Oh look! She updated!

"I honestly don't know what to think, Nicky. She's a headcase! Dark forces that want to kill me – I feel like I'm a part of a bad slasher movie or something."

"You do know that's what the main character always says before she gets killed, right?"

Effie elbowed Nicky lightly in the shoulder. The pair were in the school canteen – the only place they really got to talk seeing as they didn't share many classes – discussing the weird conversation Effie had held with Marie Laveau the night before. Naturally, Effie was convinced that the 'Voodoo Queen' was stuck in her past and probably in shock over her re-awakening, but Nicky wasn't so quick to dismiss her ideas. He looked at stories of the occult and magical happenings in a different light now that he knew about the museum.

"Do you still have that packet of salt on you," he asked, and she patted her pockets.

"Yes – not because I think it's true or anything but because I just wanted it with me. It's evidence, you know?"

"Suuurrre."

"Nick!"

A group of about five of Nicky's friends walked past, nodding their greetings, and Effie noticed that Rachel Monte – her airy blonde acquaintance – was tagging along behind, an instantly felt a pang of guilt over how little she'd talked to her sort-of-friend as of late.

"Hi Effie," she greeted shyly, and Effie patted the seat next to her.

"Hi Rachel. Here, come and sit with us."

"Sorry Effie, but I've already said I'd sit with this lot."

The group moved on.

"Rejection." Nicky taunted, and Effie poked out her tongue.

"Whatever – anyway, back to the task at hand. What do I do about Laveau?"

"I think you should talk to her again," Nick said after a moment of contemplation. "Ask her what she really means about hurting you and stuff."

"I'm not sure if I want to speak to her again, to be honest. It was a strange experience."

"I'll come with you for moral support. We'll do it tonight, okay?"

"Deal."

Keeping to his promise Nicky stuck by Effie's side as they hunted out the Voodoo Queen at the Museum that night, dodging the ever-enthusiastic crowd of mock-footballers in the lobby and the usual chaos of dancing and fighting. They found her in the corridor near to Ahkmenrah's tomb, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed and her fingers pressed to her forehead with a perplexed expression. The pair shared a glance before approaching.

"Um, hello? Mrs Laveau?" Nicky started nervously, and the Queen's eyes popped open. She gazed a Nick silently for a moment, before her eyes slid over to settle on Effie.

"What can I do for you, children."

"I want to talk to you about the stuff you told me yesterday – about dark forces and evil," Effie started, deciding to go straight to the point.

Marie Laveau laughed quietly and smiled to herself, pushing back off the wall.

"I knew you would. You have a sceptical mind, I have told you that. What would you like to know first?"

"Why me? Why would 'forces' want to hurt me? I haven't ever done anything."

"It is not you who is the prime target, Effie."

"But… then who is?"

"The Pharaoh you are all fond of. Ahkmenrah."

Nicky's eyes grew wide, and Effie looked momentarily nonplussed.

"Again, why? What has he done?"

"A great crime long ago, which has not been forgotten by the victim."

Effie and Nick shared another look, this time one confusion.

"Explain?"

"All I can tell you is this: Your Pharaoh did a great injustice to somebody during his life, somebody with the power to then take away his afterlife. What the victim did not realise was the true potential of the tablet, and so Ahkmenrah was granted another chance at happiness after death. The victim wants to make this as dis-pleasurable as possible in return."

"Where does hurting me come into this?"

"Ahkmenrah has seen an innocent little girl tortured and killed for his actions once before. To see it again would bring back both intensely painful memories and pile the weight of guilt of the deaths upon his back to such a degree it would be unbearable. I am guessing that the girl to be hurt would be you, as you are the only young girl who knows him well enough for your death to have an impact on him. I cannot know for certain, however. I had forgotten about the presence of a second young child…" her gaze shifted back onto Nicky, and he swallowed audibly.

"Pray tell how you became privy to such information, Laveau, considering that you were born a good four-thousand odd years after Ahkmenrah's death and all"

"Little girl, I am a woman of magic. A magic only heightened by the presence of such a powerful device as the tablet. I can see and know what you cannot. That is all I can tell you."

"Why should we believe you."

"Why shouldn't you?"

"Because it all sounds mental, if I'm being honest."

"It matters not whether you believe it or not, children, what matters is your protection."

"Right, and why do you care about us again?"

"I had a little girl once. A little girl exposed to the dangers of magic from a very young age, and it terrified me at times. I may be a Voodoo Queen but I am also a woman and a mother. No young child should be harmed by my craft if they have done no wrong. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"What form are these 'forces' going to be in – if they are going to 'be' at all." The sarcasm was heavy in Effie's tone and Marie noted it with a raised eyebrow.

"A person, child. A person possessed. It could be anybody of the forces' choosing. I already have my suspicions but…"

Laveau left the sentence hanging.

"But?"

"I shall make no accusations until I am certain."

"How did the 'forces' get here?" Nicky piped up for the first time. "If they're from Ahk's past then how are they here now?"

"The same way he is, boy. Via the magic of the tablet. Like I said; it is a powerful device. My guess would be that upon realising its power Ahkmenrah's victim somehow channelled himself through it."

"So they were magical as well, I suppose."

"Great magic existed in those days."

"Did it hell!" Effie spluttered.

"Do you not know your history?"

"I know a fair amount about ancient Egypt, yes. Enough to know that there was no such thing as magic then, either."

"What about the priesthoods?"

"The priesthoods? They may have pretended to possess great divine power to keep up their influence but it didn't really exist, did it. It was all about power and control, really."

"Perhaps for the majority, but not for all."

Effie said nothing, but her expression was one of disbelief.

"I find it remarkable that you can deny what is right before you. How can you refuse the existence of magic when you wax and bodies come to life every night? When you see the glow of the tablet?"

Effie sighed and fell silent for a moment. Her head tilted upwards as she thought. She had given the question of the tablet a lot of time for contemplation in the months that she had known of it's power, and she still didn't have a solid answer. Her conclusion could only be that there wasn't an answer for the moment.

"I stand by the fact that there isn't a magical force at work, Marie," she said after a while, "but I believe there is a scientific explanation. A science that we haven't discovered yet, and know nothing about, but a science nonetheless."

"Couldn't magic be that science?"

Effie didn't have an answer.

"I will leave you, children, to contemplate what I have said. Think carefully and act carefully."

The Voodoo Queen turned her back suddenly and glided down the corridor, leaving Nicky and Effie confused and conflicted in her wake.

"What do we do, Effie? Do we tell Ahkmenrah or not?"

Nicky and Effie had taken refuge from the noise and chaos of the museum in the worker's lounge, where they could discuss the situation in peace.

"In the unlikely case that Marie Laveau is right and Ahkmenrah is in danger, I would still propose that we don't tell him for now. Part of the worst thing for Ahkmenrah that Laveau mentioned was overbearing guilt of memories, so we don't want to inadvertently remind him of that."

"So who do we tell?"

"Your dad, definitely," Effie said firmly, and Nicky nodded. "It's hard to decide who else because Laveau said that these 'dark forces' would possess anyone if they existed."

"What about Teddy? And Sacajawea? We have always been able to trust them. And Jedediah and Octavius – they're to small to be any real threat."

Effie nodded in agreement.

"How about any of the new exhibits?"

"No," Effie said firmly. "Seeing as they are so new they would be the most likely candidates for possession. We wouldn't know them enough to notice a difference."

"Marie Laveau was the last one to be put on the list," Nick pointed out, and Effie pursed her lips in thought.

"I forgot to ask her about that. About how she managed to get McPhee to put her on there."

"We'll ask tomorrow."

The pair settled into a tense silence.

"Effie, can I ask you something?" Nicky began tentatively.

"Yes, of course."

"If you are so sceptical of this all being real, why are you sat here having this conversation with me? About helping Ahk?"

Effie was silent for a few minutes, chewing on the end of her thumbnail.

"Because," she said after a while, "because Ahkmenrah is a friend, and despite the fact that this whole situation is probably 99.999 percent utter rubbish, I'm not going to risk not doing anything and getting him hurt. Its like if a person were to post an obviously fake and ludicrous threat to George Bush's life his security team would still investigate it even if it weren't likely to be true."

"Okay, I get it. So do you have any ideas as to who the possessed person might be?"

"Not really. I suppose we've got to think about who seems to be going for us and for Ahk the most. It's only been a few days with the new exhibits so we'll have to wait and see and do some brainstorming."

"But first we tell my dad."

"Yes, definitely. Come on – we'll find him now."

Bit of a weak ending but what can you do.

Yes, I am finally moving it on a little. 16 odd chapters in and I haven't started the story. What a fail I am.

Have been spurred into writing a music/book review blog.

http:/sophienoteworthy(dot)blogspot(dot)com/

See reason below.*

*I am going to have a rant about something very unrelated. Don't feel as if you have to read it, but it will make me feel better.

Rant/

I really really really hate Itunes.

Really.

Why? Alright, firstly their song archive is a load of shite. I don't know about the US version specifically if you want anything outside of the top 40 hits or the classic oldies on the UK version, you are stuffed. Either that or your pay twelve odd pounds for an album to be ordered in.

Secondly, there is Ping. Ping is that music sharing/social network system they set up so people could supposedly follow all of their favourite bands and get recommendations based off those, as well as talk to people with similar tastes etc etc etc. I signed up, went on, and followed all the bands I liked. Namely, the following.

Evanescence. Within Temptation. Nemesea. Emilie Autumn. The Pierces. Crystal Castles. Radiohead. EarlyRise. KoRn. Therion. Leaves' Eyes. Adele. Marina and the Diamonds. Enya. Nightwish. Lacuna Coil. The Bangles. The Buggles. The Beatles. Sirenia. Almora. U2. Coldplay. Travis. Train. Bjork. PJ Harvey. Jack Off Jill. Die Antwoord.

More but the list is getting too long.

Here are the artists/bands I was 'recommended' supposedly relating to my likes and follows.

Rihanna. Justin Beiber. Bruno Mars. Lady Gaga. Katy Perry. Glee Cast. Tinie Tempah. Britney Spears. P!nk. Jason Derulo. Jennifer Lopez. Kesha. Enrique Eglasias. Taio Cruz. Christina Aguileira. Shakira. Kelly Clarkson. Avril Lavigne. Miley Cyrus. Iyaz. Adam Lambert. The Script. Selena Gomez and the Scene. Demi Lovato. Ashley Tisdale. Cheryl Cole. Taylor Swift.

MILEY. CYRUS.

KATY FUCKING PERRY.

It also recommended a bunch of 'friends' who I'd 'get along with.'

One of them was called 'twilightfreak_kardashian!:D'

Clearly the 'oh so innovative' Ping (A.k.a BULLFUCKINGSHIT-ing) is just another marketing incentive programmed to recommend that users buy from the artists the majority of the young-ping-using-world likes (and some of the most expensive. Hmmmm) and it's only people like myself who don't actually listen to them that notice that it's a load of cows bollocks.

Fuck Ping. Fuck ITunes. Pirate Bay all the way.

/rant.

Does anybody know of any GENUINE websites for music recommendations and forums relating to your tastes?

Please?

Review shout out time:

Tybs23: Thank you! They are both very stubborn individuals who think quite highly of themselves (in my eyes.) I guess it's all part of being a King. Marie is mysterious, but ultimately very important :) NOOOOOOO I MADE A MISTAKE. CURSE MY LIFE. D: D: D: Thank you for pointing it out though. Feel free to let me know of any more. X.

ShiningGalaxy: Ooohh pretty name :D Thank you for reviewing both! Yes he swore :P He can't always come across as an innocent little thing :D X

LuvDanceGirl: Tension for the win. X

Pinkxjellybean: Ahk will rip into him in the future, rest be assured. It will be hilarious. But bloody. No just funny and maybe a bit humiliating :D X

DawnMist: Yes it came across exactly how it was supposed to! X

Giving everybody little X's because I'm a top lass.

Rage.