Chapter Two
Larry pulls into a parking space at the apartment complex, grabbing my suitcase from the trunk as I sling my backpack over my shoulder. I follow him through the front doors, held open for us by an older doorman with a kind smile. I thank him as we pass. We go straight to the elevators and get on, he presses the button for the top floor, floor seventy two. The elevator is surprisingly fast. He slides his key into the lock on the door, and we enter. The apartment is huge and beautiful, with stainless steel appliances, white walls, and an amazing view of the city below. There is a kitchen and living room, with a bathroom to the left. There is a hallway that I assume leads to the bedrooms.
"Wow. Nice place."
"Ah, it's nothing."
I roll my eyes. He's one of the most modest people I know. I can hear faint strains of techno music, probably Nicky.
"Is Nicky still doing the deejay thing?"
"Yep. He wants to move to L.A." Larry replies with a sigh.
"Well that would be fun."
Larry opens the pizza box on the counter and grabs a slice, "I didn't know what you wanted, so I just got pepperoni."
"That's fine. Where do you want me to put my stuff?"
"Oh, right. This place only has two bedrooms. So I'm kicking Nick out of his room for you. He's probably packing up now."
"Oh, that's really not necess-"
Larry cuts me off with a look. He's teaching Nicky to be a gentleman, which in this case means giving up your bedroom to your cousin no matter how much she doesn't care about sleeping on the couch.
"I'll go kick him out." I say.
"You do that." Larry replies, mouth full.
I grab my suitcase and lug it to the carpeted hallway. There are two doors here, so I pick the one that is the loudest. I open the door to find Nicky sitting on the bed. The room looks clean, perhaps preparing for my arrival. He looks up. His face lights up with a grin, and he presses pause on the laptop to shut off the music.
"Hey, Alex!"
He scoops me into a tight hug, lifting me off the ground a little. I'm realizing how much I've missed his hugs.
"Hey, Nick. I missed you."
"I missed you, too. How have you been?"
He pulls away and smiles at me.
"I've been good. What about you?"
"Fine. I'm so happy you're here. There's so much to do in New York!" he says to me, excitement flashing in his eyes like a five year old.
"I can't wait for you to show me everything. Larry said I have to kick you out."
Nicky rolls his eyes, "Yeah yeah. Dad's making me sleep on the couch, so, you're welcome."
He gives me a playful punch on the arm, which I return.
"Thank you!" I singsong as he leaves the room.
I place my suitcase at the foot of the bed, and flop back onto the mattress. I forgot to call Mom! I dial her number as fast as I can. Knowing her, she probably memorized the time my flight landed, and is worrying about me right now. She picks up on the first ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Mom! Arrived in New York, safe and sound."
"Good. I was starting to worry about you."
"Nothing to worry about. I'm here, and Larry ordered pizza for Nick and I."
"He's there?"
"Yep. He took a year off from college just like me."
"That's cool, honey. I'll let you go so you can eat. Call me tomorrow if you can, okay?"
"Okay. Love you!"
"Love you too."
She hangs up. That was easy. I suppose I should go eat. I pick myself up off of the bed, glancing out the window. The view is quite nice, I can see everything! The sun is going to set soon. Maybe Larry will let me come to work with him! I want to get up close and personal with all of the exhibits. Especially Egypt. I get downstairs to find only two slices left.
"Who ate all the pizza?"
I turn to find Nick, frozen mid bite as he realizes he's been caught. His plate is loaded with what looks like half of the pizza.
"Sorry?" he mumbles, mouth full of food.
"Whatever." I playfully roll my eyes at him and grab a slice of pizza as Larry comes out of the other bedroom. He looks ready to go.
"Are you leaving for work?" I ask.
"Yeah. I'll see you guys in the morning."
"Can I come?"
He stops in his tracks, "Uh, maybe not tonight. I have a lot of paperwork to go through and I wouldn't be able to show you around."
"Please? Please please please? Pretty please?"
Larry glances over at Nicky, who gives him a slight nod. Hm. Larry sighs.
"Oh, fine."
"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you! I'll be good. I promise."
He gives a half hearted chuckle, "I'm sure you will. Let's go."
I wave at Nicky as we leave. We head to the elevator, and glide down to the bottom floor. Larry leads me out the door and on to the sidewalk. He's oddly quiet, and a little tense. I hope I didn't make him mad. We walk to the museum, luckily his apartment complex isn't very far. The sun is going to set soon. If he's the night guard, he'll at least have to be there by sunset. Maybe a few blocks? We walk to a loading dock at the back of the museum. I follow him to a back door where he swipes an ID card. The lock clicks, and we enter into a locker room of sorts. Larry goes over to another door, which he opens. It's an office. Why didn't we just go through the front doors?
"Wait here, okay? I'm just going to change and then get the museum ready for the night hours. I'll come get you in a few minutes."
An odd request, but who am I to object?
"Sure."
He gives me a grim smile, and leaves, closing the door behind him. I make myself comfortable in his swivel office chair. There's a picture of him and Nick on his desk, along with some papers. It wouldn't be that nosy for me to snoop, would it? I pick up the first sheet, it's a printed email to Larry from someone named McPhee. It's a forwarded conversation between McPhee and the "British Museum Archives". There is a short message from McPhee at the beginning of the email.
Hello Mr. Daley, just thought you should read this. Any idea about how this happened?
Suddenly I'm feeling guilty. Should I even be reading this? Oh well. Can't stop now. The forwarded message begins.
To whom it may concern: We have discovered an exhibit belonging to the New York museum here in our Egypt area of the British museum: the pharaoh Ahkmenrah and his accompanying tablet. We received no notice of any official transfer, and our night guard had reportedly seen no one at the loading dock all night. The security footage from the evening had been deleted, and there was no one who seemed to know how this happened. We have of course sent the mummy and tablet back to your museum in the hopes that you can reinstate the pharaoh in his proper exhibit. We would like to hear anything, if at all, you know about this curious incident, and how it may have come about? We can get the police involved if necessary.
Thank you for your patience, and we're sorry for the misunderstanding,
Edward Lundenburg, Museum Curator, London
Wow. An exhibit in another museum? How strange. The email ends with a note from McPhee.
Please come see me at your nearest convenience so we can discuss how this happened, but I'm assuming it's your fault.
The email was sent a few months ago, so it must be resolved by now. That's so weird! But why would Larry have anything to do with it? Hm. A loud booming noise seems to shake the photograph on Larry's desk. What was that? It sounded just like the sound of a large animal's footstep, like a sound effect from a movie. I stand and move to the door to open it, but it won't budge. It's locked. He locked me in here?
"Larry?" I ask.
Nothing. I can faintly hear various noises through the thick wood of the door, like grunts and growls. Both human and nonhuman.
"Larry?" I call again, a little bit of panic becoming apparent in my tone.
The minutes tick by, with different, muffled noises that I can hear coming from somewhere. Where did Larry go? It's been at least five minutes. He told me to wait. I lean against the door, staring down at the floor.
"Alex?" his voice comes from right outside the door.
"Larry! Are you okay?"
"Yeah. One second."
I can hear a key being clicked into the lock of the door. Larry slips into the room as quickly as he can, closing the door behind him before the strange noises can be further amplified.
"What's going on? I can hear things outside."
He sighs, "Right. I'm going to entrust you with a secret, okay?"
"Uh, okay? I can keep a secret."
His face grows sober, "No, I'm being serious. What you're going to see is very, very strange, and it can take some getting used to, okay?"
"Larry. I know the stuff moves."
He sighs again, exasperated, "Alex. I just need you to trust me. Come on. The museum just opened."
Wordlessly, I follow him out of the office and down the hall. What is going on with him? He's being strange. Did he think I didn't know about the museum's actors and animatronics? We open into the main hall of the exhibit. There's the dinosaur, just like I saw in the footage in the news those years ago. This place is world-renowned for it's whole "bringing history to life" thing, and I have to admit, it is pretty cool. The dinosaur, though, could use a little work. It's quite jerky. But who am I to judge? The fact they got a real fossil to move is incredible enough.
President Roosevelt is making his rounds on his horse, assembling what looks like the first tour group of the night. They let an actual horse into the museum? There is a massive lit globe that is lazily spinning by the main desk. Larry is leading me to it now. We have to fight the swarming crowds to get through. A nice looking woman is sitting at the desk, answering questions for the very long line of visitors that have already piled up.
"Hey, Rebecca?" Larry interjects.
She turns, and smiles at him, "Hey Larry! What can I do for you?"
Larry steps back, revealing me, and smiles at the woman, "This is my niece, Alex. Could you make sure to set aside Sacagawea for a private tour this evening?"
Rebecca gives me a once over, and flashes Larry a knowing smile, "Certainly. Meet her at the exhibit, I'll make sure to give her a heads up."
"Thanks."
It's quite sweet that they talk about the actors like they're the characters they play. I suppose it's just to help make it seem more real for visitors. Larry leads me through the churning crowd. Roosevelt has just gathered his tour, and is giving them the introductory speech about the museum. I can only catch some phrases, but I think I heard "historic", "history", and "historical" in the span of about two sentences. All I really want to see is the Egyptian portion of the museum, even if it's small. A real mummy! How cool would it be to be able to go up to it, and to look at the sarcophagus! Maybe there will be some hieroglyphs to translate. I've been practicing.
"Excuse me?" a woman steps in front of Larry, cutting him off.
"Yeah?"
I can see him trying not to be rude. He obviously has a destination in mind, and doesn't want to be swayed.
"Could you tell me where to find the Pharaoh's tour group? My daughter wants to meet him."
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but the Pharaoh hasn't been doing tours for the past few months, it's been temporarily discontinued. But President Roosevelt will be running another tour in about a half hour, if you'd like to wait, or you can explore the museum on your own."
She looks displeased, but manages a polite smile all the same, "Thank you for your help."
I can see her daughter's face fall. Poor thing. But will I still be able to see Egypt? That can't be "temporarily discontinued" too. Larry finally breaks through the main hall crowd, and ushers me into a hallway. We climb a set of stairs and the hum of the crowd dissipates. We make it down a few more hallways and turn several corners until I'm officially lost. He leads me into a room alive with faceless soldiers who appear to be from the Civil War. They're fighting, and each time one of them gets shot, their stuffing rips. I would have watched for while if Larry hadn't pulled me away to skirt the walls and escape the "gunfire". Why would they have actors performing in here if there aren't visitors to see them? There is an exhibit along the back wall. It is a small rocky shore with tall pine trees, and a tiny boat swaying in the water. Two men are consulting a map together, while a woman stands off to the side, gazing into the ripples of the lake.
"Hey, Sacagawea."
The woman turns. I'm still not understanding why they have so many people in such a slow area of the museum. And why does Larry still call her by her character when there's no one else around?
"Hello, Larry. You wanted a tour?" her voice is as tranquil as the fake scenery around her.
"I'm hoping you could give my niece a private tour? This is Alex."
He steps back to let me shake her hand. She gives me a warm smile, "Nice to meet you, Alex. You can call me Wea."
"Um, thank you?" I manage a confused smile. This woman strikes me as a very maternal figure. I like her.
"Show her everything." Larry says, a slight emphasis on the word "everything".
Sacagawea, or, Wea, gives him a knowing smile all too similar to Rebecca's. I'm starting to feel like I'm missing something.
"Of course. Leave it to me."
Larry gives her a tight smile and turns to me, "I'll catch up with you in an hour or so. I have stuff to do."
"Okay. Bye."
He walks away without a backwards glance. Wea smiles at me.
"Shall we begin?"
hello again! posting this chapter in honor of two beautiful humans, Radwoman and katiesgotagun! thank you guys so so so much for being the first to favorite/follow the story! I'm glad you're liking it! also, hello to my mysterious guest reviewer, I think it's super cool that you want to be an Egyptologist! don't worry, there will be plenty of Egyptian history in this story for you and I to geek-out on haha. anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and please review, favorite, and follow! please remember to check out my other two stories, "the First" and "Rose as Red as Blood"! Fair warning, "the First" is a bit of a work in progress as of now, so maybe leave that one alone for a little bit haha. give them both a follow if you like, so you can get updates when a new chapter is posted! until next time lovelies :)