The Secret of the Scarlet Stone (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book One) (13 page)

Jessica pulled out her necklace and held it out for Rosalinda to see
.
“You know what
?
I think that Gabi might be on to something. It can’t be an accident that we all have the same pendant. Besides
,
my
g
reat
-g
randmother wore this very same
one,
” she stammered nervously. Her face suddenly pinched with confusion as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger
.
“You know, come to think of it, I think that all of the women in my family have worn a necklace like this at one point in their lives
.
”

Curious,
Zora
walked over to look at Gabrielle’s pendant as their voices rose with excitement while they animatedly speculated on why they had the same necklace.
Zora
silently laid Gabrielle’s pendant into the center of the palm of her hand. Suddenly,
i
t
began to twirl in mid-air. She looked over at them
in
shock.

“Did you just see that?”
Zora
asked nervously.

They a
bruptly stopped talking and looked over at her.

“What? Did we see what
,
Zora
?” Gabrielle asked.

Zora
adjusted her glasses nervously
.
“Uh, I guess it’s nothing. Gabi, can you take off your necklace? I want to examine it a little more.”

Gabrielle hesitated when she remembered the promise that she made to Grandma Celeste about not taking off the necklace
,
but she wanted the answer to the mystery behind the pendant much more, so she quickly unhooked her necklace and handed it over to
Zora
.

Zora
carefully held the pendant up to the light, watching as the ruby stones twinkled
.
“Wow! This pendant is very old; I think it was made in the
nineteen-hundreds
. Hey
,
wait a minute—there’s a strange symbol under the stone in the center.”

“
B
ack
up a second
. H
ow do you know that the pendant was made in the
nineteen hundreds
?” Jessica asked.

Zora
pushed her glasses up from the tip of her nose
.
“Uh
,
well
,
I can pretty much figure out anything about an object just by looking at it or touching it. I guess it’s both a gift and a curse.”

Gabrielle glared
at
Zora
and Jessica
.
“Focus
,
girls
.
W
hy are we talking about the date of the pendant when we don’t even know why we all have the same
one
and we definitely don’t know where it was made?”

“Egypt,”
Zora
blurted out matter-of-factly.

“Excuse me? Egypt? What in the world are you jabbering about
,
Zora
?” Gabrielle asked.

“I think that the pendant was made in Egypt,”
Zora
stated.

“Oh! This is so ridiculous. How could she know when and where our pendants were made? I think that she’s making all this stuff up,” Rosalinda scoffed loudly.

Jessica
’s
eyebrows rose with puzzlement
.
“But how do you know
,
Zora
?”

“I just told you…I have this freaky gift,”
Zora
said with a sigh.

 
Jessica, Gabrielle
,
and Rosalinda looked at her strangely.

Zora
took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes tiredly
.
“Okay
,
so why are you looking at me like I’m some sort of strange creature? I knew it
,
I just knew it
.
I should have kept my big mouth shut. Now just like everyone else, you think that I’m some sort of freak.”

“Uh
,
relax
,
Zora
, we don’t think that you’re a freak,” Gabrielle responded calmly.

Rosalinda rolled her eyes
.
“Umm
,
I beg to differ. I think that she’s either a big fat liar or some sort of freak. Either one—take your pick!” she declared rudely.

Gabrielle gave Rosalinda an angry glare
.
“Girl, you are absolutely the worst!” She gave
Zora
a look of support
.
“Don’t worry about it
,
Zora
.
W
e’re friends and despite what the
p
rincess over there says, you’re still cool with us.” Gabrielle rubbed her hands together anxiously
.
“So, how do we figure out what the symbol in the center of the pendant mean
s
?”

Zora
smiled gratefully then snapped her fingers loudly
.
“Wait a second—I
got it
.
L
et me get my magnifying glass
;
maybe we can figure it out together. Quick
…
everyone take off your necklace
s
; I’ll need to look at them.”

They quickly took
off their necklaces and laid them carefully on the bed, side
by
side.

Zora
dashed over to her huge backpack that was lying on the floor, opened it
,
and pulled
out a magnifying glass. She walked over to the bed and kneeled on the floor as she slowly held the magnifying glass over each of the pendants.

“Interesting
…
interesting
…
oh, this is very interesting,”
Zora
mumbled softly.

 
Gabrielle gave
her
a puzzled look
.
“Okay
,
do you mind telling us what’s so interesting?” she demanded impatiently.

Zora
looked over at them distractedly
.
“Oh
,
I’m sorry. Okay, so we all know that the pendant has five ruby stones
:
you know
,
four ruby stones circling the big one in the center
.
B
ut
what’s
so interesting is the small
carved symbols under each stone.”

“We already know that
,
Zora
—tell us something we don’t know,” Gabrielle
said.

“Well
,
what’s even more interesting is that the pendants are almost the same
:
you know
,
with the same four symbols under each stone except for the symbol in the center, which is different in each of your pendants,”
Zora
continued breathlessly.

Giving her a doubtful look, Gabrielle scoffed loudly.

“Well, if you don’t believe me then take a look yourself,”
Zora
said angrily as she shoved the magnifying glass towards Gabrielle.

“Jeez
,
Zora
, you don’t have to get all huffy about it!” Gabrielle slowly examined the pendants then looked over at
Zora
apologetically
.
“Wow, you’re right
.
I see what you’re talking about
,
but do you know what the symbols mean?”

Zora
adjusted her eyeglasses
.
“Well, from what I can tell so far
,
they’re based on some form of
a
ncient Egyptian language.”

Gabrielle jumped up
and
down excitedly
.
“So, you do know what they mean,” she screamed.

Zora
shook her head regretfully
.
“Well, not exactly. See, it’s not Egyptian; it seems to be based on the language,” she stated calmly.

Rosalinda gave
Zora
a confused look
.
“So what are you saying? I don’t understand.”

Gabrielle’s face tensed
.
“
L
et me get this straight
. Y
ou don’t know what they mean?”

“Sorry
,
girls, I don’t
know
what the symbols mean. I have never seen this exact form of language,”
Zora
said quickly. Her face suddenly lit
up
.
“But I do have some books in my trunk that just might solve our problem,” she said as she quickly walked over to a tattered old trunk nestled in the corner of the room. She unlocked the top and snapped it open roughly.
As she knelt
in front of the trunk, her eyes flashed anxiously when she noticed the partially peeled
-
back lining in the
top
corner
.

Zora
adjusted her glasses
.
“Great! My trunk is falling apart.”