There's A Fine Line Between Coincidence & Fate ✓

Chapter 1

What was I doing? My mom asked me the same question when I told her I would be accompanying my brother on his latest expedition. This was what I had trained for though, I went to school for this. Egyptology had long been a fascination of mine. When I learned that my brother, along with one of my friends from school Bernard Burns, as well as a childhood friend of my brother's, were planning an expedition to a supposed lost city in the middle of the desert in Egypt, I couldn't refuse. Mom didn't understand. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why I would want adventure in far off lands instead of staying home, getting married and popping out a few kids. Of course, that's what she did and where she excelled and my sisters would be sure to follow in her footsteps, but I wanted more. I needed more.

And that was how I found myself on a steamboat heading down the Nile with my brother (mom's only stipulation to me going), Burns, Daniels, another Egyptologist by the name of Dr. Chamberlain (I thought it was unnecessary to have another Egyptologist, but Daniels didn't seem to share my opinions), and our guide. I didn't like the look of him, the guide. He was kinda weaselly, always looking around like he was gonna get caught doing something he shouldn't.

I settled into my stateroom, one that I would be sharing with my brother. There was a separate bedroom, which he insisted I have, and after the long journey from Texas to get here, I wasn't going to complain. I set my bags down and decided to use the bowl of water to freshen up. I didn't recognize the girl in the mirror anymore. She looked jaded. I guess living in a man's world would do that to you. Dr. Chamberlain certainly took any opportunity he could to draw attention to my gender and how naïve that must make me in the ways of the world. True, I hadn't seen much outside of our homestead in western Texas but living out there, away from civilization, had shaped me too. The hardships that go with ranch living wasn't something these prissy city boys could understand.

After drying off my face and changing into a fresh top, I made my way into the dining hall of the boat. Not surprisingly, my brother was already there with the rest of his fearsome threesome, all nursing what was probably going to be the first of many glasses of bourbon. Something to know about my brother, Jack Henderson, was that he has been a thorn in my side since the day we were born. He's my twin, older than me by just 5 minutes but the way he used those five minutes against me for most of our childhood, you would think he was my grandfather. My name's Margaret, Peggy by those closest to me. I had the same sandy blonde hair that my brother had but, according to mama, I had the greyest eyes she had ever seen. While my brother's eyes were blue like the Texas sky on a summer day, mine were often compared to the color the sky gets when a thunderstorm is rolling in across the empty Texas landscape.

Nodding me over to join them, Jack made sure that I had a shot as well. "Did you hear that there's another group onboard searching for Hamunaptra?" he asked us.

Daniels seemed bothered by this. "Well, that's just great. Now we have competition for the treasure."

By this point, I had enough of Daniel's attitude, which always seemed directed at me. "Treasure isn't everything. Some things, like preserving cultures and learning from the civilizations of the past." I said with a roll of my eyes. All the guys laughed at this, even Jack. I honestly wasn't surprised. This was nothing more than an adventure to them, like following a pirate's treasure map when you were a kid. They didn't think about the countries that deserved these finds, or the bodies of those who had lived there that didn't deserve to have heavy footed Americans running over them in some grand expedition to make a fortune. "If that's all you have to say for yourselves, I'm going to leave you boys alone with your booze and your game. Goodnight."

I turned on my heel and walked out of the dining hall. I heard a chair scrape across the floor, and I wasn't even two steps out of the room before Jack caught up with me. "Whatever you're going to say to defend your boys, I'm not interested." I said, giving him a look that he had seen enough during our childhood, one that meant if he pushed me, he wasn't going to like the outcome.

"Don't mind them. They're just not used to an outspoken woman like you. Please come back. I won't let them say anything else." he pleaded, giving me those puppy dog eyes that could get me to agree to just about anything as kids, no matter how angry mama would get afterward. This is the side of him that I wish he would show more often. Jack had a big heart. He just didn't like to show it. Hell, I was probably the only person who had seen just the lengths he would go to show you how much he cared.

"Not tonight, Jack. I just want to go back to our cabin and get some rest. God knows when the next time we'll get that is." He couldn't fault me that logic, so he nodded his head and turned to go back into the dining cabin. I waited until he was back inside before turning and walking back to my cabin. Once there I grabbed a book on ancient Egypt mythology, one that I had read probably a dozen times already and went to find some quiet corner of the boat to read. Sleep wasn't something that would be happening anytime soon, I just couldn't get my mind to shut up. There was a sense of foreboding about that I couldn't quite get comfortable enough in my book to let go of.

By this point the sun had set and the lanterns were lit, bathing the boat in a warm glow and many shadows. As I rounded a corner to finally head back to my room and call it a night, I was met with the business end of a sword. Cursing myself for not staying vigilant, I grabbed the dagger that I had kept in my boot, a going away gift from my dad. This seemed to genuinely shock my attacker, or I guess it did. He (I assume he was he) was dressed in all black and had a turban covering his head and most of his face. All I could see were his eyes.

Never being one to back down from a challenge, and with 5 older brothers can you blame me, I lunged at him first, attempting to cut him on the hand to disarm him. But before I could make contact, he blocked it. I had barely moved, and he had blocked it. Ok so he must have been trained. Not surprising if your weapon of choice is a sword when guns were so much more popular. We continued this little dance of ours, moving towards the end of the ship where the horses my party had acquired were being held. I looked over and saw that the hay that had been given to them was on fire. My opponent must have noticed this too because he paused. Yelling in Arabic for his people to fall out and leave, he took one last look at me, nodded his head in my direction, and then jumped overboard.

I stood there, stock still for a moment replaying these events over in my head. He had had the opportunity to kill me while I was distracted and chose not to. That was odd. Shaking my head to clear it from the memories and the smoke, I grabbed my horse and coaxed her into jumping off the ship into the river below. Once they were safely off the ship, I dived in after her, grabbing her lead. Using the calmest voice I could manage, I said to them, "Come on, we need you. You don't want to die out here in the river, do you?" This seemed to do the trick because she quieted down and started following me to the side of the river. I couldn't see my brother, but I did notice four other people standing there, soaked as well from their late-night swim. "Hi, I'm Margaret. I was with the other group, but I seem to have been separated from them. Would you mind if I joined you?"

The big guy that seemed to be the leader of their group looked me over for a second, probably wandering if I could be trusted. With a look at the woman beside him, who nodded, he turned back to me and said, "I guess. My name is Rick. This is Evelyn and Jonathan Carnahan, and that smelly guy over there is the warden from the prison in Cairo." I was a little shocked by that but decided to not make a comment on it. No reason to cause tension.

"What are we going to do? We've lost all of our things, the supplies, my clothes." the woman, Evelyn, said in a panic.

"There's a village about half a day's walk from here. We'll stop there for supplies and clothes before we head out into the desert." Rick said with an authority that nobody was going to argue with. And that is how my journey got started. I was on my way to Hamunaptra.