The Mummy's Curse by Penny Warner Read Free Book Online Page A

“Anybody could just walk in here and steal this thing!”
    M.E. reached up as if in a trance and stuck her hand inside the case. She lifted the artifact before Cody could stop her. “It’s so beautiful.”
    â€œPut that back!” Cody whispered to M.E. She glanced around to see if anyone was watching, but the other students were busy hunting for other Eyes and didn’t seem to notice them. “You’re going to get us in trouble!”
    To Cody’s horror, M.E. flipped over the Eye of Horus and studied it up-close. “I just want to look for a moment. Look, there’s something written on the bottom!”
    M.E. raised her palm and showed the tiny carved drawings to the others.
    â€œHieroglyphs!” Cody whispered, suddenly excited to see the hidden inscription.
    â€œWhat’s it say?” Luke asked.
    Cody pulled out her decoder card and quickly translated the symbols:

    Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on this page , this page .
    â€œHow weird,” Cody said. “What’s it supposed to mean?”
    Quinn spoke up. “ ‘An eye for an eye’ means that when someone hurts another person, he or she gets a similar punishment—or something like that.”
    â€œThat’s weird,” M.E. said. “I wonder why it says that.”
    â€œGuys, watch out!” Luke whispered. “One of the security guards just came into the room. You better put that thing back! Fast! Or he’ll think we’re trying to steal it.”
    The kids huddled around the display case to blockthe view of anyone nearby. M.E. set the Eye back on its small stand, and Cody forced the slightly warped door closed.
    Just then a voice came from behind them. “So, what are you students up to?”
    Cody jumped. The Code Busters spun around to find Dr. Jordan staring down at them. He seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Cody thought she saw an odd smile on his face, as if he knew what they’d been doing. Had the security guard said something to him? Or had it been her imagination, and her guilty conscience?
    â€œWe were … just looking at this Eye,” she said. “It’s pretty cool.”
    â€œAh, yes. That’s one of the artifacts I was working on this morning. It’s beautiful, isn’t it, now that it’s all cleaned up and back on its pedestal?”
    M.E. started to ask, “What does the writing on the bot—”
    Cody cut her off. “—on the bottle … over there—” She pointed wildly across the room, hoping at least one of the displays contained an antique bottle,since she’d seen several throughout the museum. They couldn’t let Dr. Jordan know they’d opened the display case and touched the Eye. If anything happened to it, they’d be blamed.
    Cody led Dr. Jordan over to another case where a few students lingered, found a bottle that happened to be covered in hieroglyphs, and pointed to it. Moments later, more students entered the room, distracting Dr. Jordan from the display case. The Code Busters quietly backed out of the room.
    â€œThat was close,” Cody whispered.
    â€œSorry,” M.E. said quietly. “I almost gave us away!”
    â€œNo problem,” Quinn said to M.E. He turned to Cody. “Good thinking, Cody, distracting him like that.”
    â€œShould we tell someone that the door on the case is loose?” Luke asked. “I mean, anybody could steal that Eye of Horus with that door unlocked.”
    Cody thought for a moment. “Good point. How about we tell Ms. Stad, and she can tell Ms. Cassatt, since she’s in charge of the museum? Hopefully, Ms. Stad will leave us out of it.”
    Luke and Quinn nodded, but M.E. was staring at her hand, frowning.
    â€œM.E., what’s wrong?” Cody asked.
    She held up her hand. “Look!”
    Cody examined her friend’s fingers, then sniffed them. M.E.’s fingertips