In retrospect it was a good thing that Rick had put the telephone in the living room rather than the hallway. It meant that when Evie fainted, her head hit a deep pile rug rather than the more unforgiving marble flagstones in the hall. However, even the pain caused by this relatively soft landing was sufficient to snap her back to consciousness.
"Are you sure?" she faltered, barely daring to trust he own voice. "I mean, it's definitely Hamunaptra? He hasn't made a mistake?"
"I'm afraid not. But he'll be here the day after tomorrow. Even if he hasn't found anything…." she paused, searching for the right word, "…relevant, then it's better to have some sort of plan in advance."
"I agree. I'll get your father and we'll be at your office in an hour."
Evie replaced the telephone and picked herself up off the floor. She brushed down her clothes and went to check herself in the mirror. Her head hurt a little but she didn't think it would bruise. She looked at herself in the mirror. She hadn't lasted too badly. Her eyes held all their old enthusiasm for life, and age had merely seen fit to grey her hair slightly at the temples, and emphasise the laughter lines at her eyes.
"Not bad," she murmured to herself, "but I'm still too old for this."
Still, in a way she felt better about it this time. After all, Imhotep was hardly going to resurrect Anck-su-namun in the body of an old wrinkly. No matter how much they had loved each other, no woman could forgive that. The worst that could happen was that they would all be brutally slaughtered.
She was about to content herself with that thought when she thought of Aylisha. Would it be her turn to play human sacrifice for a day? She gave her reflection a wry smile. Like mother, like daughter. Well, Imhotep could try to make Aylisha his if he dared, but immortal or not, all men are wise enough to fear the wrath of the mother-in-law.
Anyway, she told herself, she couldn't do anything till she stopped ogling herself in the mirror and found Rick. This Henry might have found nothing. Even if he had, Imhotep was dead. She had seen him sink into the Well of Souls herself. Surely being killed twice was enough for most people?
She continued along that line of thought as she slung on her coat. Could he have come back? He was living, or rather undead proof that death was only the beginning for some. She too could not help but pity the priest, thinking of his last mortal moments. Anck-su-namun must have been an extraordinary woman for Imhotep to risk the Hom-Dai for her.
This brought her to another, much older path of thought, which was well trodden no matter how often she had tried to dismiss it. It led to Aylisha. In Aylisha, Evelyn's Egyptian heritage seemed to have been given full reign. She seemed to have an intuitive grasp of all things Ancient Egyptian. Had that been all Evie would have merely been proud, but there was something… more, which nagged at the back of her mind. As the years had gone by the doubt had grown in the recesses of her brain, going so far as to develop a name she had once heard on the lips of an ancient priest.
When Aylisha had been younger she had been told the stories of her parents adventure in Hamunaptra (with certain omissions, obviously), and yet even at that age she seemed to know more than her parents. One such incident that stuck in her mind came from when Aylisha was eight. Her mother had been interrupted mid-story, and had lost her place. Her daughter had reminded her that 'Imhotep was taking you to Hamunaptra, his bald head glinting in the sun'. Now Evie knew for a fact that she had never described the priest physically in great detail: certainly not his shaven head. She had mentioned his haunting dark eyes, taken from that poor American (all the better to see you with – though they clearly hadn't worked though since he had persisted in calling her Anck-su-namun). She had also definitely mentioned his powerful frame leading to muscular arms (all the better to sacrifice you and choke the life out of Jonathan with).
The thought of Jonathan brought her back to reality with a bump, as she remembered that she had better find her husband was, in order to avoid Jonathan finding himself in that all too familiar situation again. She knew where her husband would be, so she left the house and headed straight for Jonathan's Bar.