So this was something I've been working on for a while now, kinda collecting dust on my computer. Recently someone gave me the DVD (bless be the roommate) and I decided to post this.
Honestly Ardeth Bay is my childhood crush in the trilogy of movies and I just wanted to give him some love and finish out this beast that's been around forever.
I hope you all enjoy this and let me know what you think!
When you decide you want to become an Egyptologist by the age of five, you would think an individual would be sufficiently prepared for their work choice in life. I, however, had not been informed or expected the sheer amount of paperwork that I would have to fill out night after night. If I had a choice between a locust plague of Old Egypt or the paperwork, I might have chosen the locust plague.
Every night I would write until my hands cramp. I would type until I could not see the words on the page. I would sign until my signature bled into the fibers of muscle memory. Night after night I would go through the same motions and the same routine until I left for the night and would pick up the same motions the next day.
I was the bon mot definition of insanity by my first six month tenure at the Museum of London.
However, I could not have chosen a better profession.
I was the first woman to have been accepted as a preparator and it only took two and many years of internship to have been chosen. Though I started only as an educator in the museum, doing tours and other side shows, I had fought tooth and nail to be upgraded to an art handler. This was my true passion, working with artifacts and being one of the first eyes to see a piece of history, to know its true form, the facts, and the memories associated with it.
To put it simply: I adored my job. I would do anything to keep it, to prove that a woman could be as viable as a man. A woman in academic circles was rare enough. It was a man's world and the fact that a woman could infringe on their space caused me more than a few setbacks and headaches. Yet here I was, years later, doing the job I had dreamed of doing. I was blazing the trail, proving to others that a female was just as capable as a male, or in fact, could be better than one.
This job was worth the paperwork, the cramping, the typing, and every other nuisance that was thrown my way.
That is why I was here late at night finishing up the detailed projects of new items that had just been catalogued. Technically I was supposed to have been gone hours ago but this paperwork had to have been done by the end of the day. The curator had ordered everyone out on this particular Wednesday, and honestly, why would the whole museum have to be evacuated on a Wednesday? Sure a Monday I could accept but the middle of the week? It was unbelievable. Especially with the influx of new artifacts and the amount of preparation I would have to do to create the spaces and exhibits for these artifacts. I could not have gone home even if I wanted to.
So instead of going home, pouring a glass of wine, and reading my current book in ancient Egyptian, I ignored the orders from the curator and chose to finish the paperwork instead. Thankfully after eight solid hours of work I managed to complete the required forms for the new artifacts. Tiredness had set in hours ago and I was past the state of zombie. Honestly at this point I could have been mistaken for an undead mummy or if the lighting was right, perhaps just a dead mummy instead.
I pushed away from the table with that thought, knowing it was well past time for me to get going. My purse and keys were quickly swiped from the hook beside the door, and I took a moment to lock the door behind me. My nameplate on the door shone at me and I smiled, as I did every time I came to my office. This was the symbol of my achievement and what I had accomplished and I would smile every day after for as long as I had my name on the door.
I took the familiar turns and corners to the rear exit when I heard voices coming from the corridor. Odd. There should be no one here. I know I was a workaholic and would stay but others? Not so much. My peers were to work on time and left on time because they could afford to. So it would not be any of my colleagues.
I opened my purse cautiously, knowing the weapon I always kept on me was within my hand's quick reach. Then slowly and as quietly as possible I began to turn away from the exit and towards the voices that I heard echoing down the halls.
A brief thought flittered across my mind, bringing the curator's visage into memory. It was true that he had been acting odd, recently. He'd always been the little prick but I'd put up with my feminine pride long enough to deal with him and take this job. Unfortunately since we worked in the same department I saw him more than I cared to and his misogyny hadn't diminished in the slightest. In fact he'd been quite the pompous asshole and that was saying something.
Recently though, I'd seen a curious woman with him. She was Egyptian of some sort; I'd heard her speaking ancient Egyptian with ease. I had thought her another expert or something of the like. Something about her though always seemed off, that smile too perfect. A warning sign had kept me away from her and I had little to no contact with her for the past month. I planned to keep it that way.
There were other things too. Jobs hiring that I didn't even understand. Who even is a cultural Egyptian? Why did we need an Egyptian artifact guard? We already had the protection staff. Random people would come through the business quarters that I did not recognize. I did not question the curator or his need for such things because I knew what an inquiry would do to me. It would be the end of my career and I didn't want that at all.
So instead now I stalked the Egyptian mummy exhibition halls to find strange voices in a museum that was closed off to anyone with me technically trespassing after hours in which I might lose my job if I was caught.
Obviously I was not the brightest parchment in the box, so to speak. But I had my morals, and someone who could steal the artifacts (because what else could those voices be, honestly) should not be allowed in any society.
As I walked past the mummy exhibits, an ear shattering scream pierced the air around me. Mummies in the glass cases leapt to life, clawing at the glass cases around them. I screamed in horror as I whirled around. Every single mummy in the room was alive and screeching and wailing these unholy wails. They were literally dirt and bones with no skin and some even no muscles, no eyes, nothing, but the scratches on the glass were real. The wails I heard to my soul were real.
I realized they couldn't get out of the bulletproof cases at the moment and forced myself to calm and think rationally. Or as rational as one could get when possessed, dead mummies came to life. I reached into my purse and pulled out the pistol I always carried with me, the familiar weight in my hands calming me down. I held the weapon at my side as I tried to slow my breathing even as the screams continued around me.
"Who are you?" the voice had me whipping around and bringing my weapon up to point directly at the threat. Two men stood behind me, each of them with a gun of their own and both directly at my face.
One was armed with a shotgun and the other a sub-machine gun. The one with a shotgun was dressed as an archaeologist would, but with as much ammo strapped to him as he had, he wasn't here to look at fossils. His eyes were cold, angry, and deadly; he was pissed. The one with a machine gun was dressed in exotic attire dyed in all black. He had tattoos all over his face and looked as if he were from the middle east. He didn't seem to be here to steal and I didn't sense the leashed violence like I did from the archaeologist. Of course, that may have been my pheromones talking because he was also drop dead gorgeous.
"You two need to leave for your own safety." Robbers or not, no one deserved to be killed by deranged mummies. "I don't know what's going on and I don't care if you're here to rob the museum. Get out and I won't tell a soul." Because no one was going to believe this story even if I told it…but I wasn't going to tell them that.
The two men looked at each other and the archaeologist lowered his weapon. "You're not with them?" the archaeologist asked.
"I'm with the museum, yes." Again they looked at each other and faced with a sub machine gun still technically aimed at me, I expanded on my answer. "I'm a preparator. I was finishing up paperwork when these mummies came to life." The mummies in question were still clawing at the glass, but it was thick glass. Thank god.
"You need to get out of here," the man in black stated as he lowered his sub machine gun. As he lowered his weapon I lowered mine, but I was ready to lift and fire if they made a wrong move.
"No. Something's going on here and I have to make sure whatever is going on is contained in the museum. If these things get loose it would be a massacre." Though the mummies couldn't get out their fingernails left scratches in the glass. Only something wickedly sharp could damage glass of that caliber. "What are you two doing here?" They shared a look again and I sighed. "It can't be as odd as mummies coming back to life."
"You'd be surprised," the archaeologist muttered darkly.
"Try me," I snapped back.
"A cult led by your curator has successfully brought a crazy Egyptian advisor named Imhotep back to life and wants to use the army of the Anubis to take over the entire world. He's also kidnapped my wife to give to the crazy son of a bitch so he can kill her and use her body to resurrect his dead lover." I stared at him, blinked, and stared even more. He simply quirked an eyebrow at me.
"Touché." He gave me a dry look. "Let me guess, your wife is here now and that's why you came inside."
"Yes."
"We need to hurry," the man in black stated.
I sighed in frustration as I entertained the story in my head. I remembered the oddities of the curator, the mysterious woman and men, and the new tomb we had recently acquired that no one was to even look at or touch. I remembered the creepy vibe I felt around him and how I wasn't exactly safe. Had my instincts been right all along?
So if it was true that the curator had indeed risen something evil from the grave I couldn't idly stand by. The museum was in the heart of the city and there would be so much death if these things got out. If it came down to my job or stopping the curator, I would sacrifice my job any day of the week. This was worth checking out, and the voices had already had me curious. Plus if it was just two crazy men it would be better if they went with me so I could keep an eye on them.
"I'll help you for now but I expect a damn good explanation later." I gestured with my head and tried to ignore the creepiness of the mummies around me as I walked past them. As I walked I pulled a case of bullets out of my purse and slid them into my pants pocket. I was probably going to need them.
We exited the mummy room and I gestured at the two men to bend down and creep to the balcony. A strong, deep voice was reciting ancient Egyptian – I had a PH.D in the language, I knew it well enough to recognize it – and I edged to the balcony and looked through the pillars.
If this had been any other situation, the shock displayed on my face would probably be comical. There were many people with blood red robes forming a circle around the curator, who was dressed as odd as they were and reading out of a book in front of him. A man in black robes stood near a roaring fire, a content and loving smile on his face as he looked past he curator. A black haired woman was strapped to a stone slab and being brought towards him by more people in blood red robes, struggling and screaming as she attempted to get loose.
"I'll be damned," I muttered as I managed to find my voice. I wasn't equipped to understand this surreal situation and was definitely going to question my sanity later.
"No, those would be the mummies," the archaeologist shot back sarcastically.
"So what's your plan?" I asked, bringing my weapon up to my face.
"Save my wife, don't get shot, run back out." I shook my head at the simple answer. Appreciated the simplicity, but this was not the time.
"What about the mummies? We have to kill them as well." I was adamant in this.
"The book the man is reading is the Book of the Dead. They only live as he reads the words," the man in black answered. I was surprised that the Book of the Dead had been found and that it indeed carried the powers the legends say it did. However it had definitely fallen into the wrong hands.
"Then he won't read the words," I replied simply.
At my confident tone the man in black glanced at me, held my gaze for a few seconds, and turned back to the scene in front of us. I didn't know exactly what the look was for, but if he was judging the extent of what I could help by if I was a woman, he was going to be surprised.
The screams intensified and I whipped my gaze down to the terrified woman. The stone slab she was bound to was being carried past the man in robes and towards a fire. I realized immediately they were going to burn her and went to look at the archaeologist for guidance. However, he was already gone. When I turned back to the scene I saw him landing on the stone slab, slamming the slab and cultists carrying it to the ground and away from the fire. Recognition swept through the cultist's faces and I realized the situation was about to go fubar. Typical.
"Kill him!" the curator ordered midly, as if he was ordering a coffee at a shop. My jaw dropped at the blasé tone but everyone took him seriously. Each man stood and turned towards the archaeologist, bringing their weapons to fire.
Beside me the man in black stood swiftly and began to spray bullets into the crowd below. I scrambled to the stone pillar near the start of the stairs and stood, looking down as I tried to remain hidden as much as possible. The curator had stopped speaking and grabbed the book, darting out of sight almost immediately. He wasn't reading the words and I didn't have a clear shot to kill him so I turned my attention to helping the archaeologist get his wife to safety.
They were edging back towards the stairs, darting between cover to cover as the archaeologist shielded his wife with his own body. The man in black was doing a damn fine job causing complete chaos but there was a few that escaped the hail of bullets. I saw one in particular raise his weapon to fire. I fired my gun and watched him crumple to the ground. I knew my shot was true and that he was dead, but I'd dwell on it later.
I picked off man after man that took aim and ran out of bullets. Deftly I emptied my weapon, uncaring the shells dropped onto the floor, and quickly reloaded from the pack of bullets from my pocket. As we continued to provide cover fire for the archaeologist and his wife, the strange man near the fire lifted his hands and roared. There were no words to describe the way his jaw lowered unnaturally or the sound of the horrific roar he made, only that it I knew I would hear it again in nightmares. Still I had one job and I needed to help get them out of here. I whipped the chamber back into the gun and I saw the man and his wife run past me. As they did I looked down and felt pure terror again. The mummies I had seen before were nothing compared to the ones taking shape near the undead mummy. If those before were the guards before these were the elite. We were so screwed.
"Destroy them!" the man commanded in ancient Egyptian, the smile on his face evil.
"Go!" The man in black cried, still spraying bullets into the crowd below. I wasted no time in following the two out the door and trusted the man to follow us. I ran through the room and noted the mummies had dropped where they had been struggling to get out of. That was at least taken care of but for now I'd continue to follow the nameless people.
I continued to run through the museum, following the two in front of my easily, and finally we burst out of the museum doors at full speed. The woman stopped suddenly and turned back to the door and I skidded to a halt, nearly tripping over myself in the quick stop. She darted to a nearby wooden bench and began to pull it in front of the door.
"Honey, what are you doing?" he demanded as he ran to her and grabbed her arm. "These guys don't use doors." He all but yanked her away and we kept running until we rounded a corner. There was a single car there and as they ran to it I assumed it was the archaeologist's. "Where the hell is Jonathon?" he demanded.
Suddenly a bus careened in front of us, slamming on the brakes as we reached it.
"Alex!" the woman cried.
"What's the matter with my car?" the archaeologist demanded as the woman darted to the bus entrance. I followed her with the man in black right behind me. I vaguely noted a child's voice and the driver arguing about whose idea it was but instead turned back to where we had just run from. Nothing was coming and nothing seemed wrong however I could sense this weird night wasn't done yet.
I flopped onto a nearby seat and sighed as my mind whirled. I had just fought against undead mummies, found out the curator was the head of a cult, and that apparently a woman was to be sacrificed to satisfy an ancient Egyptian's need for his lover. It was a lot to take it and I held my head in my hands.
"Are you all right?" the man in black asked.
"Yeah," I murmured as I lifted my head. "Except for the fact there are undead mummies, my museum was a front for ancient rituals, and my curator has sold his soul to an immortal being."
"It is not what one would expect," he agreed with a small chuckle. "What is your name?"
"Amber. And you?"
"I am Ardeth."
"I'd say it's a pleasure but it isn't really at the moment. I'll have to hold that off until later." Ardeth laughed at my small attempt at a joke and smiled. Looking at him now I realized he was exotic and beautiful all rolled into one. He had long black hair and dark but piercing eyes, his face Arabic and unusual to me.
I saw the archaeologist leap into the bus and noted the arguing up front had stopped. Ardeth stood and went to join him, looking back at the museum. As we pulled away the museum wall exploded outwards and from the debris the summoned mummies appeared. Rick was right; these mummies did not use doors. I made a mental note to put that in my next published work. The mummies spotted the bus and began to run, picking up speed even as one leapt onto the car and crushed the hood.
"No, no, not my car!" The archaeologist cried out. He stepped into the bus fully and all but glared out the back window. "Oh, I hate mummies," he muttered. Usually this is where I would leap in and start a defensive tirade about my love of Egyptian history, but tonight my whole views on mummies had taken a drastic turn.
"Glad to see me now?" Ardeth asked as the archaeologist turned away from the window.
"Just like old times, huh?" he asked sarcastically as he cocked his shotgun and went to the second story of the bus. I made to follow him but Ardeth threw out a hand to stop me.
"Wait down here. It is safer." I bristled at the statement and glared. I had a lifetime of men underestimating me because I was a woman. "I understand you can shoot, but our weapons are more powerful. If anything gets past us you need to take care of it." He said nothing but the truth and I relented, stepping back to the middle of the bus. There was an unarmed woman and child behind me after all and I could at least be the last line of defense for them.
Above me I heard the sound of a shotgun shooting and saw mummies stumbling or staggering. However it wasn't enough to kill them. They shook off the wound and kept running for us. They suddenly leapt to the buildings beside of us and to my surprise they started scrambling along the wall, using their talon-like fingers to keep a hold of the concrete buildings. I saw dust fall from the back of the bus as the shotgun continued to fire. So the creatures could be killed at least with his weapon, but would mine be enough?
One monster managed to swing into the doorway in front of Ardeth and he fired his automatic weapon into the monster. The bullets pierced the thing in half and it fell out of the doorway. I watched carefully and when nothing came through the door, Ardeth began to reload his weapon. I saw a flicker of movement in the doorway only a split second before him.
"Watch out!"
I fired my pistol as the monster swiped at Ardeth. It was enough to knock it back so the swipe only hit his weapon and not his body. The gun fell to the seat and the creature began to swipe at him with its deadly talons. Though Ardeth he fought it hand to hand, it managed to hit him and throw him against the bus and I heard the woman and child gasp in alarm. I lifted my pistol and fired two rounds, attempting to slow the creature and protect Ardeth. The mummy whipped its head to me and used its handholds on the railings to climb towards me at an alarming pace. Knowing I couldn't move because of the people behind me, I crouched into a fighting position. When it took a swipe at me I ducked and landed a kick to its chest, causing it to fly backwards. It kept its grip on the handrails but it was enough for Ardeth to gain its attention back.
He held a boxing stance and kept fighting the creature, punching when he could and defending himself as much as possible. Finally he scored a good punch and the mummy flew away and into a row of seats. Ardeth stood and panted with exertion. The creature stood, using its hands on the back of the seat to gain traction, then looked at its hand. The fingernails began to grow until they were the size of small knives. It caught both Ardeth and I off guard and the creature swiped at him before I could lift my gun again. He cried out as the creature cut his arm and I heard the woman behind me yell.
"Turn, turn, turn!" the woman cried out to the driver bus swerved violently to the left and everyone fell against the far wall. I slammed my head into the metal frame of the bus and cried out when I felt a blinding pain on my forehead. The bus evened out and I moaned as my world continued to spin.
I saw the mummy get up again and saw him go for Ardeth. Knowing I was pretty much at the end of my time, I lifted my gun and fired the last three rounds into the mummy, buying Ardeth precious time to recuperate. When it turned to me, Ardeth was there in a flurry of punches that turned its attention back to him. Out of bullets and too dazed to help, I could only sit and watch when the creature cut Ardeth on his chest. Ardeth fell as he cried out in pain and lifted his hands helplessly when the mummy came to deliver the final blow.
Fortunately for both of us I wasn't the only woman that could wield a gun. I heard the shotgun and saw the creature fly backwards. With each shot the creature flew back until the final shot that sent it flying through the glass in the back window. Unable to stand at the moment I let my gun fall from my hands.
"Are you all right?" the woman asked Ardeth. I heard his affirmative and lifted myself off of the seats I had fallen on. My world was spinning and though I wished it was from the bus, I knew it was the concussion I probably had. "And you?" she asked.
"Head wound," I pointed to where it hurt the most.
"I don't see any blood," she murmured as she bent over and examined me. "Do you feel dizzy at all? Can you see?"
"Not particularly. Pretty sure I have a concussion."
The driver yelled something and as everyone in the bus turned forward noise exploded around us, a crashing of metal and glass. Immediately Ardeth was on top of both of us, bringing us down and shielding us with his body. When it was quiet again he stood and all but glared at the man driving before flopping back down in the row of seats across from me. He looked entirely exasperated and I managed a small smile at the sight.
"What?" I asked him, curious of his unexpected reaction.
"This was my first bus ride," he replied dryly. I burst out laughing and regretted it instantly when my headache worsened. With a small moan I doubled over and held my now aching head in my hands. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"I will be eventually." True to my word the pounding began to lessen and I lifted my head and blinked a few times to bring everything back into focus.
"Hey, I know you!" the voice was childlike but extremely familiar and I looked to where it came from. I noted the sandy, miskept hair first and then the bright eyes. It took my muddled mind a few seconds but it finally clicked.
"Alex," I murmured in amazement. "Small world after all, kiddo."
"Are you all right, Amber?" he asked, breaking away from the hold his mother had on him to come and inspect my forehead.
"You know her?" the woman asked suspiciously.
"Of course I do!" he replied, rolling his eyes as if the question was ludicrous. "She works at the museum, mum."
"If that's your mother, you must be Evelyn. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, though the circumstances could have been better." Evelyn's mouth quirked into a sardonic smile but I noted that she began to relax upon her son's recognition of me.
"You must be the tour guide Alex talks about," she offered.
"With how much he was asking me questions, I would hope so." I ruffled his hair like I usually did and he immediately threw my hand away, like usual. "And if you're Evelyn, that means the archaeologist must be Rick, your father?"
"You're not wrong." Rick replied. Indeed I wasn't; he was an archaeologist and one that Alex bragged about non-stop when he would go on my tours. I had some of their findings catalogued in the museum as well. Both were famous in my academic circles for their contributions to the field.
With his voice Evelyn turned to him and smiled. Crooking her finger in a way that I clearly understood, she beckoned her husband over as he quirked his eyebrows suggestively at her.
"What would I do without you?" she asked, drawing Alex's attention away from the bump on my head.
"Are all librarians this much trouble?" he quipped back to her, leaning in close to kiss her.
Alex groaned as if he were sick of the show (he was young and I'm sure it was gross to see your parents snogging) and turned away from the pair. "Geez mum, get a room." The muttering continued as he went to the back of the bus. I chuckled and caught Ardeth's gaze. He was still recuperating from his first bus ride but for the most part he seemed to be coherent. However I saw red begin to flow from his side and stain the seat beside him. Belatedly, I remembered the injury on his arm.
"Ardeth, your arm."
He made a noise and raised his arm to look at the wound. Then moved to look at this chest. Another wound, hidden by the black of his robs, was bleeding as well.
"They are not as deep as they look," he replied.
"But they still need to be treated." My mom would be having palpitations with how carelessly he shrugged off his wound. She was a nurse who served her time in a trauma center of the army. Her patients always would try to minimize their wounds or attempt to not be in the hospital longer than usual. She would have a field day with Ardeth. A smile came to my face with the thought of her nagging and-
A muffled scream came from the back of the bus and had all of us whirling to see what the threat was. A hand was over Alex's mouth and yanked him out of the bus.
"ALEX!" Rick cried out, jumping into action. Evelyn was close behind and Ardeth jumped up after the two. As I rose to my feet, I felt the nauseous undertones of what was going to be a nice concussion.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" The boy writhed as he tried to escape but he was thrown into a dark car sitting beside the bus. As the boy was thrown in and the people who kidnapped him jumped into the car, it began to speed off just as Rick landed on the pavement.
"Alex! Alex!" he cried out his son's name and began to run after his son. I stumbled to my feet but the dizziness was worsening by the minute and I could do nothing but look throw the broken back window of the bus after the futile chasing Rick was attempting.
A buzzing hit the air (why did it have to be buzzing?) and I held my head as it kept buzzing and ringing, and it was the most awful sound that could have happened right now. But that sound was dangerous. It meant that the bridge was lifting and the car was close to the middle and would make it to the other side. The car stopped beside the small office used to raise the bridge and picked up one other person. Then it kept driving and made it over the bridge before it became too dangerous.
To his credit Rick kept running even jumping on top of the bridge as it lifted and I could do nothing but fist my hand in frustration. I was useless at the time I needed to be strong. I could not save the little boy who had brightened my days at the museum. I could not stop the ritual and had not seen it coming.
How could I have missed the signs? The whole scenario was completely out of the scope of normalcy, to be fair, but I should have known something was amiss. I did know it. Why had I not acted on it? I had been afraid to lose my job but now looking back, my job was so trivial in the grand scheme of things. One step for me, one giant leap for women, sure, but why had I not brought in others. Why had I not fought? I had stayed on the sidelines, ignorant, and had refused to even bother with what was going on right in front of me.
"It is not your fault." My head whipped up and looked at Ardeth, who stood outside the back of the bus. "You could not have known."
"I knew something was wrong. It was bothering me for a while but I stood back and did nothing."
"If you had tried, perhaps you could have told someone. But they would have found you. Killed you. Do not blame yourself for actions in the past. We should not have involved you anyway." I thought of the paperwork, of my job, and of my life.
"I regret nothing I did today," I finally replied back to the man. His brows lifted in surprise.
"You are different than the women in the city."
"I was raised differently," I allowed. Between a commander for a father and nurse for a mother, they had raised me almost as if I was a man instead of a woman.
"It is good that you were," he complimented. "Without you we may not have made it. I thank you, Amber." My name on his lips was foreign. Exotic. The compliment even more so because he actually meant it. This wasn't lip service; he actually thought I was a help and did not think less of me because I could fight. "Come, let us join the others."
I breathed once to gather my bearings and to fight against the pain, nausea, and dizziness. They were beginning to fade and perhaps I had stood up too fast in my haste to get to Alex. So I followed Ardeth and noticed the bus driver coming behind us. We walked over to Rick and Evelyn, who were in each other's arms consoling the other over the loss of their son. It hurt to see them so; I could almost feel their emotions as a tangible thing.
"Please, do not fear for your son, my friends," Ardeth said, bringing their attention outward. "They cannot hurt him, for he wears the bracelet of Anubis."
Bracelet? What bracelet? The bracelet of Anubis was a myth, a legend a-
Right. Undead mummies, cult leader, book of the dead, not a myth then.
"Are we talking about the bracelet of the Scorpion King? The one that would allow him to command the armies of Anubis and conquer whatever he chose to invade?"
Ardeth nodded at me, confirming my deepest fears.
It was said that the Scorpion King, a mythological Egpytian figure, had sold his soul to the god of death: Anubis. Every five thousand years the Scorpion King would rise and become a threat the world would have to fear. Many had tried to find the resting place of the Scorpion King: Ramsees the fourth, Alexander the Great, Ceaser, Napoleon. All had failed.
"And we have seven days to find Alex and to kill the Scorpion King," Ardeth continued.
"Seven days?" I queried. That number had not been in the ancient texts, nor the time limit for the Scorpion King. I racked my brain for any more information on the bracelet but the Bembridge scholars had not had any more information on the subject.
"Once worn we have seven days before the Scorpion King awakens. On the seventh day he will command the armies of Anubis and conquer the world. The bracelet will take us to the Scorpion King and will show the way for the boy. We must follow his footsteps to the temple of Karnak," Ardeth finished explaining for me. I could feel my heard drop, realizing how serious in trouble we were at the moments and how many tangents of trouble there were.
"Alex is wearing the bracelet?" Evelyn asked worriedly. I could feel her sorrow, her worry. She had not known how much trouble Alex was in nor how much danger he would face alone.
"When he put it on he said he saw the Pyramids of Giza, he saw the temple of Karnak-" Rick started to explain.
"Yes," Ardeth interrupted. "And when they reach Karnak the bracelet will show him the next step of the journey."
"Well if we don't get to Karnak before them, we won't have any idea where to look for him next." Evelyn looked back up at Rick, worried for her son so evident on her features.
"Seems to me, like we need a magic carpet," Rick replied vaguely. "Come on. We need to go."
With my thoughts in chaos, stuck without a ride except for the now half decker bus, and not having enough brain power to plan, I simply followed them for now.
There was simply too much to take in for the moment. Undead mummies. Myths. Legends. I was not cut out for this. For now, I would follow. I would think and I would plan.
It was the only thing I could do.