Introductions to the Evil, The Cat, The Beautiful, and the Loved One.
Her fever was relentless, bringing pounding headaches and terrible weakness. Her face was flushed, and gleam of sweat could be seen in the dimly lit room. Her long, dark brown hair had come undone from its usual style, cascading down her shoulders. She rested on cushions that were laid out on a piece of love-seat like furniture. A convulsive cough raked the woman's body once more. Another older woman, one of her fellow servants, rushed to the girl's side, bringing a wet cloth and placing it on her tan forehead. The elder woman stood up from the bedside of the sick girl and opened the wooden doors to the balcony, bringing in the cool air of the Egyptian night. In the distance, three great pyramids stood beneath the stars.
The young woman resting on the bed stirred from her deep sleep, mumbling names of the gods.
Little to the sick woman's knowledge, outside of her room sat Ahkmenrah and Kahmunrah, the two royal sons of Egypt. The two exchanged worried glances, for a second forgetting about the rough relationship between them. The girl inside of that room was Nanu, a young Egyptian servant who had worked for the palace for as long as they both could remember. She was a little younger than Kahmunrah who was the age of 20, and 4 years older than Ahkmenrah at the time of her sickness.
As dry, painful coughs were heard from the other room, Kahmunrah buried his head in his hands, and was soon finding salty, wet, tears running down his tan cheeks. Kahmunrah… crying? He thought, No. I do not cry. Not over silly servants… not matter if she was my best friend or not. Stiffening, Kah whiped his face and looked over to his brother who was staring at the door over this shoulder. Ahkmenrah's tunic was dirty, and his eyes had dark circles underneath them, showing the need of sleep. Kah guessed he was no different, having spent so much time with Nanu trying to get her to drink just a little water.
She was so sick, the second she swallowed the water, it came back up in a painful convulsion of vomit and bile. He didn't care at the time; he just wanted her to get better.
The Wabau, or doctor, said that her sickness had been caused by a mosquito, whose small bite had brought this terrible sickness upon the woman's small frame. But, soon many priests of Sekhmet were visting Nanu, blessing her and trying to rid her of evil spirits. Nothing was working, in fact, everyday her condition seemed to be getting worse.
The dark halls were lit only be candles, causing the light to dance across the painted and engraved transcriptions of the gods. Kahmunrah looked up at the sound of footsteps, and saw the dark figure of the jackal headed god of the afterlife, Anubis. The black head of the jackal stared straight ahead as he walked, his bare feet making little sound. His half-tunic swayed as he walked. One of his hands was tracing the hieroglyphics on the wall, and the other, dragging his flail across the floor. Anubis stopped and stared directly at the two brothers.
Suddenly, the coughing in the other room ceased.
"It is time." A low rumble came from the god's throat, and suddenly Ahkmenrah's head snapped to Anubis.
"No!" Ahk stood up from the bench, tears leaking from the corner of his eyes, "You cannot take her from us!"
The jackal headed god continued to walk forward towards Nanu's room. The flail scraped across the ground with each step. Shiiick. Shiiiick. Shiiiiick. Kahmunrah just sat, watching wide eyed.
"Kahmunrah! Stop him! Please, Brother!" Ahk called out, looking to his brother. Shiiiiick. Shiiiick. Shiiick.
Anubis was outside of her room now…
"I'm sorry." The god mumbled.
Shiiick. Shiiick. Shiiick.
He reached for the door…
"What are you doing staring into space like that Mr. Kahmunrah? Shouldn't you be trying nick-knock us into another rumble? Or perhaps tidying yourself up for the shiny-new exhibits tomorrow night?" The light hearted voice of Amelia Earhart shook Kahmunrah from his vivid memory. Oh. Yeth. The new Exhibitth. I almoth forgot. Kahmunrah shifted from his position on the staircase.
"Oh. Well, no. I think I'm fine ath ith Amelia. Thank you." The should-be pharaoh rolled his eyes.
"Well, watch you tone Mr. Bloodlust, Larry didn't save you from the Underworld for nothing. You're here because we all agreed that the kids would love you." Amelia laughed a little as little Able, who was chattering with Dexter crawled onto Kahmunrah's headdress. The look on Kahmunrah's face was one of no amusement.
"Yeth, yeth. And you're here becuathe Larry couldn't go a day with out you." The pharaoh rested his head on his hand, "I know the thtory."
The other exhibits were mingling near the front of the museum talking and joking. While, mammoths and other prehistoric and wild animals roamed around them.
Suddenly, Larry called out the time, and announced everyone should get back to their spots in the museum. It was almost sunrise. As Kahmunrah stood, he shooed Able off his head and casually made his way down the marble stairs. Behind him, he heard Larry saying goodnight to Amelia, and the second he turned to look, the two were in a lip lock.
"Dithguthting," was last word that Kahmunrah muttered as the sun came up and shown onto his ancient Egypt exhibit.
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Larry had been talking with Dr. McPhee when the new exhibits arrived. Nick, who had been present at the museum more than ever now, ran in through the front doors, extremely excited, shouting, "They're here! The new ones! They're here!"
The men who had moved the exhibits came in with large wooden crates, each one being carried by two of them. The boxes kept coming in, on by one. Soon enough, by the front of the museum there was a pile of about 4 large crates, each stamped with the scribbled Egyptian writings of the shipper. Dr. McPhee shooed children away while Larry and Nick got to take a closer look.
"Dad, who are they?" Nick was trying to peer into one of the boxes by looking through the planks.
"Not sure… But they're Egyptian, and that's all I know." Larry pried his eyes away from the label on the box closest to him, and gave up on even trying to read the writing.
"Let's just hope that Kah gets along with them…" Nick whispered. Larry looked down at his son and nodded. The exhibit to his far right was crowded with people, all gazing in the newest Egypt exhibit. In the staged set-up, the wax figure of Kahmunrah sat on a throne, his head held high and staff in right hand. Larry's watch beeped, signaling it was break time.
"Hey, kiddo, it's 1:00. You wanna grab some McDonald's?"
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The exhibits awoke quickly, each scurrying out of they're places and meeting in the front of the museum like every night. But, tonight it was different. Larry promised Dr. McPhee that the new exhibits would be set up tonight, as long as the museum closed earlier than it had been open recently. Larry wanted the new exhibits to meet the other ones, and give them a few nights to observe before meeting the public. The hype in the room was so high that the nervous jitters could have measured on the Richter scale.
"Jeez, man, what if the news exhibits are some smokin' hot broads, eh? Wouldn't that be great?" Al Capone was as excited as everyone else talking to Attila and Nick, while Napoleon and Ivan the Terrible conversed among each other. Jedediah and Octavius flew their plane through the air, and Teddy watched. Kahmunrah was leaning against the front desk, waiting for Larry to come back with Nick from storage like the others.
Why were they in storage?
In order to open the crates, one needs a crowbar.
Larry, didn't have a crowbar, so in a burst of stupidity, he had tried to bang open the top on the crate by smashing his flashlight as hard as he could against the wood. That ended in him getting pelted in the face the front of his flashlight, as it bounced back and hit him in the nose.
Once, Amelia had stopped his nose bleed, and boy did his nose bleed a lot, Nick suggested they go find a crowbar.
And that is where they were returning from now.
Nick came speeding out of the locker room, where the door to storage was, with a black, rusty crowbar in hand. His father, Larry came up behind him, calling after him and hurrying to the crates.
"C'mon, Dad! Guys! Let's go!" Soon exhibits were running to the crates, and waiting patiently. The all formed a circle around the boxes.
Kahmunrah stayed where he was, watching with a raised eyebrow as his younger brother and Nick stood next to each other, practically jumping with excitement.
"OK, guys. Try not to scare them too bad, alright?" The excitement in the air was palpable, and Kah could have easily cut it with the weapon attached to his tunic.
Suddenly, the excitement turned to fear.
One of the crates started to bang and jump uncontrollably, and screams could be heard from inside. Then, the one next started to do the same… and within seconds, all of them were chaotic. Larry, swallowed hard, and approached a box that seemed to be jumping less wildly than the others.
As he walked to it, and placed the crowbar underneath the lid, a voice called out.
"Hello? Uhm, Could someone please get me out of this box? It's a little stuffy in here! And I'm not to sure as to what I'm laying in." The male voice was calm and deep, and it seemed almost awkward for the voice to being saying such a sentence.
"Uh… Hi? I'm Larry. I'll get you out of the box just... J-just hold on." Larry jammed the crowbar under the lid and pulled up, causing the wood to pop up and reveal the contents of the crate. The whole museum inched forward, only to be caught by surprise as the jackal headed god of mummification sat up.
Ahkmenrah's head snapped to Kahmunrah's. The two made eye contact.
"Sorry about that… It seems I can thwart evil, but not wooden boxes." The jackal god chuckled, and stood up, brushing the packing peanuts off of himself.
"You must be Larry, I am-"
"Anubith." Kahmunrah finished him.
"God of cemeteries, and embalming, also Lord of the Underworld." Ahkmenrah added darkly.
"Woah, you guys know this guy?" Larry spun around and pointed to the tall god behind him.
"Ah, if it isn't the Rah brothers. How have you two been? Well, I take it? You know, your parents are very proud of you-"
"Shut up." Kahmunrah snapped, "Larry, pleathe open the other crateth. I'd rather not dithcuth how both me and my dearetht brother know Anubith."
Anubis groaned.
"You now, I was just doing my job that night… She was already dead by-"
"Anubis, please. Stop talking about it for now."
"I'm just saying she was my servant for years after that, she was a great kid."
"She wath your thervant?" Kahmunrah yelped, "She wath our thervant!"
"Brother… Perhaps we should let Larry open some more crates before we hurt the dog."
Kah narrowed his eyes. Larry uncomfortably moved to another smaller box, this one had stopped jumping and shaking a while ago, and when he went to pop the lid, he heard a very loud, "Meaioow."
"It's… a cat?" Larry asked.
"Ah, no. Her name is Bastet, Protector and Goddess of Cats." Anubis said calmly, crossing his arms, "Go ahead, she doesn't bite… usually."
The crowbar slid under the top of the crate gently and popped it open. Sure enough, a small, lanky, stone cat hopped out gracefully.
"Thanks for the introduction Anubis. But, really, I can intrrroduce myself." The cat purred out a woman's voice, causing Larry and the rest of the museum to jump, "Really, don't listen to his mutt, I don't bite… Only scratch." A dry laugh came from her throat and she spotted Amelia.
"Oh, hello, Ms. Bastet." Amelia greeted as the cat rubbed against her leg. The cat purred and meowed once again. Amelia picked her up and carried her over to Anubis, were she stayed petting Bastet.
"Alright, two down, two to go." Nick smiled up at Ahkmenrah, who seemed deep in thought.
The box to Larry's right was pounding and jumping still, and he looked to the two Egyptian gods near Amelia. Anubis waved his hand to carry on, and Bastet meowed. A scream of frustration came from in the box.
It took Larry several tries to get the crowbar under the lid, and finally with some help from Attila the Hun and his friends, he got the crow bar under the lid and lifted up the crates top. Suddenly, a young woman popped out of the box, muttering something of the evil gods and a sarcophagus. Her navy blue hair was strewn about and packing peanuts were weaved in. She kicked the box and suddenly yelped.
Anubis was seen putting his head in his hand across the room.
"Everyone, this is Hathor…" Bastet's voice rang through the museum. "Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Music."
Hathor turned around and saw all of the people staring at her and suddenly bowed. Her melodic voice flowed from her mouth as she said hello. Turning to see Bastet and Anubis she bowed again. When Larry introduced himself, Hathor shook his hand gently, and smiled.
"It's is a pleasure." Her eyes scanned the crowd… and stopped.
Right on Kahmunrah and Ahk.
"Oh my Ra…" She stepped towards Kahmunrah with bare feet, "You and Ahk suffered… I'm am so sorry about Na-"
"Pleathe… Don't mention her." Kah looked down and his brother nodded.
Hathor smiled. Nick looked and Ahk with a confused expression.
'I'll explain later.' Ahk mouthed.
'OK.' Nick nodded.
The young woman ran a hand through her Navy hair and found a packing peanut. She plucked it out and flicked it at Anubis, caught it and threw it back. It hit Hathor in the forehead and she laughed. Making her way to the others, Hathor smiled and placed a hand around Anubis' arm and started to pat Bastet. Anubis rolled his eyes, and let the Goddess cling to him.
"Next Box!" Napoleon cheered from the back of the room and was quickly silenced by the rest of the people. Teddy Roosevelt shot Larry a wink and sat contently with Sacagawea on horseback.
"Alright. Next Box." Nick cheered next to Ahk. The two smiled.
The next box was completely quiet now. No banging, no screaming. The air was full of curiosity now, and as Larry approached the next box, even the Gods wanted to know what was in there. Larry swallowed and slowly placed the crowbar under the lid. He looked towards Amelia and she urged him on with a nod of her head.
The lid was popped.
Everything was quiet.
Larry peered over the side and his head shot up.
"It's a mummy." He looked to Anubis. The god's ears perked up.
"Well, poke it." Anubis said casually.
"You… You want me to poke it?" Larry asked.
"Oh, c'mon Gigantor, It can't be that bad!" Jedediah's voice could be heard through the crowd.
"I can't believe I'm about to do this…" Larry shook his head and leaned down to poke the shoulder of the mummy.
His finger gently touched the wrapped linen of the Mummy and—
"RAHHHHHHHH!"
"OH MY GOD! IT SCREAMED." The whole entire museum was thrown in chaos as loud laughter was heard in the box. Larry was hiding behind Roosevelt, when Anubis pulled the Mummy out of the box.
"Larry?"
"Yes Amelia?"
"How did you get over there so fast?"
"It screamed at me, Amelia. That's how."
Approaching back to where Anubis was, Larry was cautious near the wrapped up body. The thing was laughing so hard that it was doubled over, and then finally said, "Anu, you shoulda seen his face!"
"Child… That wasn't very nice…" Bastet scolded.
"Oh yes. I know. I'm sorry… Larry." The mummy was sent into another fit of laughter. The mummy snorted and started to laugh even harder.
Ahk's eyes suddenly sprang open and darted to Kahmunrah's. He had noticed it too. Ahk stepped forward and soon heard the footsteps of his brother behind him.
When the linen wrapped being noticed the two royal men, the laughter stopped.
"Ahk… Kah…?"
Suddenly, the small mummy rushed forward and pulled the two men into a large hug.
"I'd know that laugh anywhere." Kahmunrah closed his eyes tightly and buried his head into her neck with the hug, "Welcome back Nanu."