AN: Thank you all for your support as I write this. And I apologize as well for the late posting. I hope you enjoy!
"We are in serious trouble," Rick said, his eyes widening. He opened fire with his two handguns, shooting everything he had at him, even Adam and Kelly grabbed out their guns and shot at him. The Creature came charging towards Rick, and when the bullets were out Rick immediately knew that he was screwed. The mummy lifted Rick right off of his feet and threw him backwards into the group of people gaping behind him. Fallon crawled out from underneath her brother only to see the Creature cornering Evy into the bookcase.
"Anck-su-namun," it said to her until it leaned in to kiss her. Fallon reached down and grabbed Adam's dropped gun, hoping there were bullets in it.
"Hey!" Fallon called. As soon as it looked at her, she suddenly felt that she was making a big mistake. She had never shot a gun in her life, let alone held one. And she had just caught the attention of the most dangerous thing in the room.
He stepped towards her, leaving Evy alone fortunately, but unfortunately for Fallon.
"Metu neter Wedjet," he said to her. There was that term again, and Fallon was so frightened she hadn't realized that her finger pulled the trigger, a surprising bullet shooting straight into his shoulder. She gave out a startled cry. The Creature growled and stepped forward again, but stopped at the sound of piano notes playing behind him. He turned and saw what Fallon recognized as Evy's white cat, Cleo, stepping on the piano.
The mummy wailed and in a hoard of floating sand escaped through a window, the shutters slamming shut behind it.
Evy went to Fallon and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Fallon, for-for saving me."
Rick sat up. "We are in very serious trouble."
Fallon dropped the gun, and looking at Burns's body limp in the armchair she left him in this morning, she fell to her knees, tears forming in her eyes.
"Fallon?" Adam called to her. He appeared at her side, kneeling down to look at her.
"Oh, dear, is she alright?" Evy asked.
Rick holstered his guns. "Get her out of here for now."
Adam stood Fallon up and led her out of the apartment into the hallway. He clutched her shoulders, trying to peer into her eyes, but she wouldn't look at him. "Fallon talk to me. I need to know what's going on in that head of yours."
She wouldn't answer. Instead she let out a sob, and Adam caught her in his arms before she crumbled to the ground.
"Fallon, it's alright. There was nothing we could have done," Adam whispered to her.
"No! If I had been there just a moment sooner, he would still be here," Fallon hiccuped. She buried her face again into his shoulder until he stopped her by putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Fallon, listen to me. Even if things were different, there still would have been nothing we could do. Don't blame yourself."
Fallon nodded her head and sniffed back more tears. She didn't want to believe that her friend was gone. She knew that she didn't know him that long or even that well, but he was still kind to her and she respected him greatly.
"Now I just need you to breathe for me. We have some things that we need to do, and we would really appreciate it if you helped," Adam told her, kindly. Fallon nodded again and looked straight into her brother's gray eyes as she took deep breaths in and out. Her tears began to dry and her heart hurt only a little less.
Kelly burst out of the apartment. "Are you okay?" Fallon wiped the rest of her tears off of her face and nodded. Kelly pulled her into a hug. "Again, what you did was incredibly stupid, but I'm just glad you're okay. And...what did he call you?"
Fallon pursed her lips. "I-I...I'm still unsure, but I think we can possibly find out."
Just then everyone came out from the apartment. Evy sighed and placed a hand on Fallon's shoulder. "I'm glad you said it. I think it's time we visit the library."
Fallon's throat tightened. That's what she was thinking, but she knew who was there and she wasn't sure if she was ready for everyone to be there when she could possibly have another important conversation. She still needed to talk to Ardeth Bay about the dreams. She was hoping she could go to the library by herself, or at least with Kelly, to find the answers to the mummy and to her dreams as well.
Without a chance to protest, everyone was on their way towards the library.
When they arrived at the museum and passed through the library, Fallon didn't see Ardeth anywhere. Nor did she see Mr. Bey neither. She hoped that they were in his office, or Ardeth had gotten some answers he needed concerning the mummy and then left. She desperately didn't want to have a conflict between him and her friends. She knew guns would have been drawn, and if he was there then that would mean secrets that had to come out were going to come out sooner than she had hoped.
"What are we doing here again?" Rick had asked as they climbed the stairs to the second floor.
"There's only one man I know who can give us any answers," Evy said.
"I mean we don't know if he will be able to, Evy, he's only human, he can't have all of the answers," Fallon intercepted.
"Sound a little nervous there, Fallon," Kelly said to her with a chuckle. "Trying to hide something?" She said just as they turned into an exhibit room and found Mr. Bey and Ardeth Bay standing there, talking.
"You?!" Evy exclaimed when she saw the Medjai.
Without a second passing by everyone had guns drawn and Fallon had jumped out in front of them to block before any shots were fired.
"Don't!" Fallon shouted.
"Fallon, what are you doing?" Kelly asked, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open in confusion.
"Don't shoot, please," Fallon simply said.
"Is this the guy?! Is this the guy who was fucking with you?! Is he the one from the attack while we were in Hamunaptra?!" Adam shouted, trying to push through the rest of the group, brandishing his gun at Ardeth. Adam's eyes glistened with crazed rage. "I'm gonna make you pay for messing with my sister!"
Kelly and Rick made sure to hold Adam back.
"Adam, you will do no such thing!" Fallon argued.
"What are you doing here?!" Evy inquired, getting straight to the point and narrowing her eyes at Ardeth.
"Would you really like to know, or would you prefer to just shoot us?" Mr. Bey asked, his face straight and unimpressed.
Rick lowered his gun and holstered it. "After what I just saw, I'm willing to go off of a little faith."
Everyone else holstered their guns, except Adam. Kelly had to try to calm him down.
"Nothing is going on, alright?" Kelly said to him. "You need to trust her judgment and listen to what he has to say."
Adam, looking at Kelly, finally held back and holstered his gun. He still looked like he wanted to kill Ardeth, but at least putting away the deadly weapon was a start.
Fallon hadn't realized that she was standing directly in front of Ardeth until he placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and noticed that he had had a ready hand on the hilt of his sword just in case anything went down. She gave him a nod and turned.
"I hope you're ready to have that talk now. Everything might just be spilling out in the next few minutes," she told him.
"Right now, everything matters and can be used to as information that may help us to stop the Creature. Just as long as you are ready. You seem to have more to confess to them than I do," he told her.
She took a deep breath.
Thankfully, the conversation started easily with the reveal to the Medjai and the curator that Burns was dead, and what they had seen. Everyone had taken seats within the exhibits that had been roped off. They sat on thrones and chests, and Jonathon stood inside the chariot with a mannequin of a pharaoh.
"We have been a secret society for over 4,000 years! We have protected the City of the Dead, and we are sworn to at all costs to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world!" Mr. Bey lectured angrily.
"And because of you we have failed," Ardeth said, looking straight at Evy.
"And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Evy asked, pacing around the exhibit.
"Let me think about that," Mr. Bey said sarcastically.
"Yes!" He and Ardeth said in unison.
An audible sigh was heard from an unknown person.
Rick raised his hand to speak. "Question: why doesn't he like cats?"
"Cat's were the guardians of the underworld. He will continue to fear them until he is fully regenerated," Mr. Bey said.
"And you know how he fully regenerates?!" Daniels exclained.
"By killing everyone who opened that chest," Henderson said examining his gun.
"And suckin' 'em dry that's how!" Daniels finished, fanatically. Fallon had been caught up on the way back from Hamunaptra that the Americans had opened the chest containing the Book of the Dead, only there was a dreadful curse that if anyone opened it the creature that had been raised from the dead would kill them. Which his how and why Burns was killed.
"Well, I have a question," Evy said. "At Hamunaptra the mummy called me 'Anck-su-namun'...and then just now in Mr. Burns's quarters her tried to kiss me."
At the mention of Burns Fallon stiffened where she stood, away from everyone else, but close enough not to be seen as trying to avoid the conversation. Ardeth looked at her when Evy said her friend's name. He felt a tad guilty, knowing that she cared for him at least as a friend.
"It was his love for Anck-su-namun that he was cursed," Mr. Bey said, turning to Ardeth to confirm.
"And he's still in love with her," Ardeth added.
"Well, that's all very romantic, but what's it got to do with me?" Evy asked.
"It seems he wishes to raise her from the dead as well," Dr. Bey said.
"And he's found his human sacrifice," Ardeth finished.
"And this mummy called Fallon something interesting as well too in Burns's apartment," Adam blurted. Fallon sucked in her breath. Why did he say that? She would have preferred he kept his mouth shut.
Ardeth and Mr. Bey looked at her as she covered her eyes in frustration.
"What was it?" Ardeth asked, stepping towards her.
"Ah, ten steps back," Adam warned. Kelly hit him on the arm.
"Stop it," she warned him.
Fallon sighed. "It was 'metu neter Wedjet'. It means 'word of the Goddess Wedjet'. He said it to me at Hamunaptra and in the apartment."
"Wedjet was a protector of kings and women in childbirth," Mr. Bey said. "She was depicted as a woman with a snake for a head, or just simply a snake."
"She had an oracle dedicated to her word in ancient times. They were mostly women who claimed that Wedjet could speak through them, that they carried the word of the Goddess giving the Egyptians premonitions, and answering questions," Ardeth said. Fallon looked at him. He knew surprisingly a lot about it.
"So...like the Oracle of Delphi?" Kelly asked.
"Similarly, yes," Mr. Bey confirmed.
"Alright..." Fallon said. "But to quote Evy: what has this all got to do with me?"
"Perhaps the Creature thinks that you are an oracle," Mr. Bey said.
"Why would he think that?" Fallon asked.
There was a pause. "You dreams, you said you had been having dreams lately that have been strange."
Fallon stuttered. "W-well...I...um. Y-you see, I don't think-"
"Yeah, what about those dreams you've been having for over a year now, huh, Fallon?" Rick said.
"Might as well, Fal, now's a better time that never," Kelly urged her.
Fallon hesitated.
"Perhaps, I should start," Ardeth stepped forward, looking at Fallon. She let out a sigh of relief.
"Uh, no, Fallon needs to explain something," Adam snarled.
"No, no, please, he's involved in it somehow too," Fallon explained. She nodded at Ardeth.
"For about a year I have been having the same dream. It is about the French Legion battle that took place at Hamunaptra 3 years ago," Ardeth began. Kelly glanced at Fallon, wondering if she knew this, but by the involved face Fallon was giving, she assumed that this was just as much news as it was to Kelly. However, freaky it was to find out. "My men and I observed the battle atop a cliff and watched everyone die, or so we thought. Out came a solider who had either survived or had been hiding and found a horse and spoke to it in Ancient Egyptian. It was then revealed that it was a woman. Ever since a year ago I had been reliving the same experience in my sleep. Until very recently they began to chance slightly. I would see the woman clear as day, on the boat, or I would see the tomb of Imhotep form faces in the sand where he was buried, or I would see her running from the city towards me. Either way, I constantly dream of this woman and have never been able to figure out why, only that she is important and that I have felt a need to protect ever since I met her in person. That woman just so happened to be Fallon Carnahan."
There was a silence.
"Gosh, when you put it that way it sounds kind of creepy," Kelly admitted. "On multiple levels."
"You sick son of a bitch," Adam growled, ready to stand up until Kelly grabbed his arm.
"She still has to tell her side of the story. Trust me, you're gonna wanna hear what she has to say," Kelly told him.
"Miss Carnahan?" Mr. Bey turned to Fallon.
She pressed her lips tightly together. "I was at the French Legion Battle in Hamunaptra 3 years ago with Kelly and Rick. I managed to get horses together for all 3 of us, since we were the only survivors. I never knew that the Medjai were watching us. Last year, I started to have these dreams about the battle. And every single time I saw black riders aligned on a cliff looking down at us. And it always narrowed into one just watching me. Like Mr. Ardeth Bay, up until recently they started to change. They started drawing me back to Hamunaptra where mine and Adam's parents died 10 years ago. I went back for the curiosity and the desire to find some answers since the last time I was there I didn't get the chance. When I got there was when the dreams started to change. I had a dream where I saw the sand at the base of Anubis start to transform into a face, which apparently to Kelly and Rick, actually happened during the Battle, but I never knew about it until I dreamt it and Kelly told me afterwards. I would dream of running out of Hamunaptra towards a man. And the man was, Mr. Ardeth Bay here."
Adam shot up in his seat, looking like he was ready to pummel Ardeth. Ardeth remained calm while Kelly and Rick held Adam back from destroying him.
"I had the dream of the sand transforming after we had discovered the sarcophagus, but before we opened it. I'd had a terrible feeling about opening it after I had the dream. And it turn's out I was right," Fallon concluded.
"So you have psychic dreams every now and again," Rick said. "That doesn't make you an oracle."
"In fact, it does," Mr. Bey corrected him. "If the Creature recognized you for having dreams of premonition then that does make you a form of the oracle. It was believed that the oracles had actual psychic powers, such as dreams of premonition.
"What about Mr. Ardeth Bay then? Is he an oracle as well?" Fallon asked.
"Your dreams are connected in a way. But the oracles were also protectors like the Medjai. So it is possible that Ardeth is a protector of the oracle."
"Could it be the other way around?" Kelly asked.
"Women were believed to have more clairvoyance than men in ancient times," Dr. Bey explained.
Kelly considered this. "Okay, that's pretty cool. And also true. I'm okay with that."
"So what you're saying is that I'm an oracle who is getting psychic dreams from the Goddess Wedjet that allow me to interpret the future, and Mr. Ardeth Bay is here to protect me, the oracle?" Fallon simplified.
"Sounds to be the most likely interpretation," Dr. Bey said.
"Protector of Hamunaptra and it's greatest secret, and the protector of the oracle? Sounds like a huge responsibility for one guy," Rick said.
"No pressure," Kelly added.
"In the meantime, this may give us the time we need to kill the Creature! With him distracted to find the others who opened the chest containing the book and the curse, and capturing Evy for the ritual and possibly Fallon as well, it could give us extra time to find a way to kill him," Dr. Bey realized.
Ardeth suddenly looked up and out the large circular window, the Egyptian afternoon sky shining in, he said, "We'll need all the time we can get. His powers are growing."
The room started to shadow over and when everyone looked up at the window they saw a great round shadow covering the sun into an eclipse.
" 'And he stretched forth his hands towards the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt,' " Jonathon said.
"Jonathon, please don't narrate anymore," Kelly said as she gazed, horrified at the eclipse.
AN: A lot was revealed in the chapter! I hope it made sense. Please let me know if it didn't. I hope you enjoyed! Please Favorite, Follow, and Review!