As he arrived at the archway at the top of the hill, Zoe, Lily and Alby emerged from the maze.

‘We’re through, Jack!’ Zoe called up to him. ‘Coming up behind you.’

Jack took in the archway.

It yawned before him, high and dark. Every corner on it was sharp. Spikes rose from it like menacing horns.

He stepped through it . . .

. . . and found himself inside a short tunnel with a dim light coming from its far end.

Cautious, he ventured down the tunnel . . .

. . . and emerged in a high space—far higher than the rotating maze—and not for the first time inside the Supreme Labyrinth, Jack’s breath caught in his throat at what he saw.

THE TOWER OF JUDGEMENT

THE TOWER OF JUDGEMENT

AS DEPICTED ON IMHOTEP’S SKULL

The Bridge to the Tower of Judgement

29 December, 0400 hours

66 minutes till Omega

Jack gazed out over a broad and spectacular cavern.

A steep set of stairs led down to a superlong, superhigh and very slender bridge that stretched away from him for what seemed like half a kilometre.

This bridge extended out to a gigantic black spire-like tower that stood in the exact centre of the cavern.

Jack immediately noticed that there was something at the top of the tower: a cage suspended from a cable that rose up into a round hole in the ceiling.

The goal of this maze seemed clear: you crossed the bridge, scaled the tower and exited inside the cage.

The superlong bridge at Jack’s end of the cavern was supported by two building-sized pylons.

Each pylon must have been four hundred feet high and they both rose up out of a pool of inky-black liquid that covered the floor far below like a moat. The liquid gave off a dull reflective sheen, like mercury or oil. Jack was pretty sure he didn’t want to fall into it.

Where each pylon met the long, high bridge, there was an ancient temple-like structure made of greystone: a cupola of some kind, with a domed stone roof mounted on four decorative columns.

Jack looked out over the cavern, desperate to see how far ahead of him Rastor had got.

Beyond the first cupola, he glimpsed him: Rastor was arriving at the second one.

Jack bolted after him, racing out onto the slender bridge.

He came to the first cupola and paused.

Inside it was what could only be described as an ancient fountain.

A greystone obelisk about nine feet tall stood in the middle of a shallow circular pool of water that was maybe two feet deep. Water gurgled out of the pyramidion at the top of the obelisk and trickled down into the pool.

Jack stepped around the fountain and started down the next section of bridge—

—where he stopped.

Rastor stood at the other end of this section, staring back at Jack.

He was no longer running, no longer fleeing.