Ch. 29: A New Visitor
it had been a few days since she had seen Ahkmenrah. Well, maybe it was more along the lines of a week and a half... give or take. She was too conflicted to talk to him right now. Every time she would go to the exhibit to check on the progress, she would go to his side and try to think of something but she couldn't. What was she suppose to say? She had no idea. She had never really given him a chance to speak either.
In truth, she wanted to see him again. she wanted to be near him, to touch him, but she couldn't bring herself to visit at night. She wasn't ready for a face to face talk. Besides, she had managed to stay busy for the time.
It was on one such day of checking the exhibit that a very angry, and irritated McPhee came to find her. He walked into the display in a huff which only seemed to get worse by the amount of debris that was everywhere. It didn't bother her though. The men where coming to clean up and her their things, so it didn't matter what was laying on the ground. McPhee couldn't form a coherent sentence. Instead, he motioned for her to follow, something she reluctantly did.
"What is this?" Dr. McPhee asked rudely.
Jasmine stared at him questioningly before she noticed a large wooden crate on the loading dock floor. It was hard to miss. Some one had sent her a six foot by four foot wide, and three foot tall crate without her knowledge.
On the cabinet behind her was a crowbar, a favorite tool for things like this. As she pried the edges up, she thought of what could be inside. She wasn't supposed to receive the wax soldiers for another two days. Maybe this was the first one that was completed? Her heart beat quickened at the excitement of finally getting to see her finished figures.
"Well?" he asked impatiently as she popped the final corner.
"I'm not sure. Perhaps my soldiers."
"Well just get it out of here." he said before turning.
"Wait..."
McPhee sighed loudly and stopped in his steps. He returned his attention to the young woman kneeling by the crate. Jasmine stared at its contents, pushing the packing peanuts out of the way for a better look.
"I didn't order this."
McPhee sighed heavily once more, obviously trying to illustrate how irritated he was as he walked over to her. He looked down at the contents, not seeing any problem as she stood.
"What? He's Egyptian. What's it matter? just put him in the display with the others."
"But I didn't order him." she snapped. "Look at him, he's not even a soldier."
The irritated man eyed her, shrugging his indifference. Jasmine rolled her eyes.
"Look here," she began, pushing more of the peanuts out of the way. "The green head dress with Horus isn't common. His clothing is gilded with gold embellishments, ornate jewelry... the man is obviously royalty."
"Then who is he supposed to be?"
"I don't know." she sighed. "But he's not mine."
Jasmine knelt back down over the body, trying to figure out who he could have been. His dark glass eyes seemed hallow, much more then the other in the museum. His face was frowning making him look incredibly mean. As she stared down at him, she felt a hot breath, as though someone was whispering something indecipherable in her ear. She immediately jumped back, nearly falling from the loading dock.
"What the hell..." she whispered to herself.
"Well?" McPhee said, ignoring her outburst. "We can have him returned in the morning."
"Morning?"
The figure was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable and she couldn't explain why, but what ever the reason, she couldn't have him stay over night.
"Why morning?"
"That was the last truck. It's too late to move it now." e replied, acting as though he was stating something ridiculously obvious.
"But..."
Before she could say anything to rebut him, he had already left her alone with the unnerving figure. Why was he bothering her so much? A normal person would brush it off as nothing, and simply avoid the figure. Jasmine unfortunately knew other wise. once the sun goes down, if the figure was close enough to the tablet, he would wake up. It was odd the inanimate object was so unnerving. It was like those creepy porcelain dolls that seemed to stare at you as you walked across the room. Not only was the figure creepy, but that hot breath whisper in her ear had chilled her blood.
Time had passed and she had no idea of how much. She was still so transfixed on the man in the box. Her concentration was broken however, when some one had called her name. Jasmine glanced up and saw Nick and Larry smiling at her from the bay doors.
"What are you doing out here?" Nick asked. "I thought you weren't staying tonight?"
"I got a new friend here. He looks familiar but... I don't know."
Larry eyed the box, making his way to her side and freaking out the moment he did. The poor man yelped as he stumbled back, unable to stop himself from falling off the same ledge Jasmine had. Both Nick and Jasmine winced in pain as the thud from Larry's contact sounded loudly. With a slight giggle, the two ran to his side to help him up.
"You recognize him too don't you?" Jasmine asked seriously as she helped Larry up.
"You know who that is?"
"I've seen him before... I know I have but..." she shrugged.
As though some unseen force had slaped her as hard as it could in the face, she knew. Images of this man from her dreams flooded her mind. It was a tidal wave of new information.
"His name is..." Larry began.
"Kahmunrah."
She spoke the name the same time he had, much to the man's surprise. Each of them shot a pained look at one another before clamering up the dock to get a better look.
"How'd he get here?" Larry asked nervously.
"I don't know. McPhee said it just showed up."
"No, I mean, how'd he get here? I pushed him into a swirling vortex thingy."
"It's wax Larry." she said with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh...yeah... Okay, well, we've got to get him out of here before the sun goes down."
"And put him where? This can't leave the museum."
"Why not?"
"He's museum property. If he gets damaged or anyone sees me with him, I could get arrested, or who knows what."
"So what do you suggest?"
She stared down at the sleeping figure, her mind racing with things to do. Jasmine frantically looked around for something, anything that could help. There, on the shelf behind Nick.
"Hand me that nail gun pet. Nick, can you help me with the lid?"
Nick quickly helped her lift the awkward panel over the crate. Larry frantically grabbed the nail gun and handed it to her. Without hesitating, Jasmine began to shoot multiple, three inch nails into the lid, not stopping until the gun made the familiar clicking sound of an empty chamber. Stepping back, the three of them finally breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"So, you're going to just leave him in there?" Nick asked, still staring at the box.
"We don't have a choice. He gets out of there and he'll probably go after the tablet again."
"It's the safest thing we can do..." Jasmine added before turning to Larry. "Do you think we should..."
"No. I don't want him to worry about it if this guy'll be out of here tomorrow. He is gonna be gone... right?"
"If I have to drive him myself."
With their minds more at ease, the young man grabbed a dolly and wheeled the box inside so he could lock the bay doors. He made sure Kahmunrah was somewhere out of sight so no one would be able to here him, or help him escape. with that done, the three of them made their way out of the loading dock and into the museum.
Jasmine had an appointment with Teresa to finish up some of the was why she wasn't able to stay tonight, or at least, that's what she told the others. But she knew the truth.
Her dreams had become more intense since her ordeal with Ahkmenrah and the tablet. They had changed from the same image of death she used to dream about to a much broader sense. She was now having dreams that seemed to resemble something more of a memory. She knew why. Larry had filled her in as best he could about what had happened, telling her about what Ahkmenrah had told him about Mayati. The best she could figure was the young woman was still in there some where and these dreams were her memories. For the most part, they were welcomed, but there were a few that were gut wrenching. That was how she recognized Kahmunrah.
There were a few encounters with him it seemed. He would randomly pop up in her dreams, usually trying to get Mayati to turn on his brother or become his bride. Honestly, Jasmine felt sick whenever she saw him, apparently it was the same feeling as the other young woman. Something about him didn't sit well with Jasmine and she knew why. Now being able to put a face with a name, she remembered that he was the one who had killed Mayati. He was the one who tore her away from her King and killed her just because he could. He did it just to hurt his younger brother. What kind of person does things like that? Someone made of pure evil. He had to leave the museum in the morning... there was no question about that.
Tonight's date was May 31st, the last day of the month. In less then two weeks, she would be leaving. The tomb had been moved, the glass case had been installed and the only thing she needed was the wax soldiers. The jackals had even been nice enough to move with a few kind words. They were much nicer then Larry had thought, at least to her. So, in a few days, the wax soldiers would arrive and be placed in the exhibit, along with trinkets in the case and she would be done.
She didn't want to leave, but she was. Too much went on in this museum without her control. Things were being done without her consent, people casting spells on her to suite they're own needs, literally. And despite how she has become emotionally involved with the people she worked with and had since met, she had to move on with her life.
But, for tonight, maybe she should stay. There was an exception to her rule of avoiding the museum at night sitting in the other room, and she didn't trust what might happen if she left. Besides, she could always avoid Ahkmenrah... right?
