The next morning, Evelyn, Jonathan, Rick and Zi went down to the room where the sarcophagus was unearthed the night before. Evelyn was extremely excited to see who was inside. Zi was a bit apprehensive. She was rather sheepish, but her brother gave her courage.
"Oh, I've dreamt about this since I was a little girl." Evelyn followed Rick and Jonathan as they leaned the inner sarcophagus against the wall.
"You dream about dead guys?" Rick joked. Zi laughed. Rick looked back at her, glad that someone was amused with his joke, and then motioned for her to come closer.
"Look, his sacred spells have been chiseled off." Rick and Jonathan didn't seem all that interested. But Zi was curious. "This man must have been condemned not only in this life but in the next."
"Tough break," Rick was amusing himself.
"Yeah, I'm all tears," Jonathan said, joining in on the amusement. "Now, let's see who's inside, shall we?" Jonathan struggled with turning the 8-pointed star key.
Evelyn and Zi stood back as Rick and Jonathan worked together to pry open the lid. It took some time, but soon the lid came off and out popped a gooey mummy.
"Oh, my God, I hate it when these things do that." Evelyn said looking at it. They took a few minutes to examine the mummy. Zi wondered why the mummy was so juicy if it had been dead for 3,000 years, or so. Zi wasn't getting a good feeling about this. She started backing away; it felt as though the mummy was looking straight at her. The smell alone was nauseating. Zi tried to say something, but she had no voice. Instead, she left the room unnoticed.
Zi almost got lost in the labyrinth. Her head was spinning.
"Miss O'Connell?" Zi heard her name, but couldn't tell who was calling it. "Miss O'Connell, it is you." Mr. Burns was very happy to see her. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I think so." She looked at Mr. Burns, trying to focus her eyes. "Um,…which way is up?" Mr. Burns took her arm and escorted her out and into the open air. The world was still a blur to her, but she was thankful to be out in the open.
"Thank you, Mr. Burns," she half-smiled and turned to go to her camp.
"Miss O'Connell, perhaps you should stay here." Zi was hesitant. "I'm sure your brother would want to see you first thing when he comes out, before he panics. And, I could stay with you if you would like. You know, keep you company." Zi would be glad of that, but also she just wanted to lie down.
"Thank you, Mr. Burns, but I think I need to lie down." Zi walked up to the camp. It was slow going; the pillars all seemed to have a life of their own. Mr. Burns watched Zi, to make sure she was okay. He knew he should have offered to walk her up there, but it was too late.
"Where's Zi?" Jonathan asked, looking around the room. Rick had been so consumed with the mummy and getting lost in the majesty of this archeological find, that he didn't notice when Zi slipped out.
"Damn it," Rick scolded himself. The worst-case scenario ran through his head. He wouldn't be able to watch his sister come running down the halls, hands on her head pulling hair out, then running straight into a wall. "Tzipporah!" Rick called. He went out into the halls and started running and calling her name frantically.
"Maybe she's outside," Evelyn said, at last, trying to calm down Rick. "We haven't explored all that much of Hamunaptra, and she doesn't seem the curious one to go somewhere she hasn't been yet."
"Right," Rick agreed. "We'll take a quick look outside, check our camp, but if she isn't out there I'm coming back in here and combing this place until she is found." He was kicking himself.
"Don't worry, we'll find her." Evelyn looked at Rick.
"I swear, Evy, if anything happens to her," he couldn't think. "I don't know what I'll do. Without her, my life is empty." Evelyn understood; it was also how she felt about Jonathan. He was her only family now also, if something happened to him, she wouldn't have anyone else.
"You don't know, maybe she tried to say something and she thought we heard her but we didn't. So, when you see her, don't go jumping down her throat." Evelyn smiled a little, trying to give reassurance to Rick. He nodded, thankful that she was thinking positively, because he sure couldn't keep images of him finding her lying on the ground somewhere.
At the camp, Zi had laid down. She felt as though the entire world was spinning too fast for her. She closed her eyes tight, trying to slow it down, but she couldn't. Images of the warden running crazy and the mummy staring at her went through her head.
Mr. Burns saw that she had made it to camp. He smiled to himself, he felt honored that she trusted him enough to get her out safely. In the back of his mind, he was hoping that the curse really was just superstition. He would like to get to know her better.
"Tzipporah!" Rick ran out of the ruins calling for her. Mr. Burns had just turned around to head back inside with the rest of his group, when he ran into a frantic Rick O'Connell. "You," Rick grabbed his shirt and yanked him forward. "Have you seen my sister?"
"Calm down," Evelyn attempted to help Rick relax.
"Miss O'Connell?" Mr. Burns asked. Rick was irritated. He knew that Mr. Burns knew who his sister was. He nodded with a clenched jaw. "She's up at camp. She was looking pale when I found her wandering around inside. I thought it best that she lay down."
Rick let go of Mr. Burns' shirt and ran up to the camp. Jonathan followed close behind, as did Evelyn who turned around to Mr. Burns to say 'Thank you'.
"Tzipporah!" Rick kept calling as he approached her. Just like the image in his mind, she was laying on the ground. Rick rushed to her side, she was pale, but she was still breathing. "Oh, thank God, you're alright." Rick sighed relieved. Zi looked up at her brother as he pulled her up to hold her. She didn't remember how she got there.
Zi sat next to Rick at a fire in the American's camp that night. After she remembered what had made her leave the room, Rick kept an extra close eye on her. Mostly because this was an unfamiliar place for her, and he believed that evil was here. He had enlisted Jonathan's help in keeping her safe along with Mr. Burns, who he assumed was smitten with her. However, if Rick had anything to say about it, which he did, nothing would come of it.
Zi was nodding off just listening to the deep, resonant sound of Rick's voice, as it vibrated through is chest. The last thing she remembered hearing:
"You're in her seat," Rick told Beni. To which he laughed. "Now!"
"Yep," Beni moved and sat next to Zi, who had now fallen asleep. Rick wasn't too keen on how he had seen Beni looking at his sister.
"Yeah, you can't sit there either." Beni gave Rick a look of 'what are you going to do about it?' Rick smacked him with the stick he had in is hand to stoke the fire with. After that warning, Beni got up and moved again.
Zi woke up, briefly, when her brother was carrying her back to the camp. She could hear him humming as he walked. Feeling safe, Zi let herself fall back to sleep.
