Chapter Text
Rú sat up and stretched, feeling a few pops along her spine. Wiping her brow she took a few seconds to look around and see how everyone else was fairing. Poor Melissa had already taken shelter under their measly tent, and just about everyone else still braving the hot sun to keep digging looked about as miserable as she felt.
Rolling her neck and shoulders a few times she downed the last bit of water from her canteen before leaning back over an ancient looking mural and continued to brush the dirt off. Her back cried out in protest, already sore from having been hunched over for a good majority of the day, but she did her best to ignore and focused on keeping her hand steady.
She would just work for another half hour or so, then she would join the others under the shade of the tent.
They had been stationed at this dig sight for a little over a month now, and had already uncovered a treasure trove of items. Not actually treasure, much to her brother's annoyance, but more like cooking utensils, plates and bowls, and pottery. Just little things to help fill in the gaps of what the everyday life of an ancient egyptian might have looked like.
Humming softly under her breath, Rú quickly fell back into the routine of gently chiseling at the larger pieces of rock, and then brushing all the remnants off. She wasn't too surprised to see more people standing up and calling it a day as the sun rose higher. All of them carefully packing away their equipment before dipping under the tent and sprawling out on the floor. She could feel her own determination to finish digging out this piece wavering as the unforgiving sun beat down on her skin. After a few minutes of internal debate she huffed out a sigh and decided to finish this one later, once the flaming ball of death was closer to the horizon and she had a full canteen.
Packing up her tool she stood for the first time in hours and immediately felt her knees groan in protest. After doing a few quick stretches she grabbed her pack and retreated to the tent like everyone else. Poking her head in she saw all of the chairs were already taken, but didn't mind, she was perfectly okay with sitting on the floor. As she entered fully one of the other students -James- went to stand up, probably to offer her his seat, but she waved him off and plopped onto the ground, leaning against one of the tent poles sticking out of the ground, and sighing happily as the breeze picked up.
Feeling far too many strands of hair sticking to her neck, she pulled her hair out of it's messy bun and immediately scooped it all back up to redo it. A smile swept across her face as she heard a meow off to her left. "Hello, bastet." She cooed at the black cat that had wandered over.
There were a few of them that had been hanging around over the past couple of weeks due to them figuring out that the group meant free pets, and occasionally free food. Bastet was a gorgeous black cat with blue eyes that seemed to have taken a liking to her, always coming up to and demanding attention. And it would seem that today was no different as she hopped right onto her lap and curling into a ball, purring loudly as Rú started scratching behind her ear. Continuing to pet the adorable creature, she let her gaze drift over everyone else in the tent.
A few of the other students were chatting back and forth, but for the most part everyone was sitting, or rather laying, in silence. There were twelve others in their group, but Rú really only spoke to a handful. She definitely considered herself closest to James, the most experienced and self-appointed leader of their little group, and Melissa, the youngest out of them who reminded her of her sister - a bit clumsy at times, but with a thirst for knowledge and the determination to see whatever she was doing through to the end.
Speaking of, she spotted Melissa scooting over out of the corner of her eye and turned to her with a weary smile which the younger woman returned as she reached out to pet bastet.
"Do you think they'll be done soon?" She asked after a moment, motioning towards the last two still working. Richard, Rú was pretty sure that was his name, and Emma both looked like they were getting ready to throw in the towel, tossing envious looks towards everyone resting in the shade.
"I'm sure they will, just a question of who's going to give in first." Rú answered.
Those two had some sort of weird rivalry going on, often seeing who would stay out the longest. It was mostly for bragging rights, but for everyone else it was just an annoyance. As the minutes dragged on Rú grew a bit more worried that this was going to be one of those days where they both just refused to quit, but thankfully after emptying her canteen Emma packed her things and headed over, Richard following suit, and the both of them approached the tent.
"Alright, who wants to go get lunch?" Emma asked, her pack swung over her shoulder. Immediately everyone's hands shot up. She motioned towards the bus. "Let's get going then."
There was a chorus of groans and grumbles as everyone staggered to their feet and grabbed their packs. Rú pet bastet a few more times before picking her up and placing her on the grown. The cat meowed loudly, clearly upset with having been removed from her seat, and Rú laughed. "I'm sorry, your majesty, but I have to go eat. I'll be back later." Bastet merely flicked her ear in annoyance and Rú rolled her eyes at the cat's dramatics before stroking her one last time and heading into the bus with everyone else.
As the bus came to life and started to head back to the city everyone was already throwing around suggestions on where they should go to eat, even though they would have to stop at the hotel first in order to drop their packs off.
"Oh, what about that one shawarma stand we went to last night? That place was pretty good!" Richard said excitedly.
One of the men she couldn't remember the name of scrunched his nose up in disgust. "Uh, you mean the one where Emma swore she saw a rat crawl out of the cart?"
"Yeah, might be best to avoid that one. There's a good chance we all may have avoided getting food poisoning from it. Let's not tempt the fates by going back." James huffed out.
Rú just rested her chin on her palm with a smile, content to listen. She wasn't particularly picky about food. Tuning out all the chatter she glanced over at Melissa, who had a pair of glasses perched on her nose and her face buried in a book. Rú felt a slight ache in her chest as she realized just how much she missed Evy. She hadn't been able to call at all this week and decided she was going to soon, either tonight or tomorrow.
With a half hour journey in front of them, and nothing to keep her attention, Rú felt her thoughts starting to drift as the bus swayed back and forth over the bumpy road.
This was the longest she had been away from Evy and Johnathan since their parents died. Their untimely deaths had shook all of them to their cores, and they had stuck together like glue for a few years. They had bounced around a few different countries over the years, before finally settling in Cairo six months ago. Johnathan started to drift after that, disappearing for weeks at a time only to come back with little trinkets for Evy and her to try and sell. Meanwhile she and her sister had gotten jobs at a local museum thanks to the curator knowing their parents. She had put in for a position with this excavation crew last month, not really expecting anything to come out of it, and had been over the moon when they accepted. Both of her siblings had been excited for her to go. Evy had said that, once she got back, she could tell her whether or not it was something she might be interested in doing down the line, while Johnathan had not so jokingly asked her to bring him back something expensive.
She hadn't realized just how much she was going to miss them when she left. Oh sure they could get on each other's nerves sometimes, but more often than not she found herself wanting to show something to Evy to get her input on it, or wanting to hear some of Jonathan's awful jokes while they drank together. All in all while she was enjoying the work they were doing here, she also couldn't wait to get back home.
The bus screeching to a stop pulled her from her thoughts. Grabbing her bag she stood up and slowly shuffled out. One by one everyone climbed off with their bags before entering the hotel and splitting off to go drop their things off.
Rú was busy talking to Melissa as they entered the hotel, who told her that the group had settled on a koshary stand for lunch, and almost missed the person at the front desk waving her over. Excusing herself she walked up with a curious look.
"Excuse me Miss Carnahan, but you have a few missed calls from a woman called Evelyn. She asked that you call her back as soon as possible."
Immediately perking up she thanked him and told Melissa she would talk to her later before running up to her room. Tossing her bag on her bed she plucked the phone off it's handle and dialed the number to their shared flat. It barely got in half a ring before getting picked up. "Hello?"
Rú smiled at the sound of her sister's voice. "Hey Evy, perfect timing I was just thinking about calling you."
"Oh, Rú! Oh my goodness you would not believe the day I've had, well we've had, but still it's just so incredible! Oh heavens I don't even know where to begin!" Rú's smile softened. Evy hadn't sounded this excited in a long time.
"Well why don't you start from the top and work your way down?" She suggested as she made herself comfortable on the bed.
"Oh, well I would but there's so little time. Johnathan and I are heading out tomorrow, and I'm trying to pack right now, and- Oh! You'll need to meet us at the boat by then. I'm sorry I know it's short notice, but we booked the soo-"
Rú interrupted her sister's ramblings with a confused frown. "Woah woah, Evy. What do you mean I need to meet you? What's going on?"
Evy lowered her voice to a whisper. "Rú I promise we will tell you everything later, but right now the most important thing for you to know is that we found a way to Hamunaptra."
It took a few seconds for what Evy just said to sink in, but once it did Rú felt her eyes widen in shock. Casting a wary glance at the door she whispered, "Hold on." Running over to it she poked her head out and made sure the hallway was empty before closing and locking it. Picking the phone up again she lowered her voice as much as possible. "Evy, are you certain?"
She heard a small huff on the other end of the line. "Rú this is me we're talking about. I wouldn't have called you if I wasn't one hundred percent sure."
Resting her hand on the end table she let out a small, breathless laugh in disbelief. Evy had told her that she had been doing a lot of research into the lost city, but she would never have guessed that she would have found anything on it, much it's actual location. Her mind was still reeling as Evy continued. "Now, I need to give you the information for the boat. Do you have a pen and paper?" Shaking herself out of it, she grabbed her notepad and listened carefully as her sister told her when and where exactly to meet them.
***
24 hours later Rú carefully maneuvered through the crowded street, focusing on ducting beneath pallets being lifted and dodging around livestock. She had packed light, only bringing a duffle bag and a satchel with her more valuable items.
It had been unfortunate that she had to leave the group on such short notice, but she ended up telling everyone she had to deal with a family emergency, which wasn't entirely untrue.
Eyes flickering between the names on the identical looking boats she tried to remember if Evy had said it was called the evergreen or the evergiven when she was jolted out of her musings by the sound of her name.
"Rú! Over here!" Evy called out waving her over, Johnathan standing next to her. Rú grinned at the sight of her siblings and ran towards them.
Johnathan scooped her up into a hug first. "It's good to see you old mum, and oh what a thing to be reunited for!" He spun her around excitedly before finally placing her back on the ground where she was promptly pulled into a death grip by Evy.
"Oh, it's good to see you again! I've missed you." She beamed, pulling back.
"I've missed you guys too. Now, I think it's time I get a bit of an explanation." Rú said, arching an eyebrow. Evy's eye's darted around warily. "Not here. Come on, once we get in our room we'll tell you everything."
With that she picked up her bag, linked her arm through Rú's, and pulled her up the gangplank onto the ship. As she led her across the deck, Evy kept standing up on her tiptoes, looking around. Rú was about to ask what she was looking for when a smile broke out across her face and she waved a man over. He was tall with light brown hair and guarded eyes. Evy just motioned for him to follow and all four of them walked down a short hallway, entering the last door on the left.
Once the door was closed Evy motioned towards him. "Rú this is Mr. O'Connell, he's agreed to lead us to Hamunaptra. Mr. O'Connell, this is our sister, Rú."
The man, O'Connell, reached out to shake her hand, and she had to bite back a grin at the confused twitch of his brow as his eyes darted between her, Evy, and Johnathan. She exchanged amused looks with her siblings, knowing exactly what the source of his confusion was.
Because while Johnathan and Evy shared the same brown hair and light skin, she had black hair and noticeably darker skin.
They were used to the odd looks tossed at them whenever they introduced themselves as family and had made a sort of game out of it. If someone commented on their differences, then they'd act confused and pretend they all looked exactly the same. And while it usually ended with said person just dropping it with an annoyed glare, they had gotten a few people to genuinely question their own sanity.
It would seem that O'Connell was either smart enough to not ask, or simply didn't care, as he just shook her hand with a nod before leaning back up against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest again.
With that out of the way Rú sat down on a chair next to a small, wobbly looking table and stared expectantly at them all. "Now, what exactly is going on?"
Evy held out her hand to their brother, who dug around in his pocket for a moment before dropping something into it, then she turned and held it out to Rú. Tilting her head curiously, she carefully picked it up and looked it over.
It was a small, cylindrical metal box covered in symbols, and it looked old. Very old. At least three or four thousand years old if she had to guess.
"Where did you get this?" She murmured, staring at it in amazement. When silence was the only response she got, she finally tore her eyes away and glanced over to Evy and Johnathan, only to find both of them staring sheepishly at O'Connell, who had raised two fingers into the air while giving Johnathan a very pointed look.
Johnathan rubbed the back of his neck and gave a half-hearted shrug at her inquisitive gaze, and she decided she would ask about it later, then turned her attention back to O'Connell. "And where did you get it?"
"Hamunaptra."
Rú's eyes widened. After a quick glance at her siblings, who both nodded in confirmation, she placed the box on the table and leaned forward, staring him down intently. "You've been to Hamunaptra? The Hamunaptra?"
"The one and only." He said dryly, and Rú slowly leaned back in shock.
When Evy had said that he was going to lead them she thought that she meant he was coming along as hired muscle, or even that he had heard rumors of the city's whereabouts, not that he had actually been there himself.
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "So, wait. Why did you come to us?" Not that she was complaining, but it seemed odd that he would seek them out specifically.
O'Connell let out a humorless laugh. "Oh, I wouldn't put it that way."
"It's a bit of a long story," Evy chimed in, "But the short version is that we saved Mr. O'Connell's life, so he's agreed to take us to the city."
She didn't miss the way O'Connell's eye's softened at her sister, or the way Evy gave a small smile to the man before dropping her eyes to the floor. Flicking her gaze back and forth between them, Rú exchanged a look with Johnathan before clearing her throat and resting her chin on her hand. "Now that sounds like an interesting tale."
"And not one I feel like hearing again," O'Connell huffed out as he pushed himself off the wall. "I'm going to go settle into my room, you all have fun."
"Oh, I think I'll join you old boy. Haven't seen the room yet myself." Johnathan started after him. He paused by Rú long enough to bump their foreheads together then they both headed out, closing the door behind them.
Once they were gone Rú wordlessly arched an eyebrow at her sister, who pretended like she didn't see it as she dragged another chair up to the table and motioned towards metal contraption looking like she was about to burst with excitement. "Do you see the buttons on the sides? Read the symbols."
Rú picked up the box again and studied it more closely. There were a total of eight buttons with a symbol on each one. Most of them were nonsense, just random words most likely there to throw people off, but there were three that were numbered. Placing her fingers on each of the numbered ones, she pushed them all down together and jumped when the top opened up to reveal a piece of parchment.
Carefully pulling it out she unfolded the delicate looking paper and laid it on the table, carefully tracing the symbols with her fingers. It didn't take her long to understand what it was. "Is this…" She trailed off as she double checked, trying to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.
"It is," Evy confirmed. "It's a map to Hamunaptra." She twisted her fingers together nervously. "Unfortunately, there was a bit of an accident and it got damaged, but it's okay, that's why Mr. O'Connell is here."
Rú side eyed her sister with a mischievous smile. "And what do you think of O'Connell?"
Evy suddenly found her glasses very interesting, taking them off and meticulously cleaning them while answering. "Well, I think he's a bit of a brute, and could do with a lesson in some proper manners."
Rú let her smile grow wider and hummed in acknowledgment. She decided not to comment on the pink flush of her sister's cheeks, and instead let a more serious look settle on her face. "Do you trust him?"
Evy went still at that and looked at the door he had just disappeared out of. She could practically hear the cogs turning in her mind. A few beats of silence passed before Evy turned to her with a determined look. "I do. I trust him to not go back on his word."
Rú regarded her carefully for a moment then nodded. "Okay, that's good enough for me." Evy smiled weakly at that and put her glasses back on as Rú smoothed out the map and pulled a magnifying glass out of her satchel. "Now, let's see if there's anything else this map has to tell us."