The Mediator: Egyptian Style
"Have you found anything, Susannah?" Jesse asked me from another room. God, he asked that like a thousand times now. I mean, I love the guy to death, but its like, could ya shut up for a minute?
Jesse and I were wandering around in the Red Pyramid. Yes, we were actually in the pyramid. There was a tour and crap, but Jesse decided that we would steer away from the tour. Yes, you read that right. Jesse decided, not me. So don't go jumping to conclusions.
You know, I really don't think they'd realize we were gone, anyway. I mean, there were like hundreds of people on the one tour alone. Who's going to know if we're gone? It's not like high school field trips, where they keep check and everything. In high school, if you got lost, the school was screwed. Out in the real world, if you got lost, you were screwed. Talk about assuring.
"No, Jesse," I replied.
I was looking through this one room that was off-limits. And Jesse was in another forbidden room - this is so unlike Jesse. I was examining some of the inscriptions on the walls. We learned about this stuff in like elementary school. What were they called again? Hyphoglurics? No.
Hindoglyphics?
No. What the hell was it?
Um . . .—
"Have you seen any of the Hieroglyphics?" he asked.
That's it! Hieroglyphics!
God, I'm such an air head.
"Yeah!" I called back.
A second later, Jesse came running in. "Really?" he asked.
I nodded and pointed to what I was looking at. Not that I could understand it, though. I mean, it was Egyptian for Pete's sake - and who the hell is Pete, anyway? I'm not an archaeologist. I'm Susannah Simon. Well, I guess you already knew that, but there's no harm in reminding you.
"Wow," I heard him mutter. He was scanning the inscriptions on the wall. He looked so fascinated in it. Well, anything involving history fascinates him, so yeah. But, I mean, hello? Pay a little attention to me. I'm your wife and just had sex with you last night and you're just ignoring me.
Then he looked at me. "Susannah, this is great."
He was beaming and you could tell that we had gotten somewhere. We found some interesting stuff and Jesse was actually acknowledging that I was present.
I replied, "Yeah, yeah it—"
I would've finished my sentence, really I would have. But Jesse made it so I was incapable of speaking at that moment.
No, he didn't gag me. God, he would never do that. I don't know what you people are thinking...
Anywho, he kissed me. It was one hell of a kiss too.
Too bad it was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. Can intimate times between Jesse and myself ever go nicely?
I take that as a no.
Jesse and I quickly pulled apart and looked at each other with wide eyes; then we looked in the direction that the scream had come from.
I don't know what Jesse was thinking, but I sure as hell know what my thoughts were. They were along the lines of 'What the fuck . . . ?'
We were about to walk towards the sound, when another scream sounded in the opposite direction.
Talk about confusing.
Jesse and I looked at each other quickly.
He had confusion written all over his face. And shock.
Then he spoke. "Susannah," he said, "uh, should we go?"
I knew what he was asking, but I felt compelled to ask, "Go where, exactly, Jesse?"
He studied my face for a second. "Towards the screams. I mean, if someone was screaming like that, they must be in great peril."
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, just with less words. But, I had this weird feeling . . .
It was like . . . I knew something wasn't right. Then again, I really didn't want to go against Jesse's better judgement - if that was his better judgement anyway - because he's usually got better instincts than I do. However, you know what they say about a woman's intuition . . . . .
Another scream erupted from the same direction as the first. Man, this was getting irritating. And not to mention extremely confusing.
I looked at Jesse for instructions. "Jesse, what do we do?" I inquired.
He just looked at me. Great, now you look at me. Pfft. Men.
He shook his head. "I - I don't know, Susannah," he replied, "I guess we should see what is going on . . ." he trailed off. I heard it in his voice. I knew he was unsure too. Well, duh. But, I mean, I knew he had a feeling too. A feeling that something wasn't right.
"Jesse," I said, kind of uneasy - not in a queasy way, "I don't . . . I think we should either get out of here or call whats his face," I supplied. I knew that something was fishy. And no my legs WEREN'T open.
Um, yeah.
Something was definitely wrong here. I guess it was me being a shifter and all.
Jesse nodded, "You're right, we should."
Well, that was lovely. We should what, Jesse? I suggested two things, you know.
I looked at him expectantly. I was waiting for him to say which we should do.
"Jesse, we should do what?" I asked.
"Uh, I think we should call Mr. Matthews and have him investigate and then get the hell out of here," he said. Ha, Jesse said hell. I guess being confused can get to you.
Well, since Jesse said so, I called the guy.
He appeared moments later in a shimmer of blue light. "Yes?" he asked tiredly.
Then, as if realizing something, he said, "Hey, you guys actually have clothes on."
Hmph. What an ass.
I chose to act immature, so I rolled my eyes. Then I said, "We have quite a dilemma on our hands, Harry."
He narrowed his eyes at me, "What did you say?"
"I said, 'we have quite a dilemma'," I repeated.
"No, I meant, what did you call me?" he asked.
"Um, Harry?" I replied.
His eyes got narrower. "Don't you EVER call me that again, you hear me? I hate that name. Its—"
"Look, I get it okay? Sorry. Now can you please help us out here?" I asked.
He nodded. "Whats the prob— ?"
He was interrupted by yet another scream, which came from the right and sounded like it was a little closer than the others. That realization kind of freaked me out a little.
"Oh," was all he said.
"Yeah, I, uh, we kind of have a bad feeling about this, so would you mind like investigating or something?" I queried.
He rolled his eyes at me. God, only I can do that, not some old guy. "Fine," he said and disappeared.
Again, I looked at Jesse expectantly, but for a different reason this time. "Jesse, this is starting to freak me out," I confessed.
"Me too," he admitted. Wow, Jesse is freaked out. I never would have guessed. Really.
Jesse came over and put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him. We just stood there for a several moments until Harry - uh, Harrison - came back.
When he did, he gave us a look of disgust. Then he said, "I've checked out everything. They must have gone or something . . ." he trailed off. I could hear the disbelief in his tone. This wasn't good.
Jesse and I found our way out after Harrison had dematerialized. We sat out and waited for the rest of the tour group to come out.
But I swear, as we were leaving the pyramid, I heard someone following us. And I don't think it was dear old Mr. Matthews either.
Disclaimer: The Mediator series belongs to the ever wonderful Meg Cabot.