As the High Priest and Priestess of Anubis tied my hands behind my back, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I looked across the room and saw that my backpack was gone. Morph was in my bag! Without it I had no way to escape – I was mummy meat, for sure.

The only things I had in my pocket were bubble gum, the letter I’d found, some pennies and a mirror. What could I do? How could I convince them to save me?

Arguing with the High Priest and Priestess was no good. Before I could utter another word, they had gagged me and were dragging me outside into a colossal courtyard. The sun had completely set now, and in the middle of the square was what looked like a massive swimming pool – only people weren’t swimming in it, there were hundreds of crocodiles thrashing around.

The High Priest led me onto a platform. I struggled and tried to escape but four bulky Egyptians came and held me still. Then the beating of a large drum sounded and a chorus of chanting started – the ceremony had begun.

People started to walk towards us from every direction, carrying torches to light their way. Snakes were pulled out of baskets as their masters began to charm them with pipes. The High Priest and Priestess put on jackal-headed masks.

“We call to great Anubis to accept this sacrifice,” said the High Priest.

“Anubis, send your soldiers to us,” said the High Priestess.

And with that, the air was filled with the sound of groaning, just like the noises I’d heard before in Tiy’s tomb, which could mean only one thing. Mummies!

“Arrrrrrrrrgh,” I let out a scream as they started to creep out of the shadows.

The ground cracked and mummies started to rise from beneath the ground. Some of them came out of the lake. Some of them came out of the temple. They were everywhere!

Then someone pushed me down and, before I knew it, I was lying on a stone slab, rock-hard beneath my back. It sent shudders down my spine and I thought I was going to be sick. What were they going to do? Turning my head, I watched in horror as the mummies closed in on me. Their rotten arms reached out and their eyes hung out of their sockets. Their mouths opened wide as they let out their hair-raising wails.

That was it – I had no way to escape. My life as an Adventurer was going to be over.

“Anubis, accept our humble sacrifice…” the Priestess had started saying. She was swaying as she spoke, like she was in some kind of trance. “Eat his heart and drink his soul…”

The mummies were so close I could smell their stinking breath. “Let his life open the gateway to the glorious dead…”

I was out of ideas and was staring death in the face – literally!

“Rip his beating heart from his chest and let its beat be the rhythm of your drum of death!” the Priestess wailed.

The zombie groaning was so loud that every part of my body was electrified with fear.

“Grab anything shiny and hold it up to the mummies!” I shouted to Tiy desperately.

Tiy grabbed a shard of glass and held it up to the nearest mummy. It worked! One by one they shrieked and burst into flames.

Finally, when they were all dead, I turned to Tiy. “Where were you?” I cried. “You just ran off and left me!”

“I was running away,” she said sheepishly. “Then I thought about everything you said, and you were right. Cursing people isn’t a nice thing to do. I should just be honest with my parents. And then I realized that Anubis didn’t send you here to be sacrificed. He sent you here to help lift my curse – he sent you here to make me happy.”

I was one hundred per cent sure it was Morph that had brought me back in time, not the god of mummies, but if that made me friends with Tiy and got me out of being killed then that was fine.

The High Priest and Priestess joined us.

“What’s going on?” asked the High Priest, lifting off his mask. “Why did you run away, Tiy?”

“I’m so unhappy…” Tiy wailed as she told her father all about not wanting to marry the Pharaoh, and how it would ruin her life. “He smells worse than a toilet!” she finished, sobbing. “I put the curse on the mummies – I wanted them to kill you so I wouldn’t have to marry him. But I changed my mind at the last minute – I couldn’t watch you die – and they nearly killed me too!”

She told her parents about the amulet that the old Pharaoh had given her, and how she had planned to use it to curse everyone around her – including them.

“We had no idea you felt this way, darling,” her mother said tearfully.

“But Tiy,” her father said gently, “if you don’t marry the Pharaoh, you’ll bring shame upon our family and the cult of Anubis will be disgraced.”

“Will you perhaps consider marrying him in a few years?” her mother joined in, trying to reason.

Tiy wrinkled her nose in thought. “Perhaps,” she said. “But I’m not promising anything.”

“At least promise you won’t run away again?” her mother said.

“Only if you promise you won’t kill my friend,” Tiy said, pointing straight at me.

“Very well,” her parents agreed.

“Phew!” I sighed, about to leave.

“Not so fast…” the High Priest said to me. “I will grant you freedom on one condition.”

“Anything,” I agreed quickly.

“You must answer the riddle of the Sphinx,” he said grandly.