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Weems and Fagenbush looked at each other while Stilton glanced over at Father before speaking. "It's the basement, sir. Where we store items not currently on display."

Turnbull narrowed his beady eyes. "Any mummies down there?" Turnbull asked Father.

Father glanced over at me. "Um, yes. If I remember correctly, there are..."

I sneezed.

"Bless you," Mum muttered. "Go on," Turnbull said to Father.

I sneezed again. And again. And again. Then four more times.

"Eight!" Father said, his voice firm. "There are eight mummies in the basement." Excellent! He'd gotten my message. Sometimes Father wasn't completely hopeless. He tossed me a look that said, Well done.

Kimble gave a nod, then opened the basement door. I tensed. While I had been able to turn the Anubis statue back into stone, I had never gotten around to completely removing the curse from it. Kimble was a large, robust man, which meant he most likely had a strong life force. Not to mention he was carrying a very bright electric torch. All I could do was cross my fingers and hope for the best.

A moment later, a loud, sharp bark erupted from the stairwell, followed by a shout of surprise. Then there was heavy thumping as Kimble came racing up the stairs, the jackal close on his heels.

"There's a mad dog down there!" he cried, trying to close the door on the jackal, who was already halfway through. Giving up, the constable raced back into the foyer and joined the rest of us, possibly hoping that with a variety of targets the creature wouldn't zero in on him.

"What in the blazes..." Father began.

"A dog?" Mum shot me a suspicious glance, no doubt remembering the barking she had heard a week before. "Do you care to explain that, Theodosia?"

My rescue came from a most unlikely place. "It looks more like a jackal," Father muttered.

Growling and baring his teeth, the dog faced the constables. Turnbull bore down on Father, furious. "Is this your idea of a joke? Siccing a guard dog on my men? Why didn't you warn us?"

"Because I didn't know he was down there!" He paused a moment. "Did you know he was down there, Theodosia?"

Uh-oh. I could just imagine how well my explanation would go over with this lot. Why yes, Father. The Old Kingdom statue we have of Anubis came to life when I was down there last. So this meant, unfortunately, I had to lie. "Perhaps whoever let the mummies into the museum three nights ago left one of the doors open and a stray got in? Oh! And perhaps that's why our mummies are still here! Perhaps the dog chased away the mischief-makers!"

Father looked at me a moment longer, then nodded. "Makes as much sense as any of this," he said.

A loud growl exploded through the foyer and we all turned to watch as the jackal lunged for Kimble, who scrambled back out of the way. Everyone was staring at the animal now, except for Stilton, who looked at me with open awe. The dolt. Could he be any more obvious? He was going to give away all my secrets if he wasn't careful.

Beaton, hearing the commotion, came running back downstairs with his billy club out. Anubis glanced at him, then back at the men in front of him. Without warning, he leaped to the side, evading them all and heading straight for the front of the museum. When he reached the bank of windows, he launched himself up into the air and crashed through, shattered glass falling everywhere.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then the front door opened and Miss Sharpe walked in. "What on earth was that?"

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

A Mut Trap

I FOUND IT INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT to keep my mind on my lessons (and had my knuckles rapped a number of times for it—thank goodness I wore gloves!). My mind kept returning to the poor mummies from the other museums, wondering where on earth they were. The idea of them wandering around London, lost, was most distressing. However, I was certain we would hear of any reports of such a thing. Besides, it seemed to me that the mummies had always moved under the cover of darkness before. So perhaps they had gotten to wherever they were going the night before.

Wherever they had gone.

I sat bolt upright, startling Miss Sharpe. "What is it, Theodosia?"

"Nothing, Miss Sharpe. I just landed on a solution to this problem you gave me."

But what had jolted through me like a bolt of lightning was that wherever the mummies had gone was most likely where the Serpents of Chaos—and the staff—could be found. The mummies responded to the staff; they were drawn to it's power—that is the only place they would head.

So if we found the mummies, we'd find the staff. Brilliant!

All I had to do was remove the protective amulet from one of our mummies. It would be drawn by the power of the staff, and someone from the Brotherhood of the Chosen Keepers could follow it straight to Chaos's headquarters.

There was a sharp rap on the desk. "Theodosia!"

I flinched. "Yes?"

"I thought you said you'd worked out that problem, but you haven't written a thing."

"Oh. Sorry. I was wrong. It wasn't the solution after all."

Miss Sharpe's nostrils quivered in frustration. "Very well. I want you to now write out one hundred times, I will not be overconfident."

It was going to be a long day. The only thing that kept me going was the idea that soon Will would arrive and I could turn this all over to Wigmere.

* * *

By midmorning, I had excused myself to go to the lavatory six times in an attempt to pass a message to Will. Miss Sharpe had taken to pinching me whenever I announced my need, and Stilton had stopped looking me in the eye after my third trip. Although I should have been embarrassed by the sheer indelicateness of it all, I had much bigger problems to worry about.

Such as the fact that it was becoming clear that Will had no intention of showing up today. Was he put out with me and refusing to act as messenger anymore? Or had something happened to him? He had seemed quite worried about the Grim Nipper.

There was one possibility I refused to allow myself to contemplate: that he wasn't showing up because he'd given in and done what the Grim Nipper had asked him to do.

Without Will, I had to come up with an alternate plan. Of course, the simplest would be for me to follow the mummy myself, but I do have some sense (in spite of what Father says). Even I wasn't willing to wander around the streets of London by myself late at night. Taking a cab was one thing, but following a mummy on foot who was heading straight for the Serpents of Chaos? No. That was out of the question.

But what, then?

I heard a creak outside the reading room and looked up to find Stilton peering in. Time for his late morning check, apparently. It was enough to stifle a sardine!

But wait—the Black Sunners! They claimed to want to do my every wish and command. And they were grown men. I could have them follow the mummy. Of course, I'd give them the strictest instructions not to do anything—not to approach our mummy or the mummies they found or the Serpents of Chaos—but they could find the location for me. That would work.

I wiggled my eyebrows at Stilton, who still hovered in the doorway, then jerked my head in Miss Sharpe's direction. He nodded, then cleared his throat. "Miss Sharpe?"

She looked up from her book. "Yes, Mr. Stilton?"

"I believe the constable was asking for you."

A wrinkle of distaste crossed her face.

Stilton shrugged apologetically. "They're questioning everybody, you know. It's nothing personal."

An aggrieved sigh escaped from my governess. "Very well, but I must say, this is much more than I signed up for."

Once she had left, Stilton slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. "What is it, Miss Theo?"