Alex and Yanit were lying side by side on a tropical beach, staring up at the gradually darkening sky.

'We should get going now,' said Yanit. 'We won't be back at the Academy in the daylight if we're not careful, and that'll make the landing so much more difficult.'

'Yeah; I guess we'd better make a move,' said Alex. 'Yanit, you really did enjoy your O'Connell family Christmas, didn't you?'

'Of course I did, Alex,' Yanit said with a laugh. 'I've never experienced anything like it before – it was quite wonderful!'

'All the Christmas crackers had the same joke in them,' Alex said apologetically.

'That didn't matter,' said Yanit. 'Anyway, one of them had a different joke, and as there were about twenty of them in total, that made the whole situation extremely hilarious!'

'Mikey threw up on you.'

'Your Uncle Jonathan threw up on you, but neither of us minded either incident at all in the general hilarity!'

'I'm not so sure about that,' said Alex, making a face. 'Still, I... I'm really glad you enjoyed yourself.'

'You enjoyed yourself too, didn't you?' said Yanit.

'Yeah, I did,' said Alex. 'But mainly because you were there.'

'I think you enjoyed it because all of us were there, together.'

'Yeah... yeah, I did. You know me better than I know myself, Yanit.'

'Do you think your grandfather will stay in London now?' Yanit asked.

'I don't know,' said Alex. 'I sure hope he will... for his sake, more than anything. And for Mikey's, of course.'

'I think he'll stay,' said Yanit. 'Now he knows what it's like to be part of a family – really, properly part of it – he won't want to miss out on the experience... and nor will I.'

Yanit grasped Alex's hand and turned to smile at him; he met her gaze and smiled back.

'You know, I'm getting kinda cold,' said Alex. 'Incredibly tempting as it is to extend our new year getaway for at least one more night, maybe we actually should go back to Egypt now.'

'Yes, I think we'll have to, really,' said Yanit. 'Let's put our clothes back on and get Rupert ticking over, shall we?'

'Okay,' said Alex.

As Yanit switched off the plane's engine and Alex pulled the hangar doors closed, Fadil and Tara entered through the smaller door that led to the main part of the Medjai Academy.

'Thank goodness you're back at last!' Fadil shouted over the noise of the dying engine. 'There's something we really need to tell you about!'

Yanit jumped down from the cockpit as Fadil and Tara approached the plane, and Alex quickly came over to join them.

'First things first, though,' said Tara. 'Did you both have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year?'

'We sure did!' said Yanit.

'I hope you're not going to give us some news that might put a damper on the rest of the year, though,' said Alex.

'That is a possibility, I'm afraid,' said Fadil, 'although we really don't know what our news means, if anything.'

'We'd just love to hear all about your vacation after you've heard our news,' Tara added. 'Maybe we can all have a meal together and catch up.'

'Yes, let's do that,' Yanit said with a smile.

'Okay then,' said Alex, 'let's hear the worst, Fadil.'

'Tara and I were on our way home from Cairo yesterday when we found something very strange in the desert,' said Fadil.

'It's a pyramid,' said Tara.

'That's not the strangest thing one might find in the desert,' said Yanit.

'But this is unlike any pyramid I've ever seen before!' said Fadil. 'It's completely isolated – nothing but sand as far as the eye can see in all directions... and it's not part of any known burial ground – we checked.'

'Plus it has four really weird stone obelisks surrounding it,' said Tara. 'We tried to identify them in the Medjai Encyclopedia and a few other reference books, but nothing of their like ever seems to have been documented.'

'That's more than a little strange, I have to admit,' said Alex. 'Did you tell Ardeth about this?'

'No; we didn't tell anyone,' said Fadil. 'We both agreed that we'd rather wait for you two.'

'We'd better go and check it out, then,' said Alex. 'Where exactly is this place?'

'It's about ten miles from here,' said Fadil. 'I'm certain I can find it again.'

'Let's take the horses we were riding yesterday,' said Tara. 'They'll soon find the way, if we steer them vaguely in the right direction.'

'Good idea, Tara,' Yanit said warmly.

'Okay; we'll set off straight after breakfast,' said Alex. 'We'll soon find out if this strange pyramid is just an unexpected archaeological find, or something that the Medjai need to deal with.'

'I know which one my money's on,' Fadil said darkly.

The two Medjai horses came to a halt in the shadow of the enormous pyramid; Alex and Yanit jumped down from one, while Fadil and Tara jumped down from the other.

'You're right, Fadil,' said Alex. 'This pyramid is unlike any other in Egypt, so far as I can tell. The construction is very strange – not quite the same as any I've ever seen. And those obelisks... weird!'

'It's almost like they're guarding the pyramid,' said Yanit. 'Perhaps they're supposed to keep something inside... or prevent intruders from gaining entry, maybe.'

'They haven't zapped us or anything,' Tara pointed out. 'But I think they look like they might zap us.'

'Maybe they will if we try to get inside,' said Fadil. 'There's an open doorway at the bottom there, look.'

'Pyramids usually mean mummies, don't they?' said Yanit. 'This can't be anything to do with Imhotep, can it? He never had a pyramid, did he?'

'No; he wasn't a pharaoh,' said Alex. 'He was a priest... and a disgraced and condemned priest to boot! Besides, he's safely stored away in the Great Cavern, and the Minotaur would have told us right away if anything was happening with his sarcophagus. If there is a mummy in there, it can't have anything to do with Imhotep.'

'It might be just as undead and just as evil, though, mightn't it?' said Fadil.

'Yeah, I suppose that's possible,' said Alex. 'Or maybe it's just an undiscovered monument and there's nothing unusual or supernatural about it at all. Shall we find out?'

The quartet approached the pyramid with a degree of caution, and entered through the door that Fadil had pointed out.

'Well, we didn't get zapped by the obelisks,' said Tara. 'Maybe that's a good sign.'

They followed the narrow stone passage, which was lit with occasional wall torches, until they reached a fork.

'We'll have to split up,' said Alex.

'Why?' said Fadil.

'Because there's definitely something in here – those torches didn't light themselves – and we need to find out what it is,' said Alex.

'That doesn't mean we have to split up,' said Fadil. 'There's safety in numbers, Alex.'

'We can cover more ground more quickly if we split up,' Alex pointed out.

'Why do we need to do that?' said Fadil. 'Do you have some important luncheon appointment you need to rush off to?'

'No,' said Alex, laughing slightly. 'Well, Yanit, it looks like you have the deciding vote.'

'I want to hear what Tara thinks we should do,' said Yanit.

'What I think isn't important,' said Tara. 'I'm not part of the Supreme Council, Yanit.'

'Nevertheless, I want to hear your opinion before I cast my vote,' said Yanit.

'Well... I think we should split up,' said Tara. 'There's no reason to think we'd be in any immediate danger by pairing off... but if anything doeshappen, or if we come to another choice of paths that might end up getting us lost, we should come straight back here and wait for the others.'

'I agree,' said Yanit. 'I vote we split up, under the conditions that Tara has just outlined.'

'Agreed,' said Alex.

'Okay,' said Fadil.

Alex started to move closer to Yanit, but she skipped away from him and planted herself next to Tara.

'Let's have the girls take one way and the boys take the other, shall we?' said Yanit.

'Um... okay,' said Alex. 'If that's what you want, Yanit. Fadil, it looks like you're with me.'

'So it does,' said Fadil. 'You girls be careful, won't you?'

'You think we can't cope without our big, strong boys to protect us?' said Yanit, slipping her arm through Tara's. 'That's hardly in keeping with the new Medjai philosophy, Fadil. We're perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves, aren't we, Tara?'

'Um... sure, Yanit,' said Tara, giving her companion a slightly uncertain look.

'Okay then,' said Alex, 'let's do this. But we must all remember what Tara said – back here to the fork right away if anything weird or alarming happens, or if the path divides again, right?'

'Right!' said the other three.

Yanit and Tara walked in silence for several minutes; the stone corridor seemed to stretch in front of them forever.

'Yanit?' said Tara.

'Yes, Tara?' said Yanit.

'I have to admit, I was a little surprised you wanted to pair up with me for this,' said Tara. 'I, er... I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to have me with you in a potentially dangerous situation.'

'What are you talking about, Tara?' said Yanit. 'Don't you have any idea how glad I am to have you around? There's only one thing more trying than being the first female Medjai, and that's being the only female Medjai!'

'Not getting bored of Alex's distinctly male company already, are you?' Tara giggled.

'No way!' Yanit laughed. 'It's just nice to have a little variety occasionally, when the opportunity presents itself. Don't you agree?'

'Oh yes, I do,' Tara said fervently. 'But the thing is, Yanit, that I... well, I tried to kill you!'

'That's water under the bridge, Tara,' said Yanit. 'I know you weren't yourself at the time. Besides, you tried to kill Fadil too, and we both know how he feels about you, so why shouldn't I feel the same way? Well, not exactly the same way of course, but you know what I mean.'

'I tried much harder to kill you than I did to kill Fadil,' Tara pointed out.

'It doesn't matter,' said Yanit. 'A big, black line has been drawn under that whole sequence of events – Alex saw to that, as I'm sure you remember very well. We're allies now, Tara... and I hope I'm right in saying that we're friends too.'

'Oh Yanit, of course we are,' said Tara, beaming all over her face. 'You know, when I came to Cairo to enchant Fadil with my feminine wiles so that I could infiltrate your base, I was really surprised to learn that there was a female Medjai already in residence. That's actually when I first began to suspect that my father might be – what is the expression? – full of crap.'

'I thought he managed to convince you that my presence was only tolerated because I gave Alex sex on demand?' said Yanit.

'As soon as I saw you and Alex together, I started to doubt my father's word on that,' said Tara. 'Although you did seem to be spending most of your time in bed together after I arrived at the Academy, so I was a little confused, I must admit.'

'That was just an unfortunate piece of timing,' Yanit said with a smile. 'It was a very new development in our relationship, just at the right time to play into your father's hands. But that's all over and done with now, so it doesn't matter at all. Look, isn't that daylight up ahead?'

'It's some kind of light,' said Tara. 'Maybe this passage leads back outside.'

They emerged into a square chamber that was illuminated by a single window, high up in the stone wall. Most of the room was steeped in shadow, where the daylight seemed unable to reach.

'There doesn't seem to be anything here, but we'd better explore a little,' said Yanit.

'Shouldn't we go back to the fork now?' said Tara.

'We've hardly looked at the room; there may be something here,' said Yanit. 'Perhaps the passage continues on the other side.'

'But if there's more than one opening, or if this is a dead end, it's straight back the way we came, like we agreed with the boys,' said Tara, 'right?'

'Right,' said Yanit. 'I'll lead the way; you stay close behind me, okay?'

Tara nodded, and Yanit took a step forward. No sooner had she placed her foot back on the floor than a thick white tendril shot out of the shadows, grabbed Yanit securely by the wrist, and dragged her into the all-encompassing darkness.

'So tell me, buddy,' Alex said to Fadil, 'how are things going with you and Tara?'

'Things are going really great,' said Fadil, smiling widely.

'I'm very glad to hear it,' said Alex. 'Just tell me if this is none of my business – I'm only asking out of curiosity and I'm sure I have no right to – but have you considered asking her to start sharing a room with you?'

'I have considered it, yes,' said Fadil, 'but after a good deal of very careful thought, I decided not to do it.'

'Oh,' said Alex. 'I'd love to know why, if you're prepared to tell me.'

'Yes, I'm prepared to tell you,' Fadil said with a small smile. 'I feel I would be setting a bad example to the young recruits.'

'You do, huh?'

'Well... perhaps not exactly a bad example, but an undesirable precedent. After all, we welcomed fifteen girls aged from eleven to thirteen into the Academy a couple of weeks ago, and I wouldn't want any of the young boys to think it might be appropriate for him to pick a favourite girl and ask her to move in with him.'

'I see,' said Alex. 'Yes, I suppose that's a very good point. So... so do you think me and Yanit are setting a bad example, then?'

'Oh, no,' said Fadil. 'It's different for you, Alex.'

'You mean because I'm the Supreme Medjai?'

'Exactly. You're cohabiting with your Medjai Queen, for want of a better title – I'm sure no one at the Academy would ever question your right to do so.'

'I don't think Ardeth really approves of the arrangement,' said Alex. 'Or he didn't at first, anyway. And now I'm feeling kinda uneasy about it, after what you just said about setting a bad example.'

'It was not my intention to make you feel that way,' said Fadil. 'I wish I hadn't said anything now.'

'I'm glad you did,' said Alex. 'It's something that needs thinking about.'

'Don't trouble yourself with it, Alex, please,' said Fadil. 'I only meant that I'd be setting a precedent if I was seen to be doing what you were doing, not that I thought there was anything wrong with you doing it yourself. And besides, that isn't even the main reason I decided not to broach the subject with Tara at the present time.'

'So what is the main reason?' said Alex.

'It's Safin,' said Fadil. 'I've told him that he's always welcome in my room, any time of the day or night, and I want him to be free to come and go as he chooses. If I start cohabiting with Tara, the arrangement would not be fair on either of them.'

'But Tara's been spending a whole lot of time in your room anyway, hasn't she?'

'Yes, and Safin has walked in on us a couple of times, which is absolutely fine with me, but I don't want to force Tara to be okay with it happening in her room – which is what our room would be, if she didn't have her own private space to go back to when she felt the need. No woman wants to live with the threat of a young man she is not intimately familiar with being free to barge in to her private boudoir whenever he feels like it. I don't want to put Tara in that position, or ask her to consider putting herself in it.'

'Wow, you've really thought about this a lot,' Alex remarked. 'I have to say, I'm impressed by your reasoning – by all of it, I mean.'

'Thank you, Alex,' said Fadil, 'although I feel I must urge you again to forget about that whole bad example thing – I truly wasn't thinking about you and Yanit when I said it, and I truly don't think that any of it applies to you. Look; is that some kind of light up ahead?'

'Yeah, I think it is,' said Alex. 'Maybe we're finally going to discover something about what this pyramid is hiding.'

They emerged into a huge chamber that was lit by a square of daylight far above, apparently at the apex of the pyramid itself. A stone runway led to a large cauldron of water, beyond which a huge stone sarcophagus was standing upright in the mouth of a giant skull. Four enormous statues surrounded the cauldron, seeming to look down on it with their dull stone eyes.

'It's a burial chamber,' Alex breathed. 'I think we're really on to something here, Fadil.'

'Those statues are giving me a most peculiar feeling,' said Fadil. 'Are they supposed to be people or animals or what? They remind me of the four obelisks surrounding the pyramid.'

'We need to get the girls in here before we explore the place,' said Alex. 'I'm suddenly starting to feel really worried about them.'

'Shall we go back to the fork, then press on and find them if they're not already there?'

'That's a good idea, but I have a little modification to your plan that might just speed things up a bit.'

Yanit whipped out her dagger and sliced through the tendril that was attached to her left wrist, but already her ankles were encased in more of the same material, which was rapidly snaking its way up her legs.

'Yanit, what the hell is going on?' Tara squeaked in alarm.

'They're bandages!' Yanit replied, sounding more than a little alarmed herself. 'I think I'm being mummified!'

Yanit slashed at the bandages as they crawled above her knees, then a further tendril shot out from the darkness and grabbed her right wrist. Yanit's dagger went tumbling to the floor. She cried out in frustration and alarm as she clawed at the bandages that were rapidly enveloping her. She felt them encircling her thighs and pulling themselves taut, before they snaked all around her lower body and started to reach up her back.

'Don't worry,' said Tara, pulling herself together. 'I'll save you.'

Tara grabbed the fallen dagger and got to work on the bandages, but they had soon grabbed her in several places as well. Tara squealed as she frantically slashed at the tendrils that were restraining her, then she found herself staggering backwards into the patch of light cast by the high window.

Yanit's breath was now coming in rattled gasps as the bandages tautened themselves around her chest. Tara stared at the sight in panic and fear, then she felt something moving in her left hand, and looked down at it.

A fragment of one of the bandages that had grabbed her had come away in her hand, and was now writhing in an apparent state of distress. As Tara watched in awe, the bandage crumbled to dust between her fingers. She stared at her empty hand for a few moments, then she looked up at the window.

'The sunlight...' she breathed. 'Hold on, Yanit – I'll get you out of there!'

The bandages had now covered Yanit's face; only her long black hair still gave any indication that she was not a walking mass of decomposing flesh and bone. She was still clawing vainly at her constricted chest, but her hands were encased so tightly that she failed to gain even the slightest grip.

Tara leapt into action. She quickly severed the tendrils that were still connecting Yanit to the encompassing darkness, then she wrapped her arms around Yanit and hurled the pair of them into the lighted area. The bandages seemed to scream as the sunlight made contact with them; Tara watched in great relief as Yanit's body casing rapidly crumbled to dust.

Yanit leaned heavily on Tara as she drew in huge lungfuls of air. Tara put a supportive arm around her.

'Tara,' Yanit panted, when the power of speech returned to her, 'if I'd had any lingering doubts about your loyalty or your courage or anything else you might require to be a top-class Medjai warrior – and I didn't have any doubts, I must stress once again – but if I had had any, they'd just have been completely dispelled. Thank you.'

As her breathing eased, Yanit wrapped her arms around Tara and held her tightly. Tara smiled and returned the hug.

'Is everything okay in here?'

The girls drew apart to be met with the sight of a transparent image of Alex standing in the doorway, looking more than a little worried.

'Everything's fine, Alex,' said Yanit. 'Some evil bandages just tried to mummify me, but Tara had my back.'

'Wow,' Alex remarked. 'Maybe Fadil was right – it would've been safer if we'd all stuck together.'

'We were safe enough in pairs,' said Yanit. 'Tara's just proved that beyond all doubt.'

Tara went very red and said, 'Thank you, Yanit.'

'Anyway, this chamber seems to be a dead end, as you can probably see,' Yanit said to Alex. 'Did you guys have any more luck than us?'

'We sure did,' said Alex. 'We've found a burial chamber; I've come to lead you to it.'

'It looks like the boys really did have all the luck, then,' Yanit said wryly. 'How typical! Do you think it's the kind of burial chamber that's nothing more than an interesting archaeological curiosity, or the kind that turns out to be the lair of some undead fiend?'

'I think it could go either way,' said Alex. 'We'll all explore it together, and see what we can find.'

Fadil and Tara were pacing around the strange statues, examining them closely, while Alex and Yanit stood in front of the bubbling cauldron. Alex was holding Yanit's right hand in a tender grip and examining the array of red weals left by the bandages.

'Really, Alex, I'm fine,' said Yanit. 'These will fade in no time.'

'Alex, are you sure you don't recognise any of these images?' Fadil called over.

'I examined all four of those statues very carefully and I'm absolutely sure I don't know what they are,' Alex replied, still peering at Yanit's injuries. 'Like I said, they look like oversized mockeries of Ancient Egyptian canopic jars, but not depicted in a way I've ever seen them before. Ouch!'

Yanit frowned and gently withdrew her hand, but it was too late. Her skin was now completely free of marks, while Alex was sporting an impressive array of red welts on both his forearms.

'Alex, you really must stop doing that every time I suffer the slightest boo-boo,' said Yanit, smiling nevertheless. 'You're very kind, but you don't need to put yourself through such discomfort for me.'

'I can heal them more quickly than you can, Yanit,' said Alex. 'Ooh, they do sting – you should've told me they were making you sting.'

'I was trying to discourage you from absorbing them,' said Yanit. 'What if we suddenly find ourselves in a dangerous battle situation? You've deliberately weakened yourself, Alex, and we all know how much trouble that can lead to.'

'Maybe I've weakened myself slightly,' Alex grinned, 'but I'm still much stronger than the rest of you, aren't I?'

Yanit laughed and smacked Alex across the chest. He winced, but carried on grinning at her. Fadil and Tara came up to join them.

'It's a mystery,' said Fadil. 'Someone has clearly constructed this chamber very carefully for a specific purpose, but can it really just be to act as the final resting place of whoever is inside that sarcophagus?'

'This doesn't feel like a resting place to me,' said Tara. 'There's a... a presence here. I think it has something to do with those statues.'

'I agree,' said Fadil, 'yet they really do just seem to be inert pieces of stone, when all is said and done. The same is true of the sarcophagus, and the cauldron, yet they all seem to emanate some kind of strange energy... but there's nothing here. Well, nothing alive.'

As Fadil spoke these words, the cauldron suddenly began to bubble and steam. The eyes of the huge skull that enclosed the sarcophagus started to glow, then there came a tremendous grating noise as the lid of the casket slid to one side. As Alex, Yanit, Fadil and Tara watched in awe, a figure was revealed inside the sarcophagus. It was wearing a hooded red cloak, underneath which it was apparently encased in bandages. Two red eyes stared out from the creature's skull-like face, and quickly fixed themselves on the four figures standing beyond the cauldron.

'As long as evil exists,' a deep, sepulchral voice intoned, 'Mumm-Ra lives!'