CHAPTER 26

The Surprise

“Kiya! Dedi!” Pharaoh cast down his spear and swept them up in his arms. Behind them, Pharaoh’s guards fanned out.

Within moments, Kiya was telling Pharaoh and Dedi about her adventures. “I hid in a crate. And then I went looking for Dedi. Only Turo caught me.”

“He hurt you?” Pharaoh clenched his fists.

Kiya flattened his fists, as if it were a game. “Oh, no. He was very nice to me. He even gave me a snack. But he told me I had to stay hidden. He was worried that someone had kidnapped Dedi—and they might try to kidnap me. But I didn’t want to stay hidden. I wanted to find Dedi. So I did.”

By the time she finished her story, Pharaoh was holding both children so tight that they were starting to squirm. When he finally released them, he traced their faces with his fingertips.

“You’re safe,” he murmured again and again. “You’re alive. You’re safe.”

After all we’d been through, I could barely believe it myself. I nuzzled the children’s hands, just to be sure it wasn’t a dream.

“Ra-baby!” Kiya hauled me up from the floor. “Daddy, Ra saved us from going over into the pit. He was a hero!”

She was clutching me too hard around the middle, but for once I didn’t care.

Pharaoh lifted me into his arms and stroked under my chin, my favorite spot. “I should have known you would find a way to keep them safe, Ra the Mighty. Even Bastet herself could not have done better.”

I purred and purred and purred. Pharaoh’s praise was sweet—and it was even sweeter to know I deserved it. I was Pharaoh’s Cat, Lord of the Powerful Paw, and I had done my duty. I had found Dedi. I had protected Kiya. And…

My gaze fell on Miu, sitting quietly a few feet away, with Khepri beside her.

Yes, I had done my duty. But I hadn’t done it alone. With a loud meow, I jumped down from Pharaoh’s arms and led him over to Miu and Khepri.

“That’s the other cat, Daddy!” Kiya hopped over to stroke Miu. “She helped, too. And the beetle. They were all there, protecting us.”

Pharaoh smiled. “Well, then, they have my thanks, too.”

You’d think it would be hard, having to share my glory. But it turned out to be as easy as watching the sun rise. And when I looked at my friends, I felt a warm, sunshiny glow inside me. Sometimes in life you get lucky, and you get more than one family. Miu and Khepri, I realized, were part of mine.

Beside us, Dedi started telling his side of the story to Pharaoh.

“Wow.” Khepri gazed up at me, dazzled. “Did you hear that, Ra? Pharaoh thanked me.”

“He thanked us both,” said Miu, sounding pleased. “He’s a good man.”

“You deserve it,” I said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“No, you couldn’t,” Khepri agreed cheerfully. “But it was you who finally cracked the case, Ra.”

“Oh, yeah,” I mumbled. “That’s right. I did, didn’t I?”

“How did you figure it out?” Miu asked me.

“Well, er…it was easy, you see…I…er…” I floundered. How had I worked it out? I couldn’t quite remember.

“You don’t need to be so modest, Ra.” Khepri turned to Miu. “Ra asked the vital question. What use is a lion cub to anyone?”

“Yes, that’s what I said,” I confirmed. Though, to be honest, I didn’t understand why it mattered so much.

“The answer, of course, is that a lion cub is worth quite a lot,” Khepri said. “As Ra mentioned when we arrived, zoos are fashionable right now. Lots of rich people want to buy unusual animals like ibises and lions and crocodiles. And that’s why baby animals were disappearing from Lady Satiah’s zoo. Hormin, Qen, and the Keeper were smuggling them out and secretly selling them. But they were very sneaky about it. Even the animals didn’t realize what was happening.”

“The ibis blamed the lion cubs for eating her hatchlings,” I remembered.

“And when the lioness said her cub had been stolen,” Miu recalled, “we didn’t take her seriously because we thought he was sick.”

“I figured the Keeper had to be involved if animals were disappearing,” Khepri said. “It couldn’t be done without him. But I guessed he had help. It’s no easy thing to sneak a lion cub out of a palace.”

“How did you work out it was Hormin and Qen?” Miu wanted to know.

“I remembered how handy they were with the nets when they captured the lion cub in the banqueting hall,” Khepri said. “The Keeper turned to them again when he wanted to catch another crocodile. No one else except the Keeper seemed to be so handy with animals—especially with trapping them.

“Plus, they were the ones who guarded the palace at night,” Khepri went on. “And night would be the best time to move the animals, without anyone hearing growls or squawks. They could even creep out to the landing and get access to the river.”

I had to hand it to him. It all made sense.

“I expect they were working with someone on the outside,” Khepri mused. “Maybe the animals were picked up by boat.”

“And the storeroom was the holding bay for the animals that were going to be shipped out?” Miu guessed.

“Yes,” Khepri said. “And remember what Taweret the hippo told us? She overheard Dedi say that he needed a basket to carry the crocodile. And baskets are kept in—”

“The storeroom!” I said triumphantly.

“So that’s how Dedi got involved,” Miu said. “He stumbled right into the headquarters of the whole operation.”

“Yes,” Khepri said. “And if they had places to store young animals awaiting shipment, I figured they probably had places to stow a young boy.”

“And you were right.” Miu curled her tail fondly around him.

“It was a smooth operation,” Khepri said. “They hid Dedi and the crocodile, and then one of the watchmen made footprints outside and set a boat loose to make it look like Dedi had run away.”

“We thought someone had kidnapped Dedi because they didn’t want him to be the crown prince,” Miu said. “We missed the real motive.”

“But it’s hard to fool Pharaoh’s Cat,” I said proudly. “I asked the right question.”

“You did.” Khepri tapped my forepaw. “In the end.”

“We saved Dedi,” Miu said with satisfaction. “And Kiya. And we helped the whole zoo.”

“We did,” I agreed. Really, we’d outdone ourselves this time.

“I just have one question,” Miu said to Khepri. “Lady Satiah was definitely up to something, even if it wasn’t kidnapping Dedi. We still don’t know—”

“Shhh!” Khepri warned. “Here she comes.”

Behind us, Lady Satiah was approaching. Pharaoh and the children fell silent. The only sound was the Keeper, blubbering in the storeroom wreckage, with Pharaoh’s guards around him.

“Keeper, is that you?” Frowning, Lady Satiah hurried toward him.

Catching sight of Pharaoh, she stopped and sank into a deep curtsy. “O Most Gracious Ruler of Rulers, Exalted Husband of Husbands, your son Ahmose awaits you with his tutor in the…” She broke off as she took in the two children behind him. “Dedi? Kiya? You’re here?” She glared at them both. “What kind of tricks have you been playing? You should be ashamed—”

“There was no trick,” Pharaoh said gravely, holding Dedi and Kiya close. “And they are not the ones who should be ashamed. They were in danger, here in your house.”

“In danger? Nonsense!” Lady Satiah flounced up from her curtsy, her wig askew. “I don’t know what they’ve been telling you, but it isn’t true. I told you in my message that you shouldn’t worry, and I was right. They were fine. See? Here they are.”

“Only because they were resourceful,” Pharaoh said.

“And because of Ra and his friends,” Kiya reminded him.

“Yes,” Pharaoh agreed. To Lady Satiah, he said, “I had a warning that something was wrong here, so I came to find my children.”

“A warning?” Lady Satiah tensed. “What do you mean?”

“Yesterday morning, my guards caught a dangerous criminal in Thebes,” Pharaoh told her. “I remained there to be certain they caught his accomplices, too.”

“So that’s why Pharaoh stayed in Thebes!” Khepri whispered.

“And why he sent the children away,” Miu murmured.

Pharaoh went on, “The leader confessed that his network included men in your household, Lady Satiah. I set out immediately. We were halfway here when your messenger reached me. But I would have gone faster still, had I known you had a murderer on the loose.”

“A murderer?” Lady Satiah sounded faint. “It was Yaba, wasn’t it? She’s a spy. An assassin. That’s why I locked her up—”

“You did what?” Pharaoh thundered. “Release her at once!”

“But she—”

“Lady Yaba had nothing to do with this.” Pharaoh’s voice was as hard and sharp as his spear. “It was your Keeper and your watchmen who kidnapped my son. And Hormin tried to kill both Kiya and Dedi.”

“The watchmen and the Keeper were part of a smuggling ring,” Dedi explained. “They were selling baby animals from your zoo.”

“What?” Under her painted face, Lady Satiah suddenly looked sick. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” Dedi told her. “I went into the storeroom to get a basket for the crocodile, but then Hormin, Qen, and the Keeper came in, and I had to hide. They talked about selling some ibis hatchlings and maybe the baby crocodile and a lion cub, too. I tried to sneak away, but they saw me, and Hormin hit me. Later, he tried to kill me.”

“I’m sorry!” the Keeper wailed as Pharaoh’s guards closed in on him. “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. I wanted the babies to go to good homes, with owners who love them. And Hormin said I could make enough to buy my own elephant, too. But nobody was supposed to get killed.” He started sobbing again. “I’m really, truly sorry.”

“Sorry?” Lady Satiah glared at him through her kohl-rimmed eyes. “You’ll be more than sorry when I’m through with you, Keeper. And Hormin and Qen will be, too. You’ve completely spoiled my surprise.”

Pharaoh stared at her in disbelief. “Is that your only concern? That some surprise has been spoiled?”

Lady Satiah didn’t seem to notice anything was wrong. “The surprise was for you.”

Pharaoh shook his head. “I have had enough surprises today.”

“But this is a wonderful one,” Lady Satiah pleaded. “No other wife has ever given you so royal a gift. You must accept it!”

Pharaoh looked at her, mystified.

Lady Satiah waved grandly at the gate. “Here it is before you, O Ruler of Rulers! Your very own zoo!”

“That’s the surprise?” I muttered to Khepri and Miu.

“It is to Pharaoh,” Miu said.

“But maybe not quite the way she meant it to be,” Khepri added.

“They’re all yours,” Lady Satiah told Pharaoh. “The lions, the ibises, the monkeys, even the hippo. I’ve collected an entire zoo, all for you.”

Pharaoh looked at Lady Satiah blankly. “But I don’t want a zoo.”

“Of course you want a zoo,” Lady Satiah said frantically. “Everyone does.”

“Not me,” Pharaoh said. “I travel too much.” He smiled down at me. “Besides, I have a cat.”

“Anyway,” Kiya told Lady Satiah, “your zoo is gone.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Lady Satiah stalked to the gate. “My zoo is—”

She caught sight of the empty cages.

“Gone!” she wailed.