Secret of the Ankhs: A Maggie Edwards Adventure (Maggie Edwards Adventures Book 2)

by Nellie H. Steele

  Silence filled the room. Ollie sunk into the chair next to Emma.

  Maggie held her arms out to her sides, her eyes wide. “Well? Come on! Ideas! Quick!”

  Emma shook her head. “I’ve got nothing. I’m exhausted, hungry, my head is splitting. I can’t think.”

  “None of my ideas seem to work,” Ollie responded.

  Maggie sunk into the chair across from Emma. She capped the marker and slammed it on the table. “So, we’ve got nothing.”

  Emma slumped across the table with a moan.

  Maggie sunk her head into her hands. “I can’t believe we survived all that in the tomb to die at the hands of those thugs because we can’t figure this out.”

  “What happened down there?” Ollie inquired.

  “What didn’t?” Emma groaned.

  The comment elicited a chuckle from Maggie. “Truth,” Maggie answered. “We waited in that first room for a long time. But after a while, we didn’t hear anything from above.”

  Ollie nodded and interjected, “Those goons surprised us. They disabled the guards. We were so intent on freeing you two, we never saw them coming.”

  “How terrifying,” Maggie said, grabbing and squeezing Ollie’s hand. “Are you all right? In all the commotion, I completely forgot to ask what happened to you. And now…” Tears formed in Maggie’s eyes. She swallowed hard.

  Ollie clutched Maggie’s hand with both of his. “Maggie, don’t cry. It wasn’t that bad. They roughed us up a bit, tried to find out where you were and if we had all the ankhs. In the end, they decided to take me and the two we had and return here.”

  “And…” Tears spilled down Maggie’s cheeks.

  “Oh, Maggie,” Ollie said. “Don’t cry.”

  Maggie sniffled, attempting to hold back her tears. “Henry always used to say that.” Sobs choked her as she uttered the statement.

  “Shh,” Ollie consoled her. “It’ll be all right. We don’t know they’re gone.”

  “Did you see the explosion?” Maggie cried.

  “Henry’s smart. He knew they were setting those charges. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got away before they went off.”

  Maggie bit her lower lip and wiped her cheeks. She took a few deep, steadying breaths. “Okay,” she said, breathing out a long breath. “Okay, think positive, you’re right.”

  Emma gave Maggie a consoling smile and reached across to squeeze her hand.

  Maggie sniffled again. “It would be easier to think positive with some food. Emma’s right, we haven’t really slept or eaten since we split a granola bar last night. I’m guessing you haven’t eaten either,” Maggie said to Ollie.

  “Do you really think they’ll order in for us?” Emma inquired sarcastically.

  “Doesn’t hurt to ask! Plus, it’s not like we’re making much progress.”

  Maggie strode to the door and tried the knob. The door didn’t budge. Maggie pounded on it. “Hey! Hello!”

  A clink sounded as the lock unlatched. The door opened into the room and Bryson stuck his head in. “Solved it already? See what the proper motivation can do?”

  “No,” Maggie announced. “We did not solve it. We need something.”

  “Oh?”

  “Food. None of us have eaten anything in a good while. We can’t make any progress without some food.”

  “Food?” Bryson questioned. “We aren’t short-order cooks, Ms. Edwards.”

  Maggie gave him an annoyed glance. “I’m sure an enterprising man such as yourself can scrounge up some takeout. Maybe you could even make something homemade.”

  “I’d watch that quick-witted tongue of yours, Ms. Edwards. You wouldn’t want to find yourself without it one day.”

  “What is the issue, Bryson?” a voice called.

  “They are requesting food, sir.”

  The man approached the door. Maggie peered around Bryson to make eye contact with him. “We’re starving! We need something to eat! We’re not stalling, we’re hungry!” Maggie entreated.

  “I’m sure we can provide you with something to quell your hunger, can’t we, Bryson?”

  Bryson scowled at Maggie but acquiesced. “Fine. I assume you are not picky?”

  “Not really. Do you have any takeout menus?”

  “No,” he said flatly. “I will do my best.”

  He slammed the door shut. Maggie wandered back to the table. “Well, at least we’ll get something to eat. Maybe that will spur something.”

  “In the meantime, tell me about your adventure trapped in the tomb. And finding the third ankh,” Ollie encouraged. “It will pass the time at least and may provide a clue!”

  Maggie grinned at Ollie. “You won’t believe half of this story.”

  “Try me.”

  Maggie recounted the tale of their escape from the depths of Cleopatra’s tomb. Emma interjected with a variety of archaeological details as Maggie related their experiences.

  “Amazing!” Ollie answered as Maggie concluded her story.

  “Nothing was more amazing than finding Antony,” Emma said, a dreamy expression on her face. “It was… incredible. I feel so privileged to have experienced that, despite all the havoc!”

  Ollie nodded in agreement with her statements. “Too bad that goon took my phone,” Maggie lamented. “I’ve got a fabulous picture of us draped in some of that jewelry!”

  Ollie chuckled at Maggie’s statements as the door burst open across the room. “Food, as requested,” Bryson announced. He dumped several takeout bags on the table. “Now get to work.”

  He stalked across the room, glaring at them as he pulled the door shut.

  “Nice guy,” Maggie said with an eye roll as she dug into the bags. She doled out the food and everyone dug in. They made quick work of their meal. Maggie shoved the empty takeout container away from her as she wiped the corners of her mouth.

  “Whew, now I’m stuffed,” Emma confessed. “And tired. I could use a nap.”

  “Maybe you should curl up in that nice armchair,” Maggie suggested.

  Emma yawned but shook her head. “No, we need to work on this.”

  “We can spare an hour for you to get some sleep,” Maggie replied.

  “We’ve got six hours left,” Emma responded. “We don’t have time for a nap.”

  “Fine, fine. But we’ve got no ideas either,” Maggie answered. “We’re spinning our wheels here.”

  “Ollie,” Emma said, “you’ve been researching this the most. Is there ANYTHING you can suggest?”

  Ollie shook his head. “Nothing definitive. I conjectured once we had the pieces, they’d somehow fit together to form a message.”

  Maggie stared at the pieces. “Do you mean they’d spell something out if we saw them all together?”

  “More or less,” Ollie answered. “With these protrusions, I assumed we’d spot something, coordinates or hieroglyphs once we joined these.”

  Maggie placed the ankhs in a line and stood over the table. She stared at them, moving her head to different angles and distances. “I see nothing,” she admitted.

  She rearranged them, sliding the last piece to the first spot and moving the other two down. They all checked the configuration. No patterns emerged. They tried every configuration of the ankhs but found nothing.

  “Maybe if we turn one upside down and place them together like this,” Emma suggested. She flipped one ankh to point between the other two.

  “Nope,” Maggie answered, “I don’t see anything, do you?”

  “No,” Emma admitted.

  Ollie rearranged the ankhs, swapping the two ends. “Still nothing,” he said with a sigh.

  Again, after trying every configuration, they found nothing.

  Maggie glanced at the clock on the wall as she slumped into her seat. Time ticked away on their deadline and they were no closer to a solution.

  Maggie slouched down in the chair, resting her head on the back. Ollie picked up two of the ankhs. “I even wondered if these somehow fit together because
of the strange ridges on them. However, the back sides are flat on each of these. So, they cannot interlock.”

  Ollie demonstrated by placing two ankhs together.

  “Perhaps they fit top to top,” Maggie suggested.

  She grabbed the two ankhs from Ollie’s hands and pushed them together. She slid them around, trying to lock them together. They didn’t fit. She tried another combination of ankhs. After several tries, she gave up.

  Maggie discarded them on the table and sunk her head into her hands. “Ugh, this is useless. Maybe I’m doing it wrong.”

  Emma shook her head. “I don’t think that idea makes sense. Fitting them face to face doesn’t leave any place to fit the third.”

  “You’re right,” Ollie answered. “And fitting them together doesn’t suggest any location, anyway.”

  Maggie leapt from her seat and paced around the floor. She settled in front of the window, gazing out over the city. The door popped open, drawing her attention back to the room.

  “Progress report,” Bryson demanded.

  Maggie ignored him, her lips forming a pout. She returned her attention to the horizon.

  “We haven’t made much progress,” Ollie admitted.

  “Well, that’s a terrible shame for one of you if this trend continues,” Bryson answered.

  “We have nothing to go on. This type of research could take weeks, months, years, not hours!” Ollie countered.

  “No one cares, professor. I suggest you tear yourself from the horizon, Ms. Edwards, and the three of you put your heads together and find a solution.”

  “We may not be able to,” Ollie argued. “That’s the point. Please… I… I’ll stay with you and continue to work on this for as long as it takes. I can find a solution. It will just take time. But please, let the girls go.”

  “I’m sorry, professor, that is not an option.”

  “Please,” Ollie tried again. He leapt from his seat and approached Bryson. “They can’t help.”

  “They managed to find the third ankh, so I’d disagree with your assessment, professor. In either case, it’s not an alternative. They stay. Unless you fail to find a solution. Then one of them will go, albeit not in the way you’d prefer.”

  Chapter 23

  Ollie sighed as Bryson stalked away. He slammed the door behind him, leaving them alone again.

  Ollie dropped into his chair. “I’m sorry, Maggie and Emma.”

  “Don’t be,” Maggie said, joining them at the table and wrapping her arm around Ollie’s shoulders. “And thanks for trying. But even if you succeeded, I’m not about to go anywhere and leave you with these thugs.”

  “Me either,” Emma agreed. “We’ve got four hours left. Maybe if we can make slight progress, that will be enough to appease them.”

  “But how?” Maggie inquired. “We’re getting nowhere! They don’t spell anything, they don’t fit together, they don’t form a pattern.”

  “Okay, so, we’ve ruled all that out. What’s left?”

  Maggie shrugged. Ollie spun in his chair, staring at the ankhs. “What is it?” Maggie questioned. “Do you have an idea?”

  “Perhaps…” He paused, his brow furrowing as he grabbed one. “Perhaps there is something we’ve missed on these. We’ve not inspected them carefully. Perhaps there’s writing on here or a way to open a compartment in them that will provide some information.”

  “Oh!” Maggie exclaimed. She grabbed one of ankhs. “Maybe! I’ll check this one.”

  Emma grabbed the remaining ankh. Maggie brought the object close to her face and studied it. She turned it over and over, inspecting each part closely. Maggie rubbed her finger along the bottom of the ankh, searching for any etchings. She found nothing. She scanned the edges of the ankh. Maggie searched the ridges on the top for any hidden engravings. As she scoured the object, she spotted something inside the circular region.

  Maggie’s pulse quickened. “Here! Here!” she exclaimed. “Is this something?”

  “Where?” Ollie inquired; his voice filled with hope.

  Maggie pointed to the small imperfection in the interior of the circle. Ollie adjusted his glasses and examined the area Maggie pointed out. Emma leaned over Ollie’s shoulder, studying the spot.

  “Well?” Maggie inquired.

  “I see what you’re meaning,” Ollie answered. “But I’m not certain it’s anything.” Ollie picked up the ankh he was studying and compared the areas. “This one has nothing in that area.”

  “Is there anything else in the circle? Perhaps at a different location?” Maggie asked.

  Emma grabbed the ankh from Ollie and rotated it to examine the interior of the circle. “I don’t see anything like what Maggie found.” She repeated the action with her ankh. “Nothing on mine either.”

  Ollie squinted at the ankh. “I’m sorry to say this may just be an imperfection.”

  Maggie’s shoulders slumped. “Give it back, I’ll keep searching.”

  Ollie handed the ankh back and returned to studying his ankh. Emma returned to her seat and continued her probe. After another fifteen minutes of careful study, Maggie dumped her ankh on the table. She heaved a long sigh. “It’s no use. I can’t find anything on it. No carvings or clues or locations. Nothing!”

  Maggie slumped backward in her chair. Emma continued her search but gave up soon after Maggie. “I can’t find anything either,” she admitted. Emma set the ankh on the table and leapt from her seat. She stretched a bit before stalking to the window. “I’m starting to consider your plan about jumping.”

  Ollie abandoned his inspection of the ankh as well. “I’m trying not to become discouraged, but…” Ollie paused and sighed. “With such little time left on our deadline, I cannot help but feel pessimistic.”

  Maggie rubbed Ollie’s arm. “I wish I could say something encouraging, but I’m fresh out of inspiration,” Maggie said, defeated.

  Ollie clutched her hand. “Maggie…” he said, his voice hoarse with dismay. He searched for more words but found none. Instead, he squeezed her hand before returning his gaze to the ankhs. He shook his head.

  “Short of coming up with a miracle idea, it looks like one of us is about to draw the short straw,” Emma lamented.

  Maggie rested her chin on the table. Her fingers explored the ankh she had just inspected. She traced the patterns created on the ankh’s surface. Ollie crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He shook his head. “I really believed those peaks and valleys were the key,” he murmured.

  Maggie’s brow creased. She cocked her head and eyed the ankh. “Peaks and valleys?” she repeated.

  “Yes, I believed the ridges were the key.”

  Maggie grabbed the ankh and studied it again. She picked up the other two, examining them as well.

  “What is it, Maggie?”

  Maggie raced to the bulletin board and pulled the map down. She spread it across the table. “You said peaks and valleys,” Maggie gushed. “It made me think these protrusions aren’t carvings. They aren’t hieroglyphs designed to be read by placing the ankhs together. They’re actual peaks and valleys!”

  Emma joined them at the table, curious about Maggie’s new idea. “What do you mean ‘actual peaks and valleys?’” she questioned.

  Maggie glanced at the map and the ankhs. “See this depression?” She pointed out a curved shape running through one of the ankhs.

  “Yeah?”

  Maggie picked up the ankh and rotated it to a new orientation. “Doesn’t this curve match this curve?” Maggie pointed on the map to a curve in the Nile.

  Emma glanced between the two. She positioned the ankh over the curve, her eyes flitting between the map and the item. “Yeah,” she admitted. “It does.”

  Ollie leapt to his feet and studied the map. “You may be on to something there. So, your idea is the peaks and valleys on the ankhs are peaks and valleys in the topography!”

  “Bingo!” Maggie exclaimed.

  “We must try to fit these onto the map and
match them to the features,” Ollie stated.

  “It would be easier if we had a topographical map. And it looks like this map’s scale is a little too small,” Emma noted.

  “I’ll ask for another map with a different scale,” Maggie said with a grin. She raced across the room and pounded on the door. Maggie bobbed on her toes with excitement as she waited.

  The door popped open. “Yes?” Mr. Bryson inquired. “Do you have news for us?”

  “Maybe,” Maggie responded. “We need a topographic map of the area in a larger scale than that map.” Maggie motioned to the map laying on the table.

  “A topographic map?”

  “Yes,” Maggie confirmed. “With a larger scale than that map’s.”

  Mr. Bryson clasped his hands behind his back. He set his jaw and offered an unimpressed glance at Maggie. “This had better not be a stall tactic, Ms. Edwards.”

  “Do you want answers or not?”

  Bryson did not respond. Instead, he strode from the room with a huff, pulling the door shut behind him. Maggie wandered back to the table. “I hope this works,” she said.

  “It’s the best shot we’ve got at the moment,” Ollie answered.

  Maggie grabbed a breadstick from the takeout bag and munched on it. After a few moments, she leapt from the chair and paced the floor. “How long does it take to get a map?”

  They waited for a nerve-wracking twenty minutes before the door swung open again. “Here are a variety of topographical maps of Egypt and the surrounding areas.” He shoved the bag of maps toward Maggie.

  “I don’t need a variety,” Maggie retorted as she snatched the bag. “Just the right one.”

  “I suggest you make it work, for your sakes!” Bryson spun on his heel and departed.

  Emma peered into the bag and pulled a few maps. “Are they going to work?” Maggie inquired as Emma opened them up.

  Ollie pulled a few others open. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

  “This one’s too small of a scale,” Emma said as she shoved one map to the side.

  “Same here,” Ollie added, discarding his map.

  Emma pulled open another map. “No good,” she said with a sigh.

  “Are you kidding?” Maggie said in an exasperated tone as Emma pulled another map open.