Free Return of the Mummy by R. L. Stine Page B

guess,” I said, staring down at Nila’s crumpled clothes.
    “Do you think she was really an ancient Egyptian princess? Prince Khor-Ru’s sister?” Sari murmured.
    “It’s all so weird,” I replied. I was thinking hard,trying to piece it all together, trying to make sense of what Nila had said.
    “She must have returned to her scarab form every night,” I told Sari, thinking out loud. “She crawled into the amber and slept inside it. It kept her alive — until …”
    “Until you smashed the amber pendant,” Sari whispered.
    “Yes.” I nodded. “It was an accident —” I started.
    But I choked on my words as I felt a cold hand close on my shoulder.
    And knew that the mummy had grabbed me from behind.

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    The hand rested on my shoulder. The cold seeped through my T-shirt. “Let go!” I screamed.
    I spun around — and my heart skipped a beat. “Uncle Ben!” I cried.
    “Daddy!” Sari leaped forward and threw her arms around him. “Daddy — you’re okay!”
    He pulled his hand off my shoulder and rubbed the back of his head. He blinked his eyes uncertainly and shook his head, still a little dazed.
    Behind him, I saw the mummy standing hunched over, frozen. Lifeless once again.
    “Whew. I’m still groggy,” Uncle Ben said, sweeping a hand back through his thick black hair. “What a close call.”
    “It’s all my fault,” I admitted. “I repeated the words five times, Uncle Ben. I didn’t mean to bring the mummy back to life, but —”
    A smile crossed my uncle’s face. He lowered his arm around my shoulders. “You didn’t do it, Gabe,” he said softly. “Nila got there first.”
    He sighed. “I didn’t believe in the power of the chant,” he said softly. “But I do now. Nila stole your mummy hand and chanted the ancient words. She used the Summoner to bring the mummy to life. Dr. Fielding and I were both suspicious of her.”
    “You were?” I cried, surprised. “But I thought —”
    “I became suspicious of Nila at dinner,” Uncle Ben explained. “Remember? She asked me what were the
six
ancient words to bring the dead to life? Well, I had never revealed that there were six. So I wondered how Nila knew there were six words.”
    Uncle Ben put an arm around Sari’s shoulders, too, and led us to the wall. Then he leaned his back against the wall, rubbing the back of his head.
    “That’s why I hurried to the communications tent right after dinner,” Uncle Ben continued. “I phoned the Cairo
Sun.
They had never heard of Nila at the newspaper. So I knew she was a fake.”
    “But we saw Dr. Fielding pull you from the tent,” Sari broke in. “We saw him force you into the pyramid, and —”
    Uncle Ben chuckled. “You two aren’t very good spies,” he scolded. “Dr. Fielding didn’t force me to do anything. He had spotted Nila sneaking into the pyramid. So he found me at thecommunications tent. And the two of us hurried to the pyramid to see what Nila was up to.
    “We got there too late,” Uncle Ben continued. “She had already brought the mummy to life. Dr. Fielding and I tried to stop her. She hit me over the head with her flashlight. She dragged me to the mummy case. I guess she stuffed me inside.”
    He rubbed his head. “That’s all I remember. Until now. Until I awoke and saw Nila turn into a scarab.”
    “We saw Dr. Fielding hurry out of the pyramid,” Sari reported. “He walked right past me. He had the weirdest look on his face, and —”
    She stopped and her mouth dropped open. We all heard the sounds at the same time.
    The scraping of feet on the floor outside the burial chamber.
    My heart jumped to my throat. I grabbed Uncle Ben’s arm.
    The footsteps dragged closer.
    More mummies.
    More mummies brought to life, staggering toward the prince’s tomb.

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    I reached into my jeans pocket for my little mummy hand. Pressing my back against the wall, I raised my eyes to the chamber doorway — and waited.
    Waited for the mummies to appear.
    But to my