Where the Library Hides

Mr. Sterling’s man, Mr. Graves, forces Inez at gunpoint into a carriage. She reluctantly complies to protect Whit, leaving him behind as he races after her. She’s drugged to prevent her from knowing the location of Sterling’s base and wakes up in his office. He presses her for information, and she demands protection for Whit and her family in exchange for the location of her mother and the stolen artifacts. Sterling counters that he plans to keep Cleopatra’s mummy and treasure for himself. He coughs blood into a handkerchief, revealing that his consumption is worsening.

Meanwhile, Whit gathers his weapons and sets off to rescue Inez. Three of Sterling’s men confront him outside the hotel. Despite still recovering from his gunshot wound, Whit takes them all down in the subsequent fight and then leaves.

After the negotiations, Inez tells Sterling about the location of the library near the ruins of the Serapeum. Whit arrives at Sterling’s hideout in Turkish Town and, from his hiding spot, overhears Sterling, who is skeptical about the information from Inez, sending Graves to verify the site. Rather than storming the building, Whit follows Graves’s carriage to the site.

Graves later confirms to Sterling that they found the library’s entrance, which the Cerberus carving marks. However, instead of freeing Inez as he promised, Sterling tells her that he’s taking her with him because she’s crucial to his plans. He reveals that he’s been tracking her using the magic of Cleopatra’s golden ring, which created a link between them. He confesses that he orchestrated much of what brought her to Egypt, using her to find Cleopatra’s tomb and Lourdes. When Inez questions his motivations, he finally removes his disguise.

When Sterling removes his disguise, Inez is shocked to see that he’s her father, Cayo. He calmly recounts his descent into crime, explaining how he started by selling duplicate artifacts under the guise of stopping illegal antiquities smuggling but eventually became fully entrenched in the “black market.” Lourdes was eventually drawn into the criminal operation but later betrayed him, setting off the chain of events that led to the current war between them. Cayo tells Inez that his ultimate plan to hurt Lourdes was to ensure that Inez came to Egypt, since she’s her mother’s weakness. When Inez asks if he would hurt her, he questions whether she’s his daughter at all, pointing out that Lourdes was confirmed unfaithful at least once.

Graves again holds Inez at gunpoint, forcing her to accompany her father to the underground canals beneath Alexandria, where they intend to confront Lourdes and Mr. Fincastle. As they traverse the treacherous ancient walkways, Cayo says the main reason he kept her away from Egypt for so long wasn’t to protect her but because he wasn’t sure if she was worthy to inherit the criminal empire he built.

As the group descends deeper into the canals, one of Cayo’s men shoves Inez and is, in turn, pushed into the water and is lost. Though Mr. Graves nearly attacks Inez, a disguised Whit, who infiltrated the group, intervenes to protect Inez from suspicion and says it was an accident.

The group reaches the hidden library, which an image of Serapis and Cerberus marks. Cayo orders his men to storm the library. Inside, Inez sees her mother and Mr. Fincastle, their weapons confiscated and surrounded by Cayo’s men. Cayo holds Inez at gunpoint himself as he goes to meet them.

Cayo uses Inez as leverage to force Lourdes to reveal the location of Cleopatra’s mummy, which he wants to use to cure his consumption. However, the situation rapidly deteriorates when Mr. Fincastle finally learns about Isadora’s death. He charges at Inez, and Lourdes kills him to save her daughter. A gunfight breaks out between Whit, who finally reveals himself, and Cayo’s men. During the fight, Cayo demands that Inez choose sides between him and Lourdes, but she refuses. One of the men Whit shoots drops a live grenade, which explodes and shakes the library. Inez is knocked out. She has a vision of Cleopatra storing the Chrysopoeia in a hidden chamber and learns the mechanism for unlocking it using the golden ring.

Whit shakes her awake, and they rush to unlock the hidden chamber as the library crumbles around them. Though they succeed in getting the Chrysopoeia, Cayo threatens to kill Lourdes if Inez doesn’t hand it over to him. She does, reluctantly, but Lourdes drops a magical charm that erupts in flames, giving Whit and Inez a chance to flee the collapsing ruin.

Inez and Whit emerge from the Nile. Lourdes follows, injured but alive, and surrenders to them. At the hotel, Inez and Whit find that Farida, Lorena, and Amaranta have arrived with Maspero and evidence implicating Lourdes in the theft of Cleopatra’s tomb. Lourdes is arrested, though she secretly gives Whit the Chrysopoeia as a final gift to Inez before she’s led away.

Two weeks later, Inez is surrounded by family and friends during a farewell dinner at Shepheard’s. Maspero arrives with news that Lourdes made a deal with Sir Evelyn and gave up Cleopatra’s cache in exchange for house arrest rather than prison. Inez realizes that Evelyn was likely working with her mother all along to get access to the artifacts. Ultimately, the family realizes that they aren’t likely to receive justice for the situation or for Abdullah and Ricardo’s treatment in prison.

Later, Whit secretly experiments using the instructions in the Chrysopoeia, driven to make up for the fortune he stole from Inez. His work pays off when he successfully transforms lead into gold. He entrusts the scroll to Abdullah for safekeeping so that it won’t fall into the wrong hands.

Inez finds Whit in his lab, exhausted but jubilant, and they embrace their new beginning. They plan to stay in Egypt, continuing to work alongside Abdullah and Ricardo, and dream of future excavations and adventures.

The Epilogue briefly details what happened to the real people featured in the novel, such as Mr. Maspero and Sir Evelyn, and the eventual destruction of Shepheard’s Hotel in the Cairo fire of 1952.

It also explains what happens to the fictional characters. Amaranta eventually marries Inez’s former fiancé, Ernesto; Farida opens a photography studio; and Arabella runs away to Egypt for her own adventures. Inez and Whit stay to help Ricardo and Abdullah excavate. The couple has twins, Elvira and Porter, and adopts two cats.