Chapter 1
Lady Theodora Carnarvon reached up to wipe her goggles again. The dusty clay roads were rough, and her arms hurt from wrestling the steering wheel for three days and nights. The heat and blowing sand were almost unbearable during the day as was the frigid, dry air at night. For the last two months, she had lived in a world as far from the English countryside in winter as a young royal lady could get. She begged to stay with her grandfather Lord Carnarvon instead of returning to England after Christmas. He agreed and that meant chasing the lost places of Egypt while Dr. Carter and his group catalogued the Valley of the Kings.
A clue in the newly found tomb of Prince Tutankhamen led to the buried city of a pharaoh whose name had been stricken from all Egyptian records. A city where everything was covered in a strange purplish-black dust as fine and silken to the touch as volcanic ash. It looked like the city had been looted then burned before being buried in the sand from above. So great was the volume of sand that it crushed the buildings. Lord Carnarvon theorized a massive sandstorm must have done it, but Sargent Major Lansing was from a family of fishermen and suggested the sand had been mixed with water to damage the buildings as it had. The most startling trait of the city was the black canyon with walls that sparkled like the night sky, even when the sun was directly overhead. It was mysterious and beautiful, but it became terrifying as one by one the members of the expedition became ill, died, and then came back.
Only Theodora, her best friend, and Lord Carnarvon escaped from the lost city of Prince Pharaoh Bakare. Theodora drove them away from the cursed place because Sargeant Major Lansing ordered them to flee in the middle of the night. Curses were something her grandfather insisted were just myths; he was wrong or so it seemed. Bouncing over another rut in the camel road, she wondered if the brave soldier and the desert cats survived killing the rest of the undead as she clutched the large steering wheel.
The engine sputtered so she stopped. Theodora was only eight years old, but she carried a sensible mind and the thirst for adventure and knowledge that ran in the family. She already knew how to shoot, ride a horse, sail a boat and drive, and she recognized when a motor needed petrol. She needed to get out and her Egyptian Desert Cat kittens mewed in protest at being removed from her lap. Going to the rear, she climbed into the canvas covered back.
Her best friend, Penelope Carter looked at her in anguish. "He's getting worse." The younger sister of Egyptologist Howard Carter looked anguished as she added, "And I had to tie Sekhmet in a basket. He keeps trying to attack him and Suzy." Penelope opened the basket and lifted the giant cat out. It purred and rubbed its face on hers.
The kittens crawled through the flap to the front, so Theodora let them sniff the water she poured from a jar into a ladle. After they drank, she did because she knew it was safe. "He has the black dust sickness like the others," Theodora admitted sadly, "He ate some of the Doum Dates from the city." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, then stood up with a willfulness her generation would come to be known for. "We should be in Cairo by nightfall, we'll go straight to the fort. They have doctors there; medicine -- Penicillin and such. He'll be okay... We need to put more petrol in the truck."
The two small English girls hefted the metal can, so the fuel filled the truck. They were just about to add the second one when they heard laughter. Three rough-looking men walked out of the desert like a mirage. Lord Carnarvon's little dog Suzy snapped and barked viciously at them, peaking out of the canvas flaps.
"What be two wee girls driving the sands?" His English was broken but from their look Theodora recognized they intended to rob them.
Theodora held up her chin proudly, announcing in a mixture of Arabic and English, "I am Lady Theodora Carnarvon. My grandfather's expedition fell upon misfortune, and he is ill. If you take us to the English fort in Cairo, I will see you are paid very well... More than you would earn stealing our truck and selling it."
The men started to chuckle but then hushed when one of Theodora's kittens jumped to her shoulder, while the other stood between the girls and hissed. Suddenly, the large male Desert Cat Sekhmet leaped out of the back and yowled in threat.
The men stared in shock, they muttered to each other, arguing, then two of them walked away as the third knelt to one knee. In Arabic, he responded, "I am a follower of Bastet. I will take you to the place you wish. Only those She blesses are protected by Her children."
"He's on our side," Theodora whispered in English to Penelope.
Penelope picked up her Desert Cat and nodded. "Thank you, sir."
"Can you drive a truck?" Theodora asked in Arabic.
He shook his head as he lifted the fuel can and poured it in. "No, but I can guide you. The path you are on leads to a place where the sand is too soft for a truck. You must go around. I am Abul."
They heard Lord Carnarvon coughing and climbed into the back. Blackish purple mucus leaked from his lips and eyes. The Arab man drew back as Theodora wiped her grandfather's lips and eyes. The Desert Cats hissed at the sick man who they had tied down.
"Why is he tied up?" Abul asked with fear in his voice and eyes.
"I told you; he is sick. He needs medicine. We need to get him to an English doctor. We had to tie him up to keep him from hurting himself or us from the delirium that comes with the illness," Theodora announced, then vehemently vowed, "I won't let my grandfather go insane like the others." She jumped down and went back to the front. A moment later, the engine started, and the truck began moving.
"He is going to die, there is no medicine for this. He has been cursed by the old gods," the man said but Penelope looked at him in confusion.
"I don't speak Arabic," she responded in English as the little dog jumped back up to the elderly man's side, whining and licking his dark tears.
Abul scowled and climbed onto the side of the truck. Easing forward on the running boards, he climbed into the passenger door. "Little miss? Turn to the left at the next branch in the path."
"It's Lady Carnarvon," Theodora snapped, and her kittens hissed at him in unison.
"Lady Carnarvon, did your grandfather enter one of the tombs?"
"He entered Tutankhamun's tomb with Dr. Carter and was fine, then he went ahead of Dr. Carter to the lost city and... and..." Theodora couldn't finish the horrifying tale.
"Your grandfather is cursed by the old gods. You cannot save him. The curse of the ancient kings is real."
"I don't believe in your old gods! There was a strange dust on everything. It is an illness, not a curse. Illnesses can be cured through modern medicine." Theodora needed to believe it. She didn't want her grandfather to die, and she didn't want to go back to England and boarding school.
The man looked at the window and rubbed his thumb over the carved stone medallion of Bastet he wore. "My child, there are places cursed by the gods buried in the stones and sands of the great desert. The children of the goddess keep the cursed ones trapped there. Whether you believe or not, the curses of the gods are real as are the blessings of the goddesses. The goddess Bastet has blessed you and your friend with sacred protectors. Someday when you grow up, you will understand."
Abul directed them to the fort and refused any reward after petting Theodora's kittens. He gave her his necklace then walked into the city.
Theodora beat on the gate, then honked the klaxon horn and shouted at the guard who stepped out the wicket door in the gate. "I'm Lady Carnarvon and I demand to be let in! Tell Major Thomas to come at once."
The soldiers and officers rushed them to the hospital ward. Lord Carnarvon had a high fever and was moaning in severe pain. The commanding officer of the garrison looked at them. "How did you get here? Where are the others?"
"They got sick and died. Fearing he might try to go to the lost city, Theodora lied, "An Arab drove us and left us at the gate."
"Can you take me back to collect their bodies?" the Major demanded.
"No," Penelope said quickly. "We rode in the back with Theodora's grandfather. We don't know from whence we came."
"Major?" The doctor interrupted, "His lordship has pneumonia in both lungs and is suffering from heart and respiratory weakness, but I gave him injections of penicillin, quinine, and intravenous fluids."
Major Thomas asked, "Can you get him well enough to go back to England by air?" But the doctor only shook his head.
"Lady Theodora, I am so sorry, I don't know if your grandfather will make it to morning." The doctor patted her on the head, shocked at the filthy, starved appearance of the two English girls. They were so healthy less than two months earlier when he last saw them. "You have been through a terrible ordeal and have been so brave. Major Thomas, please take the girls to your wife for a bath and a meal. Send to the excavation for Dr. Carter."
The major scowled at them then took them to his wife as the doctor bid him to.
On April 5th, 1924, Lord Carnarvon died in the early morning. The wind was blowing very hard, and the electricity blinked out. Laying together on a bed after being given baths and dinner by the Major's wife, they cried and held their cats while Lord Carnarvon's little dog Suzy howled madly. In the morning, they were told both the lord and his little dog had died.
After sneaking out to the market the next morning, the girls crept into the place where they stored Theodora's grandfather's body in a box of cedar shavings and pried the lid open. Remembering how those who died at the city rose on the fourth day, and what Sargent Major Lansing did to protect them, they acted on what needed to be done. Untying his ascot, Theodora cut off his head, then cried while Penelope tied the ascot back. Together, they poured pounds of natron salt over the body as the Ancient Egyptians did when they prepared their dead, before nailing the body box shut.
Two days later, Theodora was on a plane back to England with her two kittens and her grandfather's preserved corpse so that he could be buried at Beacon Hill. Her best friend Penelope stayed behind with her brother and cat. The papers reported the famous archeology philanthropist died of blood poisoning and pneumonia at a hotel after a mosquito bite. Stories widely circulated that the Mummy's Curse of Tutankhamun's Tomb killed him, even after Dr. Carter dismissed such speculation, insisting, "The sentiment of the Egyptologist is not one of fear, but of respect and awe ... entirely opposed to foolish superstitions."
Four months later, Dr. Carter returned Penelope and her cat companion to England. The girls were reunited in boarding school after Theodora's Uncle Henry became weary of her insistence that her cats must taste everything the family ate. Theodora and Penelope spent years organizing a network of others who believed them, citing that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was not completely wrong about how Lord Carnarvon died.
^..^
Wearing a mask and gloves, Babbette walked across the stage, glad that Pandemic Four restrictions were partially rescinded so they could have an in-person graduation, but she was sad that her elderly father wasn't there. She nodded and waved at the streaming camera, signing "Hi, book worm", before the Head of Information Technology Department shook her hand, wearing gloves and a mask.
Behind a clear plastic screen, the vice president of the school read from a tablet, "Congratulations, Babbette Bland, Doctorial Degree in Library Science and Physical Document Archiving. Miss Bland is the last person to be awarded a degree in this long-lived and prestigious program. She has received the same degree as our alumni, her aunt Dr. Ouisa Bland of Sacramento State University Library. Dr. Bland worked for forty years, and we wish Babette all the best and as long a career in her chosen field."
No one clapped or cheered as she walked off the stage and back to her seat. The ceremony went on for another hour as those graduating with computer information and programing degrees were awarded their degrees. The Information Technology Department students were dismissed so the area could be sanitized before the next department graduated.
She glanced around at the other students congratulating each other. None of her professors were here, so she left to finish packing her dorm room. As she walked through the summer morning, she dialed her father.
"Hello, Dr. Bland," he greeted her.
"Hi, Daddy. Did you see it all?"
Instead of answering, he coughed violently. She waited with bated breath until he wheezed out, "I'm okay, Babs. Ouisa would be so proud of you getting the same degree she did."
"I know. I miss her... Hey, I have an interview tomorrow." She changed the subject revealing all the opportunities she had so she wouldn't think about the fact Pandemic Three had been so hard on his health. She told him about the Library of Congress interview and the New York Public Library one next week. She grinned as she spoke about being recruited to meet with the Head Archivist at the Smithsonian. She talked about all the applications she sent out and how she was the only applicant at some of the most prestigious libraries in the country, not mentioning that her aunt's former employer declined to interview her. "I wish Aunt Ouisa and Mama could see me."
"They would be as proud of you as I am." He coughed slightly, then she heard a beep. "It's time for my next treatment. I love you so much, book bunny."
"I love you too, book worm," she said as she swallowed against the tears. "I'll call you as soon as I get to Washington D.C. in the morning."
"Enjoy the train. I wish you had let me come drive you."
"Not with gas costing $8 a gallon. It would cost more than a semester to drive out here from California. She refused with a giggle, adding knowingly, "You just don't trust anything you aren't driving."
"Nope. Especially not those computer brain drivers." He coughed after he chuckled before wheezing, "Bye."
"Bye, Daddy. Love you."
He hung up while coughing violently.
Looking around her empty dorm flat, Babette sighed. She was the only one left on this floor. Everyone else had moved out last week. Looking on her phone at her meager savings, she decided to skip eating out in celebration in favor of ramen and frozen vegetables. The tickets on buses and trains were cheaper than flying or driving but had still taken a chunk out of her savings. Money she hoarded back from the student loan living expenses stipend; an amount she would no longer get now that she had graduated. Next Friday she would be paid for the last two weeks' work at the school library then she would be unemployed. Looking over the printed list of applications accepted, and interviews scheduled, she hoped for the best.