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CHAPTER FOUR

Professor Lloyd

When Owen and Monica knocked on Professor Lloyd’s door, they heard a cat miaowing inside. They heard Professor Lloyd’s footsteps coming toward the door, then they saw him: a tall well-built man with glasses. He had straight, grey-white hair and a soft, kind face. He welcomed them with a large smile.

“You must be Monica.”

“Hello Professor Lloyd. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine. From what Owen tells me, you have something which may be more powerful than we know.”

Professor Lloyd’s flat was filled with books and cats. Each wall was covered with shelves of books, and there were cats of every different colour sitting on tables, walking across the floor, or rubbing themselves against Monica’s legs. Monica picked up a black one with white paws.

“I love your cats, Professor.”

“The Kauri Indians of southern Peru believe the cat spirit controls our lives. They probably know my cats and my life.”

Professor Lloyd laughed loudly. He picked up two of the cats as they walked to the middle of the room where a bright light hung over a square white table with four chairs.

They sat at the table, and the professor asked to see the blue scarab. He put a round, one-inch eyepiece with black glass over his left eye, and he studied the back of the stone.

“Ah, yes. Here are the markings.”

The professor was quiet. He took the eyepiece away from his eye and looked at Monica. Owen was worried.

“What is it Professor?”

“It seems that Monica has been chosen as a messenger for the gods.”

“Gods! Professor, you don’t really believe in the gods, do you?”

“What I mean is that this stone is exactly like the one in ancient mythology. The myth says that certain people are chosen to wear it.”

“That’s what the woman said who gave it to me.”

“Professor, what are the markings?”

The Professor held the stone up to the light.

“You can’t see it clearly without the eyepiece, but this marking here is the teeth of a dog. The dog watches over the dead. And here is the wing of a hawk. The hawk cries for the revenge of the dead. But here is the sign connecting all the others - the round horn of the ram. This represents the power of water. It can give life to the dead. The scarab on the front, which represents the sun, acts together with water to bring peace to both the living and the dead.”

“How do you know all this?”

“It is written in ancient Egyptian tombs, but there is another way to see if we are right.”

“What’s that?”

“We can test the stone to see what kind of power it has.”