In the throne room of the Volturi, tears spilled once again from Bella's eyes. Amun wiped them away, saddened.
"We will retrieve him, mother. Have hope," he said to her softly. He then looked down to the page in the book in which she had gotten the spell, and read it over. After a bit of a pause, he drew in a sharp breath, his eyes wide.
"Amun, what it it?" Kebi asked worried? Amun gave her a gentle wave and knelt once again before his mother.
"Priestess, listen to me. You have tapped into an echo. But echoes go both ways," he takes her face in his hands. "If you are careful- if you are smart, you can reach him. Small suggestions that he will hear, as it were, but it would be a hearing of intuition. He will hear you as a thought, born from the deepest parts of his mind. Do you hear me, mother? All is not lost!" he whispers urgently. He then looked up to Rosalie.
"We need your help."
"How? I'll do anything in my power," she said urgently.
"You are touched by the gods as well. You are a daughter of Hathor. All you need to do is sit with her, your hand in hers. It will strengthen her. You will feel it, too. Closer to the gods. It will feel euphoric, nearly the same feeling as having an orgasm, but higher. It's also not uncommon for your vision to go white and hazy.
Rosalie waisted no time, sitting beside Bella and taking one of her hands. At first she felt nothing, but then she calmed her newly racing heart with a deep inhale, and focused on truly trying to push her mental strength into the girl beside her. The effect was immediate and her eyes gained a shifting golden hue in her irises as she entered a form of trance.
o0o o0o o0o
She heard the words of her son. And then the power flooding into her. She knew the flavor of that power. It was the sensual and protective edge of Hathor. Rosalie. She was lending her strength.
"Thank you," she breathed into the air. The scene shifted to Cairo. It was the bar and she could see that the men of the party were there, but not the princess. They were drinking and discussing the poor man who had become Imhotep's first victim, having his eyes and tongue taken. As they toasted one last time for good fortune, they all drank, but immediately spat the alcohol out again.
"Sweet Jesus!" Cried one of the Americans. "Tasted just like-" he stuttered off.
"Blood," Rick finished, dropping his shot glass.
"'And the rivers and waters of Egypt ran red and were as blood'," quoted the princess's brother, as they all watched the water of the fountain transform.
"He's here," Rick said.
"Clever, this one. There is more to him, though." Irisi thought.
She watched him track down the princess as she made her way out of her rooms, her nose in a book with more in her arms. And then the rain of fire began.
Irisi could feel Imhotep close and followed the link. She found him in another room… draining the life of Mr. Burns. An unholy shriek ripping from him as he did so, stumbling near to the fire as his body assimilated Mr. Burn's life force. The princess and her entourage running in just behind. Rick tried to shoot at Imhotep but only got thrown into the others for his trouble. Her love then turned to the once again isolated princess.
"You saved me from the undead," he said. "I thank you." Irisi knew no good could come of this and looked around in panic. Seeing the cat, she frantically prayed that her son was right as she gave an almighty hiss to the cat scaring it off, onto the piano keys.
Imhotep then took notice, and himself was scared out of the room, leaving in an almighty dust storm. Rick then made the very astute observation that they were all in a whole heap of trouble. Irisi shook her head at the massive understatement, but understood his feelings on the matter just the same.
o0o o0o o0o
It was here that the view changed again. It looked like she was in a museum, but she was standing with the Medjai and a shorter man in a fez. They were talking about how to head Imhotep off. Try to put him back in the ground or end him permanently. But then the conversation unexpected switched tack.
"What of his true partner? He is but one half of a whole if the stories are to be believed," the taller of the two men asked.
"I fear she hasn't been seen or heard from since her last death just before his condemnation. And the gods have given no signs that she has been reborn in my life time. I fear so long as he remains lost, so too shall she," the elder said sadly.
"We cannot lose-" the taller one began before they heard Evelyn's determined voice approaching them quickly.
Her tone was indignant when they saw them together. "You?!"
"Ms. Carnahan. Gentlemen," her boss said calmly.
"What is he doing here?"
"Do you really want to know, or would you prefer to just shoot us?" he asked.
"After what I just saw," Rick said, stowing his pistols. "I'm willing to go on a little faith here."
And then began the history of the Medjai and their current mission to contain the potentially disastrous calamity that was Imhotep. Everyone filed into the exhibit and found places to stand while Evie's boss, Dr. Bey, explained.
"We are a part of an ancient secret society. For over 3,000 years, we have guarded the City of the Dead. We are sworn at manhood to do any and all in our power to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world."
"And now, because of you, we have failed," Ardeth, the tall one, said exasperatedly.
"And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Evie asked.
"To stop this creature? Let me think," he says sarcastically.
"Yes!" Both Medjai snap at her.
"Question," Rick spoke up. "Why doesn't he like cats?"
"Cats are the guardians of the underworld. He will fear them until he is fully regenerated."
"And then he will fear nothing," Ardeth puts in.
"Yeah, and you know how he gets his self fully regenerated?" asked Daniels.
"By killing everyone who opened that chest," Henderson puts in calmly.
"And sucking them dry! That's how!"
Evie tells her brother off for playing with the exhibit then turns back to the two warriors. "When I saw him alive at Hamunaptra, he called me Anck-Su-Namun."
The two men pointedly look at each other and it worried Evie. "And then just now in Mr. Burns' quarters, he tried to kiss me."
"It's because of his love for Anck-Su-Namun that he was cursed. Apparently, even after 3,000 years..." Dr. Bey began.
"He is still in love with her," Ardeth finished.
"Yes, that is very romantic, but what has it got to do with me?" Evie asked.
"Perhaps he will once again try to raise her from the dead."
"Yes," Dr. Bey said quietly. "And it appears he has already chosen his human sacrifice."
"Bad luck, old mum," her brother says gently.
"On the contrary, it may just give us the time we need to kill the creature," the old curator said hopefully.
"We will need all the help we can get," Ardeth said, looking up at the darkening sky through the sky light. "His powers are growing."
"And he stretched forth his hand towards the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt," Jonathan quoted.
Ardeth looked sharply at Dr. Bey. "Are you sure there have been no signs of her rebirth? If he is away, she has to be somewhere."
"Anck-Su-Namun?" Evie asked.
"No. Someone far more powerful and infinitely more wise. I will check the records again for either the signs or her official birth. But remember this is all born of artifice. And the only way to stop it with a happy ending for all will be to break the witch's influence," Dr. Bey said.
"But that power lies solely with Anck-Su-Namun. So long as there is a chance at immortality, she will not loose her hold on him. Which means the Priestess is our only hope. Check the records again," Ardeth orders him.
"Priestess?! We already have a crazy undead High Priest to deal with, we don't need the other half of his equation to cause even more chaos," Rick said stubbornly.
"I assure you, Mr. O'Connell. She may be the key to the cure."
o0o o0o o0o
"There is a cure?" Carlisle asked Amun.
"Of a sort. It isn't a potion like the poison itself. The potion just influences my father. To break that influence, Anck-Su-Namun needs to break the forged bond with her own betrayal. There are two problems with that. One, she is dead. Her soul, I have no doubt, is wondering the in between, driving Anubis up a wall with her demands. Two, like the Medjai said, she has a chance at living forever. She would never free Imhotep unless she gets that sole ending," he tells him. "Even after, she may not, for he alone holds the power to bring the dead back and that is a powerful tool for anyone to have in their arsenal."
"So how can we get her to betray him? We are a good sixty years removed from these events," Marcus asked.
"We wait. And we watch," Amun tells them.
o0o o0o o0o
"We must stop him from regenerating. Who opened that chest?!" Evelyn demanded.
It was Henderson that answered. "Well, there was me and Daniels here. Oh, and Burns, of course."
"And that Egyptologist fellow," Daniels put in.
"What about my buddy, Beni?" Rick asked from his spot at the window.
"No, he scrammed out of there before we opened the damned thing," Daniels said.
"Yeah, he was the smart one," Henderson said, with a touch of irony.
Rick scoffed, "Yeah, that sounds like Beni."
"We must find the Egyptologist and bring him back to the safety of the fort before the creature can get to him," Evelyn says.
"Right. She stays here. You three, come with me," Rick demanded.
The men started protesting being away from the safety of the fort while Evelyn was protesting being left behind. Irisi chuckled at the princess's misfortune at being thrown over Rick's shoulder like a sack of potatoes and unceremoniously deposited onto her bed, and locked into her room like a naughty child.
"This door doesn't open," he tells Daniels as he held him by the front of his shirt. "She doesn't come out, and no one goes in. Right?" he demands of the man. Getting both his and Henderson's acquiescence, he gave him the keys and left, Jonathan following.
o0o o0o o0o
They were too late. The scene shifted to the Egyptologist and he was being hunted. He had both a conopic jar and the Book of the Dead with him. Those in the throne room watched in horror as Imhotep assimilated the man's life force into his own. It was a horrifying sight, as they watched a live walking mummy make a mummy out of a living man.
"By the gods, I hope he wasn't brought to life more than just this once. Knowing such a force was out there, right under our noses, causes me great discomfort," Aro said.
"There would have been nothing you could have done, Majesty," Amun tells him. "Believe me. I remember now, a telegram I had gotten from one of the Medjai clans. It didn't state that my father had been brought back. Only that there was an emergency that needed tending to. But at the time, I was settling Demitri here at court. They saw Rick and Jonathan watching from a window as the mummy sent a swarm of flies and gnats towards the two men, who only barely managed to get the window closed in time.
"Well, that's two down, two to go," Rick said.
"And then he'll be coming after Evy," his companion stated.