Bahira remains in Ardeth's arms as the Americans and British family leave, going back to the fort to come up with a plan to try and keep the remaining sacrifice's alive to keep Imhotep away from the little girl.
He glances at his uncle, exasperated. "Do you really think they could repair the damage they've wrought?" he asks.
"Most of them, no. But Miss Carnahan might be able to come up with something," he muses, before noticing his silent daughter is staring up at the ceiling. "What is it, Bahira?" he asks as he lifts his gaze to the skylight over the exhibit.
"By Allah," Ardeth murmurs, unconsciously tightening his grasp on Bahira.
"He raised his hand to the heavens, and brought darkness to the land of Egypt," Bahira recites slowly, before Terrence lowers his gaze to meet her own. "Papa, isn't that one of the plagues the Creature can bring?"
He nods rather hesitantly. "Yes… that is true."
She blinks slowly, and wriggles out of Ardeth's arms. "I wanna look at the books Papa," she informs him, leaving before either man registers what she's said.
Ardeth can only shake his head fondly. "If we didn't have those charms, I don't know how I would be able to handle her running around alone all the time," he comments with a chuckle.
"Hello?!" a rather obnoxious voice calls through the museum. "Is this bloody place open?!" They identify it as a British man, obviously one who has no manners whatsoever.
Both men hurry out of the office, making it in record time to the entrance hall, where they find a rather… large blonde man with what could almost be called his six-year-old clone, and a fairly bony brunette woman looking scornfully at the small, black-haired boy at her side, with looks so similar to Bahira's that they can't help but wonder at the resemblance.
They take in the family in less than a second before Terrence goes to introduce himself. "Welcome to the Cairo Museum of Egyptian History. To answer your question, the museum is open to the public, and will be for another two hours. Unfortunately, I cannot provide you a tour, as I have some business to take care of with my nephew."
"That is no problem, my good man!" the large male bellows unnecessarily, before glaring at the smaller of the two boys, who looks to be about four.
"Papa?" a small voice asks from the balcony, a rather worn text in her arms. "May I give them a tour?"
He smiles tightly, and nods. "Of course," he answers, waving for her to come down to join them. "Guests, this is my daughter, Bahira. She knows this museum almost as well as I do, if not better, and can answer any questions you may have about every exhibit."
Petunia smiles down at the little girl, but it becomes rather strained when she notices the innocent, piercing emerald eyes she's been avoiding looking into for five years on the girl's face. The same eyes as her sister and nephew that she hates to look into.
"Thank you, Bahira," she mutters, before bending slightly to rest her hand on her son's shoulder. "I am Petunia, this is my husband Vernon, and my son Dudley. The other boy is my… nephew, Harry."
The girl nods with a smile to each of them, and hides her shock at the smaller boy's appearance as Ardeth has taught her to hide emotions from opponents, whereas he has shock plain in his expression. "Well, where do you want to start, Miss Petunia?" she asks politely.
Before she can answer, the blonde boy pipes up in a whiney voice, "I wanna see the mummies, mum!"
She coos to him, "Of course, Duddy, we can go look at the mummies first."
Bahira's smile becomes very forced as she turns to the left. "We have only a couple mummies all the way from six thousand years ago, but a lot more from three thousand years ago, around the reign of Pharaoh Seti the First. His tomb and Princess Nefertiti's haven't been found yet, but Papa says he's researching them to try and find them." She pushes open a set of double doors, Harry stepping up to push one of them before she can get to it herself. "Thanks," she whispers, before continuing. "A lot of them are who we think are priests, and rich merchants, or even friends of the royal family." She picks up four of the mummification pamphlets from the basket by the first glass-enclosed display. "These have the process on how to make a mummy, and all the blessings to make sure they make it safely to the Underworld, and can be welcomed by Osiris."
Harry accepts his with wide eyes, holding the paper reverently. "Thank you," he whispers, before staring into Bahira's warm eyes with his own surprisingly happy ones.
"You're welcome, Harry," she answers, nearly calling him by another name on the tip of her tongue.
Petunia and Vernon look rather disgusted at the rotten mummy before them, while Dudley stares at it in awe. "Mummies are so cool," he breathes, before waddling over to the next display, which contains a rather deformed mummy. "Look at this one mum! He's all messed up!"
Bahira glances over at the display the boy stands before. "This mummy is a tragedy, since his tomb had been robbed, and the artifacts he would have had with him were stolen or destroyed, along with the amulets that were supposed to protect his body as he lived on in the Underworld," she informs them, almost coldly. "Grave robbers destroyed his wrappings to get the amulets."
The Dursley family ignores what she says, and the implications of what she hasn't said. However, Harry is visibly intrigued. "Why did the robbers want the amulets?" he asks quietly, staring at the mummy with pity after his relatives move on to the next one.
She looks up sadly to the ruined mummy. "He was one of the favorite priests of Pharaoh Seti, Princess Nefertiti, and her best friend. He was given control of Egypt until Prince Ramses was old enough to take the throne. He was honored and buried in the tomb on Philae."
"Which god did he serve?" Harry asks again, curious as to why this all seems familiar to him, yet completely foreign.
"Anubis. He and a Lady Rania, Princess Nefertiti's best friend, were said to be his favored. We have legends that only they knew how to get to the Oasis of Anubis of legends, called Ahm Shere," she informs him, careful to not divulge too much of her Medjai knowledge. "His name was almost lost in history, but Miss Evy thinks for sure this is Priest Ammon."
He frowns. "Who was Lady Rania?" he asks, recognition in his eyes that Bahira knows all too well.
"Someone Pharaoh Seti and his whole court favored. She was left on the doorstep of the Temple of Osiris, and one of the priests raised her in the court. Ammon was left at a shrine of Anubis, and when they got older, there were rumors they were long lost siblings, since they were abandoned on the same night, looked just like each other, and were the same age," she rambles, scrunching her nose in concentration to remember from the diaries of the court scribes. "I know there was more, I just can't remember Harry."
He then realizes she is holding a worn-looking book. "What's that?" he asks, pointing at it.
She holds it up carefully. "It's a copy of Nefertiti's diary I'm practicing translating into Arabic and English," she murmurs with a blush. "I can read and speak a little Ancient Egyptian, but I have a hard time reading English unless I translate it from Arabic."
Before he can reply with more than an excited grin, Petunia leads her family back to them, nose in the air. "Bahira, would you show us to the relics?" she asks, almost harshly.
She nods quickly, and gestures for them to follow her. "The museum in London has more of the relics than we have here, but the things we have are from the reigning years of every pharaoh, and some of their journals." She leads them to the exhibit across the hall from the display of Seti in his chariot. "Most of the medallions, coins, and tools are from villages near the temples, or the secret Sah-Netjers of the priests of Anubis. The diaries were donated by the descendants of the people who wrote in them, and are still being translated."
Petunia goes to ask her about something, but screams at the sight of something behind Bahira and Harry. The two children whirl around as Vernon shouts for help, and find Imhotep standing behind them, his face only partially decomposed, eyes gleaming with victory and determination as his gaze rests on the little girl before him.
Her eyes widen as she backs away from him quickly, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him with her as she stares unblinkingly at the Creature.
"Bahira, you know where to find my daughter," he growls, following her slowly, gaze only flicking over Harry before returning to the girl. As the blood drains from her face, he commands her, "Tell me where she is."
"ARDETH!" she screams at the top of her lungs as he lunges forward.
He explodes into sand, sweeping her away from Harry and he reforms into a human form a moment later in the doorway, holding a struggling Bahira around her waist. "Let her go!" Harry shouts, a need to protect her taking hold. Wind whips around in the room, and nearly knocks the Creature off his feet.
It catches Imhotep's attention, and he stares at the little boy. "Ammon?" He finally takes a closer look at the struggling girl in his arms. "Rania?!" he gasps, and he tries to readjust his grasp of the child in his arms to hug her more than restrain her.
She keeps squirming, and neither of the children notice the dried husks of Petunia and Vernon deeper in the room, or the unconscious Dudley behind the much thinner husk of his father. "Bahira!" comes the cry of a woman.
"Get your hands off'a her!" Rick shouts, drawing his guns but unwilling to shoot for fear of accidentally hurting Bahira and knowing it's useless against the mummy already.
The ringing of metal fills the air as Ardeth and Terrence draw their swords, before the tension is cut by Daniels running up, holding Evy's white cat, which hisses angrily at the rough treatment.
Imhotep's stolen eyes widen, and his jaw drops, letting loose a terrified screech. As he backs away, cringing, his grip on his captive loosening enough for her to break his hold and run to Harry in the room, regretfully behind the mummy.
"Harry, this way!" she whispers, dragging him deeper into the dimly lit room and past glass cases filled with sarcophagi missing their mummy occupants. As they draw to a stop, Harry pulls her into a small space between a case and the wall.
As she tries to protest, he covers her mouth, and shakes his head. He keeps a tight grasp of her hand as another screech fills the room, before sand washes over them, almost embracing them before vanishing, leaving the two shivering in fear in the small space.