Ammon came running up from below. “Princess, we must get you ready for our arrival! I’ve polished your headpiece and have your finery ready to grace your beauty.”

Nefertiti grew even more irritated and strode off in a huff.

Ammon scowled at Jake’s group as if they were to blame for the princess’s sour mood. He waved to their Egyptian guard. “Put the prisoners back in their shackles before we arrive.”

Nefertiti disappeared down into the hold, and Ammon scurried to catch up with her.

Marika stood with her hands on her hips. “After all we’ve done, they’re chaining us again. Nefertiti could have ordered us to be set free.”

Jake agreed but understood. The five of them were strangers here, cursed by using the name Calypsos. Until they were questioned, Nefertiti was taking no chances.

“She’s not really that bad,” Kady said, standing up for the princess. “Some girls back at school are way nastier than her. And did you see her with that spear, how she moved?”

Pindor nodded a bit too vigorously.

“She’s good,” Kady concluded. “Even said she’d teach me some of her moves with that spear.”

Jake turned away.

Great, like Kady needs to be any more lethal …

Beyond the rail, he watched the city below grow larger. He didn’t know what to expect down there, but they’d been sent here for a reason. He just knew it. Nefertiti had described the barrier as impenetrable. So how did he and his friends get through?

Jake could think of only one possible answer.

The Skull King’s words played again in his head, scraping out of the darkness between worlds. Jake heard raw desire in that icy voice.

The Key of Time …

Jake pulled out the watch from under his shirt and cracked the case open. Had this somehow brought them here? Was that why Kalverum Rex wanted it from the start? Was he even now searching for another way to get past the Great Wind?

Jake sensed that he was on the right track. He studied the face of the watch. The second hand spun around and around—but something was wrong. The hand was spinning too fast, ticking off minutes twice as fast as it should be.

He frowned. What was wrong?

As the windrider descended toward the city, the sweep of seconds spun even faster, as if sensing the approach to Ka-Tor. The closer they drew, the faster it spun, growing more and more excited as it neared the city.

But why?

Jake guessed a possible answer.

Maybe the watch wasn’t only a key—but also a compass!

Like a Geiger counter tracking radiation, the watch must sense something in Ka-Tor, something so important that it had to be locked within a ring of storms here centuries ago. Something the Skull King desperately wanted.

Jake studied the approaching city with a sharper eye, sensing now why they’d all been dropped into this strange land. He lifted the watch higher as welcoming horns trumpeted below. He stared at the drawing inscribed inside the case—the ankh symbol: a clue left behind by his parents.