Hello again everyone! Here's chapter Twelve! I hope ya'll enjoy, leave a review to let me know whatcha think so far.
I kept alert but none of the other mummies made their way onto the lower levels of the bus, however all of the shouting, gunshots and various shrieks and moans of the mummies and two men on the second level scared Jon bad enough that his already frantic driving took on another level of insanity.
"Jonathan!" I sharply hollered as I realized he was heading down a one-way street... the wrong way!
"I know I know!" Jon hollered back as he twisted the wheel and turned down another street.
"OH NO!" Evy cried out and I felt my eyes enlarge as I saw a low bridge that we would never fit under coming up fast.
"Ardeth, Rick hit the floor!" I hollered as loudly as I could while putting my sword away and running up to Alex and Evy, making sure that Alex was standing in between the two of us so we could brace him against the impact as Jon drove straight into the low bridge.
The sound of metal scraping against metal and glass shattering caused me to wince and send up a prayer that Ardeth and Rick had enough time to do what I had hollered up to them. Thankfully the road that went under the low bridge came out onto the large London Bridge. Jon slowed to a stop close to the other end of the bridge and Alex let of Evy to hug Jon from behind.
"Great driving, Uncle Jon." Alex exclaimed happily.
"Yeah..." Jon replied sounding more exhausted and surprised then I had ever heard him before.
Sensing movement from behind us I whirled around one of my swords already half out of it's sheath when I recognized the two figures coming my way. Putting my sword away and stepping to the side so Rick could get to Evy I stepped up to meet Ardeth halfway our arms wrapping around each other as we pressed our foreheads together soaking in the other's presence.
"You know... this was my first bus ride." Ardeth said quietly and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Lucky you, their not usually so exciting." I replied, teasing him.
"Mmm, I'm not so sure I would like to find out." He replied with a small grin before pulling me closer and kissing me deeply.
Pulling back for air I placed a gentle kiss on his jawbone before relaxing into his embrace. All of the sudden I felt the air quiver and the knowledge of danger caused me to pull away from Ardeth who looked at me slightly confused until Alex hollered out from the opposite end of the bus,
"Hey! Let me go!"
Immediately all eyes were on Alex and we watched with horror as Lock-Nah ran out of the bus holding Alex. A sudden nausea grabbed ahold of me and I felt the world around me fall into darkness as a pain grew in my mind. The voice I had been trying to forget about spoke to me once again,
"Daughter of Sekhmet the time is coming more quickly then it should have you must put on what you found in the treasure room. What will happen to you will be painful but it must happen, you must let it happen otherwise the world is doomed to a fate worse then anything you can imagine. Where are they? Where is the small golden chain that holds a lioness with sapphire's in place of her eyes? Where is the solar disk earring? The upright cobra earring and the Eye of Ra earring as well as the four earrings that are hieroglyphs spelling our name?" The voice demanded a strange darkness seeming to swirl around it's words like poison.
"Our name...?" I tried to form the words my tongue felt heavy and my mind felt fuzzy almost like I had been drugged, what or who was this voice and what did they mean our name? "Think what... name? …." I could feel a horrible cold filling my body starting with my fingers and slowly spreading throughout the rest of my body, I knew I had to think, I had to resist. This thing, this voice it was evil and it was trying to take over me. The answer came to me suddenly,
"Sekhmet." I spoke the name and I felt the cold evaporate from my body as I was once again filled with warmth.
A harsh laughter boomed inside my head feeling like it was going to cause my head to explode,
"Well done breaking free for now but can you truly resist the darkness the looms in your own soul, in OUR soul?" The voice snarled and then it was gone causing me to gasp at the sudden disappearance of pain and the darkness that had surrounded me turned back into the garish glare of the bus lights.
Wincing at the sudden brightness I closed my eyes tightly and took a deep breath in through my nose,
"Ella are you okay?" Jon's worried voice questioned me from my right.
I could feel my face scrunch up as I moved my body only to find out that I was lying on the cool metal floor of the bus. Surprised and a bit grossed out I attempted to stand up, I felt Jon grab a hold of one of my hands and pull me upwards.
"Thanks Jon. Where's everyone else?" I asked as I chanced opening my eyes again and finding to my relief I could look around without any trouble.
"They all ran after the car that took Alex, you said you needed a minute so I stayed with and then as soon as they were out of the bus you just dropped to the floor like you were dead. What's going on?" Jon asked looking extremely worried as he helped me over to a seat and sat down next to me.
"I'm not fully sure of what's happening myself. I do know that we shouldn't tell the others, not yet Jonathan. They have enough to worry about with Alex being kidnapped and I think whatever this is it would be better if I deal with it alone." I replied slowly as I thought over everything strange that had happened to me since I had taken the various jewelry from the Treasure Room.