"You have done magic," Awi Bubu informed him kindly. Then he bowed. The audience applauded, and Ratsy flushed bright red all the way to his ears. Awi Bubu motioned to Ratsy, and the audience applauded even louder. As Ratsy made his way back to his seat, the magician bowed one last time, and then the curtains closed.
People began leaving their seats and heading up to the exits, but there was one determined man coming down the aisle. Gerton had got past the porter somehow.
I quickly turned to Will. "Do you think you could get us backstage? I'd like to meet this magician of yours."
Will's face brightened. "'E's something, ain't 'e, miss! I told you I could be more than just an errand boy. I've got a nose for this stuff, I 'ave."
"Er, yes, you do," I agreed. "Can we hurry?" I asked, glancing once more at the approaching Gerton.
"I'm sure Ratsy can get ye back there. Let's ask 'im."
We went toward the stage and caught up with Ratsy just as he was coming down the steps. He still looked a bit dazed and sheepish. "Did I really do magic?" he asked.
"Sure did, bucko! Spouted out all sorts of stuff. Ratsy's small pinched face glowed with pleasure. "D'you fink you could get us backstage? You knows the way, don't you, Rats?"
Ratsy nodded. "Sure."
Will turned to Snuffles. "You guard the exit so it don't get locked before we're done 'ere."
With a quick look around, Ratsy led me and Will toward a small door to the left of the main stage. I glanced over my shoulder. Gerton was still searching through the seats, trying to find me.
Almost as if he'd felt my gaze on him, he lifted his head and looked my way.
I quickly darted through the door, hoping he hadn't seen me.
CHAPTER TWO
Curiouser and Curiouser
THE SPACE WAS DARK AND SMALL and smelled of mice. Once he'd gotten his bearings, Ratsy led us through a twisting set of hallways.
"How does he know his way around so well?" I asked Will.
"'E's worked 'ere before, miss. When you're a rat catcher, you get to know your way around a lot of places."
Will's words filled me with unease. I risked a glance behind me, afraid giant rats might be following us even now, but I could see nothing in the gloom.
Will came to an abrupt stop, and since my attention had been behind me, I bumped into him with an oof.
"Careful, miss. There's people about now."
Indeed, I could hear voices and the sound of steps hurrying back and forth.
Backstage was a confusing collection of small rooms and closets opening off a crooked hallway. To make matters worse, the entire floor listed sharply to the right. A faint odor of old sweat and pipe smoke hung in the air.
Ratsy held his finger to his lips, then pointed to a door that was slightly ajar.
"Take's dropping off," said a voice. If I wasn't mistaken—and I rarely was—it was the announcer's voice. It had the same flat vowels and oratory quality.
"Some days are better than others, are they not?" This voice was softer and had a lilting accent. Awi Bubu's? "And the daytime shows, they are never as good as those at night."
"Mebbe. But that's the whole point of keeping a foreigner around, to pump up the profits. If you can't do that, I'll get someone else in here."
"You have had three weeks of very good profits."
"And I want three more. Now keep the money coming in or you and that mummy of yours are out on your ear."
"You don't really mean that."
I flinched, certain the other man would begin yelling that he certainly did too mean it. Instead, there was a long pause, and then he spoke again. "You're right. I don't. Just try to bring in more than you did today."
Before the three of us eavesdroppers could react, the announcer came barreling out of the small room directly into us.
We stared at each other in surprised shock before my instincts kicked in. "Is this where the Great Awi Bubu is?" I asked in a breathless voice. "Do you think it would be all right if we spoke to him?" I clasped my hands together as if in adoration.
The announcer looked nonplussed for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't care what you kids do as long as you're out of here in five minutes." He pushed past us, and we were left staring at the door.
"Go on, then." Will nudged me. "You 'eard the man. We only got five minutes."
I suddenly felt shy. What was I going to say to the magician anyway? Ho there, were you using real Egyptian magic? Are you by any chance a member of the Arcane Order of the Black Sun?
"Do come in and quit hovering at my door," the magician called out.
We all froze, then shuffled into the room like a small herd of sheep.
"'Ow'd you know we was out there, guv'nor?" Will asked, his eyes round again. They were going to pop out of his head if he kept this up.
"Did you use yer Egyptian magic on us?" Ratsy asked eagerly.
"Nothing as exciting as all that, I'm afraid. I heard the stage manager talking to you."
As the magician spoke, his eyes drifted to me. He blinked twice, then asked, "How can the humble Awi Bubu serve you?"
"Whoa," Ratsy said, ignoring the man's question. His eyes were glued to the cloth-wrapped figure propped against the wall. "Is this the mummy you use on stage?"
It was so clearly a fake that I couldn't help but snort. Awi Bubu cocked his head to the side and studied me. "You do not believe in mummies, miss?"
"Of course I do, but real ones, not fakes like this." I turned to Ratsy. "It really is a fake. Go ahead and poke it. With your permission, of course," I hastily added.
Awi Bubu nodded, his glittering black eyes still sharply focused on me. "But of course."
Will grabbed Ratsy and pulled him back. "'E ain't touchin' that thing. No way, miss. It'd curse him, it would. You should know that better'n anyone."
I felt Awi Bubu's glance sharpen even more.
"But that is the point, Will. I do know more than most, and it is clearly a fake. Here." I sighed in exasperation, stepped over to the wall, and poked the wrapped figure (I refused to call it a mummy) in the stomach.
It grunted, which startled Will and Ratsy so bad that they squealed and leaped backwards.
"See?" I told them. "Real mummies don't grunt. And they aren't soft, like this one is. It's a man wrapped up in linen, just like I told you."
"Let me introduce you to my assistant, Kimosiri," Awi Bubu said.
The tall figure reached up and unwound the wrappings from his head, revealing a large lumpy face with weathered skin and small black eyes.
"Very pleased to meet you," I said.
He nodded solemnly at me.
"So Little Miss is a skeptic?" Awi Bubu said. "How does she come to be such an expert on mummies, I wonder."
The room grew a little warmer and for a brief moment, I found myself wanting to tell him just how very much I knew about mummies and Egyptian magic. Instead, I said, "That's funny, sir. That's exactly what I wanted to ask you. Some of the tricks you performed were very authentic reenactments of ancient Egyptian rituals. I wondered how you came to know of such things."
"Ah, but I asked you first, did I not? Shall we agree to a trade of information?"
"Very well," I said, intending to tell him as little as possible. "My parents run a museum with Egyptian exhibits. Since I spend a lot of time there, I've picked up a few things about ancient Egypt. Now it's your turn."
"I'm afraid I've nothing as interesting as a museum in my past. I am but an exile from my own country, Egypt, as you rightly guessed. When I found myself alone in a strange land with no means of support ... well, one must make a living however one can." He glanced pointedly at Ratsy and Will, and I was suddenly afraid that he somehow knew that Will was, or had been, a pickpocket. Then I realized I was being silly. He was most likely referring to Ratsy's profession.