The Code Busters ran up to Ms. Stad and breathlessly began to explain the situation.

“The Eye is a fake …,” Cody said.

“We found the real one …,” M.E. continued.

“We know who switched them …,” Luke added.

“He’s after us!” Quinn blurted.

“Whoa, whoa!” Ms. Stad said. “Slow down! What are you talking about? I thought you went into the museum to look for your phone, Cody.”

“I was …,” Cody stammered. “I mean, I … I was looking for something …”

Cody realized she’d been caught in a lie. It was a small lie, but now Ms. Stad might not believe anything else she said.

The teacher crossed her arms and looked at each of the four kids, disappointment etched on her usually pleasant face. But before she could say anything else, a voice bellowed from the doorway of the museum.

“Hold it right there!” Dr. Jordan stood on the top step, his hands on his hips, his dark eyebrows scrunched together menacingly.

Ms. Stad looked up at the man, then back at the kids.

Uh-oh, Cody thought. We’re in deep trouble now.

Dr. Jordan stepped down and headed for the small group.

“Is something wrong?” Ms. Stad asked him. The Code Busters moved behind her for protection.

Dr. Jordan peered at them before addressing Ms. Stad. “I’ll say there is. I believe these kids have something that belongs to the museum. Isn’t that right, kids?”

Cody stepped forward, frowning at the accusation. “No, we don’t. You’re the one who took the real Eye from the case and switched it with a fake.”

Dr. Jordan’s mouth dropped open. He suddenly looked more puzzled than angry. “What are you talking about? I saw you kids over by the Eye of Horus in the Daily Life room. You were acting very suspicious. When I went to check on the display after you left the room, I found this. It’s a fake. Do you kids know anything about this?”

“No,” M.E. said. “We thought you took it.”

Dr. Jordan frowned at M.E. “What’s that on your hands?” he asked.

M.E. turned her hands over to look at them, then quickly put them behind her back.

“Why are your fingertips stained?” Ms. Stad looked at M.E. “What is he talking about, MariaElena? What’s that on your fingers?” M.E. reluctantly withdrew her hands from behind her back and showed them to Ms. Stad, who inspected them closely. She turned to the other Code Busters. “Let me see your hands, too.” Quinn, Luke, and Cody held up their hands. Ms. Stad looked at Cody. “What’s that stain on your fingertip?”

By now a crowd of students had gathered around the scene, wide-eyed and openmouthed. Embarrassed by the drama, Cody felt her neck turn hot, and she broke out in a sweat. She almost wished she could crawl into a sarcophagus and disappear.

Quinn began explaining. “Listen, Ms. Stadelhofer. M.E. and Cody got those stains when they touched the fake Eye in that case, but they didn’t steal anything. Cody accidentally bumped the case and the door popped open. That’s when we realized it wasn’t locked. Then M.E. reached in—”

“But I wasn’t going to steal the Eye!” M.E. exclaimed, interrupting Quinn. “I just wanted to see it. I put it right back.”

“It stained my fingertip, too,” Cody said to Ms. Stad. “But I promise, we left the Eye there in the case. We thought maybe it was a fake, so we were going to tell you about the unlocked door, but when we went back to check, the case was locked up again.”

“I’m confused,” Ms. Stad said, shaking her head. “You found the case open, so you picked up the Eye, and then you put it back and closed the case? Why didn’t you tell me before you went back to check on it?”

Cody sighed and looked at the others. “We … we wanted to make sure it was a fake first. But then it was locked up again, and we had no way to prove anything.” She turned to Dr. Jordan. “We thought maybe you switched them, because we saw you working on the Eye in the lab earlier. You said you’d been cleaning it, but when we went back to the lab, we found the gloves you’d been using in the trash. The fingertips were brown, like you’d been staining the Eye.”

Dr. Jordan looked down at his fingers.

“We have proof.” Cody pulled out the gloves from her hoodie pocket and held them up. “See the stains? You were wearing them when you were working on the Eye. But you weren’t wearing them when you replaced the Eye in the case with a fake.”

“Let me see those,” Dr. Jordan said. Cody hesitated to pass over their proof, but Ms. Stad nodded. Dr. Jordan examined them closely. “These aren’t mine.”

“But you were wearing gloves earlier,” Quinn protested. “And you’re an expert in making forgeries. You could easily have made a fake Eye and switched it with the real one.”

“Wow,” Dr. Jordan finally said. “You kids are something. Well, at least I know you were listening to my lecture. Unfortunately, you’ve let your imaginations run away with you. I really was cleaning that Eye of Horus. I would never use a stain on an authentic artifact. In fact, I thought you kids bought a replica and tried to make it look real by staining it, then switched them. I only checked the case because I saw you kids hovering around it. When I unlocked it, I found the fake.”

“Do other staff members at the museum have keys for the displays?” Ms. Stad asked.

Cody looked at her teacher appreciatively. Was she beginning to believe their story?

“A few people …,” Dr. Jordan replied, drifting off in thought.

“Is it possible someone else made the switch and accidentally left the case unlocked?” Cody asked.

“I suppose,” Dr. Jordan confirmed, “but even so, that doesn’t mean the real Eye was replaced with a replica. And the real question is, where is the real Eye now?”

Cody looked at her friends. As if reading her mind, they nodded.

“We have something to show you,” Cody said. She glanced at her teacher, who nodded her permission. “Come on!”

Ms. Stad asked Mr. Pike to watch the rest of the students while she accompanied the Code Busters and Dr. Jordan back into the museum. Cody led the way back to the Kings and Pharaohs room, where they’d found the thirteenth Eye draped around the neck of the cat statue. When they reached the display case, Cody peered in.

She gasped.

The Eye was gone!

“But … but it was right here!” she stammered.

“What was?” Dr. Jordan asked, looking closely at the display.

“The thirteenth Eye of Horus!” she exclaimed. “It was mixed in with all that jewelry around the cat’s neck.” She turned to Ms. Stad. “Remember we found thirteen Eyes—one more than you thought?”

Ms. Stad frowned at Cody. “Hmm. Maybe you miscounted after all? I never got a chance to verify your numbers.”

“No,” Cody said. “We all saw it! It was identical to the other one in the open display case. It was right here!” Suddenly, she wished she’d taken a picture of the cat. That would have been proof.

Dr. Jordan raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Obviously, he thought she was either lying or crazy.

Or maybe there was another reason Dr. Jordan wasn’t speaking up.

“What’s going on here?” Ms. Cassatt said, approaching the group. The woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. She brushed up against Cody, bumping her slightly, then patted her on the back as if apologizing. “I thought you students were on your way back to school.”

Dr. Jordan turned to Ms. Cassatt. “Someone’s stolen an Eye of Horus from the Daily Life room. I thought maybe one of the kids—”

“Stolen!” Ms. Cassatt said loudly. “What do you mean?”

Dr. Jordan opened his hand. “I found this Eye in the case. It’s a fake. We need to call the police.”

“Are you sure it’s a fake?” Ms. Cassatt said. “We haven’t had a theft here since you started, Malik.”

“Of course I’m sure,” Dr. Jordan said. “I can run tests on it if you need proof.”

“How do you test it?” Cody asked.

He turned to her. “It’s very simple, really. When we test an amulet like this, we use a microscope to check for something called natron, which is a mixture of sodium products used in the embalming process. Since most amulets were buried with their owners, who were mummified, we find traces of these minerals on them.”

“Give me that!” Ms. Cassatt commanded, snatching the amulet from Dr. Jordan’s palm. She studied it closely. Then she looked up at Dr. Jordan. “I can already tell it’s a fake. But if we call the police, word will get out and the museum could lose a great deal of funding. We have to deal with this ourselves. After all, that’s why I hired you, Malik.”

Cody looked at her friends, sensing something was up with Ms. Cassatt. Protecting the museum’s reputation was more important than calling the police and finding the thief? Suddenly, she saw what was right in front of her. She whispered to the Code Busters in phonetic alphabet code: “Charlie, Alpha, Sierra, Sierra, Alpha, Tango, Tango!”

Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on this page, this page.