Free The Mummy's Curse by Penny Warner Page A

Cody. “Hmm. Maybe you miscounted after all? I never got a chance to verify your numbers.”
    â€œNo,” Cody said. “We all saw it! It was identical to the other one in the open display case. It was right here!” Suddenly, she wished she’d taken a picture of the cat. That would have been proof.
    Dr. Jordan raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Obviously, he thought she was either lying or crazy.
    Or maybe there was another reason Dr. Jordan wasn’t speaking up.
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” Ms. Cassatt said, approaching the group. The woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. She brushed up against Cody, bumping her slightly, then patted her on theback as if apologizing. “I thought you students were on your way back to school.”
    Dr. Jordan turned to Ms. Cassatt. “Someone’s stolen an Eye of Horus from the Daily Life room. I thought maybe one of the kids—”
    â€œStolen!” Ms. Cassatt said loudly. “What do you mean?”
    Dr. Jordan opened his hand. “I found this Eye in the case. It’s a fake. We need to call the police.”
    â€œAre you sure it’s a fake?” Ms. Cassatt said. “We haven’t had a theft here since you started, Malik.”
    â€œOf course I’m sure,” Dr. Jordan said. “I can run tests on it if you need proof.”
    â€œHow do you test it?” Cody asked.
    He turned to her. “It’s very simple, really. When we test an amulet like this, we use a microscope to check for something called natron, which is a mixture of sodium products used in the embalming process. Since most amulets were buried with their owners, who were mummified, we find traces of these minerals on them.”
    â€œGive me that!” Ms. Cassatt commanded,snatching the amulet from Dr. Jordan’s palm. She studied it closely. Then she looked up at Dr. Jordan. “I can already tell it’s a fake. But if we call the police, word will get out and the museum could lose a great deal of funding. We have to deal with this ourselves. After all, that’s why I hired you, Malik.”
    Cody looked at her friends, sensing something was up with Ms. Cassatt. Protecting the museum’s reputation was more important than calling the police and finding the thief? Suddenly, she saw what was right in front of her. She whispered to the Code Busters in phonetic alphabet code: “Charlie, Alpha, Sierra, Sierra, Alpha, Tango, Tango!”
    Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on this page , this page .

W hat do you mean, don’t call the police?”
    Dr. Jordan asked. “A valuable artifact has been stolen from the museum! We can’t just do nothing!”
    Ms. Cassatt didn’t respond. Instead, she turned to Cody, who was still standing next to her.
    â€œI think you took it!” Ms. Cassatt announced.
    Cody couldn’t believe her ears. “What?”
    â€œUh-uh!” M.E. said, eyes wide.
    â€œNo way!” said Quinn.
    â€œAre you kidding?” Luke said in disbelief.
    Cody was too stunned to speak. She stared at Ms. Cassatt, her mouth open. Finally, she blurted, “None of us took it.
We’re
the ones who told
you
about the fake!”
    â€œReally?” Ms. Cassatt said, tapping her foot. “The security guard told me you kids were hanging around that case. Empty your pockets.”
    â€œI’m telling you,” Cody said, protesting, “I didn’t take it!”
    Ms. Cassatt reached for Cody’s hoodie.
    Cody moved back. “No way are you touching me!” She turned to Ms. Stad for protection. Her teacher stepped in and blocked Ms. Cassatt.
    â€œShow me what’s in your pocket, young lady,” Ms. Cassatt commanded.
    â€œThis is stupid!” Cody protested, but she reached into her right pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper and a scarab the size of a walnut. She handed everything to Ms. Cassatt. The woman examined the amulet, and then