The Mummy (4 page)

“Your boyfriend?” Antef asked.

“No. My boyfriend doesn't like archaeology. He calls the relics ‘old stuff.' ” Lana wanted Antef to know that she did have a special friend.

“In my country we learn better from the time we are very young. We have great respect for the possessions of our ancestors.”

“Did you always want to work for the museum?”

“Yes, my father was a guard at the Cairo Museum for all his life. I have this same ambition, since I am not smart enough to be an archaeologist.”

“Don't tell yourself that,” Lana looked at him to see if he meant what he said. This was the first time she had heard him let down the cool image he had portrayed.

“It is true. I am not good at the schooling. So I work hard to learn about the collection.”

“And speak four languages.”

Lana didn't know much about Antef's background. Now she realized he was a guard who had a lot of pride. This was why he put up a front. He needed to feel important.

“That was why I came to you, Antef. I knew you were an expert on the relics that came to America.”

“I am no help when one's imagination runs away like a speed train.” He grinned at Lana and she grinned back. Feeling foolish, but relieved, she continued to laugh and be entertained and to enjoy not only a cup of strong tea but a sticky bun. Antef himself had a sweet tooth and some money to spend, so she let him treat her, and she tried to be good company.

Suddenly she truly wanted to know more about him, to know more about life in modern Egypt. She knew all this history but nothing about what the country was like today. Here was a chance to learn and to help Antef feel good about himself at the same time. Also a chance to take her mind off being so ridiculous this morning.

The rest of the day was busy, crowded with museum viewers wanting the first look at the relics, asking a million questions. She was hoarse by late afternoon. Since she had worked the early shift, she was free at five. Even so, if she hadn't been so exhausted, she wouldn't have wanted to leave. Then, taking off her vest and grabbing her jacket, she remembered she had a date with Josh. How was she going to be scintillating for another four hours?

The sky had clouded over and a cool breeze swept the grounds of the park around the museum. She ran out the back door and cut across the grounds to the back gate. This would save her a couple of blocks of walking. If she hurried home, she might get a half-hour nap that would refresh her.

In the first shadow cast by a huge maple tree, she almost tripped across the black cat. “Seti! What are you doing here?” She bent and scooped the cat into her arms. “Don't tell me you followed me after all and have been waiting all day.”

Seti looked at her, and she was sure he smiled. Unlike most cats, who hate to be carried, he curled into her arms and enjoyed the ride home. Lana didn't know what to think. She kept talking to the animal as if he could understand.

“You can't do that, Seti. Cats don't do things like that, follow people and wait for them. Dogs might, but even a dog would probably have gotten bored and gone back home. Did you know how to get home? Maybe that's how you got lost the first time. You followed someone, and they didn't find you again.”

Lana stopped abruptly. Seti was purring. “You aren't listening to me.” She held the cat up until they were face-to-face. “No, Seti. No. You must not follow me to the museum or anyplace else. A lot of people are superstitious, afraid of black cats. Someone could hurt you, on purpose. Do you understand?”

Seti meowed, actually meowed. But did he meow because that's what cats do? Or because he was saying he'd never, never do this again. Who knows? Lana let out a deep sigh and held the furry body tight again. Did she want another cat? It was so sad to love an animal and then have it die.

Tears ran down her cheeks. Tears for Muffy. Tears for Seti. Tears because she was exhausted. It had been an exciting, upsetting day. Maybe she had already been worn out when she hallucinated that Nefra had moved — had gotten tired of lying in one position for thousands of years, and had shifted into another.

Seti meowed and wiggled to remind Lana that she was holding him too tight. She was comforted by his soft, silky fur against her cheek, his warm, wiry body.

“I love you, Seti, already. Would you please, please be careful? It's too late for me to back out. I'm taking a chance on your being my cat. I'm taking a chance on loving you. Don't let me down.”

She ran, tears blurring her path. She needed to hurry home. Needed to feel safe for them both.

Chapter 5

By the time Josh came to pick her up, Lana felt a little better. Her mother had stopped for pizza on her way from work, and Josh arrived early, so it didn't make sense for them to stop for food before the movie.

“I bought Little Caesar's so we could get two,” Mrs. Richardson argued. “Save your money, Josh. I'll go watch the news if you two want to be alone.”

“Don't be silly, Mom.” Lana got out plates and set the table for three. She smiled at Josh. He liked her mother. He'd said so many times.

“Did you see Lana's new cat?” her mother said, sitting down and reaching for the pizza box.

“You get a kitten, Lana?” Josh asked, taking two slices of pepperoni himself.

Lana stared at Josh and wondered what he'd think about Seti coming to them. He wasn't one to believe in anything out of the ordinary. “No, a stray showed up at the door the other night. You know Mom. She took him in. He's upstairs taking a nap. Do you know that he either stayed at the museum all day, Mom, or came over and met me when I got off.”

Josh frowned. “And how did he know where you worked?”

Josh Benson was terribly cute when he had that skeptical look on his face, which was often around Lana, since she would be the first to admit that strange things always happened to her. Nothing as strange as what had happened at the museum, she thought, but she wasn't going to tell him, or her mother, about Nefra getting tired of holding his arms in one position.

Josh had white-blond hair, which he wore slightly long and shaggy, the bluest eyes, almost turquoise, and a square, chiseled face that suggested some Viking ancestors. People often commented on the contrast between Lana and Josh when they were together.

Tonight he wore a blue pullover sweater that set off his coloring. If her mother wasn't at the table, Lana would have leaned over and given Josh a kiss. She had missed him, working so many hours to learn the exhibit and as much as possible about Egyptian kings and queens, not to mention gods and goddesses.

Josh never studied a lot, just enough to get by. His passion was golf, and he was on the team at school. He'd probably end up in some public relations work, since he was really good at talking to people and persuading them to do things. Or politics. He was president of the senior class, not to mention several other social organizations.

“Are you staring at me?” Josh asked, grinning at Lana.

“Of course. I like to look at you. Does it bother you?”

Before Josh could answer, Mrs. Richardson took them back to the earlier topic of conversation — Seti. “I'd like to hear the answer to the question about Seti,” Mrs. Richardson repeated. “How
did
Seti know to come to the museum?”

“He's a psychic cat,” Lana teased, then added, “I'm sure he followed me this morning. I brought him back once, but he must have gotten out and caught up again. I was late so I never noticed the second time.” Lana realized her mother was going to ask how Seti got out after Lana brought him home. He'd be grounded for sure.

Seti came into the kitchen then, distracting Mrs. Richardson from asking or thinking about his escape. He meowed by his dish, looking from Lana to her mom. Then he stared at Josh.

“Josh, meet Seti,” Lana introduced. “Seti, this is my friend Josh. I hope you'll like him.”

“He'd better.” Josh pulled a string of cheese from his pizza and held it near the floor. Seti stared at him.

“You know, Lana, this is an unusual cat.” Lana's Mom got up and emptied some cat food into a bowl. “He's more — more — well, it seems like a strange word, but sophisticated. Muffy was sweet but really quite a ditz. This cat seems so smart.”

“I've heard that a lot of pure black cats are part Siamese.” Lana watched Seti eat daintily. “They're smart.”

“He knew the house where he'd be treated like royalty.” Josh gave up trying to get Seti to be friendly. “He'll probably get more attention than I do.”

Josh had complained about Lana's schedule, but she had explained how important the exhibit was to her, so he'd tried to be a good sport.

“Okay, I was going to stay home with Seti, but if you're going to gripe and groan, I guess we'd better go to the movies.” Lana collected the plates and put them in the dishwasher.

“I'll cat-sit.” Mrs. Richardson laughed. “Don't worry about us. Right, Seti?”

Seti looked at them, then back at his food. He reached into his dish and lifted out a tiny, crunchy bit with one curled paw. Then he placed it in his mouth.

“Good grief,” Josh pushed Lana out the door. “That's picky. I think you have your hands full with that animal.”

Lana would have liked to stay home with Seti. She'd never seen a cat do that. Seti definitely wasn't just
any
cat.

The movie was laughing-out-loud funny, and Josh went out of his way to be charming, so Lana let go of everything except being with him. All thoughts of Egypt and mummies, “old stuff,” got pushed to the back of her mind.

It all came right back, though, when they stopped for Cokes afterward. They had just gotten seated at TGIF when Rodney Newland came in with a small beautiful girl on his arm.

“Isn't that the guy you've been talking to so much lately?” Josh asked, calling Lana's attention to the couple. He probably wanted Lana to see that Rod had a date with a knockout of a female. “Who is that girl?”

“She's one of the new foreign exchange students,” Lana said, staring. “Darrah something — I can't remember her last name. She's from Cairo, so she probably feels right at home with Rod. He lived there for a long time.”

“The student council voted to give the exchange students a party. Maybe I'd better meet her.” Josh looked at Lana, probably wanting her to be jealous.

“Good idea.” Lana didn't play his game, but did something that was out of character for her. She called across the room. “Rod, Darrah, come and join us.”

Rod looked surprised but started toward their table. Darrah's reaction was harder to read, but Lana got the idea she wasn't pleased to share Rod. She didn't smile or act friendly.

Rod introduced her. “Lana, Josh, this is Darrah Bey. She's recently come over from Egypt as an exchange student.”

“Welcome to America, to Denver, Darrah. Do you speak English?” Josh asked.

“Of course.” Darrah seemed offended. “I've studied English since I was a child.”

“Oh, sorry.” At least Josh knew how to explain his blunder immediately. “Americans are so language-poor. It's our loss to speak only English.”

“Rod lived in Cairo. Do you speak Arabic, Rod?” Lana asked. That was one of the things she'd never gotten around to asking him.

“Badly. I can get along if I have to. In the school I attended, we spoke English.” Rod smiled at Darrah, and Lana found she was a little jealous herself. How strange. She'd been talking to Rod a lot, but she hadn't realized she liked him as more than a friend.

“I'm working in the Egyptian exhibit at the museum,” Lana said to Darrah. “Everything about your country fascinates me.”

“You're the one Rod has told me so much about,” Darrah said, staring at Lana. “The one who looks like an ancient Egyptian.”

Lana found she was embarrassed to be the center of attention because of the way she looked. This was certainly not a comfortable foursome. Inviting Rod and Darrah over was probably a mistake. But now that she had, and since they were still standing, Lana said, “Would you like to join us? We're just getting Cokes. We've been to the movie.”

“I'd like to hear your impressions of America,” Josh added. “Not that Denver represents America very well. I guess I should say your impressions of Denver.”

“You would not like what I have to say.” Darrah didn't sit down. “I can see that Americans are very spoiled. You all have so much. This is not true in my country.”

Even Josh didn't have anything to say to that. Lana knew she and her mother were comfortable, but certainly not rich. She wasn't about to apologize for what they did have because her mother worked very hard.

“Thanks,” Rod said, possibly embarrassed by the way Darrah was acting. “But we haven't had dinner. And I have a lot of things to talk to Darrah about. Okay with you, Darrah?”

“Yes, of course.” Darrah led the way toward another table.

“Nice girl,” Josh said, when they were out of hearing.

“I don't know if exchange students are supposed to be representatives of their country, but if so, she flunks graciousness, doesn't she? It's too bad. She's so attractive.”

“She's beautiful. Maybe she's just homesick in a strange place. Maybe she'll get used to us all being rich.”

Josh worked at the country club in order to play golf, and he held down a part-time job at Blockbuster Video to buy his clothes and other needs. He was the oldest of five kids, and all those old enough had jobs.

“And spoiled,” Lana added. “I've known for a long time that you were spoiled, Josh Benson. She didn't tell me anything new.”

“Are you working at the museum tomorrow, Miss Smart Mouth?” Josh took her hand and put his arm around her since he had slid in beside her in the booth. “I could start teaching you to play golf. It's the sport of choice for the rich and famous,” Josh joked.