The Golden Queen

Thirty Two

Thirty Two

The light that flooded my vision was white and cool, nothing like the firelight that lighted the palace. I had been lying in a pool of black water, but I was not wet, and now I lay upon a soft mattress. My shoulder no longer ached. My mouth was terribly dry.

I opened my eyes and a blurry figure peeked at me. I tried clearing my eyes, to grasp what was happening. Was I still alive? Voices murmured around me; pleasant voices.

"Kara," the voice whispered.

I opened my eyes and my vision cleared so I could see who was speaking to me. The same warm hand still clasped mine. I wanted Ahmose, but I knew it was not him who leaned over me. My vision cleared, and my chest suddenly went cold.

"Father?" My throat ached against the word. My voice was a quiet rasp. I wanted to scream. Father was leaning over me, his face as gentle and loving as the last day I saw him. Did this mean I was dead? No; maybe I was only hallucinating. Perhaps it was a side effect of dying, or a combination of the two. I grasped his hand, and it felt real. "Is this heaven?" Where was my beloved husband? And my baby! Thutmosis had seized the palace and overwhelmed us. I nearly forgot about my pregnancy.

Father chuckled a sweet sound, one I was so used to. "No, Kara, you're in the hospital. You are just fine!"

I blinked back tears as I tried to make sense of everything.

"You gave us quite a scare."

Us? I wondered who he was talking about. Another figure came into the room and loomed over me next to Father. This figure was also not Ahmose.

"Good morning," Clair whispered to me. "How do you feel?"

"Where am I?" I demanded weakly. I never imagined I could feel such horror upon seeing my beloved father and aunt.

"You're in the hospital," Father reminded me.

"No," I shook my head, because that wasn't what I meant. "Where am I?" Was I in heaven, hell, a mental institute?

"Cairo," Clair replied this time. "You don't remember anything that happened, do you?"

When I didn't reply, Father continued, "You wanted to go to Luxor to see the dig site, but we had to get some supplies first, so we stopped by my office in the museum. I asked you to put my scalpel along with our medical supplies in my bag and as clumsy as you are, tripped and fell on it! Clair and I rushed you here to the hospital, and they operated immediately."

I grasped my bandaged shoulder, and Father caught my hand, reminding me not to touch it.

"You're alive!" I gasped at the horrible realization. It wasn't horrible that Father was now alive, but because I was losing my mind. Father couldn't possibly be alive. He had died years ago. I started to climb out of bed, but Clair stopped me.

"Kara, what-" Clair started, but Father cut in.

"It's the morphine talking," he told her.

"Where is Ahmose?" I demanded, growing furious now. I wanted to be with him. He needed me, and my crazy mind had sent me into some fantasy land with Father and Clair. I grasped my belly and wondered if our child was all right.

"Are you talking about his tomb? Kara, we found it months ago. We're still excavating it, but the team noticed something strange about one of the walls today. They want us to come examine it for ourselves immediately. I will take you there when you've recovered," Father replied.

Suddenly, my entire world came caving in. Or maybe the morphine was wearing off. I couldn't tell the difference between reality and dreams anymore. But somehow, during our peril, I had been sent back to the twenty-first century, and my interference in Ahmose's past had altered my future. That was why Father was here now. And Ahmose must have perished to Thutmosis. Why else would he be in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings? I grabbed my stomach and began to scream.