AN: DISCLAIMER** Unfortunately, I don't own The Mummy, or any recognizable dialogue. Just my OC.

The trek to the village took most of the night. Luckily my horse was up for the task because I was just too damn exhausted from my fight with that man on the boat. By morning we were there. The women took one look at the state of me, Evy and our nightgowns and quickly ushered us over to a tent, insisting we needed new clothes. Evy looked excited at the prospect of new clothing. I, however, was much more skeptical. I hardly ever wore anything brand new. Growing up on the frontier meant that momma made our clothes. I think in my whole life I only had one dress that was bought at a store and that was the dress that they baptized me in as an infant.

They put Evy in a black dress made out of some sheer fabric with high boots and a face covering made of the same fabric as the dress. Around the part that covered her nose was a gold trim and hanging down from that was gold beading. She looked like a princess. The ladies took one look at my eyes and immediately pulled out a midnight blue version of what Evy had on. "This will go perfectly with your eyes," they told me. After pulling down over my head and gently placing the face covering over my head, they stood back admiring their work. One of them gave me a comb in an attempt to get my unruly curls in check. It worked well enough that when they showed us a mirror, I didn't recognize myself.

"Margaret, you look beautiful!" Evy exclaimed.

"Not as beautiful as you do Evy." And I meant that honestly. No man would dare look in my direction with Evy in the same room. I still couldn't help feeling like a princess though. I had never owned something so fancy and exotic. The cut was a little lower than I was used to but if Evy was comfortable in it, I could learn to be too. I thanked the ladies who had helped us with a shy smile. Stepping out into the sun, the ladies of the village escorted us back to Jonathan, whom I had learned during the journey here was Evy's older brother, and Rick.

The way Rick looked at Evy when we walked up confirmed to me that no one would notice me while she was around, which was ok. Back home, my younger sister, who was only 2 years younger than me, was much more attractive than me, constantly being asked to accompany young men on a walk after church on Sunday. Compared to her, and Evy, I was plain looking. Momma always would tell me that my eyes were the only striking thing about me and hopefully whoever ended up with me would be so wrapped up in them that they could forgive my smart mouth. Thinking about Momma got me thinking of Jack. I hoped that he had made it off the boat. As his twin, I hoped that if anything had happened to him that I would feel it somehow. But the desert was a cruel, unforgiving place and I couldn't bring myself to get my hopes up.

In our absence Jonathan had been able to acquire camels for the others. I walked over to one of the food merchants. "Do you have any apples?" I inquired.

"It'll be 3 pounds for a dozen." He told me. I wasn't going to barter for a lower price. Out here in the almost middle of nowhere I had no idea what business was like for him. Placing the apples in the saddle bag and mounting up we all set out, Rick in the lead with Evy next to him, Jonathan and I in the middle, and our smelly warden bringing up the rear. Kind of fitting if you ask me, since he definitely smelt like one.

We continued on this path for the next two days, only stopping briefly at dusk to eat and sleep for a few hours. Rick and I took turns keeping watch. I wasn't sure what he thought would find us, but his weariness was rubbing off on me. Back home, ruffians and coyotes were enough to make you want to keep watch over everyone on cattle rides but out here, with a whole lot of nothing in every direction, I didn't know what Rick had so tightly wound. After the sun had gone down on the second day, most of our party was asleep. Jonathan had managed to find his way to the back of the pack with the warden. Evy was asleep, slumping against Rick who kept gently pushing her upright to keep her from falling. I couldn't help but giggle when her camel started mouthing off while Rick attempted to keep it quiet so it wouldn't wake her. My giggle was cut short by the sound of neighing in the distance.

Rick looked back at me, alarmed. I shook my head, letting him know that it wasn't my horse that made that noise. Looking around, we both noticed a group of ten figures on top of one of the many plateaus overlooking the valley we were going through. "Do you think they're the same ones that we fought on the boat?" I asked Rick, worried that we would have to deal with them again so soon.

"It wouldn't surprise me. But I don't think we need to worry about them right now. If they wanted to engage now, they would already be on us." There was a familiarity in Rick's eyes when he looked up at them that worried me. Where had he seen these guys before? I didn't want to push him for answers, especially not with most of our traveling party asleep so I decided to let it go for now, putting it in the back of my mind for later research. I turned back around and just as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone.

Morning dawned bright and early in the desert. As much as I loved Texas with its wide-open skies, nothing could beat this sunrise. There were more colors in the sky than in any painting I had ever seen. Off in the distance I could see a group of riders heading our way. I got nervous, placing my hand on the pistol at my side just in case it was the men who attacked the boat. As they got closer, I could hear someone calling out orders. It sounded like… "Jack?!" I yelled frantically.

"Peggy?" I heard Jack yell back. Urging my horse into a gallop, I crossed the desert and quickly dismounted. Jack was there and pulled me into a hug, sighing in relief. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought you were dead. I couldn't find you in the aftermath of the attack. I guess I ended up on the wrong side of the river." By this point both parties had caught up with us. Bernard looked relieved to see me. I gave him a small smile in greeting. Daniels also looked happy to see me which made me wonder just how badly Jack laid into him in the days since we were separated.

Turning to face Rick, Jack nodded his head in thanks. "Hey O'Connell, don't forget our bet. First one to Hamunaptra gets five hundred dollars, cash." Daniels yelled over to him. "One hundred of that is yours if you help us get there first." He said that part to Beni, their guide.

Looking over at Rick, I could see that his attention was to the horizon line. "What's going on?" I whispered to him.

"We're about to be shown the way." As the sun started rising higher a mirage-like effect came over the horizon, revealing an ancient city.

"Will you look at that?" Jack said in awe.

"Can you believe it?" This came from Daniels.

"Hamunaptra." Bernard exclaimed, not that any of us needed that clarification.

"Here we go again." Poor Rick. He didn't sound pleased at all to be back here. With that, we all took off. I was a good rider. I was on a horse before I even learned how to walk. But nothing could prepare me for breakneck racing through the desert. It didn't feel right underneath my horse. Like at any moment her legs would give out and we'd both be in trouble. So here I was at the end of the pack, perfectly content to just mosey on into the city. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being followed. If I was being honest, I had felt like this since last night when we saw those figures on the cliff.

I dismounted my horse and walked over to where my brother was giving orders to Dr. Chamberlain to give to the local diggers they had hired. I didn't like Dr. Chamberlain. We were both well-educated in our field, yet he still held himself above everyone else here and looked down on me as I am a woman. "I don't think that way is going to work. That door looks like it was shut good and tight." I informed them.

"Worst case scenario, I brought something special from home," Jack said, pulling a stick of dynamite out of a crate that was off to the side.

"Great," I said sarcastically, "Let's just scare the crap out of anyone in a fifty-mile radius." He just responded with a sheepish smile and I shook my head, smiling back at him. My brother, he was the only person I knew who got super excited at the possibility of blowing shit up. We jumped at the sound of the diggers yelling, letting us know that they had succeeded in opening the door. Jack entered the tunnel first; I was right behind him. I could tell that the good doctor was put off by that but what was he going to do about it. I looked around in amazement. The hieroglyphs on the wall were stunning. By the light of the torches that one of us thought to light, I could make out some intense stories in the glyphs detailing life at the time of Seti I.

Continuing forward. Jack led us into a room where a pair of legs were coming down from the ceiling. "This must be it, the statue of Anubis." I whispered. I was going to continue but we all heard a noise coming from around the other side of the statue. Immediately on edge, we had all heard the stories of this place being cursed, I grabbed my pistol out of its holder on my leg, flipping off the safety. Jack turned to us and held up three fingers, signaling to us to jump out on three. When he reached one, we jumped around the legs of Anubis, guns drawn.

I was met with the end of Rick's gun. Relief immediately flooded through me. 'Thank God that wasn't a mummy,' I couldn't help but think. My brother, however, was more put out. "Jesus, O'Connell, you scared the shit out of us," he breathed out before sighing in relief.

"Likewise."

I noticed Evy standing behind Rick and her brother, holding something that she hadn't had the last time I saw her. But in this crappy lighting, I couldn't make out what it was. Bernard, however, did. "Hey, that's my toolkit." He said, just now realizing that it was missing. Evy immediately pulled it to her chest and Rick and Jonathan raised their guns back up.

"I don't think so." Rick warned him. I wasn't the slightest bit impressed by this measuring contest they were having with their guns, so I put mine away and stepped back, trying to get Jack to do the same, which went over about as well as one would think.

"Okay. Perhaps I was mistaken." Poor Bernard, he never was one for confrontation, even if it meant losing something of value of his.

"Well, this has been exciting, gentlemen, Margaret. But we have a lot of work ahead of us." Evy said, trying to diffuse the situation and get us to move along. This wasn't going to go over well, I already knew.

As if he had read my mind, Dr. Chamberlain finally decided to make himself known. "Push off! This is our dig site." He told her in a very snooty way. Goodness, could this man get any more annoying?

Evy, it seemed was not one to back down, not even from the royal prick. "We got here first." She countered. I was inclined to agree with her seeing as I didn't think we'd find what the others in my group were looking for in a statue, but it was now a matter of male pride with them, something even my brother was having trouble overcoming seeing as they all whipped out their guns again.

"This is our statue, friend," Daniels seemed to feel the need to let them know.

"I don't see your name on it, pal," came Rick's witty response.

"Yes, well there are only four of you and fifteen of me. The odds aren't in your favor, are they O'Connell?" Beni taunted. Personally, I would've fed Beni to whatever bugs might be lying in wait in here, but my brother and the others promised to pay him and unfortunately, my brother was good on his word.

"I've had worse." Rick responded to him and based on the look he was giving Beni; I would say Beni knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Yeah, me too." Somehow, I wasn't surprised that Jonathan had a similar experience.

"Goodness gracious children. Must it always come to violence?" I asked them. Bernard and Jack at least had the decency to look ashamed, Daniels just grunted and rolled his eyes at me. I had a hand on one of Jack's guns, attempting to get him to lower it. Seeing the look on my face, one that I had perfected from momma over the years, Jack slowly lowered his guns.

"Exactly. Let's be nice children. If we're going to play together, we must learn to share." Evy said, walking up to the rest of them, lowering their weapons as she spoke. "There are other places to dig." She said, turning to Rick and lowering his gun last. With that they turned and walked down the corridor that they had come from. Dr. Chamberlain and Daniels looked mighty proud of themselves. I couldn't stop the eyeroll that was brought on by their actions.

Jack, fueled by adrenaline I'm sure, rushed over to the front of the statue and made to try to pry it apart. "Maybe we don't do that brother dearest. The Ancient Egyptians are known for their booby traps." I warned him. Hell must have been freezing over seeing as how Dr. Chamberlain agreed with me.

"Yes. Let us use some of the diggers." He said before ordering three men to come and open the secret compartment at the base of Anubis. When they weren't moving fast enough for his liking, he started yelling at them to hurry up. They had finally managed to knock something loose. However, it was fitted with a booby trap and a cloud of pressurized acid blew out of the statue, covering them and immediately started sizzling off their skin.

Now I'm not one with a weak stomach, truly. Growing up on a ranch, you see all sorts of nasty things. But even all that couldn't have prepared me for watching men melt and their skin dissolve. Gagging, I turned my head into Jack's shoulder. "God that was vile," I said. The others just nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should stop here for today?" I suggested. Again, all they could manage was to nod in agreement.

Walking slowly back the way we came, none of us had the courage to speak. That was, without a doubt, the nastiest thing I had ever seen. And I'm sure the others were in agreement. Back on the outside, we quickly set up camp before the sun started to sink back below the horizon and the desert started to cool off. I started shivering, even by the fire. I had been able to change out of the dress I had been wearing back into a pair of my riding pants and a cotton button up that had once belonged to Jack, but even that did little to shield me from the cold. Noticing that I was shivering, Bernard brought me a blanket and draped it over my shoulders. "Thank you." I replied to him, smiling in appreciation. He sat down next to me and we both just stared into the fire, comfortable in each other's silence.

We had always been like this, since we met in the university's library as freshmen. He was shy and extremely awkward, fumbling over his words as he asked me if I worked there and if I could help him find a book he needed for a paper. I had tried my best to not giggle as I informed him that I was a student there, but I would definitely help him find the book. He had been so flustered, fumbling over his words as he tried to get out an apology. I assured him I wasn't offended, and we went about finding his book. And the rest, as they say, is history. We had become inseparable. And here we were ten years later, still the same way.

However, silence was made to be broken and he quietly informed me that he was going to go shave before calling it a night. But I was lost in my own mind and didn't register that he had said anything. I continued to stare into the fire, mesmerized by the dancing of the flame, completely unaware of the world around me. That was until I heard the faint sound of neighing horses in the distance brought me back to the present and standing up, alert to my surroundings. It hadn't been any of the horses we had, they were all looking out beyond the perimeter wall of the city, ears flicking back and forth, taking in the sounds that we couldn't quite hear. They started stamping in anticipation, and I was getting nervous. They sensed something.

As if on cue, a group of riders in black robes came jumping over the half wall, firing guns into our camp. Throwing the blanket off of me, I jumped behind a pillar to avoid the bullets being fired in my direction. I was vaguely aware of Jack and Daniels joining the party from their respective tents, with Dr. Chamberlain yelling like a girl to get Jack's attention. Rolling my eyes, I took out my pistol, checking to make sure it was fully loaded. When the next rider came past me with his gun raised in my direction, I took aim and fired, hitting him in the shoulder. He fell from his horse with a groan. Moving on I made my way towards the center of our campsite. I heard Jack shout something at me, but over all of the noises from gunshots and the riders yelling to each other, I couldn't make out what he was saying.

That was until I got knocked down by a rider, who had flung himself off of his horse to tackle me. Before he had a chance to pin my hand down, I was able to introduce myself with a right hook. I got him just good enough that his head snapped back and in doing so, the bottom half of his turban came loose. Damn! When I say that this man was the most gorgeous person I have ever seen, I am not exaggerating. He had the darkest brown eyes that I couldn't help but get momentarily lost in, perfectly sculpted cheek bones and a beard that was just long enough to make him look rugged but not enough to age him prematurely. He was the perfect example of tall, dark and handsome.

I guess being this up close and personal with me had finally alerted him to my more feminine features. He jumped back; shock written all over his face. I smirked and took the dagger out of my boot, lunging at him, which he side-stepped out of the way of without thought. Realization dawned on him and me that we had already faced off with each other on the boat the night that it was attacked. I lunged again but he had pulled out his sword and was able to block it. We went on like this for a little bit before Rick had apparently noticed that I was in need of help and shot the man's sword out of his hand. I lunged again, in an attempt to get him to back the hell off. But out of nowhere he had another sword. We were inching closer and closer to the fire still lit on the ground when I noticed Rick scoop down and pick something up from the fire pit.

Looking out of the corner of my eye, I nearly dropped my weapon when I saw that he had lit a stick of dynamite. What the hell was it with men and explosives. I mean come on! I turned to him to yell at him to blow it out, but my attacker decided that the threat was too great and called off his men. "Enough. We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die." He mounted the horse that one of his survivors brought to him. "You have one day." With that warning, and another weird look in my direction, he turned and him and his men left the city.

Looking around, I started assessing the damage. Most of our camp was trashed, tents burned to rags or nothing at all, half of our diggers laid dead in the sand. Was whatever might be buried under our feet really worth the death and destruction that had occurred tonight? I wasn't so sure. And it wasn't just our people that were gone. It seems that the others weren't as nice in their aiming. The few men I shot, I aimed to injure, not kill.

I walked over to Bernard. "Are you ok?" He still had half a face of shaving cream from earlier, before being rudely interrupted by our "guests".

"Yeah. Just a little on edge you know?"

"That proves it. Seti's treasure must be out here!" my idiot brother yelled across the campsite.

"Why else would they be protecting this place?" Daniels asked. I just shook my head. Sometimes you couldn't reason with stupid.

"These are desert people. They don't have value for gold. Water is more important." I informed them. Bernard walked up to Rick and Evy and suggested that we combine forces at night. Rick seemed to be in agreement of this and they moved their things over to our camp. I approached Evy and said that I had a spare bed roll in my tent if she wanted to have some privacy from the men. She looked at me and smiled graciously, nodding and taking me up on my offer. I showed her over to my tent and leaving her to make herself comfortable.

I returned to the fire and sat down, feeling someone approach me from behind. "What is it Jack?" I asked, not even having to look to know it was my twin behind me.

"We're thinking of setting up a watch rotation in case those guys come back. You want in?"

"Sure. I'll take second watch." I told him.

"Ok. I'll come and wake you up in an hour or two. Try to get some sleep." He said before going to grab his rifle and heading to the perimeter wall. I waited until he was safely perched in his spot before walking over to my tent and laying down on my bed roll. The adrenaline rush that the fighting kicked up had been drained and I was exhausted. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Two hours later

I barely felt like I slept at all when I heard Jack whispering for me to wake up from the opening of my tent. Dazed and slightly confused, I fixed my shirt to make sure it was covering everything, and I quietly exited my tent. My twin must have a death wish because he took one look at my hair, in all its messed-up glory, and decided that laughing was a good idea. I punched him in the gut as I walked past. He stopped long enough to tell me I was waking Daniel's next before walking over to his tent and crawling inside to sleep until sunrise.

I walked over to the entrance of the city and hopped over the wall. Looking out across the desert I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so I sat down, back against the wall and propped my brother's gun up against my leg. I took a couple moments just to make sure there wasn't anyone sneaking up on us before I pulled my journal out of my boot, along with a pencil. I leaned back and started detailing the events of the day.

"Today we arrived at Hamunaptra. I had been separated from my brother after an attack on the boat that we were using on our journey to the city. He is here and all was mostly well. We lost three of our diggers to a salt acid booby trap set up by the ancients who once lived here. And then we lost more when our camp was invaded by a local desert tribe, demanding that we leave. I got into a mild infraction with the one who I'm assuming is the leader before one from the other group of explorers decided he was going to threaten to blow us all up with a stick of dynamite. He intrigues me, this leader. When we fought on the boat, he was hesitant, like he didn't want to hurt me, which sounds preposterous. We were fighting on opposing sides, why wouldn't he want to hurt me? Why can't I stop thinking about him? Probably because he is gorgeous, with the deepest brown eyes I've ever seen. And his voice, oh my goodness. Snap out of it Peggy! Now is not the time to develop a crush on the most unavailable guy ever."

I was startled out of my inner musings by the sound of an approaching horse. Placing my journal on the ground, I stood up and grabbed the rifle next to me. I saw a single rider approaching me from the side. Aiming my gun at him, I waited until he was within earshot before saying, "If you're here to threaten us some more, I'm afraid you won't get too far."

He seemed amused by this, or at least I guess he was because he had the audacity to laugh at my statement. Ok, I didn't think I was that funny asshole. "We saw you sitting out here. Do your people always let women stand guard?"

"Excuse me?" I couldn't believe this guy. "You came and attacked our camp and you're shocked at what we're doing? Yeah, my people let a woman stand guard."

"I am sorry. I meant no offense. I haven't met many American women before."

"Well, I'm not a typical American woman." I had to give him that one. Unless you grew up on the frontier, girls weren't always as rough around the edges as me and my sisters were. "What is your name? It's not every day that I'm almost killed and then insulted by the same person." I said jokingly.

"Ardeth Bay. What is yours?" Ardeth Bay, that name suited him. Powerful, yet mysterious.

"Margaret Henderson, but everyone back home calls me Peggy."

"I would say that it is nice to meet you Margaret but considering the circumstances…" Goodness, the way my name sounded on his lips, I was going to get myself into some serious trouble. "But I must plead with you. Leave this city, before it's too late. There are older, fouler curses within these walls than just salt acid traps," I was shocked that he knew about that. "Please, for your safety and the safety of your friends, go home."

Something in his voice startled me. The raw emotion maybe. He was serious. "What's out there? What curses?"

"I cannot say. But please, before you don't have a choice, please leave."

"My brother and friends are stubborn people. And no one is as stubborn as that damn Egyptologist they hired. They're not going to just walk away empty handed."

"You must convince them. We aren't the biggest threat out here." And with that, he rode off, leaving me with more questions than answers, more doubts that this wasn't what we should be doing. I finished out the rest of my watch and woke Daniels before crawling into my tent and letting sleep claim me with dreams of mummies and curses and plagues. What was going on here?

AN: So I got this chapter finished sooner then I was expecting so I'm going to upload it earlier, and start working on Friday's chapter.