Chapter Seven: You're Impossible
The tension was so thick between the two that you could cut it with a knife. Bianca sat, arms firmly crossed and brow furrowed, on an upturned fruit box and stared strait ahead. She didn't even flinch at the sounds of yelling voices and rowdy locals that filled the air around her. She was beyond that, all she wanted was to just crawl under some nice comfortable blankets and not come out for the next hundred years.
Her partner didn't seem nearly as drained by their ordeal as she was. Jonathan stood leaning against the wall a few feet away. She was happy to find that he had taken to not saying a word for the last twenty minutes and had instead just fidgeted around whenever he had the urge to make noise. It was a wonderful improvement.
Bianca sighed, pulled out her pocket watch and glanced down at the face. Rick and Evy should have been there by then. 'They must have gotten lost. I mean, these streets make absolutely no sense; none of them lead where they should and all. Yes, I'm sure that's what happened. There's no way they got caught.'
The sound of a trash can being knocked over jolted her from her thoughts. She spun around to look just in time to see a cat scamper off down the ally way. Bianca sighed.
"I have to admit, that was some great acting you did back there, Bi. Are you sure you're not actually a film star and you just forgot to mention it?" Jonathan's voice broke through the silence that she had fought to maintain. It brought back another wave of pure embarrassment as he reminded her of the latest incident of her losing her composure.
"Yes well, I had quite the motivation." She managed to keep her steely, emotionless voice in check as she spoke.
She could hear his shoes scuffing against the pavement as he kicked at a few loose pebbles. "Really? I thought that the leg thing might have been a bit too much, but you really worked with it." The smug grin that he wore was translated so clearly by his words she could see it perfectly in her mind's eye.
She began twirling her cane back and forth, concentrating on that rather than the man that stood next to her. 'I'm not going to say anything. All he wants is to get a rise out of me and I'm not going to let that happen again. I'll just stay quiet and he'll eventually get bored and move onto something else to keep himself occupied.'
"Although, I'm not really sure I deserved the hit with the old stick there. At least not for just stating the obvious, anyway."
Her grip on the cane tightened so hard and so fast she was surprised that it didn't shatter right then and there. "What is wrong with you? This whole time you've been poking and poking at me. Did I do something to offend you?"
If Jonathan was effected by her outburst, he didn't show it. "It's not my fault that you don't show any emotion other than annoyed, love. All I want is for you to loosen up a bit; shrug off the stuffy old woman act for a few seconds here and there.
Bianca's mouth hung open as she tried to wrap her head around what she had just been told. "So, every little annoying comment, every jab was just you trying to get me to have more fun while I'm trying to stop a mad man from destroying the world?"
He shrugged and pulled out his flask from his inside coat pocket. "I suppose so. It's awfully fun to make you squirm as well." He took a swig of the liquid inside then held it out for her to take.
Without thinking, Bianca found herself snatching it from his hand. She felt the burning sensation of the liquid as it traveled down her throat and she had to fight not to cough. She passed it back to him. "You're unbelievable."
"Thank you, dear. I try my best."
Bianca cleared her throat to try to alleviate the burn. It seemed to only make it worse. "But what about tonight? When your sister is risking her life breaking into a museum doesn't seem like the best time to be doing your little social experiment or what ever you'd like to call it."
He chuckled into his drink. "Ah, that. Well, I don't know if anyone has ever told you this, Bi, but you are an absolutely awful actress. I mean, I would be surprised if the guards would even spare you a second glance with the show you were putting on, so I decided to improvise."
'He what?' She thought as she stared up blankly at the man.
"And you took the bait hook line and sinker. I'd bet they heard you back home with the way you were yelling." He took in her look of disbelief. "It worked, didn't it?"
Bianca ran a hand over her hair, smoothing down fly aways and tucking the few strands that had escaped her bun behind her ear. 'He did it to help. I can't believe it. How could he think that catching me off guard like that would be helpful at all? I mean, it worked that time, but he couldn't have known how I was going to react.. How could he even think of being so-' She groaned and leaned back against the brick wall behind her. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she let out a small chuckle. 'I give up.'
"Was that laughter that I heard? There isn't supposed to be any of that coming from our dreaded ice princess over there." Jonathan said.
"You're ridiculous. Do you know that? Absolutely ridiculous." Her head wavered from side too side, her neck almost too tired to support it.
Jonathan simply smiled broader and took another sip of his drink.
"Are you sure we're going the right way? All these streets look exactly the same to me." Rick glanced around at the rows of squat buildings that lined either side of the street.
His wife pointed ahead to a small outlet, almost entirely hidden by a stack of crates. "That's the one right there! The one across from the rug stall and next to the herbalist. I knew that left was the right direction."
Rick rolled his eyes. He could remember very clearly that he had been the one to suggest going left at the last crossing while Evy had argued for the right. The sound of familiar voices could be hear as they got nearer to the meeting place. "Please don't tell me they're at it again." He said.
"Really, Bi? Two years of finishing school and this is the best that you can come up with? Your old head mistress must be rolling around her grave."
"Oh, like you could do much better! Lets see you try to sew a strait line on a shaking train. I bet you could even manage to take your eye out if you tried hard enough."
Rick looked over to his wife in surprise. "That sounds almost civil." He said. Evy smiled in the direction of the voices and hurried around the corner. She was met with the sight of the other two of their party lounging on one of the crates. Bianca seemed to be in the middle of showing off what her handy work had done to the pair of trousers that she had been lent. Jonathan's face was tinged pink from laughter.
"There you are!" he exclaimed, leaping up from his seat and staggering a bit. "We've been waiting here for ages, haven't we Bi?"
Bianca grabbed her cane from its resting place and used it to lift herself onto her feet. "We were afraid that you might have gotten caught. Jonathan thought of some interesting ways to raise your bail money." She said. Seeing the object cradled in Evi's arms she seemed to regain her composure. Her face regained it's now familiar calm and relatively emotionless state. If she had glanced over at Jonathan at that moment, she would have noted the twinge of disappointment that crossed his. "Is that the clue? Have you deciphered where we need to go next yet?"
Evelyn placed the small clay pot gingerly on top of the box and knelt down next to it, pointing to the infinitesimal lines of hieroglyphics that covered its surface. "I managed to read some of what's written on the outside while we were coming here, but we haven't even had time to opening it yet. These lines here are about the royal prince that first wrote down the clues. Those symbols right there are his royal seal, his cartouche."
"Yeah, but does it mean anything?" her husband asked.
Evi rolled her eyes. "I'm getting to that, dear. If I can just get this lid off then we can see about what's inside the thing." She carefully pried off the cork lid, setting it aside in case they need to reseal it. She peered inside before pulling out a small roll of papyrus and placing it down on the box. Using as little force as possible, Evy unrolled the scroll and held it flat while her eyes began to scan the faded black writing.
Bianca felt the weight of uncertainly growing heavy in her chest. Flickers of doubt began to cross her mind. 'What if they took the wrong pot. What would we even do then? There's no way that we could ever go back to the museum without being thrown strait into jail. In fact, the more time we stay in the same city, the more likely it is that we all get to spend the rest of our lives behind bars.'
Her thoughts were interrupted by the other woman exclaiming, "Aha! This is it!" They all crowded closer to the jar and the translator. "It seems that this was written by the prince's high priest. He writes 'By the powers of the great and mighty king Ra, let those who seek the power face the trials set forth.' Something like this was on the tablet as well. Then it seems to go on some more about the sanctity of the book and about how we really shouldn't even be reading this, but then it finally gets to the next clue. The lost sight of the god grows and transforms. In the oasis of the lotus lies the next task. Follow the chariot in the sky in it's journey as your guide."
"Well, that's all very nice, but that didn't make a lick of sense."
Bianca couldn't help but nod in agreement with what Jonathan had said. "That last part is the only bit that I understand. The ancient Egyptians thought that the sun was actually Ra riding across the sky every day, right. So it must mean that where ever it is that we're supposed to be going is east from the valley where the clue originally was." The impressed look from Evelyn at her knowledge was enough to make Bianca crack a small smile.
"That's as far as I got too. As for the other parts I'm at a complete loss. There's nothing that I can remember from any of the myths of a god losing his sight and while the lotus flower is included in many myths, I don't see the connection between it and the story of the book."
The woman rubbed her forehead as if it would help beckon the thoughts forward. It didn't seem to help any.
"Why do we even need to know what the rest of the clue means? We know where the next location is; directly east from the tomb where this one was found. Why don't we just wing it and head there?" Her husband asked.
Evelyn sighed and mentally weighed her options. "That's always an option, but what if we've missed something important? Something that would cost us the book."
Bianca glanced at Jonathan, looking for any clue whether or not he was going to input his opinion. She figured if he was going to open his big mouth then it might be alright for her to do the same. Unfortunately for her, at that moment he seemed to be intent of studying the brick wall that he was leaning against.
Wrapping his arms around his wife's shoulders, Rick said, "Come on. What's the worst thing that could happen."
She didn't reply, but Bianca could swear that she saw the flicker of a smile pass over her lips. She knew that they were going to be on the move soon enough.
Whoa there. Is that an update?
I'm really sorry about the ridiculous amount of time that it took for this chapter to get written and the pitiful length. AP tests plus SATs plus final exams are really getting to me. As usual, thank you everyone who has reviewed so far! All comments and critiques are welcome.
