‘Sure. They’re arrayed all around the skull, in between all the symbols and pictures. They say stuff like: Move forward or die, for the Labyrinth closes itself: each maze remains open for but one rotation—Once you pass the shining stair, there is no going back—To find the endless tunnel, take the doorway below the image of Ningizzida—In the tunnel, always to take the sinister fork—Speak not in the presence of the gold ones: only in silence may you pass—Look not in their faces, or thine eyes will not see again—Beware the liquid fire. And lastly, Life is rule, death is life. But there is no escaping the ultimate choice. In the face of Omega, you cannot conceal your true desires.’

Jack listened closely.

‘Move forward or die . . .’ he said. ‘That’s what we just experienced. Sphinx got here about a day ago and that first maze closed off. It remained open for one rotation of the Earth.’

His eyes scanned the mummified tattooed scalp.

‘Once you pass the shining stair, there is no going back,’ he repeated. ‘That’s the entry tunnel. Once that Vandal and I tumbled onto and over the metal step in the tunnel, that big sliding stone dropped behind us and we couldn’t go back. We had to move forward and jump across from the entry tunnel to the half-bridge.’

Jack said to Lily, ‘We were in too much of a hurry earlier to realise just how specific these notes are. They’re instructions for surviving each maze of this Labyrinth.’

Lily said, ‘We have to assume Sphinx has them as well. Likewise, the Omega monks and Rastor—’

Jack was still peering at the ancient skull.

His eyes narrowed as he saw something.

‘Wait a second . . .’ he said slowly. ‘These aren’t just instructions written down between random symbols and drawings. This is a map, an actual map . . .’

‘What do you mean?’ Lily said.

But Jack was now muttering excitedly to himself as he peered more closely at the tattoos.

‘These are the five entry tunnels here in the centre, with all five converging on a point . . . which means we’re here. Oh my God, it’s a spiral . . .’

Lily said, ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Okay, look.’ Jack indicated the centre of the tattooed scalp:

‘This is a map that starts in the centre and radiates out and around in a clockwise spiral. See, we just came through this middle section, the one with five lines converging to a point. We’re now to the right of it, under that image of the ankh.

‘But, look closely, you can see that we have no choice now but to turn downward, toward this box-shaped chamber with six lines branching off it: four in front of us and two at the sides.’