Hiraeth | rick o'connell

fourteen

ALLEY - NIGHT

A sewer grate flew out of a wall and Rick, Evie, Jonathan, and Ardeth stumbled through panting. They had been evading the mob for the good part of an hour now and were now free due to a well thrown stick of dynamite by Rick. Rick leaned against the wall and shook out his messy dark hair, "We gotta get her back."

Jonathan was bracing his hands against his knees and panted, "I'm with you, old man. No one touches my baby sister like that and gets away with it."

Rick looked to Ardeth, who surprisingly also heaved from the strain of running, "You know where he's taking her?"

Ardeth nodded and met Rick's eyes, "Yes, to the lowest level of Hamunaptra. To perform the ritual."

Rick closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the brick wall. Fuck.

"And what ritual would that be?" Jonathan asked as he finally began to catch his breath and stood up.

Ardeth hesitantly met his eyes, "The ritual to bring the body of Princess Akita back to life."

Rick opened his eyes, his jaw clenched shut at his words. Jonathan stepped closer to Ardeth, his face full of confusion, "And how does one do that?"

"By reading the Book Of The Dead," Ardeth said.

"Oh yes, of course," Jonathan said, urging him to continue.

Ardeth sighed and bowed his head, "And then killing your sister."

Jonathan's eyes nearly bulged out of his head at his words,"Excuse me?"

Ardeth moved over to Rick and placed his hands on his shoulders, "Imhotep is now able to cross the desert with great haste."

Jonathan tapped Ardeth on the shoulder, "Begging your pardon, but I wasn't quite clear on that last part."

Ardeth ignored Jonathan and kept his eyes on Rick, "If he arrives too far ahead of us, it will be too late for her."

Jonathan grabbed Ardeth's shoulder, panic written all over his face as Evie stood close behind with a similar look on her face, "Did you say 'kill' my sister?"

Jonathan looked to O'Connell only to find him looking like he already had it figured out, "I know how to beat him to it."

-

Ella's eyes fluttered open to find herself laying on a couch in the museum. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when she remembered what had occurred before she was knocked out.

Fear bubbled in her stomach, she hated that it was beginning to feel familiar with how her life was at the moment. Taking a glance out the window she realized it was now morning and had been hours since she'd gone with Imhotep. She pushed herself up and looked around to find Beni sitting on the floor across from her, leaning against the wall for support. Her dark eyes narrowed on him, "Would you kindly explain to me what on earth we're doing here?"