Free The Mummy's Curse by Penny Warner

case and the door popped open. That’s when we realized it wasn’t locked. Then M.E. reached in—”
    â€œBut I wasn’t going to steal the Eye!” M.E. exclaimed, interrupting Quinn. “I just wanted to see it. I put it right back.”
    â€œIt stained my fingertip, too,” Cody said to Ms. Stad. “But I promise, we left the Eye there in the case. We thought maybe it was a fake, so we were going to tell you about the unlocked door, butwhen we went back to check, the case was locked up again.”
    â€œI’m confused,” Ms. Stad said, shaking her head. “You found the case open, so you picked up the Eye, and then you put it back and closed the case? Why didn’t you tell me
before
you went back to check on it?”
    Cody sighed and looked at the others. “We … we wanted to make sure it was a fake first. But then it was locked up again, and we had no way to prove anything.” She turned to Dr. Jordan. “We thought maybe you switched them, because we saw you working on the Eye in the lab earlier. You said you’d been cleaning it, but when we went back to the lab, we found the gloves you’d been using in the trash. The fingertips were brown, like you’d been staining the Eye.”
    Dr. Jordan looked down at his fingers.
    â€œWe have proof.” Cody pulled out the gloves from her hoodie pocket and held them up. “See the stains? You were wearing them when you were working on the Eye. But you weren’t wearing them when you replaced the Eye in the case with a fake.”
    â€œLet me see those,” Dr. Jordan said. Cody hesitated to pass over their proof, but Ms. Stad nodded. Dr. Jordan examined them closely. “These aren’t mine.”
    â€œBut you were wearing gloves earlier,” Quinn protested. “And you’re an expert in making forgeries. You could easily have made a fake Eye and switched it with the real one.”
    â€œWow,” Dr. Jordan finally said. “You kids are something. Well, at least I know you were listening to my lecture. Unfortunately, you’ve let your imaginations run away with you. I really
was
cleaning that Eye of Horus. I would never use a stain on an authentic artifact. In fact, I thought you kids bought a replica and tried to make it look real by staining it, then switched them. I only checked the case because I saw you kids hovering around it. When I unlocked it, I found the fake.”
    â€œDo other staff members at the museum have keys for the displays?” Ms. Stad asked.
    Cody looked at her teacher appreciatively. Was she beginning to believe their story?
    â€œA few people …,” Dr. Jordan replied, drifting off in thought.
    â€œIs it possible someone else made the switch and accidentally left the case unlocked?” Cody asked.
    â€œI suppose,” Dr. Jordan confirmed, “but even so, that doesn’t mean the real Eye was replaced with a replica. And the real question is, where is the real Eye now?”
    Cody looked at her friends. As if reading her mind, they nodded.
    â€œWe have something to show you,” Cody said. She glanced at her teacher, who nodded her permission. “Come on!”
    Ms. Stad asked Mr. Pike to watch the rest of the students while she accompanied the Code Busters and Dr. Jordan back into the museum. Cody led the way back to the Kings and Pharaohs room, where they’d found the thirteenth Eye draped around the neck of the cat statue. When they reached the display case, Cody peered in.
    She gasped.
    The Eye was gone!
    â€œBut … but it was right here!” she stammered.
    â€œWhat was?” Dr. Jordan asked, looking closely at the display.
    â€œThe thirteenth Eye of Horus!” she exclaimed. “It was mixed in with all that jewelry around the cat’s neck.” She turned to Ms. Stad. “Remember we found thirteen Eyes—one more than you thought?”
    Ms. Stad frowned at