He thrusts the end of the gun into my back again; I suck in a breath.
“Why would I believe the words of anAmerican?” He practically spits out the last word. “My superiors have assured me that my reward in the new world Mein Führer has foreseen will be a handsome one, as long as I return with the Amulet of Amun.”
I squeeze my eyes shut for a second.Jesus Christ. Claude has been completely brainwashed by Nazi propaganda. We don’t see this kind of influence in the States because of how far away Germany is. But, if his backward ideals have sunk their claws into British-occupied Egypt…
I’m so lost in my musings I don’t realize we’ve reached the end of the line until my feet stop moving. Surrounded now by four round columns, Claude shoves my left shoulder so that I pivot toward the back wall. Both the impenetrable, flooded chamber of the Osireion and the hot, Egyptian sun I cursed before lie on the other side of this thick stone. I only know how to get to one of them, and it’s not the former.
I have nowhere else to go.
My stomach clenches at the idea of being trapped. Nervousness sparks along my arms and legs—I want to shake it off, but the gun in my back reminds me I can’t afford to make any sudden movements.
Okay, Mel, one step at a time. There’s still a chance you’ll get out of this alive—a slim one, granted, but a chance nonetheless.
I gradually bring the oil lamp up to my eye level, my brows shooting up at what I see.
Beautifully detailed etchings flicker along the wall, including a rather long cartouche written in ancient Egyptian. Atop a throne directly in front of me sits a life-sized depiction of Osiris. Behind him stands his sister, Isis, with her hands laid protectively on his shoulders, and in front of him is his son, Horus. The figure grasping Horus’s hand, though, isn’t any god I recognize; it must be Seti I being guided into the afterlife.
More importantly, though: I recognize three hieroglyphs emblazoned in vibrant red on Osiris’s chest. For the first time since Claude pulled out his Luger, hope sparks inside me.
“No one else has made it past this wall,” he explains. “Given the other entrance is blocked by a cave-in, this is the only way into the cenotaph. None have been able to open it from here.” He takes a step back, heels clicking on the stone floor before he cocks the gun. “This is the point of no return, Miss Hawkins.”
My gaze flicks to the ceiling, praying to a god I don’t believe in that this will work. It’s not that I haven’t concocted a plan—I have—but it’s half-baked and there’s a good chance I’m not going to get away with it.
I have to try.
I do have one trick up my sleeve, however. While Claude didn’t lay all his cards out on the table at first, I’ve been keeping secrets of my own.
Prior to leaving for Egypt, I researched the Temple of Seti I extensively, something I always do before an expedition. While thumbing through the texts Nonna provided me, I found a journal. Clearly copied over from the original source, it was mostly filled with boring observations and nonsense, penned by a man claiming to have assisted Petrie and Caulfeild in their 1902 discovery of the exposed part of the Osireion.
It did have one thing proving to be of value, though: a riddle, supposedly detailing specific Egyptian hieroglyphs present on the secret door to the lower chamber of the Osireion, only accessible from the main temple. I had no idea how I might find it or what it meant at the time. It only stuck out in my mind because it seemed so out of place among his other musings about Seti and his son, Ramesses.
But, staring at the symbols etched into Osiris’s chest, I know now what the answer to that riddle is:
The sitting god lays down his heavy head,
and the wall he bows to, falls away in ruin,
to see the world’s eye turn the old god’s fate.
It’s a combination of the god’s name, symbolizing his purpose.I’m an idiot.
Alright, time to focus now.
“The sitting god lays down his heavy head,” I mumble aloud, reaching for the hieroglyph of its name. When I brush the rough stone, I recognize the edges to be slightly raised from the rest of the wall.Eureka!I grip it with the tips of my fingers and nearly shout with joy as it turns on its side.
A mechanism inside the wall clicks audibly.
Despite the increasingly real possibility I might die today, a thrill runs through my body.Am I actually going to find the secret entrance to the Osireion?After all this, I wasn’t sure I’d live long enough to find the damned thing. Yet, here it is, nearly within my reach.
Apparently, Claude feels the same way, inching closer to get a better look. My empty stomach sours at his nearness, even as I’m counting on it.
I reach out again, this time for the raised hieroglyph beside it, and flip the symbol away from the fallen god. “And the wall he bows to, falls away in ruin…”
Something else inside the wall clicks, louder and closer this time.
Claude is practically breathing down my neck now, the fool. I smile, knowing he can’t see it. There’s always a chance he’ll pull the trigger in time to stop me. But if I don’t take advantage of this moment, he’s going to kill me once I find the amulet.
Better to die fighting.
