Shards of Ankh

Chapter Six

"You look like a zombie."

"I feel like a zombie."

Rose tilted her head to the side and frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I mean no." Thea sighed heavily and adjusted her thick rimmed glasses.

"Aw. What's up, buttercup?"

"I've just been having some really weird dreams," Thea replied, letting out a huge yawn as she spoke.

"You've mentioned."

The curator shook her head and downed some coffee before continuing. "They just got me feeling like I haven't slept. This week has been the most useless amount of sleep I've ever gotten, I think."

"Aw," Rose replied as the pair reached the stairs where they always went their separate ways. "Well, it's Friday sunshine. You can catch up on some sleep then."

Oddly moved, Thea pulled Rose into a large hug. Rose giggled and hugged her back. Thea pulled away, beaming. "No, you're the sunshine. You always know just what to say to make me feel better."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were flirting with me, Thea."

Thea winked and then headed towards the labs. "In your dreams."

"You know it!"

Suddenly, Thea was hit with the strong memory of her latest dream--the long walk, the huge dining hall. She stumbled, her vision swimming. Then just like that it was gone.

It left her rattled. In the pit of her stomach she felt... Something. Ceasing to walk, Thea tried to muddle through the sensation. Longing. Longing and...fear?

Yes. Fear. Turning back around, Thea was suddenly certain something had changed. It was like her reality had just become tilted. It didn't seem quite correct, and it disturbed her. As she watched Rose's back, Thea was hit with the overwhelming feeling that her time was limited, somehow.

Thea started. "Rose! Wait!"

Rose whipped around. Thea admittedly didn't mean to speak so loudly, nor with the vibrato in her voice. Thea quickly closed the gap between herself and her friend, drawing her into another hug. Rose giggled nervously, looking perplexed.

"Thank you," Thea muttered into Rose's shoulder. "I just want you to know how much I appreciate you."

"What's all this, Thea?" Rose asked with an unsure laugh. "Are you okay?"

Thea's natural response was to say yes, because literally nothing had changed. Yet the deepest part of her very being told her she was anything but. Thea pulled away, smiling. Instead of replying, she said,

"Do you want to come to the lab? I'd like to introduce you to Ahmed.".

Looking unsure, Rose didn't reply right away. Biting her bottom lip, she looked at Thea in worry. But after a moment, Rose smiled. "Sure! I'd love to!"

Thea and Rose chatted all the way to the lab, though admittedly Thea's heart wasn't in it. That strange feeling that something was different wouldn't leave her, and it was starting to make her feel sick to her stomach. The feeling only got worse when she pushed open the lab doors and found an empty room.

"Oh."

Thea had stopped in the doorway despondently. The lab station in the middle where she and Ahmed had been doing their work was illuminated by the overhead light. Besides that, everything was dark.

"Oh?" Rose asked, pushing past Thea and flipping on all the lights, making herself at home immediately.

"I'm sorry... he's usually...here."

Rose randomly switched on a computer and shrugged. "No big shakes. Maybe he's in the can or something. I can wait."

Thea blinked profusely. "Right..."

"Hey," Rose said excitedly, drawing out the "e" as she rushed over to the work station. "Are these the vases?"

Thea blinked a final time, feeling as though she had been slapped out of whatever fog she was in. Grinning, she began to walk over. "Yes."

"Wow, you didn't tell me you guys got so much done!"

"One vase being completed doesn't equate to a lot."

"I don't know, this second one looks like it's in good shape."

Thea hadn't noticed two vases sitting there. The second one's presence completely confounded her. When she had left the previous night, all that had been assembled was part of it. Now it sat nearly completely pieced together.

A shudder hit Thea, a sudden feeling of dread. It didn't make sense. "Oh... Ahmed must have worked late last night..."

Even as the words formed on her lips they didn't make sense to Thea. She had left with Ahmed last night. He had walked her to her car.

"Aw," Rose said, peering at the items from every angle. She knew better than to touch anything. "That was sweet of him."

"Yes," Thea replied, her head swimming with the memories of her dreams again. "Sweet..."

Rose looked at Thea worriedly, but didn't comment. The pair spent the next half hour sitting by the vases, chatting idly. Thea couldn't help but continually glance at the newly assembled vase, almost as though afraid it would get up and bite her. When it was time for Rose to go to her post, Ahmed was still nowhere to be found.

"He's going to be late now," Thea frowned at her watch, touching the mini-screen to see if she had any notifications.

"Give the guy some slack," Rose said chipperly, hopping off the stool and heading to the door. "If he pulled an all-nighter he probably just slept in. Bye."

"Bye..."

Moments after Rose left, Ahmed pushed open the door. Thea blinked. He smiled at her, cup of coffee in hand.

"Good morning, Madam Curator."

"Oh!" Thea said, flying off the stool towards the door. "Hold on, I wanted you to meet my friend--"

Thea stopped with the door open, stunned. Rose was nowhere to be seen. The hallway leading to the labs was long; in the amount of time it took Ahmed to walk in after Rose had exited the room, she should have still been in the hall. Yet, nothing but closed doors greeted her sights.

"Oh...nevermind."

"I hope you don't mind I came in early this morning," Ahmed said jovially.

Confounded, Thea let the door swing shut. In a daze she made her way to Ahmed.

"I was just so eager that I couldn't help myself."

Thea looked at the vase. It didn't make sense; while it wasn't in absolute ruins like the final one, there was no way Ahmed could have properly assembled it in just one morning. Thea was deeply unsettled, suddenly feeling like time was slipping or not lining up somehow.

Thea scrutinized the two vases. The first one they had put together told the story of what a wonderful leader Pharaoh Ankh had been. He was a popular ruler, loved by all. Or, seemingly loved by all.

Seemingly because the newly assembled one was the story of a funeral. She ran her hands over the hieroglyphics, almost as though she were reading braille. It was the part she had assembled yesterday, the part that eluded to an animal biting Ankh and him dying. But the animal had a name--which was strange. It was that single hieroglyph, the name, that told Thea the animal wasn't literal, that they were calling a person an animal for murdering the Pharaoh.

That name, however, was one Thea had never read before. She couldn't decipher it, as foreign to her as the unsettling feeling that had plagued her all morning.