Whoever had originally said 'death is only the beginning' was absolutely right, as far as Rick O'Connell was concerned. In the space of the last twelve years, he had met more 'dead' people than an over-achieving grave-digger. But on this particular voyage to the land of sand, snakes, and scarabs, he wasn't concerned with the dead but, rather, with the fact that his beloved wife seemed to think he was one of them.

They had arrived in Egypt with little fanfare and more than one worried glance at the bright sky overhead, half-expecting to see a swarm of locusts or an ominously dark thundercloud speeding towards them. But when nothing of note had happened, aside from Rick flubbing his language and asking for roasted shoe on a stick instead of the more traditional kebab while in the market in Cairo, they began to feel somewhat out of sorts. After Evelyn and the vendor had stopped laughing, that is.

Now they were once again on one of those ever-popular river barges, she with her book and Rick with his collection of weaponry, heading towards the city of Thebes. Farsiris had said that she and Ardeth would be meeting them there and that she would help them find the answers they sought. How exactly Evelyn had managed to make contact with the priestess, however, was a mystery that Rick wasn't sure he wanted to solve. The commonly accepted rules of mortality did not seem to apply to his darling wife, nor her beautiful cousin. Evelyn had been resurrected in Am Shere and then, a few years later, had relived much of her past during their fun-filled quest to save Imhotep, of all people, from eternal misery.

As for Farsiris...well, no one was quite sure exactly what had happened there.

Evelyn had not spoken about what she had seen during those long hours when she had been ensconced in the tent, praying for the safe return of an innocent soul who just happened to be her reincarnated sister from her previous life as Nefertiri. Indeed, Farsiris had not touched upon it either, nor had she explained how it was possible that Selkenauset had gone to the underworld while she still lived. But one thing was certain.

During her conscious tenure in Farsiris' body, Selkenauset had recognized him and her voice had sparked a flare of hope in him that had no root in the modern world. They had not known each other and yet, as chaotic as that day had been for them all, seeing her emerge from the temple with the jar on her shoulder had lifted a tremendous weight from his own shoulders that he had not known to be there in the first place. It could have been a number of things, such as merely seeing her alive and not a walking mummy a la Ankh-Su-Namun, but Rick had stopped believing in coincidences after the fall of Am Shere. There was something he was missing. Some invisible thread bound them all together; him, Evy, Farsiris, and Ardeth. And it was definitely not recent.

Evelyn's visions had returned full force during their first couple of days in Egypt and, among the sputtered words that fell from her lips, there was a strangely familiar name that was now stuck in his head. Nebi-ni-Heru. But though Evelyn knew the meaning of the name, literally 'friend/protector of Horus', she could not explain why it was so familiar to him. Yet another question that he hoped Farsiris would be able to answer or, at least, help them research.

Being a priestess of one of the most important deities in ancient Egypt, she was a nearly endless source of knowledge on the subject of reincarnation, the afterlife, and all things Ancient Egypt. Add to her another reincarnated princess and a Med-jai whose childhood was based around the ancient beliefs, even if he did not practice them, and they made even the vast collection of ancient lore in the Museum of Antiquities look pitiful.

Speaking of the Museum, a brief glance at his wife brought a smile to his face as he noted that she was wearing what he affectionatly called her 'librarian' glasses. Delicate little spectacles that perched almost on the end of her nose and the same ones as she had worn on their first journey together in Egypt when she had been exactly that: a librarian.

And, if her drunken rant in Hampunaptra was anything to go by, she had been proud of it too.

The memory made him chuckle and, in turn, attracted the attention of said wife who lowered her book. One slender eyebrow rose in silent inquiry for a moment before she finally asked "what are you laughing at, honey?".

He had a crooked smile on his face, one that never failed to send soft shivers of warmth through her entire body "I was just remembering the night when we were in Hamunaptra and you drank too much then told me you were going to kiss me before you passed out in my lap" he chuckled.

An adorable blush darkened her cheeks but her eyes sparkled as she set her book down,hinting that she too remembered the night well. "Well, I am completely sober now but..." she leaned in closer until he could smell the scent of sandalwood on her skin, a teasing smile on her face "I am still going to kiss you".

And she did. The kiss more than sufficiently distracted him from what he had been doing and, fortunately, they were in their rooms and not on the public deck. Hands, anxious to touch bare flesh, danced over buttons and fastenings until they fell onto the bed, as naked as the days they were born. However, as her teeth fastened gently on his earlobe, drawing a strangled moan from deep within his throat, a sense of deja-vu hit Rick like a bucket of ice water and he immediately tensed. They had made love many many times over the course of their marriage but this time was different.

He was as hard as stone and, yet, there was something in his mind, an irrational fear of being discovered by someone, that prevented him from going any further. "Rick?" Evelyn's voice broke through his thoughts and her eyes were dark with a mixture of concern and desire "what's wrong?".

Then the air around her seemed to shudder and everything changed.

Suddenly, the man above her was no longer her husband but a well-built, dark haired, man who was strange but familiar and they were no longer on the barge but in an elaborate room with stone walls that were covered in hieroglyphics. The cot bed had been replaced with a pile of soft cushions and, though she was still naked, the strands that strayed across her shoulders and onto the bed were as black as a moonless night, not her soft earthy brown.

Fighting the urge to cover herself with her hands, she scrutinized her companion more carefully, noting the tanned skin, dark hair that brushed his shoulders – a wig, no doubt – and, across his face and biceps, the tattoos that she had seen many times before. On Ardeth. He was beautiful in an exotic way, without the fog of danger that had prevented her from seeing Imhotep's beauty until long after the curse on his ka had been lifted, and his obsidian eyes were free of anger and bitterness.

Her odd English-Egyptian self wasn't sure whether to be shocked or curious about his presence and his obvious nakedness. But the part of her that was reasurred by the weight of cosmetics on her face and the fluid embrace of scented oils on her glistening skin...well, that part was inflamed and eager for what was to come. Until the sound of the door opening made them both look towards the entrance to her room.

Another Med-jai stood in the doorway, his stern face betraying no emotion at their state of undress, but the sadness in his near-black eyes was almost palpable as his warning echoed through the room "you must leave her now, Nebi. Pharaoh has returned".

Evelyn gasped as the entire room shifted and the colours bled until she was back on the cot in their room and Rick was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking as though he would bolt at any moment. Blinking a few times to dispell the last vestiges of the vision, she rose into a sitting position and swallowed hard when she saw that he was rubbing the bridge of his nose as he always did when something bothered him more than he was willing to acknowledge.

But the dark eyes of the other Med-Jai seemed to have burned themselves into her mind and she shifted, drawing the blankets up over her form, suddenly feeling chilled.

"I felt it"

Her eyes snapped up to meet Rick's and she saw that, for once, he was not merely humouring her. Something indefineable lurked just beyond the sky-blue orbs that regarded her intently, as if she knew all the answers. Vaguely, she remembered looking the same way at Farsiris several times during their last adventure and now, in the back of her mind, she wondered what exactly the priestess must have thought of her then.

In what may have been a personal first for her, Evelyn did not know what to say to him. She had no way of explaining why or how he managed to feel this vision when he'd been oblivious to all of the others until she'd told him about them. Other than the very real possibility that he, too, had been reincarnated.

Then there was the fact that this was the first vision she had seen and felt from a first person point of view. On the journey to Am Shere, even though she was there and could feel her emotions responding to the events brought back by Imhotep's memory spell – not to mention nearly throwing herself out of the dirigible- she had been oddly detached as well. Then again, in those visions, there had also been no mention or appearance of this mysterious med-jai who, according to their states of undress, had obviously been her lover.

Filing the images away in the back of her mind, she was just about to make the suggestion that that they speak to someone about their unrest when, as if having read her mind, he straightened suddenly, his lips forming a tight line, and said "we need to talk to Farsiris and Ardeth".

Suddenly, at the mention of the Med-Jai's name, the sad dark eyes on the warrior in her vision returned to the forefront of her mind's eye and the connection clicked into place.

"It was him"

Rick gave her a questioning look and she stood up, not caring in the least when the bedsheet that covered her slid away.

"It was him. The man in the doorway, the one with the sad eyes. It was Ardeth but in his previous life. He was your brother-in-arms and he came into my rooms when we were about to make love to warn us".

"Warn us about what?" he demanded, the words coming out more sharply than he had intended. He sensed that the presence that had disturbed him earlier was the subject of his friend's warning, and immediately felt his heart drop into his feet when he saw tears gathering in her eyes.

"The pharaoh".