Snyder, Zilpha Keatley by The Egypt Game [txt] Read Free Book Online Page A

opened by a very small Chinese girl. ”Hi,” April said. “Is your big sister ready for school? We’ve come to take her.”
    The girl smiled shyly. “I’m Elizabeth,” she said.
    On the way to school Elizabeth walked between April and Melanie. She really was amazingly tiny for a fourth grader. Her thick black hair was pulled back into a carefully curled pony-tail that bounced when she walked. And there was something about the carved perfection of her face that made her smile seem like magic-an enchanted ivory princess warming suddenly to life. She was shy, but not in the stiff embarrassing way that makes other people feel embarrassed, too. It was a gentle friendly shyness that made other people feel important, sort of in charge of things.
    April had been afraid-well, looking at Elizabeth’s upturned face and pretty tilted eyes, wide with wonder at almost anything you told her, it was hard to remember just what she had been afraid of. She almost wished she hadn’t been so convincing when she talked to Melanie the night before about how they didn’t want anbody else butting into their friendship.
    By the time April and Melanie delivered Elizabeth to the door of the fourth grade room, they had completely forgotten that taking care of Elizabeth had been anybody’s idea but their own. Melanie’s forehead wrinkled with worry as she watched Elizabeth make her way timidly through the noisily assembling fourth graders, to the teacher’s desk. And a couple of boys who were saying, “Hey, look at the new girl!” and, “Ugh! A girl!” and other typically fourth-grade remarks, were suddenly silenced when they met April’s ferocious glare.
    That afternoon April and Melanie walked Elizabeth home and by the next morning they were both wondering if it wouldn’t be all right, after all, to let her join . But it was a touchy sort of thing to bring up, not knowing for sure how the other one felt about it. And then a very strange thing happened.
    Elizabeth had arranged to meet them that morning on the front steps of the Casa Rosada and when April, and Melanie were crossing the lobby they could see her through the glass of the front door. She was sitting on the railing and looking off up. Orchard Avenue so her profile was towards them. All of a sudden April grabbed Melanie’s arm. “Look!” she whispered.
    “What?” Melanie whispered back.
    “Elizabeth,” April said. “Who does she look like?”
    Melanie caught her breath. “Nefertiti,” she breathed.
    Sure enough. Elizabeth’s pony-tail pulled her hair
    back away from her face and neck; and there was certainly something about her delicate, slender-necked profile that was very like the statue of Nefertiti. Of course, Elizabeth’s nose was a tiny bit shorter and maybe her chin a little rounder, but the resemblance was there just the same.
    She saw them then and bounced through the door to meet them before anything more could be said, but it wasn’t really necessary. April and Melanie just looked at each other and nodded, and on the way to school they started telling Elizabeth all about .

Prisoners of Fear
    ELIZABETH TURNED OUT TO BE JUST WHAT needed to make it perfect. Of course, she didn’t have many ideas; but then, she was younger and hadn’t had a chance to learn much about ancient history. Besides, April and Melanie had almost more ideas than they could use anyway. Elizabeth helped in other ways.
    She was just crazy about every part of the Egypt Gartie, and she was full of admiring comments. For instance, she loved the1 “Hymn to Isis” that Melanie had made up almost by herself, with just a little bit of help from a book of Egyptian poetry. Elizabeth said it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. And the first time she saw April do a ceremony for Set she kept jumping up and down with half-scared excitement. For a few days it was fun just doing everything over for Elizabeth to appreciate; and after that they got around to starting a new part of the