The Pharaoh's Code (ON HOLD)

Chapter One: Three Months Later

Chapter One: Three Months Later

"Good Friday, April 14th, 1865," Professor Elizabeth Ward called out, writing the date on the board quickly in her slanted, jagged handwriting. She dusted off her hands with a frown - she doubted normal schools still used blackboards and chalk, and there was probably a good reason for that. "Can anyone tell me the significance of this date?"

Nobody said a word, but someone at the back did clear their throat. Elizabeth fought an eye roll at their lethargy and moved around to the front of her desk, perching on the edge. Every single face staring back at her was blank and she could tell most of them would rather be anywhere than the stuffy old classroom. And why shouldn't they? The weather was glorious outside; Summer was refusing to give into Autumn despite it being the start of October, and the grounds of Whiston Grammar School were exceptionally beautiful at this time of year.

"No one?" she persevered, looking around at them. "Come on - Good Friday, April 14th, 1865. What does that date mean to America?"

"Easter eggs," a boy three rows from the back called out. He got a few giggles.

"So close, Thomas, so so close," she retorted with a pitying smile at him. "But no. Alright...how about a clue..." Even though we've been doing this for weeks, she wanted to add but bit her tongue instead. "It's got something to do with Abraham Lincoln."

She waited for the penny to drop somewhere in the room, and sure enough a girl near the window raised a hand. "Isabella?"

The girl brushed her long straight blonde hair out of her face. "Was it the date of the first annual White House Easter Egg Hunt?"

Elizabeth stared dumbly at her for a moment, at a loss for words, before the student beside Isabella - a waif like girl with a scruffy auburn bob - groaned loudly and scowled at her.

"It's the day he was assassinated, you stupid moron," the girl snapped, shaking her head with disbelief.

"Thank you Will," Elizabeth managed to interject, over the top of them both - because Isabella looked ready to claw Will's eyes out, "for the right answer, but try to be a little more constructive when correcting your fellow students next time, hmm?"

Will gave her a sweet smile, which was really just for show, as was her telling off. Elizabeth could always trust Will to voice what she, due to professional constraints, couldn't express herself and as such, Elizabeth always had a difficult time telling her she was wrong to think as she did. Especially when she'd been one wrong move away from screaming that herself. Students could be so frustrating sometimes. Not that she didn't want to teach, she just wanted to teach people willing to learn.

"And Izzy - that was a very creative answer. I don't actually know the date of the...First Annual...Easter Egg Hunt," she admitted. "But getting away from seasonal confectionery, Will was right. It was the date of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln."

There were a few murmurs of belated realisation. Finally.

"Now, Lincoln was the president during the American Civil War - and had tried to find a solution to ease the tension and fighting between the North and the South. It had worked, and in 1865 the Civil war was drawing to a close. The Southern Army, or the Confederacy, were struggling to maintain their front-line against the advances of the North. Page 117 in your books."

There was a collected rustle of paper as they all did as they were told. She raised a textbook to point to a black and white photograph. "John Wilkes Booth, an actor and confederate sympathiser, decided that the best course of action would be to remove the people in main positions of power in America, and the chaos in government caused by that would allow for an upsurgence from the South - long enough to gain the upper hand at least."