**Lets all just use our imaginations and pretend that Evie and Rick had twins instead of just Alex…**
Rating: PG!!
Disclaimer: Well…none are mine…except Frankie.
Z Z Z
The train was stuffy and there was not much leg room.
Frances had nearly broken both her arms trying to shove her suitcase into the overhead compartment, and she had to wedge the door of the compartment closed.
"Blasted thing," she murmured flopping down in her seat, a wave of exhaustion washed over her. She felt her eyes drooping closed, but as the train passed by a large hill the sun flooded the window and jolted her awake.
She stared out at the horizon, Egypt, She thought; that was what lay ahead of her.
She felt her leg jumping up and down with anticipation. She had been waiting for a chance like this since she was eight years old, and she had never given up on the prospect.
She regretted (only slightly), leaving her family behind with such a tiny explanation of her whereabouts, but she was a smart girl. She had a good head on her shoulders. She was her mother's daughter, and although some found that a little frightening she took great pride in it.
She fingered her mother's locket around her neck, her father had taken it off after her mother had almost died back in Egypt ten years ago, and after Alex and Jonathan had resurrected her back from the dead, Evie had never really thought to ask for it back.
Frances clicked it open. She stared down at her Grandfather and Grandmother, her Grandfathers large smile, her Grandmothers exotic shyness as she looked up from under long lashes at the camera.
Frances had been named after her Grandfather, her middle name, Isis, had been her Grandmothers name. And she also took great pleasure in knowing that she had been named after such wonderful, adventurous people.
As she stared out of the window, she realized suddenly that she belonged in Egypt it was in her blood.
Her Grandmother was from there, and besides, she didn't see what was so terrible about it besides the mummy's and terror, her mother and father had found each other there hadn't they?
Frances shook her head. Convinced she had done the right thing.
She belonged in Egypt it was in her blood— it was her blood.
Z Z Z
Frances was jolted away as the train pulled to a stop; she blinked, slightly disoriented before she realized that she was on the train and that it had finally stopped in Egypt.
The last two days had been near hell, the places she had staying at had been far from five star hotels— rat infested hovel's was a more appropriate word. She had also acquired a strange rash from on of the hotel mattresses, and there was no where that she knew of where she could buy ointment to soothe the persistent itching that ran up her left arm.
She remembered the last time she had traveled to Egypt.
"Do you honestly think that's a good idea Alex?" She asked as her brother opened the chest with the key.
"Don't be such a baby Frank, just go and keep watch out for Mum and Dad."
Frances glared at her twin brother, "you are so dead if Dad finds out, he'll give you such a spank—"
"Shut up Frank and just go keep watch!" Alex exclaimed.
"What if I don't?" Frances countered.
"I'll tell Imotep where you are…" Alex threatened, "I've heard he has an impeccable taste for annoying little girls!" Alex yelled, Frances jumped her eyes widened and she ran over to the bottom of the stairs.
She stood staring at her parents, she bit her nails, she watched as they kissed, and she sighed.
She wished she could have a husband like that, she found herself lost in her own thoughts when Alex cried out suddenly.
"What!" Frances exclaimed turning around, she saw her brother standing back, and she ran over to his side and saw him staring into space. "Alex?" She asked tapping her brother's shoulder, "ALEX!" She screamed into his ear.
Alex didn't jump, he just kept staring straight ahead, and then suddenly he snapped back into reality.
"I saw it…," Alex said slowly.
"Saw what?" Frances demanded.
"The way to Oasis."
And that was how it had all started, Alex putting on the Scorpion King's bracelet, being the intelligent child that he was, then they had all almost been shot to death, Rick had shoved her under the table and told her not to move.
And she hadn't, not until her Mother had picked her up and gathered her into her arms.
"Excuse me ma'am," the conductor said, tapping her shoulder. "I believe this is you're stop."
Frances blinked slowly, "pardon?" She asked, "oh yes. Thank-you." She said standing up.
The conductor helped her to pull her suitcase out from the overhead compartment.
"Thank-you very much," Frances said as she tottered out of the train. She dragged her suitcase down the street and hailed a cab.
She still had twenty pounds left and she hoped that enough for a ride to the University.
She hoisted her suitcase into the back seat and climbed in after.
"University?" She offered in broken Egyptian.
The ride to University was short and bumpy, and when she gave the cab driver her money she received no change.
She hauled the suitcase up the campus and stepped into the lobby, which was being cooled with five large fans.
"Um, excuse me?" She offered slowly in English, hoping he would understand.
The man at the front desk looked up, "yes?" He asked, his accent was thick.
"Could you tell me where the dorms are, and where to get my schedule?"
The man nodded, "can I have a piece of identification please," he asked.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her birth certificate and a recent picture of her and Evie.
The man looked at her certificate for a moment then nodded his head, "name please?"
"O'Connell, Frances," she replied as the man ruffled through his papers.
"Here you are, this is your schedule," he handed her a think pamphlet, "and this is a map of the university and surrounding areas."
"Thank-you," Frances said, shoving her birth certificate and picture back into her pocket. She got a good grip on her suitcase and ambled towards the door.
Z Z Z
After walking up four flights of stairs to get to her dorm room, Frances was ready to collapse and to kill her Uncle Jonathan for suggesting such a preposterous idea.
But how else would you have gotten here? Short of flapping your ears and flying? She wondered as she shoved open the door.
The dorm room was small and two beds were cramped in and there was a door, which Frances assumed was the closet. A tiny desk with a stool was jammed into the corner.
"How quaint," she heard herself mumble in abhorrence. She always was so charming at the best of times.
But you could leave that attribute to her father. She blamed him entirely for it.
All right…sometimes she said stupid things on her own accord, but other than that…
There was another young woman, she was seated at the desk, and the stool was pulled in, so the edge of the desk dug into her stomach.
She turned around and smiled at Frances.
"You must be Frances O'Connell." The young woman spoke slowly and deliberately, her English was flawless and she held only the slightest whisper of an accent.
"Yeah," Frances replied.
"I'm Dierdre Almahed," she said standing. "I hope you don't mind that I took the bed by the window."
Frances shook her head, "no. I don't care, just as long as it's a bed," she dropped her suitcase and flopped face first onto her bed.
