Chapter Four: The Amulet

"Ahmanet!" Professor Bloomberg's flabby features lit up at once. His watery blue eyes suddenly sparkled with boyish excitement. "I have everything here you could possibly want, my dear. Everything!"

Jenny was not so sure about that. So far her visit to Crandall College had been rather a disappointment. Due to budget cuts, the archaeology lab had been jammed with chemistry students. There was no organized filing system for Egyptian artefacts. And Professor Bloomberg's private office was a mess.

"Won't you give me a hand, my dear? I'm sure I placed that scroll somewhere around here."

The two of them spent more than half an hour searching the musty storage room, turning over box after box of pottery shards, grimy artefacts and old, yellowing papers. By the time they finished, Jenny was tired, and there was an ache between her shoulders. It was as though she'd been hauling sacks of cement. Her clothes were dusty and there were cobwebs in her hair.

"Here it is, here it is! My handwritten notes describe the Ahmanet legend in detail. My dear, this calls for a cup of tea."

"That's very kind of you. But I was hoping to see the original scroll, not the notes from your first expedition." Jenny smiled politely, but she couldn't help feeling that her entire morning had been wasted. She followed the professor out of the storage room and back to his private office, wearily wiping the dust from her white cotton slacks and the sticky cobwebs from her golden hair.

"Ahem!" Back at his desk, Professor Bloomberg cleared his throat, clearly trying to sound both knowledgeable and important. "She is fire and heat, burning beneath the sand. All men desire her. All men are under her command."

"Yes, I know that part." Jenny frowned as she sipped her tea, crossing her legs and leaning back in her soft-cushioned chair. She didn't want to hear about the irresistible Ahmanet. "Surely the scroll explains how the ancient goddess can be destroyed. Is there a way to prevent men from falling under her spell?"

"Let me see, let me see." While Jenny drank her tea, Professor Bloomberg busily skimmed through his notes. "Fire and heat . . . her eyes are upon you . . . my dear, would you pass me that protective amulet? It's right there, by your teacup."

"What a strange design!" Jenny's eyes were instantly drawn to the spiral pattern on the gold disk. The amulet looked very ancient.

"This was once worn by the priests of Ahmanet." Professor Bloomberg picked up the amulet and began to swing it gently back and forth. "From what I have read, the powers of the amulet enabled believers to look directly on the face of Ahmanet. Those who did so obtained great power, or anything they desired."

"Ridiculous!" Jenny's eyes were following the amulet as it swung, sweeping gracefully back and forth in a slow and circular motion. Professor Bloomberg was speaking in a low, soft voice.

"Yes, it was ridiculous for men to attempt to control the goddess," said the older man, still swinging the amulet back and forth. "Ahmanet is all powerful."

"She is all powerful." Jenny hated the idea of worshiping Ahmanet. She wanted Nick Morton all to herself. But the longer she gazed at the golden amulet, the more she felt like giving in. Her head was heavy, her blue eyes tired. She wanted to fight the ancient goddess. But a stronger voice commanded her to sleep.

"You will sleep soon," the professor told her, his voice soothing. "But before you surrender to the goddess, you must tell the priest of Ahmanet everything that Nick Morton intends to do."

"Mm." Jenny was unaware of the words swirling around her. But everything she knew of Nick and the ancient curse seemed to flow from her mind like water. She didn't like it. It was as though all her thoughts were fed straight to the goddess. Jenny struggled. But soon her mind was empty. Her tired body sank back into the soft cushions of her chair, and at last she was allowed to sleep.

And then someone was shaking her by the shoulder.