Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx by James Rollins Page B

tell us more about what happened? How Ankh Tawy was destroyed?”
    Anger grew in Nefertiti’s voice. “Outlanders came to us, of a most strange sort. They disturbed the sleeping Sphinx. It woke in fury and howled out the Great Winds, driving us from our homes.” Her eyes sparked, going hard. “They were travelers from Calypsos.”
    â€œI’ve never heard of such a story,” Marika insisted. “We know nothing about any of this.”
    Nefertiti looked down her nose at Marika. “That is what we will discover in Ka-Tor. The masters of the Blood of Ka will get the truth from you.”
    A horn blared under Jake’s feet, cutting off their conversation. Then a moment later, another horn answered from far away, sounding like an echo.
    Skymaster Horus shouted. “Ka-Tor awaits!”
    Jake crossed to the rail and stared ahead. Off in the distance, a sprawling metropolis sat atop a plain of black rock. Two walls of stone enclosed the city: an outer ring and an inner one. A massive pyramid rose in the center. It looked like one solid piece of stone.
    Ammon came running up from below. “Princess, we must get you ready for our arrival! I’ve polished your headpiece and have your finery ready to grace your beauty.”
    Nefertiti grew even more irritated and strode off in a huff.
    Ammon scowled at Jake’s group as if they were to blame for the princess’s sour mood. He waved to their Egyptian guard. “Put the prisoners back in their shackles before we arrive.”
    Nefertiti disappeared down into the hold, and Ammon scurried to catch up with her.
    Marika stood with her hands on her hips. “After all we’ve done, they’re chaining us again. Nefertiti could have ordered us to be set free.”
    Jake agreed but understood. The five of them were strangers here, cursed by using the name
Calypsos
. Until they were questioned, Nefertiti was taking no chances.
    â€œShe’s not really that bad,” Kady said, standing up for the princess. “Some girls back at school are
way
nastier than her. And did you see her with that spear, how she moved?”
    Pindor nodded a bit too vigorously.
    â€œShe’s good,” Kady concluded. “Even said she’d teach me some of her moves with that spear.”
    Jake turned away.
    Great, like Kady needs to be any more lethal
…
    Beyond the rail, he watched the city below grow larger. He didn’t know what to expect down there, but they’d been sent here for a reason. He just knew it. Nefertiti had described the barrier as impenetrable. So how did he and his friends get through?
    Jake could think of only one possible answer.
    The Skull King’s words played again in his head, scraping out of the darkness between worlds. Jake heard raw desire in that icy voice.
    The Key of Time …
    Jake pulled out the watch from under his shirt and cracked the case open. Had this somehow brought them here? Was that why Kalverum Rex wanted it from the start? Was he even now searching for another way to get past the Great Wind?
    Jake sensed that he was on the right track. He studied the face of the watch. The second hand spun around and around—but something was wrong. The hand was spinning too fast, ticking off minutes twice as fast as it should be.
    He frowned. What was wrong?
    As the windrider descended toward the city, the sweep of seconds spun even faster, as if sensing the approach toKa-Tor. The closer they drew, the faster it spun, growing more and more excited as it neared the city.
    But why?
    Jake guessed a possible answer.
    Maybe the watch wasn’t only a key—but also a compass
!
    Like a Geiger counter tracking radiation, the watch must sense something in Ka-Tor, something so important that it had to be locked within a ring of storms here centuries ago. Something the Skull King desperately wanted.
    Jake studied the approaching city with a sharper eye, sensing now
why
they’d all been dropped