DISCLAIMER: The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and it's characters belong to Stephen Sommers and Universal Pictures


Chapter 3:

The ever-so-pleasant pain of stiff muscles woke Jonathan. He half-opened one eye and was staring at a tan-colored material. Where was he? His mind cleared of sleepy haze and he remembered. Ah yes. He was in the middle of the bloody desert. He rubbed a sore spot on the side of his rib cage where he had been holding the scepter. The scepter! He sat up, trying to ignore the pain in his muscles from the sudden movement. Where was it? He looked around and found it lying beside him on Evie's folded blanket. She must have placed it there when she found him half lying on it. He grabbed the scepter and hugged it to him.

"Good morning my precious, beautiful scepter!" he said as he gave it a smacking kiss, then began shining it with a corner of his blanket.

He froze as he just realized that Evie was gone. Before he even looked to the mat on his other side, he knew Rick would be gone as well. Jonathan panicked. How long had they been gone? What were they up to? He jumped out of bed, ignoring the pain of his stiff muscles, held up the scepter in case he needed to use it to beat the living daylights out of a certain American, and stomped out of the tent.

Rick and Evie sat side to side sharing a blanket. Rick's arm was around Evie and she rested her head on his shoulder as they quietly talked and watched the sunrise. Jonathan let out the breath he'd been holding, put his scepter in his belt as if it were a sword, and ran his hand through his hair.

Rick was a good man. He really had nothing to worry about, although he would still keep an eye on the two of them. He walked over and sat down next to Evie.

"Good morning, sleepy-head," Evie said in a sing-song voice.

"We didn't want to disturb you, so we thought we'd give you a few more minutes of sleep," said Rick.

"Ah, yes. How thoughtful of you. And here I thought you had let me sleep because you two didn't want to be disturbed."

"Damn. I guess you're too smart for us. We didn't want to tell you that and hurt your feelings," Rick said as Evie laughed at their bantering.

Jonathan smiled at Rick's quick wit. "So, what's the plan?"

"Rick and I have been discussing the treasure. We've agreed that it would be best not to mention our little adventure-"

"Little?" Rick raised his eyebrows.

"Big, huge, enormous, life-changing adventure. Is that better Mr. O'Connell? Now don't you interrupt me again," he chuckled as she shook her finger at him like a mother to a naughty child. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," she elbowed Rick, "We've agreed that it would be best not to mention our BIG," she looked pointedly at Rick, then back to Jonathan, "adventure to anyone and to be as discreet as possible as to where we obtained the treasure. I can have the find documented anonymously, but if anyone were to learn that we've been to Hamunaptra, someone may try to force one of us to show them the way. Every treasure hunter has heard of Hamunaptra and the stories claiming that it holds the wealth of Egypt."

Jonathan sighed. "I supposed you're right, ol' mum. Truth be told, I was looking forward to the fame as well as the fortune, but what good is a fortune if you end up dead?"

"My sentiments exactly," said Rick. "We can sell a few items for supplies and travel expenses. Evie was saying she knows some people involved with both the British and Cairo Museums. They can inform their trusted associates over at Bembridge and they'll take it from there. Then, we're off to England."

Jonathan lifted an eyebrow. "We? As in you're going to England as well?"

"Yes!" said Evie excitedly. "Rick was planning on moving to England as soon as he could cover the expenses for the trip. Isn't that a coincidence?"

At this, Jonathan's other eyebrow shot up in line with the first. "Do tell!" He wasn't fooled. He knew that Rick planned this after meeting Evie and that he would undoubtedly follow her to the ends of the Earth.

Rick scowled and changed the subject. "Evie tells me that the both of you were also working on getting the cash together to move back to your childhood home."

"Yes. We've had no choice but to live in Egypt, not that we don't like it here. You see, our parents would bring us to Egypt a few times a year to work on some digs or to make new discoveries. We usually would go with them to the actual sites, but the last time-" Jonathan's voice took on a sad tone as he continued. "The last time, I overheard my mum saying that she had a bad feeling, so they decided to leave us in Cairo under the care of a good friend of theirs. Turns out mum had had great foresight."

Evie picked up the story. "We were too young at the time to collect the inheritance, so some distant relatives conned their way into getting it. They even got the house."

"So to summarize it," continued Jonathan, "we were raised by the same woman our parents had left us in care of. Dr. Bey, God rest him, was a good friend of our parents and took it upon himself to school us, especially in the subject of Egyptology."

"We decided we would earn enough money to move back home. As soon as we were old enough, we started working for Dr. Bey. Well, Jonathan would sometimes work, but he had the bad habit of spending most of it on drink, gambling-"

"Ah Evie, you're getting off subject," mumbled Jonathan.

"Right, sorry about that." She patted Jonathan's knee. "As I was saying, we decided to save up so that one day, we would be able to travel back to England and buy back our childhood home. A very outlandish dream, but now," she looked to the bags of treasure on the camel, "it seems we will be getting our wish."

"I'm really glad to hear that," Rick said in all honesty. He looked at the rising sun, judging the time. "We'll all have to chat some more about our pasts sometime. For now, we've gotta hit the trail."