The Mummy's Curse (7 page)

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

Hmm
, she thought, quietly pulling out the hieroglyphic decoder card Ms. Stad had given the students.
I wonder what that means?

U
sing her decoder card, Cody began to translate the symbols tattooed on the man's neck. The first letter was familiar—it was the same first letter of the word they'd had for homework:
s
for
steganography.
When she was finished decoding the rest of the symbols, she recognized the word from one of Ms. Stad's lessons. In fact, it was the name of the human-headed lion on the man's T-shirt.

Ms. Stad interrupted her thoughts. “Students, you remember the curator of the museum, Ms. Cassatt,
who visited our classroom? And this is Dr. Malik Jordan. He's an art conservationist and forgery expert here at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. He's going to tell us a little about how he restores damaged art and how to spot a forgery. Please give Dr. Jordan your full attention.”

The students applauded as Dr. Jordan gave a slight bow. Meanwhile, Ms. Cassatt stepped back and watched as he addressed the group. Cody noticed one of the security guards—Simon Wood—standing in the shadows at the back. The frown had not left his face. She wondered where the other guard was.

“Thank you kindly, students from Berkeley Cooperative Middle School! Welcome to my laboratory. I'd like to show you a few things I do here that help preserve antique paintings, sculptures, and artifacts, so they won't be further damaged by age or improper handling.”

Cody's mind wandered as the man talked about his techniques, and she glanced around the room to see if she could spot any mummies. But as soon as he mentioned the word
forgery
, her ears pricked up.

“Believe it or not,” Dr. Jordan said, “almost every priceless painting in every museum has at one time or another been copied. By studying paints, brushwork, tools, and even wormholes in panels, we can tell whether a painting is authentic or a forgery. And surprisingly, many forgers are so proud of their fakes that they leave a ‘calling card'—a symbol or message bragging about their expertise.”

“Cool!” “Wow!” “Sweet!” the students whispered.

Dr. Jordan continued. “Forgers often try to ‘age' their copies by dipping them in special chemicals. But we can usually spot those, too. See, we also use chemicals to determine what the paints are made of. Sometimes, we use X-rays, infrared, carbon dating, and even computers. The work I do is sort of the
CSI
of art—we use a lot of forensic techniques.”

Awesome!
Cody thought. These people were doing police-type stuff, just like her mom, only they were doing it to find out if art was real or fake.

“Have you ever discovered a forgery at the museum?” Jack asked.

“No—” Ms. Cassatt was quick to answer.

Dr. Jordan interrupted her. “That's not quite true, Mirabel. We had one guy try to sell us a fake piece of jewelry, but it didn't take long to figure out it was a forgery. Of course, that doesn't mean that there aren't more lurking around here somewhere. Perhaps we just haven't found them yet.”

Wouldn't it be awesome to uncover a forgery?
Cody thought. But if this expert hadn't found one in his own museum yet, she and the other Code Busters probably wouldn't either. Oh, well. She'd stick to cracking codes for now.

Melissa from Cody's class raised her hand. “Why do people copy the paintings? Why don't they just buy them if they like them?”

Dr. Jordan smiled at the girl. “Mainly because the originals cost too much. That's why some art lovers settle for a fake and pretend it's real. Other times, forgers pass off the fakes as real and sell them for a lot of money. And sometimes they even switch the real ones for the fake ones, thinking no one will ever discover the truth. Forgers can make a lot of money by copying and selling their work to art galleries,
museums, and private collectors. Believe it or not, one forger even tried to create a fake mummy!”

The room filled with whispers. Cody shivered.

“What about the Mummy's Curse?” Matt the Brat called out without raising his hand.

While Ms. Stad shot Matt a look, Dr. Jordan grinned at him. Cody had a feeling he got that question a lot.

Before he could answer, Ms. Cassatt stepped forward, holding her Eye of Horus pendant in her hand. “I think we better get back to the topic—”

Dr. Jordan turned to her. “It's okay, Mirabel. Mummies are fascinating, and there are a lot of superstitions associated with them.” He returned his attention to the students. “I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's no such thing as a Mummy's Curse. Only in the movies. That rumor started when an archaeologist named Howard Carter discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun—King Tut—back in 1922. It was quite an exciting find. Imagine entering an Egyptian tomb filled with treasures that were hidden for over three thousand years!”

Cody heard mumbling from her classmates.

“What happened?” asked Lauren.

“Well, after the tomb was opened, they found not only gold and treasure but walls inscribed with curses. They were probably written to scare away tomb robbers, but the writing promised that desecraters would die by snakebite, scorpions, or crocodiles. As a matter of fact, several people who were at the opening did die in the next ten years. But it was mostly of natural causes.”

Ryan raised his hand. “I heard there were deadly gases in the tombs and that's why everyone died.”

Dr. Jordan shook his head. “While it's true that some of the ancient mummies carried mold, scientists say there were no deadly gases and the mold wasn't dangerous. But I'll admit, I do love movies where the mummies come back to life. They give me chills!”

“Why can't we go in the tunnel and see the mummy?” Matt shouted out.

Ms. Cassatt stepped forward. “I'm sorry, but that exhibit is … undergoing maintenance.” Cody
noticed she looked uncomfortable answering the question. “It … could be dangerous.”

“But that's what I really want to see,” Matt argued. “It's supposed to be like a real pyramid in there. And I heard the mummy is awesome, all decayed and stuff.”

Dr. Jordan took over for Ms. Cassatt, who suddenly seemed tongue-tied. “The truth is, they found vermin in there—rats—so Ms. Cassatt has called in exterminators to treat the problem. You wouldn't want to run into one of those nasty little creatures in that dark tunnel, would you?” He grinned. It seemed as if he enjoyed giving the students a little thrill.

“Dr. Jordan,” Ms. Cassatt said, “I don't think the students need to know all of that.”

Dr. Jordan rubbed the tattoo on the back of his neck, as if Ms. Cassatt had suddenly given him a pain there.

Matt the Brat spoke again without being called on. “What does your tattoo say?”

“Matthew!” Ms. Stad snapped at the boy, but
again Dr. Jordan grinned. He didn't seem to mind being asked a personal question.

“You noticed, eh? These are hieroglyphs that spell out a word. I understand you students have been studying the hieroglyphic symbols.”

They nodded.

“Good. So, does anyone know what my tattoo says?”

Cody and several others raised their hands. Dr. Jordan called on Cody.

“Sphinx?” she said.

“Correct! Do you know what a sphinx is?”

“It's that big statue in Egypt that looks like a lion with a human head,” Cody said. “There's a picture of it on your shirt.”

Dr. Jordan pulled open his lab coat to show the students his T-shirt. “You noticed that, too. Very good. Yes, the Great Sphinx of Giza, also known as ‘the Terrifying One,' is the largest monolithic statue in the world. It was probably built around 2500 BC. Unfortunately, even with all that we've learned about Egyptian history, we still don't know much more
about the Sphinx—why it was built, what it means. It's quite a mixture of science, art, and mystery. You've heard of the Mummy's Curse, so I assume you've also heard the Riddle of the Sphinx?”

The students shook their heads.

“Ah, well. Some say the Sphinx guarded the entrance to the city of Thebes,” Dr. Jordan explained. “Travelers who wanted to go inside were asked a riddle before entering.”

“What was the riddle?” M.E. asked.

Ms. Stand shot her a warning look, and M.E. blushed.

“You want to try to solve it, eh?” Dr. Jordan grinned. “Well, here it is: Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening? But I must warn you. If you can't answer the riddle, the Sphinx will devour you!”

The kids laughed.

“Does anyone know the answer?” he asked.

Matt the Brat's hand shot up.
“A Tyrannosaurus rex?”

Dr. Jordan shook his head. Cody rolled her eyes. Ms. Stad grimaced.

“A lizard,” said another kid. “ 'Cause it has four legs, and then it can lose two legs, but then maybe it only grows back one …” The boy drifted off, lost in his own answer.

“Nope,” said Dr. Jordan. “Give up?”

The students nodded.

“It's
man
—or woman. First man crawls on four legs as a baby, then he walks on two feet as an adult, and finally he uses a cane when he gets old.”

The kids groaned.

“That was hard! I would never have guessed that,” M.E. said.

Dr. Jordan raised a dark eyebrow. “Then I'm afraid, young lady, you'd have been devoured.”

The class burst into laughter. When the roar died down, Dr. Jordan turned back to Cody. “As for the tattoo, I chose the word
sphinx
because it's a mysterious riddle, much like ancient Egyptian artifacts still are. And much like art continues to be.”

“I think we're about out of time,” Ms. Cassatt said.
“We need to let Dr. Jordan get back to his work.”

“All right, students in my class,” Mr. Pike said. “Did you find the spider and all the thirteens on the dollar bill homework assignment I gave you?”

Luke and Quinn raised their hands, along with several others from Mr. Pike's class. The boys held up their homework sheets, which displayed the hidden objects, all circled in red.

“Great! Whoever found the most thirteens connected with the bill and U.S. history wins a make-your-own-mummy kit from the museum store.”

Mr. Pike's students counted up their finds. Luke and Quinn tied for first place. Quinn read his list: “Thirteen original colonies, signers of the Declaration of Independence, stripes on the flag, steps on the pyramid, letters in
E pluribus unum
, stars above the eagle, bars on the shield, leaves on the olive branch, fruits, and arrows.”

“Nice work, boys! Congratulations!” Mr. Pike said. “You win the make-your-own-mummy kit.”

Ms. Stadelhofer turned to her students. “How about my class? Did any of you figure out the hidden
message in the triangle/eye picture that I gave you for today's homework?”

A few students offered their guesses, everything from “eye of the mountain” to “eye love triangles” to “eye-gyptian pyramid.”

Ms. Stad shook her head. “I don't think those are quite right. Keep thinking. Meanwhile, I have a new puzzle for you to solve.” She passed out a map of the museum layout to each student. To Cody, the map resembled the inside of a pyramid, with pathways winding around in a maze.

“In a few minutes, you may explore the four rooms of the museum,” Ms. Stad said. “But first you need to decode the anagrams below. Once you've done that, then you must locate each name and mark it on the map. You'll also find a clue hidden near each one. Collect the clues, then try to decode the final message. At the end of the hour, bring the map with your answers to the gift shop for a prize. Good luck!”

Sweet!
Cody thought. Ms. Stad even made visiting a museum a mysterious adventure!

*  *  *  *  *

Under the watchful eye of the two security guards, who seemed to be everywhere, the Code Busters found a spot in the lobby and sat down to decode the message. There were ten anagrams, each with a brief definition as a clue. The Code Busters went to work on the puzzle.