Off the Wall by P.J. Night Read Free Book Online Page B

a mummy, do you think it would really hang out in the Egyptian exhibit every night? It would want to explore. It could be anywhere. We should start on the third floor and work our way down. It’s more organized that way.”
    â€œThe third floor ? But then we’ll be really far away from the Great Hall. We’ll never be able to outrun the guardsif they suspect us!” said Jane in a panicky voice.
    Daria glared at her. “Then go back if you’re so scared.”
    â€œNo, no, no, I’m fine,” Jane said hastily. Going back alone would be even worse than going up to the third floor. “Sounds great. Let’s go!”
    She strode purposefully toward the stairs.
    At the top of the second flight the girls stopped to check the information map on the wall. It was hard to know where to start. “What about the medieval jewelry?” asked Jane hopefully.
    â€œActually, can we check out the Arms and Armor exhibit first?” said Lucy. “That’s my favorite. I was bummed we didn’t go there earlier tonight. Then I think we should look in the dinosaur wing. Dinosaurs and mummies have a lot in common—you know, being all bones and everything.”
    The Arms and Armor hall held an entire battalion. A long row of knights in armor, seated on horses in armor, had been set up to look as if they were marching down the center of the vast floor. The knights were posed for battle, or for a parade. Their horses were made of some kind of cloth that had been molded over a frame, but they were amazingly realistic all the same. Each knightheld a long wooden pike in its right hand. Each horse stood in exactly the same pose.
    The endless procession gave Jane a strange, lonely feeling. Those poor knights! They would be marching, marching, marching until the end of time without ever arriving.
    Even Daria seemed interested. She moved up close to one knight to examine his armor in the dim light. “Their gloves were made of metal,” she said, peering at the knight closest to her. “How could they move their fingers?”
    â€œIt says here that armor was easier to move in than people think.” Lucy was reading a plaque on the wall. “It wasn’t as heavy as people think, either. A full suit of armor weighed less than what a firefighter wears now. What I wonder about are the horses. I just feel so bad for them having had to wear all that metal.”
    â€œI wish they weren’t so tall,” Lucy added regretfully. “Every time I come in here, I want to lift up one of those visors and peek inside. Maybe there would be an old knight’s skull grinning out at us. Hey! A mummy couldn’t climb inside a suit of armor, could it?”
    â€œI’ll look inside,” said Daria. And before either Jane or Lucy realized what she was doing or could stop her,Daria had vaulted up onto the back of one of the armored horses and sat down behind the suit of armor.
    She grinned smugly down at them from her perch.
    â€œGet down from there! Get down! ” said Lucy frantically. “You’ll set off the alarm!”
    But amazingly, no alarm rang. Maybe it hadn’t occurred to the museum that anyone might actually climb onto one of the horses.
    â€œYou can’t be up there!” hissed Jane.
    â€œToo bad. I am up here.” Daria reached around and opened the knight’s visor. Since she was sitting behind him, of course she couldn’t see inside his helmet.
    â€œLucy, look inside and tell me what you see in there,” Daria ordered.
    â€œHow?” Lucy asked. “I’m nowhere near tall enough to see in there.”
    Besides, thought Jane, what if she peeks inside and a mummy pops out? That would just about scare me to death.
    But Daria wouldn’t accept any excuses. “Jane can hold you up.”
    â€œWhat? No, I can’t,” said Jane.
    â€œI’m not coming down until you look inside this knight’s helmet,”