Curse of the mummy's tomb

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"He's gaining on us!" I called to Sari, who was still a few steps ahead.
"There's got to be a way out of here!" she answered breathlessly.
But I immediately saw that there wasn't. We were nearly to the back wall. We passed a gigantic sphinx,
then stopped.
There was nowhere to go.
No doorway. No exit.
A solid granite wall.
We both turned and saw Ahmed's eyes grow wide with triumph.
He had us cornered.
8
Ahmed stopped a few feet in front of us. He was panting like a dog, gasping for air, and holding his side.
He glared at us angrily.
Sari glanced at me. She looked pale, really frightened. We both had our backs pressed against the wall.
I swallowed hard. My throat felt tight and dry.
What was he going to do to us?
"Why did you run?" Ahmed finally managed to say, still holding his side as if he had a cramp. "Why?"
We didn't reply. We both stared back at him, waiting to see what he was about to do.
"I came with a message from your father," he told Sari, breathing hard. He raised the red bandanna from
his neck and wiped his perspiring forehead with it. "Why did you run?"
"A message?" Sari stammered.
"Yes," Ahmed said. "You know me. We met again yesterday. I don't understand why you ran."
"I'm sorry," Sari said quickly, glancing guiltily at me.
"We weren't thinking clearly," I said. "Sari frightened me, and I followed her."
"Gabe was telling me all this frightening stuff," she said, jabbing me hard in the side with her elbow. "It
was his fault. He scared me with all this mummy stuff. So when I saw you, I wasn't thinking clearly,
and . . ."
Both of us were babbling. We both felt so relieved that he wasn't chasing us — and so embarrassed that
we had run away from him.
"Your father sent me to get you," Ahmed said, his dark eyes trained on me. "I didn't think I'd have to
chase you through the whole museum."
"Sorry," Sari and I said in unison.
I felt like a complete jerk. I'm sure Sari did, too.
"Daddy came back to the hotel and saw Gabe's note?" Sari asked, straightening her hair with her hand as
she moved away from the wall.
"Yes." Ahmed nodded.
"He got back from the hospital awfully fast," Sari said, glancing at her wristwatch.
"Yes," Ahmed replied again. "Come. I will take you back to the hotel. He is waiting for you there."
We followed him in silence, Sari and I walking side by side a few steps behind him.
As we made our way down the long stairway, we glanced sheepishly at each other. We were both
feeling really foolish for running away like that.
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Lisa/Deskto...%2005%20-%20Curse%20of%20the%20Mummy's%20Tomb.txt (23 of 51)3/18/2009 3:04:28 AM