Warrior's Queen

Chapter - 4

They raced out of the museum without looking back until Evie turned and began dragging the bench over to block the door. Jasmine helped Rick pulling her away. "Honey, what are you doing? These guys don't use doors!" he reminded Evie.

"Why didn't you tell me about going for the bracelet?" Jasmine said, glancing back at the door nervously and expecting the mummy warriors to burst out at any moment.

"I did tell you!" Rick defended, "You just didn't..." he trailed off as they rounded the corner and saw that his car was empty."Where the hell's Jonathan?" He cursed in annoyance.

At that moment, a bus pulled into the parking lot with the said man on board.

"Speak of the devil," Jasmine muttered, rolling her eyes. Only Jonathan would think of using a double-decker bus at a time like this. She was about to get on after Evie when she skidded to a halt with her eyes set on Ardeth's back, she turned back deciding she is not going to leave Hatshepsut's locket behind. Ardeth trusted her with the locket; there is no way she will leave it behind.

Jasmine let out a yelp as Ardeth grabbed her around her waist, stopping her before she could run back into the museum and pulling her onto the bus. "It is too dangerous to return," he reminded her gently. "I lost you more than once...I do not want to lose you ever again," he murmured, "I will never forgive him for taking you away from me."

"Ardeth, I - " Jasmine began, but her words caught in her throat when she met his eyes and saw the pained look he was giving her. She found herself leaning in. His hand was still around her waist.

"Can we save this for later?" Rick's voice interrupted their moment. "I'm trying to get on the bus here!"

"Sorry" Jasmine mumbled sheepishly, feeling rather disappointed as Ardeth let go of her. But her brother was right - they did have more important things to deal with at the moment.

"Here," Rick muttered, tossing something at her. She grabbed it, once she saw what it was, she looked up at him in surprise. "You'll need this, it will work better than daggers right?"

Jasmine nodded. "R-Right." Still surprised.

"I still can't believe I'm actually giving my little sister a gun," he added in an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere, causing Jasmine to smack him with the said gun. Ardeth watched the exchange with amusement, and Jasmine glanced at him with a smile, but she didn't have time to speak when they heard the crash behind them. "No, no, not my car!" Rick complained, and Jasmine gasped when she saw the mummies leap after them. "Oh, I hate mummies," Rick growled, his voice filled with annoyance.

Jasmine couldn't blame him. "Get in a line. Trust me no one hates them more than I do"

"Glad to see me now?" Ardeth joked. Jasmine blinked, wondering when he had started lightening up to the point of making jokes.

"Just like old times, huh?" Rick responded sarcastically, slapping Ardeth on the back before making his way to the second deck. "Take care of mini for me, will you?" he called down.

"You did not have to ask!" Ardeth returned, pushing Jasmine behind him protectively.

Jasmine blinked, she couldn't believe that her brother was actually voluntarily asking him to take care of her, whereas years ago the last thing he would have done was to leave the two of them together. After all these years, they had both changed. "Huh" She scoffed in disbelief.

Without warning, one of the mummy soldiers swung in from the back door, and Jasmine shrieked and opened fire at it, sending it flying back out of the bus. "uhh! I hate when those things do that." She muttered.