1It was pitch dark.

2"What happened?" asked Annie.

3"I don't know. Something weird," said Jack. "We have to get out of here fast. Push against the door."

4"Good idea," said Annie in a small voice.

5They felt their way through the darkness. To the top of the stairs.

6"Don't worry. Everything's going to be okay," said Jack. He was trying to stay calm.

7"Of course," said Annie.

8They leaned against the wooden door and pushed.

9It wouldn't budge.

10They pushed harder.

11No use.

12Jack took a deep breath. It was getting harder to breathe. And harder to stay calm.

13"What can we do?" asked Annie.

14"Just ... just rest a moment," said Jack, panting.

15His heart was pounding as he tried to see through the darkness.

16"Maybe we should start down the hall," he said. "Maybe we'll eventually come to ... to an exit."

17He wasn't sure about that. But they had no choice.

18"Come on," he said. "Feel the wall."

19Jack felt the stone wall as he climbed slowly down the stairs. Annie followed.

20Jack started down the dark hallway. It was impossible to see anything.

21But he kept going. Taking one step at a time. Moving his hands along the wall.

22He went around a corner. He went around another corner. He came to some stairs. He went up.

23There was a door. He pushed against it. Annie pushed, too. This door wouldn't budge either.

24Was this the same door they had started at?

25It was no use. They were trapped.

26Annie took his hand in the dark. She squeezed it.

27They stood together at the top of the stairs. Listening to the silence.

28"Meow."

29"Oh, man," Jack whispered.

30"He's back!" said Annie.

31"Meow."

32"Follow him!" cried Jack. "He's going away from us."

33They started down the dark hallway. Following the cat's meow.

34Hands against the wall, Jack and Annie stumbled through the darkness.

35"Meow."

36They followed the sound. All the way through the winding hallway.

37Down, down, down.

38Around one corner, then another. And another ...

39Finally they saw a light at the end of the tunnel. They rushed forward - out into the bright sunlight.

40"Yay!" Annie shouted.

41But Jack was thinking.

42"Annie," he said. "How did we get out of the false passage?"

43"The cat," said Annie.

44"But how could the cat do it?" asked Jack.

45"Magic," said Annie.

46Jack frowned. "But - "

47"Look!" said Annie. She pointed.

48The cat was bounding away. Over the sand.

49"Thank you!" called Annie.

50"Thanks!" Jack shouted at the cat.

51His black tail waved.

52Then he disappeared in the shimmering waves of heat.

53Jack looked toward the palm trees. At the top of one sat the tree house. Like a bird's nest.

54"Time to go home," Jack said.

55He and Annie set off for the palm trees. It was a long hot walk back.

56At last Annie grabbed onto the rope ladder. Then Jack.

57Once they were inside the tree house, Jack reached for the book about Pennsylvania.

58Just then he heard a rumbling sound. The same sound they had heard in the pyramid.

59"Look!" Annie said, pointing out the window.

60Jack looked.

61A boat was beside the pyramid. It was gliding over the sand. Like a boat sailing over the sea.

62Then it faded away. Into the distance.

63Was it just a mirage?

64Or was the ghost-queen finally on her way to the Next Life?

65"Home, Jack," whispered Annie.

66Jack opened the Pennsylvania book.

67He pointed to the picture of Frog Creek.

68"I wish we could go home," he said.

69The wind began to blow.

70The leaves began to shake.

71The wind blew harder. It whistled louder.

72The tree house started to spin.

73It spun faster and faster.

74Then everything was still.

75Absolutely silent.