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“Look, Rick,” Evy said. “Ardeth and Jonathan are watching over Alex. He’ll be fine.”
Rick sighed and tucked her arm into his. “Yeah, but for once I’d like Ardeth showing up without news the world was about to end.”
Evy laughed. “Two books are not the end of the world.”
“If those archeologists had just left Ahm Shere alone-”
Evy plastered a smile on her face as they walked up the stone steps of the museum. Her long evening dress swished around her ankles. If any sort of shenanigans occurred, she would be severely hampered. Not that it would if the plan tonight went off without a hitch.
Simple. Easy. Convince Professor Ravenwood that the British Museum was better off in custody of the books. Arrange for storage. Help Ardeth and some of the other Med-Jai break in and steal them. Problem solved. The books would be on their way back to Egypt within a fortnight.
“You can hardly expect archeologists to give up on a rich find just because of sandstorms and desert men,” Evy said as they entered the main hall. The receiving line for the Emersons stretched across the room. Rick led her over without any sort of prompting from her end. “And they are Americans.”
“Hey!”
Evy grinned at the mock affront her husband wore. “You’re far more than they are.” Evy couldn’t help herself, in public and before most of their colleagues in the field. She planted a swift kiss on his lips and grinned up at him. “My beloved Med-Jai.”
For all its length, the receiving line went fast. Presumably, no one wanted to tire out the Emersons at their age even over their protests they were quite fine. Even confined to a chair, Mr. Emerson’s handshake was firm. And Mrs. Emerson was no different for all she used her infamous parasol as a support. Guests of honor at this soiree they might be, but most of the conversations Evy overheard as they walked towards the bar were about current projects and the mistakes that graduate students made. Evy grinned at Rick. She could think of a few mistakes herself.
“Evelyn?” Evy turned around and smiled at the older gentleman standing a few feet away with his lovely wife.
“Hello, Ramses!” Evy said with delight. “Nefret.”
Nefret smiled. Lines crinkled her face and grey streaked her red-gold hair. “Evelyn. How’s Alex?”
“He’s fine,” Rick said. He had a single glass of whisky in one hand. He shook Ramses’ hand with the other. “Jonathan and a family friend are at the house tonight watching him.”
Alex’s kidnapping last year hadn’t made international news the way the supposed robbery of the British Museum had, but so many people in their field had. They’d dragged him to every single season in Egypt they’d had. Everyone knew Alex.
“Good,” Ramses said. He changed the subject abruptly. “You’ve heard about the books Ravenwood brought? He asked if I knew of anyone willing to help translate them when they return to Chicago. It seems the hieroglyphics are a bit odd.”
Evy frowned. “I don’t have any desire to go to America right now, Ramses.” But even though she knew exactly what those books were, she couldn’t help herself. “Odd how?”
Rick groaned. “You talk hieroglyphics, honey. I’m going to go-” he waved his arm at the mingling crowd “-look around.”
Translation: Find out where Ravenwood was with those damned books. Evy grinned. “Try not to get into too much trouble.”
“Never,” Rick said with the grin that always made Evy grow warm. He nodded at the younger Emersons and walked away.
A few minutes deep into the conversation, Nefret excused herself. She wanted to go look at the mummies the museum had set up as display around the room. Evy wanted to roll her eyes at the ostentation, but for an event honoring the elder Emersons and their many contributions to the field of Egyptology, she could hardly fault them. (Even if she had objected to the display. Vociferously. Those books and mummies should never be in the same place together. Ever.)
The dinner hadn’t begun yet when Ravenwood and his current partner, a Doctor Jones, brought out the books. Evy drifted over as Mrs. Emerson exclaimed over the brilliance of the golden book. From the outside, the book was beautiful. A perfect example of Egyptian metalworking. And priceless. Any other Book of Life or Book of Death had been found written on papyrus. For these to exist-
Evelyn shook the thought away. Her Egyptian past could not interfere right now. She needed to focus on the here and now and get those books out of here before someone made the mistake she did ten years ago.
She hardly noticed when Rick took her hand. “We got this, Evy.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, well,” his tone shifted. “If you don’t stop Ramses from reading aloud.”
Evy spun around and marched over. Jones and Ramses were arguing over a translation. She wanted to roll her eyes. “It’s a mellifus.”
Two men glared at her. Evy dropped her eyes to the book and the hieroglyphics Ramses had his finger on. Um. Hmm. How could she phrase this without insulting their intelligence any further?
To hell with it. “Gentlemen, are you aware this spell will raise every mummy within this room?”
Ravenwood chuckled. “My dear Mrs. O’Connell, I don’t think any of us believe in magic.”
Jones had a smirk and Ramses’ face wore a touch of pity. Rick squeezed her hand. Evy shook him off and felt her hands curling into fists.
Jones ran his finger down the hieroglyphics, reading aloud. Evy took a breath, then another. No screams rang out from behind her. Of course, no one in this field aside from herself and Rick actually knew what Ancient Egyptian sounded like. You could hardly bring someone to life when you couldn’t say half the words properly. She had been unlucky enough to pronounce them correctly the last time. And now that her memories of her past life returned, well, pronunciation was never going to be a problem again.
Ramses shook his head. “I wouldn’t say it that way.”
Evy hid a smile as Rick rolled his eyes. She had to bit her lip to stop from laughing when he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Can we just steal it now? Save us a lot of trouble later.”
”Somehow, dear,” Evy said just as quietly even though no one could hear them over Ramses and Jones’ loud discussion. “I think people would notice.”
Before Rick could retort, Ramses calmly recited what he thought was the correct pronunciation. Which it was, she noted unhappily. Evy stiffened at the sound of cracking sinew and bone behind her and the sudden silence before someone started screaming.
Ramses and Jones had turned towards the commotion. Both their jaws dropped open. Ravenwood and the elder Emersons had paled. They all turned to Evy in utter astonishment.
Of course. Now they paid attention to what she’d said. She glared at the offenders, then turned to Rick. They exchanged a look of mutual exasperation. He sighed and tugged off his jacket. It fell to the floor as he pulled out a pistol from its hidden holster. “Here we go again.”