A Hole in the Wall

Miu and I sniffed at Khepri’s find.

“It’s a smidgen of spiced meat. Goose, maybe? ” Miu theorized.

“Yes, ” I agreed. “Heavy on the cinnamon, with a dusting of cumin. Not what they’d serve at the palace, but not bad, either. And it smells pretty fresh, too. ”

“If you ask me, it smells disgusting, ” Khepri said, backing away from it. “Honestly, I don’t know how anyone can choke that stuff down. Especially when you could be eating dung instead. ”

“Look on the bright side, ” I told him. “It means more dung for you. ”

“That’s true. ” Khepri brightened. “Hey, I think there’s another bit by the wall. ”

Miu retrieved it, and we took a look. It was just like the other one, only a little bigger and stickier.

“Well, I think we can rule out Anubis as the thief, ” Miu said.

“Unless Anubis eats cinnamon-spiced goose, ” I added.

“Unlikely, ” Khepri said, and I had to agree.

Miu was sniffing at a half-column in the wall behind the chair. “You know, this smells like cinnamon, too. ” “What does? ” Khepri asked.

“I’m not sure, ” Miu admitted. “It’s almost as if the smell is coming from the place where the column joins with the wall. ”

Khepri and I went over to have a look and a sniff.

“That’s interesting, ” Khepri said. “The mortar’s loose there. See? ” He started scrabbling.

Miu and I were watching him closely when my ears swiveled in alarm. I backed away from the wall. “Miu? I’ve got a bad feeling…” “Not Anubis again. ” She didn’t even look around.

“No. ” My tail twitched. “It’s a—”

The chamber erupted in barking as a gray beast barreled toward us, shattering a row of canopic jars. A guard pulled at the beast’s leash. “He’s found something! ”

“DOG! ” I screeched as the beast sprang forward.

“No! ” Kenamon shouted, leaping up. “Stop! ”

Khepri pulled out of sight. Miu and I leaped onto the back of the chair, claws at the ready. Hisssssssssss!

As Kenamon jumped in front of us, the gray dog reared up, brought to heel by the leash.

“It’s just two cats, ” the guard said, disappointed.

“It’s Pharaoh’s Cat, ” Kenamon explained to the guard. “And his friend. ”

The dog hung his head. “Whoops, ” he muttered. “Guess I got a little overexcited. ”

“Get that dog out of here, ” the Captain ordered from the other side of the room. “This place is enough of a wreck as it is. We don’t need any more damage. ”

As the guard dragged at the leash, the dog waggled his perky ears at me in farewell. “Didn’t realize you were Pharaoh’s Cat. Sorry about that. ” “Whew! ” I said to Miu, after the dog had gone. “That was a close call. ” “I don’t see Khepri, ” Miu said anxiously.

“Khepri? ” I leaped down to look for him. “Hey, buddy, are you there? ”

Khepri popped out from behind the half-column, covered with debris. “I’ve found it! ” He waved his forelegs in triumph. “I’ve found the way in! ” He pointed to the tiny hole in the wall behind him. “There! ”

Miu studied the hole. “A way in for a beetle, maybe, ” she said. “But a human’s a little bigger, Khepri. ”

“Wait! ” A thought struck me. Maybe I had cracked the case. “What if the robbers were beetles? ”

“Ra, that doesn’t make any sense. ” Khepri dusted himself off. “Anyway, I’ve found a way in for humans. This whole big block by the column is loose. Someone’s recently packed it back in. And get this: there’s a hole behind it, and then another loose block. And if you get around that block— which you can, because it’s been moved, too—then you’re in a different tomb. An abandoned one. ”

“Are you sure? ” I crouched down to look, but all I could see was the tiny hole.

“Of course I’m sure, ” Khepri said indignantly.

“Then we need to let the humans know, ” Miu said. “I think Kenamon already suspects something. ”

I looked up and saw the boy staring down at us, and at the tiny hole.

“Maybe he’ll bring the other humans over, ” Khepri said.

But the boy turned away and said nothing.

“I think he didn’t understand, ” Miu said.

“Then you two need to bring the other humans over, ” Khepri said. “I’ll help, if I can. ”

Miu raced over to the Captain and rubbed against his shins. I sauntered in front of him, pointing my tail toward the wall. He waved us away. Honestly, humans are terrible at communication.

Next we tried standing by the wall and meowing.

“Put those cats out! ” the Captain ordered. “I’ve had enough of their antics. ”

The next thing we knew, the guards had kicked us out of the tomb.

“Well, how do you like that? ” Blinking in the bright sunlight, I nudged down my fur where the guards had ruffled it. “We were only trying to help. ”

Miu was licking herself clean. “I’m afraid those humans don’t deserve us. ”

“No, they don’t, ” Khepri agreed. “But we’re not going to let them keep the Great Detectives from cracking this case. Let’s find that abandoned tomb I saw. I didn’t get a chance to check it for clues. ”

We picked our way past the Vizier and the Scribe, who were whispering and glaring at each other.

“The other tomb should be below and to the north of this one, ” Khepri said, urging me down the cliffside. “At least that’s my guess. ”

“There. ” Miu bobbed her head. “That cleft in the rocks. Could that be it? ”

I darted forward. “Let’s find out. ”

Sure enough, it was the entrance to a tomb.

“There’s nothing to stop us just walking in, ” Miu said as we entered the dark tunnel. “The seal is missing. ”

“Probably because thieves damaged it beyond repair, ” I said. “That’s the usual reason. ”

As we left sunlight far behind, I started to feel jumpy.

“Don’t worry, ” Khepri said. “It’ll get light again when we get to the burial chamber. ”

“No, it won’t. ” I set him straight. “The whole point of a burial chamber is that it’s buried, Khepri. As in, underground. As in, no light. ” “This one has light, ” Khepri insisted.

“Nonsense, ” I said.

But he was right. There was a hole in the burial chamber roof. It had been patched up with a slab of stone that didn’t quite fit, so bright sunlight poured in around the edges.

Miu climbed up a wide, half-broken ledge to get a better look. “The hole doesn’t look new, ” she reported. “I guess that’s how the original robbers got in. ”

“And then they burned the place. ” The tomb had been swept out, but I could smell the soot. “They do that sometimes, after they ransack the treasure. It gets rid of the evidence. ” Not that I’d ever actually seen a tomb robber set fire to anything. But you learn a lot when you sit in Pharaoh’s lap, listening to his viziers drone on.

Khepri slid down my back and tail to the floor and scuttled over to the nearest wall. “There! What did I tell you? ” He tapped a block that was not quite aligned with the others. “That’s the block that was moved. ”

“And here’s another bit of dried meat, ” said Miu, her nose to the ground.

“So many clues! ” I was pleased. “We’ll have this case cracked before you know it. ”

“I’m not sure. ” Miu sounded worried. “First we have to get the humans in here. And then we have to get them to pay attention. I don’t know how we’re going to do that. ”

I didn’t like to admit it, but neither did I.

“I’ve got an idea, ” Khepri said.

“What is it? ” I asked.

“You’re fast, aren’t you, Ra? ”

“As fast as they come, ” I said modestly.

“And clever? ”

“As clever as they—” I stopped and narrowed my eyes at Khepri. “Wait a minute. What are you asking me to do? ”

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