by Dan Metcalf
“Oi!” yelled Reg. The shabtis turned to face him. “Hands off!”
The shabtis laughed in their squeaky voices and ran away through a door at the far end of the room.
“Quick!” called Lottie. “After them!”
They dashed across the room. Lottie leapt over the suit of armour and slid on the polished floor, while Uncle Bert and Reg went around the sides of the room. They came to the open door and Lottie raced through.
Inside was dark and cold.
“Ah-ha! We’ve got you now!” she called.
She could hear the shabtis. They were close by and making a lot of noise. She felt something brush against the side of her leg – they were around her feet! She was about to reach down and grab one when she was hit from behind by Uncle Bert’s large round tummy as he ran through the door. He was quickly followed by Reg, who crashed into them both.
“Oof! What are we doing in here?” asked Reg. Lottie managed to heave herself off the ground in the dark room. She could hear the shabtis in the dark and caught site of them running out of the door they had just come through.
“Quick, don’t let them shut the –” There was a loud slam. “ – door. Drat!”
The three of them stood in the dark, each searching for the door.
“Where on Earth are we?” said Uncle Bert. There was a fumble and a click. A light came on from above. A tiny light bulb swung above their heads.
“The storage cupboard,” said Reg, holding the end of the cord that switched the light on.
Lottie looked around. It was a small, walk-in cupboard with shelves around each side. There were ancient artefacts, bottles of cleaning supplies, a few old books and the door behind them, which was now firmly shut. Reg pushed on the handle.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” he said.
“Bad,” said Lottie, wondering how bad it could be.
“We’re locked in, and I don’t have keys for this door,” Reg said.
“That’s pretty bad,” said Lottie. “What’s the good news?”
“I’ve got a ham sandwich in my pocket, so we won’t starve to death.”
Lottie groaned. This was just perfect.
“Why don’t you have a key?” moaned Uncle Bert. “I thought you could get into anywhere in the museum?”
Reg pointed to the door. There was no keyhole. Instead there was small metal panel in place of it.
“When they built this room originally it was to store an ancient and extremely valuable jewellery exhibit. So they wanted it to be extra secure. They fitted it with a combination lock on the outside to keep out any unwanted intruders. But maybe if I unscrewed this panel...”
Reg pulled out a screwdriver from his pocket and began to take the screws off the small metal panel on the door. In a few minutes he had removed it and Lottie squeezed past Uncle Bert to take a look. Behind the panel was a grid with a series of numbers printed inside small squares. In three of the squares were brass dials, which Lottie found could be moved to display any number.
“If I remember correctly, you have to put the right number in the blank spaces, so that each line going up and down, and left and right adds up to ten,” said Reg over her shoulder.
“Off you go then,” said Lottie, standing up and moving out of the way for Reg. Reg blushed.
“Maths was never my strong subject at school, Miss Lottie.”
Lottie looked at Uncle Bert.
“Um, maybe you should try this one my dear,” he said, embarrassed that he couldn’t work it out. Lottie sighed and looked closely at the grid.
“It’s up to me then,” she said. “Eek!”
Lottie sat on the floor and concentrated. This was going to be hard. She couldn’t admit to Uncle Bert that she’d been struggling with her maths homework that very morning – then he’d know that she had lied to him! She’d just have to take it step-by-step. She took a deep breath. Using her fingers and thumbs to count on, and a pencil from Reg’s pocket to doodle sums on the door, she started to get results.
“Hmm...so if I put a three there...and a two here...” she mumbled to herself.
“Um, Lottie dear. I don’t wish to rush you...” said Uncle Bert.
“Then don’t!” snapped Lottie.
“It’s just that it’s getting closer to noon. And we still have to catch the shabtis.”
Lottie took a deep breath and rolled the dials around to the numbers she hoped were right.
There was a whir and a click, and the door sprang open.
“Hooray!” cheered Reg. “Well done, Miss Lottie!”
But Lottie did not cheer. She simply rose up to her full height (which wasn’t particularly high) and stepped out of the cupboard. She continued calmly but quickly through the Ancient Japanese department, striding ahead of Reg and Uncle Bert.
“Lottie, my dear, where are you going?” asked Uncle Bert, hurrying to keep up. Lottie replied with a wobble of anger in her voice.
“I’m sick of being given the run-around by a bunch of statues. I’m going to find a solution to this once and for all,” she said. She turned to face Uncle Bert and Reg and lifted her head up high, feeling strong and confident. “I’m going to end this.”
Chapter Four
Lottie marched back into the main entrance hall, where the mummy still lay in the mess of the open packing case and wood shavings. Uncle Bert and Reg jogged after her, red faced and out of breath.
Lottie looked at the beautiful sarcophagus. Living with Uncle Bert meant she had learned a lot about ancient Egyptians and their mummies. She knew how they preserved the bodies of their loved ones, by wrapping them in linen. She knew that they buried the mummies in tombs surrounded by their treasures, which is why grave robbers were always so keen to get inside and steal whatever they could lay their hands on. She knew that a mummy’s tomb was supposed to be protected by a curse that meant whoever attempted to get inside would die a horrible death (although she didn’t believe that bit).
And she knew that sometimes mummies kept special treasures inside the stone sarcophagus, close to their bodies.
“Open the sarcophagus,” she said.
“Lottie! You know as well as I do that we can’t just open it up. We have to delicately record everything, take photographs, measurements and samples,” said Uncle Bert. “Besides, it could be dangerous. It hasn’t been opened in three thousand years.”
Lottie nodded. She knew all this, but she had another plan up her sleeve.
“Time is running out, Uncle Bert,” she pleaded. “If you were buried three thousand years ago with a handful of shabtis to help you when you reached the afterlife, wouldn’t you want to keep the instruction manual close by?”
Uncle Bert thought about it and after a few moments seemed to understand.
“You mean...a book of spells? In there?” he said, pointing to the mummy. He grinned like a schoolboy who had just scored the winning goal. “Reg! Help me get this open!”
“Right you are, Professor West!”
Reg didn’t have a clue what was going on, but helped Uncle Bert anyway. With Uncle Bert at the toes and Reg at the heavier, head end, they used crowbars to lever the top of the sarcophagus open and get a hold of the lid.
“One, two, three, heave!”
Slowly they managed to slide the lid of the sarcophagus away from the bottom, a horrid scraping noise echoing in the large entrance hall as they did so. Lottie peered over the top. Inside, the mummy was lying still, neatly wrapped in linen, untouched for thousands of years. A scroll was tucked into the side of the coffin, wedged between the mummy and the stone. Carefully, Lottie reached out and took the scroll, teasing it from its resting place.
“Sorry,” she whispered to the mummy. “We need to keep your shabtis under control.”
She was about to unfurl the scroll to read it, when Uncle Bert placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll take that, thank you very much,” he said. “Sorry my dear, but letting you loose with a spell was how we got into th
is mess in the first place.”
Lottie was about to argue but she realised that Uncle Bert was right. She sat and sulked on a nearby step for a few minutes while Uncle Bert read the scroll. He was such an expert that he didn’t even need a notebook to translate the hieroglyphics.
“Hmm...yes, I see...goodness gracious...well, I never,” he mumbled to himself as he read it. Lottie and Reg hung on his every word.
“Have you cracked it?” asked Reg. “What does it say?”
Uncle Bert turned to them with a shrug.
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” he said. Lottie groaned and reached for her trusty notebook to see if she could help.
“I mean, I can translate it, but I don’t know what it means.”
Reg pulled a pencil out from behind his ear.
“Quick, write it down so we can all have a look.”
Uncle Bert borrowed Lottie’s notebook and jotted down the spell in his scrappy handwriting. Lottie peered over his shoulder as he wrote. It read:
Lottie read the riddle through three or four times, just to be sure.
“Miss Lottie, you’re the brains of this team,” said Reg. “What on Earth does it mean?”
Lottie frowned and shook her head.
“I’m sorry Reg,” she said, deflated. “I don’t know.”
“Come on, Lottie!” urged Reg. “You can do it. Please, you’re my only hope!”
Lottie looked into Reg’s sad eyes and took a deep breath. Of course I can do it, she thought. I have to. Just do it step by step.
‘Find the one who cast the charm’. Well, that’s me! thought Lottie.
‘Add their fingers, ears and nose, Eyes and arms, mouth and toes.’
Lottie began to worry. She didn’t need to chop them off and brew them in a cauldron, did she? No, wait! It must mean numbers. ‘Ten fingers, two ears, one nose…’? That makes thirteen. Add on two eyes, two arms, one mouth and ten toes.
“That makes twenty-eight,” said Lottie aloud.
“Hmm? What does?” interrupted Uncle Bert. “Oh! Ah, I see!”
Lottie waved her hand at him to be quiet while she concentrated.
‘Half, then half again.’
“Half of twenty-eight is fourteen. Then half that to make...” Lottie faltered.
“Seven!” shouted Reg, looking pleased with himself. “Crikey, that’s the quickest bit of maths I’ve done since school!”
Quickly Lottie read through the last part of the riddle. She knew what she had to do. She put her foot forward and stamped on the hard marble floor.
“One...Two...Three...Four,” Lottie counted as she slammed her foot down. The sound echoed through the museum. “...Five... Six...Seven!”
Suddenly there was a rush of noise and Lottie, Uncle Bert and Reg turned to hear the sound of tiny footsteps charging towards them. The shabtis came running towards them and stopped in front of Lottie. They all bowed down to her.
“What’s going on?” asked Reg.
“I think...” said Lottie with a smile, “I think I’m their leader now.”
Chapter Five
The shabtis followed Lottie’s every move as she paced the main entrance. Now they had them under control, there was still all the mess and chaos to clear up. Reg was sweeping up as best as he could, but there was more than he could cope with.
“How long have we got until everyone arrives?” asked Lottie. Uncle Bert looked at his pocket watch.
“Just ten minutes,” he sighed. “It can’t be done. Reg, it was nice knowing you.”
Then an idea struck Lottie.
“Don’t give up just yet,” she said. She turned to the crowd of shabtis at her feet and put on her most commanding voice. “Oh, mighty, mischievous shabtis! If I am your queen, then do my bidding!”
There was a chorus of shabti voices, all seeming to agree.
“Um...Go forth and tidy! Make this museum clean again!”
Lottie did not know whether it would work but as she clapped her hands together, the shabtis whizzed off to every corner of the museum. Lottie stood open mouthed as she heard the sound of every exhibit being put back, every spillage being cleaned up and the sound of happy shabtis working furiously.
Within minutes the shabtis were back in the entrance hall. They took one look at the mess surrounding the mummy and zoomed over to it. There was a whirlwind of activity, the tiny workers moving faster than the eye could see. In a matter of moments, the entrance hall was clean and sparkling again and the mummy was back in its packing case.
“Wow,” said Lottie, staring at the shining floor and the smiling shabtis. “That was amazing!”
“You can say that again,” said Reg. “Can we keep them? It would make my life a lot easier.”
“I’m afraid not,” said Uncle Bert. “A group of living statues might attract some attention. No, it’s best that they rest now.”
Lottie and Reg groaned with disappointment. Lottie knelt down to the shabtis.
“Thank you for helping us,” she said. The shabtis bowed down to her and Lottie realised that she might actually miss the cheeky little things. She put her hand out and the leader of the group stepped forward. He climbed onto her palm. “You did a great job, but now it is time to sleep. Sweet dreams.”
She passed her hand over the shabti’s face and closed his eyes. When she took her hand away he had turned back to a statue and so had the rest of the group on the floor. She smiled.
“Thank you. All of you.”
“Right, you lot!” came the voice of Sir Trevelyan Taylor as he paced through the museum towards the main entrance. “If this place isn’t spotless for the donors’ meeting, then you’re going to pay –”
He turned the corner into the entrance hall, just in time to see Lottie loading the last of the shabtis back into their box and Reg wheeling the mummy’s case out of the entrance hall on a trolley.
“Oh,” said Sir Trevelyan, a bit disappointed. “How did you do all that in one hour?”
Lottie looked down at the box of silent statues.
“It’s amazing what you can do with a little help from your friends,” she said.
“I assume Reg’s job is safe?” asked Uncle Bert. Sir Trevelyan nodded.
“And you’re going to say sorry to him?” said Lottie. She smiled as Sir Trevelyan’s face turned red with anger.
“Don’t push it!” he growled. “Now get out of my sight!”
“Gladly,” said Lottie. She linked arms with Uncle Bert. “Time for a cup of Earl Grey tea, Uncle?”
“Absolutely, my dear.”
Reg joined Lottie and Uncle Bert in their small, untidy apartment after he had put the mummy safely away into storage. They all sat on the leather sofa surrounded by Uncle Bert’s usual piles of newspapers and books.
“You should have got the shabtis to tidy this place up a bit,” said Reg.
“It did cross my mind,” said Lottie.
“Nonsense. Everything is right where I want it,” laughed Uncle Bert. “Oh Lottie my dear, do you have that homework I gave you?”
Lottie picked up her exercise book from the coffee table and handed it over.
“I think I managed to get it all right,” she said with a grin. Uncle Bert looked though the pages.
“Hmm,” he murmured. “You did this all by yourself?”
“Of course.”
“No help from anyone?”
“No!” said Lottie. “Really Uncle Bert, why would you think such a thing?” said Lottie in a hurt voice.
Uncle Bert put the book down on to Lottie’s lap. The pages were full of strange scribbles.
“Because it’s all in Egyptian hieroglyphics,” laughed Uncle Bert. “Shabtis may be good at cleaning, but homework isn’t their strong point!”
Reg and Uncle Bert laughed while Lottie sighed.
“Drat!” she said. “Silly old shabtis!”
Glossary
Chaos Mess and disorder.
Curator The manager of a museum.
Egypt
ology The study of ancient Egypt.
Hieroglyphics Ancient Egyptian writing which look like small pictures.
Mummy The body of someone who has died and which has been wrapped in cloth and kept in a good condition.
Sarcophagus A large stone coffin, usually decorated.
Shabtis Small statues which looked like mummies. They were buried with mummies so that they could come to life and be their servants in the afterlife.
Did You Know?
•When the famous Egyptian pharaoh King Tutankhamun died, he had 413 shabtis in his tomb.
•Most shabtis were between 10 and 20 centimetres tall, but some were as large as 60 centimetres.
•Shabtis were made of all sorts of materials; Clay, wood, glass, bronze, carved stone, wax and even mud. The most popular were made from a brightly coloured pottery called faïence.
Brain Teaser
Reg has got himself locked in the cupboard again! Can you help him complete the puzzle to get out? Put the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 into the boxes without repeating any of the numbers in each line going down or across, or in each smaller box.
Crack the Code
Use the key on here to work out the message below. Good luck!
A LOTTIE LIPTON ADVENTURE
The Curse of the Cairo Cat
ISBN: 9781472911780