It was really starting to get on Alex O'Connell's nerves. Traveling all over the world looking for duplicates of the Scrolls of the Thebes. They didn't even know if there were copies of the Scrolls, just because there had once been a copy of the Manacle of Osiris didn't mean that Princess Nefertiri and her dad had made copies of Scrolls.
Oh, look, Alex thought, sand! He was definitely developing a sense of humor like his father's. Sand in the desert. What're the odds of that?
His mom, Evy, called everyone over to where she had been searching in the temple. She had found a box. More excitement, Alex thought. Inside the box was an old piece of paper. "It's a piece of the Scrolls," Evy said, "it says that the wearer of the Manacle of Osiris can…something, something, something."
"Oh, that makes perfect sense," Alex's uncle, Jonathan, said, "if only we knew what 'something, something, something' means."
"It shouldn't be too hard to translate this," Evy said, "we just need to go back to the Zephyr for a while." So, the family headed back to the Zephyr, which was really a blimp that they lived in.
It only took 15 minutes to find out what 'something, something, something,' meant. The translated bit of the Scrolls said 'the wearer of the Manacle of Osiris can become master of the animal kingdom.' Evy said that that probably meant that the wearer of the Manacle (Alex, in this case) could become an animal. When she said that Alex's dad, Rick, twitched (he had had bad experiences with certain animals in the past).
They asked their friend, Ardeth Bay, what he thought it meant. He said that it meant that the wearer of the Manacle could become any one animal they wanted. Ardeth knew what he was talking about; he was, after, a Medjai, which meant he knew a lot about the Scrolls and the Manacle.
Alex now had to pick an animal. Just one. Hard choice. He couldn't go with a wolf, his dad hated them, and he couldn't fight as a bird, could he? Ugh, this was hard.
He asked his parents what they would become if they could, his mom hadn't told him and his dad said he would become anything but a wolf (bad experience).
It really was a hard decision. I mean, it's easy when your friend asks you what animal you'd like to become, but this was real.
Back in the temple, and bored to death, Alex started levitating objects for the fun of it. "Alex, what do you think you're doing?" Evy asked, "I thought we already had the Manacle responsibility talk!"
"Sorry, mom," Alex moaned, "it's just that I'm so bored! I don't know what to do."
"Why don't try to think of an animal to become?"
"O.K." Alex said, even though he didn't really want to.
He decided to let his parents and uncle explore the temple alone. Alex went to the Zephyr, where he thought about animals, of course.
He soon heard a scream issue from the cave. It was a high-pitched, girlish scream. Uncle Jonathan! Alex thought…
Imhotep had shown up just in time. The O'Connells were in the temple and the boy was nowhere in sight. They couldn't have found the piece of the scrolls, could they? No animals in sight. Good…
Alex ran into the temple. He reached into his shirt and pulled out Tut, his pet mongoose. He stared at Tut for a while. He finally knew what he animal would become…
"Surrender or parish," the mummy said, "where is the boy?" A tiger jumped into the room right onto Imhotep. "Tigers aren't native to Egypt," Evy said, "or…are they?"
The orange and black stripped animal ripped into the mummy. Imhotep, hurt and beaten, turned into a sandstorm and blew out of the temple. The full-grown Bengal tiger turned toward Rick, Evy, and Jonathan and snarled; Jonathan fainted.
"Alex," Rick whispered, half-amazed, half scared, "is that you, sport?"
"If it isn't him," Evy said, trying to help her brother up, "we're in serious trouble." She hoped it was her son…
Rick stared at the tiger. Was that safe? Would it think he was challenging it, or was that only monkeys that did that? The tiger smiled. IT SMILED?! Slowly, the tiger started to get up, to stand upright. The claws and fangs disappeared, the tail was sucked back up into its body. Rick O'Connell soon realized that it was his son. Sure, he was covered orange and black fur, but it was Alex all right!
"That's amazing, sport." He said.
"Well, I am your son!" Alex joked as the last of his fur disappeared.
Once Jonathan recovered, everyone went back to the Zephyr to celebrate. Evy had a ton of questions to ask her son. And Alex just smiled and answered honestly; she was, after all, his mom, even if she was acting like a reporter.
Alex looked at his dad, who had been awfully quiet since they had gotten back to the blimp. "Dad? You all right?" Alex asked.
"Huh? Uh, yeah, sport, I guess it's just bringing back memories of what happened in Ireland."
"I thought you said you hardly remember anything that happened there." Alex said.
"Well, sport, a lot of it's blurry, but a few things stand out. My hands growing claws and fur, the mummy showing up, your mother calling me a problem, running through the forest, coming into town, Jonathan almost falling off a rooftop, stopping another wolf from attacking you, changing back…that's about all. Not much, but it's enough." Alex nodded and walked over to a window.
He had known it was me, Alex thought, he was a werewolf, and he didn't remember much, but he knew who I was. That's why he didn't attack us in the Abbey. I can relate. I hope we never have to go back there again, but if we do, it'll be my turn to save him. Yeah, my turn.