Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to either of the Mummy movies. I do, however, own the plot and the characters that you don't recognize from the films.

Author's Note: It's aliiiiiiiiiiive! I have found the plot! And it only took an entire evening of watching both the Mummy movies to get on track again. I must say, I really like this chapter for some reason. I'm not sure why, I just like how it ended up. We get to see a bit of Giles character and what goes on in that head of his and learn just a little bit behind the O'Connell's fear of Sekhet's visit to Egypt. Granted it really isn't all that it seems. Alex's story is horribly incomplete.

Ah plot…I love you so.

Enjoy!

EDIT- Damned editor decides to mess up my format every time I upload of chapter. So for the sake of my pride, I'd like to mention that I do know the proper format of a story, indenting and various mechanics…however, whatever program uses decided it hates me. If any of you know how to fix that, PLEASE tell me. It annoys me something awful.

Okay, rant over.

Raven "Siren's Muse"

Chapter Six: Epiphanies

Alex was brooding. He had been brooding ever since they arrived, but Giles' has finally figured out why. They had been roommates for long enough, but Alex was so multi-faceted that Giles had trouble figuring out what his friend was thinking. However, now he knew.

Giles found Alex sitting in the inn's dining room, nursing an alcoholic drink of some sort, with a look that screamed "do not cross me". Unfortunately, that's exactly what the normally shy Giles intended to do. He wasted no time. Wasting time only delayed the inevitable. Alex would either deck him, ignore him, or answer and there was only one way to find out. "She was nearly killed here, wasn't she?" he asked, referring to Sekhet.

It was odd that anything could possibly try to kill or nearly kill the fearless, deathless Sekhet. No matter how much she hated him, Giles still admired her. She had something he could never possess. Courage.

Alex glared at his friend. "What makes you think that?"

"Well your parents were loathe to let her come and even you seemed wary. Besides, every time she goes off by herself you look ready to murder someone. In fact, the event has you so tied up in knots that you let the thief accompany her only because you feel the slightest twinge of trust for the man. Anything to keep her from being alone. What I must know is the exact story."

Alex simply stared at the man for awhile. After a long silence he cracked a half smile and responded, "Sorry, ol' boy. That's not for me to talk about."

"That is a bloody lie, Alex." Giles all but spat. "I am your friend! I want to help you, but I certainly cannot do so until I know what's bothering you."

"You've already proved that you know. What else could you possibly need to hear? It was simply that. She was just a child, but the man held a cobra in his bare head. He was screaming something…" Alex stopped, his eyes held a sadness so intense that Giles was forced to look down at his shoes. "The vile creature bit her, Giles. She was just a child!"

"I know." tried to sooth his friend while still looking down at his shoes.

He could not bear to meet the sadness in Alex's eyes. Further proof that Giles was a weak man. "The thing…sunk its fangs into her wrist. I—" Alex cleared his throat suddenly and stood so quickly that Giles was forced to look at him. All the sadness was gone from his eyes and replaced by a hard anger. "Go." he ordered Giles.

Unable to find the words to protest, Giles hurried off. But now he knew a bit of what Alex feared. However why did the attempted murder continue to haunt him? It was probably a fluke. Some random bloke who was missing a few marbles. What further confused Giles was that it was Alex O'Connell who was worried…Alex, son of the adventurer who had faced death more times than he could count. A bit of skirting death was natural as breathing for the family—well all save Sekhet. Giles sighed as he headed for the kitchen to get himself a stiff drink. There was too much running through his mind…and god knows he needed to clear it all away…or at least organize it so he could think properly. There was certainly more to the story and Giles swore he would figure it out.

I returned around early evening to an unusually angry Giles and a far-too-genial-to-be-normal Alex. Alex even greeting Talib with a smile. I was immediately suspicious. We ate a delicious meal and afterward, Alex announced that he had an errand to run. That was his only…very pitiful explanation. Five minutes after Alex left, Giles took off into the night without a word. Not that I really cared what he did, I just found it rather odd. It was far too much action for me to remain still. I was about to take after them when Talib grabbed my arm. "Night is the worst time for a woman to be out." he said with a rather serious look on his face.

"Indeed? Well, according to Alex, I'm not a woman, I'm a girl!" I replied and pulled away to stomp out the door.

I had obviously not taken into account the stubbornness of Talib. I cursed myself for that…the bloody fellow was almost as stubborn as I was. Talib used his body to block the door and I ran straight into him before I could stop. His arms imprisoned me, holding me closer than I would have liked. I looked up, expecting to find his teasing eyes dancing, but all I saw was unusually dull brown eyes staring down at me in all seriousness. "No." he said simply. "I believe it's time for you to head off to bed…please." His voice held an odd intonation in it.

I stopped struggling and nodded slowly. "I suppose. You will tell me the moment Alex returns?"

"I shall."

"On your honor?"

"On my honor."

I nodded and he released me, then led me to my room. He was oddly silent and when we reached my door I looked up to find him staring at me with I look I simply couldn't read. "What's the matter?" I asked softly.

"Please don't sneak out, Sekhet." was his whispered reply.

"I shan't." I promised him.

And though my curiosity was quite peaked, I knew I would not try to sneak out. Not when he gave me that look. "Good. Alex would have my head if I let anything happen to you." he said with a slight smile…a smile that wasn't like his regular ones.

I nodded and muttered a goodnight. "Sleep well." he replied quietly.

"You will wake me when Alex returns?"

"Yes."

Satisfied, I went in and closed the door. Seconds later I heard Talib walk away. Things were happening tonight. Important things. But for the first time in my life I didn't feel like going to investigate. I sighed heavily and changed into my black nightgown. First Alex, then Giles, and now even Talib. They had changed in the span of utter hours! Preposterous! So unlike all of them. Egypt was…well, doing things to them. I wasn't quite sure of it until the moment I shut my door and didn't sneak out. The spell—or whatever nonsense it was had caught me as well. And I was standing in the middle of my room just letting it take me. I was suddenly sitting on my bed and pulling the covers over my legs, hardly aware that I had even walked over to my bed. My head hit the pillow rather unceremoniously and I stared at the old ceiling, listening to the bugs outside. They were out there somewhere—Alex and Giles. Somewhere I was sure I could find. But I didn't want to find that…somewhere. My eyes slid shut and sleep stole my mind away.

Asps…everywhere. Covering the floor and the ceiling. The bed was alive with black waves of the vile creatures. Alive…slithering, moving through my hair...my nightgown…they were all over me and yet not biting me. Fought the urge to scream. They should surely kill me if I did. Fingers twitched. An angry hiss. No moving. Must not move. "Sekhet!" They were calling me. "Come to us!"

Could not answer. Must not move. Must not speak. They were in pain. Alex…Talib…Giles. They were suffering. Cannot move. Must not move. Asps…everywhere—

I jerked awake with a small shriek. A hand moved away from my arm and I looked up into the face of Talib. "A nightmare?" He asked, sounding concerned.

"It is nothing. What's happened?"

"They've returned."

"Oh!" I had forgotten about asking him to wake me and I was pleased to see that he had kept his promise.

"You know, dreams are the gods way of speaking to us."

I narrowed my eyes. "It was nothing." I insisted.

He studied my face for a moment and then shrugged. "Well, it is not my business."

"Damn right it's not." I muttered, feeling still a bit ticked about the dream.

I should have been frightened, but I didn't quite have the sense to be scared. Not after having been awakened in the middle of the night. Promise or no promise. "Thank you for waking me." I said quickly as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and hesitantly touched toe to the cold floor…almost expecting to feeling snakes slithering. I didn't, of course. Talib handed me my robe and led me to the dining room where Alex sat guzzling scotch. "Where have you been?" I demanded, losing whatever smidgen of fear I harbored concerning his safety and replacing it with anger.

"Taking in the sights at night." he mumbled drunkenly.

I wrinkled my nose in slight distaste before grabbing the bottle from him and slapping him hard. "Stop it. Go to bed."

Alex touched his rather red cheek and slunk off without a word. I spun around to glare at Talib who looked a bit shocked. "Erm…I thought you were worried."

"I was!" I replied heatedly as I held the bottle of scotch to the light to see how much of it was left.

Seeing it still had some in it, I held the bottle to my lips and tipped it back taking a quick mouthful of the vile stuff and swallowing hard. It was fairly decent scotch. Or so my limited experience of drinking told me. I plopped in a chair rather ungracefully and took another shot. "Damn him to hell." I hissed. "Worried me half to death. And where the bloody hell did he go? Oooooh! He can't tell me! I'm just his sister!"

I forced another shot down and resisted the urge to cough, only clearing my throat slightly. "Bastard! I think I shall go get myself into trouble since I won't let my sister. Damnation! Then I'll return and just plop down on my ass with a nice bit of scotch and let her think I'm hurt or dead." I swore again a bit more loudly and took a huge mouthful of scotch and swallowed hard. I was caught in a violent coughing fit at which point Talib finally stepped forward and took the bottle out of my hand before thumping me rapidly on the back. Funny, I had almost forgotten he was there. "Give it back to me." I said, motioning to the scotch.

"I believe you've had enough."

"Nonsense."

I pushed him out of the way and took shot after shot of the devil's drink. I began chugging it coughing and spitting all the while. I drunk until I could no longer see straight. It was odd. I didn't realize there has been so much in the bottle. I thought there had been far less. I hung my head limply over the bottle and stared into the hole at the top. It was empty. "Damn…all gone."

Talib—or the blur that looked quite a bit like Talib—took the bottle from my hand. "That is most definitely enough."

I nodded. "Enough. But the damn curiosity won't go away!"

I scrunched my face up and squinted to see Talib. "It's all to pot! This trip! I've found nothing! Nothing a 'toll! Desert. Lots and lots of desert! Loads of it you might say!"

My stomach was feeling queasy. I pinched my lips closed with two fingers and moaned. I let go of my lips and mussed my hair a bit. "I don't feel so good."

"I'm sure you don't. You drank that entirely too fast."

"Go to hell." I mumbled.

He laughed slightly and took my arm. It was all I could do to keep my stomach down. I was led outside and Talib pulled my hair away from my face. "Now you can be ill."

I retched. Several times. Until my stomach ached in its emptiness. I felt sweaty and gross and I had a horrible taste in my mouth. I think I was led back to the dinking room because I was in a chair again. Someone—Talib—lifted a cup to my lips and said, "Drink this."

"No more scotch!"

"It is only water."

He tipped the cup and cool water ran down my throat an chased away the bitter taste of bile and alcohol. Then a nice, wet rag ran over my face, washing away the sweat and allowing a cool sort of breeze to make me feel slightly fresh again. The rag moved down to the neck and my hair was pulled back into a ponytail. My sleeves were rolled up and the rag traveled over my bare arms and then my feet. I mumbled something unintelligible. I felt sleepy suddenly and felt the mattress under my back. A thin sheet was pulled over me. I knew nothing else until morning.

I had a hell of a hangover the next morning. I remember next to nothing about the night before. Only that I'd drunk too much scotch and gotten myself sick…oh and Alex and Giles' disappearance and return. Ida bustled into my room chattering loudly until I moaned. "Could you be a bit more quiet Ida? I have a hangover."

The woman grinned. "I know! Talib tell me."

Talib? I didn't quite recall him being there. "You be sick in alley."

Ah! That I did remember. I couldn't forget. "I return." Ida said and hurried away.

I hoped she was bringing a gun of some kind…so I could happily shoot myself in the head and relive the pressure and pain. It was too bright. I flung the sheet over my head, but the white sheet didn't keep out much light. Still, it was better than nothing. I wished to sink into the ground…but of course, I didn't.

I heard Ida return—the pounding on the ground alerted me. "Drink water."

Something was set on the table next to my bed and the pounding person left the room. I threw the blanket off and guzzled down the water. It did wonders. I felt a bit better…not great, mind you, but better. I didn't get out of bed though. I shut my eyes and willed sleep to take me but a persistent rattling noise refused to let my sleep. I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with a black snake. I didn't move. I quit breathing. My brain shut down. Time stopped as I face the snake which I quickly identified as an Egyptian asp. Very deadly…staring right at me. It's thin tongue tested the air about it. It knew I was there. I knew it was there. It moved closer to my face. My mind snapped and began to speak to it…in my head only. Hello Mr. Asp. How are you this morning? I do wish you'd get off me and bother someone else. I mean, I would rather like to live. Please don't kill me. That would put a damper on things."

The asp hissed angrily. Breath had escaped my lips. I wondered how fast I could move. But my brain was too mellowed by the hangover. I prayed to every deity I could think of that someone would come into the room. Breath was escaping my lips at a rather quick rate now. The snake hissed again and opened its mouth to show me two think fangs. I screamed, the snake lunged. There was a loud noise. I blacked out.

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