The Mummy: The Tomb Robbers' Secret

Endings and New Beginnings

Roma woke before the rest of the camp and, leaving Ardeth still asleep, she went to inspect the results of Rick's handiwork in the light of the early morning Egyptian sun.

If she had expected to see that parts of the tomb walls had survived with their carvings, she was disappointed. Rick's expertise with explosives had surpassed even his expectations and nothing larger than the size of a pebble had survived.

The pulverized limestone that had survived for millennia, lay like a pile of terracotta powder that some ancient Egyptian lady might have used as a rouge to enhance her cheeks. She dipped her hand in the pile of powder and found that it coated her palm. She rubbed her hand on her trousers in disgust to try to remove it, but it clung to her hand.

She hoped, foolishly, to find a scrap of turquoise, or perhaps faience, but Rick had done his job too thoroughly. She wandered over to where the shaft had been, only to find it full of fine rubble, any secrets it might have contained now lost.

"This was to be our triumph," she said to the empty sky, "Evie and I were going to present a find to the archaeological world, the discovery of a tomb like no other, and now it's gone. No bones, no skeletons, no mummies, no nothing. It's all gone, forever."

"What are you doing here?" She jumped, surprised to see Ardeth standing next to her. He put his arm around her shoulder, "Are you dwelling on what might have been? That will do you no good. You helped rid the world of great evil—is that not enough?"

"Once it might have been, but now I'm not so sure. You don't know what it's like to be a woman, Ardeth, especially when you try to succeed in a world dominated by men. You've been raised in a culture where women don't question their place--it's your culture. It's not so different for Evie and me, but women are changing--we want more, and someday I hope we can get it. I had my father to help speed up my success, but now I've lost him. It was this damn tomb, it was going to help Evie and me—and now it's gone. I've lost everything."

"You haven't lost me," he told her firmly, "Whatever I can do to help you, I will. Perhaps I didn't understand you but now I do. What I want for you is what you want."

He was going to take her into his arms and kiss her when Rick came running up to them.

"It's Evie, I think she's better, she may even have returned to her old self. She wants to talk to you, Roma, please come."

They went to Rick's tent where they found Evie sitting up in bed, drinking a cup of tea. Though there were deep shadows under her eyes and newly etched fine lines that had not been there before, the look in her eyes was the old Evie, the honest Evie. She had lost some of her youthful looks, but what remained was a mature beauty who had perhaps learned from her ordeal.

Roma went to her and hugged her. "Is it you now, Evie, is it truly you?"

"Yes, yes it is. The last thing I remember is seeing him standing by the coffin in the torchlight. I can't remember anything else, though I have memories from..." She paused for a moment, then took a deep breath and continued, "Rick told me he blew up the tomb—was it necessary?"

"Yes, Evie, it was, it was the only way we could save you. We had to break the link that tied you to him. Even after you were freed and returned to us, well, it wasn't enough. for a brief moment, we thought we had you back, but then you were lost to us again. Whoever or whatever possessed you had a power I can't even comprehend. I think when we found Sitamun's mummy and removed it from the tomb we released a spirit into the world that had a powerful intent, an evil intent."

"Sitamun, it was her, I am sure of it. I had no idea I was under such a powerful spell, or that she could follow me back here." Evie set down her cup and lay back on her pillows. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me, I would not have thought it possible."