It proved a wise choice.

As they raced up the stairwell, the pounding of hard sandals and the rattle of swords and shields echoed from the lower hall. Jake waved, and they flattened against the wall. Below, a line of Egyptian soldiers swept down the main hall, heading toward the square, spears in hand. None of them noticed the outsiders hiding up the steps.

Jake also realized that it wasn’t just his friends who were skulking in the stairwell. The gray-bearded madman sat on a lower step, digging dirt from under a toenail as if he’d merely stopped during a pleasant hike. He’d somehow managed to get a cloak and had followed them rather than flee with Djer.

Why?

Noting Jake’s attention, the man looked up and winked again. Jake didn’t have time to question or shoo him off. It looked like they had a new companion on their quest.

Jake lifted the gold watch and checked his bearings. The needle continued to lead them deeper into the pyramid.

“C’mon,” he said, and got everyone moving.

Creeping more cautiously now, Jake led them up to the next level, where the hallways were narrower than below, crisscrossing in all directions.

Jake kept checking his father’s watch, making sure they were on the right path. Still, even with the Key in hand, he felt like a blind mouse searching for a hidden piece of cheese.

Luckily, they only encountered a few people in the upper halls, mostly servants scurrying with armfuls of folded linens or marching with brooms on their shoulders. Buried in their cloaks, Jake’s group was ignored.

At last, his father’s watch led them to a set of tall wooden doors strapped in gold. Hieroglyphics had been painted on the lintel above. If Jake had the time, he knew he could figure out what they said; but instead his full attention focused on a single symbol done in a mosaic of metals that was imbedded in the center of the door.

He flipped open the watch and compared the symbol to the inscribed ankh inside. They were almost identical.

The scarecrow of a man stepped forward and touched the emblem on the door. “Ankh Tawy.”

Jake understood. The symbol inside the watch and the one on the door both represented the lost city. He should have made the connection. The watch’s inscription was an ankh, and the city was called Ankh Tawy. He mentally slapped himself on the forehead.

The madman leaned forward and shoved one half of the great door open, splitting the symbol in half. He waved them inside, mumbling all the while.

Jake was the last one through. The others stood only a few steps past the threshold, transfixed. He knew why. Possibly at the very heart of the pyramid, a giant sandstone model of a city glowed in the torchlight. Dominating the cavernous chamber, it had to be a mock-up of Ankh Tawy.

Bach’uuk tugged on Jake’s sleeve and directed his friend’s gaze to a stepped pyramid in the center of the city. It looked identical to the great temple of Kukulkan in the valley of Calypsos, but for one detail. This one was missing the winged serpent at the top.