The cat's tail was lifted straight up with a slight curl at the end. The little animal disappeared into the shadows and left Vanessa alone in small brightly lit room filled with cabinets and a large table. She was deep in the warren of workrooms within the British Museum. Dr. Lyle and Mr. Khoury were in the room deeply involved with some artifacts on the work table. Vanessa noted that they couldn't see her.

Mr. Khoury's tapering, long fingers delicately used an assortment of fine picks and brushes to clean the fragments of tablets arranged on the table.

Dr. Lyle bent over the work to make notations and drawings in a notebook, before asking, "Have you found any indication that these goods indicate the mummy was the Divine Adoratrix of Amun?"

Mr. Khoury replied, "No, to the contrary, she appears to have been the chief priestess, God's Wife of Amun. It is strange though, Dr. Lyle. The mummy dates from the Tenth Dynasty when the position was held by non-royal women."

"Well, the lady in question was seems to have been a woman of the royal house. Which didn't become usual until the New Kingdom. A bit of a puzzle, eh, Khoury."

"Quite, sir."

"Have you made much progress on the papyri also found with the the grave goods?"

"Some, but not really extensively. Much of what I've presently translated concerns the Ogdoad, specifically Amun and . . ."

"Amunet. Is that correct, Khoury?"

"Well, yes. Amun and Amunet formed a quarter of the Ogdoad. They are referenced in a spell which reads: You Who protect the gods, and who guard the gods with your shadows."

"Hidden protection, Khoury, protected by the shadows of the gods. Both are considered the "Hidden" but Amunet is especially hidden after her consort ascends to national prominence after Amun becomes incorporated with Ra."

Mr. Khoury paused from his work. "It is fitting in that since Thebes led the revolt against the Hyksos their great local deity be incorporated with the major national god. But this burial was Old Kingdom and centuries before that."

"Yes, yes, quite right."

"It was not unknown among the Egyptians to associated the goddess Amunet with a mothering and protective nature."

"She may not be quite the motherly type with which we associate the term, Khoury. Are you still researching the subject that I requested?"

"Concerning the joining of Amun-Ra and Amunet. The closest I've found is something very late, Ptolemaic, or perhaps, even when Egypt was a Roman province. It may possibly be a forgery."

Dr. Lyle snapped, "Young man, what was it you saw written?"

"It concerned Amun-Ra and Amun-Nut," Mr. Khoury replied. "Ra as the sun, particularly the midday sun, and the goddess Nut, who is the vault of night, swallows Ra in the evening to give birth to the sun each dawn. If Amun-Ra, midday, and Amun-Nut, the dark of night were to co-exist . . ."

"The result would be annihilation."

"Perhaps, or it might simply be a solar eclipse."

"Such an optimistic young man. What will I do when you go off and abandon me, just so you can excavate in Egypt."

Mr. Khoury smiled. "I know very well that as an egyptologist you understand very well why I want to work on an actual Egyptian archaeological site. Besides, my Arabic is excellent; so I will be useful."

"My dear boy, you are eminently useful to me. Yet you're about to go off and leave me to the vagaries of vague assistants. And calling the vague is a kindness, there are worse and more accurate words for them."

"I shall miss working for you, Dr. Lyle. I've learned much."

"You are very apt pupil. Mind you, my wife is very piqued at the prospect of your going."

"She has always been very kind to me. I get the impression that Mrs. Lyle thinks of me as son."
"No, that's not at all the way she feels about you, Khoury. Although, she is quite fond of you."

"Your wife has always been kind to me, sir."

Vanessa felt a cat brushing against her. She heard a clear voice in her mind, "Look at Khoury, what do see?"

She noticed that his height, gestures, and profile were very familiar. His turned his head, leaving his face in shadow, excepting his eyes. The light fell across his green eyes. Vanessa looked down at the cat. The golden-green eyes glowed in the dark.