Hi all! Thanks for waiting, I'm putting up 3 new chapters all revised from their original drafts. Thank you all for being so patient as I finished up school. Please enjoy!
Fallon and Kelly arrived with each other the next afternoon at the Giza Port where they were boarding their boat. Fallon felt relieved to have all of that make up off and have her hair twisted back up. They saw Evy and Jonathon in front of them arguing about something.
"I mean, seriously, Fallon, you could have really hit it off last night with that guy," Kelly said. Fallon laughed.
"Like I said, Kelly, I didn't go for men," Fallon reminded her.
"Still, why couldn't you have just given him a chance? He was really into you," Kelly protested. Fallon sighed.
"Who was into who?" They heard a voice from behind them. They turned and saw Rick, cleanly shaven and hair back to the normal length they were used to seeing it.
"Hey, nice to see you. You don't look like a caveman anymore," Kelly said. She turned to Fallon. "We'll finish this conversation later."
"Haha, very funny," Rick said. "Yeah, Fallon, your cousin is dragging me along for the ride because she saved my neck. She demands that I lead her to Hamunaptra. Seriously, if you guys had told her earlier that you had been there, I wouldn't be in this mess."
"And you would be hanging from the gallows without ever having this lovely reunion," Fallon smiled patting his shoulder. He smirked.
"True," he said.
Fallon grabbed out a random book from her book sack and read the cover. She furrowed her brow. What a strange title. And it was so thin too with old binding. Medjai, it was called. She couldn't recall ever hearing or seeing the term. She must have grabbed it randomly from the library the other day after she visited the Cairo prison.
"He's foul, rude, vulgar, I don't like him one bit," they all heard Evy say from in front of them. Rick went up from behind them.
"Anyone I know?" Rick asked. Evy's face was priceless that Fallon and Kelly couldn't help but laugh.
As Evy and Rick argued and protested with each other, Fallon and Kelly started boarding the ship from the ramp.
"Good afternoon to all!" They heard an annoying voice say. They all turned and saw the stinky warden from the prison.
"Oh, no, what are you doing here?!" Evy protested.
"I am here to protect my investment, thank you very much," the stinky warden said, walking on the ramp past Fallon and Kelly. Kelly waved at the air in front of her face as she twitched her nose.
"What sort of investment, Evy?" Fallon asked slowly.
She sighed. "25%."
Fallon rolled her eyes. "Why not just pay him in money?"
After they were settled in their rooms, Fallon looked at the book she had earlier. Who were the Medjai? She opened the door to her room and walked out on to the canopied side deck where there were several chairs and tables. Kelly soon found her.
"Hey, about that conversation earlier," Kelly began. Fallon sighed and rubbed her eyes with her fingers.
"Please, Kelly, could we just drop this for once?" Fallon asked. She stood up and leaned against the railing. The boat was finally moving down the Nile and she could see Giza Port vanishing.
"No, let me just play Cupid: the Kelly Braddock story just for now, okay?" Kelly said. "His pals and I were really cheering you guys on."
"I know, I could hear you all," Fallon mumbled.
"So, what? He wasn't your type? He insulted you? He was as boring as a brick wall? What? What was wrong?" Kelly edged. "Are you just never going to be looking for romance?"
Fallon sighed and looked out onto the Nile. She could see a glimpse of the Great Pyramid of Giza, just a smudge. "I am, it's just…"
"Just what?" Kelly asked.
Fallon laughed. "It's silly."
"Love is silly?" Kelly asked.
"No, my reason. I…want to meet my soul mate…in an unusual way. Unusual, but romantic. Not in a bar while having a drink, or on the street and someone hits on me, or through a blind date. I want to be able to tell my kids how we met and I want them to say, 'that's so weird, but cute,'" Fallon said, her eyes lost in a dream. She imagined herself in a normal house sitting on the couch. But the faces of the children and her husband were smudged. Fallon's smile faltered.
Kelly shrugged. "Huh, well if only you had told me that earlier, I wouldn't have put you under so much pressure. Okay, Cupid: the Kelly Braddock story is done."
Fallon smiled and opened her book. She was interested in what these Medjai were. Rick came by and waved, but stopped when he saw Fallon. He looked closer at what she was reading. He snatched the book out of her hands.
"Where did you get this?" Rick asked. Fallon tried snatching it back but Rick flicked it out of her reach each time.
"Why do you people delight in taking my books away from me? The library. Now give it back," Fallon ordered.
"Do you know who these are?" Rick asked.
"No, but I'm willing to learn," Fallon said, trying to snatch back the book once more.
Kelly searched for the title of the book. "Medjai? Wait a minute…Rick are these the people…?"
Rick nodded.
"You know what they are?" Fallon asked Kelly. "Who are they?"
Kelly looked nervously at Rick and she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him aside. They whispered so Fallon couldn't hear.
"Rick, she's starting to have some weird dreams of when she was back in Hamunaptra. She dreams of these guys on the cliff watching us," Kelly whispered.
"Did she see them when we were there?" Rick asked.
"No, she's never seen them before," Kelly replied.
"Well, did you tell her about them when we got back to Cairo?" Rick asked.
"No, we never spoke of Hamunaptra again until yesterday and that's when she told me about the dream. I would never have told her because I knew she would freak out," Kelly said.
"Well, then how did she come by this?" Rick asked, holding up the book.
"Yesterday, we were at the library and she grabbed out random books; that must have been one of them. I haven't seen it until today. She even admitted she doesn't know who they are," Kelly said. Rick looked back at Fallon.
"Listen, this all sounds really creepy right now. Her never seeing them last time we were there, then the dreams, and now this. Just keep a close eye on her, okay? She's starting to worry me," Rick said. Kelly nodded.
"Well, won't we tell her about it sometime? She's going to be as curious as heck now," Kelly said.
"Soon," Rick said. He handed Fallon back her book and left.
"Well, who are they?" Fallon asked. Kelly started to walk away. She stopped and turned her head.
"Read."
Fallon read her Medjai book closely, learning about these desert nomads who have been around for over thousands of years, very important to Ancient Egyptian history. They were guards and warriors who protected tombs, temples, cities, the Pharaoh, and even the people. They forced taxes and stopped tomb raids. She heard familiar American voices when she got to a chapter about the Medjai of Hamunaptra. She stopped, looked up and saw Burns and his pals heading towards her, although they hadn't recognized her yet. She bit her lip and raised her book over her face, trying to hide.
"Well, if that isn't a familiar sight," a southern American said. She peeked over the top of her book and saw Burns and friends standing there in all of their American cowboy glory.
"Hello, gentlemen," Fallon said nervously.
"Fallon?" Burns said. She smiled a little bit. She wondered what they were doing on this boat.
"Hello, Burns," she said.
"We never introduced ourselves last night. You were out in a bit of a hurry," the one with the cowboy hat said. "I'm Henderson." He tipped his hat to her.
"And I'm Daniels," the dark haired one said. Only one arm was through his jacket sleeve and he had a rather emotionless face.
Oh they have manners, Fallon thought. "Nice to meet you."
Henderson grabbed a chair. "Mind if we sit with you?"
"Uh, well…" Fallon began.
"Actually she does mind," they heard a voice from behind them. Fallon stood up and looked past the American's at the man in khaki's and bungalow hat on his head.
"Adam?!" Fallon exclaimed.
New character yay! Thanks for reading! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE follow, favorite, and comment! It would mean the world to me if I got some comments :)