The Mummy's Curse (6 page)

“Wow,” M.E. said. “Kinda creepy.”

Cody read on. “It says Horus was a sky god who looked like a falcon and that the eye is supposed to look like a falcon's eye. When Horus got in a fight with another god, his eye got poked out, so he gave it to his dad to save his life.”

“Weird,” Luke said.

“The Eye of Horus was even used to measure fractions,” Cody added.

“Yeah, I remember Ms. Stad told us that Horus was some kind of sky god,” M.E. said.

“His right eye represented the sun god, Ra,” Cody continued.

“And the other eye represented the moon,” Luke added.

“Hmm,” M.E. said. “So the eyes have hidden meanings, sort of like the
Mona Lisa'
s eyes.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Luke asked, frowning.

Cody explained what they had learned about the initials hidden in the da Vinci painting.

“But what does that have to do with the Eye of Horus? And the stuff on a dollar bill? I still don't get it,” Luke said, looking back and forth between M.E.'s drawing of the Eye and the picture on the dollar bill.

“You think it's some kind of code?” Quinn asked Cody.

“It has to be,” Cody said. “We just have to figure out what it means. Ms. Stad said we get extra credit
if we can solve it.”

Cody checked the Internet dictionary on her phone for a definition of the word
triangle.
“It says here, ‘A triangle is a plane figure formed by connecting three points not in a straight line by straight line segments.' ”
That's not helpful
, Cody thought. She searched and found several more definitions, all containing the word
three.
Then she found a link to the phrase
third eye.

She felt a tingle down her back and clicked the link.

Cody's eyes lit up. “Guys, listen to this. A triangle with an eye in it can mean ‘third eye.' ”

“So what's a third eye?” M.E. asked.

“It means seeing something more than what's right in front of you,” Cody replied.

“Like a ghost?” Luke said, grinning and wiggling his fingers.

Cody smiled. “Very funny. Seriously, if you think about it, art is also about seeing more than what's right in front of you. It's seeing the real meaning of a picture or sculpture or whatever.”

“Sort of like a hidden message?” Quinn suggested.

M.E. grinned. “Like steganography!”

By Friday, the day of the field trip to the museum, Cody was still puzzling over the mysterious picture of the triangle/eye. Did it really represent a third eye? Or was she way off track and letting her imagination run away with her?

She and M.E. had talked about the picture puzzle the whole way to school. By the time they reached the school grounds, Cody couldn't wait to find out what the puzzle actually meant and hoped Ms. Stad would tell them right away. Maybe it had something to do with their field trip.

Ms. Stad greeted the girls at the waiting bus and checked their names off her list as they got on. Cody and M.E. found seats at the back of the bus, in front of Luke and Quinn.

Cody turned around to look at the boys. “Did you guys figure out the puzzle yet?”

“Nope,” Quinn answered.

Luke shook his head. “You?”

Before she could answer, Ms. Stad called for everyone's attention. Maybe now she'd reveal the secret.

“All right, students! Quiet down, please, and take your seats. We're about to leave, and I want everyone to be safe. Matthew! Sit down!”

Cody rolled her eyes at Matt the Brat, who was standing up and sticking his head out the window. She was surprised he'd been allowed to go on the trip, since he'd been to the principal's office twice this week. She just hoped he didn't ruin the trip for everyone.

Cody loved going to museums with her dad. Since her parents were divorced, her dad always came up with something fun to do on their weekends together. She'd seen an entomology exhibit (bugs), a paleontology exhibit (dinosaurs), and a vertebrate exhibit (snakes), but her favorite one had been called “Bodies.” The exhibit was made of displays showing the insides of real human bodies—the skeletal, muscular, nervous, respiratory, digestive, and circulatory systems. Somehow they'd managed to preserve the bodies, sort of like mummies. The bodies were
weird, creepy, and awesome, all at the same time. Cody wondered if the mummies at the Egyptian Museum would be as creepy and cool.

The Code Busters spent the hour's drive creating hieroglyphic codes for each other to decipher. Cody's message read:

M.E. wrote:

Quinn wrote:

And Luke wrote:

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

Before they knew it, the bus had pulled up to the museum parking lot. Ms. Stad and Mr. Pike reviewed the rules about conduct and safety, and offered some information on the museum, then let the students off the bus.

“Students, as you know, the museum houses over four thousand artifacts,” Mr. Pike said. “There are four major rooms to explore—the Daily Life room, the Burial Practices room, the Gods and Religion room, and the Kings and Pharaohs room. And there's even a dark, underground tunnel with twists and turns and hidden alcoves that simulates an ancient Egyptian tomb, with a real mummy at the end. So be warned.”

The students buzzed. Cody knew Quinn and
Luke would be excited to see a real mummy, but she also knew M.E. wanted nothing to do with what she called “dried-up dead people.” M.E. was afraid of everything, from mummies to monsters to mutant zombies. As for Cody, she was curious, but wasn't sure how she'd react when she actually saw a mummy.

A student from Cody's class, named Jack, raised his hand. “When are we going to find out what the picture means?”

Good question
, Cody thought.

Ms. Stad eyed the group mysteriously. “Soon, I hope. Now, gather your backpacks, stay with your buddies, and we'll meet just inside the lobby.”

Cody tried to visualize what a mummy looked like as she and M.E. followed their paired classmates past a labyrinth garden, a water fountain flanked by two human-headed lions, and an adobe building painted with Egyptian hieroglyphs. Would it look like a person? A body wrapped in a white sheet? A “dried-up dead person,” as M.E. said?

And how did they even make a mummy, anyway?

The students filed into the building in pairs under the steely eyes of two security guards at the door. Cody read their name tags—
SIMON WOOD
and
DEBORAH WEINSTEIN
—and wondered if they ever had any problems at the museum with people stealing stuff. Or were they there just to let visitors know they were being watched? The man eyed Cody as she passed by, a frown on his face, as if he suspected she was going to cause a problem. But then maybe he did that to everyone who entered the museum.

She glanced around at the large entry area, which featured a ticket counter in the middle, filled with brochures, maps, books, and bookmarks. The place smelled old—like her grandmother's dusty old attic. That's pretty much what a museum was—a big attic full of old, really cool stuff.

As the two teachers and four parent volunteers led the students toward the back of the museum, Cody glanced at some of the exhibits, keeping an eye out for a triangle/eye. She noticed what looked like a dark tunnel off to the side, but the entrance was blocked with a rope and a sign that read,
NO ADMITTANCE
.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
.

Ms. Stad held up a hand as they reached a door marked
CONSERVATION LAB
.

“Students, I'm sorry, but it looks like the tunnel Mr. Pike mentioned is closed for repairs.”

The students groaned. Cody couldn't help but be disappointed. Even though it was scary, she still wanted to see a real mummy.

“We'll have to come back some other time and see it,” Ms. Stad continued. “But today I have a special treat for you. Before we visit the other Egyptian exhibits, we've been invited to the Conservation Lab for a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the museum's most interesting secrets. Not many people get to see this part of the museum, so watch and listen, and perhaps you'll be able to solve those puzzles Mr. Pike and I gave you earlier.”

The students shuffled through the door and into a large, brightly lit area that was filled with tall tables, stools, and supplies. Cody recognized Ms. Cassatt, again dressed all in black and again wearing the Eye of Horus pendant around her neck.
She was talking to a man in a white lab coat, wearing latex gloves and thick magnifying glasses. He sat perched at a table, hunched over what looked like an identical copy of the pendant Ms. Cassatt wore. The only difference was this Eye of Horus was blue, while Ms. Cassatt's Eye was green, matching her eyes. The man dusted off the Eye, sprayed it with something, and set it aside. Cody wrinkled her nose at the smell of chemicals wafting around the room. She hoped it wasn't the smell of mummified bodies.

The man stood up, removed the glasses, and turned to the students. Under the open lab coat, he wore a T-shirt featuring a lion's body with a human head, plus faded blue jeans and Birkenstock sandals. His hair was black and spiky like Quinn's, he had black eyebrows and dark stubble on his face, and he sported a gold nose ring. Cody noticed he had a tattoo that encircled his neck. She recognized some of the symbols from class: an upside-down hook, a square, a zigzag, a cup. His tattoo was in hieroglyphic writing.