1A real mummy.
2Bandages were still wrapped around the bald skull. But most of the bandages had come off the face.
3It was Hutepi. Queen of the Nile.
4Her broken teeth were showing. Her little wrinkled ears. Her squashed nose. Her withered flesh. Her hollow eye sockets.
5Plus the rotting bandages on her body were coming off. You could see bones.
6"Oh, gross!" cried Annie. "Let's go!"
7"No," said Jack. "It's interesting."
8"Forget it!" said Annie. She started out of the room.
9"Wait, Annie."
10"Come on, Jack. Hurry!" cried Annie. She was standing by the door.
11Jack pulled out the Egypt book and flipped to a picture of a mummy. He read aloud:
12Ancient Egyptians tried to protect the body so it would last forever.
13First it was dried out with salt.
14"Ugh, stop!" said Annie.
15"Listen," said Jack. He kept reading:
16Next it was covered with oil. Then it was wrapped tightly in bandages. The brain was removed by -
17"Yuck! Stop!" cried Annie. "Good-bye!" She dashed out of the room.
18"Annie!" called Jack. "We have to give her the Book of the Dead!"
19But Annie was gone.
20Jack reached into his pack. He pulled out the scroll and the scepter. He put them next to the mummy's skull.
21Was it just his imagination? Or did a deep sigh seem to shudder throughout the room? Did the mummy's face grow calmer?
22Jack held his breath as he backed away. Out of the mummy room. Out of the boat room. Down the stairs.
23At the bottom of the stairs, he heaved his own sigh. A sigh of relief.
24He looked down the hallway. It was empty.
25"Hey! Where are you?" he said.
26No answer.
27Where in the world was Annie?
28Jack started down the hallway.
29"Annie!" he called.
30Had she run out of the pyramid? Was she already outside?
31"Annie!"
32"Help, Jack!" came a cry. The voice sounded far away.
33It was Annie! Where was she?
34"Help, Jack!"
35"Annie!"
36Jack started to run. Along the shadowy hallway.
37"Help, Jack!" Her cry seemed fainter.
38Jack stopped.
39He was running away from her voice.
40"Annie!" he called. He went back toward the burial chambers.
41"Jack!"
42There! Her voice was louder.
43"Jack!"
44Even louder!
45Jack climbed the stairs. He went back into the boat room.
46He looked around the room. At the furniture. The musical instruments. The boat.
47Then he saw it. Another door! Right next to the door he had just come through.
48The other door was open.
49Jack dashed through it. He found himself at the top of some stairs.
50They were just like the stairs in the other hallway.
51He went down into the hallway. It was lit by torches on the wall.
52It was just like the other hallway.
53"Annie!" he called.
54"Jack!"
55"Annie!"
56"Jack!"
57She was running through the hallway toward him.
58She crashed into him.
59"IT was lost!" she cried.
60"I think this is one of those false passages. Built to fool the tomb robbers," said Jack.
61"A false passage?" said Annie, panting.
62"Yeah, it looks just like the right hallway," said Jack. "We have to go back into the boat room. And out the right door."
63Just then they heard a creaking noise.
64Jack and Annie turned around. They looked up the stairs.
65Then they watched in horror as the door slowly creaked shut.
66A deep sound rumbled in the distance. And all the torches went out.