pinkxjellybean, I know Tally's a crazy psycho from hell sometimes, but trust me, Mrs. Tinsley's worse. By birthright, Kahmunrah's a pharaoh, but if you'll remember right, in NatM 2, he explains that his parents gave Egypt to his brother Ahk.
Chapter Six
Kahmunrah watched the new curator approach as if she had something extremely important to take care of, and he immediately had the guards stop her. She glared at him, and he matched it with a glare of equal or greater ferocity. "Where's the key?" she demanded.
"There is none," Kahmunrah replied with a cold voice.
"Ha! Where's the key, dress-boy?"
"It's not a dress. It's a tunic."
"Where's the key?"
"I have it," Tally said from behind her.
Tally had just caught up with Mrs. Tinsley, and Ahkmenrah was right behind her. Mrs. Tinsley turned to face her, shock and anger distorting her features. "Where is that key?"
"Oo, sorry. Left it at home. Let me find it tomorrow and get back to you."
Mrs. Tinsley took careful steps toward Tally. "Tonight at midnight, the world will collapse, and I will see to it. Give me that key."
"No can do."
"You have thirty minutes to bring me that key or I'll kill you myself."
"Then you shall have me to face," Akhmenrah said, stepping up to Tally's side. Mrs. Tinsley stepped back, appalled, but Ahkmenrah remained resolute.
"Are you mad?" Tally asked him.
"Trust me," he replied in a low voice.
"For his sake you'd better give me that key."
Tally watched Mrs. Tinsley's eyes carefully, seeing that, unlike their usual green, they were almost black. "Do soul-stealers possess people?"
"Yes. That's what makes them soul-stealers."
"We've got a problem."
Ahkmenrah instantly launched into a string of Egyptian only Kahmunrah could make any real sense of, and he repeated this string to the guards, who called in reinforcements from other nearby exhibits. Mrs. Tinsley was surrounded in no time.
However, also in no time at all, she disintegrated into shadow and vanished, leaving behind a very stunned audience.
Word of the...incident...spread throughout the museum within the hour, and it was on everyone's lips for the next two, save Kahmunrah and Ahkmenrah, who were both hiding out in the Egyptian wing babbling to each other in Egyptian. After she gave Larry a recap and he'd gone off to do his thing, Tally listened to all the conspiracy theories from each of the exhibits, sometimes comparing them, sometimes not. Suffice it to say, everyone knew what happened, but no one knew how or why, or even if it was physically possible.
Then, without warning, the sound of metal being ripped apart tore through the museum.
Larry had just gone to make sure all the exhibits were safely inside the museum's walls when a door neighboring one he'd just checked ripped open, spilling shadows into the surrounding chamber. He took a few steps back before turning around and breaking into a full sprint in an effort to leave the basement behind.
He made it to one of the corridors of Greek pottery, which was taped off at one end for restoration efforts. He slid under the tape, where Rexy was waiting to run around or play fetch or something. "Not now," Larry managed, turning toward the corridor, to which there'd been no change. "We gotta get out of here. Can you do that?" Rexy turned and walked away, almost like he was sulking, and Larry took a few steps backward before he could turn around again and feel safe doing so.
Tally had just started to leave when Larry walked into the lobby, a little shaken and more than a little out of breath, but alive. "What the hell happened?"
"I...dunno... They're coming."
"Who?"
The museum was plunged into complete darkness at that moment. For a long time, no one said anything while the palpable darkness began taking hold on every inanimate object, making them emanate a very real sense of dread.
"Do you like it?"
A figure stepped out of the darkness, startling everyone.
