There's A Fine Line Between Coincidence & Fate ✓

Chapter 39

We rounded the house and slowed down as Rick started to complain... again. "Ok, you guys are here, the bad guys are here, Evy's been kidnapped. Let me guess?"

"Yes, they once again removed the creature from his grave." Ardeth says.

"I don't mean to point fingers..." Jonathan starts to say.

"Then don't." I warn him, hands balled up into fists, ready to punch.

"But isn't it your job to make sure that doesn't happen?" Jonathan finishes before I punch him in the back. "Ow!"

"The woman who was with him, she knows things, things that no living person could possibly know. She knew exactly where the creature was buried." Ardeth explains.

"We we're hoping she would lead us to the bracelet. She obviously did." I add.

"And now they have it."

"I wouldn't get too nervous just yet." Alex says as we come to a stop beside the car and he reveals the golden bracelet of Anubis on his left wrist.

Ardeth gently takes hold of Alex's wrist, inspecting the piece of jewelry. "Is that gold?" Jonathan asks. I'm not sure I can say I missed this idiot.

"When I stuck it on, I saw the pyramids at Giza. Then, whoosh! Straight across the desert to Karnak." He explains.

"By putting this on, you have started a chain reaction that could bring about the next apocalypse." Ardeth says. I facepalm when Alex takes in a quick breath, scared. He wasn't the greatest at delivering bad news, and especially to a child. I just prayed that when our children got to an age where he needed them to be more... sensitive, he'd be up for the challenge.

"You, lighten up." Rick tells Ardeth before turning to Alex, then Jonathan and I in turn. "You, big trouble. You two, get in the car." I squeeze in the back between Jonathan and Alex, Ardeth and Rick in the front.

"I am sorry if I alarmed your son, but you must understand, now that the bracelet is on his wrist, we have only seven days before the Scorpion King awakens." Ardeth explains.

I see Rick turn to look at us, panicked. "We? What we?" Fucking Rick.

"If he's not killed, he will raise the Army of Anubis." I add.

"I take it that's not a good thing." Jonathan pipes up from beside me.

"Oh, he'll wipe out the world." Rick says, turning back to us briefly.

"Ah, the old 'wipe out the world' ploy." Jonathan says before sitting back against the seat.

We pass Big Ben before Ardeth speaks again. "Whomever can kill the Scorpion King can send his army back to the Underworld or use it to destroy mankind and rule the Earth." He explains.

Rick looks pissed, and rightfully so. "That's why they dug up Imhotep. He's the only guy tough enough to take out the Scorpion King."

"That is their plan." Ardeth says as we pull up outside of the British Museum. Rick turns off the car and turns around to face us.

"Alex, I've got a big job for you. I want you to stay here and protect the car." Alex looks put out by this.

"I can do that." Jonathan offers.

"Protect the car? Come on Dad. Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I'm stupid." Alex says, looking offended. I climb over Jonathan to get out of the back.

"You should stay with them. They're going to need all the protection they can get." Ardeth says as we walk to the boot of the car.

"Jonathan can handle it. They're going to be safe outside. All they need to do is stay in the car. You, on the other hand, have an affinity for almost getting yourself killed. I'm sticking to you like a flea on a camel." I joke, trying to cover up my concern.

He nods. He'd never admit it, but I know that me being with him did more good than harm. While others might be distracted, I knew that after years of training me himself, Ardeth trusted my abilities.

Rick joins us at the boot, opening up the trunk on the back, revealing a small armory. "Think you got enough ammo there Rick?" I ask, jokingly.

"Like you're one to talk." He says as he hands me a rifle, knowing that out of all of us, my long distance shot in the best. I attach the scope before inspecting it more thoroughly.

"You want the shotgun?" He asks Ardeth.

"No, I prefer the Thompson." Ardeth replies and they both get their guns in order. I see Ardeth looking at Rick's wrist with great interest. I give him a look but he shakes his head. "If I were to say to you, I'm a stranger traveling from the east, seeking that which is lost..." I had heard this before. It was an old Medjai saying, how they'd pick each other out in a crowd.

Rick looks over at him, confused as well. "Then I would reply that I am a stranger traveling from the west. It is I whom you seek. How..."

"Then it's true. You have the sacred mark." Ardeth says excitedly.

"What, that? No, that got slapped on me in an orphanage in Cairo." Rick denies.

"That mark means you're a protector of man, a warrior for God, a Medjai." Ardeth explains.

"Sorry. You've got the wrong guy." Rick says before cocking his gun and heading towards the entrance.

Ardeth looks like he wants to say more, to argue, but I pull him back. "Rick didn't grow up in this life like you did. He's not going to accept something right off the bat. Be patient, like you were with me." I say softly. He smiles down at me fondly and I catch a glimpse of the man he once was, before he slips back into warrior mode and we follow Rick into the museum.