Free Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos-Theo 1 by R. L. Lafevers, Yoko Tanaka Page B

morning, Stilton," I said.
    "Hullo, Theo. And Henry! Welcome home from school." He let loose with a whopping big sneeze, then fumbled for his handkerchief.

    "Thanks," said Henry, stepping back a pace or two.
    "Have you got a cold, Stilton?" I asked.
    He dabbed his honker with his handkerchief. "No," he said. "It only just started this morning when I got here. Must be the dust or something."
    Aha! I knew it. Something unusual
was
afoot!
    We said our goodbyes and then, reluctantly, I headed for the short-term storage area downstairs, where we had unloaded Mum's discovery last week. Wanting to avoid the nasty swarm of curses the artifacts were carrying, I'd put it off as long as possible.
    "What's down here?" Henry asked, nearly treading on my heels.
    "Mum's latest discoveries. You'll like this one, Henry. It's got loads of weapons."
    His face brightened at this news and he stopped dragging his feet.
    There was no one in short-term storage when we arrived, so I parked Henry in front of a box of evil-looking shabtis and set to work.
    The sense of malevolence coming from the cursed artifacts was exactly the same as before Christmas, so I ignored them and began examining the contents of the other crates to see if anything was missing. The steles were there, and the revolting ceremonial dagger. I rifled through another crate and found a pile of scarabs that had a distinctly malicious feel to them, but it wasn't strong enough to account for the whole museum being off.

    Four new crates sat nearby, but they hadn't even been opened yet. When I looked up from the boxes, I saw Henry had taken a dozen shabtis out of their crate and had set them up along the floor as if they were tin soldiers.
    "Henry," I hissed. "They're not toys! They're four-thousand-year-old artifacts. Now put them back." I glanced down at the clay figures. With my heart beating faster, I slowly picked one up.
    "Hey! You just ruined my troop formation!" Henry protested.
    Ignoring him, I studied the figure in my hand. It had changed. The features were sharper, clearer. The expressions more harsh.
    But no. That was impossible, surely. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. Was the uneasy sensation I had coming from these shabtis?
    I waited a second and felt ... nothing. No. Whatever strange things were going on with these clay soldiers, it wasn't what I had sensed when I came in this morning. Although, that now meant there were two things I had to investigate.
    "Okay, Henry," I said as I put the shabti back in the crate. "Put those away. Our next stop is the catacombs."

    "Oh, give off," Henry said uneasily. "They aren't really catacombs."
    "If you say so," I said, heading for the door.
    "They're not," he insisted, hurrying to catch up to me. "It's just a bunch of old stuff down in the basement. Stuff Dad's not using."
    Henry was right. They aren't really catacombs, but long-term storage for things we're not currently using in the exhibits. But they are very creepy. All sorts of dead things, mummies and coffins and ancient skeletons of who-knows-what lurking twenty feet underground. Sounds like catacombs to me.
    I opened the door, shuddering as a thick blast of icy cold stale air hit me. It smelled dank and musty and..."Okay. Nothing's been disturbed down there." I turned around and bumped smack into Henry, who was trying to peer over my shoulder down into the depths of the stairway.
    "How can you tell?" he wanted to know.
    "I just can, that's all." I could tell by the feel of the air, dank and heavy, with no fresh eddies or swirls cutting through its depths for months. The whole place had the feel of a sleeping beast that hadn't been disturbed in ages.
    I didn't want to be the first one to do so. And certainly not without more protection than I had on me at the moment.

    "Tea," I announced, putting as much cheer into my voice as possible.
    "There's no tea down there," Henry said, still peering into the dark passageway.
    "Of course there's not." I shut the door,