(A/N: This story contains characters from What Lurks in the Labyrinth)

Demetrius Demas, a dark-skinned man wearing a grey polo shirt and paint-splattered jeans, hummed tunelessly as he gently placed a canopic jar on a pedestal before covering it with a glass case. He stroked his greying goatee and squinted in the low light before unearthing another jar from its Styrofoam peanut tomb.

Demetrius' assistant, a young man named Nick Vardos, stumbled through the maze of crates up to the front of the exhibit hall. "Why's it so dark in here?" he mumbled, lifting up the bottoms of his sweatpants to keep from tripping as he picked his way around the hall. "And so hot?" He pulled up the hem of his shabby grey T-shirt to dab at the sweat soaking his forehead.

"Ms. Walker believes that it will 'set the mood' of an Egyptian tomb," snickered Demetrius. "People really try to understand our line of work, but it always comes out looking like a Melbourne O'Reilly film."

Nick cast his eyes around the gloomy room, the low lights throwing up grotesque, deformed shadows. "Or a Vincent van Ghoul special," he murmured, tiptoeing around the stone sarcophagus that was to be the main centerpiece. "This place gives me the creeps."

Demetrius waved his assistant over to the largest crate of the bunch. "Give me a hand with this!" he called. "If we get this thing moved, we can call it a night."

Fine by me," sighed Nick, running his fingers through his damp blonde hair.

Taking a crowbar, Demetrius pried the lid off the crate and let it drop with a muffled thump. As he did so, a low moan echoed through the room. The professor looked up in surprise. "Are you okay? You sounded awful."

Nick cast a wary eye around the room. "That…wasn't me."

Demetrius shot his assistant a stern glare. "It's a little late for jokes, Nick. This better not be one of your monster pranks again."

"I'm serious!" protested Nick. "It wasn't…oh, forget it. Let's get this over with. This place is making us both jumpy."

The professor nodded, clearing the packing peanuts from the crate to reveal a decaying skull wrapped in dried bandages. "The last piece of the exhibit…the ancient mummy of Xa-Oh."

Nick wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Gross lookin' thing, isn't he?"

Demetrius shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. There's a certain beauty in the desiccated flesh, the brittle, yellowing bones, the…ahem, but I suppose now isn't the time."

Nick averted his gaze from the awful creature. "So where's this thing going, anyway?"

Demetrius pointed to the center of the room. "In the sarcophagus, naturally."

Unnoticed by the pair, the mummy's empty eye sockets suddenly glowed red!