Frankie Fish and the Tomb of Tomfoolery by Peter Helliar & Lesley Vamos

Author:Peter Helliar & Lesley Vamos [Helliar, Peter & Vamos, Lesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hardie Grant Children's Publishing
Published: 2020-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

‘It’s a much more direct way to get to the chamber,’ Salama conceded. ‘The main problem will be the RUN OF AXES. ’

Drew swallowed audibly. He hated snakes. ‘I don’t know what the RUN OF AXES is, but I … guess I vote that way?’

‘Me too, I guess,’ Frankie gulped, even though it sounded barely more inviting than a pit of snakes. At least it would be quicker.

Together, they took the right passageway, creeping ever closer towards the burial chamber – and Frankie and Drew’s only way home. Finally, they came to the RUN OF AXES and stopped dead.

In the flickering torchlight, Frankie could make out the sharp blades of axes that were somehow connected to the ceiling and seemingly designed to swing down and slice and dice intruders like a crazed sushi chef. As they stood in the narrow passage, Frankie asked, ‘How does this work, exactly? Because I really don’t want to be sliced in half by an axe today.’

‘You won’t be sliced in half by an axe,’ Salama reassured him, ‘as long as you step in exactly the right combination of steps.’

Worst. Game. Ever.

Frankie decided then and there that he would never complain about playing charades with his parents ever again. Oh, how he longed to be miming Return of the Jedi in the Fish family lounge room once more.

‘How do we know where to step?’ Drew asked, freaking out like a frog in a sock.

Salama thrust the map over to show them where a series of lines zigzagged around a short area. If they followed this exact series of steps across the booby-trapped passage, she told them, then the axes would not swing and therefore not slice them in half. The steps were so complex that they started to swim before Frankie’s eyes.

‘That’s it!’ he shrieked, losing whatever shred of cool he had left. ‘Salama, you’ll have to go first. You’re the expert!’

‘Well, that’s the thing,’ said Salama, her confidence faltering. ‘I may have, er, slightly exaggerated my tomb-raiding experience.’ Frankie caught her sheepish expression. ‘How … many … tombs … have you … raided?’ he asked slowly, dreading the answer.

Salama cleared her throat, and Frankie knew the answer straight away. ‘Please tell me you’ve done at least one,’ he said.

‘Well, close to one,’ she answered.

‘How close to one exactly?’

‘None.’

‘NONE?!!’ the boys screamed, which set off an echo even louder and more horrifying than the one they had tolerated earlier.

For a nanosecond, Frankie worried their echo might have awoken any number of mummies from their eternal slumber. Then he found he couldn’t even talk.

‘How could you lie to us?’ Drew asked numbly.

‘I’ve always wanted to be a tomb raider, like my father and my brothers,’ Salama blurted anxiously. ‘But they don’t think a girl could do what they do, and I SWEAR I was going to do this one on my own to prove them wrong, but when I overheard you two talking about needing to break in, I thought maybe we could do it together

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