Isis

Chapter Three: Questions

Author's Note: It was my birthday week, so I'll be posting two chapters this week instead of one. Happy my birthday. (Please remember, the writing sucks less as we go.)

"Alex O'Connell," Ardeth Bey sighed as though he'd expected this. "What are you doing here?"

Alex glanced at their surroundings. Though he should have expected it (the Med-Jai were, of course, charged with protecting Hamunaptra), he was still surprised. He'd never seen Ardeth actually in Egypt before. Then again, the last time he'd seen Ardeth he'd been about eight.

Ardeth was looking impatiently at Alex.

"My family is here for vacation," explained Alex. "Jonathan, Paige – my friend here, who's staying with us – and I are here on a tour."

Ardeth moved his flashlight around, looking behind Paige and Alex. He frowned.

"I do not see Jonathan or the tour guide," Ardeth pointed out. "Also, tours are not allowed in this part of Hamunaptra. I myself dare not go any further – it is unstable."

"Unstable!" Paige glared at Alex, hitting him in the shoulder. "You didn't tell me that!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know?"

"We ditched Jonathan and the tour," Paige volunteered, and then winced as Alex elbowed her in the ribs.

"You should know better than that, Alex O'Connell," Ardeth chided Alex. Alex gave a weak smile.

"Well...it gets worse."

"Worse? How?"

"Yeah, well, um..." Paige began, smiling weakly. "I, er, that is, we've been raising mummies back to life."

"What 'we'?" Alex demanded. "You're the one that read the spell!"

Paige turned to face Alex. "Well, you're the one who wanted to go in there in the first place!"

"But you-"

Ardeth held up his free hand to silence them and then spoke up. "This is not something to joke about!"

"I'm not joking," Paige insisted. "And it gets worse. I accidentally raised Imhotep."

"The-the Creature?" Ardeth looked a little pale. "That is not possible!"

"I don't know how, but it is. She did it," Alex said, glaring at Paige.

"What?" Paige asked innocently. "It's not like I did it on purpose!"

"How?" Ardeth demanded. "The Book is-"

"I didn't use the book. I saw some glowing writing – hieroglyphs, I mean – nearby. It got brighter and changed colors as I got closer. I kind of...like, lost myself. It felt like nothing in the world existed but the writing. And then I felt myself talking, and then Alex shook me out of it."

"What did you say?" Ardeth demanded.

"No idea."

Alex decided to speak up. "She said something like 'I call Imhotep to me' and something about understanding him...which might be why he can now speak English."

Ardeth looked like he wasn't sure if he should scold them like a parent, or faint. "That is not possible."

"Are you missing everything we said?" Paige asked, frustrated. "We're not stupid enough to pull this as a practical joke! I know it's serious, I know I practically just doomed the whole freaking world, and I-"

Paige stopped abruptly, hearing a scratching sound coming from the walls. Alex and Ardeth seemed to hear it too, and they both looked around in panic.

"What's that?" asked Alex, pressing his ear to the wall to get a better clue as to what the sound could be. Ardeth reached out and jerked Alex away from the wall.