Disclaimer: I do not own the movie Mummy or it's characters what I do own is my own character's and plot within the movie.

Chapter 24

A mile away Evie, stopped complaining and realized Jessica wasn't with them. Turning around and all directions to make sure she wasn't trailing behind or veering in the wrong direction without seeing her. She turned to Jon and asked, "Have you seen our sister?"

Jonathan spun in all directions wildly looking, "Last I saw her was by the water's edge."

"We need to head back, find her!" As Evelyn was speaking, she already started to run back to the water's edge. Jonathan followed right behind her.

Rick and the warden both shouted out different responses at the same time.

"I will be staying put!"

"Whoa! Hold on! Wait a minute, what sister?"

Rick raced up to the two siblings and pulled on Evelyn's arm to get her to stop for a minute.

She turned to face him and said, "what?"

"You have a sister?"

"Yes, we have a sister, she wasn't with us when you meet up with us, originally we were not going to bring her, but it was a last minute thing."

"When did this happen?"

"After you got onto the passenger boat," Jonathan responded.

They took off running again with Rick right behind them; finally, they reached the Nile River. The siblings started to shout for Jessica as they searched the area. Jessica tiredly opened her eyes as her name was called she sat up and looked around than she spotted Jonathan's form. She scrambled to her feet. Running to him, she tackled hugged him from behind. He stumbled forward from the unexpected impact. In turn, he pulled her close to him as she cried her body was shaking. Jonathan shouted, "Evie, I found her!"

Moments later, Evie came running up, pulling her from their brother to herself she immediately placed her cheek on top of her sister's head as she held her. Whispering words of comfort to the girl who so many ways was a child still, but nothing she said helped it only made it worse for Jessica.

Out of the two of them usually, it was Evie who settled the upset girl down easy in which left both older siblings puzzled and worried.

Eventually, they moved back towards the direction they came from and back to the warden. Than onward till late watches of the night, when they came upon a small village of people, some who was still up frozen as they saw the outsiders. A couple turned and ran off shouting and a moment later an older couple came forward and stopped, and the man spoke, "What brings you here?"

Rick replied with, "We were traveling by a passenger barge, and some bandits attacked it. All we need is a place to sleep some supplies money is not a problem and some new clothes for the two women."

The man nodded thoughtfully. By this point Jessica had moved away from her spot next to her sister and closer to the fire, staring at the flames and not seeing anything but angry eyes staring at her from her mind. At one point the wind-blown gently like a caress through the camp every so often, it was in this moment that Jessica moved her left hand up and tucks a stray hair behind her ear.

The light from the fire caught the bracelet, and it sparkled. The older woman notices it and quickly turns and looks at her husband and slowly points her head slightly to the girl. He followed the quiet motion and stared at the girl careful trying to figure out what his wife saw than at last; he noticed the bracelet. Turning he issued orders his decision set. Some of the women came forward and took Jessica and Evelyn from the others.

"The women will have their tents, and you can sleep with the bachelors of the village." By the tone of the voice, it was not a suggestion, and he turned and issued what sounded like a warning to the women before they left to head back to their tents. Pivot to a young man of the village who was a messenger person, wrote something sealed it and told him to take it to the warrior people who were in the camp for the night than the couple retired for the night.

Jessica and the others found themselves inside tents Evelyn in a woman's shelter, the males of their group in the men's. But as for Jessica, she found herself in a small but furnished tent. Jessica saw the warm bed and moving towards it, Pull the blankets back she knelled and crawled under the covers, and before her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

The early afternoon sunlight streamed into the tent, lighting up everything in a glow and came to rest on the form of Jessica who still slept. With a hand tucked underneath her head and on her pillow and the other laying over her waist, she was blissfully unaware of the new morning that turned slowly into the afternoon.

A village woman in her early to middle thirties came and stopped just inside the entrance, looking at the sleeping form that was under the blankets. Turning around she walked, walked past children running and chasing each other. Past elders who sat crossed legged as they spoke in soft tones to each other, past the women, who carried jugs of water or other items in their arms or hands.

Till she stopped at a tent and steeping inside, she saw two people. The taller one was a muscular man with solemn grey eyes and grey sprinkled throughout his hair dressed in black. The smaller figure was a woman with a toned body which made you think of a professional ballet dancer. Her face and eyes were serious. She also wore black clothes.

"She is still asleep."

The two turned and spoke in low tones as not to be heard by the other woman. The woman finally turned and commanded, "Take me to her."

The village woman led the other lady back through the village towards the tent that Jessica was sleeping. Finally, they stepped inside and saw food had already been brought in and set upon the low table. Turning their eyes towards the bed, they saw Jessica had finally woken from sleep, and she just sat with her knees drawn up, her arms crossed on top of them with her chin resting on them, just staring off into nothingness. After some time the warrior woman coughed.

Jessica blinked rapidly, bringing her eyes back into focus. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she saw two women standing there. She looked at them, and they her, as they studied each other for some time. The village woman turned and left, leaving the two women by themselves. They continued to look at each other.

The woman moved towards Jessica, and she held her ground with a certain amount of wariness. The woman walked within ten feet of her and lowered herself into a cross-legged position and sat there. It wasn't a question that broke the tense silence, but a statement."You're far from home."

Jessica remained silent.

The woman spoke again. "What if I were to say to you that, I am traveling from the desert, searching for a memory."

Jessica didn't respond right away, for her mind was trying to process the words she heard when it dawned on her what the woman said. The feeling gave her a sense of disbelief that this woman was part of the Medjai. Slowly and an uncertain voice, she spoke the answer back to her. "I am traveling from the sea, hoping to be remembered." Jessica paused for a less than second, "Who are you?"

"I know that you know full well who I am. My name is Adira. Now that we have that settled, why are you with the group?"

There was something about that question that had Jessica nervous though she couldn't put her finger on it. But she answered though what came out of her mouth next even she couldn't make sense of it. "You are right, and I am far from home. Due to stubborn siblings, I went to go and try to talk them out of this trip, even packed a small bag just in case, and sent a message to the curator and went to find my brother and sister tried to talk them out of this, until Jonathan, my brother, said they had a guide. I thought Jonathan was joking because he never takes anything seriously and he is always getting into mischief every so often, and I know it drives me batty and our sister, Evie, crazy out of her mind. So I knew I had to figure something else out after my sister confirmed that they did, indeed, have a guide. I had found myself on the boat, and then the attack happened. Kontar, my cousin, and I got into a fight, but I was in the wrong and said some horrible words, and here I am." Jessica took a much needed breath of air.

"What will you do now?" asked Adira.

"I will keep going with them. If I don't go, My siblings will go off the deep end, and they don't realize why many are afraid of that place. I know a little about it from my studies with Dr. Bey, so I have some idea even if it isn't a whole lot. And I can't just leave them if I can; I am going to try to stop them or something. That and this is a big thing for both of them." Jessica trailed off not knowing what else to say to this stranger at all.

Adira sat in silence for several minutes, before nodding to herself. She stood up and walked away. Jessica scrambled to her feet and stood. She was going to go after her but paused as the woman stopped and turned at the entrance of the tent.

"Eat, and I will have someone bring you some fresh clothes." The woman spun on her heel and left the tent as the flap fall after the woman went.

Jessica turned and walked over to the low table. Looking at the food, she thought she saw some salted meat and wrinkled her nose at it. Jessica spied some fruit near the end of the table and took a bowl full she moved away to eat. She begun to eat the pieces of the sweet and sticky fruit, close to being halfway finished some women came in with a basin and a jug of water and clothes of all assortments and other items and left only briefly glancing at the girl.

Jessica waited until they were out of the tent before moving to the pile of clothes and touched them. Some felt rough others, some felt like silk. She worked her way through the collection, but sighed with despair when none of them was anything she would wear. The few that she might try were traditional dresses that the women in the market would wear, and she had no idea how even to begin putting them on herself.

Jessica came to the bottom of the pile, and she saw two dresses that took her breath away. She held the first one up that was beautiful with different shades of orange color. The bodice was a textured woven fabric. The waist of the dress was an empire shape with sashes that tied in the front; The one sash was bold in and its color and the other that overlapped it was woven with texture. The sleeves were trumpet-shaped. The skirt of the dress had many light layers of fabric that overlapped.

The second dress was white and made from muslin. The sleeves were long and flared. The skirt full like the other had multiple layers to the skirt. Jessica looked back through the clothes carefully know she needed something to cover the top of the white dress. She finally found a vest that was a baby blue. It was simple just a rectangle of fabric. Next, she found a belt for the dress, and it was tan fabric with white strips.

Then she moved to the accessories and pushed the jewelry away for it didn't feel right taking them from the villagers, some must have been gifted to loved ones. Jessica frowned at that thought and wondered why they would bring them for her to use, something didn't feel right, and it just seemed a little too crazy for her.

Skipping all that she found some strips of fabric and looked around for a needle and thread, finding some she began to sew. Eventually, she created a head wrap with two different layers of fabric, one that was similar to the dress was about two inches wide and the bottom layer was the same blue material as the vest. And it would hang a little down in her hair in the back. She looked over to where the basin and jug of water was and moved towards it and poured some water into it, stripped down and scrubbed down the essential areas of her body and washed her face. Before getting dress into the white dress with the blue vest, she brushed her hair out and slipped the head wrap on and tied it. Taking the belt, she tied it around her waist. Finally, she was done and looked around finding a low stool she sat on it and just waited.

Adira and the village woman from earlier had been watching her process had left from the back of the tent out. Adira moved back through the camp towards her counterpart. She whispered to the man, "We have nothing to fear. Her intentions and purpose are pure and unselfish. She is driven by love for the two Carnahan's, and she doesn't want to see them get hurt or worse, and that is a concern, it will end up putting her in danger."

"The girl will have our help. If, and when she chooses to change her mind. Though it would be our chieftain to decide her fate, and his alone," spoke the male and started to write something down on paper.

Folding it, he turned back around and noticed his partner working on a bag. She had placed several cloth strips into the bag, and he realized what they were for then taking a couple of apples and pouring some fresh water into a canteen and closing the lid. Turning to him they both walked out of the tent and towards the tent Jessica was waiting.

Jessica looked up at the sound of feet approaching the tent, scrambling up again she stood there waiting. She noticed Adira earlier, so she studies the new person, she saw the markings on his face, grew somewhat tense.

"You will not change your mind?" the woman asked. Jessica shook her head.

The man nodded. "So be it." She looked up with a confused glance.

Adira motioned for Jessica to come over. In quiet tones, she explained to the girl about the strip of clothes in the bag along with some water and fruit.

"Thank you." Jessica smiled.

Adira looked at her and gave a slight warm smile in return. "You're welcome."

"Read this when the time comes and act on when you feel the need." The man said before they turned back around.

Jessica took the folded paper and nodded. She opened her mouth to speak to them a question that was nagging in the back of her mind; however, a woman stepped in and began talking. "The girl's party is ready to leave. The woman that is with them is getting worried."

Ignoring the woman, the man looked carefully at the young lady before him. "What were you going to ask?"

"Nevermind," mumbled Jessica. The Medjai warrior nodded his head and the look on his face was thoughtful. Adria folded the orange dress and moved to the bag that Jessica had set down from her and placed it in the bag.

"That isn't mine," Jessica said.

"It is now. You might need it later on, and we still need to shoe your feet and find you a covering."

"A covering?"

"Something to keep you safe from the sun and harsh sand." She turned around and went through the clothes and pulled out a green dress before taking her knife and slicing it up until it became a large rectangle of fabric. She took some hairpins and moved over to Jessica. She placed the material on Jessica's head as a covering, sticking in hairpins to hold the covering in place. "If the sand starts to blow, pull one side around till rests over your shoulder it will give you some protection."

Jessica noticed the woman from village frowning at them but otherwise remained quiet through the disapproval could be seen in her eyes when she looked into them.

"Where are your shoes?"

"They were left on the boat," replied Jessica.

Adira turned to the other woman and asked to grab a pair of shoes. But the other woman started to argue only for freezing when she heard a sharp reprimand coming from behind. Turning, she saw one of the elderly women standing there and her voice brooked no room for argument and ordered the other to get the shoes and be quick about it. She left with a huff and a short time came back with some.

Jessica took them and put them on and took them immediately off and shook her head no. The male turned with an impatient look and out of the tent returning a few minutes later handed her another pair of shoes. Jessica took hold of them and slipped them on.

"Perfect." was her soft response.

"Good," the male Medjai responded.

Jessica moved toward her bag and grabbed it along with the other bag. "I am ready as I can be."

The two warriors followed the young lady out of the tent. Seeing her group on the outskirts of the village, Jessica turned and hugged the man and woman. "Thank you," she whispered.

"May Allah, protect you."

She nodded. "May the Lord do the same to you."

When she reached her siblings, Evie demanded what took her so long. She only said that she was sleeping and woke late. Jonathan helped her mount her camel.

The group urged their animals away from the village. O'Connell was in front than Evelyn, followed by Jessica, with Jonathan bringing up the rear was the warden. Jessica looked behind her and stared into faces of the medjai, who was serious and stern. Swallowing, she turned back around in her seat as they moved away.