So it's been a bit longer than I intended between updates, my bad! Just haven't had any kind of motivation to write, but hopefully that'll change!
Hope you like it!
Chapter 3: Search For The Answer
Music infiltrated Beth's dreamless sleep, slowly tugging her from it with a soft moan. She buried deeper under the covers, covering her head with her pillow, but the music continued. Her hand emerged from the blanket, patting down the spot she would normally keep her phone, but didn't feel anything.
"What..." she mumbled, pushing herself up so the blanket fell from her. Stumbling out of bed, she managed to reach her jacket, which was slung over the chair in her room. Rooting around for the cause of the music, Beth finally pulled her phone from her pocket and groaned when she saw multiple missed calls from Marie. "Hello?" she greeted with a yawn.
'Finally!' she pulled the phone away from her ear as she heard Marie's exclamation. 'Open your door, now,' she ordered. Beth raised an eyebrow, and walked through the apartment. When she reached the door, she opened it to reveal Marie standing there. "Are you okay?" Marie asked her before Beth could say anything.
"Yeah I'm fine...just a little tired," Beth replied, letting her in and shutting the door behind her.
"What the hell happened last night?" Marie demanded, her voice still frantic. "All those exhibits going nuts, it was insane! And you, I saw you on the ground!" she insisted, turning to face her. Worry was clear across her face, and Beth looked away, guilty.
"I don't know what happened," she told her.
"The fire, it was you, wasn't it?" Marie's voice was softer, and Beth didn't answer. "Beth, what happened?" she asked, desperate to know what happened. With a sigh, Beth led her into the sitting room, taking a seat. She tugged at the top she had slept in, struggling to remember actually getting and and changing.
"I...I lost control last night. That's why the fire went crazy. I'm sorry," Beth admitted, not meeting her gaze.
"And everything else going nuts?" Marie asked her again.
"I don't know," Beth answered honestly, shaking her head.
"You know something, Beth. Please. Don't leave me out of this. I was so worried about you," Marie pleaded, taking her hands. Beth didn't answer, closing her eyes as her guilt gnawed at her. "Beth...please. You trusted me with your secret...trust me with this," Marie pleaded, her voice shaky. Beth sighed, before standing up.
"You'll never believe me," she shook her head.
"Beth, you control the elements, I doubt there's anything you can tell me that I won't believe," Marie managed a smile, and Beth resisted snorting in disbelief.
"Okay..." she sighed. "I can't believe I'm going to tell you but..." Beth turned to her. "The Night Program, it's a sham," she admitted, and Marie's eyes went wide. Beth avoided her gaze, her heart slamming against her chest. She couldn't believe what she was doing. But she didn't have a choice, not after the events of the previous night.
"Um...what?" she stared at her.
"The exhibits, they aren't robots or actors. They're the same exhibits you see during the day on display," Beth explained, and Marie stared at her blankly. "Ahk's...Ahkmenrah's Tablet, it's magical. It brings everything in the Museum to life at night. From sunset to sunrise, Teddy, Rexy, even the miniatures, they're alive," she told Marie, before taking a breath and sat down on the armchair, pulling her legs up.
"Alive..." Marie repeated. "Okay, yeah, I think you found something I can't believe," she shook her head.
"It's true!" Beth insisted.
"As much as I want to doubt you...I don't think even you could come up with something so ridiculous," Marie couldn't help but laugh. "But what has that got to do with why everyone went nuts last night? It would make more sense if they were machines," she pointed out. Beth looked away.
"I don't know. There's something wrong with the Tablet. That's why my powers went nuts as well," she explained with a shake of her head. Seeing Marie's expression become confused again, she gave a wry smile. "My powers are connected to the Tablet as well. Ever since..." she trailed off, biting her lip.
"Ever since what?" Marie asked, eager. She always hated how secretive Beth was, and now she was finally getting some more answers. And she wasn't going to let her hide any more. She'd had enough of secrets. Beth sighed, and stood up.
"I better make us some coffee, I have a lot to explain," she decided, and Marie's smile grew even wider as she got comfortable.
Tugging her scarf closer around her face, Beth shivered when a cold wind blew past. She frowned to herself, still struggling to remember how she got home the previous night. She'd been exhausted, and vaguely remembered talking to the taxi driver, but then the next thing she could recall was waking up to her phone ringing.
"Just how did I get home? And changed?" Beth muttered, and shook her head. She was probably so exhausted that she'd gone into auto-pilot. But she hated not remembering things, even if it was something as minor as getting into bed.
"Still hate the cold?" Beth was pulled from her thoughts at the question filled with laughter. She turned to Larry as he approached her, looking amused.
"I was not designed to survive in this weather," she replied as they approached the building in front of them. Larry snorted.
"Yeah, you were just designed to create earthquakes and set fires," he dead-panned. Beth's cheeks, already flushed from the cold, warmed even more. She cleared her throat and turned away with a roll of her eyes.
"Funny. Why are we here?" she asked. She'd received a call from Larry not long after Marie had left, insisting that Beth get some more sleep after the fiasco of the previous night.
"To get a little more insight on the Tablet," Larry held out a piece of paper, and Beth found it contained a photocopy of an old photo. "They're the ones who found it, and Ahk," Beth's eyes widened in surprise, and she looked up at him again. "Just...let me do the talking here, okay? This guy's a little...weird," Larry sighed. Raising an eyebrow, Beth nodded, and followed him inside.
They were directed down the hallway to a rec room, where music was playing loudly, and walked in to see a group of elderly people dancing, with one man surrounded by giggling ladies. Beth couldn't help but giggle, and put a hand to her mouth as Larry nudged her. When he turned around, the man stopped, his pale blue eyes widening as he saw Larry, who raised a hand with a small smile.
"Larry?" he walked over as the music was turned off. "My god, it's been years!" he exclaimed, stunned to see the guard.
"You look like you're doing pretty good," Larry nodded as they shook hands.
"I still got it pal!" the man laughed, and Larry chuckled. "What are you doing here?" he asked, before realising that Beth was standing beside him. "And who's your lovely friend?" he asked.
"Oh, right. Beth, this is Cecil, Cecil, Beth," Larry introduced, and Beth's eyes widened.
"Wait, you mean Cecil Fredericks?!" Beth demanded as the older man went to greet her properly. "You've gotta be kidding me!" Beth took a step back, her dark eyes narrowing at him.
"Beth, don't. I'll explain later," Larry told her quietly.
"You told her about me?" Cecil frowned, some of his friendliness gone.
"No! Of course not," Larry shook his head. Beth scoffed.
"Like I'd be here if he had," she folded her arms, and Larry shot her a look.
"Look Cecil, I need to talk to you, about the Tablet," he told the man.
"What the heck is short-stack doing here?" they looked around to see another two elderly men, one being pushed in a wheelchair, approach.
"Hey Gus, you're looking well," Larry greeted with fake-politeness that was obvious to everyone. Beth pinched the bridge of her nose, unable to believe she was standing with the men who had tried to steal Ahkmenrah's Tablet several years ago. "Reginald," Larry nodded to the man pushing the wheelchair.
"What? Are you here to frame us again? Send us back to the slammer?" Gus asked him suspiciously, glaring up at Larry.
"Okay, I didn't frame you, you were actually stealing," Larry corrected him. Gus' eyes widened as he looked insulted. "And I was the one who got you out of jail, so..."
"Larry, we've got a nice life here, the past is the past, we've moved on," Cecil tried to get his attention again.
"I don't think this guy's moved on," Larry glanced to Gus.
"Listen to him, Monkey-Face," Beth arched her eyebrow at the man's choice of nicknames.
"We've put all that Tablet stuff behind us, Larry, it's old news," Reginald explained.
"Besides, we never really knew anything about that old tablet," Cecil shrugged. "We just worked there," he told them. Beth shrugged.
"Well, you heard them, let's go," Beth went to leave, but Larry caught her arm and stopped her. She let out a huff.
"Something's wrong with it," Larry kept his gaze on Cecil, who paused. He then shrugged again.
"I told you, I can't help you," Cecil's voice was different, less light-hearted. Larry then pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it to him.
"Well, maybe this kid can," Cecil's eyes widened as he found himself staring at a picture taken years ago, when he was a kid, of him with his father and an expedition crew. Beth frowned as she looked at it upside down.
"Maybe we'd better talk alone," Cecil told them quietly, leading Larry and Beth away.
"So, Beth, just how do you know about this?" he asked her as they sat down in the conservatory with coffee. She folded her arms, keeping up her distrustful gaze as he smiled at her.
"I'm a night guard," she told him shortly.
"Oh?" Cecil blinked, surprised, before smiling again. "I suppose your new night program brings in enough that they can have a second night guard," he commented softly.
"Larry, I don't like this. We can figure it out ourselves," Beth scowled, her dislike growing.
"Beth," Larry sighed heavily. "Just let us talk for a bit. There's no harm in it," he told her. Beth turned her scowl on him.
"No harm in it?" her voice rose a little, before she put a hand to her head. The throbbing ache still hadn't gone away. "This is the man who tried to steal Ahk's Tablet, and kept him locked up for years," Beth's voice was more of a growl.
"You're a kind young lady, aren't you? You clearly care for the exhibits there," Cecil smiled at her, not looking the least bit insulted by her words. Beth didn't reply, still scowling as Larry sighed. He knew she was going to be upset, but she'd have been even more upset if he'd gone without her. "Do you need something for that headache?" his pale eyes pierced her, and she glanced away.
"Beth, maybe you should be resting, I mean last night-"
"I'm fine," Beth snapped through gritted teeth. She willed herself to calm down. Letting Cecil into her head was a bad idea. She had a suspicion he could manipulate as well as Kahmunrah, if given the chance.
"Okay," Larry turned his attention back to Cecil. "What can you tell us about this?" he asked. Cecil leaned back in his seat, thinking back to the event in question.
"Expedition like that, pretty amazing thing for a 12 year old boy," he chuckled, looking at the picture again. "I tried to move on, but there was something about that Tablet," Cecil shook his head.
"It's turning green, like, some sort of corrosion," he frowned as Larry told him this. "And...something's happening to Teddy, and Dexter, Jed and Octavius, they're all acting weird," Beth's fist clenched as she thought back to when she'd lost control of her powers. "It's like the green rust is affecting them," Larry commented.
"The end will come..." Cecil's mutter made Beth look at him sharply. His blue eyes were wide and full of worry.
"What?" Larry leaned forwards.
"The locals, they warned us! They begged us to leave that tomb alone. I thought it meant the end of the world," Cecil shrugged, becoming thoughtful. "But maybe it meant..."
"The end of the magic..." Larry muttered quietly. Beth stared at Cecil, her heart pounding painfully against her chest.
"I should have listened...I should have listened," Cecil berated himself, looking away. "Instead we shipped Ahk and the Tablet off to New York, and his folks to England," he shook his head, looking guilty.
"Wait, Merenkahre, and Shepseheret, they were found too? They're in England?" he looked at Beth in surprise as she leaned forwards, not taking her eyes off the man opposite. "Of course, he adored Ahk, of course they'd have been buried together, how did I never consider that?" Beth hissed to herself, putting a hand to her face.
"You say that like-"
"Why are they in England?" Larry interrupted before Cecil could make any accusations.
"It was a joint expedition, some of the artifacts stayed in Egypt. The rest was divided up between New York and the British Museum," Cecil explained, still looking guilty.
"Ahk said his father knew the secrets of the Tablet," Larry glanced to Beth, and Cecil stared at them in alarm.
"Of course he would, while the Tablet is named after Ahk, it was originally something that his dad had before him," Beth nodded. She sighed. Safiya had been killed before she'd learned any of the secrets herself, only that it had been made to honour Ahkmenrah. No wonder Kahmunrah was so bitter.
"I think we're gonna have to talk to him," Larry said to her, and Beth nodded in agreement.
Sorry it's a bit short!
Hopefully I'll have another update for you soon, if I keep my motivation going!
Please review!