Tut by P. J. Hoover Page B

let light erupt from my scarab heart before she could grab her flashlight. Unlit torches lined the walls.
    â€œSort of a cool trick,” she said, “but watch this.” She reached into her cargo pants pocket, and I figured she was going to grab her flashlight, but instead, she pulled a pack of matches out. I wondered what else she had stashed in her pockets. Maybe a midnight snack?
    Tia lit a match and touched it to a torch. Suddenly the entire wall was on fire. One torch lit the next and then the next, as if somehow they were all connected. The room exploded with light.
    It looked like a museum had been teleported inside. Gold columns—like real gold, not paint from the craft store—stretched from floor to ceiling. Statues and paintings covered every inch of wall. And shelves started just feet from where we stood and continued on, out of sight. Maybe all this stuff had come from the Library of Alexandria, and maybe at one point, it had even been catalogued. But the time of that was long gone. If Imsety and Qeb were in charge of neatness and orderliness, they’d given up ages ago.
    â€œWhat are these?” Tia used the toe of her combat boot to prod a pile of stone tablets that were leaning against a column.
    The symbols carved into the tablets were from back when Gil had been king of Mesopotamia, way before my time. “Sumerian accounting records.”
    Tia brushed her hand over one, and dust flew everywhere. “Shouldn’t they be on display somewhere?”
    â€œDo you have any idea how many tablets like this there are in the world?” I said. “The Sumerians kept track of everything.”
    â€œCan you read them?”
    â€œOf course I can read them,” I said.
    â€œWhat’s this one say?” she asked.
    â€œSomething about how many camels were traded for grain.”
    â€œAnd this one?”
    â€œMarriage records.”
    â€œThis one?”
    â€œAre you testing me?”
    â€œNot at all.” She left the stack of tablets and moved on to some limestone blocks near the side wall. “Okay, what’s this?”
    It wasn’t Sumerian at all. It was from my kingdom—Egypt. It only took me one look at the hieroglyphics to know what we were looking at. “The tomb of Ay. I mean, it’s not put together or anything, but most of the pieces are here.”
    â€œDidn’t Ay rule after you?”
    She knew about Egyptian gods. I guess she knew her Egyptian history, too.
    â€œI don’t want to talk about who ruled after me,” I said.
    â€œWhy not?” Tia said.
    â€œBecause he should have never been pharaoh,” I said. “I was pharaoh.”
    â€œBut you’re immortal,” Tia said. “Isn’t that better?”
    â€œIt’s debatable. Anyway, just stay here, okay? I don’t want you looking over my shoulder.”
    â€œYou can’t get rid of me, Tut.” Tia crossed her arms and waited, slouching in the most adorable way, while tapping the toe of her combat boot. Her streak of orange hair fell over her forehead, making it look like she was winking at me, even though I knew she wasn’t.
    â€œYes, I can,” I said. I could … okay, my options were nil. It wasn’t like I could come back another night when she wasn’t here. I needed to find the scroll to get information on the knife tonight. Tia wouldn’t know what it was for, anyway.
    â€œJust stay out of my way.”
    â€œI knew you’d give in,” Tia said. She brushed the orange streak from her face, making it obvious she wasn’t winking at me. She was gloating.
    â€œI did not give in.” I leaned down to ground level. “What did Horus say?” I asked Colonel Cody.
    â€œThe cat informed us to look for an invisible scroll made of gold with ink of blood,” Colonel Cody said.
    â€œYou named your cat Horus?” Tia asked.
    â€œSort of.”
    It was time for spell number