It wasn't difficult at all for Kit to join the linguists at the British Museum in transcribing Latin texts from the new Imperial Roman acquisitions, especially when the curator of the Egyptian studies recommended her. The only flaw in Kit's education was that she had never learned how to use a typewriter and transcribed everything by hand. That was easily taken care of by department secretaries who were more than willing to type up Kit's notes. The days began acquiring a common schedule: Rick would drop off Alex at school and then take Evelyn and Kit to the British Museum. They would often take the midday meal with Alex at his school before returning to the museum for the afternoon, and then Rick would pick them up after he picked up Alex and the family would return home. Their routine became familiar and cozy and was sometimes punctuated with visits by Jonathan and sometimes Katrina, whose enthusiasm for Egyptian antiquity could match Evelyn's at times.
"Alex!" A blessed Saturday had come and after breakfast Alex was found at his desk in his room, chin sat in his hand as he worked on his Latin homework. He turned his head to see his aunt in the doorway of his room, grinning broadly. "I got paid yesterday. What say you and I head into town and catch a play?"
"Oh yeah, let's!" Alex exclaimed, dropping his pencil. He rose and then paused. "But –" He looked to his despised Latin homework and then back to his aunt. "Mum won't be pleased if I don't finish my homework."
"Bring it with us!" Kit encouraged. "We're taking the motorbus for most of the way, and I'll help you."
Rick took them to the nearest motorbus station and the two were soon rumbling along towards downtown London. With Kit's help, Alex's homework was finished by the time they stepped off the motorbus in the West End. "What shall we see then?" Kit asked her nephew, looking at the various marquees as they passed by streets with lines of theatres. "Love on the Dole? Merrily We Roll Along?"
"How about The Farmer Takes a Wife?" Alex suggested. "It looks funny."
The tickets were bought for the matinee and the two filed into the theatre. The comedy set the audience into frequent peals of laughter and as curtain call began, Kit turned to Alex. "I need to go to the powder room, Alex. Wait outside for me – don't leave sight of the theatre. Here," She handed him a couple of pounds. "See if you can find yourself a treat or two. I'll be out in a jiffy."
Alex had an allowance, but was never given entire pounds by his parents for spending money, especially not for something like food from vendor's carts! After the applause had died away and the curtain went down, Alex marched outside with the other patrons and began looking for places to spend his money. He bought himself a hot meat pie and a bag of popped corn and a large bag of toffees from the street peddlers lining the street outside the theatre.
Minutes had passed and the hot pie was finished just as the other theatres opened their doors, letting a deluge of patrons flood the street. Alex had found himself a bench to sit on and as he saw all the people swamping the street, the sudden fear that he wouldn't be able to spy his aunt overwhelmed him. "Auntie Kit?" Alex called into the crowd. There was no sign of recognition or reply. Alex couldn't see over all the people to find his aunt, so instead he placed his bag of popcorn and toffee on the bench and stood. Above the crowd onto the other side of the street, he finally spotted his aunt talking to someone swathed in red. "Auntie Kit!" Alex called, but he was afraid he couldn't be heard over the theatre patrons. He lost sight of his aunt once more as yet another theatre released their patrons into the street.
"Alex!" Kit suddenly emerged from the crowd, her arms enveloping her nephew. "Goodness, if I knew how many shows released at once, I would have never left you alone." She told her nephew. They waited on the bench as the crowd finally died down.
"I saw you over there – Who was the person in red?" Alex queried.
"Some gypsy offering to read my fortune." Kit replied. "I didn't know gypsies came into London. He proved slightly difficult to rebuff." The theatre patrons finally diminished to a trickle and Kit pointed her feet towards the motorbus stop. "Let's head back home – maybe pick your mum up some flowers on the way, eh?" And with that, the pair set off down the street to begin their journey back to the O'Connell mansion.
"I did not sleep a wink last night." Evy yawned as she and Kit entered the British Museum Monday morning.
"Why's that?" Kit asked, her finger tracing down the page of acquisitions she was responsible for translating that week.
"Nightmares – You know, ghosts from yesterday." Evy replied. She and Rick and Alex hadn't breathed a word to her about Imhotep, Hamunaptra, or Ahm Shere and they planned not to. One didn't really understand unless they went through it themselves. Best case scenario would entail the person just thought the O'Connells were nuts. Sometimes Evy had nightmares of Imhotep completing the ritual on her, turning her body into nothing but a shell for Anck-su-namun to use as her own. Other times it was of the day she died, feeling completely helpless as Rick begged her not to go…
"I've had my shares of those." Kit replied. She gave Evy's arm a little squeeze and looked at her list. "I should get going to the transcription office. See you at noon?"
"Of course." And with that, Evy went to the corridor to the left and Kit continued on. Evy's office had once belonged to Hafez, but when he "disappeared," Evy had been given his position as curator of Egyptian artifacts and antiquities as well as his office. It was a bit big and had been kept completely shuttered by its previous occupant, but Evy made sure plenty of sunlight and pictures of her family brightened the place up. Her desk was kept tidy for the amount of papers and reports on it. With a sigh, she pulled out her typewriter and fed a new piece of paper into the machine. The report on the scroll just had to be typed and the artifact was already in the museum's possession, but as Evy sat with her fingers perched on the keys she could not find motivation to write. The curator stifled a yawn and pulled out her notes and a correction pen. Within moments of glancing over her notes, her eyes grew heavy as her chin rested on her hand. Slowly but surely, Evy's eyes closed.
She called out in Egyptian. "Amunet! Amunet, where are you?" The courtyard was rimmed by columns painted blue-green. The Egyptian sun lit the place with golden light and caused the lotus pool in the center to sparkle and dance, reflecting shimmering light on the hieroglyphed walls. "Amunet..." Evy called once more. "Hmm… She must not be here anymore… I wish I knew where she was!" A glance at her reflection in the lotus pool revealed that she was a teenage girl, her hair dark and hung with gold and beads. "I guess I should go find her elsewhere…" With that, Evy whipped around one of the columns, her arms picking up the younger dark haired girl hiding there. "Got you!" Her fingers tickled the girl's ribs and laughter echoed around the courtyard.
"Almost got you though, didn't I 'tiri?" Amunet asked, laughing.
"Yes you did!" Evy set Amunet down. "Now you count."
Amunet turned back to the column, hiding her face against it. "One, two, three –"
"Evelyn!" Her office door opened and Evy jerked out of her dream, her hand slipping off her hand for a moment. Kit entered, a scroll in her white-gloved hands. She stopped as Evy stifled a yawn. "Oh, I apologize were – were you sleeping?"
"For a moment." Evy replied with a smile. "I'll get some tea and wake right up, don't worry." Her brown eyes looked to the scroll. "What's that?"
"Well," Kit began, taking a seat on the other side of Evelyn's desk. "I was just working on this scroll from the Imperial Roman collection, and what I've translated is astonishing!" Gently, she unrolled the scroll, showing Evy the Latin words. "This book details a necklace, the necklace of Minerva that would give the wearer immortality, as long as they wore it, and the ability to control anything from 'the smallest grain of sand to the largest ocean.' It's a mythos and artifact I've never heard of, and –"
"Apologies for interrupting, dear, but shouldn't you be bringing this to your supervisor's attention?" Evy asked. Her stomach bubbled with excitement, but Ancient Rome wasn't her forte.
"That's the thing, Evy, it is Egyptian." Kit's mouth broke into a smile. "It was plundered by Octavian after Cleopatra and Marc Antony's death. Octavian changed it to reflect the Roman pantheon." She unraveled more of the scroll, her gloved hands pointing to cartouches copied next to the Latin text. "It was originally known as the Belt of Isis, a gift from Osiris to his bride after Horus was conceived. Her divinity was instilled in it, affecting any mortals who wore the belt."
Evelyn rose from her desk, crossing to get a better look at the scroll. "And – are those directions to a temple?"
Kit nodded. "Apparently Nero gave it to one of his mistresses. Remember the great fire during his reign?" Kit asked with a laugh. "The belt was the cause. He sent it back to Egypt and threw his woman to the lions."
"I know that area." Evy replied. "I've dug near there before – No one's ever found anything like this there! No temple, at least. Which means... It could be untouched!" Evy exclaimed. "This could be the next Tutankhamen's Tomb! We have to go after this!"
"I couldn't possibly agree more." Kit replied, smiling.
"No! Wait; let me rephrase that, hell no." Rick replied to Evy's dig plans that evening after dinner. He paced around their bed, running his hands through his hair. "Do you happen to remember what happened the last time that we went searching for a piece of jewelry associated with a god?!"
"You know very well that I do. I don't appreciate your condescension, dear." Evy replied, her lips pursing. "I am not going to let one bad experience sour the rest of my career –"
"And it's not even that! Rick continued. "We don't have the best track record with Egypt, honey –"
"And yet it's where we met, it's where we fell in love! Our fortune was built there; we have a life there as much as we do here –"
"And involving Kit in this? Honey, I do not have a good feeling about it at all! I don't want to lose… anyone… again." The couple fell silent and Rick took a seat at the end of their bed, holding his head in his hands. "If something were to happen, I just – I couldn't. I couldn't."
Evy climbed onto the bed behind him, draping her arms around him and placing a kiss on his cheek. "I can't imagine what it was like in Ahm Shere before… Before Alex brought me back." She said softly. "Dear, I wish I could have saved you from those terrible hours." She gently turned his head to look at her. "But fear is not going to govern my life. Think on it. I won't make you do anything you don't want to, sweetheart." She kissed him. "I'm going to go. Kit can come if she'd like – I'm your wife and she's your sister, but we're both grown women and can make our own decisions, with or without your support." She gave Rick one more kiss before slipping off the bed. "I'm going to go see how Kit and Alex are doing with the dishes."
In the kitchen, Alex and Kit had finished washing by the time Evy entered the kitchen. "Good job, you lot."
"Auntie Kit made me wash." Alex moaned, holding up his pruned fingers for evidence. "I have old man hands."
"It's a wonder you don't age taking a bath." Kit teased. Alex reached into the sink still full of soapy water and splashed his aunt. She cried out in surprise.
"Alex, you'll make a mess." Evy chided. Alex gave his aunt another splash in insolence.
"You heard your mum!" Kit cried, lunging at Alex with a devious grin. They clashed for a moment but Kit hugged her nephew to herself and dipped her fingers into the soapy foam. "How about a bubble mustache?"
"Agh! No!" Alex struggled as she painted a thin line of bubbles on his upper lip. "Ahh! Geroff! Geroff Auntie Kit!" She plastered a mound of bubbles onto his lips. Alex spluttered. "Uncle!" He begged.
The front door closed. "As in Jonathan?" Evy's brother waltzed into the kitchen, setting his briefcase on the kitchen table. He eyed his bubble-faced nephew and looked to his sister. "What's going on here?"
"Uncle Jon! Help! Auntie has me hostage!"
"Now Kit –" Jonathan reproached, raising a finger in the air. With her spare hand, Kit plucked the washcloth from the water and flung it at the man. It landed with a wet smack on Jon's face and slowly slid off to the floor. "Well, Alex old boy, I was always taught never to hit a girl."
"Very gentleman-like of you." Kit said, choking back laughter as Alex's arms flailed at her and he blew his bubbles off his face.
Jonathan picked up the washcloth and approached the sink, returning the cloth to the water. "Yes, well… I just won't hit you." He snatched a drinking cup from the dish rack, dipped it into the soapy water, and poured it all over Kit's head. Jon cried, "Sic semper tyrannis!" Kit shrieked and released Alex, flying at Jonathan.
"You all –!" Evy cried as Alex took off from the kitchen, followed by a frantic Jonathan and finally Kit. Evelyn pulled the hand towel from the rack near the sink and attempted to clean up the puddled water to little avail. She heard mad laughter from upstairs and abandoned her endeavor just in time to leave the kitchen and witness Jonathan sliding down the banister of the stairs and landing in a huddle at the bottom. He lurched to his feet as Kit bounded down the staircase, pursued by Alex who had somehow secreted a bag of flour from the kitchen and was bombing his aunt and uncle with handfuls of the powder. Kit already looked frosted from her nephew's weapon due to her wet hair and face whereas Jonathan just looked dusty.
"Alex Rupert O'Connell –!"
"What the hell is going on?" Rick asked from the top of the stairs as Kit leaped onto Jonathan's back and disappeared through a doorway, followed by the bombarding Alex.
"It's your sister and your son!" Evy replied.
"No, no, no, your son and your brother." Rick replied, descending the stairs. He wiped a bit of white powder from a nearby bookcase and tasted it. "It's not flour, it's confectioner's sugar." Evy let out a groan of surprise. "Want me to stop them?"
At that moment, Jon trotted back into the main room, Kit still on his back. Alex set his bag of sugar down before giving a running leap onto his aunt's back. Jonathan collapsed on the floor in a tangle of limbs and laughter rang through the front room. "I – I think my ribs are broken." Jonathan wheezed from the floor, laughing as he did so.
"Then why are you laughing?" Kit asked.
"Because it hurts so well!"
Rick cast his wife a look before putting his thumb and forefinger into his mouth and giving a whistle. "Clean up this mess. That is not how we act in this house – Not unless you let me start it." Evelyn gave her husband a chastising look and he just grinned.
The water was wiped up with the sugar and Kit headed for the bath and Alex his room once everything was tidied. Jonathan forgot the reason why he stopped by as well as his briefcase when he took his leave. As Evy turned out the lights downstairs, Rick joined her. "I don't see why we all can't go." Rick offered, touching the subject of the temple and the Belt of Isis. "I think we're more liable to get into trouble here than there. And we know not to put on weird pieces of jewelry or anything."
"We're experts at not getting into trouble by now." Evelyn replied, smiling.
Rick sighed. "I still don't like it, but you're right. Fear isn't going to rule the O'Connells."