Amarillo was in a boom, the discovery of gas and oil was still recent and only this year the government had bought the Cliffside Gas Field, now a different kind of business would be bringing money and work to the city. David Daniels had little interest in it, so long as the meat trade thrived so did he. The fact that he still had pockets of gold stowed away did little to ease his fears of a changing world, he knew from his experience in Egypt just how quick treasure could come and go and how hard a man had to fight to keep it. Before that ill-fated venture Henderson had tried to persuade him to join the other farmers and ranch hands in growing wheat as Amarillo became a wheat belt for Texas but Daniels had no interest in crops save those that fed his animals. Henderson had scorned him, reminding him bitterly that they had missed out on the black gold and he was best not missing out on this but the coin required to get and tend the fields was more than Daniels had been willing to risk at the time.

As they paced through the city Daniels looked about with a measure of disgust, Amarillo was all about the new not the old. There was still a lot of the Old West in the city's territories with ranches, saloons, brothels and outlaws aplenty in the heart of the city but there were a lot of oil rigs about the edges of the city too and within it construction sites, factories and smog.

Daniels had read the flyers and newspaper articles suggesting the cowmen come into the city for business, and talking of Amarillo being the fastest growing city in the states as evidenced by the Amarillo Hotel needing to be expanded and he hated it.

In Egypt Daniels had missed his home with his modern, civilised way of life but now he was starting to hate civilisation just a little although he supposed grimly that he sure as hell wouldn't trade it for the desert and its pyramids and tombs trapped in time.

The Texan glanced back at the woman nimbly in his shadow, staying close to his back as if he made her invisible. She had never been anywhere quite like this, naturally Daniels had resisted bringing her to the city as he had been more concerned with simply containing her and figuring her out. He had also been half afraid that if he brought her here she would either lose her mind or herself to it.

With all Jess' talk of Egypt Daniels had felt forced to make a choice and had determined that rather than going back to the nightmarish land and risking losing her all over again he would integrate her and show her that she could have a nice life here in the lone star state with him. The problem was Daniels wasn't too integrated himself anymore, Bethany and Burns had been the shining socialites. Bethany was the party lover and Burns was the city boy and between them they had persuaded Henderson and Daniels to participate in the city life now and again.

"Keep up," Daniels murmured.

Jess was wearing cream trousers and a linen shirt, clothes Daniels had procured from a farmhand though he had intended for their use to be temporary. She stood out like a sore thumb here and that was part of the reason why she was here, for clothes.

Daniels looked at her hopefully, willing her to spy something in a window and want it. It wouldn't do for him to choose after all, he had no idea what the woman would suit or want and he daren't suggest anything either. Henderson's jibes about Jess wearing dresses like Bethany were still ringing in his ears.

Daniels knew Jess could never be a flapper girl nor did he wish her to be, he didn't like the thought of her in sequins, feather boas and pearls, it seemed cheap and he knew it would be ill-suited on her. He wanted her to be comfortable though and to realise she could dress as much for style now as for need. She wasn't tomb raiding anymore or living like a beggar, she had his coin at her disposal and he hoped that maybe if she opened herself up a bit more to just living life then it would get less difficult for her.

Jess' golden-brown eyes flickered up to him until a bark from across the road drew her attention elsewhere. Jess halted to look at the golden Labrador being walked by a young man with intrigue. "Anu," the word escaped her quietly but there was no missing the grief in it.

Daniels sighed as he followed her gaze and just caught the softly uttered name. He had known this issue had to come up eventfully. It was a topic he should have raised himself but a guilty conscience had kept him silent on the matter and foolishly hoping that the inevitable somehow wouldn't happen. Not wanting to deal with it in the middle of the street, the sable haired man took the young woman's left arm gently and guided her on.

"Anu," she repeated the name again with more conviction as she craned her head back to look at the dog wagging its tail and continuing on its way. "I had a dog," she murmured, "I had Anu."

Daniels did not reply, terrified of the obvious question that he knew was coming.

"Daniels, what happened to Anu?"

Daniels bristled slightly as Jess halted and he felt her pulling him back, back down the street, back the way they had come, back into the past.

Daniels glanced over his left shoulder at Jess with a calm stare. "Can we talk about it when we get home?" he queried. "It's better that we do," he added in a more serious tone.

Jess looked at Daniels in confusion before straining her neck once more to eye the Labrador, which had almost retreated from view.

"I...he wasn't there..." she murmured. "I...did I leave him behind? I'm not sure."

"Jess," Daniels' voice took on a begging quality that was quite unlike him, "don't do this now. I promise we'll talk about it back home. Just, just look around the shops alright," he added gruffly, almost as a command.

Jess let him pull her on and her eyes even darted to the shop windows but the intent was not there. Daniels suffered it for twenty minutes more before accepting that Jess' mind was definitely elsewhere. He wondered darkly at where exactly the elsewhere might be, half in life and half in death, wasn't that how Henderson put it? Never really here or there. Daniels did not know what to make of that, it sounded unpleasant and it wasn't something he could understand. Truthfully he would rather forget it, all of it, and he wished Henderson and Jess could too but he knew that was asking too much.

Jess paused to stare at a shop window intently. The mannequin in it was wearing a cream, silk blouse with gold buttons and a high collar, matched with a skirt of blue.

"Bethany's death robes," she remarked grimly.

Daniels tensed at the words and followed the woman's stare.

For a moment Daniels was lost for words as his face whitened and his hands clenched tightly. It was only when Jess winced at his tight grip that he came out of his brief trance. Bethany had been wearing a similar outfit to the one in the window when Daniels had found her- soiled, bloodied, raped and beyond saving.

"Jesus why did you have to say that?" he grumbled before he pulled Jess on.

"I don't know," Jess retorted softly with a look of confusion. "I'm sorry," she added sincerely.

Daniels just shook his head before he finally turned them in the direction of the cabs.

He paused again when he spied a cafe with a modest gathering in it, some people were seated outside it too enjoying the afternoon sun. It was a mundane activity drinking coffee and a terrible way to waste time and not something Daniels had often found himself indulging in but people did seem to enjoy it as a past time and Jess loved her cups of tea as much as any Brit. Alright so the cafe more than likely didn't have tea but it would have plenty of other beverages and God wouldn't it be normal and didn't he need that with Jess right now?

The Texan didn't bother asking the woman if she wanted to go, instead he just pulled her on determined to force some normality on her.

In the cafe, Daniels sought out a free table against the back wall, showing an obvious discomfort as several women eyed his dusty boots and fedora with disdain. Opting not to show etiquette simply out of spite to the looks, Daniels made a point of keeping his hat on.

They were greeted by a bright eyed waitress with a short dark bob and thin frame who Daniels was willing to wager partied in flapper girl style at night.

Though Jess' request for hot tea drew another look of oddity given the warm weather it was readily granted along with a pot of black coffee for Daniels, a pot of sugar and a small, silver jug of milk.

Jess looked down at her cup thoughtfully as she stirred the silver teaspoon through it slowly.

"It turned to blood," she murmured softly. "All the water." She dropped the spoon with a loud splash and looked up to Daniels in horror.

Suddenly Jess couldn't see Daniels anymore or the cafe, instead she found herself staring with wide eyes at the inner sanctum of a place ancient, forgotten and as terrifying as it was mysterious. It was a rotting temple of golden bricks and sand stained tiles with engravings upon the walls faded to age. There was a figure in the centre of it all, a stoic being seated on a throne of silver and bones, clawed hands clutching at the arms of the throne, head bowed and hidden beneath a black jackal mask.

Jess swallowed hard.

"Pharaoh's heart is unyielding," she murmured softly before she shook her head and clutched at it with both hands. "No, the king's heart is unyielding, kings before pharaohs, gods before kings. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt."

Jess let out a gasp as she saw streaks of red begin to run down the golden walls.

"The black sands in the west, they sleep there but they are not dead."

Jess stood up and looked about her with a shudder as she found her shoes scraping across black grains of sand.

Jess smelt the stale breath before she felt its coolness upon her face. She turned her head up cautiously and a blood-curdling scream escaped her as she found herself face to face with the very being that had sucked the life out of her.

The mummy of Imhotep, shamed priest of Seti I, looked at Jess with a leering, rotten teeth smile and the teal eyes of a fallen friend, Bernard Burns.

"Jesus," Daniels cursed.

Daniels had been trying to calm Jess for the past couple of minutes but to no avail. Now that she was on her feet screaming at nothing he knew there was no hope of enjoying his coffee.

He jumped to his own feet, threw down a couple of notes hastily and grabbed the woman with both hands before forcing her from the cafe.

Daniels ignored the half-stunned offer of help from the waitress as he all but shoved Jess through the door and back to the dusty, hot streets of the city.

"I wanted you to come," Jess whimpered as she shook her head, "those eyes, it's always the eyes. I wanted to help you; I didn't mean to send you away, into his path. I thought I was helping you."

"Jess what the hell are you babbling about now?" Daniels demanded wearily as he took her by one hand and pulled her in the direction of the cabs.

"Mr. Burns, he crossed first, it was violent, we all went violent." She paused as she felt a lump rise in her throat and doubled over suddenly without warning.

Daniels glanced back at her with worry and let out a curse as she started dry heaving until her barely drunk tea trickled down her chin in watery brown streaks like old bloodstains. When she stopped Daniels just shook his head wordlessly and pulled the woman on again.

Daniels got them a cab with ease and was relieved when Jess kept her ramblings to a hoarse murmur that he was almost able to drown out as he pressed her against his coal grey shirt.

The Texan looked upon his ranch with relief as the cab neared it and paid the driver hastily before he pulled Jess from the car and ushered her up to his porch.

He didn't even know what to do with the woman or where to push her and only paused to think on it when they stumbled into the living room.

Daniels hastened to his whiskey, poured himself a generous glass and gulped it down hastily as Becky looked through the open doorway worriedly, obviously feeling she should offer help and yet fearful to get within proximity of Jess.

Daniels sat down his empty glass and leaned back against the oak table, resting his arms back on it as he eyed Jess warily.

"Dare I offer you a drink or are you just going to spit it up again?" he demanded bluntly.

Jess just looked about the living room like she had never seen it before and shook her head.

"I want to go home," she choked out.

Daniels' cobalt eyes widened at the childlike fear in her voice. He pushed off the table and took a step towards her, reaching out to grip her right arm gently.

"Hey, you are home," he said reassuringly. "Come on now jackal; talk me through it, what happened in the cafe?"

"I don't want to be with the dead," she whispered, "black sands; I keep seeing them, in the west, with the dead and the dormant."

Daniels drew her against him loosely, moving his hand up to grip her shoulder lightly.

"I don't understand," he admitted, his frustration clear in his voice.

"I should be dead but I'm not but it's not proper, and I keep feeling like something in me is wrong. I keep seeing it too; it gets clearer and clearer, this land with black sands in Egypt. There's something or someone out there in it and it pulls me, and the land of the dead pulls me and I know I'm going to end up ripped apart if I don't do something about it," she retorted anxiously.

"Something like what?" Daniels queried wearily.

"Going there," she answered sombrely.

Daniels frowned as he gave her a serious stare.

"Back to Egypt, back to that hell?" he demanded savagely.

"I don't know what else to do," she answered mournfully as she pulled back from his grip and wrapped her arms about her shoulders. "I didn't come back right, something feels off and it won't stop and it won't fade and I can't keep going like this."

Daniels sighed; he knew the truth of her words even if he wanted to deny it.

"Let's at least discuss it with Henderson first," he murmured.

Jess nodded in agreement.

It was just after six in the evening when Henry Henderson finally reached the Daniels' ranch, responding to his friend's hastily sent messenger requesting his presence. He had been reluctant to come knowing what it had to be about. Jess' reality was plagued with hallucinations of lost temples and a vanquished mummy foe with whispers of a black desert. Henderson's problems whilst different were no less creative. He had visions of monsters and gods in the ancient desert land, in his sleep he trod on sands made crimson with blood and black with the moonless night. All of them had one thing in common- Anubis. Sometimes it was a glimpse of the god himself, other times a warrior wearing his face, or a mask sitting forgotten in an eroding temple. Sometimes Henderson saw imagery that hinted at Set the chaos god and it made him wonder if Set's curse had been reactivated by Jess' return to the land of the living.

The blonde dismounted from his chestnut stallion and handed the reins over to the stable boy who has hastened to him. He tilted his tan hat slightly and gazed up at the ranch house curiously.

The lights were on downstairs in the front room and he wondered if Daniels was getting drunk again in a bid to drown out Jess' abnormalities.

Henderson's blue eyes shifted up to the windows above and he paled slightly. No lights on but there was a figure- a pallid, empty eyed woman with one ghostly hand pressed up against the pane. He swallowed hard, there was no mistaking her for Jess even if he did like to say Jess resembled her, it was Bethany. He wondered grimly as he tore his gaze away and began walking up to the house just how long she had been haunting the place for. Was it part of Set's curse? Was it Daniels' curse alone? Was it simply a trick brought on from being on the other side? Henderson didn't know and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

The cowboy rapped the door once and gave the nervous eyed Becky a reassuring grin when she answered.

Becky gave him a faint smile before bidding him to enter.

"Mr. Daniels is in the living room," she explained as she gestured in the direction of the front room, "with Miss...Jessica," she finished awkwardly.

Henderson's smile turned mocking at that, no surprise that the help didn't know Jess' surname. She hadn't wanted any of Henderson's party to know it when they had met her. Thornwood of the infamous, cursed Thornwoods, at least the Carnahan siblings and the late Dr. Chamberlain would have everyone believe that the Thornwoods and their curse were infamous.

Henderson headed into the living room with ease, his spurs jingling lightly on the wooden floorboards as he walked.

He found Daniels deathly pale and sitting on the edge of his seat clutching tightly at an empty whiskey glass as he scowled and his indigo gaze flickered from the bottle to Henderson.

Jess was seated in the middle of the floor with her back to the doorway muttering something under her breath.

"I don't know how she got it," Daniels grumbled as he met Henderson's gaze, "but I can't get it back."

"Got what?" Henderson queried as he halted.

He froze up when Jess turned sharply to face him.

Her face was concealed with a black and gold jackal death mask. It had a small muzzle and only concealed the top half of the front of her face. It also had a gold ankh painted in the middle of its brow and the eyes, innards of the pointed ears and tip of the nose were all gilded.

"Oh shit," the blonde muttered with a shake of his head. "Where did that come from?"

"Egypt," Daniels answered sardonically.

"No shit Daniels," Henderson snapped as he frowned over at his friend.

Even though Daniels was pale rather than flushed Henderson knew his friend was deep in the whiskey, it was in his tired, slightly blurred gaze and the careless apathy that had replaced fear.

"We were in town, just trying to have a normal damn day but that was asking too much," Daniels grumbled. "She started shrieking at nothing in a cafe; screaming like that damn mummy was there and then she starts talking in riddles about Burns and black sands and going back to Egypt."

Daniels let out a heavy sigh. "So I persuade her to wait until you come round, see if you share her desires, I thought she was going up to rest..." He shook his head angrily. "Apparently she was rooting around my treasure, not that I'd care, it's as much as hers as mine, I've told her that before but of all the damn things to take!" He pointed at the death mask. "Why that? Shit she terrorised the cook with it, I've gotta get a new cook now God damn it!"

Henderson crouched before Jess, meeting her gaze through the mask.

"You trying to live up to your nickname jackal?" he queried merrily as he gave a bitter smile.

"It's not the right mask," she muttered, "it doesn't work."

"Work how?" Henderson pried.

"I don't know," she admitted with a shake of her head. "I keep seeing it though; when the dead walk again they are restless. We're walking again Henry and I'm so tired but I can't rest, it's not allowed. Something wants us to go back to Egypt, don't you feel it?"

He tugged off his hat and nodded wearily as he ran a hand through his messy blonde locks.

"You know I do."

"It might be small compared to the States but Egypt is still a big fucking country," Daniels chimed up inelegantly, "you two even gonna know where to start if we go?"

Jess whipped her head round to look at the Texan in surprise. "We?"

"Yes we," he retorted bitingly. "I ain't losing you two to that place again."

"Maybe you'll lose yourself," Henderson pointed out darkly.

"Shit don't start that Henry," Daniels muttered as he finally leaned forward to grasp the whiskey bottle on the table before him. "It ain't like you."

"I know," the blonde agreed calmly. "I don't know where to begin if we go," he admitted, "I see glimpses of a black desert and a red one, Anubis seems to be heavily involved too, it's not a place we've been before, I don't think."

"No one's been for a long time," Jess remarked quietly. "I don't know if I have the strength for Anubis and Set but I have to try."

"You know I'm really reluctant to say it and hell maybe I'm only saying it because I'm drunk," Daniels grumbled, "but we're going to need help."

"What kind of help?" Henderson queried as he put his hat back on.

"The kind of help that knows their way around Egypt and might be able to make sense of your riddles and visions," Daniels murmured.

"And who might that be?" Henderson quipped even as he gave a knowing smile.

"The Carnahans or O'Connells now I suppose it is," Daniels admitted. "God only knows I'd rather never see them again but who else do we know who not only knows about this shit but believes in it too? And can survive it?"

"And where are they now, merry old England?" Henderson asked sardonically.

Jess finally pushed the jackal mask up and both Americans were disturbed enough by her haunted look to wish she'd kept it on.

"Home," she murmured darkly, "where they all died."

Henderson and Daniels exchanged an uncomfortable look and Henderson finally stood up.

"Hurry the hell up and pour me a drink Daniels," the blonde muttered, "it's going to be a long night."

Daniels finally stood up and obliged Henderson by procuring him a glass and pouring the last of the whiskey into it.

The men drank heavily into the night working their way through Daniels' prohibited drinks stash. Jess refused any drink but she did eventually surrender the jackal mask to Daniels. When Daniels broke the artefact across his knee angrily she was quick to fling herself at him and scream bloody murder loud enough to draw half the staff to the door. Daniels dismissed them moodily, muttering that Jess had cut herself before he then attempted to quieten Jess.

As the night wore on they came to an agreement to travel to England on the next available ship. Once in England they would seek out Rick O'Connell and the Carnahan siblings and see what guidance they could give, if any. After that they would head on to Egypt.

Jess eventually nodded off on the floor and Daniels rose clumsily in a bid to carry her to bed.

"Not Bethany's room," Henderson protested quietly.

"Why not?" Daniels queried as he swallowed down a hiccup and almost fell as he leaned down to lift the young woman. "It's not her room anymore."

"Just...let her sleep in your room Daniels," Henderson retorted awkwardly.

Daniels gave his friend an odd look as he finally made it upright with a grunt. Jess was sideways in his arms in a distorted position as her legs hung limp over his left arm.

"That wouldn't be right," he muttered.

"Be a gentleman and sleep on the couch or the floor," the blonde retorted.

"Why the hell should I?" Daniels muttered as he started walking.

Henderson hastened after him, darting forward a couple of times to steady the Texan and his burden.

"Please David," he compelled, "just do as I ask."

Daniels sighed and shook his head as he started ascending the stairs loudly and clumsily. He paused several times as he seemed to move sideways rather than forward and banged his shoulder off the banister. With Henderson's help once more he finally made it upstairs, veering in the direction of Bethany's old room despite the blonde's request.

They reached the room and found the door open.

Daniels peered in, sighed and said grimly, "I see."

Bethany was standing in the middle of the room, silent and still like a statue. She was wearing the clothes she had died in and her pallid body, blue in the moonlight, was covered in the deep cuts and bruises that had killed her.

Henderson did not see her this time but he thought that he could feel her- a cold, unsettled presence in the room.

"Is...is Bethany there?" he queried tentatively.

"Yeah, you don't see her?" Daniels retorted curiously.

Henderson shook his head. "I saw her when I was outside, didn't know if it was a trick or apparition or what."

"It's Set's curse," Daniels explained as he turned away from the room and proceeded down the corridor to his abode. "Makes you see your dead loved ones, I saw all of you in the end. I had to kill you all back in Hamunaptra," he confessed.

"Shit David I'm sorry," Henderson retorted as he tried and failed to conceal his look of horror.

"Me too," the dark haired male muttered as they entered his room. He placed Jess down into his bed once Henderson had tugged back the blankets. He then fixed the blankets back in place and looked back at the blonde tiredly.

"I think I'll stay here, I don't think she'll stay settled if I don't," Daniels murmured.

Henderson nodded agreeably. "That's alright, I'll take my leave."

"Stay downstairs," Daniels compelled him. "I think we'd both feel better if you did."

Henderson nodded. "Alright." He turned and departed from the room.