Beyond the Grave - - 39 Clues 04 Read online

  Well, isn't that sooo Lucian of him, Dan thought.

  "The house where his scholars lived is a museum now. I know the curator there."

  Uh-oh,

  Dan thought. As soon as his sister heard the word museum,

  she started to salivate. It was like waving a double-fudge brownie in front of her face. 16

  "Is it nearby?" Amy asked eagerly. Maybe she should rethink this. If the house was still there, they might be able to find something to lead them to a Clue. "Nothing is too far in Cairo," Theo said. "Sennari House. It's just over on Haret Monge." "Right. We knew that," Dan said.

  "Come on, I'll get us a taxi."

  Theo turned and led the way to the frenzy of a downtown street. If there were lanes on the wide street, Dan couldn't see them. Cars slithered into tiny spaces, cut off trucks, accelerated at red lights, and tailgated buses, all to a symphony of horn blowing and yelling. Amy, Dan, and Nellie exchanged glances. They couldn't imagine how to find a taxi in the melee.

  Theo stepped calmly out into the street, held up a hand, and a taxi skidded to a stop.

  "You see?" Nellie said in awe. "He is Indiana Jones."

  CHAPTER 3

  When they arrived at Sennari House, Theo tossed a bundle of bills at the driver and

  spoke a few words in Arabic. "Baksheesh," he told them. "Gesundheit," Dan said.

  Theo grinned. "No, baksheesh means a tip. Now he'll wait for us."

  Theo moved ahead to walk with Nellie, and Dan turned to Amy.

  "Not that I'm not really excited about going to yet another museum, but what exactly

  are we looking for?"

  "I don't know," Amy admitted.

  "This connection to Napoleon seems a little ... uh ... random."

  "I know. It's not much to go on. But we didn't have much to go on in Philadelphia,

  Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Venice, Tokyo, and Seoul. We still managed to find clues. We

  know Napoleon was a Lucian. We think there is a clue in Egypt. So if he found it, or if

  he found something, he might have left a hint here for the Lucians."

  "It would be fun to steal something out from under Comrade Irina's nose," Dan admitted.

  Theo insisted on buying their tickets. They passed through a small door and into a courtyard. Small date palms and red-flowered bushes created a cooling effect despite the lack of shade. A fountain sat in the center.

  "Sennari House was built in 1794," Theo explained. "It's an example of classic Islamic domestic architecture, built around a central courtyard, called a sahn.

  I believe it has some of the most beautiful mashrabeya screens in Cairo."

  "Those are the carved wooden screens in the windows," Amy explained, pointing. "Napoleon's scholars created Egyptology for the West," Theo said. "After their writings were published, it started a craze all over Europe for everything Egyptian." "That's fascinating," Nellie said.

  "I'm on the edge of my seat," Dan said. Nellie stepped on his foot. "They used to have a permanent exhibition of Napoleon's personal collection long ago, but it was removed in 1926," Theo explained. "The building was renovated back in the 1990s. Now they have some fine examples of textiles and ceramic art."

  Dan held on to the end of Amy's T-shirt so she couldn't follow the two as they moved off. If he didn't stop her, Amy would spend hours in a dusty, old museum, sopping up completely useless information.

  "Dude, we have work to do," he told her. "Where should we start?" "I guess just wander around and look at the stuff that seems original," Amy said. "Okay, not much of a plan, but it's a plan."

  They explored all over the building, but it was hard to tell what was absolutely original to the structure and what had been repaired or renovated. Finally, they found an old stone staircase leading back down to the courtyard.

  "The Lucians are all little Napoleons," Dan grumbled. "Look at Ian and Natalie. Just a couple of smarty-pants with cash. Comrade Irina? A smarty-pants with a tic. Napoleon? He was a smarty-pants with an army."

  "Thanks, professor, for that illuminating lecture on the Napoleonic Wars," Amy said. "Look at those carvings! Theo was right. These screens are amazing. And look at these gorgeous tiles," Amy said, running her hand along the wall.

  "You sound like Ian Kabra. Remember when he admired Alistair's window moldings?" Amy's face fell. Oops -- he'd mentioned the name.

  Every time he let it slip, Amy got that boo-hoo my hamster died look on her face. Amazing that a fourteen-year-old, close-to-normal girl could fall for such a serious creep. He'd thought well, he'd hoped that a sister of his would be cooler than that.

  Amy's lost look suddenly changed to curiosity. She pointed to a tile. "Doesn't that look familiar?"

  Dan squatted down. "It's the Lucian crest!" The crest was hidden within the design, but he recognized it. "It's the only one like this."

  "This has got to be some kind of hint!" Amy said excitedly. "Maybe there's something behind it." She tried pushing the crest, then the corners.

  "It's been there for over two hundred years," Dan said. "Maybe it needs a little help." He took out a penknife from his pocket. He fit the blade into the mortar surrounding the tile. "If I can just..."

  "Dan! We're in a museum!"

  "Dur."

  "Someone could see!"

  "Well, you'd better be a lookout, then," Dan grunted as he pushed the penknife in. He could feel the tile loosening. He heard Amy's footsteps pattering away. His sister was so rule-happy. It really got in the way sometimes.

  He eased the knife farther and wiggled it. He could just manage to get his fingers behind one corner. He pulled carefully. The tile fell out, right into his hand. Behind the wall there was now a narrow hole. Dan reached inside, hoping his fingers wouldn't find a scary, crawly Egyptian insect instead of a Clue.

  But his fingers met something smooth and round. He pulled out a slender leather tube. "Just what do you think you are doing?"

  The bellowing voice almost made Dan drop the tube. He hid it behind his back as an Egyptian man dressed in a gray suit yelled up at him from the bottom of the stairs. He was heavyset, so he probably wasn't too thrilled about climbing up toward Dan. Still, he looked like some sort of museum official. And he was carrying one of those walkie-talkie jobs that would no doubt bring security goons in seconds.

  Excellent lookout job, sis.

  He heard Amy's quick steps behind him on the stairs. "Uh, w-w-w -- " he heard her stammer. As usual, Amy's brain froze in the face of authority. But Dan was used to encountering red-faced adults. It had started with his preschool teacher, Miss Woolsey, and had gone on to homeroom teachers, art instructors (love that poster paint!), principals, the Boston fire department. This guy would be cake. Then Dan remembered he was in a foreign country. With jails. Did they throw eleven-year-olds in jail in Egypt? The man's eyes narrowed. "What do you have there?"

  "Uh, this fell off the wall." With one hand, Dan held up the tile. Behind his back, he waggled the tube.

  "Those tiles are original to the house! They are fragile!"

  "That's my point," Dan said reasonably. To his relief, he felt Amy grab the tube. "It fell off." He held up the tile. "You want it?" "Young man, don't you dare -- " Dan launched the tile into the air.

  He had time to admire the man's surprising grace as he leaped forward, terror on his

  face, to catch it. Then he scrambled up the stairs behind Amy.

  "Did you see that guy?" he panted. "He could play right field for the Red Sox!"

  "I wish," Amy said, "you'd stop ... getting such a kick ... out of stealing things!"

  They heard pounding feet behind them as guards joined the chase. They made a quick

  right turn and raced down a narrow hallway. Dan skidded into a small room. He threw

  back the screen and leaped onto the balcony rail.

  "It's not a long way down," he told Amy. "Besides, you should be getting good at this by now."

  "I don't want to be good at this," Amy said, gritting
her teeth as she swung one leg over the rail. "I want to be good at library research." She swung the other leg over. "Ice-skating." She lowered herself over the side, hanging on with her eyes closed. "Baking brownies ... "

  "Let go!" Dan shouted, and Amy let go. He followed.

  He felt the shock of the courtyard stones shudder up his ankle bones. He hadn't expected it to hurt... quite so much. Amy fell over and rolled. She gave him a fearful look. He nodded to let her know he was okay.

  Someone shouted overhead in Arabic. Dan didn't need a translator. Someone was definitely not happy.

  "What are you doing on the ground?" Nellie asked as she strolled out from one of the

  rooms leading off the courtyard. "And have you seen the ladies' room?"

  Without answering, Dan and Amy raced toward Nellie, scooped their arms through hers,

  and started to drag her to the entrance.

  The guards hit the courtyard and started to run.

  "Oh, no, don't tell me. Not again!" Nellie groaned.

  "Yell later. Now, run!"

  "Sorry! We love your beautiful country!" Nellie yelled.

  They charged through the front door while the shouting echoed in the courtyard behind them. The taxi was waiting, and they jumped in. "Where to?" the taxi driver asked, waking with a start. "Just go, go, go!" Nellie shouted.

  "Go, go, go!" the taxi driver shouted gleefully as he stomped on the gas, practically

  sending them through the roof. "I love Americans!"

  CHAPTER 4

  As soon as the taxi joined a raging river of traffic on a main street and they were sure they hadn't been followed, Nellie gave the driver the name of their hotel. Then she crashed back against the seat and sighed.

  "You two owe me, big-time. I just left my soul mate waiting for me to get back from the ladies' room."

  "Don't worry," Dan said. "You'll always have cardapop." "Cardamom," Nellie corrected.

  "We'll make it up to you," Amy said. "Anyway, we found something."

  Amy held up the leather tube. She unwound the old, worn straps and popped off the top. Turning over the tube, she shook it gently. They gasped as a small fragment of rolled parchment fell out of the tube into her palm

  It was dry and crumbled at the edges. It was so fragile Amy was afraid to even breathe

  on it.

  "I think it's an old letter," she said. "Or at least part of one." She unwrapped it slowly. Dan groaned. "Not French again!"

  [proofreader's note: a scrap of paper with the following words written on it:

  et pour la plus grande gloire del descendants le Luc et mon Empereur, l'indice est maintenant en route pour le Palais du L a Paris. B. D. 1821]

  "Translation?" Amy asked Nellie.

  '"And for the greater glory of the descendants of Luke and my Emperor, the clue is now en route to the palace o ... "' Nellie stopped, tilting her sunglasses down to read.

  In ‘du la Paris'?

  Of the Paris? That isn't correct. Unless L is an initial?" "So who could L be?" Dan wondered.

  "Well, there were an awful lot of kings of France named Louis," Nellie said. "One of them lost his head, but he had a palace called Versailles."

  "Anyway, some clue was shipped off to some palace by the Lucians," Amy said. "But I wonder who B.D. is." She sighed. "I was hoping it would be a message from Napoleon." "Does this mean the clue is back in France?" Dan wondered.

  Amy carefully put the paper in her waist pack. "If we just keep digging, this will make sense sooner or later."

  They had been so intent on the letter that they hadn't noticed when the taxi turned off a main street and into a quieter neighborhood. Palm trees lined the boulevard. Bougainvillea bloomed in explosions of pink and purple. "Wow," Nellie said, cranking down her window and sticking her head out to sniff the air. "I smell rich people." The taxi pulled into a long, curving drive. Amy and Nellie gasped, and Dan cried out, "Sweet!" as the hotel came into view.

  It was a big white sprawling mansion of a building. Long green lawns stretched up to its

  front porch. A couple dressed in white terrycloth robes strolled across a side patio

  toward a turquoise pool. A pool boy rushed up to lead them to a cabana. Waiters glided

  through the chairs, balancing trays of iced drinks. Across the Nile loomed the great

  pyramids of Giza, appearing through the yellow air like a dream.

  Nellie whistled. "A lifestyle to which I am ready to become accustomed."

  "How can we afford this?" Amy asked.

  "We do have the money from the Kabras," Nellie said. "Which totally belongs to us now. We earned it."

  "We sure did," Amy said, remembering Ian's double-cross. Mr. McIntyre, Grace's lawyer, had told them Trust no one at the very beginning. She shouldn't have forgotten that for a moment. Instead, she'd looked into Ian's dark eyes and fallen for his lines. Dumb. Really dumb, Amy.

  She had no trouble with lessons at school. But when it came to real-life emotions, she'd score an F.

  "Still, we could run out of cash pronto at a place like this," Nellie said. "Maybe we should try someplace else."

  The taxi had already pulled up. A snappily dressed bellman ran to open the door. Another raced to collect their bags. Before they could protest, they were ushered out of the taxi, and the driver was heading back down the drive. The bellman hung their shabby backpacks and battered bags on the rolling cart as though they were fine luggage. Nobody gave their T-shirts and crumpled jeans a second look.

  "Welcome to the Hotel Excelsior," the first bellman said. "Follow me, please."

  They trailed behind him as Nellie smoothed her hair, Amy tucked in her shirt, and Dan

  tried to grab his backpack from the cart.

  There were more wide smiles from the clerks at the front desk. One slim, handsome gentleman waved them over. "Please, welcome to the Hotel Excelsior. May I inquire the name of your party?"

  "Uh ...," Nellie said.

  "Oh – “ Dan said.

  "Oh?"

  "Oh," Dan said firmly.

  "I'm sorry, the reservation is not showing up," the man said, consulting the computer. "I can recommend several other hotels. Excuse me," he said as the phone rang. His posture grew even more erect as he listened for a moment. He looked at them, then turned a shoulder and spoke quietly into the receiver. "Ah, certainly, sir. I'll arrange that right away for you." He hung up and turned back to the computer screen.

  "Oh.

  Of course. The Oh reservation. We've reserved the Aswan Suite, as usual."

  "Suite?" Amy blurted.

  "At the usual family discount, of course," he added. He pushed the register toward Nellie. "If you would just sign."

  Amy peeked at the price. To her surprise, it wasn't much more than the price of the fleabag hotel in Paris. Nellie signed the register and the desk clerk handed over three card keys.

  He reached over to ding the bell. "The bellman will show you upstairs." "Family discount?" Amy hissed.

  "We are family," Dan pointed out. "Technically."

  "Your crazy Cahill family really spread out over the globe," Nellie said, admiring the huge vases full of flowering branches. "So technically, you have family everywhere. Just think of all the five-star hotels we can crash, if only we can get hold of frequent-traveler cards "

  "Shhhh," Amy warned as they stepped into the elevator. The bellman swiped their key card through a slot, then pushed thirteen.

  When the elevator doors opened, the bellman led them into the hallway. There was only one door.

  "Where are the rest of the rooms?" Nellie asked.

  "The suite occupies the entire floor," the bellman said. "I think you will like it." He swiped the key card through the slot. "You must swipe this in the elevator, too. Only you have access to this floor."

  He pushed open the door, and they gasped. Floor-to-ceiling windows gave a view of the Nile and the pyramids of Giza beyond. They stood in a living room with an armchair, two sofas, an eating area, an
d a desk. As the bellman pushed open the door to the bedroom, Dan practically danced behind him. "We've got three bathrooms!" he yodeled.

  Nellie fished in her bag for a tip and the smiling bellman left, closing the door softly. As soon as he was gone, Amy flopped down on the armchair, Nellie kicked off her shoes, and Dan jumped on a sofa. They all shouted a rousing chorus of "Woo-hoo!"

  Nellie let Saladin out of his cat carrier. "Welcome to the lush life, Sally," she said, giving him a kiss on the top of his sleek head. Saladin roamed around, sniffing, jumped up on the desk, tightroped over the back of a sofa, picked the biggest, fluffiest pillow, curled up, and blinked at them as if to say, I could get used to this.

  Dan bounded off the sofa and prowled around, calling out bulletins to Amy and Nellie.

  "The desk is full of stationery! Here's a guidebook! Hey, there's an umbrella in the

  closet!" He wandered back into the bedroom and disappeared into the closet, coming

  out in a terrycloth robe that was so long it trailed after him on the floor. He opened a

  bedside drawer. "A Bible!" He shut the drawer and searched under the pillows.

  Nellie and Amy followed Dan into the bedroom.

  "What are you looking for?" Amy asked. "The tooth fairy?"

  "Chocolate. Don't they leave chocolate under your pillow in these fancy hotels?"

  Nellie giggled. "Not under. On top of your pillow, after they turn down your bed for the

  night."

  He disappeared into a bathroom. "You should see all the shampoo!" He stuck his head out. "I know how much girls loooove shampoo." He batted his eyelashes at them. Amy threw a pillow at him.

  Dan dodged it and bounded back into the living room. "Stand back, Jack. I just found the minibar!" he crowed.

  Nellie stretched. "Well, I'm going to get in that bathtub, pour in about a gallon of bubble bath, and not get out until the food comes."

  "What food?"

  "The food you are about to order from room service," Nellie said. "Don't let Dan raid the