Jake knew Marika was right. They all were. He glanced across the hall to the mural, to his mother’s face. The shock of seeing her had set his heart to pounding and fired his desire to reach Ankh Tawy. He could not lose this chance to find a clue to his parents’ fate.

Still, in the flickering torchlight, his mother’s blue eyes stared back at him. He remembered how they used to dance with delight or fill with love. At that moment, one certainty swayed him more than any argument. Jake knew how disappointed his mother would be if he stood by and did nothing.

He turned back to the others. “Okay, we’ll go warn Nefertiti.”

He pictured them barging into her bedroom, babbling about the murder plot. It would likely get them all dumped back into the dungeons. Such a fate would certainly make Dogo happy.

But even before that could happen, one question remained. “How do we find the royal chambers in this giant maze?”

The old man spoke up. “I will show you.”

He headed back to the door, ready to lead the way.

Kady asked the question they were all thinking. She eyed the man up and down, clearly not trusting him. “How come you know where the royal chambers are?”

He gave them all a wink. “Because Pharaoh Neferhotep, the illustrious Glory of Ra … is my brother.”

19

SWEET DREAMS

“My name is Shaduf,” the old man said as he led them through a maze of passageways, slowly winding higher and higher up toward the loftier levels of the pyramid. “Master Kree took me to the dungeons two summers ago. I’ve been his guest ever since.”

He rubbed the bandaged stump of his wrist, indicating how well Kree had accommodated his guest.

“Shaduf,” the old man mumbled into his beard. “I’ve not spoken that name aloud in many moons. It was forbidden, lest the other prisoners should learn the truth. All of Ka-Tor believes I was killed. To keep that secret, Kree cut the throats of anyone who heard my name down there. So I stopped using it.”

Jake’s group gathered into a tight knot around Shaduf, both to hear his story and to stick close together. Whenever they passed anyone, conversation stopped and they all sank deeper into their cloaks.

“Why did he imprison you?” Jake asked.

Shaduf barked out a sharp laugh, laced with a mad twitter. “He came to me two winters past. Wanted me to join the Blood of Ka, to help oust my brother from his throne. He knew my brother and I butted heads. I wanted to unite our people, to cut the slave rings from all necks. But Neferhotep was never one to stray from a path well trodden.”

“Still, you refused to go along with Kree’s plot,” Marika said.

“Of course. My brother and I may disagree, but I would never harm him. Besides, I have no interest in being pharaoh. All that pomp, all those tedious laws and rules. Best left to someone like my brother.” Shaduf looked at them, his voice sharper with fury. “That bloody son of a harpy knew I would not take over, knew he’d get to rule if my brother fell; but he couldn’t do it himself. Kree needed a royal ally, someone with the blood lineage, if he was to succeed.”