need to eat breakfast – you’re dead!” Tom said, letting go of Isis’s bandaged arm. “And you can’t come to the cinema with me because I know what you’re like – you’ll mess about and distract me.”
Ever since he’d accidentally smashed a statue in his dad’s museum, setting the Ancient Egyptian princess free, Tom had been stuck with Isis and her pet cat. And he’d continue being stuck with her until they found the six amulets that Anubus, the god of the Underworld, had scattered throughout the most dangerous times in history. So far they’d found two, but there were four more to collect.
“If you weren’t such a troublemaker, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Tom added, reminding Isis that their task was her punishment for cheekily trying to steal one of the amulets from Anubis.
“You’ve never had so much fun in your life!” Isis scoffed. “All these adventures! Since you met me, you’ve trained as a gladiator in Ancient Rome and met King Arthur! What do you offer me in return? Chess? History books? A GAME OF FOOTBALL?!” She started to make snoring noises.
“You’re only saying that because you’re rubbish at football,” Tom said. He glanced into the kitchen and saw that Mum was busy wiping the worktops and Dad had his nose in his magazine.
Isis waggled her foot at him. “It’s not easy kicking a ball when you’re wrapped in bandages.”
Tom breathed out heavily in frustration. “Do you even know what a cinema is?”
he asked.
Isis shook her head sheepishly.
Tom explained that it was a place where stories were told along with moving pictures. “Everything on the screen is about ten times its normal size and the best bit is that it’s really, really loud,” he finished.
“Oh, I love stories,” Isis said, clapping her hands in glee. “The priests in Egypt wrote the most amazing ones, with beautiful pictures on papyrus scrolls. They used to read them to me when I was little. Sometimes, because I was so beautiful…”
Tom spluttered, but Isis ignored him.
“… they wrote me into the stories too!”
Tom hesitated. If he took Isis to the cinema, at least she wouldn’t be able to cause mischief at home. He sighed. “All right, then. You can come with me.”
Isis shuffled stiffly over to the front door and called out to Cleo. “Come on, Fluffpot! We’re going to the cinema!”
Inside the cinema, the screen flickered brightly as the characters in the film blew up an old building containing fireworks. Kaboom! Rockets fizzed up into the nightsky before exploding in a shower of colourful sparks.
As Isis cowered behind a row of seats Cleo yowled and clambered on to Tom’s lap.
“Take cover, Fluffpot!” Isis cried to her cat. “The world is ending!”
Tom chuckled. “It’s OK, you know,” he said, reaching into a giant tub of popcorn. He put a fistful of the sticky kernels intohis mouth. “It’s not real. The pictures can’t hurt you.”
Isis held her hands over where her ears would be. “What about the noise?” The explosions were quite loud.
“You’ll get used to it,” Tom told her.
“Are they gods?” Isis asked, pointing to the characters on the screen.
“They’re just actors,” Tom explained. He thrust his tub of popcorn towards Isis. “Here, try some of this. And be quiet because you’re ruining the film for me.”
Isis sat back on her seat nervously. She plunged a hand into the tub and stuffed some popcorn through a hole in the bandages that covered her face. “Mmm, this tastes great,” she said, jaws creaking as she chomped away.
“Leave some for me!” Tom said.
Somebody’s dad in the row behind leaned forward and tapped Tom on the shoulder.
“Hey! Keep it down, son. I didn’t pay to listen to you talking to yourself for an hour.”
Tom slumped down in his seat. He was glad that, in the dark of the cinema, nobody could see his cheeks glow.
Isis giggled and kept hold of the popcorn tub. “You heard the man,” she said. “Stop ruining the film for everyone!”
Tom looked longingly at his popcorn.
“Can I have some, please?” he whispered, checking that the man behind wasn’t listening.
Isis ignored him. The yellowy bandages on her face glowed white as she stared up at the flickering light of the screen. Isis started to laugh as the hero of the film said something funny.
Tom could tell she was utterly absorbed in the thrilling story. “Isis!” he hissed, giving her a good poke with his elbow.
“Shh!” she hissed. “This is a good bit.”
Tom’s stomach growled. “I bought that popcorn for me. Give it back, will you?”
He was just about to snatch the tub out of her hands when their row of seats started to rumble and shake. Tom looked up at the film. Was it part of the action? Were the special effects really that convincing?
“Look!” Isis suddenly yelped. “Anubis!”
There, looming above, staring down at them through angry red eyes, was the Egyptian god of the Underworld himself.
“Enjoying the show?” Anubis boomed.
His voice bounced round the cinema. He stood with his fist on his hip, baring his sharp teeth and twitching the pointy ears on top of his jackal’s head.
Tom gulped. It was as though Anubis had stepped right out of the screen. But everyone else in the cinema was still laughing and saying ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’, as though they could only see the film they had come to watch.
“Why did you have to turn up now?” Isis said hotly, throwing a handful of popcorn in Anubis’s direction. “Get out of the way! You’re blocking my view.”
Several people looked round and tutted loudly, as the popcorn rained down on them.
Anubis growled. “You know why I’m here, you cheeky girl,” he boomed, making the curtains at the side of the giant screen flap. “It’s time for your next quest.”
“Not yet. I want to see how the story ends!” Isis shouted.
The ground started to shake violently. Tom was sure their entire row of seats had started to edge forward.
“You will do as I say, Isis Amun-Ra, or you will never enter the Afterlife,” Anubis roared. “You are leaving to find your next amulet RIGHT NOW!!”
The three travellers hurtled through the tunnels of time, twisting and turning through the ages, as though they were on the scariest roller coaster in the world. They shot out of the end and flew through the air. One by one, they landed on the ground with a thunk, thunk, flump.
Tom was shaking so hard from the cold that he felt his chattering teeth might fall out. “I’m f-freezing,” he said. “Where on earth are we?”
Standing up and stretching, he looked about. They had landed on a riverbank that was covered with frost. Alongside them, a wide river flowed fast. Its choppy waters glittered in the winter sunshine.