Kree smiled with satisfaction and straightened, taking his knife with him. “It seems the witch’s pet disagrees with you.”

Jake panted as the pain of the burn eventually ebbed.

“Shall we try again?” the Egyptian asked. “Where’s the Key?”

Jake continued to breathe hard, calming his heart. The slug slid from behind his sore ear and squirmed along his jawbone to rest at the edge of his mouth.

“Answer me,” Kree said, “or I’ll pull one of your friends out of the cell and start feeding fingers and toes to the fire.”

Jake finally gasped out, “No! I have the Key.” He struggled with his arms behind his back, fighting the iron cuffs. “Free my hands, and I’ll show you.”

Kree grabbed a ring of keys hanging from a wooden beam. He crossed behind Jake’s back. “Do not move,” he said, punctuating his order with a poke of his knife in Jake’s shoulder.

Jake heard metal scrape metal—then the cuffs fell off and clattered to the floor. Kree stepped back to the front as Jake brought his arms around and rubbed his wrists.

“The Key …” Kree said. “Now!”

Jake reached behind his back and fished into the seat of his pants. He found what he was looking for, pulled it free, and held it out toward Kree. It was Kady’s cell phone. He had to trust that Kree did not know what the Key of Time looked like. The pocket watch remained tucked beneath his undershirt, resting over his heart where it belonged. He would never give it up.

“Is this the Key of Time?” Kree asked, turning the phone around in his fingers. The witch drifted closer, looking over the other’s shoulder.

“See for yourself,” Jake said, sidestepping the question. He pantomimed how to flip open the phone.

Kree followed his directions. As the home screen blinked to life, displaying again Kady’s cheerleading squad, Kree clutched his throat in shock. “What strange alchemy is this?”

If you only knew …

“And this is the Key?” Kree asked again.

Jake had no choice but to lie. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

The slug ignited on his cheek, and Jake kept his face stiff, expecting the burn this time. A moment ago he had screamed, but he had overplayed it, yelling extra loud on purpose, making it look as if he had no tolerance for pain. As the slug continued to sear his cheek, tears welled and rolled from the corners of his eyes.

Let them think I’m crying because I gave up the Key.

Kree didn’t bother even looking over, mesmerized by the glowing screen of the phone. He had fully fallen for the deception, but Heka turned her cloaked face toward Jake, plainly wary. She moved closer, drifting as if afloat.

Before she could reach him, the door to the dungeon banged open. All eyes turned in that direction. A trio of black-robed figures rushed inside, followed by Dogo, looking sheepish and running a palm over his bald head.