Throughout the whole day Anck-su-namun was almost perfect. She never spoke out of turn, knew the answers to most questions, and got along perfectly with her fellow students. She was never shy or afraid to state a crude joke or speak her mind. By the end of the day she was the most popular and well-liked student.
It was 3:00 PM, time to go home. Pat noticed that Anck-su-namun did not wait in the carpool line for a driver to pick her up, but preceded to walk off the school campus. Pat walked over to Anck-su-namun.
"Isn't someone gonna pick you up?"
"No - I walk home." She smiled.
"Uhh, okay."
Anck-su-namun left the campus. Since Pat's own ride would be an hour late, she decided to follow Anck-su-namun, for no reason other than the thrill of sneaking.
Anck-su-namun walked quite normally down the crowded L.A. street, despite male onlookers gazing rapidly at her figure. Then she took an unexpected turn to a quiet street, packed with foreign shops selling goods from other countries and Mexican vendors pushing street carts full of colorful scarves and jewelry. In between each of the tall building on the other side of the road was a dark alleyway.
Pat crouched behind a garbage can when Anck-su-namun stopped. Anck-su-namun looked around to make sure no one was watching before slipping quietly into the darkness of an alleyway. Suspicious. Pat mused. She hummed the Mission Impossible theme in her head.
Duh dum duh da da dum dum duh da duh dum duh da. Duh-na-la, duh-na-la.
She walked quietly to the alleyway Anck-su-namun had entered and quietly slipped into the shadows. What she saw almost made her scream. Anck-su-namun was in the arms of a tall, rotting corpse. She did not struggle, did not show any signs of fear at all, just looked into the cadaver's eyes like it was a puppy in a pet store.
In her fear, Pat tripped and made a small noise, then fell into the view of Anck-su-namun and her... friend. Pat's mouth widened to scream but she could not get her vocal cords to work. Anck-su-namun quickly left the creature's clutches and ran to Pat. She put her gloved hand over Pat's open mouth, in case she screamed.
"What are you doing here?" She hissed.
"I... I..." Pat's voice was muffled under the silk glove.
Pat's knees decided to stop working, so she and Anck-su-namun slowly sunk to the floor.
The corpse moved a bit closer and said something to Anck-su-namun in a language Pat did not understand. She responded in the same tongue.
"It's walking..." Pat whimpered.
Anck-su-namun smiled slightly. "He won't hurt you."
"He?"
"Yes. He. Imhotep."
"Imhotep?!" By this time, Anck-su-namun had removed her hand from Pat's mouth.
"Uh-huh."
Pat's eyes widened. "Oh my God... You were telling the truth!" She said very fast, "When Jeffery asked if you were the real Anck-su-namun and you said yes..."
"Yes, I was. Please, don't scream."
"You were telling the truth..." She seemed locked in a distant trance.
She snapped out of it. "And what Tommy asked you...?"
Anck-su-namun blushed.
"Ohhhhhhhh my God." She seemed more amused at this than startled.
The corpse, Imhotep, growled deeply.
Anck-su-namun scolded him in their language.
"What did you tell him?"
"To stop acting scary on purpose. I swear, he loves scaring the crap out of people."
Pat almost laughed.