"Bahira?!" Ardeth calls out, voice almost breaking at the thought that she might not have made it away. He turns to his companions, the nearly blind panic in his eyes shocking all of them in how similar it is to Dr. Bey's. "Spread out, search the room. They will probably be hiding behind or under one of the displays."
Before any of them can say anything against it, he runs in the same direction the two children had gone, barely noticing the two corpses and unconscious child as he passes them, entering the dimly lit area of the chamber. He slows down as he approaches the wall where he suspects the children, being as small as they are, could have hidden behind a display. He controls his breathing, calming his hammering heart, and listens for any movement, any sounds that could indicate their location, but hears nothing but an empty silence. He checks behind the large case just in front of him, finding nothing behind the case holding the ancient armor of the pharaohs, or a rack of ancient Medjai scimitars.
A slight shifting, and a whimper finally echo from nearby. "Bahira?" he calls softly. More shifting, and another whimper as what sounds like an elbow hits the wall. "Bahira, it's safe. He's gone," he calls softly.
"Ardeth?" comes a shaky whimper, and he moves to the display to the right of the scimitars, finding the two nearly identical children, fear shining in their eyes.
He kneels before the terrified boy, who holds Bahira's hand tightly as she crouches on the ground behind him. "Are you both alright?" he asks softly, offering his hand slowly to the boy.
The boy reaches out slowly after a moment, his trembling hand grasping onto the stranger's larger, warmer hand. He pulls the boy, and Bahira, slowly into the open, holding both close in his arms, taking comfort in their safety as they both cling to him, Bahira crying silently into his shoulder once more. "Wh-what was th-that?" the little boy asks shakily, clinging tightly to the man his new friend trusts so easily.
"Something we all have every right to fear, child," he whispers, before turning around at the sound of light footsteps, finding Evy coming up behind him, a relieved sigh at seeing the children safe in his arms. "Miss Carnahan, if you would take one of them for me please…" he trails off, keeping the arm around Bahira firmly in place.
She nods in understanding, and crouches beside him, addressing the little boy. "Hello, I'm Evy. What's your name?" she asks gently, offering a hand to him.
He takes it shyly and follows as she pulls him closer. "I'm Harry," he introduces himself, almost as if he's unsure of his own name.
She smiles at the shy boy. "Come on then, Harry, we should tell the others you're both alright." With that, she rises, lifting the boy gently to her hip as Ardeth does the same with Bahira, both headed towards the area of the room with significantly more light, finding Rick and Jonathan coming back into the room, expressions of sadness and a small measure of disgust on each of their faces. "We've got them, Rick, Jonathan," she calls to them.
Terrence, whom they hadn't noticed, rises from where he was trying to rouse the rather large child, going straight to Ardeth and Bahira. "Are they alright?" he asks, no longer the director of the museum, but a parent scared for the welfare of his child.
"Just shaken, by the looks of things," Evy answers, holding Harry tightly to herself and rubbing his back soothingly as he rests his head on her shoulder.
"Who's…?" Rick asks, gesturing to Harry as he steps closer to Evy, raising a hand to rest gently on the new child's back.
She smiles softly at the little boy, who frowns in confusion. "This is Harry. Harry, this is my friend, Rick," she introduces them, getting a small smile from the child.
"That bad guy… he called me Ammon, and he called her Rania," he informs them slowly. "Why?"
At that, they turn to Terrence, who stiffens at the question before returning to the large boy starting to wake up on the floor. "Has he called anyone else by any other names?" he asks quietly.
Evy nods slowly. "He… called me Anck-su-namun before we came back here, after he kissed me," she whispers, blushing in embarrassment with a shiver of disgust at the memory.
Everybody else shakes their heads in the negative as he and Ardeth trade looks of concern. "He's chosen a sacrifice to raise her, even with Rania's plea for her safety," he whispers in horror.
"And what do the kids have to do with any of this?" Daniels asks in annoyance, still clutching the poor cat in a rather tight hold.
"He must recognize them as the reincarnations of his daughter and her best friend, who were almost identical in his era," Terrence informs the Americans and British siblings as he tries to help the obese child to sit up. "Although I am rather shocked he hasn't recognized all those that Rania has."
Rick's head whips to level his gaze on Ardeth, who nods slightly. "Who has she recognized so far?" he asks carefully.
"Nefertiti, Kafele, Khalid, Latif, Pili, and Bes so far, although I have a feeling she might already recognize Ammon," Ardeth replies carefully.
Jonathan scoffs. "And just who could possibly be the 'reincarnations' of these people?" he asks, disbelieving of the entire theory.
"Miss Evy was Nefertiti, Mr. Rick was Kafele, Mr. Fadil was Pili, Mr. Hasani was Latif, Mr. Jabari was Khalid, Ardeth was Bes, and Harry was Ammon," Bahira whispers in answer to his question before her adoptive father or her protector can answer. "I was Rania."
"Oh my God…" Evy breathes into the silence. "That's why you knew about the symbols, why you gave them to us when you knew we were going to Hamunaptra," she thinks aloud.
"We don't have time for this, we need to figure out a way to stop this guy!" Daniels growls, panicking. "You said you had a way to stop him, right?"
Evy shakes her head. "If we can figure out where Bembridge Scholars mixed up the locations of the books." She turns to her boss, who is fighting to control a suddenly wailing child. "Dr. Bey, where's that tablet we had on display last month?!" she shouts to be heard.
"Upstairs, overlooking the main entrance!" he calls to her, before turning to the large blonde boy before him. "That's enough of this! I understand you're upset, but throwing a tantrum will not bring back your parents, Dudley!" he scolds the child.
It miraculously makes Dudley quiet down. "B-but the-they wo-won't leave m-me here! I-I'm not a fr-freak like him!" he cries, pointing at Harry. "I want to go home!"
"And you will go home if you calm down and stop being a spoiled brat," Ardeth scolds the boy, before leading Evy as they carry the children from the exhibit to find the tablet. "Miss Carnahan-" he begins.
She cuts him off. "Please, you can call me Evelyn or Evy."
"Evelyn," he starts again with a small smile. "Are you alright?"
She lets out a huff of air as they ascend the stairs, shifting Harry's weight in her arms halfway up. "I'm not sure how I should take all of this. I never meant to bring Imhotep back from the dead, and I didn't believe that any of this was possible until it happened. I just hope that I'm able to help stop him before he can do anything else."
He nods slowly, before seeing that Harry's gaze is locked on him. "What is it, Harry?" he asks kindly.
"Do you think I'm a freak too?" he asks quietly.
He stiffens at the conviction in the little boy's eyes, and the fear of rejection. "Why would you think that?"
"Because I can do things… I did it again earlier with the wind…" he stares at Ardeth. "I can make things come to me if I really want them to. I made my hair grow back. Doesn't that mean I'm a freak?"
Before he can answer, Bahira lifts her head from his shoulder, eyes suddenly bright with curiosity. "I can do that! But I like playing with the lights and fire more," she informs him with a smile. "You're not a freak! You're really cool!"
"Really?" he asks quietly.
She smiles and squirms until Ardeth sets her down at the top of the stairs as Evy does the same with Harry. "Really," she reassures him with a smile. "You wanna see?" she asks with a smile.
He nods shyly. "Can you show me the lights?"
She grins, and holds up her hand, staring at her palm before a small ball of light begins to form above her hand, glowing a soft gold, before turning into an emerald to match their eyes, then bluer than the sea, before settling on an obnoxious red. She giggles as Harry's eyes widen in delight. "See? It isn't weird, Harry!"
He laughs as Evy begins to read the tablet frantically. "Bahira, sweetie, can you help me read this?" she calls in frustration as she scans the upper section of the large, black stone tablet.
Bahira offers a smile to Harry before joining Evy. "What do you want me to look for?" she asks even as she starts reading the Ancient Egyptian.
"The location of either the Book of the Dead or Amun Ra," she answers absently, focused on translating the symbols inches from her nose.
The rest of their group arrives upstairs with a significantly calmer child in tow, Terrence moving to crouch beside his daughter to assist in the task at hand. "You can read that?" Harry asks in amazement, a longing to learn barely detectable in his eyes.
Rick kneels beside the undersized little boy. "Yeah, those three can, and so can Jonathan here, supposedly," he informs the quiet boy he likes much more than the clearly spoiled boy.
"Can I… can I learn it too?" he asks, before his eyes widen slightly in fear.
Rick chuckles lightly, trying to play off the clear signs of abuse, but filing away the reaction for later reference. "I'm sure you would be able to learn it, Harry," he says, ruffling the boy's hair affectionately.
"The Book of the Dead!" Bahira shouts, catching their attention. "It says that it's in the statue of Anubis here, Papa."
"I've found a reference to the Book of Amun Ra up here," Evy informs them, as they hear a chanting from the street outside. "Jonathan, what is that?" Evy asks as she keeps reading her current section of the tablet.
Ardeth, Rick, Harry, Jonathan, and Daniels go to the nearby window, and Jonathan sighs. "Last but not least, my favorite plague: boils and sores." Harry gives the man a strange look.
"They've become his slaves," Ardeth quietly informs them. "It has begun… the beginning of the end."
"Not just yet," Evy calls over to them, making them turn to see her grinning in victory. "The Book of Amun Ra is at Hamunaptra, inside the statue of Horus!"
"Well done, Evy!" Jonathan cries in relief. "Now can we please get out of here?" he asks the two Medjai.
Ardeth nods as Terrence scoops up Bahira, Ardeth doing the same with Harry. "We need to find a way to get there before the Creature does."
They all jump as the mob outside starts pounding on the door. "What's that?" Dudley asks, shaking in terror.
Rick grabs the obese child by the shoulder and pulls him along. "No time to explain, kid! We gotta run!" he growls, pulling the kid as he struggles to keep up, but unable to carry him due to his extreme weight.
"Jonathan, you better have that car started as soon as you get in," Evy pants as they run through the back exit of the museum.
Said man is sprinting slightly ahead of them, keys already in hand. "I'm on it, Evy!" he calls back, managing to vanish around the front corner of the building before them. As the rest of them make it to the front of the building, Jonathan has the car already in gear and turned to pick them up, driving up to them and meeting them a little past the main entrance of the museum.
As they drop the children in the back of the car, Beni comes out of the main entrance, and seeing them starts calling to his master. "Imhotep! IMHOTEP! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!"
The called upon mummy stands in front of the window where they had just looked out of moments ago, and screams in rage, face and chest still partially decomposed.
Rick stands from his spot in the front seat next to Jonathan. "You're gonna get yours Beni! You hear me?! You're gonna get yours!" he yells at the Hungarian as Jonathan speeds away from the pursuing mob armed with torches, knives, and scimitars.
"Like I've never heard that before!" the whiney voice calls back, though slightly shaky as the car vanishes from his sight.