After three days of near-constant moving, they had finally made it back to Cairo. AJ had been the first to volunteer to buy the necessary clothes, writing down everyone's sizes and preferred styles before leaving for the bazaar not far from their temporary home. She needed the distraction shopping would provide, needed to focus on the sounds of laughter and life that seemed to be missing from their group since the attack.
Cairo was always bustling, so she could count on that to keep her thoughts from wandering; you couldn't exactly mope and watch for pick-pockets at the same time, after all. As it is, she's got four different suitcases filled with clothes dragging behind her and she's just stopped in front of a stall offering hats. She didn't care much for them herself, she was too proud of her hair not to show it off, but one of them caught her eyes. It was a bit floppy and made of dark brown leather, small stitches keeping it all together; it wasn't a perfect replica, but it was close to the one her husband had lost.
"How much," she asks, pulling out the roll of bills that Lawrence had pressed into her hand that morning.
"Fifty pounds," the merchant states, eyeing the money the way a starving child might look at roast chicken.
"This thing isn't worth more than twenty." He met her gaze, both of them staring at each other for a long while. This was a game that AJ was an expert at, learning the fine skills of it after her tenth birthday when her uncle deemed her old enough to do the shopping.
"Twenty-five."
"Twenty, no more and no less." He presses his lips together in a thin line, rubbing the back of his neck before letting out a defeated sigh when her determined expression didn't change.
"Fine." Trying to suppress the smugness she felt, she counts out the bills and hands them over, the merchant yanking them out of her hand. "Have a good day, Miss Jibade." She makes a face, taking her turn to look a little angry. "Come now, surely your favorite merchant can tease you from time to time?"
"Cas?" Casper Ali used to watch her when she was younger and he always gave her the best discounts, but she almost didn't recognize him after being away for so long. His dark hair had thinned and was cut close to his head, his bright green eyes sunken slightly, and the wrinkles aging him.
"Who else would let you win that easily, Allie?"
"You've gotten old," she laughs, moving behind the wooden counter so she could give him a hug. "And skinny!" Back then, Cas had been a chubby, grinning man that always had some ice cream nearby to snack on.
"And you've grown into a lovely young woman!" He rests his hands on her upper arms, taking a step back to get a good look at her. "Why, your husband has fattened you up since you left. Any babies yet?"
"A little boy named Tucker."
"Stubborn like his mother?"
"I wouldn't have him any other way." He laughs, deep and contagious, pulling her in for another tight embrace that she had missed. No one gave hugs like Cas did, big bear hugs that brought you up off the ground; he was like a teddy bear and AJ had really missed him. "What about you and the girls?"
"Ah, Cala has gone off to teach little ones in England and little Johara is graduating high school in a month."
"Goodness, I can't believe I've been gone for so long." Cas grins, turning and grabbing something off a shelf before facing her again and wrapping something loosely around her throat. "What? No, I can't take this, Cas."
"You can and you will," he returns sternly, fixing the Sautoirso that both ends were equal in length. "I have been trying to sell this for weeks, but all the women say I want too much for it. I figure it will burn their fragile egos to know I gave it away for free because my little Allie gave me a hug."
"Everybody calls me AJ now, Cas." In fact, they've called her AJ her entire life, but Cas was a stubborn man.
"AJ is for men, not young women that want to be respected. I'll stop calling you Allie when I am dead."
"And you'll call me Allie when we're all resurrected for the Last Day," she finishes for him with a smile, having heard the speech almost every week when he watched her. "I know, Cas, I know." She lets out a sigh, brushing some wisps of hair behind her ear and looking at the Kasbah where she knew her husband was. "Cas, I really hate to cut this short, but I have to get these clothes back before everyone takes showers."
"Of course, of course, I will help you."
"No, Cas, it's fine." The last thing she needed was for her old babysitter to meet her husband and decide to tell Lawrence about the time she'd run through Cairo completely naked on a bet. "I'll try to stop by again soon." Cas presses a kiss to the crown of her head, cupping her face to make her look at him afterwards.
"Alexander would be proud of you and so would your parents."
"Thanks." She gives him another hug and then starts off again, dragging the heavy suitcases behind her with Lawrence's new hat on her head. There was no more room in the suitcase for it, so she would just have to deal with the fact that it would ruin her intricate braiding.
A porter met her just inside the hotel, taking the suitcases from her and following her over to the lift, bringing them up to the second floor. "If that will be all ma'am," he murmurs politely once all the bags were in her bedroom. She nods and passes him three pounds as his tip, going over to the small table where a tea set was resting and picking up a tea cup and saucer.
They were made of delicate porcelain, white with pale pink flowers painted on it, a circle of gold half an inch from the rim. It felt warm in her hands as she poured the hot water and allowed the teabag to steep, AJ watching in absent fascination as the water slowly changes color.
She always turned to tea when she felt close to panic, the water rippling as her hands shook. She hasn't felt so terrified since childhood and now she felt like the boogeyman was just waiting for her to set foot outside her room so he could grab her ankle and yank her off her feet. The mummy, little more than bones and toilet paper, would suck them all dry the second he was able; he would use their organs and fluids to turn the world to ash. And what could she do to stop it from happening?
Not a damn thing.
She brings the cup up to her lips and takes a hesitant sip of the tea, promptly spitting it back out the second it touched her tongue. Instead of the fruity taste she'd been expecting, she tasted copper like an old penny. Brows furrowed she stares down into her cup, the amber liquid slowly turning red. With a shout, she drops the cup and takes a few hurried steps away from it.
"Blood," she mumbles, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. He's here, he's going to finish us all in one go or one at a time to make us suffer even more, and we're all going to die. "Burns!" She runs as best as she can in her heels, pausing in front of one of the windows that looked out on the courtyard as fire began to rain from the sky like hail. "Burns, we gotta move!"
She bursts into the room down the hall from hers, coming up short with a scream of horror. A cyclone of sand swirled around an armchair, the howling of the wind mixing with the thunderous boom of the fireballs to make one deafening sound. Her flight or fight instinct causes her to drop to her knees, shuffling off to a corner and bringing her knees up to her chest.
If I make myself small, I won't be seen.
She keeps her forehead pressed against her knees to protect her face from the stinging grains of sand, her hair coming loose and whipping against her arms. It seemed to go on forever, all other noise drowned out until it all suddenly stopped and AJ was left with a ringing in her ears. Hesitant, she chances to raise her head slightly and lift her gaze, screaming at the sight that waited for her.
A single arm was hanging from the chair, the skin taunt over prominent bones and missing all blood and muscle, but that wasn't the worst part. A few feet away from her, in front of the fireplace, stood the mummy in all his glory, releasing a primordial screech of pain as sinewy muscle began to form over his bones. Shaking hard, AJ covers her ears and retakes her earlier pose, tears stinging her eyes and making tracks down her cheeks.
She didn't want to greet death with open arms, didn't want to see her attacker as he stalked over to her, but she was forced to when he yanked her to her feet and slammed her against the wall.
"Senet," he growls, foul breath making her gag. Despite her lack of knowledge of anything ancient Egyptian, she knew what he was calling her and it only served to make her cry harder. "Nefertari, senet."
"No," she gasps, shaking her head and trying not to touch him," I'm not her. I'm Alexandria, not her. Please, help! Lawrence, Daniels!" The doors to the room slams open again, drawing the creature's attention enough for AJ to duck under his arm and run behind her saviors, clinging tightly to Evy. O'Connell stands protectively in front of the women, pistol drawn and aimed at the creature as it shrieks again.
"We are in serious trouble," O'Connell states dryly. AJ covers her ears as O'Connell begins to shoot, the bullets ripping through the creature with no effect, Imhotep advancing on them as the rest of their party barges in. Even with the shock of everything happening, her husband pulled her beside him, pressed a gun into her hand and joined the others in shooting.
The feeling of cold metal in her hand gave her something other than the talking death machine to focus on, AJ pulling the hammer back, raising to aim, and squeezing the trigger; her bullets didn't slow the creature either, Imhotep grabbing O'Connell's shirt and throwing him backwards with no effort. The American hit the group, knocking everyone to the ground apart from Evy, the pistol skittering away from AJ's grasp. She sits up with a grunt, watching as Imhotep faced her friend and began to speak; she wasn't certain about the words coming out of his mouth, but she was sure that Evy didn't care to hear them.
The pretty brunette pressed back against the bookcase, hands in front of her face to fend Imhotep off as he came closer.
Imhotep leaned in to kiss Evy, but looked over his shoulder when he heard discordant piano notes, Cleo the cat running across the ivory keys. Imhotep hisses at the white cat, taking a few steps away from Evy before dissolving back into the whirlwind of sand, blowing the balcony doors wide open and disappearing.
"Thank Allah for cats," AJ breathes, looking to her husband.
"Yeah," Daniels nods," you do that and I'll thank Christ."
Senet = Sister in ancient Egyptian
