A Better Place

"Well, sis," said Rick. "You had enough of this place yet?"

Philippa didn't know what time it was, but the campfire was dying down and the moon shone bright in the sky, casting a faint light upon the sand. "I can't get out of here fast enough," Philippa said with a shudder. She sat upon her bedroll and kept expecting dark creatures to come out of nowhere and devour her flesh, even though Rick had destroyed every scarab that she and the warden collected. He managed to cut out the scarab that attacked her too, after she lost consciousness, and now Philippa had a dull ache right above her hip, where Rick had pulled up her dress and made the cut.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Jonathan asked for the third time that evening. He sat close to Philippa, his hair rumpled from sleep. "You gave me quite a scare when you woke me up with that scream. Must have frightened at least five years off my life, I would bet."

"I'm all right now," said Philippa. "But remind me never to touch anything that looks like a bug."

"Well I sure as hell ain't sleepin' tonight," said Daniels. He and his companions remained close to the fire, clearly shaken up after the scarab attacked Philippa. "And I ain't stickin' around here neither. There might be somethin' even worse than killer bugs under that sand."

"So we're just going to give up?" asked Burns.

"Would you like to have a bug burrow inside of you?"

"Of course not," said Burns. "I was just asking."

Philippa wished they would talk about something else. "You should come along with us," she said. "It'll be a party."

"Yeah, a party without any gold," said Henderson. "What a goshdarned waste of time this trip was."

Beni sat apart from the three Americans, though he was close enough to hear their conversation. Philippa couldn't tell what his reaction to the scarab was, but he wouldn't stop sneaking glances at her with a strange look on his face, as if the two of them shared a joke. "Just remember," he said. "I still expect my full payment."

Daniels glowered at him. "You can shut your mouth."

"I wouldn't stay here if I were you," said Beni, ignoring Daniels. "Didn't I say that this place is cursed?"

"Three of our diggers did get melted," said Burns. "And then the thing with that beetle happened. Not to mention the attack on our camp. Maybe this place doesn't want us to be here."

"Look, we'll decide in the morning if we stay or go," said Henderson. "I don't know about you fellas, but I'm gettin' some shut-eye."

"Well I ain't gonna sleep tonight," Daniels said again, fingering the handle of his pistol.

"I don't think I'll be sleeping either," Philippa told Jonathan. "I would just have nightmares, I'm sure. Did I really scare you as badly as you say I did?"

"I thought someone was being murdered, my dear girl," said Jonathan. "And you may not believe this, but I was very, very worried about you."

Philippa fell silent and absently touched her dress, feeling the makeshift bandage that lay underneath. Rick had tied a strip of cloth around her waist to staunch the bleeding, though the wound continued to ache, and Philippa shivered as a light breeze played with the ends of her hair. Maybe Burns was right about Hamunaptra. Maybe the ancient city wanted them gone and would do all it could to drive them away.

Somehow she managed to fall asleep and woke up with only a faint reminder of last night's pain. Rick had already loaded the camels by the time she awoke and Jonathan made a fuss over her, wanting to know if she got enough sleep and felt "quite all right" after her ordeal. Philippa appreciated the attention and assured him that all was well, but she found that she couldn't look at Jonathan for long, remembering her deal with Beni.

Her team was leaving within the hour, but the Americans still hadn't decided if they wanted to join them. If they decided to stay in Hamunaptra, then Beni would stay with them, keeping the puzzle box and robbing Evelyn of the chance to explore the golden book. Beni loitered around the camp, looking amused as the Americans argued amongst themselves, and Philippa approached him while Jonathan was busy dousing the campfire.

"So are you staying here or going to Cairo?" Philippa asked.

"I don't know," said Beni. He had that strange look on his face again, the one Philippa had noticed last night.

"Have I got something on my face?" asked Philippa.

"No."

"Then why do you keep looking at me like that?"

"Nice underwear," Beni said with a grin.

Philippa thought she had misunderstood him, though his accent wasn't that bad. "What did you say?"

"Nice underwear," Beni repeated.

"And how would you know what my underwear looks like?"

"I saw it last night, when O'Connell cut out the bug."

Philippa had been unconscious when Rick pulled up her dress and she didn't feel too embarrassed after the fact, since she had been too busy recovering from the trauma and the pain, but embarrassment flooded her the moment she heard Beni's words. "Did everyone see?" she asked quietly.

"No," said Beni. "I just happened to be in the right place. Maybe I'll be in an even better place if you let me."

"You won't get a chance if your team stays here," said Philippa. "I'm leaving for Cairo soon, so you'd better convince your team to get out of here."

"And why do you care if I get a chance or not?" asked Beni. His eyes bore into Philippa's, making her aware yet again of how close he was. "You keep playing your little games with me, acting like you don't want it, but you do want to sleep with me, don't you?"

"Don't be silly. I only agreed because I want that puzzle box."

"And you also want to sleep with me."

Philippa knew she should walk away, but Beni's gaze held her like a trap. "Now you're just trying to flatter yourself, but it's not going to work."

"I don't need to flatter myself. I know I am right."

"Hey, Philippa!" Rick shouted, breaking the spell-like quality of Beni's words. "Come pick out what animal you wanna ride!"

Philippa hurried away from Beni, glad for an excuse to end their conversation, and found the horse she had ridden while traveling with the Americans. "What were you talking to Beni for?" Rick asked as he helped her load the horse with supplies.

"Nothing much," Philippa said lightly. "Just wanted to know if his team is staying put."

"Huh," said Rick, sounding skeptical. "Be careful around that little buddy of mine, all right?"

"Oh, he's not so bad when you get used to him."

"Yeah, but you don't know him like I do."

Perhaps it was the ominous breeze that kept blowing through the camp, or perhaps it was Beni's clever persuasion, but the Americans decided to leave Hamunaptra and return to Cairo, where they could hopefully gain some attention for the black book and the chest. Chamberlain seemed perfectly content to leave, though he kept a careful watch on the chest and snapped at anyone who tried to touch it, while Evelyn returned the favor by keeping the gold book carefully hidden. Philippa felt a bit of regret at failing to discover the wealth of Egypt, but that regret soon faded as she sat upon her horse and followed everyone out of the lost city.

They were headed back to the real world at last. Soon Philippa would board a ship to New York, back to her mother and all her dear friends, and she would finally get a chance to bond with Rick the way she had wanted to all along. She may have been useless in the desert, but Philippa had the upper hand in the big city and would show her brother that she could be a marvelous sister, if he would give her a chance and see.

Philippa found herself riding near Henderson, who still seemed disappointed at his endless stream of poor luck. "So that book is the only thing you found in the chest?" she remarked.

" 'Course it is," said Henderson. "We would be bragging if we found somethin' else, wouldn't we?"

Philippa remembered that she had caught Chamberlain messing about with the chest, though she hadn't been able to see what had caught his attention. "You sure the chest doesn't have any more openings?"

"We didn't look at it too closely," Henderson admitted. "We were too busy wonderin' why that damn book wasn't made of gold."

"Maybe you should give it another look."

"Do you know somethin' that I don't, missy?"

"No," said Philippa. "Not at all."

Henderson urged his horse ahead of her, though Philippa noticed him shooting a curious look in Chamberlain's direction. The rest of the day passed in a dull, sunny blur, in which Philippa daydreamed about porcelain bathtubs, full-course meals, and clothes that didn't stick to her skin, and she thought she was hallucinating when she noticed the black figures off in the distance, standing motionless in the waning sun.

"Anybody else see that?" she asked, pointing at the distant figures.

"We're being watched," Rick said.

"Watched by who? Those men in black who attacked us?"

Rick didn't reply, but Philippa knew she was right. By the time nightfall arrived she could no longer see the black figures, though she suspected they were still out there somewhere, watching and waiting, though she refused to imagine what they were waiting for exactly. She managed to escape from the scarab beetles, but it seemed she couldn't escape from danger altogether and stayed awake long after everyone had fallen asleep, worried sick about getting attacked again. It was bad enough at Hamunaptra, but now they were out in the open desert and had no place to hide if those mysterious men tried to shoot them. Every little sound made her paranoia worse, until she finally got up and walked across the sand, making her way past sleeping bodies until she found a good place to sit. Might as well play lookout if she wasn't going to sleep.

She heard nothing important for about twenty minutes, until somebody snuck up behind her and said, "Oh, is Philippa having trouble sleeping?"

Only one person could make her name sound so ridiculous. "Why do you keep bothering me?" Philippa whispered.

Beni sat down beside her, his red fez distinct even in the dark. "Because you like it when I bother you," he replied.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because you put up with me," said Beni. "Nobody else puts up with me for long, so it's obvious that you like it."

"You just want the attention, don't you?" said Philippa. "Is that why you won't leave me alone? Because I'm the only one who doesn't chase you off?"

"I don't need attention. Especially from you."

Philippa had never truly noticed before, but she supposed there was something sad about Beni. Underneath his taunts and smirks and shifty behavior, he was just another human being, no different from Philippa or Rick or Jonathan, and perhaps he had a reason for behaving the way he did. What did she know about him, anyway? Absolutely nothing, aside from the fact that he was Hungarian and had religious tendencies, but that wasn't enough to judge him by.

"Why do you want that thing I've got?" Beni asked, breaking through Philippa's thoughts. "That puzzle box, as you call it?"

"It's a secret," said Philippa.

"Oh, come on. Why do you want it so bad? Hoping to impress O'Connell?"

"I told you, it's a secret. Just be happy I made that deal with you."

"Yes, what a great deal," Beni said mockingly. "I haven't even touched you yet. How do I know this isn't just a big lie to make me feel like an idiot?"

"Because I wouldn't do that."

"I think you would. Women like you enjoy that kind of thing."

Philippa sat and stared at Beni, feeling the vast silence of the desert close in around her. Her previous fears floated away and instead she felt giddy, the same way she felt after drinking one too many cocktails, and she wondered if the desert had made her drunk.

"Well I think you're wrong," she whispered to Beni, then leaned in and kissed him.