Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris-Theo 2 Read Online Free PDF Page A

course, the solution rather depended on what had caused him to
spring to life in the first place, and I had no idea. Was it exposure to the light? To my
ka,
or life force? Oh, what to do, what to do?
    I glanced around the room, hoping for some rope to tie him up with or even a cloth I could use to try and cover him. If it was light or life force that had activated him, perhaps turning him off would be as simple as putting a barrier between him and the light.
    But there was nothing usable nearby. "Hold on, Isis," I called out encouragingly. "I'll be right back!"
    I galloped up the stairs, pleased to find a number of thick, heavy coats hanging from the rack on the landing. I grabbed the longest, thickest one and tore back down the stairs, dragging the coat behind me.
    The jackal still had Isis cornered between the wall and the sarcophagus. Moving as quietly as I could, I snuck up behind him, then threw the coat over him, trying to cover his entire body without getting too close to his snapping jaws.
    He froze.
    Was he wondering what had happened to him? Or had I managed to reverse whatever magic had brought him to life?
    I searched the shelving in front of me, looking for some kind of weapon or something I could use to keep him at bay. My eyes fell on a long, bent staff on the shelf. Perfect. I reached out and grabbed it. As I grasped the top end, I noticed it had a jackal head fashioned in gold. This could be a good sign. The ancient Egyptians thought it most effective to fight a force with a similar force, rather like fighting fire with fire. So using a jackal head against a jackal just might work.
    Reaching out cautiously with the end of the staff, I lifted a corner of the coat, exposing the jackal's left haunch. It was perfectly still. I squinted. It was hard to tell in the murky gloom, but it didn't look as if he'd turned back to stone. Then his haunch twitched and his foot moved. I jerked the staff back, dropping the coat, and he was still again.
    Well, no matter what had awakened him, it seemed that covering him up would take care of it. At least long enough for me to think of something more permanent.
    "Isis?" I called softly. "You can come out now if you like."
    After a long moment she finally poked her whiskers out from behind the sarcophagus. She paused, studying the overcoat for a long while. Deciding it was safe, she began to emerge from her hiding spot. The overcoat twitched, and she disappeared back into her corner.
    Bother. The overcoat wasn't going to hold as strongly as I'd hoped. Which gave me about two minutes to come up with a more lasting solution.
    I hurried over to my curse-removal kit and rummaged about. My hand bumped into a plump, squashy bag. Of course! The salt I'd kept there ever since last year when a
small statue of the frog-headed god Kuk had sported a curse involving a rain of slugs. Although, for the record, I try very hard not to use salt on the artifacts in the museum. Salt is horribly corrosive, and I like to be extremely careful with the museum's treasures.
    The overcoat twitched again.
    But sometimes during an emergency one had to settle for whatever was at hand. I didn't have time to do any research on this curse to discover the safest way to remove it without damaging the statue. My time was up.
    I grabbed a handful of salt in my left hand, then moved back to the overcoat. It was beginning to wriggle now, which meant it wasn't the light that had activated the curse. More likely my life force.
    Holding the staff in my right hand, I hooked the end of it under the overcoat, then yanked, exposing the jackal. Momentarily disoriented at being suddenly uncovered, he blinked, which gave me time to toss the handful of salt at him.
    It caught him full along the side, and he reared away from the sarcophagus, shaking his head as if stunned. Before I could follow up with a second assault, Isis yowled and shot out from between the gap, racing toward the opposite end of the room. The jackal yipped