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The two groups split up the area. The Americans' party took up a lot of space; the Carnahans' much less. Still, Evelyn worried as she saw the Americans beginning their day. She knew right where she wanted to start, and she didn't want any interference in the process.

Fortunately, the Egyptologist they had brought along, a fancy man who stood around holding an umbrella over his head and telling other people what to do, wanted to go straight inside, and he had their men start pulling out rocks and dirt.

Evelyn wanted to start near the statue of Anubis. Her research led her to believe there would be passages near it, where the legs of the statue had been buried beneath the sands for centuries. When she mentioned it, she prepared to be argued with, as she was always argued with. But the blue eyes of Rick O'Connell stayed fastened on her face, listening to her reasoning, and when she was done he nodded. "Sounds good to me."

With relief, and some consternation, Evelyn followed him up to study the area near the statue. Next to a large pillar, there was a hole. Far below, she thought she could see a glint of metal. "Yes. Let's start here."

Without a word, O'Connell began wrapping a rope around the pillar. The end of the rope kept slapping the warden as O'Connell whipped it around, until the warden moved away in protest. Only a faint twinkle in O'Connell's eyes as he glanced at her made Evelyn certain he had done it on purpose.

Near the pillar she found what she had been hoping to find—metal discs, still with remnants of their original silvering shining in the sun. To her delight, they still moved properly. She began setting one up, turning it to catch the rays of the sun, while she sent Jonathan to work on the other.

"That's the statue of Anubis," she told him, although she was fairly certain he knew that much. Hard to spend much time in Egypt and not recognize Anubis when you saw him. "Its legs go deep underground. According to Bembridge Scholars, that's where we'll find a secret compartment containing the gold Book of Amun-Ra." Let the others go flailing about for random artifacts; let Jonathan bring home treasure to his heart's content, and Rick O'Connell and the warden, too. Evelyn wanted that book. "Jonathan, you're meant to catch the sun with that."

O'Connell finished with the rope and approached her. "So, uh, what are these old, uh, mirrors for?" He sounded so hesitant, not like the confident man who had led them here at all.

She was glad to be able to teach him something. "Ancient mirrors. It's an ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see."

He took out a cloth-wrapped bundle, holding it out to her. "Here, uh, this is … for you." When Evelyn looked up at him questioningly, he took a step back, clearing his throat. "Go ahead. It's something I, uh, borrowed off our American brethren. I thought you might like it, might need it, for when you're, uh … uh, yeah." O'Connell was practically stammering as he backed away. Passing the warden, O'Connell glared at him. "What are you lookin' at?"

They may have been his brethren—from his accent, O'Connell was American himself—but Evelyn wasn't sure they were hers. Still, she took the bundle and unrolled it, finding a whole set of digging tools. Not as nice as the ones currently on the bottom of the Nile, but far better than the none at all she'd been left with. And O'Connell had borrowed … well, no use beating around the bush. O'Connell had stolen them for her. She found herself laughing in delight, and looking at O'Connell with new eyes. Maybe … just maybe … he felt what she felt. Maybe before they left this place, she might find out.

"Hey! Look for bugs," the warden said petulantly. "I hate bugs."

Ignoring him, O'Connell wrapped the rope around his waist and jumped into the hole. Reaching the bottom, he called up for Evelyn to come down next. She was more than ready. She had never climbed down a rope before, but she was so eager to see what lay beneath Anubis that she was inside the chamber before she had even truly realized what she was doing.

As Jonathan and the warden followed her, she moved to O'Connell's side. "Do you realize we're standing inside a room no one has entered in over three thousand years?"

Behind her, Jonathan made a gagging noise. "What is that godawful stench?"

Evelyn couldn't smell anything but dust. She found another mirror and hurried to it, wiping the cobwebs off and turning it up to the light, happy to see that her calculations on the surface had been correct. The mirror caught the reflected light from the upper ones, and light bounced from mirror to mirror, illuminating the room. "And then there was light," she said triumphantly.

"Hey, that is a neat trick," O'Connell agreed, moving farther into the room with his torch.

With the light, Evelyn recognized where she was. "Oh, my God, it's a sah-netjer."

"Huh?'

"A preparation room."

O'Connell frowned at her. "Preparation for what?"

"For entering the afterlife."

Jonathan caught up to them, lighting his torch from O'Connell's. "Mummies, my good son. This is where they made the mummies."

"Oh. How nice for them."

"Not really." Evelyn began to explain, but O'Connell was already moving ahead, looking down a passage.

"Do you know where we're going?" he asked her.

"Yes. If we go …" She paused to orient herself. "Yes, that way, we should end up in the chamber with the secret compartment. That is, if the Bembridge Scholars are correct."

"You mention those guys a lot," O'Connell said. "Friends of yours?"

"Oh, no. They keep rejecting my applications."

"Then they can't possibly know what they're doing." He headed off in the direction she had pointed.

Evelyn stared at his broad back, bemused by his easy acceptance of her expertise. She was still staring when Jonathan came by, clearing his throat.

"Book of Amun-Ra? Dusty passages? Ancient tombs? Ring a bell, old mum?"

She started guiltily and hurried off after O'Connell, ignoring Jonathan's amused chuckle as he followed her.