Sita stood over him, concerned. “What happened? Are you hurt?”
Karim stumbled to his feet. “No, sena. I…” He hesitated. He hadn’t shared the vision he’d had in the desert. He’d been too afraid.
But he couldn’t keep the truth to himself any longer.
He pressed a hand against the scarab-shaped scar on his chest. “The amulet…my heart…I think it’s imprinted with Setnakht’s memories. When I stand in certain places, places where he himselfstood long ago, I can see what happened there through his eyes.”
Sita stared at him. “That is powerful magic.”
Karim licked his lips. “It is as if I am in his body, watching events from a thousand years ago.”
“How many times has this happened?”
“Twice. The first was back in the desert, which is how I knew where to find the lost city. And again, just now.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
The hurt in her eyes stung him. “Because…because…”
“Because you don’t trust me?”
“No!” His voice echoed in the cavernous space. “I do trust you,” he added quietly. He wanted to say that he was afraid the revelation might change the way she looked at him, that she might see the seed of evil sprouting in his soul and recoil, but he couldn’t form the words.
Seeing the anguish on his face, Sita softened and placed her hand on his. “I was the one who put that amulet inside you. Whatever burden that act placed on your shoulders is mine to carry too.”
Karim nodded, warmed by her words.
“So tell me, what did you see?”
He described the vision to her, doing his best to repeat Setnakht’s conversation with the red priest word for word.
Sita scoffed. “Ignoring the fact that Setnakht completely misinterpreted the story of Osiris, what he said is extremely useful. He said that his queen was to be entombed here. If anyone knew Setnakht’s deepest secrets, it would have been his wife. We have to find her.”
“The seventh door to the seventh door,” Karim said.
“Exactly!”
They hurried to the nearest doorway, and Sita noted the little arch and five slashes carved into the stone wall beside it. “Thedoors are numbered. This one is fifteen. We need to find the one marked with a seven.”
“Here!” Karim called after a few minutes of searching.
Together, they entered the dark passage, the firelight from the hall fading behind them. Karim held his torch high as they came to the first doorway. Sure enough, it was marked with one slash.
“This place is a maze,” he said as they progressed deeper into the temple, counting the doors as they went.
“Amun help us if we get lost,” Sita said, and slid a little closer to him.
After what seemed like a long time, they finally reached the seventh door. The darkness behind and beyond them was so thick, it was almost palpable. Karim thrust his torch through the doorway, hoping Sita wouldn’t notice the way his hand shook. It was all too reminiscent of Setnakht’s tomb. The stale air. The weight of the earth pressing down upon him. The oppressive silence. He could almost feel a presence moving in the shadows behind them, breathing, waiting for the right moment…
Stop it, you fool!
Sita stepped into the chamber ahead of him, holding a candle aloft. She turned in a circle and frowned. “There’s nothing here.”
“Nothing?” Karim followed her inside. The room was indeed empty. It wasn’t a particularly large room, although it did have an array of paintings on its walls. Karim sighed in frustration. “Perhaps Setnakht changed his mind and put her somewhere else.”
“What should we do now?”
“I don’t know…”
