“You,” Jake said.

“And when I refused, he kidnapped me, faked my death, and has kept me prisoner ever since.”

“Why didn’t he just kill you?” Pindor asked.

“Do not be fooled by his cruelty. He’s a smart one. I think he kept me alive in case he needed another piece for his grand game. But he also knew I had knowledge that no one else did. I was once a hunter of lost alchemies, digging through scraps of our past. My interest centered on stones of strange power.”

“Crystals,” Marika said.

He glanced sharply at her. “That’s correct. Sometimes the Great Wind would blow small shards from the city into the desert sands. I’d dug up dozens, some as large as my thumbnail.” He held up his stumped wrist. “That is, when I still had a thumb.”

Marika looked away. “He did that to you?”

“He had many questions that needed answers.”

“About what?” Jake asked.

“About my brother, my nieces, but mostly about that strange stone carried by his witch, Heka. You saw it, didn’t you?” He stared hard at Jake. Madness danced at the edges of his eyes. “A crystal darker than any shadow, but afire with evil.”

Jake nodded. The old man was talking about the bloodstone atop the witch’s yellow wand. Somehow the Skull King must have gotten that foul crystal through the storm barrier to stretch his deadly reach.

Shaduf continued, “The witch came out of the desert one day with no past, no face, only that black stone. With it, she helped Kree forge the Blood of Ka. But like I said, Kree is smart. He wanted to know more about that crystal … and about the other stones I’ve studied. If there’s power to be had, he wants it. So he kept me living to answer his questions.” He lifted his stump again. “It cost me fingers to keep my secrets.”

That edge of insanity burned brighter with memory of the torture.

“But I knew I only had so many fingers and toes. Eventually I began to tell. How could I not?” For a moment, he mumbled under his breath as if scolding and arguing with himself. Then his words steadied. “So I pretended to go mad, raving, pulling out my hair. It got them to stop asking questions, but I fear I have feigned madness for too long. I think it might have stuck.”

Marika placed a hand on his elbow. “I don’t believe it.”

Jake didn’t feel as confident.

When they climbed the last narrow staircase, a wide passageway decorated in rich tapestries opened ahead of them. The floors were covered in the petals of some desert rose, casting a sweet scent to the air.

Kady put her hands on her hips. “Let me guess. The royal quarters.”

Shaduf shushed her and hurried them forward past niches guarded by statues of Egyptian gods. “We’ve just climbed a private servant stair. The palace guards are not far off. We must move swiftly. The cover of our cloaks will not hide us up here.”