Summary of last" chapter:

Elizabeth began a tale of what happened to the faction of the Daredevil Girls locked in the room at the top of the pyramid. They awake to find Tabby and Sally missing. Becky has a meltdown as she feels frustrated about their inability to save either one of the missing members or themselves. Bruce designs a plan to knock Akie out if he tries to get back into the room. The plan backfires as Sally comes to rescue them, and gets hit in the chest with a sarcophagus rigged to the door handle.

Elizabeth continues her story:

Sally didn't hear her sister cry out in time, and took the full force of the sarcophagus on her chest. She was hurled backward and off the staircase. The four of us ran through the door, and watched helplessly as Sally hit the wall on the other side and slid down. We barely caught ourselves before we toppled after her.

We waited for the ancient coffin to stop teetering, and then crept as close to the edge as we dared. We took deep breaths and looked down, bracing ourselves for the worst.

"Do you see anything?" Nancy asked.

"Not a thing," I said. "It's too far down."

"What about you, Becky?" Nancy asked. "You have the best eyes."

"Sorry, I can't see anything, either."

"Well, I'm going down, and I don't care who else is there. She's my sister, and I'm not leaving her alone."

"I would hope not," came a voice directly across the atrium. "You owe me that much. I unlocked the door for you."

As one, our heads jerked up and over to the other side, which wasn't too far away since pyramids are narrow at the top. There we saw Sally hanging by her fingertips to a ledge. Above her was a pretty good-sized niche in the wall with a large silver statue resting in it.

"Sally!" Nancy said. "You're alive!"

"For the moment, anyway, but I don't know how long I can hang on."

"Try and pull yourself up," Bruce said. "There's a recess right above you with a statue in it. Try and grab onto it, and then pretend you're climbing a tree."

"And don't look down," Nancy added.

Sally carefully reached out a hand and grabbed the foot of the statue. She pulled on it gingerly, and then firmer when she realized it was heavier than she was. A sigh issued from her mouth we could hear from where we knelt, and then a second hand went up and grabbed the statue. We cheered as she wriggled and squirmed her way to the top. I don't know how she managed to do it, but I guess you find strength when you need it most.

Once we were certain she was secure, Bruce ran to the door and untied the cable from the handle. He tied a loop in it and threw it to her.

"Slip it around your waist," he said, demonstrating with his hands.

Sally shook her head as though uncertain she should even move. She was shaking, and I wished I had been on that ledge instead of her. I'm sure we all did, she really was the only one of us agile enough to pull it off. If only she would try.

Finally, she got really still and leaned against the statue. She grabbed the cable, and dropped it over her head and past her arms.

"Okay, I got it," she said, holding up the universal thumb signal.

"Great," Bruce said. "Now, brace yourself against the wall and jump to us. We will pull the tether at the same time."

"You're kidding, right?" she asked.

"No. Jump!"

"But what if you drop the rope?"

"It's still tied to the mummy case."

"What if I miss?"

"You won't fall far, and we can always pull you up. Think positive, would you?"

"Have you seen how far down it is?"

"Of course, it's a terrible drop, but do you want to wait for Akie to come help you?"

"No, I guess I'll take my chances with all of you. But you'd better not drop me."

"On the count of three," Nancy said, her concern growing.

Sally fixed her eyes on her big sister. It was a routine they had used all her life when she was reluctant to do something... simple, but effective.

"One... two... three..."

Sally jumped, and we gave the cable a pull at the same time. The petite child flew through the air like a dark-feathered bird, and landed safely at our feet. She jumped up and made a dive for the room, the cable still secured to her waist.

"I hate all of you," we heard from inside the room. "I go to greater lengths than you can imagine to rescue you idiots, and then you try to kill me, not just once, but twice. I should have left you locked up."

"We love you too," Nancy said.

We suppressed nervous giggles as we ran into the room and gave her a massive group hug.

"Okay, okay. I forgive you. Let me up, please. We've got to rescue Tabby. She's down on the third basement level, and there's only about an hour left before they turn her into Tabby jerky."

"We'll never make it there in time," Nancy said, "and even if we did, how could we help? I'm sure Akie has backup."

"Don't worry about all that. There's an elevator a few stairs down; I have a key, and we have allies. I've been busy."

"So I see," I said. "Who's the Warrior Princess now? Good thing we didn't succeed in killing you."

"Yeah," Sally said. "What was all of that about anyway?"

"That was our Akie trap," Bruce said. "We had no idea you would come through the door before he did. Someday, you're going to have to tell us how you pulled it all off."

"And give away professional secrets?" Sally said.

"Maybe not." Bruce nodded and grinned. "Guess we can talk about it later. Let's go."

"Me first," I said, "because everyone knows I always like to go first."

Elizabeth took a deep, memory cleansing, breath, and stepped back from the podium. Her voice, still loud and clear, returned to the present.

"I'm now finished with my part of the tale," she said. "The rest of our journey is overshadowed by what happened in the basement, and I think Tabby should take her turn now. Tabby, what do you think?"

"You're right," she said, anxiety evident in her voice. "I guess I've avoided it long enough."