Chapter Six
London
Although Christmas had passed, the O'Connell house still looked much the same, with the same cheery decorations, the somewhat straight Christmas tree, and wrappings spewed about the living room floor.
Alex was a mound of boundless energy, still awaking at unheard of times in the morning, and staying up hours past his regular bedtime, much to his parents' annoyance. Opening the door to his unbelievably messy room, he stopped short. Something wasn't right.
Alex inspected the room with a quick glance left to right. Scratching his messy head of hair, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then he knew.
Evelyn, Rick, and Jonathan were seated around the dining room table, sipping their after supper tea, when Evelyn was startled to hear a great cry from her son. Alex came loping down the stairs, a questioning look on his face.
"Mum, I can't find my cat." He came to stand right in front of her; small brown eyes pleading her silently to magically make his Christmas present appear.
Evelyn looked surprised, then smiled wryly at her son. "It's not lost, Alex. You probably moved it somewhere. Where's the last place you remember seeing it?"
Alex rolled his eyes impatiently. "Well if I knew that, I wouldn't be coming to you."
Evelyn sighed dramatically, took one final sip of her tea, grasped her son's hand, and let him lead her quickly up the stairs, while he jabbered on about ghosts, and magical statues that could move while you slept.
Rick chuckled, thanking whoever was in charge that he wasn't the mum. A knock on the door jolted both him and Jonathan. Jonathan glanced at his watch.
Rick grimaced at Jonathan. "This isn't another one of your serious relationships, now is it?"
Jonathan screwed up his face, then thought hard for a moment, and then shook his head. Rick rolled his eyes.
Upon opening the door, he was shocked to find the last person he expected to see, and in a way, didn't want to see.
"What's wrong?"
Ardeth Bay made his way through the front door, shivering slightly from being unused to the cold.
Jonathan hopped up from his chair, strolling cheerily over to Ardeth. Jonathan looked hard at Ardeth's face and frowned. "Nice shiner you got there. Who'd you piss off?"
Ardeth ignored the comment and quickly scanned the room. "Where is the cat?"
Rick was surprised to say the least. "What cat?"
Ardeth's eyes met Jonathan's, making Jonathan want to turn away from the stern stare. "You bought a statue of a cat from a peddler in Qena, where is it?"
Jonathan laughed heartily. "Oh you mean that thing. Well, yes. I gave it to my nephew didn't I? Why, you want to offer me some extravagant price for it?"
Rick grabbed Ardeth's arm tightly, spinning him around to meet Rick's face. "Whoa whoa whoa, lets start from the beginning here. What are you doing here, and why do you want the statue?"
Ardeth solemnly met Rick's gaze. "A new evil has arisen."
Rick and Jonathan both threw up their arms with a mighty groan. Rick walked over to the couch and slumped on it, defeated. "Who is it this time?"
"Neferkaptah." Ardeth noticed their puzzled looks but went on anyway. "Neferkaptah is a man who found the Book of Thoth many years ago. He has arisen, and found the Book once more. He now contains the power of the gods. With it, he will attempt to take over the world."
Jonathan tapped his fingers on his chin. "Didn't we already do this one?"
Rick drummed his fingers on the coffee table. "Okay, great. What's that got to do with the statue?"
"The statue is that of his wife, Mi-Aset. She is the only one that can stop him."
Rick nodded. "A statue."
Ardeth nodded, not understanding the humor that Rick contained in his voice.
Rick slapped his hands on his thighs and got to his feet. Motioning for Ardeth to follow him, he led him up the stairs. Jonathan, meanwhile, decided that the bottle of brandy was looking much more interesting.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, both men were stopped by a gasp. "Ardeth, what are you doing here?" As if answering her own thought, she continued with an "uh – oh."
Rick grabbed Evelyn by the shoulders. "Evy, where's the statue?"
Evelyn was flustered, but quickly saved by Alex tugging on his father's shirt. "Dad, it's gone!"
Rick stared unbelievably at Alex. "What do you mean, it's gone?"
An innocent sounding 'meow' suddenly distracted the entire troupe. Collectively, they turned their heads to Alex's bed, and there sitting at the foot of it, was a Siamese cat, staring attentively back at them.
Rick found the words first. "Uh, when did we get a cat?"
Ardeth instantly recognized it. "It's Mi-Aset." He stated, and walked over to the bed, looking the cat in the eyes.
Rick furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought you said it was a statue."
Ardeth nodded, still staring the cat in the eyes. "Sunlight awakens her."
"Oooh. That would explain it." Alex put the facts together, and looked very proud of himself for doing so.
"And, uh, how is she going to kill her husband, exactly? Purr him to death?" Rick asked cynically. Evelyn glared at him. Rick shrugged.
Ardeth now too looked confused. He turned back to face them. "We must find a way to awaken her to her human self."
Jonathan chose the moment to stroll into the room, swishing his brandy around in his snifter, leaning on the threshold of the door. "Well hello, happy people. Say Evy, when did we get a cat?"
He leaned down to get a good look at the cat, who suddenly jumped at him, surprising Jonathan so much that he dropped his glass on the hard oak floor, effectively shattering it. Jonathan wiped the spilt brandy off his white shirt smugly. "Stupid cat." He muttered as he leant down to pick up some of the shattered pieces of glass. He swore quickly as he cut himself on the inside of his thumb. He pushed down on his hand, drawing more blood through.
Just as Evy was crouching down to help Jonathan with his cut, the cat rubbed up against the cut. "Gah! Now I got cat hair in my cut!" Jonathan blew on his cut as if it were on fire.
The cat jumped back onto the bed, and seated itself expectantly. The room began to glow an eerie yellow, and then shone so brightly everyone had to shield their eyes from the radiance of it.
Upon the death of the light, where the cat once sat was now a woman, tanned darkly, black thick hair braided tightly, with full lips, and black colored almond shaped eyes. And she was utterly…
"Crikey mum, she's starkers!" Alex exclaimed. Evelyn immediately shielded her son's eyes with one hand.
Rick and Jonathan both felt their jaws go completely slack, as they looked the naked woman up and down. Ardeth managed to keep his eyes on her eyes.
The woman stared at her hands for a moment, and then adjusted her eyes slowly to the new surroundings. She stood to her feet, shakingly, having not stood for thousands of years. She looked at the man standing before her, squinting the blurred haze away until she could make out the features appropriately.
"Med-Jai?"
Ardeth nodded. The woman smiled, then seemed to remember something pressingly important. She frowned. "Where is Neferkaptah?"
Ardeth sought momentarily for the correct ancient Egyptian words. "He has escaped."
She nodded, setting her face sternly. "Then we must go after him." She turned to walk out the door, but was stopped when Rick stood in her way.
"Uh, not like that, you aren't."