Nadia sat down in homeroom, her eyes lighting up as soon as she saw the stack of newspapers on Ms. Arena’s desk.
The teacher picked up a stack. “The second issue of Newsflash is here! Who wants to help me pass them out?”
Nadia raised her hand but the loudspeaker crackled to life. To her disappointment, Ms. Arena set the papers back down on her desk. Thanks a lot, Principal Taylor, she thought.
“Good morning, Bridget Mason Petunias, soon to be … whatever you decide!” The principal sounded breathless with excitement. “The final mascot vote is this afternoon! Now, at the suggestion of some wise sixth graders, we have improved the voting process since the primary.”
Nadia smiled. The Nerd Patrol were those wise sixth graders. After the low turnout for the primary election, she’d suggested to Principal Taylor that they hand out ballots to the whole school and vote all at once, rather than requiring that students visit the main office on their own. Kids were busy with morning tutoring sessions, lunchtime homework clubs, after-school clubs, and detention. Voting in class would make sure everyone had a chance to make their voices heard.
“Voting will happen during last period. I will announce the results at the spirit rally tomorrow morning, and we will officially debut the new mascot at the Westside game next weekend. Good luck to both the sphinx and hawk! May the best mascot win!”
The loudspeaker clicked off, then right back on again.
“Oh! And I almost forgot, congratulations to class 605 on the second edition of Newsflash, which comes out today. I can’t wait to read it! This is Principal Taylor. Over and out.”
Ms. Arena began handing out the papers. Nadia smiled. Aside from the fact that they still had no clue who Khefren was, it was looking to be a very good day.
And it got even better when she saw that her story was on the front page!
Voting For The Hawk? Awk!
by Nadia Youssef
Sphinx vs. hawk. As every student at Bridget Mason Middle School knows, we will vote on a new mascot this afternoon. I nominated the sphinx. But I write to you today not as a member of the Sphinx Squad, but merely as a fellow student, concerned about our school’s future.
The hawk is not fit to be our mascot.
It may be majestic. It may be fierce and fast.
But the hawk has a dark side: It has attempted to fly away with small children in its monstrous claws. If you access the link below, you will see a frightened mother, beating off a hawk trying to steal her small child.
Do we want our school to be represented by an animal capable of such terror? Do we want to give the impression that Bridget Mason students prey upon the innocent?
It is no riddle that our mascot should be—no, must be—the mighty sphinx.
And that’s a fact.
Sarah turned around. “Wow, Nadia!”
Jason was seated behind her. “I had no idea that hawks did that. I admit I was maybe going to vote for the hawk—”
Nadia cut him off with a look.
“What?” Jason said. “The sphinx is awesome. But did you know that some hawks can go as fast as a hundred and fifty miles per hour when they dive? Totally cool, right?”
Nadia continued to stare.
“But—but it doesn’t matter,” Jason said. “Now I keep picturing my baby cousin getting snatched by one. Definitely gonna vote for the sphinx now.”
“That’s more like it,” Nadia said, smiling.
Adam high-fived her. “Great job. Love the video link.”
As Nadia and Adam made their way to math, she noticed that someone had torn down one of the hawk posters in the hallway.
Later, in language arts, Nadia and her classmates patted themselves on the back for a successful second issue, then started plotting out the next edition.
“I can write about the mascot results,” Nadia offered.
“Oh, I wonder who’s going to win now?” said Mateo with a laugh.
Nadia and Adam headed to their lockers at lunchtime. They passed Mr. Flores in the hallway.
“Hey, Mr. Flores!” Nadia said, waving.
Mr. Flores nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“You know,” Nadia said to Adam once they were out of earshot. “I’ve been trying to be extra nice to Mr. Flores ever since that litter pledge. But he never talks to me. I’m starting to think I did something to offend him.”
Adam froze mid-step.
“You okay?” Nadia asked.
Instead of answering, Adam grabbed her arm and dragged her over to a copy of the No-Littering Pledge.
“The other day when I was waiting to get into science class after lunch, I saw the pledge and started to say it backward!”
“Of course you did,” Nadia said, rolling her eyes.
“Wait,” Adam says. “Listen—‘I pledge.’” He said it more slowly. “‘Pleh-dge.’ Don’t you hear it? ‘Pleh’ sounds like ‘help’ backward! Were you holding the amulet that day we did the trash pledge in language arts?”
Nadia thought back. “I was wearing the sweater your mom gave me for Christmas. I was itchy and scratched my neck as I was reciting the pledge. My fingers must have touched the amulet.” She shook her head. “So that’s how Khefren got me to send Titi back into the amulet!”
“And now we know that Flores is Khefren!” Adam exclaimed.
“This is HUGE!” Nadia said. “But wait.” She shook her head. “Nellie Bly would want more evidence. We have to make sure he’s Mr. Flores.”
“Well, let’s go!” Adam said, ripping down the anti-littering pledge from the wall. “We can update Titi and make a plan.”
Nadia’s stomach growled. It looked like they were skipping actual lunch today. She grabbed an emergency granola bar from her backpack on the way to Titi’s classroom.
When they got there, the classroom was set up like the Colosseum during one of the emperor’s sea battle re-creations, with blue fabric for water and cardboard ships students could ride in. Nadia was impressed that Titi had planned such an interesting lesson in the midst of all this. She told him so.
“The show must go on!” Titi said with a shrug. “I am a teacher first. Always. But it looks like you two have something to report. What’s the skinny?”
Five minutes later, Titi was up to speed on Flores.
“You know,” Titi said, “I caught him swearing at me under his breath when he came to sweep my classroom the other day.”
“See?” Adam said. “It’s him!” He ran around the room. “We’re gon-na catch Khef-ren! We’re gon-na catch Khef-ren!”
“I hate to admit it, but that pledge is really clever,” Titi continued. He thought for a moment. “Read that to me again?” As soon as Nadia read the words, “I pledge to do my duty,” Titi stood up. “Holy hieroglyphs! Duty—that sounds a lot like …” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Djehuty.”
Adam stopped running. “Why are you whispering?” he asked.
“Because—” Titi paused. “You swear on a stack of papyrus that you won’t tell a soul?”
“Cross my heart,” Nadia said.
“And hope to die,” Adam added.
“Well, that seems a little extreme,” Titi said.
“Fine, I promise I won’t tell,” Adam said. “Now what does ‘Djehuty’ mean?”
“Djehuty is …” Titi lowered his voice so much that Nadia and Adam had to lean in to hear him. “My secret name.”
“Looc,” Adam whispered.
“Yeah, cool,” Nadia added, whispering. “But, um, what’s a secret name?”
Titi explained. In ancient Egypt, many children received a secret name at birth. No one knew it but them and the gods. Or in Titi’s case, Titi, the gods, and Khefren. He had told his childhood best friend his secret name one day during an ancient Egyptian equivalent of Truth or Dare.
“So?” Adam said after Titi had finished. “What’s the big deal with a word sounding like your secret name being in the pledge? Are you embarrassed because it sounds like ‘doody’? I can beat you on that one. I don’t tell many people my middle name—but Nadia knows it, right?”
“I do indeed, Adam Leprechaun,” Nadia said with a little giggle.
“My birthday is Saint Patrick’s Day,” Adam explained to Titi.
But Titi didn’t so much as crack a smile. “It’s a big deal because I’ll bet you anything that ‘duty’ was in the pledge to make sure I got sent back to the amulet and not Khefren, too. Secret names were very powerful in ancient Egypt. If someone had yours, they could basically control you. Hence the whole secret thing.”
“Oh.” Nadia sat down. “That is serious.”
(Fun Fact: According to ancient Egyptian myth, the goddess Isis tricked the god Ra into giving her his secret name.)
“So you’re saying we need Khefren’s secret name if we want to get him back in the amulet?” Adam asked.
“Uh-huh. If we want him to go back and not me,” Titi said. He was pacing now.
Nadia smiled. “But surely if you told him your secret name, then he must have told you his?”
Titi jumped onto his desk and went into meditation mode. Nadia and Adam stared, not wanting to disturb him. The minutes ticked by. Nadia finished her granola bar, and a second one, too. Finally, with two minutes until the end-of-lunch bell, Titi’s eyes snapped open. “Sa!”
“Sa?!” said Nadia and Adam together.
Titi nodded. “It’s the ancient word for ‘pig.’”
Nadia giggled. “Sa” made this evil magician they were so afraid of seem a little less intimidating.
“Well, quick!” said Adam said to Nadia. “Unwrap the amulet and send him back!”
“Yes!” Titi said. “We’ll be done with all this before class starts!”
Nadia grabbed the amulet and furiously unwrapped the yarn. She held the amulet aloft and took a deep breath.
“Wait,” she said, bringing the amulet back down. “This won’t work. Or rather, it might work, but we won’t know that it worked. When I sent Titi back to the amulet with the pledge, I had no idea it had happened. It wasn’t until I accidentally released him and saw him in my notebook that I realized, remember?” She shook her head. “We need to do this in front of Khefren, so we can know for sure that he actually goes back.”
“Blustering beetles, you’re right,” said Titi.
Flores always emptied Titi’s trash at the end of the day. They agreed to meet in his classroom after school.
Nadia practically skipped off to PE. Her article was a hit, and they were this close to finding Khefren. This was turning out to be a most excellent day.
Nadia’s elation lasted until she was on her way to fifth period and someone knocked into her in the hallway. She looked up and found herself face-to-face with Mia.
“You’re going to pay for this, Youssef,” Mia said, holding up the newspaper. “I know this whole mascot contest was your idea and obviously you want the sphinx to win, but I honestly didn’t think you were capable of something this low. I called my dad and he’s talking with Principal Taylor right now.” She stormed off.
Low?! Nadia thought. Low is sabotaging the Sphinx Squad’s lunchtime show! Her article had simply told the truth. Students deserved to know the facts about the mascot they were voting for.
Ten minutes later, science class was interrupted when the loudspeaker began to hiss and hum. “Attention, students. This is Principal Taylor. This morning I saw you all in the hallways enjoying the new issue of Newsflash. Unfortunately, I have received some very disturbing information: That article about the hawk is fake news.”
Nadia froze. Fake news?
“I will be conducting an investigation to determine whether this false information was distributed accidentally or intentionally. In the meantime, please rest assured that hawks do not and cannot steal small children. The mascot election will continue as planned this afternoon. But I ask that you do your best to not let today’s media mayhem inform how you vote. That’s all, students,” Principal Taylor finished. “Ms. Tovey and Nadia Youssef, please report to my office immediately.”
The entire class swiveled around to stare at Nadia. She gulped.
So much for an excellent day.