"Egyptian"

"English"

memory

Chapter One

Grace Carnahan was confused. Nine years had passed since she and her siblings had faced the High Priest Imhotep, her sister Evy had soon married Rick O'Connell and had a son called Alex who was now eight. Rick, Evy, and Alex had gone to Thebes in Egypt several days ago, leaving Grace and Jonathan in London to look after their manor that they had purchased with the treasure from Hamunaptra.

What had Grace confused? She had just received a letter from a woman named Meela asking to meet with her. So naturally, her curiosity got the better of her and she headed to the local park to meet this strange woman. She arrived a little early so she sat on a bench, looking onto the duck pond, watching the sun set.

She didn't have to wait long, a black haired woman stood in front of her and she felt very familiar. Grace stood up and as she did so the woman seemed to morph slightly, she was wearing Egyptian clothes and makeup, and then she morphed back to how she looked now. Grace was used to getting visions from her past life and she recognised the familiarity from her past easily. "I am Meela." The woman said. "I am your mother in this life and in your past life. I am Anck-su-namun's reincarnation." Meela stated without waiting for Grace to say anything first.

Grace stood with her mouth open for a moment, trying to register what she had been told. She knew she had been adopted by the Carnahan's from birth, but never did she think she would meet her birth mother. And now her birth mother was here claiming she was her mother in her past life too. "Ho-why-what?!" She finally stuttered out.

"Please, sit." Meela said. Grace nodded numbly and sat back on the bench. "Let me explain. I gave you up for adoption when you were born into this life because I was young, just out of my teens, I couldn't handle the responsibility of raising a baby alone. I checked up on you from a distance for years as you grew up. Several years ago, I remembered my past life as Anck-su-namun and realised that you were my daughter then too. We are destined to be together- you, me, and Imhotep. The perfect family, three sides to a pyramid." Meela said.

As she spoke memories were storing themselves in Grace's mind of Anck-su-namun. Up until now she had mainly received memories of Imhotep throughout the years and very few of her past mother. "Imhotep is dead. I sent him back to the underworld. Besides, that was three thousand years ago, time has moved on. I am not Akila anymore and you are not Anck-su-namun." Grace said firmly.

"We can bring him back, together." She insisted.

"Hell no, lady! I may have a few of Akila's memories but that doesn't mean he means a god-damn thing to me. I still don't know what he even did to her that was so bad." Grace swore. Rick had clearly been rubbing off on her.

"You don't remember?" Meela's eyes widened. Grace shook her head; the things she could remember were trivial, like him spending time with her. She remembered the love Akila once felt for him and the undying loyalty she once had but each memory was tinged with sadness. "Seti discovered that you weren't of his blood, he had reason to suspect Imhotep was your father so he confronted you both. Seti was going to kill you but he offered a way out-"

"-If Imhotep admitted he was my father, I would have been exiled not killed." Grace cut off. The memory began to form in her mind.

Akila and Imhotep stood before Seti. "Imhotep, my faithful priest. Nefertiri has told me of a terrible thing. She claims she saw you and Akila last night, spending time with each other, she claims she heard you call her daughter and in return she called you father." Seti addressed Imhotep.

Akila looked at her father in worry. "Pharaoh, I have never bared any children. As far as I know, Akila was in her bedroom last night. I, myself, was in the study."Imhotep lied.

The pharaoh nodded. "Unfortunately, I have been suspicious about Akila's true parentage for a while now. I have decided that the girl is to be executed with her powers stripped from her."

"No!"Akila screamed. "I have done nothing wrong!"She insisted.

The pharaoh looked at her with an unreadable emotion on his face, "I must be absolutely certain that my line is pure."He said and then looked back at Imhotep. "Imhotep, if the girl is yours then I urge you to speak now. I will spare her life; exile her instead, if you admit to bedding my mistress. Though your life and Anck-su-namun's will be forfeit."Seti offered gracefully.

Akila looked to her father again, she knew he would tell the truth now. Her father wouldn't let her die. She looked at him with hopeful eyes but he didn't even look at her. "My lord, I swear upon Osiris and all of the Gods that I have never laid with your mistress nor have I ever bared any of my own children." Imhotep swore.

Akila's eyes filled with tears and she glared at her father with a burning hatred. "I accept your oath, as High Priest you would not invoke the Gods wrath by lying. You will execute her yourself and be sure to strip her powers from her."Seti ordered. Imhotep bowed lowly and called his priests to take Akila to the preparation chamber.

The young girl screamed, pleading her innocence the whole way. Feeling nothing but fear for what was to come and hatred towards her father. She was placed onto a stone table and tied to it as Imhotep prepared what he needed. "Please, help me, father. You don't have to do this."Akila begged. "Help me!"

He stepped towards her, shaking his head and Akila glared at him, her burning hatred showing in her eyes as tears streamed down her face. "I will never forgive you for this. I hate you!" She spat.

Imhotep looked hurt at her words before speaking an incantation, her powers being ripped from her body painfully. Akila screamed in agony as they were removed. "Only when you forgive me will your powers return." He said to her before picking up the knife.

Their eyes met for a moment. "You will never be forgiven. You will never earn my forgiveness. I hope the Gods punish you for this." She said bitterly, not hiding her hatred. Imhotep hesitated for a moment before plunging the knife into her chest.

Grace gripped her chest and gasped. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she realised Meela was holding her. Getting a hold of herself, Grace wiped her tears away. "Where were you? Why didn't you stop him?" She asked struggling to separate herself from the past.

Meela removed her arms from around Grace. "I did not know until too late what Seti had ordered. By the time I was told, you were already dead. Imhotep and I didn't speak for months afterwards but I could tell he regretted his choice as soon as he had done it." Meela explained. "He would do anything to earn your forgiveness. It is the one thing he truly craves." She added.

"Well he's not going to get it. I told you, I am not Akila, I am Grace." Grace insisted. Why wouldn't these people just understand?

Meela shook her head. "You might have a different name but you are the same person. You have the same personality, the same features, and the same spirit. The only thing holding you back is your lack of memory, you don't remember everything, and you don't remember how close we all were as a family- even with Imhotep having to be careful." She explained. "I, on the other hand, am only Anck-su-namun in body, I have her memories but I am not her in spirit. Imhotep will fix that when we bring him back."

Grace rolled her eyes but she couldn't help but think on her words. "I'm not going to bring him back. End of story. Now if you don't mind, my real family will be getting home soon." Grace emphasised the 'real' and stood up.

The sun had set fully and she knew Evy, Rick, and Alex would be getting home any time now. Meela looked hurt by her words and grabbed her wrist. "I am still your mother in this life. But in this life we are meaningless without each other." She said.

Grace pulled her wrist free and walked off shaking her head.