Alex was standing in the centre of the Great Cavern with a small shield strapped onto his right arm and a blindfold over his eyes. The Minotaur was standing about ten metres away from him. Making as little noise as possible, the Minotaur drew a handful of daggers from behind his back and threw them at Alex in quick succession. The sound of metal on metal rang through the cave as Alex used the shield to deflect the daggers and send them tumbling to the floor.

'Enough,' the Minotaur said at length.

'I didn't miss any, did I?' said Alex, removing the blindfold and taking a look at his handiwork.

'No,' said the Minotaur, 'you got them all again.'

Without any warning, the Minotaur removed his right hand from behind his back and hurled the final dagger at Alex. Alex caught it in his left hand and tucked it into his belt.

'Nice try,' he said, flashing the Minotaur a grin.

'I think that must be all for today,' the Minotaur sighed. 'I really need to come up with a test that will actually provide a challenge for you. I keep wondering if there's some way to arrange for you to be imprisoned in a confined space with fifty spitting cobras... then I realise, that just wouldn't be fair on the cobras.'

Alex laughed and said, 'I thought you never made jokes.'

'I don't,' said the Minotaur.

'Listen, before I go, there's something I really need you to do for me,' said Alex. 'You know my grandpa's supposed to arrive this afternoon, don't you?'

'I am aware of the fact,' said the Minotaur.

'I want you to make sure he doesn't find out about the Scarab Amulet being down here,' said Alex. 'That concrete Ardeth ordered still hasn't arrived, so you're the only line of defence right now.'

'You think your grandfather might try to steal the Scarab Amulet?'

'It's what he was trying to do when I first met him, so I think it's possible he'll try to get hold of it again if he finds out it's here.'

'You obviously don't trust him,' the Minotaur remarked.

'Well... no, I guess I don't,' said Alex, 'if you want to look at it like that.'

'Do you blame him for the fact that the Scarab was released in the first place?'

'No, I don't. He'd been after the Amulet for years, but he had no idea about its true nature.'

'It was still his curiosity that was responsible for releasing the creature.'

'I was just as responsible as he was.'

'What makes you say that?' asked the Minotaur.

'Because I wanted to find the Scarab Amulet for him just as much as he wanted to find it for himself,' said Alex. 'I wanted to go on an adventure with my grandpa, and I wanted to show him exactly what I could do with my Medjai training and the Manacle of Osiris... and I wanted him to be impressed.'

'And was he?'

'Yes.'

'It's interesting that your grandfather had turned up in your life for the first time in thirteen years, and you were the one who felt you wanted to impress him,' the Minotaur remarked.

'How do you think I should've acted towards him?' said Alex. 'Should I have given him the old "you abandoned your family, get out of my life" routine?'

'That reaction would have been perfectly understandable,' said the Minotaur. 'Your father reacted in such a way, at least at first.'

'Yeah, but he had personal feelings about the whole thing,' said Alex. 'I mean, of course he did – he's the one who got abandoned! But I don't have any first-hand experience of the situation, so I've never felt like I should judge anyone for it.'

'You continue to intrigue me, Alex,' said the Minotaur. 'The way you see things... the way you do things... maybe the key to saving the entire world really is contained within them.'

'I don't know about that,' said Alex. 'I'm just gonna keep doing my best, and hopefully I'll help to make some good stuff happen. Will you come to the assembly hall to greet my grandpa? After you've had your lunch, obviously.'

The Minotaur smiled at Alex and said, 'I'll be there.'

Alex entered the assembly hall to find Yanit, Fadil, Rick and the Minotaur standing in a line. Flashing them all a smile, he tacked himself on the end.

'Wow,' he said, 'it's like a royal reception committee.'

'Just what your grandfather deserves, I'm sure,' said Yanit, squeezing Alex's hand.

'Well,' said Alex, 'maybe...'

A few seconds later, Ardeth Bay entered the cave with the much anticipated visitor in tow.

'Here he is,' said Ardeth. 'On time and burdened with lost Medjai artefacts, exactly as promised.'

Jack O'Connell was carrying a large sack over one shoulder. He placed it onto the floor of the cave, then he went up to Alex and clapped him on the back.

'Good to see you again, Alex,' he said. 'So, you're the Supreme Medjai, huh? I always knew there was something special about you, right from the first moment I met you!'

'Which wasn't all that long ago,' Rick muttered under his breath.

'It's good to see you again, Grandpa,' said Alex, shaking his grandfather's hand. 'I'm really glad you can finally come back and join us, now that you've finished your quest.'

'Ha-ha, yeah,' said Jack, avoiding Alex's eye as he moved along the line. 'Well, who do we have here? You're a young lady, aren't you? We didn't let your type join the Order in my day.'

'Oh, you think maybe a girl can't do this?' Yanit said, frowning. 'You think I'm not quick enough? Not smart enough? Not tough enough?'

'Hey now, I didn't say that,' said Jack, flashing Yanit a winning smile. 'It's just that I didn't realise women did it. But times change, and we must all be ready to change with them. Say, this looks like a fine young fellow to be stuck in a scrape with. What's your name, buddy?'

'Fadil, sir,' said Fadil, shaking Jack's hand.

'Please, Fadil, call me Jack,' said Jack.

'Okay, Jack,' said Fadil.

'Yanit and Fadil are my Supreme Council, Grandpa,' said Alex. 'We're a team, the three of us; we make all the important decisions about the Order together.'

'That's swell, sport,' said Jack. 'I'm sure you know exactly what you're doing.'

Jack moved on again. He offered his hand to Rick, who took hold of it and shook it.

'Hello, son,' said Jack.

'Hello, Dad,' said Rick.

'I'm glad you could be here to meet me,' said Jack.

'Ardeth suggested it,' said Rick. 'If you stick around, you can meet my wife, Evy, and her brother, Jonathan. They'll be back here to pick me up tomorrow.'

'I'll be sure to do that,' said Jack.

'Evy's pregnant,' Rick added. 'You have another grandchild on the way – one whose life you can be a part of right from the start, if you want.'

'Nothing would please me more, son,' said Jack, moving along to stand in front of the final member of his welcoming committee. 'Say, aren't you the Minotaur? I thought you lived in Crete.'

'I'm not that minotaur,' the Minotaur replied, frowning. 'Surely you must realise who I am. Don't you remember your Medjai legends?'

'Sorry; I never paid as much attention to that stuff as I really should have,' Jack shrugged. 'So, what do you do around here?'

'I am Alex's personal guru,' said the Minotaur, 'and the official Medjai Treasurer.'

'Ah, then you'll be interested to see all the treasures I've brought with me!' said Jack.

'Yes,' said the Minotaur, 'I shall.'

'Why don't we all head down to the Great Cavern and take a look at what Jack has turned up for us?' Ardeth suggested. 'Perhaps we can even start to catalogue it – that is a prospect that excites me a great deal!'

'Then let's go and get on with it,' said Jack, making his way back towards his abandoned sack. 'You'll be pleased with me, Ardeth – I got all the stuff on the list, down to the last little thing!'

As Jack heaved the sack onto his back again, he did not notice a small, black object drop out of a hole in the bottom. As everyone left the cave, the ovular artefact rolled across the floor and came to rest against the wall. Slowly but surely, a crack began to appear in its jet-black surface.

Some time later, Fadil and Yanit were in the assembly hall with ten boys all aged either twelve or thirteen. The new recruits were flocking towards the main door, either side of which Yanit and Fadil had placed themselves in order to collect the wooden staffs that had recently been in use. The two new recruits at the end of the line came to a stop as they handed over their staffs.

'Are we ever actually gonna get to hit anyone with these things?' one of them asked Fadil.

'As I explained at the beginning of the lesson, James,' said Fadil, 'you will start to practise mock combat when you have mastered staff control in a gameplay situation.'

'When's that gonna be?' James persisted.

'When you are ready!' Fadil snapped. 'A Medjai must never try to run before he can walk, otherwise... well, he'll fall over.'

'Wow,' James said flatly, 'I sure hope I can be as sagacious as you someday, Fadil.'

'Just hit the showers, wise-guy,' Fadil said icily. 'You too, Iqbal.'

James and Iqbal sauntered from the hall, laughing together in low voices and giving each other occasional shoves. Fadil stared after them, frowning.

'That James is a right little toe-rag!' he said to Yanit.

'I like James,' said Yanit. 'He seems like he has a whole lot of spunk.'

'Doubtless he does,' said Fadil, raising an eyebrow, 'but spunk can cause many problems if it's directed unwisely.'

'Well, that's what we're here for,' Yanit smiled, giving Fadil a punch on the arm. 'Do you want me to take the staffs back to the cupboard? I can manage them all.'

'Okay,' said Fadil, 'thanks. I'll pack away the goal-nets.'

Yanit took the staffs and left the hall, while Fadil started folding up the nets. Before he had finished the job, he caught sight of the black egg lying on the floor of the cave. It was now in two separate parts.

'What the...?' Fadil muttered.

He stooped to pick up the two halves of the egg, looked at them appraisingly for a few seconds, then put them into his pocket. The goal-nets forgotten, Fadil turned to leave the hall. He did not notice eight red eyes watching him from the darkness of the cavern roof above.

Ardeth, Jack and the Minotaur were examining and cataloguing the Medjai artefacts. Alex stood nearby, scouring a piece of paper with a puzzled expression on his face.

'There's one missing,' said Alex.

'That's impossible, sport,' said Jack. 'I definitely got them all.'

'Well they're not all here now,' said Alex. 'This is Ardeth's original list of artefacts, and one of them definitely isn't here, so if you really got them all...'

'I absolutely did,' said Jack.

'...then there's one missing,' said Alex.

'Which one, Alex?' asked Ardeth.

'Something called the Black Egg,' said Alex.

'I remember a black egg,' said Jack. 'I found it in a cave in Tibet, as I recall. It must be here somewhere...'

'It isn't,' said Alex.

'I definitely put it in the sack,' said Jack. 'I guess it must still be in there.'

He went over to where his sack was leaning against the cave wall, lifted it into his arms, started to probe its interior, and found the hole in the bottom.

'Well, would you look at that,' said Jack. 'The egg must have fallen out.'

'I expect it's in the assembly hall,' said Ardeth.

'Unless it fell out en route to the Academy,' said the Minotaur. 'That could easily lead to a most unfortunate sequence of events.'

'What sequence of events?' said Alex.

'The Black Egg is home to the Black Tarantula,' said the Minotaur. 'If the egg cracks and the monster escapes, it will immediately embark on a mindless killing spree... or so the legend says.'

'Oh my God,' Alex muttered.

'Don't worry, sport,' said Jack. 'If it dropped out in the desert, it's hardly likely to have cracked on the sand, is it? And if it's up in the assembly hall, it'll be the work of a couple of minutes to find it and bring it down here.'

'Yes,' said Alex, 'and I think I'd better go do that right now!'

Fadil took a book from the shelf above his bed and sat down at his table to read it. He turned to the back to check the index, then he flicked to the relevant page.

'The Black Egg is home to the Black Tarantula,' Fadil read under his breath. 'If the egg cracks and the monster escapes, it will immediately embark on a mindless killing spree.'

Fadil withdrew the two broken halves of the Black Egg from his pocket and placed them on the table. His eyes darted back and forth between the book and the jagged pieces of shell for several seconds. He did not notice a large black shape entering the room behind him.

'To return the Tarantula to the Egg, an incantation must be performed,' Fadil continued. 'Unfortunately, the only Medjai ever to have learned and used this incantation successfully was killed in the process of returning the Tarantula to the Egg, so the secret has been lost for all time.'

Eight red eyes now had Fadil in their sights, and two black legs were looming over him.

'Oh my God...' Fadil breathed, as he closed the book with a thud. 'I have to... I have to...'

The Black Tarantula's two front legs made contact with Fadil's shoulders. Fadil whirled around and gasped in horror at the sight that met his eyes. He dived to one side and skidded across the floor; the Tarantula was immediately on top of him.

Fadil kicked out with both feet and the Tarantula flew across the room. It crashed into the wall and slid to the ground. Fadil jumped up and hurled himself towards his staff, which was leaning against the wall at the end of the bed. He turned around and saw that the Tarantula was scuttling towards him. He whacked it with the staff; the creature retreated.

Buoyed by his success, Fadil took a step forward. The creature flexed its mandibles and spat; Fadil found that his vision was obscured by a mass of sticky web. He dropped his staff and began to claw at his eyes, whereupon the Tarantula knocked him down and stabbed its two forelegs into his shoulders. Fadil yelled in pain.

The Black Tarantula spat a large amount of webbing over Fadil's face, then it wrapped the rest of his head in the sticky substance. It then scuttled backwards down his chest. Slowly and methodically, it began to wrap up the rest of Fadil's body inch by inch.

Alex arrived in the assembly hall to find Yanit folding up a goal-net. She looked up and fixed him with a warm smile.

'Hey,' she said.

'Hey,' said Alex, sounding distracted. 'You haven't seen a black egg lying around in here, have you?'

'No,' said Yanit. 'Should I have?'

'I'm not sure,' said Alex. 'Sorry; let me help you with that net. Are the new recruits any good?'

Alex took one end of the goal-net and Yanit took the other. The walked towards each other, folding the material as they went.

'They all seem fine,' said Yanit. 'A few corners to knock off, but that's only to be expected. We need to keep a particularly close eye on James, I think. Fadil says he's a toe-rag, but I think he could be a top-quality Medjai warrior if he's nurtured in the right way.'

'I'm sure you're right,' said Alex. 'Where is Fadil? Is he putting the sticks back in the cupboard?'

'No; I did that,' said Yanit. 'It's a little strange, actually; I left Fadil here folding up the nets, but when I came back he was gone and the job was only half finished.'

'I don't like the sound of that,' said Alex, adopting a frown.

'I'm sure he had a good reason for leaving,' said Yanit.

'Yes,' said Alex, 'that's what worries me.'

'Alex, you're scaring me now.'

'I'm a little scared myself, Yanit. If the Black Egg did fall out in the assembly hall, and the Black Tarantula did escape, and Fadil was in here by himself...'

'Oh my God, that sounds terrible!' said Yanit. 'We have to find him right now!'

'Yes,' said Alex. 'There are no screams to follow, which I guess could be a good sign. We'd better try his room first.'

Alex and Yanit arrived in Fadil's room to find the Black Tarantula wrapping the last inch of Fadil's left foot in webbing. Yanit gasped. Alex gestured at the giant spider with his right hand; the creature flew across the room and slammed into Fadil's table, knocking its contents onto the floor. Alex took from his belt the dagger that he had placed there earlier, and set to work on releasing Fadil.

'I'll keep it busy while you do that,' said Yanit, snatching up Fadil's abandoned staff from the floor.

'Okay,' said Alex, 'but be careful!'

Before the Tarantula had fully recovered its wits, Yanit was on it. The creature screeched and writhed under her attack, then it began to fight back.

'Hold on a second, buddy,' Alex said to Fadil, as he manoeuvred his knife with one hand and pulled the webbing off Fadil's face with the other. 'I'll soon have you out of here.'

Alex's knife sliced straight up the middle of Fadil's body casing, just as a huge clod of webbing came away from his nose and mouth. Fadil's lungs drew in as much air as they could; he began to cough and splutter.

'Oh, thank you!' Fadil breathed. 'Thank you, Alex. I almost suffocated in that thing!'

'I think that was the idea, man,' said Alex. 'You stay there and recover while I help Yanit.'

The Black Tarantula had now forced Yanit out of the room and into the corridor, but she was still battling valiantly against the monster. Alex started to run after them, but Fadil called him back.

'Wait, Alex!' he croaked. 'We need to get it back inside the Black Egg!'

'Do you know where it is?'

'Yes. But there's an incantation that needs to be performed, and no one knows what it is!'

'Figures,' Alex sighed. 'I guess I'll just have to do what I did with the Scarab, then – improvise and hope for the best! Where's the Egg?'

Fadil dragged himself to his feet and lurched over to his table, which now had nothing left on top of it.

'It was here!' Fadil exclaimed. 'It must have got knocked onto the floor!'

'You try to find it while I help Yanit,' said Alex, and he dashed from the room.

Yanit struck out again and again at the Black Tarantula, whilst also dodging the gobbets of web that it was continually spitting towards her eyes. After a particularly powerful strike to the head, the spider screeched and rolled over on the floor.

'Ha!' Yanit declared. 'I guess you're not so tough after all, huh?'

She took a step closer. The Tarantula looked up at her, and launched a clod of webbing right into her face. Yanit screeched as her vision was obstructed. Like Fadil before her, she dropped the stick and started clawing at her eyes.

The Black Tarantula pounced. It used its two front legs to force Yanit's arms down to her sides, then it jumped onto her front and wrapped its remaining six legs around her body. Yanit tried to move her arms, but they were firmly pinned. She felt the limbs of the giant spider squeezing her body. She struggled to draw breath as her lungs were constricted. She could feel the monster's body pressing against her own, as the legs tightened ever further. The last of her breath was forced from her lungs. It rattled up through her throat and out of her mouth. In a sickening moment of realisation, Yanit knew she was about to lose consciousness.