“You mean the one who caused all the trouble in the first place?” I asked.
“Yes. It is possible he has gained a foothold in the world again,” Amon said. “He used priests once before. Perhaps he has done so again.”
“Priests?” Dr. Hassan echoed skeptically. “I doubt it. Our sect is above reproach. We choose our novices very carefully.”
“As you said, there is more than one group now. Perhaps the Order of the Sphinx?”
Dr. Hassan shook his head. “No. That order is extinct. There hasn’t been a matriarch since the time of Hatshepsut.”
“I see.” Amon rubbed his jaw. “Still, there is the matter of the shabti.”
“Yes.” I turned to Dr. Hassan to explain. “Amon raised two of them who had been placed above the entrance to the tomb. Neither of them has returned to us, and one of them definitely tried to kill us.”
“Is this possible?” Dr. Hassan asked incredulously.
“That’s how we got covered in the red toxin,” I stated flatly.
“In theory, they must obey the one who raised them. They should have been subject to me,” Amon said.
“This can mean only one thing,” Dr. Hassan said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You didn’t raise them.”
I stared. “Can the priests in your sect raise shabtis?”
“No. It is beyond our power.”
“Then someone else, someone more powerful, is trying to stop Amon,” I said.
“It would appear so,” the Egyptologist answered.
“I do not understand why Anubis would lead us falsely in that manner,” Amon said. “If the shabtis were impure, why, then, did they give us the funerary cone?” None of us had an answer for that.
As I sipped my drink, deep in thought, Amon turned to Dr. Hassan. “Doctor, did you hide my canopic jars?”
“I did. Forgive me, Amon, but when I discovered you were missing, I wanted to take no chances, so I hid them in an empty tomb. I will take you to them the instant you are ready.”
“It is too late,” Amon said sadly. “We were able to retrieve only one. The shabti crushed the others.”
“But he would not be able to find them unless—”
“Unless his master ordered him to,” Amon finished.
“Ah, I see. This is very unfortunate.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would they ship Amon off to the States and leave his jars behind?” I asked. “And if they left his sarcophagus here, why did the coffin in the museum look like Amon?”
“Ah, that I can speculate on,” Dr. Hassan said. “Each time Amon sleeps, a new sarcophagus is made. Perhaps they hid him in the place I’d be least likely to look. I wouldn’t think of looking in one of the old ones.”
“They likely knew that without my jars, my powers would wane quickly,” Amon explained. “And being an ocean away from Egypt would make completing the ceremony very difficult.”
“Okay, but then they could still take the canopic jars and hide them somewhere else.”
“It is unlikely since I hid them many years ago, prior to Amon being taken,” Dr. Hassan said. “I always thought it was foresight on my part, but perhaps there were other forces at work lending me inspiration.”
“Doctor? Where are my brothers?” Amon asked.
“Ah, yes. After you went missing, I had them both moved. The incarnation of the god of the stars is hidden in an underground cavern at the Oasis of the Sacred Stones. Do you know this place?”
Amon nodded.
“Very good. As for the embodiment of the god of the moon, he will be found in—”
A sudden wind whipped Dr. Hassan’s hat from his head. After excusing himself to retrieve it, he turned back to us and stopped cold, staring over our heads into the distance. The whistle of the wind became sharper and stronger and Amon pulled me close, wrapping his arm protectively around me.