“Tom! Are you listening?” a deep voice shouted. “Or maybe you’re too busy talking to yourself?”
Tom looked up at his swimming instructor. His face was red. His T-shirt was red. Even the knobbly knees sticking out from under his shorts were red. “I am listening, sir.”
“Four lengths, front crawl,” the instructor said, swinging his arms in big circles to show the correct technique.
Tom nodded and tried to stop his teeth from chattering. He caught a glimpse of Princess Isis Amun-Ra standing by the poolside with her cat, Cleo. The Ancient Egyptian mummy was cheekily swinging her arms round, imitating Tom’s swimming teacher.
“And Tom,” the instructor said, “next length, keep your head in the water!”
Tom clung to the side of the pool, shivering as the cold water lapped over his ears.
“I really wish I could go for a swim,” Isis said, standing with her toes curled over the edge of the tiles. “You’re so lucky. I love swimming.”
“No! Don’t even think about it,” Tom said. “Your bandages will get all soggy.” He gulped at the thought. “The pool’s yucky enough as it is. And what would you do with Cleo? She hates water!”
“Alice, go! Veejay, go! Tom, go!” the instructor shouted.
Tom pushed himself forward and started to swim down the lane. Every time he lifted his head to the side to gasp for air, he could see Isis strutting along beside him, holding her mummified cat.
“That’s right, Tom! Kick your legs!” she shouted.
Tom put his head back in the water. I’m so glad nobody else can see or hear her, he thought. She’s so embarrassing!
Two strokes later, he came up for air again.
“You’re too slow!” Isis yelled.
When his instructor was looking the other way, Tom started to tread water. He glared up at Isis.
“Who made you a swimming expert?” he said.
Isis held Cleo to her chest and put one hand on her hip. “I learned to swim in the River Nile, I’ll have you know,” she said. “And if I’d swum as slowly as you do, I’d have been eaten by the crocodiles!”
“Oh, really?” Tom said, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. “Well, why don’t you just go back to Ancient Egypt and jump in the Nile right now?”
Isis let out a sigh of irritation. “I would if I could,” she said. “It’s your fault that I’m here!” She pointed a finger at him. “You were the one who smashed the statue and released me and Cleo!”
“Yes, but it was your attitude that got you stuck in the statue in the first place,” Tom said. “The fact that you can’t get into the Afterlife until you’ve found the amulets has nothing to do with me. I just got roped into all this by accident!”
“Tom! No slacking!” the instructor’s gruff voice echoed across the pool. “Backstroke now!”
Tom turned over and started to swim on his back. He looked up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the mummy walking along the edge of the pool.
Suddenly, Tom was hit in the nose by something spongy.
“Aargh!” he yelped.
Next, he was hit in the shoulder. Isis was standing beside a stack of swimming floats. One by one, she hurled them at Tom. They hit the water with a plop!
Breeet! The instructor’s whistle piped shrilly across the pool area.
“Oi! Tom!” he boomed. “No floats allowed.”
Tom gulped. Great, he thought. It’s always the same. Isis gets me into trouble wherever we go. He flung one of the floats back at Isis. But the mummified princess merely ducked and giggled.
As Tom finished his length, the water in the pool started to get choppy. Tom spluttered as he swallowed a mouthful of water.
He looked round to see who was splashing. But the other children in his class had already climbed out. All by itself, the pool was churning and bubbling like a witch’s cauldron.
An enormous wave rose up out of the centre of the pool. It curled over Tom’s head and came crashing down.
Isis and Cleo clambered up the lifeguard’s chair to safety.
“What’s going on?” Tom cried.
“It’s Anubis!” she yelped. “Who else would try to drown us?”
CRASH! Another wave slapped down. Tom bobbed up and down in the water, fighting to keep his head above the surface. Oh, no, he thought. I don’t want to go time travelling now! I’m all wet!
The water in the centre of the pool swelled higher and higher, until two pointed ears broke through the surface. Then two glowing red eyes appeared, followed by a giant black snout. It was Anubis, the Ancient Egyptian god of the Underworld. He had the giant body of a man, but the head of a jackal.
“Hello, you little water rats,” Anubis bellowed. “Are you ready for your next adventure?”
“I’m pretty sure dogs aren’t allowed in the swimming pool,” Isis called from the lifeguard’s chair.
Anubis shook his head from side to side like a wet dog, spraying drops of water. “I see you’re still as disrespectful as ever,” he growled at her. “So I’m going to send you to someone who will teach you a lesson or two!”
Tom scrambled out of the pool and stood on the edge shivering.
As Anubis disappeared back under the surface in a funnel of water, it looked like somebody had yanked a plug out of the pool.
An icy wind whipped up round Tom, Isis and Cleo. Tom felt himself being pulled through the tunnels of time.
“I wonder where we’re going?” Isis shouted, as they sped along.
“I don’t know, but we’re about to find out!” called Tom.
“Wheeeeeeee!” Tom cried with delight, wondering where they would land. Anubis had hidden Isis’s amulets in some amazing – but dangerous – places and times. They’d found the last one in Ancient Greece, and before that they’d travelled back to Viking times, medieval England and Ancient Rome. There were only two more amulets to find now, and Tom couldn’t wait to see where the next one would be.
The three time travellers shot out of the tunnel and tumbled through warm air. They landed on fine white sand with a flump.
“Ooooh,” Isis cooed. “Look!” She stretched out an arm and pointed to the horizon.
Tom squinted at her in the blinding sunlight. “What? You’ve got your normal body back?” he asked. “No surprise there! That always happens when we travel through time.”
Isis shook her head. “No, silly! I’m talking about where we are.” She waved her arm around. “It’s gorgeous!”
It was true.