I scrabbled. I rolled. And I halted at the very edge of the dung pit.
“Hey, Ra!” Clinging to my ear, Khepri peered down into the pit. “Why did you stop? It’s like a gold mine down there.”
“A dung mine,” I mumbled, my belly flat on the floor. “Lucky us.”
“You said it,” Khepri agreed with a happy sigh. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s making me woozy.”
I’d gone way past woozy—straight to sick.
Khepri peered over my brow. “Why, you haven’t even opened your eyes, Ra. Come on. Take a look.”
The stench was so bad I could barely bring myself to glance down. When I did, the view was dizzying. The pit’s brick walls, edged with dung, went down into darkness, like a tomb shaft. Squinting, I saw a dark mix of dung and water at the bottom.
“Makes you feel like going for a swim, doesn’t it?” Khepri said.
“Khepri, have you lost your marbles? Even if I wanted to float in dung, which I don’t, we’d never be able to get back up again.”
“Why would you want to?” Khepri peered down the shaft again. “I’ve never seen such a great breakfast.”
“You can dine elsewhere.” I backed away from the pit edge.
“What are you doing over here?” Miu trotted up to us, whiskers twitching. “It stinks.”
“We found a dung pit!” Khepri announced. “A huge one!”
“Um…great,” Miu said. “I found the zoo. Come on.”
She led us toward a gated archway. Through the bars, I glimpsed a large courtyard full of cages. But before I could see inside them, a door beside me opened and the Keeper came out.
His wrinkled face puckered at the sight of us. “Oh, dear. I can’t have you terrorizing my birdies, cats. Shoo!”
Shoo? Didn’t he know the rules? If you wouldn’t say it to Pharaoh, don’t say it to Pharaoh’s Cat. I stood my ground…
…until the Keeper picked up a broom.
“Go on.” His bushy white brows frowned anxiously as he swept the broom toward us. “Get out of here. Scat! Leave my birdies alone!”
I dashed toward the door he’d left open.
“No!” He swooped down with the broom again. “That’s the storeroom. You don’t belong there, either.”
Pharaoh’s Cat knows an invitation when he hears one. I ducked between the Keeper’s legs and dashed into the storeroom, which ran between the dung pit and the zoo itself. It was packed as tight as the hold of a ship. Bowls and pails were stacked on shelves. A long wall was lined with huge bins. There was even a row of empty birdcages lined up above the door. It was all neat as could be.
Perfect.
“What are you doing?” Khepri shouted into my ear.
“I’m teaching that Keeper a lesson,” I said. “Hold on!”
The Keeper chased me round and round the storeroom, but I’ve had lots of practice playing tag with Kiya, so I had the upper hand. All he did was make the place a mess.
THUMP went the broom.
WHOOSH-BAM went a basket, scattering birdseed everywhere.
CLATTER-SMASH went a pot, falling on a bin lid.
The whole room started to rattle. It was like being inside a drum.
Khepri’s voice was so faint I could barely hear him. “How long is this lesson going to last, Ra? I’m getting seasick.”
“No problem, buddy.” I dashed back through the door to Miu, waiting behind a barrel.
“Having a good time?” she asked.
“The best,” I told her.
The Keeper emerged from the storeroom, breathing heavily and brandishing his broom. He looked up and down the passageway, but he didn’t spot us.
“Darn cats,” he muttered. As footsteps pattered closer and Ahmose came into sight, the Keeper straightened. Turo, the tutor, was right behind Ahmose, yawning.
“Hello there, young Ahmose!” The Keeper raised the broom handle in greeting. “You haven’t seen any cats around here, have you?”
“I saw a couple last night at dinner,” Ahmose said. “I think Dedi said they were Pharaoh’s Cats.”
Pharaoh’s Cats? I glanced at Miu, who had a big cat grin on her face.
“You shouldn’t call him Ahmose,” the tutor corrected the Keeper. “His gracious mother commands us to refer to him as Royal Son of the Pharaoh.”
“Does she now?” the Keeper said. “That’s new.”
The tutor shrugged. “It’s what she wants.”
“So what does that make you?” the Keeper asked him. “Royal Tutor to the Royal Son of the Pharaoh?”
The tutor laughed. “No. I’m just Turo.”
“Well, you look tired, Turo,” the Keeper said.
“I’m fine.” Turo smothered another yawn. “But what is that awful smell?”
“That’s the dung pit.” The Keeper leaned his broom against the wall. “I was sure I closed it up after I pushed the last load in, but I guess I forgot. I’d better take care of that.” He walked toward the pit. “Now, don’t you two follow me. You don’t want to fall in.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Khepri said softly.
I heard a scrape and a bang. “There, that’s better,” the Keeper said, coming back. “So what brings you here, Ahmose? Er…I mean, Royal Son of the Pharaoh.”
“Ahmose is fine,” the boy said. “Turo, you can call me Ahmose, too. After all, you’re my cousin.”
“Wait, they’re cousins?” I whispered to Miu and Khepri.
“You can sort of see a resemblance,” Miu whispered back. “Around the nose.”
I looked, and it was true. Turo and Ahmose had the same beaky nose, in different sizes.
“I want to see the baby crocodile again,” Ahmose told the Keeper.
“Oh, dear.” The Keeper’s wrinkles deepened. “I’m sorry, Ahmose, but that’s not possible.”
Ahmose pouted. “But I’m the one who caught him. You said he was mine.”
“I did, I did. But there’s a problem.” The Keeper looked around, then bent toward the boy and whispered, “The baby crocodile is missing.”