"Of course it is! Why else would they announce that there was a multimillion np treasure in Suteks Tomb unless they wanted adventurers like us to try and find it?" asked the Kyrii, sliding down the rope and into the dusty gloom of the tomb.

Her friend hesitated at the top. "Well, I-I guess so..." the Draik said, cautiously taking the rope into her hand and sliding down after her friend. She landed on the dusty tomb floor, then flicked on her flashlight. She saw strange markings covering the walls. "This looks like a dead-end entrance," Kellra said. "You know how these monuments all have false rooms to throw off... well, pets like us."

"No," Tira responded. "I've studied ancient tablets, and this is definitely the true entrance." Turning her map in various directions, Tira continued. "We just need to discover how to access this passageway," she said, pointing to a long, downward slanted tunnel on her map.

"Perhaps the markings on the wall will give us a clue?" Kellra said, shining her flashlight to illuminate the symbols. "You can translate them, right?"

Tira nodded, tracing her fingers over them. "According to this...

"So, what you're saying is that we need a clue, in order to figure out this clue? Sheesh!" This was getting to be more complicated than Kellra had expected. "Maybe there's something else around here..."

Kellra started looking at the walls again. She didn't really want to turn back now... things were just getting interesting!

Tira suddenly gasped in surprise, yanking her fingers away from the wall as if she'd been bitten.

"What?" asked Kellra, quickly turning her attention back to her friend. "What is it?"

Tira frowned, still studying the ancient text on the wall. "It looks like the code isn't the only thing protecting this place..."

"What do you mean?" asked the Draik.

Tira turned to her friend. She looked worried. "Well," she said with a nod toward the inscription, "it looks like there's a guardian on the other side. If we just start pushing random stones, it's going to..." she gulped, "...eat us."

"EAT US?!" Kellra declared, quite startled.

"Well, it's either that," Tira explained hastily, "or it'll dance..."

Kellra just stared at her.

"Hey, it's not MY fault the inscription's old and worn away!" Tira pouted.

Kellra slapped her forehead. "Okay, fine. Let's assume for a minute that it's NOT a good idea to mess with the stones until we know what we're doing. So let's look around for something else, okay?"

"Okay," Tira sighed. Just then, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Bending down to examine it, Tira soon jumped back up excitedly, almost colliding with her friend in the process.

"Kellra, look!"

The Draik stooped to get a good look, then grinned. "Jackpot!" she cried...

..."Tira, we did it! I can't believe it! This stone tablet has the code on it, doesn't it? Wow!!"

"I know... I can't believe it, either!!" yelled Tira. This was what she had been waiting for--to finally enter Sutek's Tomb and get the recognition that she felt she and Kellra deserved. Something wasn't right, though...

"What's wrong, Tira?" the Draik asked, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Kellra," said the Kyrii, "I don't have a good feeling about this. I mean, we may have found this tablet, but why would it be lying there on the ground? It just doesn't make any sense."

Yeah, that is strange." Kellra had to agree with her friend.

"However, I guess it's the only chance we have," Tira said, "So I think we should use it! I mean, it could bring us a step closer to that multimillion np reward, and that recognition we've always wanted, right?"

"Yeah, yeah... I guess so," mumbled the Draik. She was now also troubled by the disturbing fact that the tablet was just lying there, on the ground, for anyone to see and take. It just didn't seem right...

"Besides, if that guardian were to jump out at us, we could always just scamper back up our rope!" Tira said while pushing the different stones on the wall, each as the tablet instructed.

"Wow," Kellra exhaled as they entered the hallway. There were inscriptions all over the walls, and spaces where it looked as though huge paintings must have once hung. There were benches lined up along the corridor, which were all made of gold. The two friends traveled to the end of the corridor and came to a fork.

"Hmm," muttered Tira, "according to my map, we have to take... the left fork."

So down the fork they went. Tira noticed that the further they went down, the more the ceiling began to slant and get closer to the ground. Soon, they were crawling on their hands and knees. However, they suddenly came to a stop. Looking up, the saw that the ceiling had gotten much taller, and they could now stand up again. It was incredible... they were actually in the room where Sutek was buried!!

Tira headed straight for the sarcophagus, and was in the process of opening it when she uttered a piercing shriek...

"Aaahhhhh!!" she cried.

"Tira, what happened?" Kellra asked; there was an obvious look of concern in her eyes. She had been looking for riches inside the room. "Oh no," she gasped while approaching the sarcophagus. "Sutek's body is missing... where could it have gone?"

"This must be a mistake. Maybe we took a wrong turn or something," Tira said, confident that they'd simply encountered a fake sarcophagus. However, this was no fake... Sutek's body had been stolen. But how? Tira wondered. There were no signs that someone else had been in the tomb, unless...

A light bulb went on in Tira's head. "Kellra, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh no!" cried Kellra, looking distressed. "Yes I'm thinking what you're thinking, and it's not too good."

"Think about it," said Tira, "we may be on to something! The tablet was lying on the ground, Sutek's body is missing... and, come to think of it, maybe those pictures that are missing from the corridors were stolen, too!"

"Somebody's already been here!!" they cried in unison...

"If someone's already broken in... do you think they're still here?" Kellra whispered fearfully, her eyes wide.

"I don't know, but they may be dangerous. We'd better keep quiet and get out of here fast," Tira replied in equally hushed tones.

They began creeping back towards the opening, making as little noise as possible. The only sounds came from their feet, which crunched the loose debris scattering the century-old floor.

"Shh..." Tira warned, pushing Kellra back against the wall. They heard voices coming from over by the exit... voices that belonged to strangers.

"What do we do now?" Kellra whispered urgently. "They're blocking the exit completely! They must have come up from the right fork while we were in the burial chamber." Kellra whispered urgently.

"We'll just have to hide in here until they go off," Tira replied firmly, despite the fact that she was shaking inside.

They started to tiptoe back in the direction from which they'd come. Suddenly, Tira's foot caught on a loose piece of rock and she stumbled. "Ouch!"

"Be quiet!" scolded Kellra. "We don't want anyone to know that we're in here!"

The two friends continued silently on their way, stopping every now and then to check the map. Turning a dark corner, Tira switched on her flashlight to see the symbols on the map clearly.

"Right, we should go this way..." she mumbled to herself. The Kyrii felt a tap on her shoulder. "Not now, Kellra. I'm busy," she said, her eyes following the trail on the map.

Tira then felt another tap. "What now?" she demanded angrily, turning on her heel to face Kellra. However, Kellra was slowly backing away from a hideous monster, covered in ripped and trailing bandages, gripping a huge wooden club in its hand. It raised the weapon menacingly....

..."Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Tira and Kellra both screamed. They sped off into a random hallway, not caring which way they went, as long as it got them away from the monster. Tira, obviously not realizing she had dropped her map, kept running as it drifted to the floor.

Hysterical laughing could be heard behind the bandaged creature, who turned to join in the laughter.

"Sure scared them, huh?" beamed the mummy, unraveling his bandages to reveal a red Techo.

"Yeah, I mean... did you see the look on their faces?!" replied a blue Pteri, copying Tira and Kellra's expression, then starting to laugh again.

An electric Lupe stepped up, in the direction of the Techo. "Good... now that those troublesome kids are gone, we can continue clearing out the tomb. Mander, have you got the paintings?" the Lupe asked.

"Yep! Got 'em, Bolter!" replied Mander, the red Techo. Bolter, the electric Lupe, nodded and smiled, then glanced at the blue Pteri.

"Skydive?"

"Yep! I've got Sutek..."

"Excellent," Bolter hissed, rubbing his paws. "Now, for the ultimate steal..."

"You mean?"

"Yes! The hidden stash, containing millions of Neopoints!" Bolter shouted, giving a booming laugh. His companions laughed with him.

"Tira, where are we?" asked a worried Kellra.

"Hold on, I'll find out," the Kyrii said, reaching for her map. Suddenly, her eyes went wide.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I... I lost the map,"

Kellra grew frantic. "WHAT?!? How did you lose the MAP?!?" she yelled, running around with her arms flailing in every direction.

"I must've dropped it," Tira frowned. "Back where, well... you know."

"THERE?!?" Kellra screamed.

Tira nodded.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Kellra fell to the ground, bursting into tears. "We'll never find our way out... we'll never find our way out."

Tira walked up to Kellra, trying to comfort her. "Don't say that... we'll find a way out. In fact--" Tira began, walking up to a drawing on the wall.

"In fact what?" Kellra sobbed, wiping away her tears.

"In fact, I think I might know a way out." Tira replied...

Tira studied the symbols on the wall before her. Above them were several lines of ancient Lost Dessert writings. Below were many different symbols: scarabs, tombs, moons, skulls.

As much as Kellra hated to rush people, she felt herself growing impatient. "Well? What does it say?" she asked.

"It's some sort of riddle," mused Tira. "Listen:

Both friends were silent after the riddle had been recited. "Well," Kellra said bluntly. "That was very poetic, but I didn't hear anything about helping us escape!"

"Don't you see, Kellra?" cried Tira. "This is what we've been looking for. The first two lines tell us which symbol to push. If we choose the right one, we'll find the treasure!"

"And if we choose wrong..." Kellra gulped. "Then woe to us!"

"Let's see those lines again." Tira turned back to the hieroglyphics and studied them. "'I was blind, but once did see. Once was full, but now empty.' What would have been able to see at one time?"Tira asked, looking over the different symbols again. "Scarab... no. Tomb... no. Lupe... no. Skull... n--WAIT! That's it! It's the skull!!!"

"What makes you so sure?" Kellra asked as she pulled her friend away from the symbols, in order to stop her from making a mistake.

"Think about it! The only time you'd see a skull would be after somebody had died and decayed! 'I am blind, but once did see? Once was full, now empty?' It makes perfect sense!"

Kellra thought about this and saw that her friend was right. "Wow, that's amazing... and disturbing at the same time."

While they clutched each other's hands, Tira carefully chose the skull on the wall. At first nothing happened, but then a heavy rumbling echoed off the walls. A door began to open before the girls, and behind the secret passage lay an incredible sight.

Tira and Kellra's eyes grew wide as they gazed upon the spectacle. Gold, rubies, emeralds, diamonds! Every treasure imaginable was lying at their feet.

"We found it!" Tira whispered excitedly. "We found Sutek's treasure!"...

...All of the sudden, a voice sounded behind them. "Thank you so much, girls, for finding OUR treasure for us. Now we don't have to go through the trouble of guessing, and possibly guessing wrong."

The girls spun around to face a Techo, Pteri, and Lupe. Kellra gasped. "But... you CAN'T! Not after..."

"Ah, but we can! You see, there are three of us, but only two of you," replied the Techo. "Bolt, tie them up! Skydive, use these bags to gather as much treasure as you can... we must make haste!"

Tira gasped in recognition. ""You're the ones who... who stole Sutek! And the picture! You tried to lead us astray, and you were the ones who frightened us!"

Mander, the Techo, grinned evilly. "Yes, so we were, so we were," he hissed, his pink tongue flickering in and out of his mouth.

After a few minutes, the two girls sat, tied together, on the mounds of treasure. The villains cackled with glee.

"I suppose we'll be letting ourselves out now," Bolt said, smirking. "Come on, guys... we'll be back later for the rest. These two won't be escaping anytime soon."

After the three figures disappeared, Tira looked at her friend. "I think I know how to escape..." she said, gesturing her head towards a sharp gold sword.

The girls started scooting themselves towards the sword, in hopes of freeing themselves from their bonds...

"Wait... we forgot the map, remember?" said a disgruntled Tira. They dismally walked back into the treasure room. Kellra's eyes then lit up.

"We can set up a trap!! There are tons of things in here that can help us. With your brains, Tira, it will be even easier!" Kellra said enthusiastically.

They searched around the heaps of old and faded Neopoints, and through the ancient Geb's other golden and silver treasures. Kellra picked up some things that she thought could be useful and returned to Tira, who had begun building a trap. There was a shield placed upon the ground and covered with dust. Then there was another sword, placed under the first one, and a golden glass that would be used as a lever. There were some Neopoints placed at the tip of the sword, and on top of the door was a bucket filled with more Neopoints.

Tira looked at Kellra as sweat trickled down her face. She smiled at the Draik as she brought more useful things.

"Wow! These buckets should be really handy!" Tira said, as a grin appeared on Kellra's face.

"That Lupe and his friends are going to get it now!" Kellra said, while admiring the trap that Tira had made. "So, how did you get the bucket up there?"

"Oh, you know... I climbed up this pile of treasure..." she said, pointing towards a tall pile that was (conveniently enough) located by the door. "I then positioned the bucket, so that it would fall just as the person stepped onto the shield. I can now use the shields that you've brought to make two more of those." Tira finished.

Kellra beamed at her. "Okay, so what do you want me to do?"

"Well," Tira responded, "You could help me make the other trap, of course!"

Kellra grabbed a shield and another sword and got to work. They finally finished their traps, then hurried to the spot where they'd been held as prisoners, and faked as though they were still tied up.

The evil trio walked in, laughing at some joke that Mander had made. "...So then the Chia says, 'That's not the bathroom, that's my bedroom!'" Once again, they began laughing hysterically.

Bolter stopped in his tracks. "Something isn't right... that's not where I left you two kids!"

It was too late, as Skydive and Mander had already walked into the traps. They were now lying on the floor, unconscious. Kellra and Tira exchanged worried glances... they had hoped that the traps would've taken all three of them out.

Bolter looked at his two companions, then angrily glared at Kellra and Tira. "You'll pay for that!"...

...he snarled, lunging at them with full speed. Kellra and Tira jumped out of his way at the last minute, causing the Lupe to go flying head first into a mound of gold. The result was a gigantic avalanche that buried him, and his companions, neck-deep in treasure.

The two Neopets looked stunned for a moment. "Wow... that was real smart, charging at us like that," laughed Kellra. They both laughed for several minutes, until finally calming themselves down.

"So, are we just going to leave them in this chamber?" asked Tira.

A wicked grin soon fell upon Kellra's face. "No, I've got a better idea..."

Minutes later, the malicious trio all rose to their feet, looking extremely dazed. Bolter turned his head to the left and right, searching for their captives. "Drat!" he shouted. "They must have gotten away."

"Wait, they're outside the chamber... and they've got our stuff!" Mander said.

"Let's get 'em!" cried Bolter. The three Neopets were just about to attack, when Tira put her finger over the Lupe button on the door.

Skydive's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare..." he said, his voice trailing off. Tira smiled, then pressed the button. The door creaked shut with a loud *BANG!*.

Tira and Kellra chuckled as they heard cries of help from behind the door. "Well, now they're gone," Kellra said, "Let's return Sutek to his sarcophagus."

After returning Sutek to his rightful resting place, the two adventurers had finally returned to normal life... except for the fact that they were each now one and a half million neopoints richer.

"Heh, I guess we did get our money's worth," Tira said.

"Yup," replied Kellra. "And now that we've restored Sutek, this adventure has come to a wrap!"

The End