Atticus Claw Lends a Paw (8 page)

10

‘I don’t have time for all this!’

The next morning, in the kitchen at number 2 Blossom Crescent, Mrs Cheddar and the kids were telling Inspector Cheddar about their adventures of the previous night.

It wasn’t going too well.

‘But, Dad!’ Callie shouted. ‘The magpies were there. And Biscuit. They were after Howard Toffly’s book.’

‘The first time around they stole Mr Tucker’s beard-jumper experiment notebook by mistake,’ Michael explained. ‘That’s why one of the magpies was orange.’

‘Orange,’ Inspector Cheddar repeated
sarcastically
. ‘I see.’

‘Atticus knew they’d come back,’ Callie insisted. ‘And he knew where the real book was hidden.’

‘And he looks exactly like the cat pharaoh!’ Michael told him. ‘It was amazing, Dad. You should have seen him! He worked out how to open the secret chamber. He can read hieroglyphs.’

Inspector Cheddar snorted. ‘I have never heard such a load of old rubbish in my life!’ he said.

‘Darling, it’s true!’ Mrs Cheddar protested. ‘We did see the magpies. And Biscuit. And we heard Klob. The kids are right: Atticus rescued the book. Mrs Tucker has it.’

Inspector Cheddar sighed.
Orange magpies! Secret chambers! Cats reading hieroglyphs!
What nonsense! He glanced at Atticus, who was snoozing in his basket, curled up next to Mimi. Inspector Cheddar couldn’t help thinking how straightforward his life had been before Atticus Grammaticus Cattypuss
Claw turned up on the doorstep.

‘You didn’t see anything,’ he said crossly. ‘It was your imagination playing tricks in the dark. And even if Atticus did find a book, it’s not going to tell you the way to the golden city of cats. There’s no such thing.’ He chortled. ‘Next you’ll be telling me that Atticus is descended from the cat pharaoh and it’s his destiny to protect the lost city of Nebu-Mau from being discovered by the Tofflys.’

The kids clapped their hands.

‘That’s brilliant, Dad!’ Michael shouted.

‘Great thinking!’ Callie’s eyes shone.

‘Darling, you are clever!’ Mrs Cheddar agreed.

‘I was joking!’ Inspector Cheddar thundered. He shook his head. ‘I can’t listen to any more of this. I’ve got important knitting crimes to solve.’ He snatched up his cap and strode out.

‘I suppose there’s no point in telling him who the graffiti knitters really are?’ Callie sighed.

‘I don’t think so,’ Mrs Cheddar said heavily. ‘Not until we have proof.’

Just then the phone rang.

Mrs Cheddar picked it up.

‘Okay … yes … that’s great … I’ll ring the office and tell them I can’t go in today … we’ll meet you at the train station … I’ll get Atticus and Mimi up now.’

‘Who was that?’ Michael asked.

‘It was Mrs Tucker.’ Mrs Cheddar grinned. ‘She’s made an appointment to see Professor Verry-Clever at the British Museum in London. She wants us to bring Atticus.’

Atticus knew London well from his years as a cat burglar, but he’d never been to the British Museum before. The taxi dropped them at the gates. Atticus and Mimi hurried after the humans into a courtyard. They scurried up the steps into the museum.

Professor Verry-Clever met them at the door.

‘This way,’ he said. He led them through the museum.

Atticus caught a fleeting glimpse of rooms full of huge stone statues.

Soon they arrived at the Professor’s office. ‘Don’t mind Cleopatra,’ he said, opening the door.

‘Who’s Cleopatra?’ Callie asked.

‘She’s my mummy!’ Edmund Verry-Clever’s eyes twinkled. ‘She was a gift from the University of Cairo.’

A painted sarcophagus stood upright in the corner next to a statue of a sphinx. It was in the shape of a woman. She had a beautiful painted face with huge almond eyes and dark eyebrows. Her clothes were gold and red and aqua blue.

Atticus squinted at it. The colours reminded him of something from a long time ago.

‘Can we see inside it?’ Michael begged.

‘All right.’ The Professor clicked a catch. Carefully he pulled the sarcophagus open.

‘Eeerrrrggghh!’ Callie cried in disgust.

Mimi flinched.

Atticus felt only curiosity. The figure inside the sarcophagus was swathed in dusty brown bandages from head to toe. Again, he felt he’d seen
something
like it before, but he couldn’t remember where. He tiptoed forward to take a closer look. Then he froze. He could have sworn the mummy moved! He rubbed his eyes with his paw.

‘Not so pretty in the flesh, is she?’ The Professor said gleefully. ‘But you’ve got to remember Cleopatra is about four thousand years old.’ He closed the sarcophagus.

‘What are those?’ Michael pointed to a display cabinet beside Cleopatra. Inside was a cruel-
looking
statue of a bird with black glittering eyes. Balanced on its head was a red disc. It stood over the bodies of two other birds that lay beneath it, wings out, beaks gaping.

‘That’s Horus, the Egyptian God of the Sky. It’s a sacrifice to Osiris, the God of the Dead, who was believed to be Horus’s father.’

Atticus turned away. The statue reminded him of Jimmy Magpie.

‘Now let’s get down to business,’ Professor Verry-Clever said.

‘We found this in Howard Toffly’s crypt.’ Mrs Tucker unravelled the leather-bound book from her cardigan and handed it to him. ‘Well, that is to say, Atticus did.’ She told the Professor what had happened the night before.

Atticus listened, spellbound.
He did all that?
He supposed he must have, if Mrs Tucker said he did. The scary thing was, he couldn’t remember any of it, until the bit where Mimi woke him up and they were fighting off Biscuit and the magpies.

Edmund Verry-Clever listened in silence,
occasionally
casting curious looks in Atticus’s direction. ‘Remarkable,’ he said when she’d finished. ‘Quite remarkable.’ He took out a magnifying glass from his desk, pulled on a pair of cotton gloves and opened the book.

‘Hieroglyphs!’ he breathed. ‘From the Eleventh Dynasty.’ The way he said it, it was as if someone had just told him he’d won the lottery. ‘This is the most exciting discovery
I have
ever
witnessed,’ he said. His brow knotted in a frown of concentration.

‘Can you read them?’ Michael asked.

Professor Verry-Clever nodded slowly. ‘I can
understand
most of them. They tell the way to the lost city of Nebu-Mau: the golden city of cats.’

‘So Howard Toffly did find the city!’ Mrs Cheddar gripped the edge of the desk.

‘Yes, he must have stumbled across the city by chance,’ the Professor said solemnly, ‘entered the cat pharaoh’s tomb and made off with the book and the statue that Atticus found in the crypt. That’s why he was cursed.’ He looked dreamy. ‘This book gives us the chance to follow in his footsteps.’

‘Does it say how to get there?’ Mr Tucker asked. ‘Only we could go in me boat if youze like!’ he
offered
generously.

‘Don’t be silly, Herman!’ Mrs Tucker snapped. ‘Nebu-Mau’s in the desert.’

The Professor scrutinised the symbols. ‘According to the hieroglyphs,’ he said, ‘the path to Nebu-Mau lies through sand
and
water.’

‘How is that possible?’ Mrs Cheddar whispered.

‘I don’t know.’ Edmund Verry-Clever turned a page. ‘But I see the desert and the parting of water. I see palm trees and sand dunes. I see a city of
temples
and pyramids. I see treasure beyond the dreams of men.’

Atticus jumped on the desk. He wanted to see too. Fragments of the previous night were coming
back to him. Nebu-Mau sounded like the place he’d read about on the wall of the secret chamber in Howard Toffly’s crypt.

‘I see a prosperous place full of rich and
beautiful
cats,’ the Professor said. ‘I see people gathering there from far and wide bringing wonderful gifts.’

Atticus’s eyes followed the hieroglyphs. It was easy-peasy-cat-paw-squeezy to read them. He waited politely for the Professor to finish
deciphering
them then turned the page with his paw.

‘I see a temple and a palace,’ the Professor
continued
. He had one eye on Atticus. ‘They belong to a great ruler: a wise and mighty tabby cat with white paws. It is he the people have come to
worship
.’