Disclaimer- I don't own anything apart from the plot and my OC's (Kiya, Nefer, Tal, Aten and now Lily and co.). Wish I owned my very own fuzzy Sphinx though... :D

AN: This chapter goes out to Escorregadia for her awesome-sauce review

Chapter 3

With a start Lily opened her eyes; heart pounding as though it had been her running through the ancient city of Thebes. The dream had seemed so real, like she had been Kiya. Lily lay back and stared up at the mosquito netting draping her bed like an exotic canopy, "I am Lily Fortescue and I am at Uncle Henry's house in England...I am not some girl running for her life in Thebes." that said Lily sat up and cringed as her bare feet touched the cold flagstone floor of her room in her uncle's castle deep in the Scottish countryside.

It was odd, the dream had felt almost as though she had been remembering something, everything had been so vivid, she had been able to smell the smells of the city and Lily swore that she could still feel Aten's silky fur beneath her fingers.

Lily looked at the clock on her bedside table, 5.30AM, too late to go back to sleep, too early for any civilised person to awake. She sighed and reached for her tatty terrycloth robe and bunny slippers.

"Lily! Lily are you up yet?" A high childish voice sang out from the other side of the bedroom door, Lily groaned; Annabel was her five year old cousin who seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of energy and always knew the exact moment Lily woke up; it was uncanny.

Lily got out of her four-poster bed and stretched, relishing the slight cracking of her back; no matter how many times she visited her Uncle she still couldn't get used to how hard the beds were.

"Lily I can hear you moving! I know you're awake!" the doorknob twisted and Lily sighed, Annabel had the ability to make her feel older than her seventeen years.

Lily quickly plaited her waist-length dark honey coloured hair, turned the key in the lock and braced herself.

The bedroom door was flung open and a small pink whirlwind raced in, almost knocking Lily off her feet as little Annabel clung to her favourite cousin's knees.

Lily smiled and carefully extricated herself from her tenacious baby cousin's grip; today Annabel was dressed entirely in pink; from her tiny T-bar shoes to the ribbons holding her carrot coloured hair in check, Lily didn't have the heart to tell her that pink really didn't go with her orange hair.

"I dressded myself!" Annabel announced, happily clambering onto Lily's bed.

Lily arched one eyebrow, "So it would seem..." she tapped one of Annabel's shoes, "the buckles go on the outside of the shoe Bel, you've got them on the wrong feet."

Annabel frowned down at her feet as though simply glaring would cause the shoes to miraculously swap over.

Lily laughed as she sat in front of the mirror, combing the knots out of her hair and attempting to enforce some sort of order on her unruly waves. She looked up into the mirror, she gasped and the hairbrush slipped from her suddenly nerveless fingers and clattered to the floor.

She leaned forward... it hadn't been a trick of the early morning light; her eyes were a deep chocolate brown instead of the more familiar clear green she had had all her life.

Lily looked away and quickly glanced back into the silver surface of the mirror...her eyes were green again. Had she just imagined it? Lily shivered, not so sure now that the dream had just been a dream.

"I'm hungry." Annabel's voice broke through Lily's reverie, making her jump.

"Alright Bel, let me get dressed then I'll cook us something nice. How do pancakes sound to you?" Lily quickly pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a thick red sweater.

"Yay! I love pancakes!" Annabel jumped off the large four-poster bed and grabbed hold of Lily's hand tugging the teen in the direction of the kitchen.

000

Uncle Henry was a heavyset man in his late forties with a shock of thick red hair much like his daughter's. Henry was examining a small wooden box which had been sent to him from Lily's parents, the crate it had arrived in was postmarked 'Cairo, Egypt.' Lily's parents were archaeologists who spent their summers digging in exotic locations all over the world leaving him to look after their only child.

He didn't mind, he loved Lily like she was his own daughter but he wished his brother would show a little more parental spirit; Lily tried to hide it but Henry knew every forgotten birthday hurt her terribly. He brushed away some of the straw used to cushion the box's contents and pulled out a letter written in his brother's spidery handwriting.

"Dear Hank,

Thanks for looking after the sprog for us; the missus and I just couldn't pass up this chance to dig on the site of ancient Thebes! Anyway we've found a veritable treasure trove of goodies from the Old Kingdom and here's a little something for Lily, oh yes here's a strange amulet we found; I was hoping you could have a look at it for me..."

Henry rooted around in the straw and pulled out a beautiful lapis lazuli and carnelian necklace; in the centre was a golden plaque with hieroglyphs engraved onto its surface. In the space underneath the necklace lay an odd-looking statuette. It was of a baboon carved from greenish alabaster, the ape had one tiny ruby chip eye and resting on its head was a large crescent. Henry emptied out the straw to see if there was anything else lurking in the box; there wasn't. he turned his attention back to the letter.

"There have been some dashed odd fellows sniffing around the dig asking all sorts of questions about portals and sphinxes. Load of superstitious codswallop in my opinion but to err on the side of caution I've decided to send these beauties back home to you; after all who is going to follow them all the way home to bonny Scotland?

As always kiss the sprog from us

Your brother,

Hunt."

Henry smiled ruefully; his brother and sister-in-law would never change. He picked up the necklace and went in search of his daughter and niece.

He headed straight for the kitchen, he could smell pancakes cooking and his stomach rumbled reminding him that it was now approaching seven; time for breakfast!

000

Lily bopped along to one of Annabel's favourite radio shows as she flipped pancakes and flipped them onto a plate. Behind her Annabel sang along in between mouthfuls of her syrup covered pancake breakfast.

"Good morning girls." Henry strolled into the kitchen and kissed Annabel on the top of her head and playfully pulled her pigtails; she squealed and hugged her father with sticky hands.

"Hello Uncle Henry, I've made you some pancakes and there's a pot of tea brewing." Lily smiled; she truly loved her uncle who was more like a father to her than her real father!

"Happy birthday love," Henry hugged his niece, "here's a little something from your parents, they're in Egypt for the rest of the summer now." He fastened the necklace around Lily's neck, "Go on, have a look. I need to examine an amulet Hunt sent me so I'll have my breakfast to go. If you need me I'll be in my office." He picked up his plate and a mug of tea, "Can I count on you two to help me in the cellar museum later on?"

Lily nodded and followed her uncle out of the kitchen trailed by Annabel who had abandoned breakfast in favour of trying out some sparkly jewellery.

As soon as her uncle was safely out of sight lily pulled the necklace off, she didn't want anything from her parents, "Here Bel, you wear it for a little while, I'll be helping Uncle so I don't want it to get damaged. Can you look after it for me?" Lily knelt down and fastened the necklace around Annabel's neck; she stopped, the necklace seemed eerily familiar. Lily gently traced the hieroglyphs on the pectoral; her parents had taught her how to read hieratic when she was seven, she'd never gotten the hang of speaking it though. "Kiya; great Royal wi-" the last hieroglyph was indecipherable. "Kiya..." Lily rubbed her temples where a headache was rapidly forming. The line between her dreams and reality was swiftly becoming blurred.

"Right Bel why don't you get your wellies on and we'll go see the baby cows?" Annabel squealed with excitement and ran off.

Lily slowly wandered in the direction of her uncle's study. She paused with her hand on the doorknob; she could hear voices. Three male voices, she recognised one as her uncle but the other two were unfamiliar and threatening; she pressed closer eavesdropping shamelessly.

"Tell us where the portal key is!" the first voice was oily and made Lily's skin crawl.

"We'd hate for things to get...physical but needs must as the saying goes." The second voice was old and sounded dusty somehow like how Lily imagined mummy movie stars should sound like.

"I don't know who you are or how you got in here, but I want you out of my house right now!" Uncle Henry sounded cold and angry and not at all like himself.

"I'd hate to have to hurt anyone...the little one for instance; so young and tender..." the oily voice let the sentence hang obscenely.

"Get out right now! I have no key, and I'm calling the police!"

Lily heard four pops; she'd seen enough action thrillers to know what a silenced gun sounded like. "No." she whispered mind filled with images of her uncle riddled with bullet holes.

"You fool! He's no good to us dead!" the dusty voice was harsh and furious, "Come on, let's grab the girl and get out of here."

Lily froze as she heard two sets of footsteps coming towards the study door, she couldn't let them find her, but where could she go? The doorknob twisted under her hand and she froze.

AN: sorry about the random chapter but it all comes together soon; I promise! Anyhoo read and review or not...it's up to you!