This is a sequel to the story Forever May Not Be Long Enough. I suggest that you read that before reading this or else you will be greatly confused on what is happening throughout the story.

To those that have already read the first story: Hello again! I hope you enjoy this one just as much.

Thebes-3067 B.C.

Five thousand years ago, there was a fierce warrior known as the Scorpion King. He had reigned peacefully in his own realm for many years, but the death of his beloved queen, Cassandra, changed everything. Cassandra was a powerful sorceress who possessed the gift of foresight. And, as she lay dying, she had received a final vision, one that she passed on to her husband. She told the Scorpion King that he must not grieve, for he would find her equal in a land that lay outside of their own-the land of Egypt.

The Scorpion King believed that if he went to Egypt than he would find his love reborn. He led a great army on a campaign, determined to conquer this land and all the known world.

After a vicious campaign which lasted seven long years, the Scorpion King and his army reached Egypt, only to be defeated. The pharaoh banished all the survivors from his land, driving them deep into the sacred desert of Ahm Shere. One by one, they slowly perished under the scorching sun until only the great warrior himself was left alive.

Near death, the Scorpion King made a pact with the dark god Anubis that if Anubis would spare his life and let him conquer his enemies, he would give him his soul. Anubis accepted his offer and spared his life, creating what is now known as the Oasis of Ahm Shere.

Anubis gave the Scorpion King command of his army, and like an evil flood, they washed away all that lay before them.

When his task was done, Anubis forced the Scorpion King to serve him for all time. His army was returned to the sands from whence they came, where they wait, silently, to be awakened once again.

Egypt-1933

In the past, Rick would never have pictured himself creeping through ancient Egyptian sites for a living. But, after everything he had been through in the past ten years, something like this was pretty mundane, maybe even enjoyable.

Or at least it was until he turned around to find two eight year olds directly behind him.

"Alex?" he panted out. "Asa?" The boys, one his son, the other his nephew, flashed him matching grins from where they were sprawled out on the sand.

"What were you thinking," Asa asked, "a mummy had come back to life?" He scrambled up to his feet, holding out a hand to his cousin to help the other boy up.

Rick was unable to resist a chuckle at the irony of Imhotep's son saying something like that. "I'll tell you a story some time," he said. He left the, "And it involves your father," to himself. He didn't think it would be worth the firm rap on the head he would get for it later when Tessa fond out about it. It seemed like there was nothing Asa didn't share with his parents, after all. "What are you two doing down here, anyway? You were told to wait for us up in temple."

"But, Dad, I saw-" Alex said.

"No 'buts'," Rick cut in. "It's dangerous down here, Alex." He rolled his eyes at the way Asa's eyes lit up at that word. "And, no, Asa, dangerous still does not equal 'adventure'." "Says you," Asa tossed back.

"Dad, I saw your tattoo!" Alex said. He wasn't one to be ignored when he had something on his mind.

"You saw what?" Rick said.

Alex grabbed onto his father's wrist, undoing the band of leather that Rick always wore there. "On a wall by the entrance. There's a cartouche just like it." He traced his finger over the tattoo that had been revealed. "With the pyramid and the eye and the two kings and everything."

"Really?" Rick said.

"Yeah," Alex replied.

"Okay, well, I'll be up to take a look at that in a minute," Rick said. "In the meantime, I want you to wait for us up there." He pointed a firm finger at his nephew. He could practically already hear the gears turning in that boy's mind. "And that means you too Asa. Don't try to find a loop hole in this." He shook his head as the two boys groaned. "None of that. Pick up your stuff and I'll see you two up in the temple. Go."

"And-And what exactly are we suppose to do?" Alex demanded.

"I don't know," Rick said. "Surprise me. Build a better mousetrap." He waited until the boys were safely on their way back to the temple to turn back around. "While your mothers go and desecrate another tomb," he muttered.

Tessa was working on wiping the cobwebs away from the stone walls with her sister. She made sure that she was positioned in a place that would let her keep a close eye on her husband, who was sorting through some of the jars over in the corner. Imhotep had had a difficult time adapting to the life of an archeologist since each new artifact he found seemed to remind him of the life he had once lived. It had grown easier now, but Tessa still liked to keep an eye on him. All of them could still remember that practically nasty break down he had had on their first dig, after all.

She looked up from her work when Evy turned around next to her. She was about to ask why her sister had done so when she heard a faint hissing noise. The Evy she had once known would have let out a scream and backed up against the wall. But now her sister only frowned down at the snake. "Go away." And then she gave it a firm kick with her boot.

Rick ducked out of the way just in time to avoid having the snake land in his face. "Those are poisonous, you know," he said.

"Only if they bite you," Evy said. "What was all that noise about?"

"Oh, nothing," Rick said. He stuck his torch down in the sand before lifting up the toolkit to carry it over to where his wife was. "The boys wanted to show me something. I swear, those kids get more and more like their mothers every day."

Evy rubbed her hand across Rick's shoulder with a small grin. "What, you mean more attractive, sweet, and devilishly charming?"

Rick leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek. "No, he's driving me crazy," he replied.

Imhotep set the last jar down on the ground with a snort, rising to his feet. "Trust me, my friend, I know the feeling." A solid year of grueling sessions with the Carnahan sisters had ensured that his English was flawless. There was still just a slight accent to his words, however, one that no one could truly place.

And as for referring to Rick as his "friend", well he had managed to make amends with more than a few people over the eight years since his return.

Tessa just rolled her eyes. "Can we get back to work, please?" she said. She strode over to the toolkit, lifting around two tiny tools, which she held out proudly. "Hammer and chisel."

Evy beamed encouragingly at her, but the men exchanged incredulous glances that made Tessa sigh.

"Fine," she said. "We'll do it your way then, Rick." She hoisted up a crowbar from the ground, waving it at Rick, who took it with a small smile of exasperation.

All it took was one firm wham with the crowbar to send the stone slab of a wall crashing backwards into what first seemed like nothingness. But then Rick was swapping the crowbar for the torch, the light from it illuminating the room and revealing it to be some sort of crypt with bodies lining the shelves within.

And, when the torch was lowered, there were countless scorpions and spiders on the ground as well.

The others grabbed their own torches, heading into the crypt with Evy in the lead.

"Ever since I had that dream," she was saying, "this place is all I can think about."

"And ever since you had that dream," Rick shot back, "I haven't had a decent night of sleep." He stomped through the mess of creepy crawlers, crushing them under his boots, while his wife danced daintily around them as best she could.

Tessa hesitated for a moment on the threshold, trying to plan the best path through what covered the ground. She swatted Imhotep's hands away, however, when he offered to carry her across in his arms. She darted across the floor after that with Imhotep following behind her chuckling.

"I feel like I've been here before," Evy said. "I know I've been here before."

"Evy, nobody's been here before," Rick said. "Not in at least three thousand years. Except for these guys."

Evy reached up to grab one of the metal torch holders, coated in dust and cobwebs, pulling it down without a thought. There was a creaking sound as she did so, the part of the crypt behind her falling open like a door.

Evy looked almost scared as she glanced back at the others. "Then how do I seem to know exactly where I'm going?"

Tessa rubbed at her arms with a small frown. She couldn't help feeling like a small chill had just run through her. "The last time one of us had a vision like this, you know, a mummy wound up being restructured." Imhotep wrapped an arm around her and she leaned back against him, drawing comfort from his warmth.

"It all turned out alright in the end," he reminded her.

"I know that." Tessa lifted her eyes to where Evy and Rick where already making their way down the secret passage. "But who's to say it will turn out the same this time?"

Alex held his tongue between his teeth as he set the small triangle of cheese carefully down upon the top of the mouse trap. His cousin was responsible for most of it, really, since the other boy loved to design all sorts of things. But Alex had still helped bring it to life, which meant he was anxious to see just how it would work with the rats.

He nearly had the cheese on the platform when Asa knocked him hard in the ribs with his elbow, sending the piece flying away across the floor.

Alex whirled to face the other boy, words of outrage already on his lips, but Asa pressed a hand over his mouth. He shook his head sharply when Alex tried to push his hand off. "Listen," he hissed.

It wasn't until Alex actually tried that he was able to hear the voices echoing off the walls of the tomb, voices that didn't belong to anyone in their family.

All it took was one sharp nod shared between the boys to have them breaking apart, snatching up their bags, and racing up the ladder onto the wooden platform held high up from the ground. They flopped down on their stomachs just in time to witness three men come through the main entrance to the tomb.

"They look scoundrels," Alex whispered.

"More like Neanderthals," Asa muttered. He had heard rumors about people like this coming onto digs that were already in process to steal whatever those who were already there had unearthed. And he had no intention of letting that happen to anyone in his family.

His initial assumption grew even worse, however, when one of the men-the one all short and stubby-broke apart from the group, cocking his gun as he went. "I'll go sort out the precious archeologists."

Evy, who had broken apart from the rest of the group, took a turn that lead her into what appeared to be a small, private chamber. She only managed to take a few steps inside, however, when a sudden hiss of voices caused her to stumble back, eyes falling shut.

When she opened her eyes again she was still standing in the chamber, but it looked three thousand years ago. She took a few hesitant steps forward before a clang made her stop.

She stood there, rooted to the spot, as thick, copper fashioned door was pushed open. She could only see the back of the figure who was opening it, but she could tell from the long black hair and dress fashioned from light, shimmery fabric that it was a woman.

In the room behind the door were two guards on either side of a golden case atop a pedestal. Evy didn't get to see them for long, however, for the woman closed the door again. She watched the way that the woman twisted the strange handle on the door, hearing the lock creak into place.

She sucked in a breath as the woman stepped away from the door, preparing to walk back towards the entrance to the chamber. Was she going to see who this person was, after all?

But the moment the woman turned around, Rick walked right through her.

Evy let out a gasp as she realized that everything had returned to the way it was before. She began to whip the torch in her hands back and forth, trying to recreate what could have triggered the images to appear.

It was enough to make Rick glance back at her with a puzzled expression. "You know," he said, "if you move that fast enough, you can almost write your own name."

Evy didn't even seem to be paying attention to him. "I just had a vision," she said.

Tessa tripped over her feet once she heard what her sister said, only saved from toppling to the floor by Imhotep grabbing onto her arm. "You had a what?"

Evy swallowed hard, glancing at Tessa out of the corner of her eye. "It was-It was like my dream, but it was real. It was like I was actually here in ancient times."

"Well, if you actually were here," Rick said, "could you show me how to open this thing?"

Evy marched towards the door, which was no covered in a thick layer of dust and spider webs. She passed her torch over to Rick before she reached for the handle that she had seen in her vision. Once her hand tightened around it, she twisted it in the way she remembered the woman from the past doing-two turns to the right, one turn to the left, and then all that was left was to press it in.

The instant she finished the sequence the door swung open as though it hadn't been locked for millennia's.

"All right, now you're starting to scare me," Rick admitted.

"Now I'm starting to scare myself," Evy replied.

Tessa forgot her anxiety over what was happening to her sister, if only for a moment, after she brushed the layer of spider webs away from a circular gold plaque to reveal something that was all too familiar. "That's the emblem of the Scorpion King."

Rick was the only one who didn't straighten up in surprise at this. Evy, in a combined effort with Tessa, had been trying to introduce him to history, but the man never really saw any importance in it. The way he saw it, he could always ask the girls themselves if he needed to know anything.

Evy moved to her sister's side so that she could see the plaque properly. "He's suppose to be pure myth," she said. "No trace of him has ever been found before. No artifacts, no archival evidence."

"Maybe they didn't want anybody to find him," Rick said.

Evy didn't answer at fist since she had begun to wipe the dust away from the box bellow the plaque. "Let's open this," she said.

"Evy, I don't have a real good feeling about this," Rick said.

"It's only a chest," Evy said. "No harm ever came from opening a chest."

Rick was laughing before she had even finished her sentence. "Right, and no harm ever came from reading a book. You remember how that went?"

"Hey, it got me my husband," Tessa said.

"Yeah, and the ten plagues of Egypt," Rick threw back.

Imhotep lifted his eyes to the ceiling, a groan escaping from him. This was something that they had been through countless times. At least now they were able to approach it in a humorous manner. "I have told you that was not my fault. If you must blame someone then blame the one who placed the curse upon me."

"Oh, come on you lot," Evy said, "we can't stop now."

"Just remember," Rick said, "I was the voice of reason here."

Evy was grinning as she turned around to grab his crowbar. "For once," she teased.

She struggled with the crowbar for about a minute before Rick caught sight of a strange necklace that hung around the neck of a nearby skeleton and yanked it off.

"Hun?" he said. "Let's do it your way."

Evy dropped the crowbar the instant she saw the necklace, taking it from Rick so that she could fit it into the matching slot on the front of the chest. It only took a few twists for it to pop open, allowing Evy to push it open the rest of the way.

Resting inside of the box was a heavy golden bracelet with a large scorpion covering the entirety of the top half.

Imhotep recognized it instantly. And, unlike the two archeologists in the room, it was because he had seen it before. "The bracelet of Anubis," he breathed. Of all the things from his former life to appear again.

He didn't have long to dwell on it, however, for once Evy picked up the bracelet the whole room shook before sand began to fall from the ceiling.

Evy threw the bracelet back into the chest, slamming the lid back down.

"Well it's a bit late for that, isn't it?" Rick snapped.

Evy just hoisted the chest up, holding it out to her husband. "Put it in your rucksack," she said.

"I got a better idea," Rick said. "Let's leave it here."

"I think it's a bit late for that!" Evy said.

Rick shook his head. "What does it say then?" he asked.

Evy looked down at the inscription on the lid of the chest. "He who disturbs this bracelet," she read, "shall drink from the Nile."

"Oh, that doesn't sound too bad," Tessa piped up. Her hopes plummeted, however, the moment Imhotep reached out to seize her hand.

"It is far worse than you imagine," he said.

He was proven right as the sound of rushing water suddenly filled the corridors and there was nothing left to do but run.

For a spilt second, as the water closed over her head, Tessa wondered if this was really going to be the way she would die. But then the wall was suddenly giving way, sending them all tumbling to the ground as the water rushed out through the hole.

Even as she coughed the water up from her lungs, panting for breath, her hands sought out Imhotep not feeling fully safe until she could feel the rise and fall of his chest under her hands.

Then she heard an all too familiar voice and lifted her head to find her son staring down at her, actually looking nervous for once. His cousin was at his side with a similar expression that was far more common on his face.

"Mum, Dad," Asa said, "we can explain everything."

If anyone is curious Asa is played by Asa Butterfield in this. And, yes, that is where his name comes from.