When Leah opened her eyes, the familiar sight of the school field and the dancing branches of the willow tree greeted her. She grinned. They’d done it. They were home!

Mimi and George were beside her, blinking rapidly as if they’d just woken from a dream. And standing across from her was William. He met her gaze with wide eyes. She smiled at him.

‘Urgh!’ came a loud voice. ‘What are you wearing?’

Leah had forgotten all about Toby and Katie. They were standing behind William, exactly where they’d left them. Except, for Leah and her friends, two whole days had passed, whilst barely a second had passed for Toby and Katie.

The two of them were gaping at William, taking in his unfamiliar, dirty clothes, so different from their school uniform. Toby stared down at the blood-stained bandage circling William’s ankle in shock.

‘What did you losers do to him?’ Katie demanded.

‘Hey!’ William barked, rounding on her. ‘Don’t call them losers!’

Katie stumbled back, her eyes wide. ‘Uh, sorry, William. I just thought—’

‘Well, don’t think,’ William snapped. ‘Just shut up.’ His voice sounded like it used to when he was being mean to Leah and her friends. Katie stared at him, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Next to her, Toby wisely stayed silent.

When he was sure Katie wasn’t going to say anything more, William turned back to Leah, Mimi and George. He smiled at them apologetically. ‘Sorry about her,’ he said, and then he swallowed. ‘You . . . you won’t have to worry about anything like that any more.’

‘Thanks, William,’ Leah said, returning his smile.

‘After all,’ Mimi piped up, ‘I guess you’re one of us now.’

William laughed. ‘I guess so. Although . . . maybe next time, I’ll stay at home. I think one trip is enough for me. Besides, Annabelle needs me here.’ There was an awkward silence as they all stared at each other. ‘Well,’ William said finally. ‘I guess I’d better be going. Thanks . . . uh . . . well, just thanks, I guess.’

He turned and started to limp back across the field, but Leah suddenly stepped forward. ‘Hey, William, wait!’ she called. He paused, turning to look over his shoulder. ‘What you said in the pyramid . . . about your friends?’ She rubbed her head self-consciously and gave him a shy smile. ‘I hope you know that Khalid isn’t your only real friend now. You’ve got three others right here.’

William smiled so broadly that his entire face lit up. And then he turned and headed back towards the school, Toby and Katie trailing behind him.

‘Does this mean we have to eat lunch with him and tell him our secrets?’ Mimi said, her head tilted to one side.

Leah laughed. ‘Maybe only sometimes.’

George sank to the ground with a huff of relief, lying back and spreading his arms out. ‘I’ve never been so pleased to see grass,’ he sighed.

‘I thought you liked Egypt,’ Leah teased.

‘I did!’ George said defensively. ‘At least until the pit with the spikes and the stones and the snakes.’

‘And the room that tried to drown us in sand,’ Mimi said helpfully.

‘Yeah . . .’ George rubbed his cheek against the field. ‘Grass is much safer than all of that.’

‘I wonder if we’ll find Amina’s name in your book, George!’ Mimi said, picking up the history book George had borrowed from the library.

‘I bet we will!’ George cried, taking it from her and thumbing through the pages. He turned to the index and ran his finger down the list of topics. ‘Yes! Look! There’s a whole section on the Pharaoh’s Fortune!’

‘What does it say?’ Mimi asked excitedly.

George’s eyes scanned the text frantically and he beamed. ‘Amina set up her museum and became one of the most respected Egyptologists of all time! Wow, she discovered loads of ancient ruins in the desert, too! It says here that she paved the way for female historians across the world and many regard her as one of the main reasons we understand Ancient Egypt as well as we do today.’

‘Is there anything about Khalid?’ Leah asked eagerly.

George bit his lip as he read on further and then he nodded eagerly. ‘Yes! It says “Amina Hossam’s nephew, Khalid Hossam, was also a well-respected explorer and is known predominantly for his tomb excavations, many of which were incredibly dangerous. In the later years of his life, Khalid Hossam took over the management of his aunt’s museum, working hard to preserve and protect the artefacts of Ancient Egypt”.’

‘So, he became an intrepid explorer after all!’ Leah smiled, her heart warming at the thought of Amina and Khalid fulfilling their dreams. They both deserved to be recognised for their achievements.

As George flicked through his book in search of more mentions of their friends, Leah sank down next to him and reached for her abandoned backpack. She was anxious to get the watch back where it belonged, and she dug through her bag until she found the silver box. But as she lifted it out, it slipped from her hand and dropped to the ground with a metallic clang. The lid popped open and something came flying out to land in the grass.

‘What was that?’ Mimi gasped and George bolted upright, the history book forgotten.

‘I don’t know,’ Leah said. She leaned forward, reaching through the grass. Her hand found a wooden handle and she lifted the object up, the sun’s light sparkling off the glass circle atop it.

‘It’s a magnifying glass!’ George said.

‘Why would the box send us a magnifying glass?’ Leah asked.

‘Well, all the best movie detectives have them, you know,’ Mimi said, leaning forward to inspect the magnifying glass. ‘To search for clues.’

Leah held the magnifying glass up to her eye and stared around. The lens distorted everything, zooming in and making objects look bigger than they were.

‘It doesn’t seem that magical,’ she said, taking it away from her face.

Mimi shrugged. ‘I don’t think that means anything, though. Neither the watch nor the compass seemed out of the ordinary at first.’

Mimi was right. Just because the magnifying glass looked normal, that didn’t necessarily mean it was.

‘Soooo . . . is the watch going to send us on another adventure, then?’ George said. He looked faintly ill as if he were remembering just how exciting their last trip into the past had been.

‘It must be!’ Mimi said excitedly. ‘Why would it send us another object if we aren’t going to get the chance to use it?’

Leah grinned at them both. ‘Who knows? Maybe the box just wanted to reward us for solving another mystery.’ She replaced the magnifying glass gently in the silver box, putting the watch next to it. Mimi added the compass. They stared down at the three objects.

‘It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?’ Mimi said suddenly with a grin. ‘The Wonder Team: Detectives extraordinaire!’

They all laughed as Leah shut the lid on the box and slid it back into her bag.