Chapter 9
When Raghib got home, he decided to rub the lamp. Jafar came out in his human form again.
"Listen. You tell me what that nonsense about my being descended from you is all about, because I'm certainly not a jinn. Watch."
He tried to stick his finger in the lamp.
Due to his finger being quite skinny, it went in, but due to his being somewhat more substantial than a jinn, it got stuck.
"Well, er, you get the point. I can't even fit one finger in this lamp, let alone all of me." With his other hand, he grabbed some oil off a shelf, applied it to the lamp and slid his finger out.
"You fool, do you think I was a jinn all my life? I would have been human when your line was founded."
"Did you know? I mean, back then, before you had all this supernatural knowledge?"
"I slept with half the women of Agrabah, and that's a low estimate. For all I'd have known then, my children went on the books as legitimate children of such-and-such family, although I'm sure their different features were remarked upon."
"I don't mean to question you but...either I question you or I question the good taste of Agrabi women."
"If you were as powerful as I came to be, they'd flock to you too. They were like women—like people—everywhere."
"From what I heard your reign was very short."
"I don't mean my sultanate. It was, unfortunately, too brief for me to do much of anything. I mean my vizierate. Everyone in the city knew that if you needed something...taken care of...you went to the Vizier."
"They bribed you? And you took it?"
"Not so much that, as that Sultan Hamid would have sent them to me even if they had gone to him first, so eventually they stopped going to him. But for truly big favors, yes, they bribed me, with whatever they could. Viziers have to eat too."
By the looks of them, they don't eat much, thought Raghib, but he sort of liked this pragmatic, self-interested approach. It wasn't as if he hadn't let people into the museum after hours, or into restricted areas, in exchange for some money. Perhaps he could have a decent business partnership with the old vizier.
Meanwhile, after their strange encounter with Raghib, Khalid, Ardeth and Amira were searching the basement for the lamp.
"I know this museum better than anyone," said Khalid, "but this basement is still going to be tough to search. Er, Amira, I would really appreciate it if you didn't pick that sword up, it's from the 13th century."
"You cannot just leave a sword lying around and expect nobody to touch it, Dr. el-Hibri!"
"Of course I can, that's why the blasted thing is off exhibit. You're supposed to be looking for a lamp, not playing with priceless artifacts. …Ardeth? Are you...yes, you are wearing the Ottoman helmet." Khalid shook his head. With friends like these, he didn't need careless museum guests.
"I think you might have labeled it wrong. I think, if anyone, I should be wearing it." He took it off and pointed to a stamped symbol on the inside.
"The seal of the Medjai. This was made for my people. I do not even know how it ended up here."
"The only information we have for it is that it was donated fairly recently by a Frenchman who was involved in a battle. Not long ago, actually. Before I came to the museum, but not long ago at all."
"You would not keep a Medjai helmet away from a Medjai on the word of the man who killed its original owner, would you?"
"Fine. You want a beat-up old helmet because it's got an eye symbol in it, who am I to argue with the great Ardeth Bey. Take it. It's one of the only things in here Dr. Robinson won't miss, me being the other. Here, I'll even look in this journal to find out who the frog nicked it off, if it means that much to you?"
"Frog?" asked Ardeth.
"Oh I'm sorry, force of habit. I was educated in England, as you know. What I meant was, the estimable gentleman from France." He was sarcastic enough to not make that sound much better than "frog."
"I was only asking what you meant by it. Regardless. You read the frog's journal and I'll keep looking for the lamp."
After Ardeth had prowled the corridors looking for the lamp a few times, Khalid called him back. "All I can find pertaining to the helmet is this passage. Thankfully another person who worked here already had this translated." Khalid pointed to an English passage in the book.
We went looking for a place called Hamunaptra, said to be the hiding place for the wealth of Egypt. The Arabs warned us that the place was protected by the curse of a mummy, but we did not listen. However, we never found the wealth of Hamunaptra, because we were ambushed by some men in black with bizarre hieroglyphics on their faces. They called themselves Magi, though I do not think they can do magic.
Ardeth laughed. "We wish we could," he said.
"Yes, that does seem like a sloppy translation, doesn't it?" They kept reading.
The leader of the Magi, a formidable man called Rashideddin Bey, warned us to stay far away from Hamunaptra, on account of he would kill us if we did not leave. We decided to take his word for it, and left the next morning, with a few spoils from the battle, including, miraculously, the helmet of Rashideddin himself, which he had left behind while fighting one of my men. Though I suppose turnabout is fair play, as I was later informed that a small boy traveling with the Magi had stolen my gold statuette of Anubis.
"Not just any Medjai helmet. Khalid, I will find you a proper Ottoman helmet myself if you let me keep this. You were right. The events in this journal happened recently."
"Recently? How recently?"
"Oh, thirty years ago or so."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I remember my father losing his helmet. He shrugged it off and fought without one for the rest of his life. Oh, and I still have the gold statuette of Anubis. I was probably no more than seven years old."
"And you were brought along on a raid? I have been asked to believe some rather unbelievable things, usually by you, but I will stop just short of believing that the Medjai endanger their continued survival by bringing the leader's underage son along."
"I was not asking you to believe that anyone brought me, just that I was there. But back to this helmet, Doctor el-Hibri. May I keep it?"
"You can keep it," said Khalid. "It's not going to get me in trouble to let you, and it obviously means more to you than to anyone here."
"Thank you."
Amira came back up to them, empty-handed. "The lamp is not here. I think we ought to leave, because someone stole the lamp and we'll need to catch up to them."
They walked back up to the ground floor. Before they left, they saw a small boy running up to them.
"Oh, no, not Alex!" exclaimed Khalid. "I can only imagine what he's gotten into now!"
"I haven't gotten into anything!" said Alex. "I've only been in the library reading! Oh, hi, Ardeth. Nice helmet, where'd you get it?"
"He took it from my museum's basement."
"Did you let him?" asked Alex.
"He did let me," said Ardeth, amused.
"Where is your mother, Alexander?" asked Khalid sternly.
"Oh, Mum fell asleep in the library."
"And you didn't think of waking her up?" asked Amira.
"I tried but she didn't wake up. So what are you guys doing here?"
"We found a genie's lamp but someone stole it from us and hid it here. Then someone else stole it from here. Now we have to get it back because the genie is evil," said Khalid.
"Can I hear Ardeth's explanation? Yours sounds awful, no offense, Dr. el-Hibri."
"We found a genie's lamp but someone stole it from us and hid it here. Then someone else stole it from here. Now we have to get it back because the genie is evil," said Ardeth.
"If my dad were here, he would call you a smart-arse for that."
"Where is Mr. O'Connell, anyway?" asked Khalid. "I thought all three of you were coming to Cairo."
"Dad's in the hotel. He came down with something in Alexandria."
"Let's go wake up your mother, all right?" asked Khalid.
They headed to the library, where a woman with long brown hair was sleeping, her face in a book. Khalid took the bell off the checkout desk and rang it gently, but Evy didn't wake up.
Alex ran over. "Hey Mum! Hey Mum! Hey Mum! Wake up already!"
She turned her head, but didn't wake up.
"Any bright ideas?" asked Khalid.
"Evelyn! The library is on fire!" Ardeth yelled.
The woman sat up straight, put on a pair of reading glasses, and said, "The library is on fire? I have to save the books!" She looked around.
"This library is not on fire, and I have some strong words for whatever jokester told me it was."
"That would be me, Evelyn. I am sorry, but nothing else seemed to be working."
"Ardeth? But if you're in the Cairo Museum…oh, no, not another mummy."
"A jinn this time. We thought its lamp was safely hidden here, but someone must have stolen it while we were traveling from the Medjai fortress. Who was in the museum today?"
"Not many people. Dr. Robinson came back, but he went to check his airplane and then he left. A fellow named Feisal said he was looking for a Joseph Wellington."
"Feisal wouldn't have stolen the lamp. If he took it, he'd have brought it to Ardeth or me," said Khalid. "Anyone else?"
"That scrawny Raghib fellow. He was complaining about Khalid and treasure hunters. He went downstairs, but I don't remember seeing him come back up before I fell asleep."
"Dr. Robinson left right after he checked his airplane?" asked Khalid. "He did not come back ranting about a dirty, improperly-parked airplane?"
"Why do you ask?"
"We asked the pilot to fly us to Damascus."
"Why were you in Damascus?"
"We went to Damascus on the trail of Joseph Wellington, who was excavating the destroyed city of Agrabah. You see, we wanted to stop him from finding the lamp. Sadly, we failed."
"You must have really hated that. I mean, after not stopping people from bringing back Imhotep," said Alex.
"My son, the diplomat," sighed Evy. "So why is this lamp such a problem?"
"The jinn is forced by the lamp to grant three wishes. However, the jinn is a wicked creature and turns the wishes to the disadvantage of the master of the lamp. Wellington learned this at a price, and he tried to hide the lamp in the museum."
"You know, I don't think he's very bright," said Evy. "Why would he hide something here? The museum workers would know if anything was out of place."
"Yes, but by the time anyone found it, the lamp was out of his life. He's a selfish treasure hunter. We need to start looking for the lamp outside the museum now," said Khalid, "because if I can't find it, it's not here."