This time it only took him ten minutes to figure out the riddle. “This one I know as well. The key is to reinterpret it in a different way.”
“What’s the riddle?”
“Who are the three sisters who give birth to each other? In the standard question there are two sisters and the answer is Night and Day. I do not see how the answer could be treasure. Perhaps it is lady. But the number three is not something I’ve come across before. I’m not sure how it applies.”
“I think the answer is sphinx.”
“Why is that?”
“That’s what I’m to become, right? I have to go through this rite or whatever and it will change my mortality. I’ll be reborn…in a way. It’s the only one that makes sense.”
Dr. Hassan looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. “I do believe you are correct. We will try it.”
He found not one but two carved symbols of the sphinx, one the Egyptian version and one the Greek. Hesitating only briefly, he chose the winged version. Apparently, it was the right choice. Again the walls groaned and shifted and now we could see glimpses of a room behind the stone barrier.
“We’re halfway there,” I said. “We’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of getting the rest of it correct.”
Twenty minutes later, he’d deciphered the next riddle.
“I’ve never heard of this one.”
“What does it say?”
“It is by man considered most valuable. It sparkles in the light of the sun. Provides for all his needs. His life is wasted in the pursuit of it, and yet if he takes hold fast and true, it will never leave him.” He paused for a moment. “It could be treasure.”
“It could also be lady.”
“You are right.” Oscar rubbed his jaw and glanced at me. “Might I propose a theory?”
“Of course.”
“The last two riddles were specific references to you and Amon.”
“Yes. That’s true.”
“That means this one is likely applicable to you as well. If that is the case, I believe the answer is lady.”
“Really? Why?”
“Assuming Amon is the man in question, you are what he pursues. Not treasure. And when you are together, I see the light in his face. It reflects upon you.”
“Oh. Yes. I suppose it does.”
Confident in his theory, Dr. Hassan selected the symbol for lady. Nothing immediately happened and I held my breath for a few seconds. Then the whirring clicks began and the wall shifted, opening pockets large enough that we could thrust our hands through the openings but still not big enough for us to scramble through.
“You were right,” I mumbled.
“Yes.”
As he worked on the last group of carvings, I thought about the words of the previous riddle. Was Amon wasting his life in pursuit of me? How could I, a mortal girl, provide for all his needs? Even if I found Amon and saved him, Anubis would never let us be together. He’d been pretty clear in explaining that Amon needed to do the work he’d been called to do. This last section, though, gave me a bit of hope. Perhaps if we did hold on to each other there would somehow be a way for our paths to meet again.
Dr. Hassan interrupted my thoughts. “We have a problem.”
“What is it?”
“The riddle is fairly straightforward this time. It says to state your purpose and find the thing we seek.”
“Right, but we already know the answer is treasure.”
“Is it? It could be a trick. If our answer is riches, we will most likely be cut off. The last thing the gods accept is the theft of their precious relics, and we were explicitly warned not to take anything but the items we were instructed to.”
Dr. Hassan’s finger hovered over the symbol for treasure, but he hesitated. I wasn’t sure what else to do.
“I suppose we have no other option,” he said, ready to push the symbol.
But in that moment I noticed something.
“Stop!” I called out.
“What is it, Lily?” Dr. Hassan said, lowering his hand.
“I recognize this. It’s the sign for Amon, isn’t it?”
“Yes. But Amon wasn’t one of the four options.”
“But he was, remember? Amun was there.”
“Yes, but we used that name already.”
“But don’t you see? You were the one who said this was all about me and Amon. It’s not treasure I’m seeking, but Amon. He’s my purpose.”
Dr. Hassan seemed torn. “Are you certain, Lily?”
Was I? It was a gut reaction when I first spoke up. But now that I was thinking about it, I wasn’t so sure. What would we find