It was a week later that Scooby, Shaggy, Scrappy and the rest of Mystery Inc were hiking in the Himalayas. The snow came up to Scrappy's waist at times and Scooby would have to carry his nephew. It was almost dark when they made it to the last village on the way to Vincent Van Ghoul's castle. The sun was going down and they knew it was better to wait till dawn to continue.
"Like let's hope they have an all-night diner in this village" Shaggy declared plopping his backpack off his shoulders.
"Reah, Diner" Scooby replied.
"You guys can look for supper, we also need to take some time to check into a hotel and look for clues. Whoever trapped Vincent in his crystal ball must have passed through here. Anything we find here might lead us to their motives. We owe it to the Louds and the Casagrandes." Velma declared.
"Speaking of which, I'm gonna fire up the long-distance satellite phone and touch base with them," Fred said. He whipped out a satellite phone specially designed by Lisa Loud and hit the autodial to Royal Woods.
At that time at the Loud house Lisa was studying one of her experiments when the satellite phone went off. "Greetings elder cousin how are things at 15,000 feet?" she asked.
"Cold Lisa, very cold," Fred said through a gust of wind. "It's getting dark here, we'll be heading for the Van Ghoul castle in the morning."
"What is night for you is midday for us. Thankfully most of my siblings are out so it is somewhat peaceful. They chose this week to redo all the floors at our elementary school so I'm doing school from home this week. Oh do not worry about the chest, we have it safely stored in my secret backyard bunker until we need to catch a ghost." They were interrupted by a crashing sound. Lisa cringed, "apologies, I need to take care of that, tell everyone hello. Bye!"
Lisa hung up and rushed out into the hallway where her younger sister Lily had set up a makeshift bowling set and was hurling their hamster Geo in his ball at the shampoo bottles. "Lily, Geo is not a bowling ball!" she exclaimed, catching and picking up their pet. Lily in turn picked up the crystal ball and hurled it at the bottles. Lisa panicked, "t-that is also not a bowling ball. It struck the bottles and hit the closed bathroom door to stop the roll.
Lucy, Lana and Lola came up the stairs to investigate the crash. "What are you two doing?' Lola asked.
"I am merely attempting to protect our beloved hamster from bodily harm" Lisa replied.
"Bowling!" Lily said after reclaiming the crystal ball, which began glowing as soon as she lifted it in the air.
"Gasp, Mr. Van Ghoul must be trying to reach us!" Lucy exclaimed. Sure enough the face of Vincent Van Ghoul appeared in the ball.
"Please inform your youngest sister that using my crystal as a bowling ball makes me motion sick" he said, wrinkling his forehead and shutting his eyes tight.
"Apologies Mr. Van Ghoul, but we have good news, I just heard from our cousin Fred, they should be there to pick up your second crystal ball in the morning and investigate what happened to you" explained Lisa.
"That is good, I'm afraid the news I come bearing is far less good, I have located one of the ghosts" replied Van Ghoul.
"But that's good right?" Lana replied. "Where is it?"
"It appears the sarcophagus of Ankha the Mummy was sent to Royal Woods Museum" Vincent Van Ghoul replied. "He seeks a relic to return Maldor the Malevolent to his physical form. He poses a grave threat to whomever encounters him."
"Leaping lymph nodes, did you say the Royal Woods Museum?" Lisa asked. "Lincoln and Lynn just left for the Royal Woods Middle School overnight field trip and it's at the museum! I'd tried to tag along but Lincoln insisted he needed room in his backpack for his stuffed rabbit."
"Nevermind that Lisa, we have to get there and save them!" Lucy exclaimed, with uncharacteristic vigor.
"But Dad took vanzilla today, how are we gonna get there?" Lola asked.
"First we need to call and warn our older siblings, and then fetch the Chest of Demons from my bunker!" Lisa replied.
"I'll go call!" Lana replied and rushed downstairs to the house phone.
She was unfortunately out of luck, the students had turned off their cellphones upon entering the museum. The kids were encouraged to explore at their leisure. Mr. Bolhofner and Coach Keck served as the on-duty chaperones for the students. As they toured the museum everything seemed fine, even in the ancient Egyptian room. Lincoln along with his friends, Clyde Mcbride, Liam Hunnicutt, Stella Zhau, Rusty Spokes, and Zach Gurdle all listened as a docent explained the centerpiece of the display. "This sarcophagus contains the Mummy of Ankha, a wealthy and feared ruler of Egypt over 3000 years ago."
Zack shot up his hand, "is it true that the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids with the help of aliens?" The tour guide rolled her eyes, feeling the question did not warrant a response.
"Do we get to open the lid and see inside?" Rusty asked next.
"Absolutely not, we have no idea what the modern air would do to the mummy. Or if that doesn't convince you, there is also the curse of Ankha" the tour guide replied.
"Curse!" Clyde exclaimed jumping behind Lincoln, "Di-did you say curse?"
"Indeed, Ankha vowed that if he were ever removed from his tomb he would come back to life! And it is believed he possessed a way to turn his enemies to stone." The tour guide seemed to enjoy telling this part.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard; you call yourself an expert!" Mr. Bolhofner interjected. "You aren't qualified to run the frozen yogurt stand here!" After being thoroughly badgered, the tour guide departed. "Pay her no mind kids" he ended in a huff.
As they exited the room Lincoln saw something glinting in the sand spread out for the display. He reached down and picked up an ornate coin with an Egyptian goddess etched on one side. "Hey guys, what do you think this is?" he asked, showing his friends.
"Is it part of the exhibit?" Stella asked.
"No, it was just in that sand, it's probably one of the souvenir coins from the gift shop" Rusty replied.
"Ok, I'll keep it then, they did a good job making it feel old," said Lincoln.
They went about as they continued their touring of all the exhibits. They didn't return to the Egyptian room that day. Soon it was time for lights out. The girls were assigned to sleep on the floor in the upstairs painting gallery, and the boys slept in the main lobby. It was almost 7:30 when they turned out the lights.
While they had been touring, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa and Lily had been trying to get to the museum. First they took an hour undoing the security measures Lisa had installed to protect the chest of demons. Second, after failing to reach either Lincoln or Lynn, they left a note for their family and set off in Lola's princess jeep. The battery burnt out halfway, so they had to charge it at Burpin Burger where they called back to Mystery Inc to let them know what's going on. By the time they got to the museum it was already closed to the public.
They looked through the glass doors and saw the middle school boys in their sleeping bags on the floor. Fortunately for them Lincoln was sleeping closest to the door. They tapped on the glass, whispering his name furiously, so as not to wake the others and cause a panic. Lincoln slowly opened his eyes which shot open when he realized his younger sisters were all at the door.
He got up, unbolted the door and softly talked. "What are you guys doing here?"
"There's a ghost in the museum!" Lana said, showing him the Chest of Demons stowed in Lily's old diaper bag.
Lincoln tried to freak out as quietly as possible. "What? Are you sure?"
"Correct, we got word from Mr. Van Ghoul that the Mummy of Ankha has been sent to Royal Woods!" Lisa explained.
Lincoln looked around to make sure nobody had woken up. Then he ushered his sisters in as quietly as possible. They tiptoed through the maze of snoring kids. And went into the hallway. "Ok, the mummy exhibit is that way, and somebody should go get Lynn, just in case the mummy puts up a fight." Lincoln began explaining a plan until a flashlight shined onto them. The siblings tried to gasp quietly. Behind the light was Clyde holding the flashlight and Liam, Zach and Rusty behind him.
"Lincoln what's going on? Do you know how mad is gonna be if he finds out you snuck your sisters into the museum?" Clyde whispered, trying to avoid waking anyone else up.
"We don't have time to explain!" Lucy replied, before Lincoln had a chance. "Lily, you will go get Lynn, and one of you, go with them!" She pointed to Lincoln's friends, they made a silent 'not it' motion, and Liam lost. "The rest of you come with us quickly. They split up.
"Does this have anything to do with the stuff you said went down in Great Lakes City?" Clyde asked. Lincoln nodded; he already had told Clyde what had happened. He felt it was fair since Ronnie Anne told Sid Chang.
As they turned the corner Rusty slammed into someone. He looked up and to his horror he saw the silhouette of Mr. Bolhofner with his arm extended pointing ahead. "Ahh! oh sorry Mr. Bolhofner," he began to emphatically apologize and to make excuses for what they were doing up, and why Lincoln's sisters were here. But his teacher remained silent as the boy began sweating.
In just a moment, Lisa flipped the switch and the hallway lit up. They saw why Mr. Bolhofner had not begun reprimanding them yet.
The kids gasped, freaked out by what they saw. "M-mr. Bolhofner" Lincoln asked hoping for any sign of consciousness.
Lisa tapped her brother's teacher's knee which was as gray as concrete. "Fourteen karat stone" she concluded. Everyone gasped.
"Just like the curse of Ankha" exclaimed Zach. But Lincoln, and the Twins had gone into a sprint back to the Egyptian exhibit. The sarcophagus was open and empty.
"We're too late! He got loose," Lana exclaimed as the rest of the kids got into the room.
"It is the curse! The mummy came back and turned Mr. Bolhofner to stone!" Clyde panicked.
"I'm sorry guys, this is all our fault." Lincoln said. He gave them a recap of the events involving Scooby Doo, the Casagrandes, and the Chest of Demons. Lana and Lola took over midway and were retelling the capture of the Gator Ghoul when they saw Lily, Lynn, and Liam approaching. Stella, and Lynn's friend Margo were with them.
"What's going on?" Lynn asked, "Lily just poked my nose, woke me up and said 'Mummy' then we passed a statue of Bolhofner on the way here!"
"That is correct, we have a Mummy on the loose," Lucy declared. Everyone started chattering about what they needed to do.
"Alright everyone listen up, since we do not want to create a panic, I say we set up a base of operation from which we can hunt the mummy and retrap it in the Chest of Demons" Lincoln suggested. They found the curator's office was perfect. It had a six pack of walkie talkies as well as a computer from which Lisa was able to rig up a video chat with Mystery Inc in the Himalayas.
From the other side of the world Scooby and Scrappy spoke through the video screen. "Sorry we can't be there to help you guys with this mummy thing. We would absolutely splat that funky pharaoh" Scrappy exclaimed. "Wouldn't we Uncle Scooby?" Scooby grinned, it was easier being brave when there was an ocean between him and the monster.
"We appreciate your confidence dudes, but we still have no idea where the mummy is or how to save Mr. Bolhofner from life as a human statue" Lynn exclaimed.
Velma came in between the dogs on the screen. "Well if the Mummy is looking for something within the museum, then it must have some sort of magic powers. Whatever it is, you need to find it before he does. Lucy, take the crystal ball back to the Egyptian room and see if you can figure it out, maybe Mr. Van Ghoul can help too."
"Good idea," Lucy said, picking up the crystal ball.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, rule number one when a ghost is running around; you do not go anywhere by yourself" Lincoln exclaimed. "Whatever we do, we go in groups."
"I will head up our base of operations here," Lisa decided, "but the Chest of Demons is going to need round the clock protection." They chose Margo and Liam to stay with Lisa on guard duty. Between Margo's roller derby experience, and Liam's hog wrestling they figured they could handle protecting the chest.
They sent Lucy, Lily and Zach to the Egyptian room to study the artifacts. Lincoln, headed back to where the others were sleeping to make sure nothing had happened, he took Lana, and Stella with him.
Lynn meanwhile decided they needed to arm themselves. She, Clyde, Lola, and Rusty found themselves in the medieval room.
"Are you sure about this Lynn?" Clyde asked worryingly.
"Look, that mummy has already fossilized Bolhofner. I'm not taking any chances" Lynn replied as she perused the array of swords and axes.
Lola meanwhile had become distracted by a rusted crown. "Ha, they call this fit for a queen?" she tossed it away in disgust." It bounced off the wall with a clang. The others shushed her, so she quietly returned it to its stand.
A second crashing sound made Lynn, Clyde, and Rusty shush again. "Hey, that time it wasn't me" Lola rebutted. They turned to see the janitor's closet wide open with contents spilled out on the ground. Standing inside was a six foot, bandaged wrapped, angry mummy. It let out a growling moan.
Clyde freaked for a split second then sprang into action slamming the door. "Rusty, quick, something heavy" he ordered. Rusty was way ahead of him and pushed a bench in front of the door. But the mummy began pounding furiously on the door.
"Perfect, now all we need is the Chest of Demons" Lola declared.
"Yeah but what happens if we suck the mummy in before we figure out how to undo his stone-turning thing!" Lynn replied. Suddenly the Mummy's fist smashed through the door making a large hole it could see through.
"Coi-n, coi-n," growled Ankha.
"Excuse me, Lola Loud does not give handouts!" replied Lola.
"No Lola, I think I know what coin he means, and we don't have it," Clyde said.
"I don't think that door's gonna hold him much longer," Rusty said, stepping back. "Let's jet!" And he took off followed by Lynn who was carrying Lola. Clyde grabbed the rusty crown and just as Ankha had forced his way through the door, he tossed it like a frisbee trying to make the mummy stagger. They did not stop running long enough to check to see if it had worked.
While the Mummy was chasing them, Lincoln, Lana and Stella checked on all the others, the rest of the middle school students were accounted for, still asleep and not turned to stone. . "Ok, it doesn't look like the mummy has been this way," Lincoln deduced. "We better get back and see what the others have found."
"I hope Mom and Dad aren't too worried about us," Lana worried.
"Maybe you can get the phone out of the bag" Stella pointed, the duffle bag of student phones underneath the bench where Coach Keck was fast asleep. Lincoln did his best David Steele stealth roll. He snatched the duffle bag, then paused as the Coach shifted and snored. When it was clear she was still asleep he slid the bag to Stella and then rolled back to rejoin them. They bolted into the stairwell before anyone could see them.
"Ok that was too close," Lincoln said. He then dug through the bag, found his phone and began texting his mom. "Mom's glad we're safe, but she said to call if we need anything and that they'll all be pacing the floor until we get back" he reported to Lana. Another text beeped, "oh, and she's gonna send Dad with dinner."
Stella shushed them, "Someone is on the floor below us!" She was looking over the railing. There was someone with a sack hunched over against the wall, near the emergency exit.
"Is it the mummy?" Lana asked worryingly.
Lincoln shined his phone down, "nope but I think it's another of his victims." Sure enough it was a petrified figure of someone wearing a ski mask. The sack was full of artifacts that had seemingly been looted from the museum.
"Looks like the mummy met a burglar," Stella deduced. She then pulled out the walkie talkie to report their findings. "Lisa, we've found a sack full of things a thief was trying to take out of the museum but the mummy got to him before he could escape."
"Hmm, interesting, bring them back here, we still don't know what Ankha is after in this museum so we need to check as many of the artifacts as we can." instructed Lisa.
"Roger," Stella replied. I wonder how the thief was able to pilfer all these things without setting off the alarm?"
"Uhh, I think they can thank the mummy for that"Lincoln replied, pointing to a control panel that had clearly been smashed.
"L-let's get out of here before he comes back" Lana replied with worry in her tone, and they headed back out of the stairwell.
They were completely unaware that Ankha was currently pursuing Clyde, Lola, Lynn, and Rusty who were racing through the museum trying to lose him. Lynn pulled out her walkie talkie and was about to call the others as they rounded the corner. However they were turning into the Egyptian display and ran right into Lucy, and Zach. They piled up in the middle of the room while Lily laughed.
"Smooth move guys" Zach said, "I thought you were gonna go find a weapon?"
"We were but he found us first!" Lynn whispered angrily.
"Who?" asked Vincent Van Ghoul from his crystal ball sitting on the bench.
"Mummy" they heard Lily cry as she looked out the entryway to see Ankha slowly lurching down the hall.
"We've got to hide!" Clyde cried.
"I've got an idea!" replied Lucy. They acted fast. When the Mummy of Ankha lumbered into the room he groaned as he expected to find the kids cowering.
"Bow you simpleton!" he heard. Looking to the side he was Lola with a pharaoh's headdress and a cloak in which she appeared three times taller. The mummy looked confusedly at her. "Are you deaf, your queen Lolapatra is here, bow!"
Ankha did not obey. "Coin, Coin" he demanded. To the side Clyde, Zach Rusty and the crystal ball were hiding behind two pillars.
Zach whispered, "why does he want money?"
"I think he's talking about that kooky coin Lincoln found," Clyde explained.
"That would make sense, Ankha was known for hiding his valuables inside puzzle boxes" added Vincent.
"We've got to get to the coin before he does," Rusty concluded.
Lola was succeeding in distracting the mummy, as Lynn snuck up behind him carrying a heavy recreation of one of the bricks used building the pyramid. Ankha tugged at his bandages and pulled out an ankh necklace. "Your tribute pleases me not!" Lola replied, reveling in her role as a monarch. The necklace started to glow as if it was charging.
A blast fired, Lola panicked and jumped revealing she was standing on Lucy's shoulder's to give the appearance of being taller the blast missed them. Lynn dropped the slab onto a strand of the Mummy's wrapping that was straggling behind his foot. They all bolted out of the room as Ankh jerked on the cloth trying to tear it. He held his ankh one more time and fired at them as they ran out of sight.
Everyone else had regrouped in the office where Shaggy and Scooby were still on video chat with Lisa. The rest of the gang had begun the trek to Van Ghoul Castle. "So you see, we can't trap the mummy until after we determine how to undo his stone turning" Lisa said.
"Like I wish we knew, but last time the Mummy was just a crooked archaeologist, who faked turning people to stone with cement," Shaggy replied.
Suddenly the rest of the kids burst into the room and slammed the door behind them. They sighed as they caught their breath. "The mummy," Clyde began, "he came after us in the Egyptian room."
"He wants that coin you found in the sand Lincoln" Zach added. Lincoln pulled out the coin and Shaggy and Scooby saw it on the screen.
"The roin" Scooby exclaimed.
"Like Scooby's right, that's the same coin he was after last time, it fits into a slot in the back of a little statue of a hippo lady" Shaggy exclaimed.
"Y'all mean, Tarawet, the ancient Egyptian goddess of motherhood?" Liam asked. Everyone turned to stare at her in amazement of her knowledge. "What? Was I the only one who watched that show Moon Knight?"
"Nevermind, just find the little statue and insert the coin" Shaggy instructed.
"It must be in here" Lana exclaimed diving into the bag the burglar had been trying to smuggle out of the museum.
"Be careful Lana, I don't think we are insured if we break anything" Lisa instructed. Suddenly they all heard a massive thud and the door to the office fell down. The mummy stood there moaning in anger.
"Mummy alert!" cried Margo who jumped to ram it with her shoulder. She collided with Ankha like a linebacker. The mummy fell backwards but angrily raised his ankh.
"Look out!" Clyde exclaimed before grabbing and yanking her out of the way of the blast of magic.
"Zoinks! Like I guess we know how he turns people to stone" Shaggy exclaimed.
"Run!" Scooby cried.
The kids opened a window, Lucy jumped first and then they passed the Chest of Demons down to her, then Lynn jumped with Lily, then Lincoln and Clyde who caught the twins, Stella who caught Lisa, and then Margo jumped carrying the crystal ball. "Hurry guys!" Lincoln called. But there was another glow of a blast from the ankh. Everyone gasped.
Liam and Rusty barreled out of the window in a panic after shoving the sack out first.. "The Mummy just turned Zach into a statue" Rusty exclaimed.
The Mummy looked out the window angrily then disappeared back inside the museum. He looked at the video chat where Scooby was trying to see what was happening. Scooby nervously laughed, "rello." Ankha then smashed the screen.
"Ankha's ankh must hold the key to reversing his petrifications" said Vincent Van Ghoul in the crystal ball.
"Yeah, but how are we supposed to get it off the mummy's neck?" asked Lola.
They heard a car approaching, and vanzilla pulled up on the curb. The window rolled down and Lynn Sr. reached over from the driver's seat. "Kids are you alright?"
"We're ok Dad, but there's still a mad mummy running around the museum and we've got to get it back into the chest" Lincoln explained. "Well first we've got to get a necklace off his neck then we trap him." He was trying to come up with a plan, but it was interrupted by the back door of the museum smashing open and the Mummy emerging with a chariot pulled by two mummified horses. "Actually, first I think we all need to get out of here!" The kids climbed into Vanzilla and then Lynn Sr. slammed on the gas. The van roared off with Ankha in hot pursuit.
Lynn Jr. answered her dad's cellphone while he was driving. "Hello?" it was Shaggy on the other line. "Listen Shaggy we're getting chased by the mummy in a chariot pulled by mummified horses, so unless you've got any tips for snagging a necklace off a mummy's neck, now is not the time to chat!" She snapped.
They raced through the streets of Royal Woods with the mummy hot on their trail. Everyone was looking under their seats to try to find anything that might help. "Ok so we have three candy canes from last Christmas, Lily's blanket, a book that needs to go back to the library, and a massive hairball from Cliff the cat." said Lisa as she inspected what was getting pulled from under and in the seats.
"We're in trouble!" Clyde said in a Panic.
"Not yet Clyde, I reckon we can slow that chariot down!" Liam said. "Give me those candy canes," he rolled down the window and dropped the candy canes on the road. The horses immediately took notice. "Even ancient mummy horses love peppermints."
The horses came to a jarring stop, throwing Ankha.
"Ok, now he's not chasing us, but how do we close enough to get his necklace?" Lola asked.
"Lincoln, look in the back, maybe your fishing pole from Camp Mastodon is back there!" Lynn Sr. suggested. Lincoln turned around in this seat, sure enough buried under a week's worth of after school equipment was his fishing pole.
"Score," Lincoln was excited too soon, "dang it, there's no hook!" Everyone groaned.
After a moment of thinking Lana had an idea. "Wait, Lola, can we use your clip-on earrings to make a hook?" Lisa stroked her chin as if considering if it could work. Lola was meanwhile hesitant.
"O-K but you're buying me new ones" Lola reluctantly handed over her earrings which Lynn Jr. bent them into hooks. She revealed the results and Lola cringed at her ruined jewelry.
Lynn threw the hook to her brother who attached it to his fishing line. He then reached out the rolled down window with his fishing pole and prepared to cast at the mummy who was back on his feet in pursuit. Lincoln waited until he was close enough and then with a swish he sent the hook hurtling toward Ankha's torso. The hook hit the Ankh. Everyone cheered! But as Lincoln tried to reel it in, the Mummy latched onto the fishing line, and tried to pull back. Lincoln struggled as his friends clung to him.
"Need more power!" Lily exclaimed to Shaggy, having been handed the cellphone. Shaggy was not sure what to say.
"Like, try a Scooby Snack!" Shaggy worryingly suggested, he didn't exactly know what was going on. Lily however took the suggestion literally and grabbed a scooby snack from the box Lana had stashed for their dog Charles and ate it. She then grabbed her blanket and looped it around the fishing line to try and help pull. The van had now stopped moving. The mummy made a strong jerk and the bounce pulled Lily out of the vehicle. She clung to her blanket and slid down like a zipline.
Everyone was in a panic and those not helping Lincoln hold the pole piled out of vanzilla to help her. Lily landed on the Mummy, Ankha however did not let go of his grip on the fishing line. He tried to scare Lily into getting off him but the youngest Loud simply spit a chew up scooby snack in his face. Taking advantage of the momentary confusion Lily snagged the Ankh as her Dad reached her and scooped her into his arms.
"Lily, that was very brave, never do that again!" Lynn Jr. emotionally said, hugging his youngest daughter tight as he sprinted away from the Mummy.
Lucy smiled, "Lincoln, you know what time it is!" Her brother nodded. "Hocus Pocus, spirit rest, return oh return to the demon chest!" she chanted, silently thinking how cheesy this spell sounded. The chest started humming as Lincoln picked it up and aimed at Ankha. The Mummy saw the chest and his normally emotionless stare appeared panicked. He turned to flee but it was too late. The dragging strand of wrapping was already snagged inside the box and soon he was spinning as he was sucked into the box. Everyone cheered.
"Like what's going on!" Shaggy asked on the phone.
"Mission accomplished, mummy trapped, now we've just got to figure out how to get everything fixed," Lana explained, picking up the phone that had fallen on Vanzilla's floor.
The crystal ball started to glow and Vincent Van Ghoul appeared and said, "I might be able to help with that but first we better go back and turn that ankh onto the petrified people.".
20 minutes later they were all back in the office of the museum, where the stone Zach was. "I sure hope this works!" Lincoln said before holding up the ankh. It charged and then blasted, hitting Zach. For a moment there was nothing, then they heard a cracking sound. The stone around and Zach's head turned brittle and fell away revealing Zach underneath who gasped for breath.
"Ugh, what hit me?" Zach said. His friends were ecstatic, hugging him so hard it broke apart the rest of the stone. "What happened, where's the mummy?"
"Safe and secure," Lisa said, patting the Chest of Demons on which Lily was sitting.
"Come on we still have to use this on Mr. Bolhofner and that thief we found" Stella declared, as Lincoln handed her the necklace.
"And if you'll take me, I believe I know just the right magic so that most of this damage will be cleaned up and forgotten," added Vincent Van Ghoul. Lincoln's friends departed with Margo still holding the crystal ball. As they got farther away they could make out Vincent saying, "and someone better call the police about that burglar.
That left the Louds alone in the room. A quick search of the burglar's sack yielded the little statue which Shaggy had mentioned. Lincoln pulled out his coin and inserted it into a slot on its back. The statue's mouth opened revealing a diamond scarab.
"Ooooh!" All the louds said in unison.
"Hello gorgeous!" Lola said snagging the jewel artifact.
"Lola, not so fast, we still don't know why the mummy wanted this" Lisa replied.
"Well let's go make sure the others make out alright, then we can go home, call your cousin and his friends and ask them" their Dad suggested.
{The Next Morning}
After clearing things up at the museum, the Loud kids had gotten a little bit of sleep and now sat at the breakfast table, alongside Leni, Luna and Luan. They had Lincoln's laptop set up with Mystery Inc. on the other end.
"Nice work nailing the Mummy of Ankha." Fred congratulated them. "Sorry we weren't able to help very much."
"It wasn't easy, thankfully we had strength in numbers" Lincoln said, as his younger sisters, and Lynn smiled around him.
"Well we've got the second crystal ball to send to the Casagrandes. And get this, when I went to the post office to get the bubble wrap to ship it to Great Lakes City; the lady at the desk said that was the second package they had mailed there this month!" Daphne added.
"But that would imply that someone mailed the Chest of Demons to Great Lakes City deliberately" Lisa reasoned.
"Exactly, the box she described fit the Chest perfectly, but she unfortunately didn't remember anything about the sender" Daphne added.
"Dang it" Lily pouted.
"Did y'all find anything else in the castle?" Lincoln asked.
"Primarily some footprints where someone came in through a window, the prints smaller than Vincent Van Ghoul's, but the boots were the same brand as the ones all of us are wearing" Fred added. "Other than that we haven't found much yet but we're going to make one more search before we leave."
"And there was one thing that we didn't find that raises questions for me!" Scrappy said, hopping up into view. "When I took Vincent's crystal ball through the castle to check on his belongings we found the Mirror of Marrakesh is missing!" The kids looked at eachother not understanding the significance of the missing vanity mirror. Scrappy was about to explain but Lynn Sr. brought in a plate filled with breakfast sandwiches for the kids. Scooby excitedly barged onto the screen next to his nephew, wanting to jump through the screen and eat one. "Uncle Scooby, not now!" Scrappy said, shoving his way back onto the screen.
Velma and Daphne took the screen away. "As Scrappy was trying to say, that mirror held a ghost called the Reflector Specter. It was one of the original thirteen ghosts imprisoned within the chest, but Vincent thought that Maldor had changed all the ghosts into different ones," Daphne added.
Vincent appeared, this time in both crystal balls to address all parties. "It appears as though I was mistaken, Maldor must have wanted to deceive me, that I may lower your guards to the possibility of the former denizens of the chest being among those released" he lamented, "but now I see we must remain ever vigilant."
"And what about the diamond thing we found that the mummy was after?" Lynn asked.
"The diamond scarab of Ankha was his secret to victory in many battles, it was believed he used it to block out the sun striking fear into his enemies. But I will know for certain once I am free from my crystal prison and can examine it properly" Vincent had a hint of frustration as he referenced his being trapped in the crystal ball.
"We'll keep looking for a way to get you free Mr. Van Ghoul" assured Lincoln.
They said their byes for now. The Louds settled down to a well earned breakfast as Scooby and the gang found supper for themselves. Eleven ghosts still ran free, including Maldor and his mysterious ally. But for now they could rest easy knowing the mummy was under wraps.