Beyond the Grave - - 39 Clues 04 Read online

  Martian?"

  Amy couldn't help giggling. "How did I know he was a Sox fan?" "Where to now?" Dan asked.

  "Theo and Nellie must have gotten back by now," Amy said. "Maybe they're waiting at the dock. We'll have to explain why there's no boat."

  But when they got to the dock, the boat was there. Nellie and Theo sat on the deck, drinking tea. "Did you go for a walk?" Nellie asked.

  Dan looked at Amy. Amy looked at Dan. Should they mention Jonah Wizard, the boatnapping, the crocodile, the big knife? The Red Sox-loving fisherman?

  "Yeah," Dan said. "We went for a walk."

  They left Theo and Nellie on the deck, drinking chai and watching the night sky, and went below.

  "At least Jonah returned the boat," Amy said.

  "At least he's on his way to Paris," Dan said. "The question is, should we be going, too?"

  "I've been thinking about that. When we were in Paris, I read about the history of the Louvre Museum. It was once a palace.

  So when Drovetti wrote palais de L,

  he probably meant Palais de Louvre. Remember, Bae told us that Drovetti sent the Sakhet to the Louvre, and an Ekat managed to get it back. I bet there isn't a fourth Sakhet. After all, the three maps added up to Nefertari's tomb. Now we just have to use the hieroglyphs to figure out where to go next."

  Dan frowned. "Katherine isn't helping much. And neither is Grace!" "Well, Katherine mentions Aswan in the poem. Giza, Aswan, Thebes, and Cairo, remember? We started in Cairo. Napoleon found the first Sakhet in a pyramid in Giza. The second was found by Howard Carter in Hatshepsut's tomb in Thebes. Aswan is the only city left. I bet that's where the final clue is."

  "But we don't know that for sure," Dan argued. "Bae found the third Sakhet in Cairo,

  but that was hundreds of years after Katherine left it somewhere. It could have been stolen and sold and sold again. It could have come from Aswan."

  "Maybe," Amy agreed reluctantly. "Remember what Bae said about Katherine, that she felt underestimated because she was a woman? Haven't you noticed that Katherine has been leading us through all the female pharaohs, queens, and goddesses of ancient Egypt? Sakhet, Hatshepsut, Nefertari. Even the Giza clue was found in the queen's pyramid."

  "That reminds me." Dan looked at the hieroglyphs again. "When Theo was giving us the tour, and that part where Isis is holding Nefertari's hand? The glyph over Isis was the same as this."

  [proofreader's note: the hieroglyph that looks like a side view of a throne]

  "I bet this means Isis."

  "Another female goddess!" Amy flipped through her book. "Ancient Egyptians believed that when Isis heard her husband, Osiris, was dead, her tears made the Nile overflow -- turning the land fertile for cultivation." She looked up, her eyes alight.

  '"One makes green with tears long shed'!"

  "What about 'where heart of her heart was found'?" Dan asked.

  Amy read on, her heartbeat quickening. "Osiris was dismembered by Seth. Isis found his heart on the island of Philae. That's where her temple is." Dan put his finger on each hieroglyph. "Island. Isis. Obelisk."

  "Where is Philae?" Dan asked.

  "Aswan!" Amy exclaimed. "It all adds up." She closed the book with a thud. "The thing is," she added, "I don't remember if Grace wrote anything about Aswan. I wish we hadn't lost her guidebook!"

  "We?" Dan asked.

  "Okay, me," Amy said, flushing angrily. "If you want to blame me, go ahead."

  "Well, maybe if you'd let me look at the book, we'd have an idea of what to do next," Dan said.

  "That's not fair," Amy said. "You don't like research like I do."

  "I can read," Dan said bitterly. "And unlike you, I can remember, too. You barely even let me look at it."

  "You always say research is boring," Amy countered. "How was I to know you wanted to read a guidebook for the first time in your life?"

  "It wasn't just a guidebook. It was Grace's guidebook!" Dan's voice rose. "You want to keep everything that Grace left for yourself. You've got the necklace and now the Sakhet... you won't let go of that, either. You even want to keep her memory to yourself!"

  "That's not true," Amy protested. "And it's not fair, either!"

  "Well, she's not just your grandmother, you know!" Dan said. His face was bright red. "You want her all to yourself!"

  "Don't be ridiculous!" Amy yelled. She felt her face grow hot. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

  "You get to decide if she was good or not. You get to decide if she loved us or not. If you're going to tell me that my grandmother didn't love me at all, that she was some evil mastermind, then you'd better back it up with

  facts,"

  Dan told her furiously. "You're so spooked you'll make a mistake again that you're doing a complete one eighty. Everybody isn't bad just because

  Ian Kabra is!"

  Amy gasped. She'd never seen Dan act like this before. He called her names and fought with her, but never like this. He was never deliberately mean. He looked almost triumphant now, like he'd scored a hit.

  Just like she'd felt in the Ekat stronghold when she'd made him cry. What was happening to them? Was this what the chase for the Clues was doing to them? Betrayals and secrets were the new normal. It was warping them. Turning them against each other.

  They were both acting like people she didn't recognize. People she didn't like.

  They were acting, Amy realized, like Cahills.

  CHAPTER 17

  It was only nine in the morning, and the temperature in Aswan was well over ninety. In the airport, Amy felt sweat snake down her back, and she shrugged off her backpack and looped it over a shoulder. With every step, it bumped into her waist pack. She wasn't about to complain. If she did, Dan would just throw her a look of disgust and call her a wimp, and she wouldn't be responsible for her actions. Then again, he probably wouldn't call her names. They weren't talking to each other.

  Slam, slam,

  went her backpack against her waist pack. She trudged after the others. Nellie was first, heading toward the taxi stand. Theo had called Hilary for help, and she'd recommended the Old Cataract Hotel, "where Grace always stayed in Aswan, ducks ... darling

  Saladin, do get your claws out of my arm, thank you "

  Dan was after her, putting as much distance between himself and Amy as possible. Theo walked in front of Amy, digging for the sunglasses in his shirt pocket.

  Crowds of tourists waiting for luggage milled about, and a tour guide called out, "This way, people!" as another large clump of tourists moved toward a row of buses.

  Theo dropped his sunglasses and leaned over to pick them up. Amy felt someone bump into her from behind as she stopped short. She felt the chafing from the waist pack, and she reached down to move it slightly. To her surprise, she brushed a hand. "Hey!" She felt her waist pack being tugged. The crowd pressed in on her. She couldn't turn, and she couldn't move forward. Amy started to panic. "Help!" she cried, but nobody heard her. Theo didn't turn. He was waving at Nellie. She felt as though she were being squeezed by a roomful of writhing snakes. She couldn't get her breath. It was so hot, and the moving bodies around her trapped her. She couldn't break free. "H-h-help!" Her voice was so puny, barely a squeak.

  Ahead, she saw Dan turn. His eyes met her panicked ones. He knew immediately she was in trouble. He started to force his way back to her.

  "Dan!"

  She tried to move toward him and almost fell. "Dan, help! My waist pack!"

  Suddenly, his arm popped through the crowd and he yanked on her wrist. He pulled her as hard as he could, knocking a woman out of their way. Amy felt the pressure on her waist pack ease.

  She twisted around and scanned the crowd. Instead of writhing snakes, she saw sweaty

  tourists anxious for ground transportation. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone move, but it was only an older couple, a fat man in a straw hat and his wife looking down and searching through her bulging tote bag. Amy saw the light glint on her si
lver snake ring.

  "Hurry, you two!" Theo stood at the cab, the door open.

  Amy tumbled into the backseat next to Dan.

  "Hey, someone tried to saw this off from behind," Dan said.

  Amy unbuckled the waist pack with shaking fingers. She saw the mark of a knife trying to slice through the canvas. At the sight of the fresh cut, a chill went down her back. "That was close."

  "You've got to watch your belongings in crowds," Theo said. "I'm glad you reacted so quickly, Amy."

  "It was Dan, actually," Amy said.

  "Yeah, I managed to do something right," Dan said.

  Theo looked out the window. "Why don't we drop our bags at the hotel and catch a boat over to Agilika Island right away?"

  "Wait," Dan said. "I thought Philae was the name of the island. That's where the guidebook said the temple was."

  "Philae is the name of the site, but Agilika is the island," Theo said. "Philae Island has been completely underwater since the 1960s."

  "What?" Amy blurted. The Clue was underwater?

  "That's when the High Dam was built. Even before that, after the building of the first dam back in 1902, the island was submerged during certain parts of the year. People would actually look down at it through the water."

  "So what happened to the buildings on the island?" Amy asked. "They were saved and moved to Agilika," Theo explained. "The island was landscaped to look exactly like Philae. It's as close as you can get to an authentic experience. The only thing that's changed is the island itself. You'll see the Temple of Isis just as it existed on Philae."

  "Do you mean that the original island of Philae still exists, it's just under the Nile?" Dan asked.

  Theo nodded. "Under the lake that was created by the dam. But there's nothing to see on it now."

  Theo and Nellie began to talk, and Amy spoke in a low tone to Dan. Since he'd practically saved her life, it was hard to stay as mad at him. "We still have a chance," she whispered. "The poem said the rosy pillar would cast a shadow at noon. Since the buildings are positioned exactly the same, the same shadow will fall on the same place on the 'long protecting arm' -- whatever that is. If we're lucky, Katherine's clue will still be there." "Either that, or we need to stop at Snorkels-R-Us," Dan said. The taxi drew up in front of the Old Cataract Hotel, a beautiful spot right on the Nile. Theo offered to take care of storing their bags and "distribute a little baksheesh." When he headed back to the cab, a bellman ran up and handed him a small slip of paper. Theo read it and frowned, then slipped it into his shirt pocket. "What was that?" Amy asked as he slid into the front seat. "Nothing. Just... a welcome greeting from the front desk."

  Dan reached over the seat and grabbed it out of Theo's pocket. He scanned it quickly. "Some welcome."

  He showed it to Amy and Nellie. An Egyptian drawing of Osiris, god of the underworld, was at the top. Underneath was written: Your arrogance will lead to your demise!

  "I didn't want you to see another one of these silly notes," Theo said. Dan crumpled it up. "It doesn't matter." But it did. He'd thought Jonah had sent the notes. But Jonah was supposed to be headed to Paris. "Here are the docks," Theo said. "Let's hustle there's a ferry leaving." They ran for the boat and made it with seconds to spare. The ferryboat chugged away from the dock. Here in Aswan, the Nile seemed even more beautiful. The color was closer to emerald, and it was full of white sails. Large cruise ships docked nearby,

  tourists leaning over their railings, holding cameras and pointing. Two herons stepped delicately through the reeds, reminding Amy of the paintings she'd seen in Nefertari's tomb. Ancient and new collided in one of those startling moments she was beginning to recognize as part of Egypt.

  "We're going to land at the southern tip, but it's not far to the temple," Theo told them. "Do you know the story of Isis?"

  "She was married to this dude Osiris, and he croaked," Dan said. "So she freaked and was all wah! and went and cried herself a river."

  "Amazing! That's just what it says on the hieroglyphs," Theo said. The boat docked, and they followed Theo to Isis's Temple. It was a huge complex, tall and grand, with reliefs cut into the stone. They walked down the grand colonnade with its row of columns.

  Dan looked around. "Where's the obelisk? Isn't there one here?" "There was," Theo said. "Two of them, actually, erected by Ptolemy VIII, cut in pink granite. They were damaged -- one fell over -- and were removed in the nineteenth century -- well, stolen, or bought, depending on how you want to look at it -- by an Englishman. They're in his garden in Dorset, England."

  Amy was crestfallen. The obelisks -- the rosy pillars -were gone. There was nothing to cast a shadow now. How could they find the Clue?

  Theo went on with his tour. "On the old island, the Nile would flood once a year," he said. "They built walls to protect the temples. That's one reason why the temple is so remarkably well preserved."

  "But there're no walls here," Amy said.

  "They didn't need to relocate them." Theo shrugged. "Because of the dam, the Nile doesn't flood anymore."

  Theo moved off with Nellie. Amy slumped down on a step. "What are we going to do now?" she asked. "The obelisk is gone."

  Dan sat down next to her. "So are the walls -- don't you think they're the 'long protecting arm'?"

  "Why did Grace send us here if the dam flooded the island?" Amy wondered. "She

  must have known that. And this place is so huge.

  I wouldn't know where to start."

  "She must have left another hint," Dan said. "We just haven't found it yet." There was a short silence. The ice had been broken, but the air was still frosty between them, despite the blazing sun.

  "Dan, we just can't turn into bad Cahills," Amy said in a small voice. "All we have is each other. I can't do this without you." "I feel the same way," Dan agreed. "You can't do it without me." Amy laughed. If she was getting tougher, so was Dan. Maybe the changes wouldn't be so bad. If they could just manage to stay a family, the two of them, they could figure out how to be Cahills, too.

  CHAPTER 18

  That night, Amy couldn't sleep. Images collided in her head. Temples and tombs, crocodiles and lions. Ian Kabra's dark eyes and flashing smile. The squeeze of panic she'd felt in the airport as the crowd closed in. Her brother's narrow, intent face, the way he'd pushed through the crowd to get to her. The old couple, the woman looking down into her tote bag. Light glinting on the woman's silver ring.

  Sleep was dragging her down, and right before she slipped into it, she saw Grace's face smiling at her and saying, Trust people, but keep your money in your sock.

  * * *

  Amy woke in the middle of the night. It wasn't as though she heard a noise. It was more that she had the memory of a noise. She fought her way up from the luxury of sleep.

  Her hand fell alongside the bed, where she had a habit of resting it on the waist pack on the floor. There it was, the sharp angle of the base of the Sakhet, poking out. She started to settle back against her warm pillow again.... but keep your money in your sock.

  Amy reached down again and moved her fingers around the base to touch the Sakhet. Her fingers met empty air. There was no statue attached to the base. Heart hammering, Amy came fully awake. She slipped out of bed and felt along the floor. Nothing. Under the bed. Empty.

  The window was open. Had she left the window open? Amy ran to look out. The moon was high and full and illuminated the lawn outside like stadium lights. It was easy to see Theo, duffel in hand, hurrying along the curving path. Amy saw car headlights flash in the parking lot beyond.

  Amy didn't stop to think. She raised the window the rest of the way and slipped outside. Her bare feet hit the cool dirt. She snaked through the bushes, hit the grass, and took off.

  Too late she realized that she'd need help. Theo was heading for that car. Could she take him down? She'd need to hit him right around the knees

  She heard pounding footsteps behind her. Nellie was racing toward Theo, her face set with angry determination.
Her legs flashed underneath the boxer shorts and oversize Pearl Jam T-shirt she wore to bed.

  She slammed into Theo in a tackle that would have gotten her thrown out of the NFL.

  He went down with a howl of pain.

  Amy sped past them and raced to the car. To her surprise, Hilary sat at the wheel, her mouth open in comical surprise at the sight of her grandson with Nellie on his chest. "What's going on, ducks?" Hilary's face was pale, but she tried to keep her voice merry. Amy reached over and turned off the engine, then pocketed the keys. "Why don't we find out," she suggested. She was surprised at her own coolness. If you got mad enough, you didn't have to try to be brave.

  "Mrrrp."

  Amy heard the soft noise and her heart lifted. "Saladin?" She reached into the backseat and took the cat carrier.

  Taking a firm grip on Hilary's elbow, Amy marched her back to Theo and Nellie. Theo's face was twisted in pain. "Did you have to hit me that hard?" he howled. Nellie leaned over and hissed the words in his face. "Your arrogance just led to your demise, sucker!"

  * * *

  Theo sat on the floor of the hotel room while Amy lifted the Sakhet from his duffel. Hilary sat primly in a chair.

  "I'm sure we can work this out," she said. "If Theo has done something wrong, I can take care of it."

  "I wouldn't be so sure," Amy said.

  "Could I at least have some ice for my ankle?" Theo asked plaintively. "Sure," Nellie said. She went to the ice bucket, picked it up, and dumped the contents on Theo's head. "Thanks," Theo said. "Don't mention it," Nellie said sweetly. "Snake."

  "What should we do with them?" Dan asked. He'd grabbed the lamp off the table and was holding it, just in case Theo tried to get away. He'd bash him in a second if Theo gave him the chance.

  But Theo didn't look like he wanted to give him the chance. He looked deflated and damp.

  "Police, for sure," Nellie said.

  "Stick a fork in him, he's done," Dan agreed.

  "What are you talking about?" Hilary looked horrified. "Theo, what are they talking

  about?"

  "Not police," Theo begged. "Please. Stealing the statue would be a capital crime. You don't want me to go to jail, do you? I'd be there for a thousand years!"