Fiona huffed as she weaved her way through the hordes of tourists. Luxor's sun was scorching her even though the day was well into the evening.

"At least there are fewer tourists at this time," she whispered to herself. Yesterday, she visited the Valley of the Kings just to sightsee. She couldn't resist the chance to enter some of the sublime ancient Egyptian tombs. And she didn't regret it, either, once she saw the wonderful murals.

The vibrant colors, the wild imagination, the expressive storytelling; all of it exhilarated Fiona. She couldn't stop gaping at the images. How did these colors survive over two millennia? How did the architecture survive that long? The long, underground tunnels, the decorated columns, the-

"Fiona!"

She squinted, trying to locate her 'tour guide'. He was just in front of her mere seconds ago. She must've lost him in the crowd when she was daydreaming.

"Right here!" she called out.

What was his name? It was something with an A- or that sound she couldn't pronounce. Why was she always terrible at remembering names?

"Fiona," he came up to her, drenched in sweat and irritated, "Don't walk away."

She was about to explain that she didn't lose him on purpose when he turned around and started walking. She hurried after him.

"Is it far?"

"Eh?"

"Is the tomb far?"

"No," he took a moment to think, "Not too far."

After 10 minutes of walking, Fiona realized that it must be far as she couldn't see any tomb entrance in sight. Why were there no modes of transport here? Couldn't they get her a small car or a motorcycle?

As they walked, her mind wandered to the clue's location. She knew it was a secret tomb. One that belonged to the daughters of Ramesses II. Obviously, tourists weren't allowed inside.

She only found that out when she was buying a ticket from a very confused and agitated salesman. She realised something was wrong when he repeatedly told her that tomb was "not real". Her grandfather, thankfully, only needed to make a few calls (and spend quite a sum of money) to get her in.

What wonders would this tomb have? Would there be more drawings of the process of mummification? Fiona recalled depictions of stored organs. She remembered the jackal-headed god of death and mummification as he stood over the linen-wrapped bodies of the pharaohs.

Her train of thought was once again broken by the sound of a man. A few men, in fact. They stood at the entrance to the tomb. Fiona realized that two of them were policemen, judging by their uniforms.

"ايه يا عمرو رايح فين؟"

So Amr was his name.

"ديه الاجنبية اللي عايزة تدخل الأبرز"

Fiona watched as the men bickered back and forth. She couldn't understand a word of their conversation.

"Is something wrong, Amr?"

He turned to her with a questioning look.

"Is there a problem?" she repeated.

He shook his head and looked back to the other men.

"اهي بتسأل لو في مشكلة."

"There was thief yesterday," one of the policemen answered, "Red hair, crazy American."

Red hair? The image of a specific red-haired flirt crossed her mind. She shook her head. It had to be a coincidence... right? He didn't look like a thief, or someone who'd break into ancient tombs.

"Was something stolen?" she asked out of curiosity.

"No, no," the same man replied, "He go in watch then come back out"

Fiona wasn't sure if the man was being sarcastic or not. He didn't seem to be mocking her. However, she didn't know these people enough to figure out if they were being sarcastic or just joking. It can't be that there's someone else who knows about these clues.

"Can we go in now?" she asked with urgency. She had to find and solve the clue as soon as possible. She needed to reach the next location quickly and find out if she indeed had a competitor.

"Yes," one of the officers replied after a sigh and an eye-roll.

She waited for Amr to lead the way but he made no move to enter the tomb. It seemed she'd have to do this alone. Gingerly, she stepped into the tomb's entrance praying it wasn't too dark. At least torches lined the walls.

"There you are!"

"Oh my God!" startled, Fiona turned in the direction of the voice.

A woman stood some distance from her. Her long beige blouse was covered in dirt and some other things Fiona couldn't place. She was wearing a hijab.

"Walaa Abdullah," the woman nodded at Fiona, "Nice to meet you. I was told you'd be here."

"Nice to meet you too," Fiona said, trying to calm her racing heart.

"Sorry if I scared you," the archaeologist gave her a friendly smile, "I sometimes forget I'm in a centuries-old tomb. The paintings always seem too recent. It's as if they were just painted. I half expect to cross paths with a painter."

"Well, that's why I'm here," Fiona half-lied. After seeing yesterday's tombs, she could only imagine how glorious this one would be.

"I believe that's why the intruder was here yesterday too," she laughed.

"Oh? So he really stole nothing?"

"Well," Walaa thought for a moment, playing with the spine of the little notebook she held, "He didn't steal any objects that we're aware of. Perhaps, he took pictures, those could be of high value to some people. Otherwise, I can't see why he'd go through so much trouble to break in."

Fiona was sure now. It made no sense that someone else was in this tomb less than 24 hours before her visit. Someone else was searching for these clues, but who? Surely her grandfather didn't send another person to find the Bird of the Gods?

"This way, Fiona," Walaa guided her through the place.

She took her down the long corridor, pointing out all of the princesses' rooms and showing her the most interesting ones. She marveled, albeit a little annoyed, at the pictures of Ramesses' victories in battle. One small detail that caught her attention was how the horses were illustrated to seem to be in motion, their eight legs seeming to gallop across the walls.

"Oh my," Fiona gasped as she crossed paths with a specific unsettling statue.

"Ah, you've seen Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of-"

"Death," she suddenly felt very tense. A shiver ran up her spine as the lifeless eyes of the jackal seemed to judge her.

"Beyond that statue are the burial rooms," Walaa stood beside her, "It's said that only the purest of hearts can pass Anubis without getting killed."

"Killed?" Fiona echoed.

"Mhmm," Walaa chuckled before continuing, "Their soul would get devoured by Ammit, devourer of the dead."

"That seems bad," Fiona winced, she knew these things weren't true, but the tomb suddenly felt less magical and more... soul-devouring.

"It is a foolish rumor, really, any true ancient Egypt enthusiast would know Anubis only judged the deceased."

"Ah," Fiona did not, at all, feel comforted by her companion's words. Perhaps she need not go there? Past the very scary man with a jackal head? She recalled the clue, her stomach dropped upon realizing that she did need to go there.

Past the judgment of our souls

Anubis judged the dead. Fiona needed to pass the statue.

"If you don't want to pass it, I can show you the lower level."

"No, I'd like to see the burial rooms."

"Let's go then," the archaeologist carefully walked past the figure before extending a hand out to Fiona.

"You should be careful here, this area hasn't been as explored as the previous one. We don't know how stable it is."

Great. That would definitely make her feel better. She sucked in her breath before hurriedly but cautiously passing Anubis.

"All good, I've-" as soon as she took another step, the stone beneath her left foot fell.

She let out a scream before she could think about it. She was going to die in an ancient Egyptian tomb. Her soul was going to be devoured.

"Fiona," Walaa's face filled her vision, "You're all right, it's just a small part of the ground."

"Oh," blood rushed to her face in embarrassment. She was still very much alive despite the small hole of pure darkness underneath her.

"Ah, perhaps the staircase really is here," Walaa pointed out after taking a peek down, "Ancient Egyptians didn't build flimsy architecture. This has to be the staircase."

"More tombs?" her head spun with dizziness at the prospect of having to go down there. She hastily recollected the rest of the clue.

"One of the daughters," Fiona exclaimed, "One whose name contains two birds, an item of food and a woman."

Two of something similar to what you seek

One of wheat and the essence of life

One of what we have rightfully but not lovingly claimed

Fiona needed a bit of help with the last part of the clue but she understood it after a conversation with her grandfather.

"That's oddly specific and yet not specific enough," Walaa looked through her little notebook, frantically flipping through the pages, "Well the only one the public knows of would be Princess Baketmut."

"Is her burial chamber here?" Fiona questioned hoping with all her will that she wouldn't have to enter the dark lower ground.

"Yes, actually."

They walked together past several doorways before the archaeologist finally stopped.

"This one," she smiled before her eyes widened, "I'll leave you to it, I've got to check something."

"Oh? Is everything all right?"

"Well, I'm not sure whether there has been an intruder here, but there are several rooms at the end that we never properly explored. I just realized now that we didn't document everything in those rooms. We haven't even removed the small, stealable objects from those rooms."

Fiona looked around to realize that they had indeed emptied this room of any items that could be looted, "But wouldn't someone have realized if something was missing?" she hoped once more that it was just a thief and that no one else was after the Bird of the Gods.

"I'll be honest, I'm not even sure there really was an intruder last night. Samir just said that he caught some English speakers sneaking out of the tomb and saw a blur of red."

"Oh," Fiona didn't know whether to be relieved. Perhaps this was truly just a rumor that had gone out of hand. Either way, she would find the clue faster without the Egyptian woman standing at her shoulder.

"Well, you go ahead," she mustered her most innocent smile, "I'll just enjoy this room. I'll call you once I'm done."

"Great," she was already leaving, scribbling something in the notebook.

Fiona sighed, looking at the sarcophagus. She hadn't realized how eerie this place was when it was empty.

"If I were a clue, where would I hide?" she paced around the room.

She moved her hands along the bricks testing them, perhaps one would come out like the previous clue. Or maybe there was a secret doorway? She thought back to the last line.

Don't forget to bring your flashlight.

The obvious explanation would be because she was in an underground tomb. A flashlight provided light and she was in a dark place. The obvious explanation. This wasn't something obvious, however. What was the weird thing to do?

Fiona glanced at the door before shining the flashlight. She looked around the walls half-expecting to see a secret drawing of some kind.

Kings, queens, hieroglyphics, Gods, more hieroglyphics, what looked to be children playing, a scale with a peacock feather, hieroglyphics again. When she had done her fifth turn, Fiona gave up with a sigh before she closed the flashlight. Clearly she was missing something.

She squinted at the ground when something caught her eyes: an eagle. Not one painted by ancient Egyptians, one like those she had seen before. She scrammed to the far corner of the wall before crouching down.

"Hello there," she whispered excitedly before trying to pull the stone out.

She let out a triumphant shout when it came out. Behind it was a golden tablet. One with peculiar, square-shaped holes placed all over it and a very long, oval-shaped one at the side.

Fiona enthusiastically pointed the flashlight at it just to frown upon realizing there was almost no difference. Perhaps she was too close? Or maybe she was using the wrong wall?

She stepped back to the entrance of the chamber before lifting the heavy tablet.

"Here I go." She shone the flashlight at the tablet. There! The perfect squares of light shone on specific hieroglyphics. Not all of them, however, and that long oval hole ruined the whole thing. Perhaps, if she just...

Turning the tablet on its side Fiona tried the same approach again. Again, some of the squares of light shone on some hieroglyphics, but most of them shone on pointless areas. She turned the tablet again and again, taking a few steps back to align the squares until finally, both her distance and the tablet's direction were in perfect harmony.

All the light that fell through the slots shone on hieroglyphics. Fiona looked at them; a square-ish shaped line, an arm, lion, snake, arm, semi-circle, weird feather-ish thing and finally an eagle. She dropped the flashlight and quickly snatched her notebook drawing the images before she could forget them.

She shone the light once more trying to understand what the large oval was signifying. A mountain? Or was it a hill? And for some reason... fire? Well, it was something beside a lot of carriages. Was the next clue in a car? That didn't make sense.

"Fiona."

Fiona practically jumped out of her clothes, "Oh my God!"

"Sorry," the archaeologist apologized for the second time, "Are you not done here yet?"

"Yes, I'm done," she picked up the flashlight, "Go ahead, I'm right behind you."

"Great," Walaa stated as she took the lead. Fiona hastily placed the tablet back in its cavity before covering it again. "You didn't take anything, did you?" the archaeologist's head popped back in, her eyes watching Fiona suspiciously.

"No, no," Fiona looked around, there wasn't anything to take unless she somehow found a way to hide the probably 100 pound sarcophagus in her bag. Walaa seemed to read her mind as she shrugged and continued out of the room. Fiona let out a relieved breath, she was never going to sneak into a tomb again.

Now all she had to do was translate the hieroglyphs. Oh and she wouldn't forget about preparing a gift for her competitor of course. Someone else was looking for the bird and Fiona would make sure she'd reach it first.