The Cursed Scarab by Suzanne Weyn

Author:Suzanne Weyn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2015-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

THE THEATER in the museum was brightly lit. Sound-proofing tiles were hung in pyramid shapes on the auditorium walls, and thick purple curtains hung onstage. When Taylor and her mother arrived, the ten-person cast and the director rushed to greet them, smiling, shaking hands, and introducing themselves.

“I’m so glad that you’re here. We are eager to start, Ashley,” the director said to Mrs. Mason. Her name was Nevin and she was a slim woman, dressed in a black shirt and jeans, with her dark hair pulled back into a bun. “We’re still on script but we’ve read through the play together. Today I’d like to walk through the play and have you suggest any changes you think we need.”

“I do have some new ideas, even after just a couple days in this gorgeous city,” Mrs. Mason said. “Is it all right if I add a whole new scene, or even two?”

“Whatever you like,” Nevin replied. “We want the play to be as wonderful as it can be.”

Mrs. Mason smiled. “Great! I can’t believe I’ll be seeing my play performed here!” She turned to Taylor. “This will be your first chance to see the play performed in a genuine Egyptian setting. Watch and let me know what you think.”

“Okay.”

Nevin turned down the lights in the audience as Taylor took a seat in the fifth row. Her mother and Nevin sat on the edge of the stage while the actors began with their scripts in their hands.

A young man and woman stepped forward, center stage, and began to read. “Feel the sun, Nefertiti, my love,” the young man read. “Here is where we’ll build our new kingdom. I will call it Akhetaten.”

“Akhetaten,” the actress playing Nefertiti repeated. “Horizon of the Aten. A perfect name.” The actress lifted her hands up. “Here we will worship the Aten, the sun disc.”

“Yes,” the pharaoh actor said. “Our people will forget their old gods and goddesses. In this new capital city, the Aten will be worshipped above all others.”

The actor playing Pharaoh Akhenaten put his script down and spoke to Mrs. Mason. “I thought the kingdom was called Amarna, why do you call it Akhetaten?”

“It’s the name the ancients used. The name Amarna came later, after the kingdom had been abandoned,” Mrs. Mason explained.

The actress playing Nefertiti stepped forward. “Does anyone know what caused Akhenaten and Nefertiti to start this new religion?”

Mrs. Mason shook her head. “Not really. Some scholars think it was a trend toward a more scientific view of the universe. Maybe they were thinking about the movement of the earth, and the seasons, and how life depended on having the sun. But no one is really certain.”

The actors continued with the play. Taylor sat forward watching, finding it all fascinating. She was so intent on listening and watching that she gasped when she realized someone was sitting beside her in the darkened theater.

“Dr. Bey!” Taylor cried softly.

“Sorry to startle you, my dear.”

The light from the stage threw dark circles under Dr. Bey’s eyes and deepened the lines of his face.

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