Disclaimer: Of the characters I can claim only very few of them as my own - namely Rebecca. I do not make any claim on the characters featuring in "The Mummy".
Chapter 4 - Family Feeling
Andrew Stevenson carefully navigated his way through the pitching, tossing ship. It was, admittedly, a much quicker way to get to Hamunaptra than travelling by camel, but with this terrible storm that had blown out of nowhere Andrew feared that they might all be killed before they reached the port. Or, at the very least die of seasickness, he thought gloomily. To be honest, he wasn't even sure if the blasted place did truly exist, or whether it was just a hoax as he half suspected. After all, Robert had bought the metal box from the local market, where the natives were always selling "authentic" maps to lost cities. The fact that the seller had sold it for a pittance, and had not even mentioned Hamunaptra, only went someway towards allying Andrew's fear.
He reached the cabin of his niece, and knocked sharply above the sound of the crashing gale. For a moment there was no response, then the door opened, and Andrew smiled at his niece. He was fond of the girl, and heavens knows someone had to be. After all, Robert had no time for his daughter, not deigning to check if she was all right through this terrible storm.
She gave a shy smile in response to Andrew's cheerful, if slightly queasy grin, and gestured him inside. As he stood, dripping, in her cabin, he considered his young niece. Tall and thin, she seemed to try and reduce her height with slightly hunched shoulders, and a habit of never looking people in the eyes. Even now, her face was cast slightly downwards. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a painfully neat, perfect plait, no strand of hair escaping. Her clothes too were perfect and neat - plain brown skirt and white blouse, with a cardigan buttoned over the top. Andrew noted with envy that her pale features showed none of the ravages of sea-sickness that his did.
The noise was mercifully muted in the cabin, and Andrew could at last hear himself speak. "How are you?" he asked.
"Fine, thank you." Her voice was quiet and soft. She risked raising her eyes a little, and giving him another quiet smile. He grinned again, even as he despaired of his chronically shy niece. With a father like Robert and an uncle like me, however did she end up like this, he wondered, although a moments reflection suggested that he had actually just answered himself.
"Do you need anything?"
Rebecca just shook her head, slender, pale fingers smoothing her cardigan.
"Right. Good." He stared at her for a long moment. Heaven knows, he did like the girl, but there was something off-putting about her almost perpetual, nervous silence. He always tried to make the effort with her, if only because Robert didn't, but at times he could understand why Robert didn't. "Apparently this storm should have blown itself out by the time we reach port." He'd have preferred it if it blew itself out while they were still on the ship, but at least they wouldn't have to travel overland in a howling gale. Rebecca nodded again.
"Well, if you need anything, you know where my cabin is."
Rebecca gave another solemn nod, another grave smile, and Andrew gave her a final, cheerful grin, and headed back outside. The noise of the storm was almost a relief after the muted, lamp-lit silence in Rebecca's room. Smart young girl, he thought to himself, but very strange.
After Andrew had gone, Rebecca looked at her reflection in the mirror. She regarded it solemnly. She didn't care too much what she saw, most of the time, but occasionally she looked for traces of her mother. She couldn't see many, except maybe for her eyes, which were a strange dark blue, the same as her mothers had been. She remembered them from her childhood, laughing blue eyes staring down at her. She didn't remember much else, except for the happiness that she'd felt. She was quite glad that she couldn't see any of her father in herself. She sighed once, then turned and headed towards the doorway, putting on her thick overcoat as she went.
Rebecca headed through the ship, and out into the storm.