CHAPTER 13
Don’t Lose Your Nerve
Usually, I love to hear the phrase snack time. But it’s not as appealing when a crocodile says it.
As we passed through the palace door, Miu sounded rattled, too. “Yikes! It’s bad enough that we lost Dedi. Now we have to worry about that horrible crocodile making a meal of him. We’d better get to the zoo and figure out how to free Sobek Junior.”
“I just hope Dedi hasn’t been eaten by a crocodile already,” Khepri fretted. “I don’t think the Admiral was telling us the whole truth. He was awfully shifty. And that stuff about making the sun come up? Clearly nonsense. I mean, it’s the scarab beetles who do that—”
“And Ra, the sun god, of course.” I stopped in the great hall to get my bearings. “But crocodiles are odd creatures, Khepri. They have their own rites and rituals. And if they think they make the sun rise, it doesn’t mean they’re lying. Right, Miu?”
“I don’t know.” Miu flicked her ears uncertainly. “But I really hope no one’s eaten Dedi.”
I couldn’t bear to think about that possibility. “Well, I think the Admiral was telling the truth. Anyway, it’s not like we don’t have an obvious suspect already.”
Miu tilted her head. “Who?”
“Lady Satiah, of course. Remember what she was like when we arrived last night? How she glared at Kiya and Dedi? I thought she was going to unleash that baby crocodile on them.”
Khepri clicked in my ear. “Speaking of baby crocodiles, we need to head for the zoo.”
“I would, if I knew where the zoo was,” I said.
Khepri swiveled around on the top of my head. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s up on the right. There’s a tasty scent of dung—”
“Enough said,” I told him.
As Miu and I made tracks toward a passageway on our right, Khepri said, “I agree that Lady Satiah isn’t a nice host, Ra. But we’ve had this discussion. If she kidnapped Dedi, Pharaoh wouldn’t let her benefit. He’d send her and Ahmose into exile, and she’s smart enough to know that.”
“Only if he found out,” I argued. “Maybe the missing boat is a decoy. Maybe Lady Satiah paid a servant to cut it loose, so that it would look like Dedi ran away. That way Pharaoh will end up blaming Dedi, not her.”
“I don’t know about that,” Miu said. “I think there would be plenty of blame to go around. Anyway, I don’t see how Lady Satiah could have made those footprints.”
“Have you looked at her feet?” I said. “They’re pretty small.”
“It still sounds farfetched to me,” Khepri said.
“Shhh!” I pulled into the shadows behind a painted pillar and flattened myself against the floor. “She’s coming this way!”
Sure enough, Lady Satiah was headed toward us. Her bracelets and beaded collar chimed like delicate bells, but her gaze was flint-hard as she looked up at her companion.
“It’s her brother,” Khepri breathed into my ear. “General Wegaf.”
It certainly was, but it took me a moment to recognize him. His military bearing had collapsed, and he seemed to have shrunk by several inches.
“I don’t see how we can pull this off now,” the General quavered. “Not when—”
“Don’t lose your nerve,” Lady Satiah whispered, her ruby lips mere inches from his ear. “Not when our plans are about to bear fruit.”
“But Pharaoh—”
“I will deal with Pharaoh in my own way,” Lady Satiah said.
“And the boy—”
“I will deal with that, too,” Lady Satiah told him. “I have everything in hand. All I ask is that you support me. You want to stand at the head of an army again, don’t you? Pull yourself together!”
She jabbed him in the back of the spine. He shot up like a puppet, and she marched him off.
There was a long silence after they left.
“Okay,” Khepri said in a small voice. “So maybe I was wrong about Lady Satiah.”
“I told you she was guilty,” I said.
“You didn’t mention that she was working with her brother,” Khepri said.
“That was sort of implied,” I told him.
Miu shivered. “What do you think those plans of hers are?”
“I don’t know,” Khepri admitted. “But it could be pretty serious.”
“Of course it’s serious,” I said. “It’s a kidnapping.”
“Oh, that’s serious, all right,” Khepri agreed. “Especially for Dedi. But that might not be the end of it.” His voice grew quiet as a whisper. “What if Lady Satiah is planning to topple Pharaoh from his throne?”
“She wouldn’t!” Shocked, I sank to the floor. “She couldn’t!”
“Oh, I think she could,” Khepri said. “Think about it. Remember, something kept Pharaoh in Thebes. Something important. What if he heard a rumor of a plot against him? Maybe that’s why he wanted the children to be sent home. Only it turns out Lady Satiah is at the center of the plot, so he sent them to the worst possible place.”
“But Lady Satiah is Pharaoh’s wife,” I protested. “She wouldn’t go so far—”
“It’s been done before,” Khepri said grimly. “I heard about it from a horse in Pharaoh’s stables. Once there was a pharaoh’s wife—a lesser wife, just like Lady Satiah—who wanted her own son to sit on the throne. The pharaoh ended up dead.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen to my pharaoh,” I said. “Or to Dedi. I won’t allow it.”
“I’m with you, Ra.” Miu brushed her tail against mine. “And I think there’s still time to stop her. Did you hear how she said she would ‘deal with’ Dedi? Sounds to me like Dedi is alive. Probably somewhere close, where she can get to him easily.”
“Well, he’s not in the main part of the palace,” I said. “We checked everywhere.”
“What about the zoo?” Miu suggested. “Judging from the smell, that’s where Lady Satiah and the General were coming from.”
I scrambled to my feet. “Let’s go!”
As we raced down the gloomy passageway, the air got stinkier.
“Wow-ee!” Khepri bounced on my fur. “It’s like ten stables put together.”
“Make that twenty,” I panted. By now, the air was so thick and musty I could barely breathe. I started hearing strange noises, too—squawks and growls and screeching.
Miu leaped forward. “We’re getting close. There’s the entrance!”
I was so light-headed from the dung that I missed the turn. Instead of swerving to the left with Miu, I shot forward toward a black hole in the floor.
When I caught a whiff of what was ahead, I tried to claw to a stop, but I was going too fast.
“Dung ho!” Khepri crowed.
“Noooooooooooo!” I cried.
The world’s biggest dung pit was straight in front of me—and I was about to topple in.
CHAPTER 14
Royal Son of the Pharaoh
I scrabbled. I rolled. And I halted at the very edge of the dung pit.
“Hey, Ra!” Clinging to my ear, Khepri peered down into the pit. “Why did you stop? It’s like a gold mine down there.”
“A dung mine,” I mumbled, my belly flat on the floor. “Lucky us.”
“You said it,” Khepri agreed with a happy sigh. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s making me woozy.”
I’d gone way past woozy—straight to sick.
Khepri peered over my brow. “Why, you haven’t even opened your eyes, Ra. Come on. Take a look.”
The stench was so bad I could barely bring myself to glance down. When I did, the view was dizzying. The pit’s brick walls, edged with dung, went down into darkness, like a tomb shaft. Squinting, I saw a dark mix of dung and water at the bottom.
“Makes you feel like going for a swim, doesn’t it?” Khepri said.
>
“Khepri, have you lost your marbles? Even if I wanted to float in dung, which I don’t, we’d never be able to get back up again.”
“Why would you want to?” Khepri peered down the shaft again. “I’ve never seen such a great breakfast.”
“You can dine elsewhere.” I backed away from the pit edge.
“What are you doing over here?” Miu trotted up to us, whiskers twitching. “It stinks.”
“We found a dung pit!” Khepri announced. “A huge one!”
“Um…great,” Miu said. “I found the zoo. Come on.”
She led us toward a gated archway. Through the bars, I glimpsed a large courtyard full of cages. But before I could see inside them, a door beside me opened and the Keeper came out.
His wrinkled face puckered at the sight of us. “Oh, dear. I can’t have you terrorizing my birdies, cats. Shoo!”
Shoo? Didn’t he know the rules? If you wouldn’t say it to Pharaoh, don’t say it to Pharaoh’s Cat. I stood my ground…
…until the Keeper picked up a broom.
“Go on.” His bushy white brows frowned anxiously as he swept the broom toward us. “Get out of here. Scat! Leave my birdies alone!”
I dashed toward the door he’d left open.
“No!” He swooped down with the broom again. “That’s the storeroom. You don’t belong there, either.”
Pharaoh’s Cat knows an invitation when he hears one. I ducked between the Keeper’s legs and dashed into the storeroom, which ran between the dung pit and the zoo itself. It was packed as tight as the hold of a ship. Bowls and pails were stacked on shelves. A long wall was lined with huge bins. There was even a row of empty birdcages lined up above the door. It was all neat as could be.
Perfect.
“What are you doing?” Khepri shouted into my ear.
“I’m teaching that Keeper a lesson,” I said. “Hold on!”
The Keeper chased me round and round the storeroom, but I’ve had lots of practice playing tag with Kiya, so I had the upper hand. All he did was make the place a mess.
THUMP went the broom.
WHOOSH-BAM went a basket, scattering birdseed everywhere.
CLATTER-SMASH went a pot, falling on a bin lid.
The whole room started to rattle. It was like being inside a drum.
Khepri’s voice was so faint I could barely hear him. “How long is this lesson going to last, Ra? I’m getting seasick.”
“No problem, buddy.” I dashed back through the door to Miu, waiting behind a barrel.
“Having a good time?” she asked.
“The best,” I told her.
The Keeper emerged from the storeroom, breathing heavily and brandishing his broom. He looked up and down the passageway, but he didn’t spot us.
“Darn cats,” he muttered. As footsteps pattered closer and Ahmose came into sight, the Keeper straightened. Turo, the tutor, was right behind Ahmose, yawning.
“Hello there, young Ahmose!” The Keeper raised the broom handle in greeting. “You haven’t seen any cats around here, have you?”
“I saw a couple last night at dinner,” Ahmose said. “I think Dedi said they were Pharaoh’s Cats.”
Pharaoh’s Cats? I glanced at Miu, who had a big cat grin on her face.
“You shouldn’t call him Ahmose,” the tutor corrected the Keeper. “His gracious mother commands us to refer to him as Royal Son of the Pharaoh.”
“Does she now?” the Keeper said. “That’s new.”
The tutor shrugged. “It’s what she wants.”
“So what does that make you?” the Keeper asked him. “Royal Tutor to the Royal Son of the Pharaoh?”
The tutor laughed. “No. I’m just Turo.”
“Well, you look tired, Turo,” the Keeper said.
“I’m fine.” Turo smothered another yawn. “But what is that awful smell?”
“That’s the dung pit.” The Keeper leaned his broom against the wall. “I was sure I closed it up after I pushed the last load in, but I guess I forgot. I’d better take care of that.” He walked toward the pit. “Now, don’t you two follow me. You don’t want to fall in.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Khepri said softly.
I heard a scrape and a bang. “There, that’s better,” the Keeper said, coming back. “So what brings you here, Ahmose? Er…I mean, Royal Son of the Pharaoh.”
“Ahmose is fine,” the boy said. “Turo, you can call me Ahmose, too. After all, you’re my cousin.”
“Wait, they’re cousins?” I whispered to Miu and Khepri.
“You can sort of see a resemblance,” Miu whispered back. “Around the nose.”
I looked, and it was true. Turo and Ahmose had the same beaky nose, in different sizes.
“I want to see the baby crocodile again,” Ahmose told the Keeper.
“Oh, dear.” The Keeper’s wrinkles deepened. “I’m sorry, Ahmose, but that’s not possible.”
Ahmose pouted. “But I’m the one who caught him. You said he was mine.”
“I did, I did. But there’s a problem.” The Keeper looked around, then bent toward the boy and whispered, “The baby crocodile is missing.”
CHAPTER 15
A Classy Café
“Uh-oh.” Khepri clicked in alarm.
Hidden behind the barrel, Miu and I stared at each other.
“I don’t believe it,” I said. “Another crown prince just slipped out of our paws?”
Miu hung her head. “What are we going to tell the crocodiles?”
“Shhh!” Khepri said. “Listen to what the Keeper’s saying.”
The Keeper was talking to Ahmose. “I’m telling you, that little crocodile was here when I went to bed. This morning, his cage was still locked, but he was gone.”
Ahmose’s cheeks were pale. “Did he slip through the bars?”
“I thought he was too big for that,” the Keeper said, “but I guess I was wrong. Crocodiles can be tricky that way.”
“And other ways, too,” I added under my breath.
“Shhh!” Khepri said again.
Ahmose looked up at the Keeper. “Did you tell my mother that the crocodile is missing?”
The Keeper gulped. “Er…no. I thought maybe we’d keep that news to ourselves for now. Your very gracious mother seems upset this morning, so I thought I would look around first before I bother her. Starting here in the zoo.”
“A wise plan,” Turo agreed. “Lady Satiah has enough to worry about right now.”
Ahmose stepped up to the gate in the archway. “How about we help you search for him?” he said to the Keeper.
“Good idea,” I murmured. It would save us a lot of trouble if Ahmose found him.
“Maybe he’ll even find Dedi, while he’s at it,” Khepri agreed.
Actually, I wanted to be the one to find Dedi. But to do that, we had to get past the gate and into the zoo.
“Ahmose, he’s a very sweet baby crocodile, but he does have teeth,” the Keeper warned. “I’m not sure about having you search for him.”
“He won’t bite me.” Ahmose lifted the latch. “He knows I’m his friend. It’s kind of like you and elephants.”
The Keeper got a dreamy look in his eyes. “Oh, elephants are wonderful creatures, Ahmose. Did I ever tell you that the first zoo I worked in had one?”
Ahmose swung the zoo gate open. “You mean the one who curled his trunk right around your hand?”
“That’s the one,” the Keeper said, walking into the zoo with Ahmose. “Sweetest baby elephant you ever did see.”
“With thick black lashes, right?” Ahmose said.
“Thickest I ever saw,” the Keeper said. “I decided, then and there, that I was going to have my own elephant one day.”
“That’s just like me and my crocodile,” Ahmose said
.
Yawning again, Turo followed them through the gate, letting it fall shut behind him. “Now, Ahmose, you need to be careful…”
“Quick!” Khepri tugged my ear. “Turo didn’t latch the gate. We can get in!”
As Miu and I pawed the gate open, we heard Ahmose say to the Keeper, “You never got an elephant of your own, did you?”
“Not yet, Ahmose, but I haven’t given up hoping…”
It only took us a moment to squeeze through the gate. Avoiding the humans, we dashed down the first row of cages, then came to a stop. The place was packed, and everyone seemed due for a cage cleaning.
“It’s more crowded than I expected,” Miu said.
“And smellier,” I added.
The smell didn’t bother Khepri, though. “Now let’s see if we can find Sobek Junior,” he said into my ear. “And Dedi, too.”
“And maybe some breakfast,” I said faintly. I knew finding Dedi was important—every hour he was gone, my spirits sank a little more—but that game of tag in the storeroom was catching up with me. “All this running around on an empty stomach isn’t good for me.”
“Well, we’ve come to the right place.” Khepri sniffed the air, then crawled over to a scrap of dung on the stone floor. “Wow! Gazelle dung. This sure is a classy café.”
“Only if you’re a dung beetle,” I said miserably. “If you’re a cat, not so much.”
“Speak for yourself,” Miu said beside me. “I smell fish.” Poking her head into some pots that were lined up for feeding time, she emerged with a silvery tail sticking out of her mouth. “Mmmmmmm!”
“Yuck.” I turned away, disgusted. I was hungry, all right, but Pharaoh’s Cat has standards. I’d never stoop to eating food that Pharaoh and his family considered unclean.
As Miu slurped her fish down, I stalked a little farther into the zoo. The farther I went, the worse it stank, and no wonder. There were at least twenty cages here, wedged into a courtyard that wasn’t much bigger than Lady Satiah’s great hall. The ceiling was a patchwork of nets, which let some of the stench rise but did nothing to block the glare of the sun.
The Crocodile Caper Page 6
