The slope of the ridge was gentler toward the base, and they stayed low until they skirted around the other campsite. Ren knew the deal. They’d been ambushed repeatedly. None of them were in an especially trusting mood — and the phrase “thrill seekers” didn’t inspire much confidence, especially the way the taxi driver had said it. They were dripping with sweat by the time they dropped their stuff half a mile later, on a small, reasonably flat plateau just beneath the top of the ridge that encircled the valley.

“How about here for the tent?” said Alex.

“Okay,” said Ren. “You two set your tent up over there. I’ll set mine up over here.”

They all dropped their heavy packs onto the hot ground.

“You bought your own?” said Alex.

“Uh, yeah,” she said. “You boys stink.”

Alex stood there, two half-moons of sweat under the arms of his T-shirt, and said, “Then why have I been lugging this circus tent around all day?”

He tugged an oversized roll of green nylon from his pack as Luke removed the stakes and collapsible poles from his. Ren didn’t answer, already kneeling down to remove a small, light-blue pup tent from her pack.

She unfolded the directions and began following them carefully. Fifteen minutes later, she was done. She stood back and considered her work: It looked exactly like the picture on the package. She nodded and looked over at Alex and Luke.

It looked like they were playing Twister with twenty pounds of nylon. The instructions, utterly ignored, had blown halfway down the slope.

“Little help?” said Alex, looking over.

Ren considered it, but it was really hot out in the sun. They would have to settle for encouragement. “Good luck!” she called, and then climbed into her little tent to unpack. “Let me know when you’re done!”

She pulled her stuff inside the warm, plastic-smelling air of the tent and spread out her new foam pad. She checked her phone. No surprise: no service out here in the desert. She wished she could lie down and rest, but they had a mission to get to. For just a second, she thought of that. Finding the Spells and putting an end to all this — going home!

But there was a problem, too. Their plan involved the amulets. Alex’s with its radar for the undead and sixth sense for magic. And hers. She looked down at the ibis. The others thought it provided answers. “Ask it where the best shelter is …” Like it was freaking Google! In her mind, though, it mostly just provided questions. And yet she knew she’d have to use it again — and soon. She got a sick feeling in her stomach. People called it butterflies, but she knew better. It was acid. It was nerves.

Last time, the amulet had shown her a valley — it had basically told them what they already knew. What would it show her this time? And would she understand?

She crawled back out of her tent and stood up into the sunlight. “Time to see the valley,” she called.

The boys’ tent had taken shape, and that shape was lopsided. “Good enough,” said Alex, standing up and swiping his hands together.

Luke looked at the ramshackle structure and high-fived him.

Hiking the remaining distance up to the top of the ridge was hard for Ren with stiff new boots and short legs. The slope got steeper toward the top, and they leaned forward, using their hands and almost crawling. The sun was lower now, and the shade deeper as they neared the crest of the ridge. It should have been cooler, but …

“It’s a million degrees up here,” said Luke. “I’m getting microwaved.”

Alex was first to the top. As he ducked his head over the jagged crest and looked down into the valley, he made a face like he’d just stuck his head into a juicy garbage can.

“What is it?” said Ren as Alex ducked back behind the shade of the ridge.

“It’s hot,” he said. “Total blast furnace.”

Ren thought he was exaggerating, and then she popped her head over for a look. “Wow,” she said, pulling back. “You’re right. You could cook dinner in that.”

She leaned against the steep, rocky ridge crest and slowly extended her hand. As soon as it hit the sunlight on the valley side, it felt like she was sticking it in an oven.

“I guess that’s why the taxi driver wouldn’t go in,” said Luke, conducting a similar experiment with one chicken-winged elbow.

Ren held up the binoculars and leaned forward.

“Be careful,” said Alex.

She nodded and scanned the valley floor as quickly as she could. As she fumbled with the knob to adjust the focus, she felt the metal heating up and her hair practically crisping. The sunlight made it feel as if someone were pressing a hot pan down on the top of her head. She stayed there for as long as she could — and then a moment longer. Finally, when it felt like her head was going to burst into flames, she pulled back into the shade and took a deep, gasping breath.

She held the image in her head: the entire valley shimmering in the heat. It was a vast bowl of sunbaked ground, a sea of tan with patches of lighter sand and darker stone. And then there were the tombs: some little more than gaping holes in the ground, some with small structures and gates. At the edge of her vision, she’d seen some sort of large structure, a temple maybe. And everywhere there were signs and steps and places for large groups of people to line up. But there were no lines today. “There is no one down there,” she reported.

“No one?” said Alex.

“No one,” she confirmed, and they both knew who he meant. His mom might be smarter than most people, but she wasn’t any more heat resistant.

“It would still be a great time to look around,” said Alex. “If we could.”

“We would straight up burst into flames,” said Luke, spelling it out.

“Maybe tonight, once the sun is down,” said Alex.

Ren gave him a look. Every single time she had been in a tomb at night, she had nearly died. “Let’s go tomorrow morning,” she said. “Before the sun is really up.”

“Yeah,” said Luke, breaking another tie. “I’m more of a morning person.”

Alex didn’t push it. The valley was uninhabitable, at least during the day, and Ren could see that the discovery had thrown him. She looked at her best friend. So hopeful, she thought. He really thought she’d be there.

They headed back down the ridge, half walking and half sliding, the sun sinking below the horizon by the time they arrived back at their camp. As their eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness, they saw a campfire burning in the other campsite. They set up their own sad little campfire with two cans of Sterno cooking fuel and sat around it on a sandy stretch of ground. Ren sat between the small pink flames and the other camp, shielding them from view.

She looked around at the dark, quiet desert. Anything could be out here, she thought. She remembered Peshwar, a blade of red energy in her hand. Ren’s breath caught as she noticed a more immediate glow: a pair of ghostly green eyes approaching from the dark desert. Then she realized how low the eyes were to the ground. She hadn’t expected to smile that night, but she did now. “We have company,” she said, turning to greet their guest.

Pai walked into the weak glow of the canned fuel. She had something in her mouth: jet black and pointy in all directions. She stalked past Luke, who crab-walked a few feet backward in the sand. “How did that creepy cat get here?” he said.

Ren was wondering the same thing, but mostly she was wondering what that was in Pai’s mouth. The mummy cat looked up at Ren, a glimmer of pride in her glowing eyes, and then dropped the fat, black scorpion in the sand at her feet. “For me?” said Ren, staring down at the dead arachnid. “You shouldn’t have.”