“How can you tell?” I ask.
He points to markings on the floor. “There you can see the indentations from furniture. The feet of chairs and tables. And if you follow them, you can see the marks where they were dragged toward the entrance.”
I am deflated. Beyond deflated. The entire season dedicated to this chamber—for nothing.
“No Hatshepsut here,” I whisper, mostly to myself.
“No Hatshepsut here,” Howard echoes me, his voice sounding every bit as dejected as I feel.
“Wait, one moment,” he says, following the beam of his torch. It has landed on a seam in the wall opposite the opening.
We walk toward it, shining both our torches on the crack. I get down on my haunches, and Howard follows suit. My finger traces the seam; I desperately want it to be a secret entrance and not a natural crack in the wall. I ask, “Is it too sinuous to be another door?”
“I’m afraid—”
Before he can finish, a crash sounds behind us. We turn, and our torches light upon an enormous pile of rock blocking the entryway. Racing toward it, we can just make out a glint of sunlight at the very top of the mass of rubble.
“The ceiling has collapsed,” I cry out. Panic rises within me, and I struggle to control my voice and my breathing.
I’ve heard the stories of collapsed tunnels and tombs. Of archaeologists and workers who never made it out alive. I’d never imagined that could be me.
As my thoughts spin around wildly, Howard places a finger on his lips. “Stay still and talk quietly. Loud noise or sudden movement could cause further instability.”
Placing his hand on my arm, he then turns to me, looks into my eye, and whispers, “Breathe.” Together, we take several deep inhales, until I feel myself calm. Somewhat.
We hear the voices of the workers on the other side of the heap of rocks, just outside the entrance. I cannot make out what they are saying, but Howard approaches the rubble and speaks to them softly in Arabic.
“What’s happening?”
“They are gathering equipment to dig us out,” he murmurs, trying to reassure me.
More stones cascade from the ceiling, forming another mound near the entrance. I feel frantic again, nearly desperate to claw my way out. I begin to remove the stones, one by one, but Howard stops me. “Let my men work on it from the outside. Eve, it will be all right.”
I’ve always trusted Howard, ever since I was a girl. His soothing tone and words calm me, and my heartbeat slows. I feel the fright begin to subside.
But then I hear Papa’s voice, louder than I would have expected. He must have climbed down into the pit. “Eve, Howard! Are you quite all right?” he calls to us, his tone as panicked as I’ve ever heard it.
Very gingerly, Howard steps toward the rock pile. In a hushed voice, he says, “We are fine. We will just wait to be dug out.”
“Papa, be careful. The pit is very rocky,” I say. The last thing I want is for my father to suffer an injury trying to prevent our injuries.
“Don’t you worry about me, Eve,” Papa says. Then he adds more quietly, “Howard, you keep her safe.”
“I promise, Lord C.,” Howard replies.
With his torch, Howard gestures toward the wall farthest from the rubble. “We should sit away from the debris. I don’t want any more to rain down on us. And it could be some time before the men dig a hole through the rubble.”
We settle side by side against the ancient wall, and I allow the stone to cool my skin. The chamber has become increasingly hot, and I worry what temperature it might reach by the time the workers get to us. “Will we really be fine?” I whisper, wiping my brow of the sweat that already streams down my face in the close air and mounting heat.
“Yes,” he whispers back. “I’ve been dug out of worse pits than this.”
The sudden sound of hammering begins to echo throughout the chamber, making me jump. “What on earth are they doing out there?”
“Simply what I instructed,” he says, his voice unerringly calm.“Building a simple scaffold around the chamber entrance to support it as they clear the rubble.”
“How long do you think it will take for them to reach us?”
Instead of answering, he says, “The time will pass very slowly if we are focused on it. Let’s try to keep our attention on something else.”
