Chapter 10: Backgrounds

Bonnie had to hand it to the librarian, he was clever. Very clever.

Not only had they found a chamber underneath Anubis' legs, William had an idea to get the book out from underneath the other Americans. William, Jonathan and Bonnie found boxes to stand on and got to chopping away at the ceiling while Hassad watched, looking extremely bored.

"According to these hieroglyphics, we're underneath the statues," William said as he hammered away at the ceiling. "We should come up right between his legs."

"And when those damn Yanks go to sleep...no offense," Jonathan started.

"None taken," Bonnie replied with a grunt, still hammering into the ceiling.

"...we'll dig our way up and steal that book right out front under them."

"Are you sure we can find this secret compartment thing?" Bonnie asked as the three of them continued scraping and chopping away.

"Oh yes, if those gun happy Americans haven't beat us to it," William replied, then he looked at Bonnie. "No offense."

Bonnie chuckled, yanking on the hammer. "None taken," she answered.

Jonathan looked around the room suddenly. "Hey, where'd our smelly little friend get to?" he asked out loud.

Bonnie gazed around, not seeing Hassad and shrugged before going back to chipping away, pieces of the ceiling falling along with sand. "Who cares? I don't."

"Why not?"

Bonnie gave Jonathan a look of incredulity. "He was going to execute me. Or did you forget about that?"

"Well, you are a deserter. That is frowned upon."

Bonnie chuckled, still hammering away at the ceiling. "That's an understatement."

"Why did you desert the Legionnaires?"

Bonnie paused for a moment, not exactly sure she wanted to reveal much about her past. There wasn't much to say about it, really. She had a normal upbringing (a few exceptions withstanding) with her parents until her father, Jack O'Connell, disappeared one day. Her mother, Caroline, passed away shortly after, leaving little Bonnie to fend for herself in an orphanage in Cairo. Without a whole bunch of positive influence, Bonnie was left to her own devices and became a con woman and a thief. Over the years, she obtained a small group of associates and acquaintances to help in her survival until some French soldiers saw her potential and took her in as a special circumstance.

After the battle of Hamunaptra, Bonnie didn't feel she had much of a choice but to settle back in her old ways.

So, Bonnie merely shrugged and chiseled away some more. "I dunno, seemed like a good idea at the time."

William frowned at her. "Your view of good ideas are questionable."

Bonnie raised a brow at the librarian, lowering the hammer in her hand. "And yet I'm still alive."

Bonnie knew she was practically driven by an uncanny instinct, not exactly possessing a knack for ancient knowledge in books, but she knew what worked to survive and it hadn't failed her.

Yet.

"So after fighting here, you just, what, wandered the desert?" Jonathan asked.

"Kinda," Bonnie replied before going back to the task at hand.

The other two continued working and an awkward silence fell among them for about thirty minutes before conversation picked up once more, but for the few hours after that, they didn't really exchange pleasantries. Jonathan eventually got bored and decided to work on his golf game. William and Bonnie figured they could take a break at that point. The silence, however, was heavy, so Bonnie decided to improve the situation as she pulled out some bread and started eating it.

"So what exactly is it that you do, Jonathan?" she asked softly, nibbling on her bread.

"I go where the money is," he remarked playfully.

"And the women," William added with a teasing tone. "And the liquor. And the gambling."

"Oh you hush up," Jonathan quipped. "I'll have you know, little brother, that the life of an unsettled bachelor, drunk and gambler suits me just fine."

William scoffed before digging into his satchel for something to eat. "It's going to get you killed one day if you don't grow up."

"Why would I want to grow up?" Jonathan asked, causing Bonnie to snicker at the two bickering siblings as she chomped into more bread. "The idea of adulthood is quite ghastly, in my humble opinion."

"Humble, my arse," William argued as Jonathan hit another pebble with the mattock he was holding.

"I think I have to agree with Jonathan," Bonnie pointed out. "Being an adult is not what it's cracked up to be." William rolled his eyes and Bonnie chuckled. "But you, Mr. Carnahan...I think adulthood suits you quite well."

William gave the female adventurer a confused look. "It does. Someone has to be the responsible adult around here."

"Yes, and I don't think anyone else could do the job as well as you can." This actually caused William to blush and Bonnie wondered why she was flirting with the man. He was not her type at all. Then again, her type of man proved to be rather disappointing. Maybe she needed to know more before she could decide on what kind of man William was. "So did you study somewhere to be a librarian?"

After taking a bite of food, William shook his head. "I did study at Oxford, to be an archeologist. I'm quite the Egyptologist, too."

"Yes, I noticed. So you know everything about ancient Egypt?"

"Just about."

"So you know how they did the whole..." Bonnie paused, trying not to sound stupid in front of the Oxford graduate. "...dead preparation stuff."

William laughed and Bonnie immediately felt like an idiot. "Mummification is the proper term, but yes, I know how they did it." The man scooted closer to her with a mischievous grin. "Would you like to hear about it?"

With a smirk, Bonnie took another bite of bread. The look in William's eyes gave it away that he absolutely loved giving an education to anyone interested enough. And she was definitely interested. And while she had a basic understanding of how dead bodies were dealt with in ancient times, no one ever took the time to fully explain it to her. "Absolutely," she replied.

William smiled brightly and settled himself more comfortably. "So...when someone died, it was announced to the people. A messenger would be sent out to inform the population of the passing, and this would give them time to mourn and grieve depending on the importance and wealth of the one who had died because, well, not everyone was allowed to go through the process."

"Why not?"

"It was only really reserved for pharaohs or people with lots of money."

Bonnie blinked. "So...only rich people and leaders were allowed to go to the afterlife?"

"No. Everyone was allowed to go to the afterlife. The difference is what means were used to get there to ensure it."

"I see. I'm sorry, I'm not..." the ex-soldier frowned, wondering why this man was able to make her feel so unsure of herself. "...very educated."

William smiled at her softly before patting her knee. "Just because you're not educated doesn't mean you are without potential or wit, Miss O'Connell. Now..." he removed his hand and took another bite of food as Jonathan continued whacking away at rocks. "The mummification process evolved over time but it was believed that drying out the organs and body with various substances would help it remain intact for the journey into the afterlife."

Bonnie tilted her head to the side in fascination as William had talked. She was aware that organs were removed prior to the burial, but she wanted to hear him talk about it anyway. "So let me get this straight," she began. "They ripped out your guts, and they stuffed them in jars."

"And then they take out your heart as well," he answered excitedly. "Oh! And you know how they took out your brains?"

"Will, I don't think we need to know this," Jonathan interrupted, but William ignored him while waving a sharp tool about to emphasize what was done to the brain during mummification.

"They'd take a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit and then rip it all out through your nostrils."

Bonnie instinctively grasped her nose with a giggle. "Oh, that's gotta hurt."

"Well, you're dead when they do this," William reminded.

Bonnie looked at Jonathan. "For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification," she said as a joke.

"Likewise," Jonathan said before hitting a rock.

Suddenly the ceiling broke open and a large object dropped down in front of Bonnie and William, causing them both to jump up in surprise. Jonathan slowly turned around as the other two stared at the object.

"Oh my God," William said in disbelief. "It's a...it's a sarcophagus." They all looked up at the now gaping hole. "Buried at the base of Anubis. He must have been someone of great importance..." he then paused and looked at Bonnie. "Or he did something very naughty."

Bonnie raised her eyebrows at the librarian. "Well, hopefully it's the first thing," Jonathan said with a smile.

The adventurer had a feeling, however, that it was actually the latter.