❝death is only the beginning.❞
Mara El-Masri's fascination with the long-ago world of ancient Egypt started with the stories her stepfather would tell her when she was a child. Her brother Talib El-Masri is missing, left after their mother's funera...
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ABU SIMBEL HAD THE MOST PUZZLING SANDCASTLE. Unlike the previous sandcastles Alex had left them, this one wasn't in the shape of any historical site along the Nile River; instead Alex had sculpted the sand into something that resembled a hieroglyphic arrow, pointing southeast of Abu Simbel, as if the bracelet hadn't shown him a place this time and just a direction. There had been some discussion about it, but Evy, understanding her son completely, interpreted this as meaning if they followed the Nile southeast they would soon arrive to Ahm-Shere and find him. So they changed their direction to the southeast.
Almost a week had passed since the bracelet opened. There was now a day and a half before the seventh day, the day the Scorpion King would wake and bring with him the Army of Anubis if he's not killed before then. The closer the deadline (that meant literally) came, the anxiety and worry among them grew and grew. It had been one thing when they were following sandcastles. Now that they were following a straightforward direction to Ahm-Shere, no more stops between arriving to the oasis, things were different. There was only a day and a half to get to Ahm-Shere and rescue Alex, only a day and a half to stop Imhotep and the Scorpion King.
The books from the museum Mara had thought to bring were turning out to have been a better idea than she thought; they had wound up being passed between all of them, though Rick and Jonathan had mostly seemed to read them to pass the time rather than looking intently for information about the Oasis of Ahm-Shere or the Scorpion King, as the others were doing. Mara had spent the entirety of the previous day making notes in her journal while reading one of them, specifically searching for anything, even the smallest detail, about the gold pyramid. There didn't seem to be much more than what she already knew about it, but that was admittedly expected. There wasn't anything other than myth and legend. If anyone had ever been to Ahm-Shere, they died there.
The thought was unnerving and terrifying. Throughout history three of the world's most notorious leaders had all sent troops to locate Ahm-Shere and its secrets and gold, and not one of them returned. Either they perished in the desert or they found the oasis and died there. What awaited them there now? Was death just around the corner for them? Would they become just another story of people who didn't survive Ahm-Shere? Mara hoped there was another answer to it, and prayed that they would be the first ones to survive.
At about midday Mara decided to move from her original spot overlooking the Nile to sit instead by Jonathan at the head of the ship as he read one of the books from the museum, asking of him after noticing his disinterested expression, "Are you enjoying the read?"
Jonathan was visibly pleased to have a reason to close the book and practically slammed it shut as he turned to her and replied, "Oh, very."
"You look it."
"You jest but you forget it makes you even more adorable in my book," Jonathan said, leaning forward to quickly kiss the tip of her nose. The act made her laugh. "Now tell me, darling, do you think there's actually a huge diamond at the top of the pyramid at Ahm-Shere?"
