Imhotep jumped down into the rift and stood near her, not knowing what to do. Here was the woman he had suffered for, died for, defied the gods for. The woman who had left him to die in the end. He still loved her, deeply, but he also felt the aching pain of her abandonment.

Above them, Zane stood looking down. The spell was over, its power gone. It was replaced by the feeling he'd had before, sensing both Imhotep and Anck. At the moment he only felt the sleeping Anck's presence, but he could feel the strong emotions running through Imhotep. "Wake her up." Zane said quietly. Imhotep turned and looked up at him for a second. He had forgotten that the young man was there. Why had he resurrected him and Anck-su-namon? What did he expect to get out of it? Imhotep turned back to Anck-su-namon and knelt at her head. He hesitated, fearing her reaction when she awoke. Would she scream? Would she run? After a moment he bent, brushed the hair from her face, and gently kissed her forehead.

Anck-su-namon stirred. Zane could feel her swimming up from unconsciousness, and her mind latched on to her last memory: being eaten alive by scarabs. Her eyes flew open and she began to scream. Zane, reliving it with her, screamed as well, his flesh on fire with hundreds of mouths biting and biting. When Zane came back to himself he saw that Anck was still screaming. Imhotep stood near her, confused and afraid. "She's reliving her death." Zane said, then he realized he had spoken in English. He said it again in Egyptian. Imhotep made no move. Zane jumped down into the crack and took Imhotep by the arm. "Hold her, make her see you. Tell her she's alive."

In a daze, Imhotep bent and grasped Anck's shoulders, shaking her gently. "Anck-su-namon! Anck-su-namon!" He yelled. "You live! It's me, Imhotep! Look!" At the sound of his voice her eyes began to clear. She stopped screaming and her breathing slowed.

"Imhotep?" She said uncertainly. He nodded. "Imhotep!" She exclaimed happily. She wrapped her arms around him, hugged him tight, kissed him.

Zane watched them, feeling Anck's happiness. Imhotep was happy, too, but there was also pain in him. Feeling that pain, remembering that horrid moment when she left him to die, Zane's anger began to rise. How could she hug him as if nothing had happened? How could she act as if she cared for him after running to save her own skin? Zane strode toward the couple. "Selfish bitch!" He screamed. "See what you did to him!" He reached inside and found those last moments before Imhotep fell, grabbed Anck-su-namon's arm and pushed the experience into her. Their minds became linked, and as Anck-su-namon felt Imhotep's pain, Zane experienced what she had gone through. As Imhotep dangled over the abyss, Anck-su-namon stood frozen in the doorway. She was afraid for herself, but she was also afraid for Imhotep. Terror dominated her, and in that state, something inside her rose up to take control.

"Anck-su-namon! Save me!" Imhotep called.

And across the room, Meela cried, "Ny!" and ran as fast as she could from the scene. Self-preservation won out over love, Meela won out over Anck-su-namon. Moments later, both of them met their doom.

Back in his own body, Zane gasped for breath. In front of him was Anck-su-namon, tears streaming from her eyes. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She wept.

Zane was crying, too. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Imhotep was standing behind Anck, not knowing what had just happened. But the boy had made Anck-su-namon cry, and he could not let that go unpunished. Since Zane had brought them both back from the dead, Imhotep would allow him to explain himself first. "What did you do to her?"

Zane turned to Imhotep, knowing that the priest had every intention of harming or even killing him, but he was not afraid. "I made her feel what you felt. To see what you saw when she left you to die."

There was a pause. Imhotep had not been expecting an answer like that. "And I felt what she did." Zane continued, "It was not her, but Meela that left you."

Imhotep stood silent. The information was surprising, to put it mildly. "Oh, Imhotep! I'm so sorry!" Anck-su-namon wept, burying her head in Imhotep's chest.

An ominous rumble echoed through the building, shaking dust from the ceiling. "I think we need to get out of here." Zane said.

Imhotep and Anck-su-namon did not argue. They wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. They followed Zane through the passages and at last out into the cool night air. At the entrance Imhotep paused, breathing in the scent of freedom. For the first time he wondered how long it had been since he fell to his death. The ground shook again and Imhotep hurried, hand in hand with Anck-su-namon, toward the trees. Zane's horse was still tied there, growing uneasy. Not far away was Adeem's camel, pulling at his rope. "You can take the camel." Zane told the Egyptians. Neither of them liked taking orders, but there wasn't much of a choice at the moment. They mounted the camel and followed Zane through the trees. Imhotep did not know what to do with this boy, but he had gotten them this far, so for now he was willing to let him lead the way.

The rumblings came intermittently as the trio rode through the jungle. Although it was dense, they were able to make their way through it and out into the desert. They did not stop until they had reached the top of a large dune and turned to face Ahm Shere. The whole trip was made in silence, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

As they watched, Ahm Shere shuddered and began to sink back into the sand. The desert swallowed it completely, leaving no trace. Anubis spoke in Zane's head, "You may call yourself my priest, now. You have more than earned it."

The silhouette of what might have been a jackal disappeared over a dune to their left. Zane turned to follow. He wondered what they were going to do now. The Egyptians were going to have to find a way to adapt to the modern world. Anck had last been alive in the 30's, so perhaps it would not be as hard for her, but Imhotep had about 3,000 years of catching up to do. They rode in silence through the desert night for a while until Zane felt the need to break it. He began to tell them the story of how they came to be resurrected. Both of them listened with interest, interjecting here and there with questions. Imhotep and Anck-su-namon relaxed as the story progressed, forgetting for now their anger, fear and pain. Zane began to feel a bit of excitement. He couldn't wait to show them the modern world and all its technologies: television, movies, video games, the internet, microwaves. So many things to see and do. And of course whatever the gods had in store for them.

The future was certainly going to be interesting.