The Mummy (14 page)

“How could we forget that this exhibit is closing at last?” Marge took Lana's arm and propelled her down the hall and out the side door where the guard waited to lock up behind them. “I've never worked so hard for no pay. This has been a tough show.”

Lana couldn't think of anything to say. She could certainly agree. It had been a tough three weeks. And there was one week to go. A lot could happen in a week.

Despite her worries, nothing happened except that she got her official invitation to the closing party. Her mother got excited about the possibilities.

“It's a costume party.” She clapped her hands. “Egyptian dress, of course. I'm going to make you a costume, Lana. And don't argue with me.”

Lana's mother was so excited that Lana didn't try to argue. “That's great, Mom. Thank you. And Seti, make a costume for Seti. I've decided to take him with me. He gets along well with people. Make him a rhinestone collar, and I'll put a leash on it. I'll be a queen and he can be my good-luck charm.”

Lana had clung to Seti all week, needing extra warmth and loving. There was something about Seti curling next to her on the bed at night, greeting her at the door every day, just being there for Lana, that made her feel special.

And safe. Don't forget safe
.

I'm not going to feel safe until next week, a small voice inside her replied. But just as she started to relax and look forward to the party, she had another dream and received another note.

Chapter 19

I
walk beside him. Crowds line both sides of the road, holding branches of olive and palm, waving them slowly, and cheering, always cheering
.

The train of my wedding dress is carried by two attendants. My crown is heavy, but I hold my head high. After a short distance my neck begins to ache, but if this is the price of happiness, I can bear it willingly. With joy
.

He turns and smiles at me. His dark eyes dance and tease and remind me of his gentleness. Real strength comes from being kind and just and most of all gentle, aware of others. He is already popular. He will be a fine king
.

He has not come to this by stealth or revenge or evil events. He has inherited the throne from his father, who was also well loved
.

I wave at the crowds. I will work hard to win their respect and love, just as I won Nefra's
admiration. From the first time he saw me, he says
.

I stop to receive a bouquet of flowers from a child in a long white dress. The child smiles, bowing her ebony hair, tilting the circlet of wild flowers so it slides over her forehead. With her small hand she catches it, grins, more childlike now
.

I turn to find that Nefra has continued walking without me. Where is he? Crowds have closed in behind him so I cannot see
.

“Nefra,” I call in a soft voice. “Nefra.” The crowds realize what they have done. They step aside, leaving a path. But still I do not see him
.

“Nefra,” I call louder. “Nefra!”

He is gone, disappeared from my sight. I reach out, run, glance both ways with a growing fear
.

“Nefra!” I scream his name now. My words echo back across the heads of the people
.

The crowd does not help me find Nefra, but people close about me, tighter, tighter, smothering me. Keeping me from him
.

“He is gone,” someone whispers. “Nefra is gone.”

Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone
.

Lana sat up, feeling a terrible loss. Her arms were empty, cold. The deep, secure warmth she had felt was replaced by icy daggers stabbing her all over.

“Gone,” she whispered and started to cry.

Seti woke and stood looking at her, his eyes golden and puzzled. She gathered him in her arms and hugged him so tight he protested and wiggled loose. Jumping to the floor, he looked back and meowed.

She hadn't wakened until morning, but the light coming from her window was strange, gray, and foreboding. How can light be foreboding, she scolded herself. The dream is coloring the light. Today was the last day of the exhibit. The museum would close early for the party. She and her mother had worked late to finish her dress and Seti's rhinestone collar. Tonight was going to be special.

Nothing felt special. The feeling she had brought to the beginning of the exhibit was gone. Replaced by fear and puzzlement and — and loss. A longing for something that no longer existed. If it ever did. She felt hollow inside, bereft.

“It's still snowing,” her mother said, as Lana and Seti entered the kitchen. Seti pranced and meowed until Lana opened a can of cat food for him. He hunched before his dish and nibbled daintily, looking up often to squint his eyes.

“He could make those cat-food commercials where the long-haired sophisticated Persian eats from a crystal goblet.” Mrs. Richardson laughed. “Wonder how much they pay? I could quit my job and become his trainer.”

“Mother,” Lana scolded. “Surely you wouldn't take advantage of a helpless animal.”

“Seti is about as helpless as a Siberian tiger.”

Seti left a few bites of food in his bowl and started to wash his paws and face.

Lana couldn't eat all her breakfast, either. After a few bites, she gave up and hurried to dress. She was glad she was working this morning. She could come back home, take her time getting ready for the party, and get Seti.

Josh had agreed to take her. While he wasn't sold on antiquities, he did like parties, even parties with mostly adults present. Lana also suspected he was glad to celebrate the end of the exhibit so he'd see more of her.

“Wow, you look terrific, Lana.” Josh stepped back when Lana opened the door that evening. His expression of admiration backed up his words. “I've heard everyone say you look Egyptian, but I couldn't see it until tonight.”

“It's the dress.” Lana had stared at her own image in the mirror for a long time. Her dress was similar to the white, pleated one she had been wearing in her dream, except that the neck was plain instead of having a gold collar. The fabric was a sheer white cotton that looked handwoven.

Her mother was a genius with a sewing machine and had great taste in fabrics. She didn't get to be head buyer for Foley's women's departments for no reason. Not only had she designed and sewn the dress, but she had made a small drawstring bag that tied around the waist to match, since Lana wouldn't have handmaidens to carry her comb and lipstick, a handkerchief, and her door key.

Lana had studied pictures, then made up her face with the extended black eyeliner, like kohl, that made eyes look huge. Green shadow on her lids was exaggerated, and she wore more lipstick than usual. She hardly recognized herself.

“You're going to take this cat?” Josh looked at Seti with little enthusiasm, but having Lana on his arm made up for Seti.

“Oh, yes, and I forgot to cut his nails.” She grabbed Seti and held him tightly in her lap. He wiggled and squirmed like mad. “Help me, Josh. He didn't complain a minute when I put that collar and leash on him. I want to cut his nails so he won't tear anyone's dress or stockings.”

Josh knelt down to help Lana hold Seti. That made him protest even more. “It's okay, Seti,” Josh said. “No cat likes his nails trimmed. You're normal after all.”

Lana grabbed one waving paw and squeezed Seti's claws out one by one. “Most cats would have had a fit about wearing a collar, unless they were trained to it from a kitten. 'Course I told him what we were going to do and explained why all the fuss was necessary.”

Josh shook his head. “Sure you did. And he said, ‘Just this once, for you.' You and I have one thing in common, old boy.” Josh patted Seti on the head when his nails were almost finished. “We'll both make fools of ourselves occasionally because we like this woman.”

“There, Seti. Good grief.” Lana turned Seti loose and shoved the fingernail clippers into the small purse at her waist. Seti glared first at Lana, then at Josh.

“Don't laugh at him,” Lana warned. “Cats don't like to be laughed at.”

“Neither do I, Seti, but look at me.”

Josh had wrapped a few boxfuls of gauze around his jeans and T-shirt until he achieved a very loose interpretation of being a mummy. He'd done a better job of wrapping the top of his head, but left two strips of gauze hanging down in the back like a tail.

“If we have to, Seti, we'll unwind some of that bandage on his arms and put it around his mouth.” Lana tried to tease Josh, tried to be excited, to lift the heavy mood she had carried all day. She tugged at Seti's leash, letting him walk to the door. Then he was glad to be carried because of the snow.

“Drive carefully, Josh,” Mrs. Richardson said, after looking Lana over one more time.

“I will. The back streets aren't cleared, but the main arteries have been plowed. And it's not far. We could have walked.”

“A princess doesn't wade through snowdrifts.” Lana had pulled on her boots and carried her sandals in a plastic bag. “I don't think it snows much in Egypt, either.”

Seti rode in her lap and now seemed excited. Instead of curling up and taking a quick nap, he sat straight and stared at the windshield wipers. Occasionally he glanced out the side window, as if he was looking for something in particular.

Josh let them off at the door, then drove around to park the car. “Meet you inside.”

“Fine. I want to change shoes and leave my coat in my locker. That way I can make a more regal grand entrance.”

Josh laughed and drove away through the slush in the museum lot.

Lana hurried to the back of the museum. She still carried Seti. She'd walk him on his leash later.

Slipping off her coat, she pulled the leash strap over her wrist that wasn't laden with jingling bracelets. She replaced the boots with sandals. Only then did she spin her combination lock and open the small locker in the employees' lounge.

“What's this, Seti?” She bent to pick up the paper that fluttered to the floor.

Her heart raced. The same printing, same block letters. And a similar message. The same nightmare. Would it ever end? She had a terrible foreboding about the evening to come as she read the words.

U
RBENA
, M
Y
P
RINCESS
. Y
OU
M
UST
C
OME
B
ACK TO
M
E
.

I D
O
N
OT
W
ISH TO
L
IVE
A
GAIN
W
ITHOUT
Y
OU
.

T
ONIGHT
. T
HE
T
IME
I
S
T
ONIGHT
.

I
T
I
S
O
UR
L
AST
C
HANCE
. P
LEASE
C
OME TO
M
E
.

N
EFRA

Chapter 20

“Are you all right?” Josh was waiting for her as he promised, but he was too perceptive. Should she tell him about the note, show it to him? She hadn't told him anything else so far. Why hadn't she shared her fears, all the things that had been happening to her, with Josh? She wasn't sure. Maybe because he hadn't been a part of this whole Egyptian experience from the beginning. Surely he would care, but … something held her back.

“Sure, fine. Just stay close to me this evening, will you, Josh? Promise.” She took his arm, letting Seti down to walk, wrapping his leash over her wrist.

“Don't worry about that. I'd planned to. You look too great. I have to protect my interests.”

Lana felt she was having to pay too great a price for
her
interests. Was Darrah right? The Egyptian culture carried with it an overload of mystery and magic. There was certainly something awesome and occasionally frightening about being around the relics.

But aside from the disturbing dreams, her fascination with Nefra and his mummy, Lana knew there was a human factor involved here. A real, live person was trying to frighten her. A human hand had written the notes she and Antef had gotten. A human hand had placed scorpions in her room, wrapped the pseudocat mummy and tried to frighten her with it. And surely there was a human being inside the mummy who had walked in the park. Despite all the old movies she had seen, she could not believe that Nefra had risen from his coffin to walk about and frighten her.

As she walked into the party, she knew she was going to look at each person and think,
Is it you, is it you, is it you?

The minute they reached the third-floor rooms where the party was in progress, people turned to stare at her. Some smiled, others murmured surprise. Many eyes held admiration. Lana wasn't used to being admired, but she found she liked it. The feeling helped balance the shaking in her stomach, the wobble in her knees. She put on a happy face and pretended to be at ease. Josh knew. He knew. He placed his hand over hers, resting on his arm, and squeezed.

“Lana, you look incredible.” Blair Vaughn was the first to actually approach her. “I told you the first time I met you that you looked like Urbena. Tonight you
are
Urbena.” Blair laughed and looked down at Seti. “And that cat. Where did you find it? It has true royal blood, I'm sure.” She bent to stroke Seti, but the cat stepped away from her, twisting around Lana's ankles, so that she had to bend to untangle him.

When Lana stood up, Blair was gone, but across the room Lana saw Blair point a man in Lana's direction.

“Miss, do you mind if we take a photo?” the man said, coming up to Lana. “I'm from the
Rocky Mountain News
, covering the party.”

“Well, I think — I'd rather you wouldn't right now.”

David Walters rescued her. “Lana, you look perfect. I have a splendid idea.” He turned to the reporter-photographer. “Follow us. I'll get you a photo you won't forget.”