❝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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"WHO OPENED THAT CHEST?"
Mara made sure that she closed the door to Evy's foyer quietly behind her, hardly making a sound to indicate her arrival back at Fort Brydon. She didn't want to draw any more attention to herself after what had happened at the museum. It was fortunate she arrived at the exact moment Evy asked her question. However, her arrival didn't go unnoticed; Evy had nodded at her in acknowledgement and Jonathan raised his flask as a greeting.
Henderson answered the question, naming the people Imhotep would be coming after, "Well, there was me and Daniels here. Oh, and Burns, of course."
Daniels added, "And that Egyptologist fellow."
Of the four men listed, only one of their whereabouts was unknown; one was dead and the other two were in the room with them. O'Connell had been standing at the window, staring out at the eclipsed sun, but turned to face them and inquired, "What about my buddy Beni?"
Mara had almost forgotten about the man. He hadn't been with them when they left Hamunaptra. The last time they'd seen him was when everyone was running from the locusts. She had previously assumed that the scarabs had gotten to him until O'Connell had told them on their way to the museum that he had seen Beni at Fort Brydon before finding Burns dead.
"No, he scrammed out of there before we opened the damn thing," Daniels told.
"Yeah, he was the smart one," Henderson remarked.
"Yeah, that sounds like Beni," O'Connell commented as he stepped away from the window.
Four men had opened the cursed chest. Four deaths were needed for the creature to fully regenerate, and then he would be invincible. Only one of the men had died so far, and two of them were still alive in this very room, which left only one fate in the air. Evy said, coming to the same conclusion Mara had, "We must find the Egyptologist and bring him back to the safety of the fort before the creature can get to him."
O'Connell looked at her. "Right. They stay here." He pointed in front of him at Evy and behind him at Mara, whose posture straightened when he had. What was he doing? "You three, come with me."
The room immediately erupted into protests from everyone, some louder than others. Mara's voice was among the louder ones, and as she still stood in front of the door, she was blocking O'Connell's only exit from the room. She could understand him wanting Evy to remain here, as she was being targeted as a human sacrifice, but forcing Mara to stay behind while bringing Henderson and Daniels who were both targets of the very creature they sought to protect the Egyptologist from?
