Mummies in the Morning (3 page)

“A ghost,” Annie whispered.

But Jack could only stare in horror.

The ghost began to speak. She spoke in a hollow, echoing voice.

“I am Hutepi,” she said. “Queen of the Nile. Is it true that you have come to help me?”

“Yes,” said Annie.

Jack still couldn’t speak.

“For a thousand years,” said the ghost-queen, “I have waited for help.”

Jack’s heart was pounding so hard he thought he might faint.

“Someone must find my Book of the Dead,” she said. “I need it to go on to the Next Life.”

“Why do you need the Book of the Dead?” asked Annie. She didn’t sound scared at all.

“It will tell me the magic spells I need to get through the Underworld,” said the ghost-queen.

“The Underworld?” said Annie.

“Before I journey on to the Next Life, I must pass through the horrors of the Underworld.”

“What kinds of horrors?” Annie asked.

“Poisonous snakes,” said the ghost-queen. “Lakes of fire. Monsters. Demons.”

“Oh.” Annie stepped closer to Jack.

“My brother hid the Book of the Dead. So tomb robbers would not steal it,” said the ghost-queen. “Then he carved this secret message on the wall, telling me how to find it.”

She pointed to the wall.

Jack was still in shock. He couldn’t move.

“Where?” asked Annie. “Here?” She squinted at the wall. “What do these tiny pictures mean?”

The ghost-queen smiled sadly. “Alas, my brother forgot my strange problem. I cannot see clearly that which is close to my eyes. I have not been able to read his message for a thousand years.”

“Oh, that’s not a strange problem,” said Annie. “Jack can’t see anything either. That’s why he wears glasses.”

The ghost-queen stared in wonder at Jack.

“Jack, lend her your glasses,” said Annie.

Jack took his glasses off his nose. He held them out to the ghost-queen.

She backed away from him. “I fear I cannot wear your glasses, Jack,” she said. “I am made of air.”

“Oh. I forgot,” said Annie.

“But perhaps you will describe the hieroglyphs on these walls,” said the ghost-queen.

“Hi-row-who?” said Annie.

“Hieroglyphs!” said Jack, finally finding his voice. “It’s the ancient Egyptian way of writing. It’s like writing with pictures.”

The ghost-queen smiled at him. “Thank you, Jack,” she said.

Jack smiled back at her. He put his glasses on. Then he stepped toward the wall and took a good long look.

“Oh, man,” he whispered.

Jack and Annie squinted at the pyramid wall.

A series of tiny pictures were carved into the stone.

“There are four pictures here,” Jack told the ghost-queen.

“Describe them to me, Jack. One at a time, please,” she said.

Jack studied the first picture.

“Okay,” he said. “The first one is like this.” He made a zigzag in the air with his finger.

“Like stairs?” asked the ghost-queen.

“Yes, stairs!” said Jack. “Just like stairs.”

She nodded.

Easy enough.

Jack studied the second picture.

“The second one has a long box on the bottom,” he said. He drew it in the air.

The ghost-queen looked puzzled.

“With three things on top. Like this,” said Annie. She drew squiggly lines in the air.

The ghost-queen still seemed puzzled.

“Like a hat,” said Jack.

“Hat?” said the ghost-queen.

“No. More like a boat,” said Annie.

“Boat?” said the ghost-queen. She got excited. “Boat?”

Jack took another look at the wall.

“Yes. It could be a boat,” he said.

The ghost-queen looked very happy. She smiled.

“Yes. Of course,” she said.

Jack and Annie studied the next picture.

“The third one is like a thing that holds flowers,” said Annie.

“Or a thing that holds water,” said Jack.

“Like a jug?” asked the ghost-queen.

“Exactly,” said Jack.

“Yes. A jug,” said Annie.

Jack and Annie studied the last picture.

“And the last one looks like a pole that droops,” said Annie.

“Like a curved stick,” said Jack. “But one side is shorter than the other.”

The ghost-queen looked puzzled.

“Wait,” said Jack. “I’ll draw it in my notebook. Big! So you can see it.”

Jack put down the scepter and got out his pencil. He drew the hieroglyph.

“A folded cloth,” said the ghost-queen.

“Well, not really,” said Jack. He studied his drawing.

“But that is the hieroglyph for a folded cloth,” said the ghost-queen.

“Well, okay,” said Jack.

He looked at the fourth hieroglyph again. He still couldn’t see the folded cloth. Unless it was like a towel hanging over a bathroom rod.

“So that’s all of them,” said Annie. She pointed at each picture. “Stairs. Boat. Jug. Folded cloth.”

Jack wrote the words in his notebook.

“So what does the message mean?” he asked the ghost-queen.

“Come,” she said. She held out her hand.

“Come to my burial chambers.”

And she floated away.