Author's Note: Eep - sorry for the lack of updates. I forgot about this story. *looks guilty* As always, I apologize for script errors, etc. This chapter's pretty short, rather boring, but hopefully Chapter 7 will make up for it. I quite like how that one turned out.
Chapter Six: Something Very Naughty
The air was thick with dust and humidity, though the temperature had declined significantly since we'd entered the tomb. A shiver of sheer anticipation ran up and down my spine as I stared in awe at my surroundings. It was beautiful, possessing a strange sort of aura...like a long-forgotten dream from years past.
"Do you realize," I started in a voice hardly over a whisper. Foolish as it sounded, I was almost afraid to break the crystalline silence. "that we're in a room that no one has entered in over three thousand years?"
My fingers swept lightly across one of the mirrors in a near pointless attempt to rid it of cobwebs and dust that had built over the many, many centuries. Biting my lip in concentration, I repositioned the mirror and announced softly, "And then there was light."
Immediately, a golden ray of light caught the mirror and bounced to another like it across the room. The procedure repeated suit until we were surrounded by a warm hazy light.
"Hey, that is a neat trick," O'Connell commented.
I ignored him, staring around in awe. My eyes hungrily drank in the sight. I'd read about these, oh yes, countless times, but to actually be there was so utterly surreal.
"Oh my God," I murmured, dazed. "It's a preparation room."
"Preparation for what?" O'Connell asked.
"For entering the afterlife," I responded, a bit mischievously.
O'Connell immediately reached for his gun, and I couldn't help but smirk at him.
"Mummies, my good son," Jonathan said. To my surprise, he actually sounded interested. "This is where they made the mummies."
Excitement dancing through my veins with blood, I continued forward down a narrow passageway. Cobwebs immediately surrounded me, and I stifled a cough at the thick dust that hung in the air. I studied the walls in awe, wondering what it had been like to cross through these tunnels when they were fresh and clean rather than old and worn.
The others trailing behind me, I continued walking when suddenly a strange sort of noise filled the air. It was soft, faint at first, but quickly gained force.
"What's that?"
I stared at the ceiling, which seemed to be the source of the strange sound - it was almost like squealing, or shrieking. Well, whatever it was, I didn't like it...it almost made my skin crawl.
"Sounds like...bugs," O'Connell announced, faintly puzzled.
"What do you mean, bugs?" asked the warden, alarmed. "I hate bugs!"
"Oh, do toughen up, will you?" Jonathan snapped irritably. "Honestly, a grown man, afraid of bugs."
This was a bit rich for him to say, as he'd had a bit of a run-in with a bee during childhood and hadn't quite been the same since.
"Oh, quit your bickering, you two," I ordered impatiently.
"They're a real match made in heaven, aren't they?" O'Connell muttered to me, grinning crookedly. I flashed him a smile in return as we approached the entrance to another ancient room.
O'Connell approached slowly, and I trailed after at the same speed, silently wishing that he would hurry up.
"The legs of Anubis," I declared, studying the sculpture that stood in the center of the chamber. "The secret compartment should be hidden around here..."
My searching, however, was cut short when a soft, distant sound filled the air. It sounded like voices, and yet I couldn't distinguish any words. My heartbeat quickened as we stood, hidden, behind the statue. O'Connell had a grim expression on his face and pair of guns in his hands. It was rather reassuring, having him there. Though I was a bit frightened, his presence seemed to promise that no harm would come to us.
We inched slowly along the sculpture before O'Connell leapt out, guns at the ready. I followed him, to find us face to face with-
...the Americans.
I breathed an enormous sigh of relief.
"You scared the beejeezus out of us, O'Connell!" Henderson accused.
"Likewise," O'Connell retorted evenly.
"Heeey, that's my tool kit!"
One of the men gestured to the kit I held in my arms, reaching as though to retrieve it.
In one swift movement, O'Connell lifted the guns threateningly.
"Perhaps I was mistaken," the American said hastily.
"This is our dig site," another of the Americans sneered.
"We got here first," I shot back angrily. Oh no. They certainly wouldn't be the ones to dig here...we would be the ones to find the book, I would make sure of that.
"This here is our statue...buddy," Daniels spat.
"I don't see your name on it...pal," O'Connell shot back vehemently.
"Well," Beni said with aggravating haughtiness that such a pathetic person shouldn't have been able to possess, "Since there are only four of you and fifteen of me, your odds are not so good."
"I've had worse," O'Connell sneered.
"Yeah!" Jonathan agreed fervently in a miserably failed attempt at intimidation. "Me too!"
Everyone studied him skeptically for a moment until he looked away, chagrined.
A plan formulating in my mind, I spoke up, exasperated.
"For goodness sake, enough. If we're going to play together, we must learn to share."
Staring meaningfully at him, I rested my hand lightly on O'Connell's arm and tried to ignore the tingles that ran through my fingers. He looked back down at me, confused.
"There are other places to dig," I finished pointedly, slightly widening my eyes.
He gave me a quick hint of a smile, understanding.
~*~
"Really, should we be doing this?" Jonathan asked. "I mean, really, is the book all that important? It's just a book-"
I abruptly silenced him with a glare.
"Right," he said quickly. "Yes, yes, we must get the book. Really important, the book is."
Rolling my eyes, I exchanged a look with O'Connell before handing my brother a sledgehammer identical to the one O'Connell held. I opted to chip at it with the chisel I'd found in the stolen tool kit.
"According to my calculations, we should be right under the statue," I announced. "We'll come up right between his legs."
"And then when those dirty Yanks go to sleep-" Jonathan snuck a glance at O'Connell, "No offense."
"None taken," O'Connell assured him easily.
"-We'll sneak up and steal that book right out from under them!" he finished triumphantly.
"And you're sure that you can find the secret compartment?" O'Connell asked me, sounding a bit skeptical.
"Oh yes, if those beastly Americans haven't beaten us to it," I answered, then added cautiously as an afterthought, "No offense."
"None taken," O'Connell repeated, sounding a bit annoyed.
Jonathan lowered the sledgehammer for a moment and looked around the chamber.
"I do say," he started, "What's our smelly little friend got himself up to?"
O'Connell shrugged.
"I don't know," I responded. "I haven't seen him since earlier...he just disappeared."
"Perhaps he'll get himself killed in some cruel and unusual manner," Jonathan said, almost hopefully. "That'll have him off our hands."
"Jonathan!" I scolded, trying not to be too entertained at the idea.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized at once. "But I just can't live with that God-awful stench much longer."
"I'm with you there," O'Connell agreed.
"Yes," I said impatiently, "Well, can we please focus?"
"Sure," Jonathan said. "Focus. Focus. I won't stop until that book is in my hands, Evy! Focus. I'm going to focus."
~*~
Exactly seven and a half minutes later, Jonathan had given up completely on digging and was instead swinging his sledgehammer like a golf club.
"Do you think he's still focusing?" O'Connell asked with a smirk, setting down his own sledgehammer and fixing his eyes on me.
"Call me crazy, but somehow I doubt it," I retorted, giving him a smile.
"Yeah, he doesn't exactly seem as into this mummy stuff as you are," observed O'Connell.
"He's not into much of anything, except beautiful women and alcohol," I responded, staring over at him. His tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth in concentration as he thwacked the 'golf club' forward.
"Yeah, well, I can see how those are preferable to mummification," O'Connell said.
"If you're a man," I scoffed. "But really, it's a fascinating process, and really quite beautiful-"
"Beautiful?" O'Connell repeated skeptically, wrinkling his nose.
"You didn't let me finish," I reminded him impatiently. "You see, it was all so intricate...they removed all the vital organs and put them in these beautifully decorated jars with the most fascinating designs, and-"
"So lemme get this straight," O'Connell cut in, sounding vaguely disturbed, "They ripped out your guts and stuffed them in...jars?"
"Yes," I replied excitedly, "And then they removed your heart as well. And you know how they took out your brain?"
"Evy, I don't think we need to know this," Jonathan announced in a sing-songy voice.
Ignoring him, I continued, waving my hands a bit as I spoke. "They take a sharp red hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit, and then rip it out through your nostrils!"
O'Connell winced. "Ow...that's gotta hurt."
"It's called mummification," I reminded him. "You'll be dead when they do this."
Still looking quite stirred, O'Connell ordered grimly, "For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification.."
"Likewise," Jonathan agreed with a nod, swinging the sledgehammer even more violently than before as if to emphasize his point.
And with a startling boom!, a very large, very heavy...something fell from the ceiling, practically shaking the ground when it hit it.
Trembling a bit, I tentatively stepped closer to it, my eyes hurriedly studying it.
"Oh my God..." I whispered as realization hit. "It's...it's a sarcophagus...buried at the base of Anubis." I paused, considering all the options. "He must have been someone of great importance...or...he did something very naughty."
I exchanged a nervous glance with O'Connell, whose face bore the same expression that I'm sure was on mine.
One thing was for sure.
We had stumbled across something very important.