The curator, Jessy found out, was the man who was yelling at Evelyn just minutes before. All traces of that conversation seemed to dissipate after she showed him the map. He sat behind his desk, staring through a jeweler's eyepiece at the box. Jessy had found it to be a key of some sort , and was invited to stay. Being the archaeologist she was, the situation couldn't possibly permit her to leave now. "See the cartouche there, it's the official royal seal of Seti the First, I'm sure of it!" Evelyn hovered behind the man excitedly. "Hmm, and Miss O'Connell..." he looked up at Jessy. "Do you agree with Miss Carnavon?" Jessy nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Two questions." Jonathan spoke for the first time in that room. "Who the hell is Seti the First? And was he rich?" Jessy answered his questions, "He was the last Pharaoh of the old kingdom said to be the wealthiest of Pharaoh of them all." A delighted smile came across his face, "Alright, that's good, I like this fellow. I like this fellow very much."
The curator picked up the map and looked over it. "Miss O'Connell and I have already dated it, it's almost four thousand years old. And the hieratics over here..." she inhaled deeply. "It's Hamunaptra."
The curator freezes, suddenly seeming very nervous. "Ahem" he recovers after clearing his throat. "My dear lady's, please be reasonable. We are scholars, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra is a myth."
"Hamunaptra?" Jonathan ask, looking between Jessy and Evelyn. "Yes, the city of the dead." Jessy explained, sitting in a chair. "Where the earliest Pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt."
"Yes, yes in a big underground treasure chamber. Everyone knows the story. The whole necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand. On the Pharaoh's command, a flick of the switch and the whole place could disappear beneath the dunes." Jessy was taken back by surprise. Jonathan did actually know some history.
"What we know..." Evelyn said. "Is that around 134 B.C. the city mysteriously disappeared."
The curator held the map close to the burning candle. "As the Americans would say: It's all fairy tales and hokum." Jessy could smell the burning paper before she saw it. "Goodness gracious!" the curator, dropped the burning map onto the floor. Jonathan was stomping on the paper, frantically trying to put it out. He dropped to his knees and examined the damage. "You've burnt it! You've burnt off the part to the lost city!" he said, picking up the charcoaled paper.
"It's for the best, I'm sure." the curator began. "Many have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra, no one has ever found it. Most, have never returned"
"You've killed my map." Jonathan said, devastated.
"I'm sure it was a fake anyway. I surprised at you two fine young lady's. Surely an archaeologist such as yourself would not be fooled by such a thing, Miss O'Connell?" The curator reaches for the key, but Evelyn snatches it away angrily. All three of them leave the room.
"Jonathan?" Jessy says, gently. He looks up, "yes?" Jessy thinks carefully about what she was asking. She hadn't seen her brother in years, but she knew she had to put aside personal matters. This was bigger then her family problems. "Will you take us to the person who gave you this?"
Cairo prison. Their one hope of finding the lost city of Hamunaptra was locked up in one of the most disgusting hellholes on the face of the earth. Every low-life and scumbag was inside of that horrid place. The warden himself was a first-rate scumbag. Even though the only "safe" place, seemed to be at his side. While being toured around the gallows courtyard, Jessy heard Evelyn whisper to her brother. "You told me you found it at a dig down in Thebes!" "Well, I was mistaken." Jonathan said, walking with his sister. "You lied to me and Miss O'Connell." Evelyn almost shouted. "I lie to everyone, what makes you so special?" he asked, making sure not to lose sight of the warden. "I am your sister, Jonathan." "Yes, well that just makes you more gullible." was his answer. "You stole it from a drunk in the local Casbah!"
"Picked his pocket, actually. So, I don't think..." with his arm hooked onto Evelyn's, he quickly stopped and tried to escape. "Oh, don't be ridiculous. So, what exactly is this man imprisoned for?" Evelyn asked, pulling him back.
The warden approached a Visitor's cell. It was just a cell outside of the building. "Well. this I did not know. But when I asked him, he said he was just "looking for a good time." The warden explained with a slight accent. A man with long hair and a scruffy face was forced out into the bright outdoors. Richard O'Connell, what a mess you've made of yourself. Jessy thought, looking at her older brother. A frown came across her face. He looked up at the three and immediately recognized his sister.
"Jessy?"he asked, shocked to see here in Cairo. Evelyn and Jonathan stared at them both.
"Hello, Rick." she said, slightly ashamed to see her brother in such a condition.
"What are you doing here? And who are they?" he asked, gesturing to the two siblings.
"This is...this is the man that you stole it from?" Evelyn asked in disbelief. Jonathan cleared his throat and whispered "Yes, exactly, so why don't we just go..."
The warden started shouting at someone in the distance, and ran to fix something.
"Rick, this is Miss Carnarvon and Mister Carnarvon." Jessy said, pulling them gently toward the cell.
"Hello," Jonathan moved closer to talk to him. "I'm...I'm just a sorta missionary chap, traveling around. But, this is my sister, Evy."
"How do you do?" she asked, politely.
"Rick, we've come to ask about the puzzle box." Jessy said, lowering her voice.
"No, you and your friends came to ask to ask about Hamunaptra." he said.
Evelyn was dumbstruck. "How do you know that the box pertains to Hamunaptra?"
"Because that's where we found it." he says. "Wait wait wait, who's "we"?" Jonathan asked suspiciously.
A glint of recognition came across Rick's face. "Do I know you?" he asked Jonathan.
"Nah, nah I just have one of those faces and..." Rick's fist comes flying through the bars, punching Jonathan straight in the face. A nearby guard clubs Rick in the back of the head.
"Are you saying others have been to the city of the dead?" Evelyn asked, stepping over her groaning brother.
Rick looked at her skeptically. Then turned his attention to Jessy "Oh, you really came all this way just to see me?"
"Excuse me?" Evelyn asked looking at Rick then Jessy.
Jessy shrugged awkwardly, "I couldn't really tell where I was when I was tied up and blind folded, Rick."
I hoped you enjoyed chapter 2, I'm trying to get to the good stuff. It will get Mature later on, but for now Thanks for reading!