Theodosia

c h a p t e r s i x t e e n

D O O M E D

As Theodosia slowly awoke, her stiff limbs slowly coming back to life, the fear of the previous night came crashing down upon her. Every moment flashed through her mind as she remembered the critical position her and Ahkmenrah were in. They may have gotten lucky last night, but tonight Kahmunrah would not be so kind.

Especially not to Theodosia.

Theodosia truly thought their situation could not be more fraught, but as she sat there clinging to the slowly waking Ahkmenrah, she realized she shouldn't have been so naïve – there was always something that could wrong when it seemed everything else had fallen apart, and tonight, that something was Larry Daley, who was not supposed to be there.

But there he stood, the tablet snuggly in his arms, surrounded by Kahmunrah's guards and their sharp spears. Any relief she felt at seeing the wild ex-nightguard was smothered by her horror that Kahmunrah was about to get exactly what he wanted – the tablet.

The tablet seemed like a magnet for trouble, but this time, Theodosia wasn't sure how they were going to keep it from truly destroying them all.

Especially not with Larry as their leading defence.

She felt Ahkmenrah maneuver out of her frozen grip, sitting up to watch Larry just as she was. Theodosia felt like she couldn't breathe. Despite the way Larry left things, Theodosia still had faith in him. He had saved them once, but from old, greedy men. Kahmunrah may not be flesh, but his soul was much blacker then all three of the old nightguards combined.

She and Ahkmenrah watched as Kahmunrah spoke calmly to Larry in ancient Egyptian, waiting for the recognition to flash across his face. There was a pregnant silence as they all waited for Larry to speak, but he said nothing.

"Eh, parlez-vous français?" Kahmunrah spoke again, still receiving no reply. "English. English, perhaps?"

"Why...is Larry here?" Ahkmenrah whispered to Theodosia, but she didn't know how to answer him. How did he even know they were in trouble? She shared a worried look with Ahkmenrah and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Larry finally spoke.

"I am Kahmunrah, the great king of the great kings. And from the darkest depths of ancient history, I have come back to life!"

"Uh-huh," Larry nodded, awkwardly, shifting in his place.

Theodosia let out a strangled groan, just loud enough for Ahkmenrah to hear. He gripped her hand, but it did little to console her. Larry had spoken twice and already he was an abysmal failure at it.

"Perhaps you did not hear what I just said. I am a centuries-old Egyptian Pharaoh. I was dead, but now I have come back to life!"

"Yeah, no, I heard that. I got that. Welcome back."

"We're going to die here," Theodosia whispered, hopelessly.

"Uh, uh—Who-Who are you?" Kahmunrah asked Larry, confused.

"He must have a plan, Theo," Ahkmenrah whispered back, but Theodosia shot him a look. She knew Larry did not have a plan, he hardly ever did, and he certainly didn't now. Ahkmenrah squeezed her hand a little tighter, but it only made her more annoyed. It seemed to her that her problems always revolved around men, and were often, also, poorly solved by men.

Gods, she wished Helene was out here. She'd have Kahmunrah begging at her knees in ten minutes.

"Larry. Larry Daley, uh, Daley Devices—"