The Mummy's Curse (9 page)

Cody looked at her three code-busting friends. While the other students stood across the room listening to Dr. Jordan talk about one of the artifacts, Cody stole over to the case again. She glanced around, then pulled open the unlocked door, reached in, and ran her index finger over the top of the Eye. Removing her hand from the case, she closed the door, then held up her hand.

Her fingertip was brown. The same shade of brown as the amulet.

“Guys,” she whispered. “I don't think the color is supposed to come off like that.”

M.E. checked her hand again, then looked at the others.

“Do you think that Eye is a fake?” Luke asked.

Cody shrugged. “What do we do? If we tell the museum people we touched it, we could get in trouble. But if it's a fake, wouldn't they want to know? The forger could be a thief, and get away with stealing valuable art.”

“That writing on the bottom was weird,” M.E. said. “An eye for an
i
?”

“Shh!” Quinn said. “Dr. Jordan is watching us again. I'm sure he thinks we're up to something. We need to move.”

Cody turned around and saw the museum guy staring at them strangely. A chill ran down her back. “Come on, it's time to turn in our assignments to Ms. Stad. We'll figure out what to do during lunch. Follow me.”

Cody led her friends out of the room and into the lobby, where other students had already
gathered with their teachers. Luke and Quinn joined Mr. Pike's group, while Cody and M.E. headed for Ms. Stad's class. When all the students were seated on the floor, Ms. Stad asked, “So, did everyone find all of the Eyes of Horus in the museum?”

Hands shot up.

“How many did you find, Ryan?” she asked the blond kid with glasses, sitting in the middle.

“Eleven!”

“Good,” Ms. Stad said. “Anyone else find a different number?”

“Our group found twelve,” said Stephanie.

“Nice,” Ms. Stad said. “Anyone else?”

M.E. raised her hand. “We found thirteen.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Ms. Stad. “Are you sure?”

M.E. nodded and held up her paper.

“Well, believe it or not, our parent volunteers only found twelve when they counted them earlier,” Ms. Stad said. “I guess your group found one we missed. Hmm. I wonder if the number
thirteen
is a coincidence.”

Cody remembered the number of thirteens they'd
found on the dollar bill. Interesting how that number kept coming up.

“Did you know that many cultures consider
thirteen
a number associated with luck?” Ms. Stad asked. “Some say the Egyptians were the first people to become superstitious about the number. They thought it brought good luck and immortality, and was related to the thirteenth stage of life—the afterlife. Later, the number was associated with death. Other cultures think the number brings bad luck. Can you think of some examples of bad luck associated with
thirteen
?”

Lyla raised her hand. “Friday the thirteenth!”

“Yes!” Ms. Stad said. “Some people believe that's an unlucky day.”

Bradley raised his hand. “My dad's office building doesn't have a thirteenth floor because it's supposed to be bad luck. It just goes from twelve to fourteen.”

“Great example,” Ms. Stad said. “Many hotels, apartment buildings, and office buildings don't have a thirteenth floor. Isn't that interesting?”

The students grinned and nodded.

“By the way,” Ms. Stad continued, “many of you students are thirteen years old. How many of you think it's a lucky number?”

A few hands went up. But Cody was having trouble paying attention. She looked at the stain on her fingertip and rubbed it with her thumb. The color had dried and wouldn't come off.

Why is there fresh paint or ink on that artifact? And why is the case loose? Did a thief really steal the Eye of Horus and replace it with a fake?

And if so, then who?

Cody thought Dr. Jordan was the most likely person. He was the one working on a similar artifact in the conservation room. He had access to the displays in the museum. Plus, he knew all about creating forgeries. And he seemed to enjoy riddles, like that hieroglyphic tattoo on his neck. “An eye for an
i
” sounded like a riddle to Cody.

He'd also been watching the Code Busters when they gathered around that plastic case. Cody wondered if he had ink stains on his fingertips. No, she remembered he'd been wearing latex
gloves. But Ms. Cassatt said he was an expert on forgeries.…

“Cody?” Ms. Stad said, interrupting her thoughts.

M.E. nudged her and whispered, “She asked you a question.”

“Oh, sorry, Ms. Stadelhofer. What did you say?” Cody said.

“I asked you a riddle. ‘If you see my face, you can see twelve but not thirteen. What am I?' ”

Cody tried to think. A face? Without thirteen? It made no sense. Hands shot up around her. She finally shrugged and said, “I … I don't know.”

Ms. Stad called on Lyla, who said, “A clock!”

“Correct! Students, I want you to keep your eye on the clock. It's time for lunch—and more conundrums, enigmas, and riddles. Please take a handout, then gather your lunch bags, go outside to the courtyard, and return in half an hour with your solutions to these questions. After you've solved them, we'll talk about how mummies are made—and more.” She smiled mysteriously as she passed out a sheet of paper to each student.

Cody and the other Code Busters headed outside and found a bench where they could eat their lunches. While Quinn, Luke, and M.E. read over the questions and brainstormed answers, Cody noticed the two guards talking to each other. She overheard the man say to the woman, “… losing money if they don't get that tunnel cleaned out … may have to close …”

She wondered if the museum was in some kind of trouble. Was the tunnel really that important for attracting visitors?

“Earth to Cody!” M.E. said, bringing her back to the moment. “Come on. We need help solving these.”

Cody blinked several times. “Sorry. I just can't help thinking about that unlocked case and the Eye of Horus inside.”

“We'll deal with that when we're done with the assignment, okay?” Quinn said. “We got the first one—it was easy. But we're stuck on the second one.”

Cody read over the first coded question written in hieroglyphs to see what she missed:

1.

“Rap music?” Luke suggested. “Get it?
Wrap
and
rap
?” They wrote down the answer on their handouts. Cody liked jokes and riddles because they played with words and had double meanings, although at the moment, she was finding it hard to concentrate. Quinn read the rest of the questions aloud and they all jotted down the answers.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

     

7.