Tomb of Doom (3 page)

Zac had a pretty good idea what the symbols might mean. But just to be sure he switched his SpyPad into Code-Breaking mode and scanned it along the rock.

Seconds later, the SpyPad flashed the decoded message up on screen.

Knock before entering.

Could it be that simple to get into the pyramid? It didn't seem possible.

Well, it can't hurt to try,
thought Zac. He rapped sharply on the rock.

Instantly it slid away to reveal a dark cavern. Zac stepped inside. With a thud the rock slid back into place and Zac found himself in total darkness. Time to switch the SpyPad into Glow mode.

Once he had some light Zac looked around. What he saw took his breath away. The walls around him were covered in paintings. One painting showed a room full of glittering jewels. Another painting was of enormous snakes. There was also a painting of people being chased by huge scorpions.

In front of Zac were three golden door-ways, each decorated with precious stones. Behind them were three tunnels leading off into the darkness. He was at the start of a maze!

Agent Track Star must have gone down one of these,
thought Zac.
But which one?

Zac knew that lots of pyramids were filled with booby traps and false passages. Were the paintings a warning of what lay ahead? Zac didn't like the look of the snakes or the scorpions.

Which way should he go?

CHAPTER
FOUR

Better speak to Leon again,
decided Zac. But the thick walls of the pyramid made it hard to get a clear signal. Leon's face appeared fuzzy on the screen of his SpyPad and his voice kept dropping out.

‘Play the game,' was all that Zac could hear. It wasn't like Leon to talk about games during a mission.

‘
Pyramid Panic
,' Leon finally yelled before the signal dropped out.

Pyramid Panic
? That stupid game that Zac had deleted from his SpyPad? Why was Leon telling him to play that when he wanted help through this maze?

Hang on,
thought Zac.
The maze in
Pyramid Panic
must be the same as the one inside the Vanishing Pyramid!

The more he thought about it the more sense it made. GIB probably made the game as a way of disguising what they knew about the inside of the Vanishing Pyramid. That way if a SpyPad ever fell into enemy hands they wouldn't even realise what the game really was.

It was a clever idea. But there was one slight problem. Zac didn't have the game any more. He was going to have to rely on what he could remember.

Zac looked at the three entrances and thought about the last time he'd played
Pyramid Panic
. The left-hand passage led to a dead end. And he was pretty sure the right-hand one ended up in a deep hole. He knew that because he'd fallen into it a couple of times.

Easy! That only left the middle passage.

As he headed off into the dark tunnel Zac noticed something scratched into the ground.

Zac smiled – he didn't need his SpyPad to solve this clue.

His school project on Egypt had taught him enough to work out the letters ...

GIB.

My hunch was right
, he thought.
Agent Track Star must have gone this way!

Just then the ground rumbled and the walls shook. Zac set off again at a brisk pace. There was no way he was getting stuck in here!

After walking for hours Zac stopped to check the time.

This didn't feel like the right way any more.
I'll keep going for a bit longer
, Zac thought, taking a step forward. And then the ground disappeared!

Zac plunged into a deep hole. As he landed his head whacked against the side of the hole.

Instantly, Zac was knocked out.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he finally came round. But losing any time at all was bad.
Great
, Zac thought, annoyed.
How do I get out?

It was very dark in the hole. He felt around for his SpyPad to get some light. But it wasn't there! He must have dropped it in the passage above when he fell.

This was just like playing
Pyramid Panic
, but worse. At least with the game he could turn it off and start all over again when things went bad.

Zac felt the walls around him. They were very slippery and steep. If only he had some sort of light! It was impossible to do anything in this darkness.

Zac looked down and saw a bluish light moving around the floor. He blinked a few times but the light was still there. A moment later it was joined by other blue lights. Soon there were enough lights for Zac to see what was going on.

The crawling lights were beetles with big horns. Each one was the size of Zac's palm and had wings that glowed with a purple light. They looked familiar to Zac, but where from?

Oh yeah! Ultraviolet Glowing Scarab Beetles – Zac had seen them on Leon's favourite nature show –
Creepy Creatures
.

Then Zac had a brilliant idea. He fished out the ugly knee-high socks from the Pyramid-Pack. Then he carefully scooped up the beetles and put them in the sock. Before long the sock was glowing as brightly as a torch. The beetles wriggled a lot but Zac tied a knot in the end so they couldn't escape.

Don't worry,
he promised them.
I'll let you go later
. Then he held up the sock-torch to have a look around.

On the side of the hole he saw another carving:

This was nothing that he'd learnt at school and he didn't have his SpyPad decoder with him.
I'll just have to work it out for myself
, Zac realised.

He looked carefully at the pictures. The first one was obviously a door. The second one was a figure with its finger to its lips – it looked like his mum when she wanted him to be quiet or when something was a secret.
Maybe there's a secret exit around here?
thought Zac.

Zac shone the torch around and there in the ground was a small hook. He pulled it, and instantly a rock slid back in the wall to reveal a passage leading up. It was very narrow. Zac would have to wriggle through it on his stomach. And what if it didn't lead back up to the main passage? He was just going to have to risk it.

But Zac knew this was probably the only way out of this hole. He was going to have to just risk it.

CHAPTER
FIVE

Zac started wriggling up the passage. It was a tight squeeze and he couldn't see any light ahead. But the tunnel was sloping upwards and to Zac's relief it wasn't long before he climbed back into the main passageway.

His SpyPad was on the ground near the edge of the hole. Zac grabbed it and checked the time.

It was already dawn and he was no closer to finding Agent Track Star. Suddenly, the ground trembled again. Zac covered his head as pebbles pelted down. They were becoming stronger. Zac had to hurry!

Zac tied his beetle-torch to his PyramidPack as he hurried along. Ahead of him the corridor went off in two different directions.
Which way should I go?
There was no way he wanted to end up down another hole.

Then Zac saw something out of the corner of his eye. There was writing on the floor of the left-hand passage.

He shone the SpyPad's glowing screen at the spot but the word instantly vanished. Zac was puzzled for a moment. Then he had an idea.
Maybe whatever it is can only be seen with ultraviolet light
.

Zac shone the beetle-torch over the ground. Sure enough, stamped on the ground, was ‘GIB'!
Agent Track Star must have used the GIB Invisible Stamp-pad to leave a clue!
It was a way for GIB agents to leave secret messages for each other.

Usually Zac had to turn on the ultraviolet screen in his SpyPad to see the invisible ink. But the beetle-torch was doing the same job.
Agent Track Star came this way,
thought Zac
. I must be on the right track.

Zac shone the beetle-torch down the left-hand tunnel. More glowing marks appeared, leading all the way down.

This mission just got a whole lot easier
, chuckled Zac.

He followed the marks for a while but then, quite suddenly, they stopped. The tunnel ended at the doorway of a small room. Zac looked in. On the back wall was a giant painting of a human with a cat's head. Zac took a step backwards. He was more of a dog person than a cat person. And there was something
very
dodgy about this cat.