Chapter Six

Larry had succeeded in pulling Amelia into the warehouse and slamming the door shut before the figure could reach the spot where they had once stood. "What is that thing?" Amelia asked.

"I don't know," Larry replied, "but somebody wanted him gone."

"How do you know that?"

"See how badly burned his face is?"

"That could be anything."

"In the ancient Egyptian tradition, if you destroy the face and name of a person, you're effectively destroying their soul and any chances of an afterlife. The fact that the guy's burned likely means that the body was likely burned, which means that if somebody went to that kind of trouble, they wanted him gone for good."

"Are you sure he's even ancient Egyptian?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"So what's the plan, ace?"

"Right now? Stay alive."

NATM

Kahmunrah forced his brother into a lower position on the steps and smirked. Ahkmenrah kicked his brother's legs out from under him and pressed the tip of the spear to his neck. "Higher ground does not always equate to advantage," he said. Kahmunrah kicked Ahkmenrah in the leg and shot to his feet. They traded two blows before Ahkmenrah twisted Kahmunrah's khopesh out of his hands and threw it behind him and into the Reflecting Pool. Kahmunrah glanced down at himself, then at his brother, and then at a birdman, whom he immediately disarmed.

The birdman was obviously less than pleased, and in a fit of rage, he rushed his leader from behind and tried to tackle him to the ground. Ahkmenrah hesitated, but pulled McPhee out of the fray and down a sidewalk. He urged the director to find shelter, and his gaze drifted around for any sign of anything useful or anyone dangerous. He spotted both, the former in the form of a warehouse and the latter in the badly burned visage that he thought he'd never see again.

He sank into a fighting crouch and narrowed his eyes, and he inched his way toward the warehouse.

The figure turned to face him. Ahkmenrah froze, save to wince at the sight of him, but his eye was attracted by a movement to his side. He turned so as to best see both of his opponents, and he noticed that Kahmunrah had managed to fight his way out of the internal conflict that ensued when he disarmed one of his own men. "You think you're so clever," Kahmunrah snarled.

"Actually that was your fault," Ahkmenrah replied. "And, admittedly, theirs, but I won't bring it up with them. Quite frankly, we really don't have the time." He glanced at the man, who was watching their exchange intently. Ahkmenrah suddenly had the sense that he was in the throes of a great moment in history in the making.

"Because you can do no wrong." Kahmunrah started to approach his brother.

"I didn't do much of anything, except defend myself and my companion."

"That oaf? What is he to you?"

"The reason I still have a home somewhere. I'd love to explain it to you, but I doubt you'd deign to listen to me." He stole another glance. The man had moved closer to them, still watching with an unnerving degree of interest. "Someone is, though," he said. Kahmunrah finally looked to his side, and he started upon seeing who was there.

Now both brothers faced the man, who looked alternately at each of them. Ahkmenrah looked askance at his brother, narrowing his eyes slightly, and then returned his attention to the man. Kahmunrah stepped back. The man flicked his wrist. Ahkmenrah pulled his brother out of the path of roots springing up from the ground. The brothers ran toward the warehouse, with the roots in pursuit, and Ahkmenrah wrenched the door open for just long enough to allow them entry. Then he slammed the door shut and braced himself against it.

"Take it you saw Freakshow, too," Larry said. Kahmunrah moved toward him, but Ahkmenrah stopped him.

"Yes, we did," he said. "He has magical powers." Roots scraped against the walls of the warehouse. "He's sealing us in."

"So what do we do?"

"Do you have any ideas?"

The man appeared behind Larry and Amelia. Ahkmenrah started and pressed his back into the door. Larry and Amelia turned, and they started and stepped back. "We're going to die," Ahkmenrah whispered in Egyptian. "In a warehouse. All four of us. Mummified alive." Kahmunrah clenched his fists, and when Ahkmenrah glanced at him, he was very, very pale.

The man moved. Amelia pushed Larry aside and to the floor. Kahmunrah gasped and groped the wall for purchase as he floated up to the ceiling. Ahkmenrah tightened his grip on the spear and then took aim. Bandages flew from some undefined point of origin and started to wrap around Kahmunrah's limbs, forcibly arranging them so that he resembled a mummy. Ahkmenrah threw the spear. It pierced the man's heart, and, startled and distracted, he released his preternatural hold on Kahmunrah, allowing him to collapse to the floor, breathing heavily but free of bandages.

But the man didn't collapse or seem at all fazed once he recovered from the shock of being targeted. "Great Gatsby," Amelia whispered.

"Run!" Ahkmenrah yelled. Kahmunrah wrenched open the door. Amelia pulled Larry to his feet. The man pulled the spear out of his chest and aimed it at Ahkmenrah, who was in the process of pushing his brother out the door and past the forest of roots. Ahkmenrah plucked the spear out of its flight toward his head and gave a passing nod to Larry and Amelia as they fled the warehouse. He spared a glance for his adversary and then followed his brother, friend, and fellow exhibit into the outside world.

"What the hell was that?" Larry asked Ahkmenrah. "You burn a guy and he comes out of it with supernatural powers?"

"So you figured it out," Ahkmenrah replied. "It's just as I feared."

"Wait, you were afraid this would happen? Why didn't you stop it?"

"Believe me, I tried."

"You did that? You burned his body?"

"Personally."

"I thought your relationship with Father was excellent," Kahmunrah said to his brother.

"I'll talk this out with you later," Ahkmenrah replied. "There's a lot you don't know."

"Please tell me you're talking about that weirdo," Larry said.

"In a word, yes."

"Here," Amelia said. She pulled open a door and hid behind it until the other three were inside. Then she bolted the door.

"Where are we?" Kahmunrah asked.

"Somewhere under the Museum of the American Indian. Best I could do on short notice." She walked down the hall.

"We better keep going," Larry said. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't want that undead creepazoid finding us." He followed her. The brothers shrugged at each other and walked on after the night guard.