Tut by P. J. Hoover Read Free Book Online

said.
    â€œIt’s a funerary box,” I said.
    â€œFuneral. Death. Same thing. What are you guys doing your project on?” Henry said.
    Seth was picking dirt out from under his fingernails, and Tia was playing with the ends of the green streak in her hair. They didn’t have a notebook or a pencil between the two of them.
    â€œWhat project?” Seth said.
    â€œWorld Cultures, idiot,” Tia said. “Remember? We’re supposed to pick some object from the King Tut treasures and present to the class on it.”
    â€œOh, that,” Seth said. “We’re doing that kick-butt statue of Set, the most awesome god ever. It was either that or one of those ugly statues of the boy king.”
    I let pass the way he emphasized boy king . Whoever came up with that title should be executed. I also let pass the ugly comment. But most awesome god ever?
    â€œWhat do you know about Set?” I said. How was it that Seth, who didn’t know how the sun managed to come up each morning, knew who the god Set was?
    â€œI know he destroyed anything that got in his way,” Seth said. “Unlike those other pansy gods who made flowers and stuff grow.”
    My scarab heart begged for retaliation, but I held it in check. The last thing I needed was some vines or flowers sprouting in response. Even with my efforts, a bunch of roaches crawled out from under the bookshelves. Tia slammed her combat boot down on a nearby roach, leaving a giant smear of guts all over the tile.
    â€œMaybe we should get some books,” Henry said, scooting his feet away from the guts. “Before they’re all gone.”
    Anything to get away from Seth.
    But Tia stood up before I had a chance to, yanking Seth along with her. “What’s the Dewey decimal number for King Tut?” she said.
    â€œNine-thirty-two point zero one four,” I said, failing miserably at keeping any pride out of my voice. The number of books written about me was beyond flattering.
    â€œGot it.” She winked at me and then was gone.
    I sat in stunned silence, watching her stroll away. I tried to imagine Seth wasn’t right there beside her, because it ruined the whole image.
    â€œCome on, Tut,” Henry said, and then he was off, following them.
    â€œI’ll save the table,” I called.
    Henry gave me a thumbs-up. “Good plan.”
    Five minutes later, all three came back empty-handed. Henry looked like his world was collapsing around him.
    â€œWhere are the books?” I said.
    â€œThey’re all gone.” Tia slumped into her chair and went back to fiddling with her jewelry.
    â€œAll the books are gone?” I said. There were so many. It wasn’t possible.
    â€œYep. Every single one,” Tia said.
    Henry put his head between his hands. “We’re gonna fail.”
    â€œWhat about the Internet?” I said.
    â€œNo Internet. Don’t you remember?”
    I shook my head. I guess I’d missed that part of the project explanation.
    â€œLet’s just go steal a book from someone,” Seth said.
    â€œWe’re not stealing a book,” Tia said.
    Seth pointed to Joe Hurd at the table next to us. Between him and his project partner, Brandon Knauss, they had six books on King Tut stacked up.
    â€œThere’s no way they need all those books,” Seth said, loud enough for Joe and Brandon to hear.
    Joe opened his mouth like he was going to snap out some witty reply, but his face turned a sort of funny gray color and his eyes got all watery. He jumped to his feet and covered his mouth and ran.
    â€œThat was weird,” Tia said.
    The King Tut book Joe had been looking at lay open on the table. Brandon reached out to pull it over to himself, but Seth was faster.
    â€œWe’ll look at it while he’s gone.” But no sooner had Seth grabbed the book than he dropped it on the linoleum floor like it burned him, making a loud boom that echoed around the entire