!’ William breathed, his forehead creased in a worried frown. His teeth were chattering from the cold. Out of the corner of her eye, Leah thought she saw Gladstone’s bodyguards take a step forward.

Khalid coughed nervously. ‘Um, go on, Leah. Show the professor the amulet.’

Everything in Leah wanted to refuse, but she had no choice, not with Gladstone’s bodyguards staring at her so intently. She pulled her arm out from behind her back, the Pharaoh’s Fortune clutched tightly in her palm.

The professor inhaled sharply. ‘It’s magnificent!’ he cried, shuffling closer, his eyes focused entirely on the scarab. ‘Extraordinary!’ Finally, he looked up at the children and gave a cold smile.

‘I can see you’ve all been through quite a traumatic time. Why don’t I take the amulet for now and keep it safe? We can all head back to the camp together.’

‘No, thank you,’ Leah said, shaking her head. She felt sick. ‘The Pharaoh’s Fortune belongs to Amina.’

There was silence and then the professor’s mouth curled in an ugly sneer. His eyes narrowed.

‘And what will Amina do with it?’ he snarled, his fists curling and uncurling in anger. ‘Oh yes, she has these big dreams of becoming a famous scholar, but a woman will never be taken seriously as an Egyptologist! She could be the most talented scholar in the world, but it wouldn’t make a scrap of difference. Women aren’t meant to interfere in the masculine arts.’

‘It shouldn’t matter if she’s a man or a woman,’ Leah cried. ‘She’s talented and she can make a difference!’

‘Ha!’ Gladstone snorted. ‘You’re young. You don’t understand how the world works. Now give me that amulet – I won’t let you or Amina or anyone take my glory!’

His glory? In the back of her mind, Leah remembered how William had said almost the exact same words to her back home on the football pitch. He’d said it because he felt that he deserved the goal, that the victory belonged to him, and not to her . . . Leah’s stomach swooped as all the pieces of the puzzle she’d been holding in her mind suddenly began to slot into place. Now, everything made sense.

‘You’ve been using Amina!’ Leah exclaimed and next to her, Khalid gasped. ‘You’ve been acting like her mentor, but it was all pretend, wasn’t it? You were going to steal everything from her!’

Gladstone said nothing as if daring her to continue.

Leah was shivering, her arms clutched around herself, but she tried to ignore that as she took a deep breath. ‘You befriended Amina on purpose because you suspected she knew something about the Pharaoh’s Fortune. You couldn’t go and get it – you’re too old to go into the pyramids, now. You said so yourself.’ The words were tumbling out of Leah’s mouth. ‘And then once she did find it, you planned to take it from her and claim the discovery as your own. You wanted the glory for yourself.’

‘You took Amina’s brown folder!’ Mimi cried, stepping forward. ‘The one that went missing from her bag. You planned to steal Amina’s work and pretend it was yours!’

The professor looked at them for a moment, ‘Do you have any idea what it’s like to dedicate your life to something, to study for years and years with not an ounce of recognition for your service? Of course you don’t. All of those scholars . . . they look at me with pity. But not any more! Once I have that amulet and I release my paper, the name of Charles Gladstone will go down in history as one of the most brilliant and most respected Egyptologists of all time!’ Then he let out a low laugh. ‘My, my, you children are much cleverer than I gave you credit for,’ he said. ‘Perhaps my associates and I were too sloppy.’

‘Travers!’ George breathed. ‘That’s why he’s here in Cairo! He tried to pretend he wasn’t interested in the amulet, but, really, that’s what he’s been after all along.’

Khalid shook his head. ‘But . . . I don’t understand. If you’re happy to share the discovery of the amulet with Travers, why won’t you share it with Amma?’

Gladstone snorted, and behind him, the two muscular bodyguards laughed cruelly. ‘Travers is a well-respected historian,’ Gladstone said slowly, as if they were too stupid to understand him. ‘A very rich, well-respected historian. Your aunt is just some woman with ridiculous fancies and no prospects in life.’

‘She won’t let you get away with this!’ Khalid warned. ‘We won’t let you get away with this!’

‘I already have,’ Gladstone said loftily. Leah and her friends shuffled backwards, huddling together and keeping as far away as they could from the sheer drop next to them. William gave a gasp as his foot landed perilously close to the edge.

‘No one will question me when I tell them all about your unfortunate demise. I tried to stop you, of course, but you refused to listen. What a tragedy.’ Gladstone shook his head sadly and then gave them an ugly smile. ‘No one will come looking for you once I tell them that you were all lost in the tunnels of Khufu’s great pyramid.’ Then, with his hands outstretched, he stepped menacingly towards them, the two bodyguards leering as they loomed behind him.