A/N: This one is actually set a few years before Scarab Locket- or the first Mummy movie. Sarah is seven. There's really no reason for this- there's no major plot points solved or anything (ha ha) I just wrote this in math class while I was bored.

Of Cryptic Messages

"See ya later, Dad!" I called back to him as I rode off on Cecil. School had begun, again. Second grade; joy. Still, it wasn't too bad- I wouldn't have to do so many chores now that I wasn't home all day to do them.

I was happy that the sky was a little clouded over, it wasn't so hot that way. All the same, I could already feel a little bit of sweat pooling on my back- and I could also feel some on Cecil's back as well, since I rode bareback. I sighed, horse hair on my legs, again. Of course, there was always horse hair on my legs- 'cause I was still too short to use mom's old saddle. Sure, if that had bothered me, Dad would have gotten me a smaller one- but I always told him I didn't need it. Besides, I liked riding bareback, and the horse hair that was ever-present on my legs wasn't really a bother; at school or in town I could hide it with a skirt, and at home I wore jeans, which just meant that I had to wash them a lot. And then there was the little matter that the only shop anywhere near here that even carried such small saddles that could still fit a big horse like Cecil, was located in the heart of Dallas- and we didn't really feel like spending the night there- and that's exactly what we would have to do. So I went bareback all the time- and I didn't care.

As usual, there was a crowd in the little paddock that all of us school children, from the little kindergardners to the sixth graders, left our horses and ponies in during school. I always got to school kinda late- but I couldn't really help it, the ranch wasn't the closest thing in the world to town.

I opened the paddock gate, rode in quickly, and closed it before getting down off of Cecil and pulling my dress back down to the length it was meant to be. However, as I was getting off- one of my books fell out of my backpack and landed on the other side of Cecil with a dull 'thump'. I didn't bother about it- I'd get it in a second. I took the lead-rope off of Cecil's halter- I didn't ride with a bridle either- and stuffed it in my bag.

"So you actually can read these?" I heard a boy ask. Startled, I moved Cecil out of the way by patting his rump, his signal that I was fine and he could move off. Once my giant bear of a horse was gone, I found myself facing an older boy, about 12 or 13. I had seen him around school and town a few times before, but didn't know his name. He was holding the book I'd dropped- one of my mom's books that I'd inherited, about Egypt, more specifically, about mummification. Mom had been reading it while she was sick- and sometimes, in a fever, had written messages in hieroglyphs on the inside covers and title page.

"A little, yeah." I answered him.

"What's this one say, then?" His voice wasn't teasing, just curious, and he casually handed me my book back, pointing to the one he wanted translated. This one was in a rather messy scrawl that was so unlike my mother's handwriting that I doubted she'd even written it.

"It's hard to make out." I began, turning the book partially sideways to see the message better, then said. "But it looks like 'Death…is only…the beginning."

"Wow, that's cryptic." The boy said casually, and walked off, any significance to the message gone over his head. Apparently he just wanted to see if I could actually read them. He walked past me, and jumped over the paddock fence, walking into the building.

As for me, I went to class, was introduced to a teacher who's face I'd already seen a dozen times or more when she'd substituted for another of mine, and a class that contained people I already knew. We didn't really do much, for which I was glad, because I couldn't concentrate. The words in the book seemed familiar, hauntingly familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd heard them before.