Theodosia & the Eyes of Horus (13 page)

140

Awi shook his head patiently, as if he were dealing with a stubborn child. Which he was, come to think of it. "I shall not rest until I have it in my possession. I will be back two days hence. You will hand over the tablet or suffer the consequences."

The word
will
bumped up against me like an insistent dog, and Henry actually spun on his heel as if he were ready to march off to the catacombs, get the tablet, and hand it over. I grabbed Henry's arm and held on tight. "We'll just have to see about that," I said.

As I spoke, Awi Bubu's eyes drifted from me to the doorway behind me, his face growing almost reverent. He made a formal little bow. I turned, expecting to see Mother, and instead found my cat, Isis. Then Awi Bubu said something in either Egyptian or Arabic (I haven't much experience hearing the languages spoken, so I wasn't sure). Isis listened carefully, then twitched her tail. The old magician finally looked away from my cat and met my gaze. "Little Miss has very powerful friends. Nevertheless, I will be back in two days."

And with that he took his leave. Henry would have followed Awi Bubu if I hadn't had a firm grip on his collar.

I steered Henry over to the table and sat him down on one of the chairs, my mind reeling. How could Awi have known about the tablet? Did he find it the night he broke in? And if so, how? And why hadn't he just taken it then?

141

"You're choking me!" Henry squawked.

I glanced down at him. His eyes had returned to normal and he was no longer set on bolting after Awi Bubu, so I let go of his collar.

"What was that for?" Henry asked, rubbing his neck.

"Because you were about to follow Awi Bubu right out the front door, that's why."

"Why would I do that?"

"For the same reason you told him we had the Emerald Tablet."

"I did not!" he said hotly.

"Actually, you did, Henry. But it wasn't your fault. I think he's some sort of mesmerist. Now be quiet for a minute. I need to think." I sat down and Isis came over and rubbed up against my leg, as if trying to impart some wisdom to me. I reached down and scratched between her ears. "And why did he think you were such a powerful friend? I wonder."

Isis meowed in annoyance, then batted at my ankle with her paws.

"Not," I hurried to add, "that you aren't a wonderful cat and my best friend in all the world, but I wonder at Awi Bubu's reaction, that's all. Most adults don't recognize your brilliance." Appeased by this, she started purring. Henry fidgeted in his chair, but I ignored him.

Why did the Egyptian want the tablet so bad? Why not

142

any of the other artifacts in our museum? Many had active curses on them; why would he not want those? Especially since this tablet seemed rather tame in comparison to the Staff of Osiris. Or did he truly believe the formula contained in it would turn base metal into gold? I'd always understood alchemy to be bunk, but perhaps I was mistaken. Many considered Egyptian magic to be nonsense, and look how wrong they were.

I sorely needed Wigmere's opinion. Perhaps he would know whether the formula was legitimate. If he didn't, he might have some other idea as to why this tablet held so much importance. He didn't want me using Will, but I refused to confide in Fagenbush. Therefore, my only choice was to pay him a visit myself. I glanced at my watch. It was nearly four o'clock. Too late to visit Somerset House today. But first thing tomorrow would find me at their doorstep.

However, I did have just enough time to create another distraction for Fagenbush to ensure he wouldn't follow me to Wigmere or interfere in any way. I leaped to my feet, eager to set up my next decoy.

"Wait!" Henry said. "Aren't you going to explain what happened?"

"Sorry. Awi Bubu is a bit of a magician and he used his trickery to get you to obey him."

"He did not!"

143

"Yes, he did," I said gently. It must have been unnerving to realize someone had the power to make you do something.

Henry opened his mouth to argue further.

"I'm going to set up another diversion for Fagenbush. Do you want to help or not?"

Henry's mouth snapped shut; he was torn between wanting to disagree and wanting to be in on the sleuthing. "Yes, but that old man didn't make me do anything ..."

***

The truth was, although I tried my best to remove any and all curses from the artifacts, there were a few that I had not been able to get rid of. Some of them were quite vile, like the ceremonial urn with a curse that called on the waters of the Nile to swallow someone whole. Or the pectoral amulet that was cunningly inscribed with a curse that invoked Anat to pierce the wearer's heart with her mighty lance. As much as I disliked the Second Assistant Curator, I wasn't quite ready to do him such fierce bodily harm. I was looking for a way to distract and divert him, not kill him.

I rummaged through my mental inventory of cursed artifacts as I made my way through Statuary Hall. There was nothing here I could use; for one thing, the statues were all too big, and--wait a minute. I paused at a plinth nestled between a statue of Ramses II and an obelisk of the New

144

Kingdom. Staring back at me from behind a glass box was a jackal mask. Anubis, to be exact. It was made of wood, and its dark resin-based paint had eroded over the years, giving the mask a very sinister appearance. Once worn by priests during mummification rituals, it contained a cunning curse: anyone who wore the mask without first undergoing the rituals of purification and then making an offering to Anubis would bark like a jackal. That would work.

But how to pique Fagenbush's interest, let alone get him to put the thing on?

"What are you looking at that ugly mask for?" Henry asked. I sighed wistfully. Awi Bubu's mesmerism tricks would come in quite handy if they allowed me to make Henry be quiet for five minutes.

"I'm thinking I can use it to distract Fagenbush." While I had told Henry quite a lot about what had been going on around here, all of it had been human-based events. I hadn't confided in him about the curses and black magic yet. For one, I wasn't sure he would believe me, and two, I wasn't sure I trusted him to not use it against me the next time we got in an argument.

"Henry. Here's what I need you to do. Go down to Fagenbush's office and sneak by his door, only sneak loudly, so he's sure to hear you."

145

"Why would I want that beast to hear me?"

Could he figure
nothing
out on his own? "Because, Henry," I said very slowly, "we want him to follow you up here so he'll think he's discovered something about this mask and examine it. Then, hopefully, he'll spend most of tomorrow studying it and leave us alone."

"Right. Got it." Henry saluted and tore off down the hall, which gave me about three minutes to come up with a plan. The first part was easy. All I had to do was position the glass box covering the mask so that it was askew. That would let Fagenbush know that someone--me--had recently been investigating it. But how to get him to put it on? Then it occurred to me: I didn't need him to actually put it on. He could just look closely inside it, which would mimic putting it on and thus activate the curse.

I patted the pocket of my pinafore and located a lump of old wax. I slipped behind the display box and stuck the blob of wax in the corner of one of the mask's eyes. If Fagenbush was worth his salt as a curator, he would look closely at the wax before removing it, in order to be sure removing it wouldn't cause any damage. Then I tilted the mask on its side, as if someone had knocked it over by accident. Now all that was left to do was wait for Henry.

Sure enough, I heard the clumping of his feet on the stairs. "He's coming," he whispered when he reached the top.

146

"Shh! Let's go." I grabbed his hand and headed down the hall. This part had to be timed just right. We hurried past the Egyptian exhibit and went to the door that led to Father's workroom. I paused there, waiting until Fagenbush appeared at the top of the stairs. He needed to see me so that he'd wonder what I'd been up to. Then hopefully his rather annoying instincts would kick in and he'd notice the Anubis mask.

There! His long, dark form appeared on the top stair. "Quick," I said to Henry, then I pushed him into the workroom, came in right behind him, and slammed the door.

Mother and Father looked up, startled, when we burst into the room. "What are you two doing up here?" Father asked.

Henry kept running, but I slowed down long enough to answer Father's question. "We just wanted to remind Mother that she promised we could decorate Easter eggs this week."

"Well, instead of storming through here like an army of invading Mongols, why don't you come have a look at this and tell me what you think?"

I had been inching toward the far door, but his words brought me to an abrupt halt. "You want to know what I think?" I asked, uncertain I'd heard correctly.

147

"Yes." Father turned back to his worktable. "Your mother and I are having a devil of a time with these hieroglyphs and you seem to be able to read them as if they were no more than slightly sloppy handwriting."

He'd noticed! I grew a bit lightheaded at the novelty of it all.

"We talked about asking Weems," Mother added as she put her hand on my shoulder to gently propel me toward the table. "But since the mummy incident I don't trust his discretion."

I couldn't blame her for that. "I'd be happy to help, Mum."

Behind me, Henry wandered over to wait by a large shelf against the wall.

My curiosity piqued, I cozied up to the worktable to have a look. It was a rubbing from the tomb walls of Thutmose III, and the thin parchment took up the entire table. "Here, let me get you a stool so you can see it all." Father dragged a crate closer and I climbed up. There. Now I could make out the whole thing. I frowned and began to translate.

'"Hail Thutmose, commander of all Egypt. Hail Mantu, god of war, who smiles down upon us. Hail Apep, Serpent of Chaos, whom Mantu wrestles into submission.'"

"Wait a minute ..."I said. I felt Father watching me

148

closely as I reread the script. "Since when does Mantu wrestle with the Serpent of Chaos?" I asked.

"Precisely! Your mother and I were wondering the very same thing. Keep reading."

'"We call upon Mantu, O Bringer of Chaos, to aid us in setting our enemies before you, that you might visit your chaos and destruction upon them.'"

Shocked, I turned to stare at Father. "Is he saying they fight their enemies as a way of appeasing Apep? One massive sacrifice, if you will?"

"That was what we made of it, although we thought perhaps we'd translated something wrong."

Just then, there was a loud clap of thunder that had us all jumping out of our boots. Worried about Henry, who was afraid of thunderstorms, I turned to check on him. He stood stock-still, holding a set of ivory clappers in his hand. He stared at them in awe.

"Was it supposed to rain today?" Father asked as he hurried over to the window. He looked outside. "Odd, there's not a thundercloud in sight."

I ignored the window and looked over at Henry, who was carefully setting the ivory clappers back on the shelf. He shoved his hands into his pockets as if they'd been burned, and then he headed for the far door. "I'll just wait for you out here, Theo."

149

"Very well, Henry. I won't be long."

"So, what do you think?" Father asked, returning from the window.

"Well, it is only a rubbing," I pointed out. "So it's a bit harder to tell. If we had the actual wall in front of us, I imagine the hieroglyphs would be much clear--"

My words were cut off by a rapid yipping coming from Statuary Hall. Fagenbush had found the mask.

"Was that a dog?" Mum speared me with a probing look.

"I don't think so," I said.

Yip-yip-yap!
It was closer now, as if Fagenbush were headed toward the workroom.

"Well," I said brightly. "If that's all you needed from me, I'd best catch up to Henry."

"Yes, yes, that's all for now." Father had turned back to the rubbing and was poring over the glyphs once again. "Henrietta, do have a look at this peculiar glyph."

I was dying to have a look too but decided it was more important that I be gone when Fagenbush arrived, so I scurried toward the far door that led to the side stairway. I found Henry sitting on the top step, waiting for me. "Did it work?" he asked.

"It appears so."

150

CHAPTER THIRTEEN WITH A
BARK-BARK
HERE

***

THE NEXT MORNING , when we arrived at the museum, there was a note from Fagenbush explaining that he was ill and unable to come to work. Weems was furious and stomped around muttering about poor work habits. Perfect--not only was Fagenbush out of my way, he was in trouble too! Now I just had to steer clear of Stilton and ditch Henry, and I'd be home free. I resorted to the one thing guaranteed to send Henry running.

"Research?" he whined. "Why d'you have to do more beastly research? I thought you'd finished with that already."

"Hardly, Henry. Research is a never-ending task. And for