Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 Hilary sucked in her breath. "Blimey! If this is genuine, it's worth a fortune. Grace, you're a sly one." You have no idea, Amy thought. The only difference was that this statue sat on a beautiful gold pedestal. Amy stared at the goddess. She had been eroded by time, but she was feminine and strong. "She rocks," Nellie said. "If it's a fake, it's a very good fake," Hilary said. She hesitated. "What is it?" Amy asked. "Well. On Grace's very first trip to Cairo— the one we took together in 1949—she asked me for a favor. For a friend, she said. Did I know an expert

forger, someone who could produce a most perfect fake. And, as a matter of fact, I did. Grace knew that my father— he was an antiquities dealer— had fakes made of his most valuable pieces during the war. Just in case the Germans stole them, you see. I gave her the name, and I never heard another thing. So this… well, it could be a very expert fake. Someone added this cheesy pedestal later on, obviously." "Obviously," Amy said, blushing. Oops— she'd thought it was beautiful. Clearly, she had a lot to learn about museum-quality statues. Amy exchanged a glance with Dan. Grace had made a fake. Could it be that Grace had stolen the original Sakhet— the one found by Howard Carter— and replaced it with a copy? Bae had told them that the statues were hidden during the war and it took a few years to retrieve them and build a new Ekat stronghold. In the confusion, could Grace have gotten her hands on one? Could this be the original that Howard Carter found? No wonder that with modern analysis techniques they couldn't find a secret compartment! She looked again at Grace's message to them.

Egypt is full of wonderful things…. Amy remembered from her research that when Howard Carter found King Tutankhamen's tomb, he was the first to look in, and when he was asked what he saw, he replied, "Wonderful things." Was Grace quoting Carter to let them know that the Sakhet had once been Carter's? There was only one way to find out. If there was a secret compartment in this Sakhet, it was the real one. Amy felt a chill travel up her spine, and she shivered. Katherine Cahill could have held this very object. Could have placed a hint inside with her own hands. "If you need to get it authenticated, I just happen to have an expert in the house," Hilary said. "That would be me," Theo Cotter said, walking into the room. Amy, Dan, and Nellie looked up with guilty expressions. They knew they'd left him in the lurch at Sennari House. "You know him?" Nellie blurted. Hilary smiled. "A bit."

Theo leaned over and kissed her. "Hello, Grandmother." He turned to Amy, Dan, and Nellie. "Ah, here are the culprits. Let me give you lot a tip. Curators can get touchy when you throw objects around a museum. I had a bit of explaining to do." Just then Theo caught sight of the Sakhet. He gave a long, low whistle. "What's this? So you did find a real dealer after we got separated." "No, Theo," Hilary said. "They came upon this piece in a different way." She spoke to the three. "I must confess something here. Theo came home and told me of his encounter in the Khan. He told me your names." "But our hotel? How did you know where we were staying?" Amy asked. Theo held up a scrap of paper scrawled on a boarding pass. It was a phone number written in Nellie's handwriting. They'd called the hotel reservation number right before they boarded the plane. "Call me Sherlock Holmes. Just don't make me wear that hat." He picked up the statue and ran his fingers over it. His voice was hushed.

"Sakhet. The most powerful goddess of them all. Goddess of divine retribution and vengeance. Legend says that Ra once sent her against his enemies and she nearly destroyed the entire human race." "Whoa, that's one Rambo goddess," Dan said. Nellie looked impressed. "You sound like you know what you're talking about." "Theo is an Egyptologist," Hilary said proudly. "He was a curator at the British Museum." "I thought you said you were a tour guide," Nellie said. "During holidays, while I was studying for my degree at Cambridge," Theo answered. "If you want to sell the Sakhet, I can put out some feelers, and—" "No!" Amy and Dan cried together. "I mean, it has sentimental value," Amy said quickly. She glanced at Dan. As usual, they were able to communicate without speaking. They both knew they needed help. They had to trust Grace's best friend. Grace had led them there for a reason. "We think Grace left us a message inside that

statue," Amy said. "We're on the trail of… a family heirloom, and we think maybe this is it." "But isn't this the heirloom?" Hilary asked. "If Theo thinks it's real, it could be quite valuable." "Priceless, actually," Theo said. "But of course there are always those who are willing to put a price on the priceless. Usually because they have pots of money." Amy and Dan hesitated again. "You mean you're after something more valuable?" Theo asked. "Well," Nellie said, "value is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to family heirlooms, isn't it? My family has been passing along the most hideous vase shaped like a pineapple for ages." Dan picked up the Sakhet. Amy watched her brother. Something had kicked in behind his eyes. A great Egyptologist like Howard Carter hadn't been able to discern the Sakhet's secret, but she'd still bet on her eleven-year-old mad-hot genius of a brother. "Remember how Ye Olde Fenwick put up that fence just to keep the cat out?" he said. "Only it