“Who are these Animal Mummies, Bab?” asked the Prof. “Did you know they had the Beard?”

“They’re my friends, and yes,” said Bab, “I knew about the Beard. I’m sorry, I . . .”

Bab had kept the secret to protect the Animal Mummies, and to keep his mum happy in her search.

“You need not explain, Babby Boo,” she said. “You probably wanted to protect the Animal Mummies and keep me happy in my search.”

Bab blinked, amazed at his mum’s insight.

The Prof squinted down at the Beard’s golden threads. “Dear me, it’s a while since I felt this hairy old thing on my chin. Haven’t been the smartest one in the area till now, I guess.”

“No need to rub it in, lady,” Scaler said.

“Tell you what, Susan,” Richard announced, “those shen rings go nicely with your springy hair and camel face.”

“Shen rings?” Bab piped up. “Of course! I always thought they were gold threads, but shen rings makes more sense – they mean eternal protection, don’t they? I guess they give the Beard eternal life.”

Standing there with his mum and dad, Bab was hit by an unexpected surge of joy. I never thought we’d all be together again, he thought. Even if two of us are stuck in sponge-stone near a psycho pyramid.

I just hope we never have a family reunion that includes the Unpharaoh.

The Prof stroked her Beard and sighed. “I shall miss the hunt,” she sighed. “Ooh!”

Her shorts and T-shirt suddenly morphed into a fancy, billowing dress. Bab recognised it as the dress of Emily Cavendish, the English lady from the Void. “I fear the Void is taking over my body,” said the Prof.

“You’re still gorgeous, Susan,” Richard assured her, “even with the camel face and billowing dress. That’s ripped at the back to fit your giant hump.”

The Prof had indeed grown a hairy camel’s hump just now. “Oh dear. We must deal with the Void quickly,” she said. “Perhaps your Animal Mummies can help, Babby Boo? They look familiar – are these the ones who got stolen from our storeroom?”

“You don’t look familiar to me,” said Scaler. “Is your name really Shoshan?”

“Yes, though nowadays I’m Susan.”

“Then Prong and I do know you,” replied Scaler. “We used to be the Unpharaoh’s animal slaves, and you sometimes popped by her palace to eavesdrop and tell her off.”

“Yes,” honked Prong, “but you look much less silly now you’re a camel.”

“Are you sure you’re Shoshan?” asked Scaler. “Shoshan was like some major sorceress who could’ve magicked Bab’s dad out of the wall years ago.”

The Prof’s camel face looked pained. “Each life force in the Void keeps me living, Scaler. If I pull them out, I might drop dead!”

Bab gaped at his dad. “That’s why you wouldn’t let Prong pull out the painted people.”

“Besides,” the Prof continued, “I can’t pull just one out. The Void works like a TV. With the right process I could turn it off, which would free everyone, but I can’t switch off individual characters.”

As she spoke, it began. The starving Void’s final attempt to consume lives.

GRONGA-GRONG-GRONG.

“Er, Mum,” Bab whispered, “I think something very bad is happening.”

The Great Pyramid lifted off the desert. Immense cascades of sand gushed from its base. Beneath it were two huge stone feet. One of its jelly-like sides bulged to form a stupendous stone nose.

The purple pyramid began to stomp towards the nearby city of Cairo.

SNIFF. SNIFF-SNIFF.

It sniffed around with its horribly big nose like a giant, stone dog.

“Deary me,” said the Prof. “It’s looking for more lives to eat.”

“The people in the city,” Bab whispered. “We have to warn them!”

SNOOORT!

The pyramid loomed above an apartment block and, with a mighty snort, sucked in several shocked people who’d come out on their balconies to watch the chaos. They shrieked as they were vacuumed into the wobbling nostrils, and their bodies immediately appeared on the bricks of the pyramid as giant, warped hieroglyphs.

The Spongy Void was on the move.