“Gah! Todtman!” huffed Ren as Alex clutched his chest. “Don’t scare us like that!”

“Tut mir leid,” said the German, leaning on his walking stick. “I am sorry. But I am more sorry that we could not stop that pest. I had just turned the corner when I saw it flash by.”

As if to demonstrate the process, Dr. Bauer rounded the corner. Alex rushed over to hug her. “Careful, hun!” she said, and he pulled up short and did his best to hug her healthy side. She reached down and ruffled his hair. Then he did a double take. “Wait, where did you two come from?”

Todtman flashed his quick, sly smile and said, “There are many false doors in this museum.”

“But you only have one amulet,” said Ren.

“I’m an Amulet Keeper, too, though,” said Dr. Bauer. “And I held on very tight.”

Todtman waved away the pleasantries and scanned the three kids quickly. “Where are the Spells? Are they safe?”

Ren swung the backpack off. Todtman clucked once in disapproval. “They are thousands of years old, irreplaceable. They are not … a math workbook.”

“Actually, they’re surprisingly durable,” said Dr. Bauer, taking the backpack from Ren. “Strong magic makes for strong scrolls.”

Alex watched his mom gracefully shift the backpack from one hand to the other.

“You’re moving a lot better,” he said.

She turned and smiled. “I am full of Hesaan’s arthritis medication.”

“Is that safe?” said Ren, and it occurred to Alex just what a good doctor she would make.

“None of this is safe,” said Alex’s mom, unzipping the pack and peering inside. “But it does numb the pain.”

Alex watched her pluck out the extra scrolls and lower them to the floor. There was only one scroll that mattered now, in the pack and in the world. “Mom,” said Alex, hesitating, unsure of what exactly he was asking. “Can the Lost Spells do … other things?”

“Yeah,” added Ren. “Can they, like, talk to the gods?”

Dr. Bauer looked from one to the other. She knew when they were up to something. “All Egyptian spells invoke the old gods in some way,” she said. “But it’s not a conversation. It’s more like calling out a name and hoping for an echo. And the Lost Spells are quite specialized. They deal with the afterlife, its gateways and guardians.”

“Guardians?” said Alex and Ren together.

“Enough questions,” said Todtman. “We must use the Spells immediately. The Death Walkers and their army will be here in moments, too many and too powerful to oppose. We must repair the rift now.”

He turned toward Dr. Bauer, put his hand on her arm, and looked her in the eyes. “Maggie,” he said. “Can you use the Spells here, now? We have little time.”

She took one more look inside the pack, then glanced into the dark entryway of the tomb. “In there,” she said. “We should be close to a portal for this, within sight. It will have more effect that way. And if we close one, we close them all.”

They filed back inside the old tomb. Before they made it halfway down the entryway, a huge crashing noise thundered out of the inner sanctum, followed by the brittle screech of cracking stone. All around them, the big stone structure began to rumble and shake. Something was coming through the portal. Something big.

“Let’s get out of here!” called Alex.

“There’s another portal in the Temple of Dendur,” said Alex’s mom. “We can use that!”

They hustled out of the shaking structure toward the familiar temple. It was housed in the largest room in the museum, even bigger than the Great Hall. It had always been Alex’s favorite place at the Met. He’d spent days gazing out of the room’s soaring glass wall into Central Park, peering into its midnight black reflecting pool, or looking up at the ancient temple itself, brought over from Egypt and reconstructed block by block here.

A heavy stone block crashed to the floor behind the friends as they headed deeper into the Egyptian wing. They wound their way through the maze of half-lit rooms, past grand granite statues and cases of glittering jewelry of gold, carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. A carving of the cow-headed goddess Hathor gazed out at them with big, sad eyes as they rushed by. A quick glance was enough for Alex to recognize each exhibit. He’d spent his childhood here, and many of the items were as familiar to him as the decorations in his own bedroom. Would it all end here as well?

He shook his head hard to clear it, but the thought would not be cleared.

They reached the temple quickly, but it was not the safe haven they’d hoped for. Daylight streamed through the panes of the soaring three-story glass wall, and just outside a battalion of mummies swayed in sun.

“There are like a brillion of them!” said Luke.

It looked more like a few hundred to Alex, a small fraction of the overall army, but it was still more than enough to tear the Keepers limb from limb. “What are they waiting for?” said Ren.

The answer came in a brilliant flash of crimson light outside the windows. As the day turned red, Alex swung around and saw the leader of the undead strike-force. The lioness-headed Peshwar stood at the front of her troops, supersized in death just as Ta-mesah had been. In her long, clawlike hand was a crackling crimson energy dagger.

“Take cover!” shouted Todtman.

As the Death Walker whipped her hand up and forward, the friends ducked behind the row of statues just inside the double doors. An explosion shook the room as the energy dagger blew a huge hole in the massive glass wall.

The mummies began clambering clumsily inside, pausing only to allow their leader to step gracefully through the jagged opening.

“We have to get out of here,” called Todtman. But as he turned toward the door, Alex saw him stop cold. Todtman began to slowly back up as Ta-mesah dipped his fearsome head through the doorway. A moment later, the Stung Man appeared, and a fierce buzzing grew in the room behind him

“Over here,” called Dr. Bauer. “This way.”

Not daring to take their eyes off the approaching enemies, the group followed her voice toward the southeast corner of the hangar-like room.

“You cling to your lives like you cling to those Spells,” rumbled Ta-mesah, leveling his lifeless gaze at the huddled friends. “And soon, you will have neither.”

But Dr. Bauer knew the great museum well, and she’d chosen this corner for a reason. A small side door there connected back to the western edge of the Egyptian wing.

Alex knew it, too. And he knew they didn’t need to conquer their enemies. All they needed to do was protect his mom long enough for her to use the Spells. He tightened his left hand around the scarab. “Go!” he shouted as hurricane force wind shot out from his right hand.

He formed his fingers into a tight spear, concentrating the wind, and aimed it right for Ta-mesah’s face. The force had little effect on the massive Walker — but at least Alex couldn’t hear what the big creep was saying anymore.

A handful of mummies, their formerly bone-dry corpses half-soaked from wading through the reflecting pool, attempted to scramble around Ta-mesah’s hulking frame. Alex dialed back the mystic wind and let them. Then he redirected the blast low, mowing the mummies down like bowling pins.

With the powerful wind no longer blasting his face, Ta-mesah charged forward, but his thick legs got tangled with the squirming mummies on the floor in front of him. Trying to kick free, he snapped one of mummies nearly in half and went down in a heap on top of the others.

The Amulet Keepers took advantage of the opening and darted through the side door, into darkness.