Ok, so I can't leave my friends behind.
I own nothing from the Mummy franchise. If I did, I'd be way too rich to sit here and write….
Part I
"I don't want him to go, Rick." Evy said anxiously as she twisted her hands together in her lap.
"I know." Rick said, hiding his amusement at her worry as well as his own anxiety. He took her in his arms, wrapping her securely in his embrace as he rested his chin atop her head. "We can't tell him no, sweetheart."
Evy sighed, taking comfort from his strength as she nestled against him. Many years of marriage had not lessened their love, or their need for each other. His strength calmed her nerves.
"He wouldn't listen if we did ask him to stay." Rick continued, a smile in his voice. "He's too much like you in that respect."
"You mean in his determination?" Evy asked, tipping her head back to look at him in time to catch the smile.
"Stubborn." Rick corrected, dropping a quick kiss on her lips.
"We could go with him." Evy suggested, her face lighting up as the idea occurred to her. "He may need my help, this is his first…"
"He'd hate the interference." Rick interrupted. "This is his first dig, and his first chance to prove himself at the museum. He needs to know the curator trusts him, Evy."
"I do trust him Rick, as the curator and his mother." Evy said with a frustrated sigh. "I'll miss him, is all."
"We both will."
Meanwhile…
Alex O'Connell closed his bedroom door as he exited, pausing to adjust the weight of the duffel bag he carried before heading down the hall towards the stairs. As he passed the room his sister occupied he was halted by the muffled sounds coming through the closed door. He tapped on the door before pushing it open, sticking his head in to see her sprawled across her bed with her head buried under the pillow.
"Emma, what's wrong?" Alex asked, dropping the bag with a thud as he perched on the edge of her bed.
Emma raised her tear-streaked face to look at him, misery written clearly on her face. Her long brown curls were escaping from the pin that attempted to hold it back.
"I don't want you to go away!" She wailed, fling herself into his arms. "I want you to stay here!"
"I have to go, Moppet." Alex said, squeezing her 11-year-old frame close. "Uncle Jon needs my help."
"Why can't Uncle Jon come here?" Emma demanded, looking up at him beseechingly. "Uncle Jon and Aunt Amanda."
"Because Uncle Jon found something under the sands." Alex explained, hoisting her up as he rose, grabbing his bag along the way. "Something he wants me to look at."
"Can I go with you?" Emma pleaded, oblivious to the way he nearly staggered under the combined weight of kid sister and bag.
"You need to stay here and look after Mum and Dad." Alex said as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
"C'mon, Alex." Emma said stubbornly as he set her down. She folded her arms across her chest as they entered the study. "Do I look stupid? Mum and Dad can take care of themselves."
Evy and Rick looked up as Alex's bag hit the floor with a thud. Evy blinked back unwanted tears as she looked at her children, one 25, the other 11. Her oldest was going out into the world, and she was determined not to show him how much she wanted him to stay.
"Was I this much trouble when I was young?" Alex asked, his voice mildly exasperated as Emma turned her back on him in a huff.
"You were worse." Rick said mildly, looking up from the paper he'd been reading.
Evy still marveled at how much her husband and son looked alike. Alex was not an exact copy of his father, but the resemblance was obvious. Alex's hair was a slightly lighter shade of golden brown; kept short and neat save for a lock that tended to fall into his eyes when he was reading. He had the same magnetic brown eyes, the same appealing mouth. She was proud to note that the shape of his nose was hers, though he had Rick's stubborn chin. Their daughter, on the other hand, resembled her only in the curly hair that resisted taming. She took after her Uncle Jon, with enough of Evy mixed in to make her utterly feminine. Jonathan was quite pleased by the fact that his sister's child had the look of him. He bragged about it often, much to Rick's irritation.
"Look at it this way, Emma. When I get home, you'll get presents." Alex said, trying to coax a smile out of his sister. "You may get them sooner if Mum and Dad bring you along when they come out to check on me."
"Alex, we weren't planning on checking up on you." Evy protested.
"Doesn't the curator always check up on her employees first dig site?" Alex teased, raising an eyebrow as he talked. "Besides, I'm going to need your expert opinion sooner or later, Mum."
"If I'm hearing correctly, he's ASKING me to check up on him." Evy said, a small smile crossing her face as she met Rick's glance.
"Gee, Mum. He's practically begging you to follow him." Emma said, nearly jumping up and down in excitement. "I'm going to Egypt!"
"We haven't discussed that, young lady." Rick said sternly.
"But Dad!"
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
CAIRO…
Alex raised his fist and pounded on the door before him with enough force to rattle its frame. He waited a few moments, then began to pound again, a grin lighting his face as he heard cursing and grumbling coming from the other side. He didn't cease his assault on the door until he heard the latch raise, and the door swung open to reveal Jonathan Carnahan on the other side.
"Are you trying to wake the dead, boy?" Jonathan complained, the pleased grin that crossed his face belying the tone he used. "Get on in here, before you get the authorities over here."
"Hello, Uncle Jon." Alex said with a grin of his own as he stepped across the threshold. "How are you doing?"
In answer Jonathan wrapped him in a fierce hug, nearly squeezing the breath from his lungs.
"You'll see how I'm doing as soon as I show you what I've found." Jonathan said, rubbing his hands together with glee as he turned towards the sitting room.
"I believe I rate a hug first." Amanda said, stepping into the room. "Hello, Alex."
"Aunt Mandy." Alex said, stepping forward and folding her into his arms. "When are you going to leave this crazy dolt and run away with me?"
"If I were ten years younger, I'd take you up on that offer." Amanda said, earning a scowl from Jonathan.
"No she wouldn't. The woman can't live without me." Jonathan said smugly as he slid his arm around his wife's waist.
"So, show me what you found, Uncle Jon."
"You got the drawing? You saw the symbol?"
"Yes. Why do you think Mum sent me out here so quick?"
"Because the curator of the Cairo museum demanded your presence." Amanda said with a grin. "Word has it she has clout with your mother."
"Word has it she's been full of herself ever since she got the position." Jonathan grumbled, earning a well-placed jab from the subject of the conversation. He dropped a quick kiss on her cheek before turning to pick up a cloth wrapped package. "Look at this, boy."
He unwrapped the cloth, revealing a stone tablet covered in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Alex took his glasses out of his pocket, sliding them on before taking the tablet from Jonathan. He'd inherited his mother's need for them to read, and they gave him a serious look that was quite sexy. He peered through them at the tablet, one eyebrow rising as he looked at the words.
"This talks about the tomb of Nefrekeptah." Alex said, raising his gaze to look at his aunt and uncle. "It's been missing for centuries."
"It tells the whole story…" Amanda said eagerly. "Look here."
~_~_~_~_~_
Nefrekeptah was a Magician with the power to cast spells. He heard one day about a man with powers greater than his, and set out to find this man, determined to discover how he could obtain the same powers. When he found the man, he was informed that he had gained his powers by reading from the Book of Thoth.
"The Book of Thoth?" Jonathan asked, his expression wary. "This isn't along the same lines as the other books we know so well, is it?"
"It is said that Thoth wrote the Book of the Dead, and the Book of Amon-Ra." Amanda said, pausing in her reading. "The Book of Thoth is so much more than that."
"Thoth was a god, said to be self-created." Alex said, pushing his hand back through his hair. "He's known as the Lord of Magic. He's also known as the one who gave Isis the spell that raised Osiris from the dead."
"Self-created? Must have been a powerful god." Jonathan said as Amanda looked back at the ancient words.
Thoth has written down all his spells into one book. Whoever was to read from this book would gain knowledge and power. The spells in this book could control nature, create life…take it away. It could make the reader the most powerful magician in the world. The old man told Nefrekeptah the book was hidden in the very center of the Nile, near Thebes. Nature, and a huge serpent protected it. Nefrekeptah set out to find and claim the book. Using magic and engineering skills he was able to retrieve the book, and proceeded to head for home.
His wife and his son, traveling with him, were taken by a wave of water. He called forth their spirits, and they told him Thoth had been angered and had taken their lives as payment. Fearing for his life, Nefrekeptah returned the book to one of Thoth's temples. When he died it was buried with him. It had only been found ounce after that, by a man called Setna, who returned it quickly when his own children were threatened. The sand covered the tomb after that, making it invisible, impossible to find…
"The Book of Thoth." Alex said thoughtfully. "It's believed to be a myth."
"So were the other two books." Jonathan said with a snort of laughter. "And Ahm Shere. Look at how those turned out."
"Is that all it says?" Alex asked, bending to peer more closely at the tablet. "Does anyone know you've found this?"
"Just you, your mother and father." Jonathan said. "Oh yeah, and I sent a message to Ardeth. I figured he should know."
"Is he coming?" Alex asked eagerly, hoping he would bring his Aunt with him if he did.
"We haven't heard anything, but that doesn't surprise me." Amanda said with a small smile.
"Yeah, the bugger tends to sneak up on one." Jonathan muttered while ignoring the look his wife threw him.
"The fewer that knows, the better." Alex said, frowning as he ran his fingers over a worn section of the stone tablet. "There are some symbols that have worn away."
"I noticed that." Amanda said, "How much do you want to bet they were important?"
"They always are…"Jonathan said, his tone ominous.