The Mummy (16 page)

The voice she had heard before whispered, “Mine, you are all mine, Urbena. Now you can return to Egypt with me. The curse will be broken.”

As frightened as she was, she faced an even greater terror. The coffin lid made a scraping noise as he lifted it and rested it sideways on the coffin.

Then with a rasp and a screech that set her heart thudding down to her toes, the lid slid into place, closing her inside.

Chapter 22

The darkness was absolute. A stale, musty odor surrounded her, coming from the old wood. For a few seconds panic again sucked away all the air in the coffin. She choked, feeling as if the lid rested on her chest, squeezing, squeezing.

She remembered the scorpions and thought she heard them scraping along the edges of the wood, brushing against her body. She thought she felt their cold, hard pods against her cheek and she dared not move.

She remembered the dream, the sound of clods of dirt hitting the top of the coffin as someone began to fill the grave.
I'm not dead!
she screamed.
I'm not dead. Don't bury me, please don't bury me
.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she fought the images, fought the impulse to scream, even though her mouth was bound.

She hadn't the slightest chance of escaping if she lost control. Breathe, breathe deeply.

No air. No air, choking, hot. She coughed, squeezed her eyes tighter, and let herself yell and scream, if only in her imagination. What came out was “um-um-um.”

Then she forced a regular rhythm of breathing. Put herself into a meditative state until she could think.

She found the clippers still in her hand. Finished tearing and ripping off the gauze from her hands. As soon as her hands were free, she tore the cloth from her mouth.

And screamed for real. No one would hear her, but there was some satisfaction in the act, the sound reverberating around her in the closed space. Screaming used up the air, sucked it away, leaving little for survival.

She calmed herself again and pushed against the lid. With all her strength she placed both hands flat against the rough inner lid and pushed upward.

The heavy lid didn't rise at all, didn't shift out of place. It was firmly set on the coffin.

She forced down the panic, forced herself to lie still and think. Concentrate. The words that came surprised her.

Nefra, please, please let me go. I cannot return with you. I am not of your time. I am not
your queen. I feel your love, but I cannot return it. I cannot help you. You do not want me to die. I know this. I feel your warmth, your strength, and I beg you to use your powers to help me. Help me, Nefra, please help me
.

She breathed again, sensing less air, but knowing she must use what was available slowly, without panic.

“Josh, help me,” she whispered, knowing they did not have the mind connection that she had with Nefra, with Seti.

Seti. She knew without question that her hope lay with Seti. She concentrated on the sleek black cat, placing a strong image of him in her mind.

Seti, please hear me. You must help me. You can help me. You are my only hope now. I need you. You have needed me, and now I need you. Come to me, Seti, please come
.

Come. Come. Come
. She let the single word repeat over and over in her mind. Then,
Seti, come. Seti, come
.

At last she heard his nails on the roof of her prison, scratching, digging on the lid.

She scratched back. “Seti, Seti, is it you?”

Hope rose in her, filling her mind, her body, with relief.

She heard the scrape of the coffin lid as it slid sideways. Fresh air poured in and tears escaped down her cheeks.

She sat up, rolled over and out of the coffin forgetting her legs were still bound up in the gauze. She fell into Josh's arms. She hugged him, never wanting to let go.

Until she remembered. “Seti.” She stooped and picked up the small cat, holding him tightly in her arms. “Oh, Seti, you heard me. You came.”

“It was crazy, Lana,” Josh said, still not asking how she came to be prisoner in the coffin. “Suddenly Seti went crazy. He meowed and tugged and pulled at the leash until I bent and snapped it off his collar. Setting him free seemed the right thing to do. Thank God, I followed my intuition.”

“He came to me.”

“He ran. I had to run to keep up. He ran into the dark room. I stopped to find the lights. By then he was on top of this — this coffin, digging into the lid like mad.”

“I had been looking for you,” Marge stood beside them. Lana hadn't even known she was there. “I saw Josh and Seti take off and followed.”

“I couldn't have lifted off that lid by myself.” Josh put his hand on Marge's shoulder.

“Want to tell us what you're doing playing mummy, Lana?” Marge helped Lana tear off the rest of the gauze strips that circled her body.

“I don't know. Someone — someone — ” She decided not to tell them that she thought Nefra was standing beside her. That he touched her. They would think she had become crazed inside the coffin, that her imagination had run away again. “I guess I fainted. I remember crumpling onto the floor. When I came to, I was in — inside here. Then someone else came along and put the lid on top of me.”

This did not explain much to Josh and Marge and their faces reflected their concern, but also their disbelief. Their questions that Lana could not answer.

But she knew one thing. She bent and placed Seti on the floor, started for the other room where the party still bubbled with people unaware of the drama going on in the next room.

“The necklace, Lana.” Marge noticed that Lana was not wearing the priceless jewelry. “Where — ”

“That's what I plan to find out.” Lana strode toward the next room, searching for Antef.

He saw her coming and tried to hold his place, talking to three women dressed as Cleopatra. But his face showed anxiety, then fear. He turned and ran.

Lana was ready for that. She dashed after him and grabbed his arm. “You. I know it was you, Antef. I smelled that distinctive scent you've chosen to wear. You took the necklace from me. You put me in that coffin.”

“No, no, Lana.” Antef struggled but Lana found strength in anger. She held him firmly.

Dr. Walters walked up behind her. “Lana, what's wrong?”

“Antef took the necklace, Dr. Walters. For the second time. I'm sure of it. He can't have taken it far. He took it from me tonight. He's hidden it here someplace.”

“Are you sure, Lana? Antef — ”

“I'm sure.” Lana stared at Antef. His face — his fear — told her all she needed to know.

Antef collapsed in a heap, sobbing. “I took the jewels. But I put them back. The necklace is cursed. I was cursed. I put it back.”

“But then you took it again, Antef.” Lana coaxed the story from the man. “What made the curse go away? What persuaded you that it was safe to steal the necklace a second time?”

“She promised. She said if I help her — She could not lift the coffin lid by herself — She promised — ”

Lana swung around to see who Antef was accusing. A huge circle of guests, like a tribunal of Egyptian citizens ready to make accusations against an evil king at his funeral, gathered behind her and Antef.

She realized that Seti sat beside her, his eyes searching the crowd as well. She knelt beside him.

“Help me, Seti. Who is it?”

The sleek black cat stood and darted into the crowd. Blair Vaughn faded back against a group of people, but Seti singled her out. Running backward, she stumbled and fell, threw out both hands to protect herself.

“No, no, leave me alone.”

Seti arched his back, hissed and spit as he crept closer to the frightened woman. Like a tiger stalking his prey, Seti closed in. Ears flattened, tail twitching, he prepared to attack.

“Don't let him near me!” Blair screamed. “No, Nefra, no, leave me alone!”

Chapter 23

Lana knelt and stroked Seti's fur flat, calming the cat. “It's all right, Seti. We have her. Don't hurt her.”

But Lana felt terribly puzzled. Blair Vaughn had been the one? Why? Blair was the last person Lana would have suspected.

“Lana, is Antef saying that Blair is involved with the theft of the necklace?” Dr. Walters walked up behind Lana. Blair was crumpled into a heap on the floor, whimpering.

“Dr. Walters,” Lana said, determined to sort this out, “there has been more going on than the theft. Someone has been terrorizing me, and tonight someone tied me up and put me in Urbena's coffin. I think this has something to do with the story that returning Urbena to her coffin will break the curse on her tomb.”

“It will! You
will
break the curse!” Blair screamed at Lana. “You are Urbena, you know you are. And if I could have returned you to Egypt and the tomb, my family would stop dying. I had you in her coffin, even though I had to bribe that stupid Antef into helping me. Why didn't you stay there?” Blair's eyes blazed with anger and frustration at not accomplishing what she had set out to do. Lana shivered at the rage directed at her. And the idea that Blair really did plan to put Lana, in Urbena's coffin, back into Urbena's tomb.

“What do you mean, Blair?” Lana questioned. “You
know
the curse isn't real. You know it's superstition. You told me that yourself.”

“It
is
real. I told you that to keep you from discovering my plan. I know the curse is real. My grandfather died after he found Urbena's tomb. Then my father disappeared, and now my sister is missing in Cairo. The curse will go on and on unless I can return Urbena's mummy. You were perfect.”

Dr. Walters' voice was always quiet, but now his tone was soothing, not unlike the way he'd talk to an unreasonable child.

“Blair, your grandfather wandered out into the desert alone. He was ill with a high fever, delirious. Granted, his body was never found, but you know he was sick.”

“I don't know that. I'm looking for him. The sale of Urbena's necklace would have brought me the money I needed to return to Egypt and look for him. My sister, too. I must look for my sister.” Blair got to her knees as if ready to run. Her eyes were glazed with the obsession she had for finding her sister and her grandfather's body.

“I checked on your sister after you told me she had left home, Blair. Your mother is certain that she ran away to get married. She may have contacted your mother by now. We can call Cairo, tonight if you like.”

“No! I must go there. I must go back to Egypt now!” Blair screamed at them, curled herself into a ball, and then got deadly quiet.

“What about her father?” Lana whispered.

“He died of a heart attack. Years ago. Mrs. Vaughn remarried. But apparently Blair has never believed her father died. She was in this country going to college when it happened. She wasn't able to return for the funeral, so I guess it isn't real for her.”

“I'm so sorry.” Instead of being angry with Blair, Lana found she felt sorry for the woman. “What will happen now?”

“I'll have to get her into some kind of hospital. She'll be under the care of a psychiatrist. Perhaps she can recover from this breakdown. The woman has a brilliant mind.”

Lana didn't realize that Antef was standing beside her until he spoke. A guard stood beside him, holding his arm. “I cannot leave without saying that I'm sorry, Lana. I'm so very sorry.”

“You were the one who pushed me and stole the necklace.”

“Yes, I was very foolish. My family will be so ashamed.”

“Then Blair frightened you into returning it?”

“Yes, she put me in that coffin to scare me. But then she changed her mind. She said if I would help her return you to Egypt in Urbena's coffin, I could take the necklace back from you. I could have half the money. She said
I
would be cursed if I didn't help her.”

“Return Urbena's coffin with me inside,” Lana said, shuddering again at the memory.

“I am so sorry.” Antef hung his head.

“You are so stupid.” Blair had been listening. She screamed at him.

“You are the one who stupidly angered Nefra by pretending to be his mummy, Blair Vaughn.” Antef wasn't going to take all the blame for Blair's actions. But what did he mean by making Nefra angry?

“Lana was so easy to frighten, thinking Nefra had come alive. Running from his mummy.” Blair laughed, but it wasn't normal laughter. It was the same laughter from the foggy night in the park.

“You put those scorpions in my room, too, didn't you?” Lana's sympathy was gone. “You left the notes. You took Seti and left the cat mummy to frighten me.”

“Yes, yes, yes. That stupid cat.”

To Lana's surprise Seti, at her feet, hissed and strained at his leash. Blair leaned back, her arm covering her face. She was afraid of Seti.

“Where did she get scorpions?” Darrah's voice behind her surprised Lana.

Rod, standing beside Darrah, answered Darrah's question. “You can get scorpions at most big pet stores.”

Lana felt she had to apologize to Rod. “Rod, Blair tried to make me believe you and Darrah were behind the threats I was getting. I'm sorry I believed her, even for a short time.”

“You don't owe me any apology, Lana. You were frightened. And I — ” Rod lowered his voice. “Darrah needs a friend right now. I — ”

“I understand, Rod.” Lana still liked Rod, but she had a lot of thinking to do about all that had happened. “We'll talk later. I'd like to be friends with Darrah, too. Josh and I will get together with both of you soon.”

Rod understood what Lana was saying. He smiled and hugged her, then took Darrah's arm and pulled her away toward where other party goers stood, watching, wondering what was happening.

Lana had one more question for Blair. “Why did you dress up in that mummy suit and try to frighten me earlier this evening, Blair? Because I got away last time?”