The Mummy's Curse (16 page)

“What's that for?” M.E. asked.

“Nothing special,” Cody said. “I just think it's cool how you can use the Eye to measure stuff if you don't have a ruler,” Cody said. “Each part measures part of an inch—one-half, one-fourth, one-eighth. Even measurements were hidden in the Eye.”

“That Eye of Horus is full of mystery,” M.E. said. “And so was Ms. Cassatt.”

“Dude, I'm glad we figured out what she was doing with that Eye,” Luke said. “Otherwise, the fake one might never have been discovered.”

“Did Ms. Cassatt really think she wouldn't get caught?” M.E. asked.

“Seriously!” Luke said. “She even wore the fake in plain sight. Still, she fooled a lot of people.”

“Well,” Quinn said, “we learned other ways to send secret messages, too, like knitting Morse code
with yarn and writing sentences with i's and t's for dots and dashes.”

“Or shaving your head and tattooing a message,” Luke added, then he readjusted his Saints cap. “Dude, no way am I shaving my head just to send a code.”

Cody laughed.

“And we learned about hidden symbols on money,” Quinn said. He took out a five-dollar bill and held it up to the light. “There's the watermark and the security thread. I guess this one isn't counterfeit.”

The kids smiled.

“My favorite code is still hieroglyphs,” Cody said. “There are so many ways you can use them to send messages. Maybe we should invent our own style of glyphs.”

“Great idea,” M.E. said. “Like, the letter
a
could be a drawing of an apple or an airplane.
B
could be a ball or a bat.
C
could be a cat or a crown.”

“Sure,” Cody said, “those are all pretty easy to draw. Or we could just use symbols from the computer. That way, we could send secret computer messages.”

Quinn got out his Code Busters notebook and a pencil. “Let's get to work. We've got some Code Buster glyphs to create!”

When the four kids returned to school on Monday, they had completed their own glyph code using computer keyboard symbols and had e-mailed each other secret messages.

M.E. had written:

Luke had sent:

Quinn had typed:

And Cody had e-mailed:

Code Buster's Key and Solution found on
this page
,
this page
.

They'd also printed out some coded messages and hidden them in their secret hiding places. Cody found a note in the knothole of the ash tree in her yard. M.E.'s message was tucked inside her flower box. Luke's was under the doorstep of his
grand-mère'
s condo. And Quinn spotted his in the family doghouse. Cody was totally hooked on creating her own glyphs and couldn't wait to do more.

When they reached Berkeley Cooperative Middle School, Cody and M.E. waved good-bye to Luke and Quinn, and the pairs headed for their own classrooms. When the girls entered Ms. Stad's room, they noticed the last drawing was still taped to the whiteboard.

It looked to Cody like the hidden picture still hadn't been solved.

“Good morning, class!” Ms. Stad greeted the students after they were settled at their desks. “I hope you had a good time at the museum—in spite of all the drama. As you know, two of our students,
along with two students from Mr. Pike's class, did a little ‘extra credit' work while they were there.” She paused and smiled at Cody and M.E. “Thanks to their keen eyes and what they learned about fakes and forgeries, they were able to catch a thief in the act of stealing a valuable artifact and save the Egyptian Museum a lot of money. How about a round of applause for Cody and M.E.!”

The kids clapped—all except for Matt the Brat, who turned and gave Cody the stink-eye. Cody ignored him, figuring he was just jealous about the attention she and M.E. were getting.

“And now I have a surprise,” Ms. Stad continued. “We have a special guest today.” She opened the classroom door and in walked Dr. Jordan. The kids clapped, happy to see the museum art expert.

“Hi, students!” Dr. Jordan said, greeting the group of sixth graders. He turned to the teacher. “Thanks for the invitation to come and visit your classroom, Ms. Stadelhofer.”

“We're so happy to see you again, Dr. Jordan. Welcome.” She turned back to her students. “Dr. Jordan
is here to help us solve a mystery.”

The class grew quiet in anticipation. Cody wondered what mystery Dr. Jordan could solve in their ordinary classroom. It certainly wasn't like the museum, which was full of mysteries, puzzles, codes, and riddles.

“Dr. Jordan, we're stumped,” Ms. Stad said to him. “Last week, I asked the students to create their own hidden pictures.”

Dr. Jordan nodded. “Ah, yes. Steganography. How did they do?”

“Excellently!” Ms. Stad said. “They solved all of the picture puzzles—except one.” She pointed to the lone picture on the whiteboard and the Egyptian hieroglyphs underneath. “We wondered if you could help us, since you're an expert in Egyptian art and hieroglyphic writing.”

Code Buster's Key and Solution found on
this page
,
this page
.

Dr. Jordan studied the drawing of an eye inside a triangle and the hieroglyphs below.

“The students used their hieroglyphic decoder cards to translate the symbols,” Ms. Stad continued, “but the letters made no sense. Maybe you can help us crack the code?”

Dr. Jordan nodded. “That's the Eye of Providence that watches over all of us. You'll find the symbol on the one-dollar bill.” Dr. Jordan focused on the hieroglyphs. Then he drew in a deep breath, let it out, and said, “Aha!”

“You've figured out the message?” Ms. Stad said, her eyebrows raised in excitement. Cody wondered if Ms. Stad really knew the answer already.

“I think I have,” Dr. Jordan said. “But before I tell you, I'll give you all a clue. Write out the message on a piece of paper in the same pattern as the hieroglyphs.”

Cody and the rest of the students pulled out pencil, paper, and their hieroglyphic decoder cards, and wrote down the translation, using the same pattern that was on the paper. The message formed three rows of seven letters. Cody tried to make sense of the letters, but she didn't recognize any words. They were just nonsense.