Shaken by the events of the night before last, the entire party of Americans, minus Beni, join the British siblings at Fort Brydon upon their return to Cairo, where they find little Bahira and Dr. Bey waiting in the lobby of the apartment building.
"Mr. Rick! Miss Evy!" she cries out, waving madly to them, before seeing them guiding a man with a wrapping over his eyes. She rushes over to them and hugs Evy tightly around her legs.
"Bahira," she whispers, bending slightly to return the hug. Evy then turns to the man Rick now holds carefully. "Mr. Burns, this is the little girl I've been telling you about, Bahira. Bahira, this is Mr. Burns. He was with another group who went to Hamunaptra, but he was hurt very badly there." Rick nods in encouragement to her. "Bahira, I was wondering if you would be willing to stay with Mr. Burns and help him while his friends get everything ready to return home."
"If Papa lets me," she answers, before reaching out to gently take the unoccupied hand, calming the man down quickly.
She looks over to Dr. Bey warily, before walking over to him. "Is it alright if she stays with him? Just for a few hours is all. He found hearing about her soothing, and wanted to spend time with her if you would allow it."
He nods slowly. "So long as you check in on her every once in a while. She caught a nasty stomach flu several days ago, and is still recovering." He stares at his child for a moment before turning to Evy once more. "Miss Carnahan, I am entrusting you with her safety. Something has come up which will be keeping me busy for the majority of the day. I trust you can take good care of her in my absence?"
"Of course, sir," she answers immediately. "Thank you for trusting me."
He offers her a nod before approaching his adopted daughter and Mr. Burns. "Bahira, I want you to be careful, alright?"
"Yes, Papa," she answers dutifully. "I'll be extra careful, I promise."
He smiles down at her. "If I can, I might send Ardeth to pick you up in a few hours. I pray this ends soon."
She nods at her father and watches him leave, before turning her attention to the Americans staring at her. "Hello," she greets them, before turning to their injured friend. "Do you want some water, Mr. Burns?"
He nods slowly. "Y-yes… p-pwease…" he mumbles, silently praying the child won't question his inability to speak properly.
Rick nods to the stairs. "They have a room upstairs already, and they will get him settled in," he informs the child, whom he knows to be more intelligent than any six-year-old is usually found to be. "You can help me guide him up, okay?"
"Yes, Mr. Rick," she answers, squeezing the hand she holds. "I'll tell you when we get to the steps."
Rick takes Bahira with him to Evy's room, where he finds her not busy packing at all, but rather with her nose in the middle of a book. He loosens his grip on Bahira's hand as he gapes at the British woman, and the girl wastes no time in approaching the white cat as it trots up to her, meowing at her.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asks her in disbelief.
She spares him a glance as he steps further into her room. "I am researching ways to put that thing back where it belongs, Rick," she informs him, returning her attention to her book.
"Didn't you hear the man? He said no mortal way would be able to do that!" he shouts, making sure to censor to topic of their conversation. He opens the trunk in the middle of the room, and makes his way into the closet. "Look, he told us to leave, and that is exactly what we are going to do!" he continues as he carries out an armful of clothes, dumping them into the trunk without bothering with properly folding them.
Seeing what her friend, and crush, is doing to her clothes, Evy hands her book off to Bahira, who is stroking the fur of the purring cat on the bed, and takes the clothes out of the trunk. "Oh no, we are not!" she protests loudly. "We woke him up, and we are going to fix this!"
"We did not read that thing, Evelyn, I told you not to mess around with it, and you didn't listen!" he rants as he gathers the underclothes from a drawer. "And I didn't think you believed in all of this voodoo stuff anyway!"
She takes the clothes out of his arms and tosses them back where she had them before. "After what has happened I have had a change of heart when it comes to those things," she continues, going to close the trunk before Rick can attempt to toss more of her belongings into the trunk. "For goodness sake, Rick! If not for the world, what about Bahira?! This is her home, and we owe it to her to do the right thing!"
He stops with his back turned to them. "I didn't do this, Evelyn, and I have no reason to help you in this reckless… saving the world attempt! You can either convince Dr. Bey to come with us, or you can all stay here and try stopping this guy!" He turns to face her. "What's it gonna be?" he asks after a moment of tense silence.
"I'm staying," she informs him.
Almost hurt, he turns and leaves the room, sparing one last glance at the little girl reading on the bed. "Take care of that kid, Evelyn."
She huffs in response, before turning to find Bahira suddenly flipping through the pages of her book like mad. "Bahira, what are you doing? I'll lose my place!"
"Papa read me this forever ago," she explains, "and you wanted something immortal, right?" she asks, looking up at Evy, who nods. "I remember it was in the back, but he read the Arabic version to me, and I can't read much English yet."
"What was in the back of this book sweetie?" Evy asks desperately, hoping for the one lead that could end this nightmare she has pulled the world into.
She scrunches her nose in a manner that makes Evy smile. "Soul magics, and powers of ancient books lost with the end of the reign of Seti the First."
Evy sighs. "Soul magic?" she asks doubtfully.
Bahira nods enthusiastically, ignoring her friend's skepticism. "Papa said there was always something in Ancient Egypt to undo whatever happened. He said the Twin Books were proof!"
"Twin Books?"
"The Book of Amun Ra and the Book of the Dead," she clarifies slowly. She then lifts the pure white cat into her arms, yawning. "Can I go see Mr. Burns now?" she asks, eyes drooping.
"Yes," Evy mutters distractedly, grabbing the book from the child and another related book before lifting the tired girl in her arms, cat and all, as well as a couple of more books that reference the myths of Ancient Egypt.
She goes down the flight of steps just around the corner to her apartment, and enters the small courtyard between her building and that of the Americans. Hearing the faint rumble of thunder, she looks up to find the blue sky filling with dark, ominous clouds. She passes the other Americans on her way up the stairs, greeting them only with a small nod before continuing past them.
She knocks lightly on the door. "Mr. Burns? It's Evy, Bahira wanted to see you."
"Pwease… come in," he calls, struggling to speak without a tongue.
She turns the knob slowly, and enters quickly, closing the door without seeing Beni and the covered form of Imhotep crossing the courtyard. "Hello, sir," she greets the maimed man, setting the girl down on a chair next to him.
"Hi, Mr. Burns," Bahira greets him, taking his hand carefully.
He barely contains his flinch at her warm touch, then tightens his grip on her ever so slightly. "Hewo, Bahiwa," he greets her carefully. "How… aww yoo?" he asks, trying to seem normal as to keep from frightening his young guest.
"I'm okay, Mr. Burns. I brought Evy's cat, and she's really soft, see?" she asks, moving his hand to gently stroke the purring animal in her lap.
It brings a smile to the faces of both adults. "Would you like me to make you some tea before I go, Mr. Burns?" Evy offers, spying the small kitchen.
"Yes… pwease," he mumbles, fixated on the distraction Bahira provides him from his pain.
She then turns to the little girl. "Are you allowed to have tea, sweetheart?" she asks, never having seen the child consume anything other than water.
"No, Miss Evy. May I please have water?" she asks quietly.
The woman moves to the kitchen, closing the door almost entirely to muffle the clattering sound she knows she is about to make in the hunt for a kettle and the tea leaves. She hums quietly to herself as she moves about the kitchen, missing the knocking on the door.
Bahira doesn't miss it, and taps Burns's hand to catch his attention. "Someone knocked, sir," she informs him sleepily as the cat jumps from her hold, moving to sniff at the piano on the far side of the room.
He nods slowly, and turns to the door. "It open," he manages to call, pulling a white handkerchief from the pocket of his robe to dab at his mouth.
It opens to reveal Beni and Imhotep, who none present would be able to identify, cloaked as he is. "Mr. Burns," Beni greets with his whiny, oily voice. "I have brought you a visitor, a Prince Imhotep." The mummy seats himself across from the man whose eyes and tongue he stole so viciously, eyeing the little girl dozing as she holds one of his hands. "Is this your child?"
"No, no… this is a… local giwl…" he mumbles to his unexpected guests.
Imhotep almost smiles to himself as the girl curls up more in her seat, falling into a true sleep. She reminds him of his daughter when she was that age, especially after she had caught that one fever around the same age as this child. Even their appearances are similar, so close that they could have been sisters, even twins.
Burns, unaware of the danger he is in, and of his younger guest's unconsciousness, continues. "Pwince Imhotep… I am so… pweased to meet yoo…" he greets, trying to reach a hand in the direction of his guest.
Beni grabs the hand as it nears Imhotep's hand, then pats it gently. "Please do not touch Prince Imhotep. He does not like it, due to some strange Eastern superstition, you must understand."
He retracts the hand, and uses the other to search out Bahira. "Pwease, fo'give me," he stutters, and knocks his elbow rather harshly against the wooden frame of his chair. "Bahiwa?" he asks quietly, before registering her soft breathing from the seat at his side.
Beni makes a sound of sympathy as Imhotep stiffens, recognizing the name of someone that Madjai had mumbled about. He stares harder at the girl, and vows to himself to do something to get her away from those who would keep him from his daughter.
"Prince Imhotep thanks you for your brief hospitality," Beni starts, making Burns smile and shake his head gently. "And for your eyes," he continues, making Burns freeze up. "And for your tongue." Benni backs away as Burns reaches out and clutches his sleeve. "But more is needed to fulfill the curse, which you and your friends wrought upon yourselves." He has and evil smirk on his rat-like features.
"Take the child from this room," Imhotep suddenly orders his servant, as he lowers the mask. The child stirs, cringing slightly, as Beni hastily grabs her and charges from the room.
"No, pwease, no!" Burns begs, screaming loud enough to finally catch Evy's attention.