My head hurts. Was my first conscious thought. My mind spun in dizzy circles and my head throbbed painfully as I slowly opened my eyes.
"Where am I?" I mumbled, vision blurring into focus. Larry was bending over me worriedly, as well as a young man who... looked familiar. My gaze fixed on him, and my eyes flashed with recognition as everything came flooding back.
"Are you okay, Em?" Larry asked, genuinely concerned.
I felt like crying, but I nodded anyway. "I'm... fine."
Ahkmenrah looked like he could tell I wasn't telling the truth. He turned to Larry. "I assume you have things to attend to?"
My uncle nodded.
"I think," Ahkmenrah began, "that Emily would benefit from a quiet atmosphere with no frightening distractions. Supposing you start on the things you need to do and I take her up to the Egyptian exhibit? I think she needs awhile to get used to the idea of... all this."
Larry looked relieved. "That would be great. Thanks, Ahk."
The pharaoh nodded, then reached out to help me up. "It's not usually this chaotic around here." he whispered conspiratorially to me. "We have some new arrivals, and that always causes a stir. You'll get used to it, I promise."
I took his hand gingerly, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment as he helped me to my feet.
"Does your head still hurt?" he asked gently.
I nodded.
Ahkmenrah winced sympathetically. "That was a nasty crack. I've never seen Rexy act so unruly before."
"That was awesome." Nicky looked awed -- Larry was no longer paying attention; he was yelling at all the exhibits and trying to get them organized -- Nicky helpfully decided to retell my passing out scene. "Rexy was going crazy - stomping and whirling, and all of a sudden, wham, his tail whips around and knocks you over."
I flinched, reliving the experience as he narrated it. My head throbbed.
Ahkmenrah shot me an apologetic look. "Hey, Nicky, I don't think Emily appreciates that."
Nicky rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It was still cool." He turned away, not looking at all bothered by Ahkmenrah's reproval. "I'm gonna go find Dexter before he gets into trouble."
Ahkmenrah steered me in the direction of the open door. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"
I nodded wordlessly. Much as I hated to realize it, I was still afraid.
He led me back up the stairs and down the hallway, bringing me into the room I'd hidden in earlier. I glanced around, a little more curious this time, and approached the coffin-like thing on display.
Ahkmenrah watched me. "That's my sarcophagus." he told me quietly, walking up beside me. I turned to him and tilted my head, unsure of how to respond.
"So, you... you live in here?" I finally asked.
"Somewhat." He grimaced. "I... stay here during the day, when the power of the tablet isn't in effect and I'm not actually alive."
"Tablet?" I was confused.
He gestured at the glowing object on the wall. "This tablet is what brings the exhibits to life at night. During the day... we're just as lifeless as the displays at any other museum. And then, as the sun goes down, the tablet starts to glow -- and we all come to life."
I stared at the tablet. "Oh." Then I glanced at the information on the display case by the sarcophagus, catching sight of his name. "Sooo... you're ancient pharaoh Ahkmenrah, huh?"
He laughed. "Yes. But honestly, you can call me Ahk. My rule ended a long time ago."
"Hmmm." I zoned out, still absorbing the fact that this wasn't a dream. I had calmed down, but it was still hard to believe that this was a reality.
"You can sit down, if you like." Ahk gestured to a stone bench beside the wall.
I did so slowly.
He sat down on a different bench, facing me. "Larry told me you were coming to see if this job would suit you."
I nodded slowly. "Yes, but I... I had no idea about all of... this."
Ahk smiled. "I could tell."
"What did Larry say about me?" I asked hesitantly.
"Well, he held a sort of... meeting. He told everyone someone new was going to be coming, and that we all needed to be on our 'best behavior'." He winced. "As you could probably tell, most of us didn't listen."
"You did." I pointed out, shifting positions.
Ahk laughed. "Oh, I'm always perfect." he said, grinning so I knew he was joking. Then he became more serious. "I was trying to be an example. the exhibits regard me as their... their leader, I suppose, since it is my tablet that makes them come to life. Though most of them are wax figures or stone figures, I'm a real person... or, I used to be." His eyes had a glint of sorrow in them.
I felt bad for him, knowing I would hate being an exhibit in a museum, only alive at night and unable to do... anything, really. A question struck me. "What would happen if you left the museum?"
"Any exhibit who leaves the museum at night will turn to dust as soon as the sunlight touches it." Ahk replied softly, sadly. There was a yearning in his eyes that made my heart ache.
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
Ahk seemed to realize he was projecting his mood onto me as well. He sighed and gave me a smile, covering his sadness and shaking it off. "That's all right. I've lived my life, and it was a good one. I suppose I'll continue to exist, for who knows how long? Perhaps someday I'll escape this dreadful half-life and find a way to make it to whatever lies beyond death." Then he changed the subject. "Enough about me, though. How are you feeling? Is your head all right?"
"I'm fine." I replied, realizing he probably didn't want to talk about it and flowing with the subject change. "My head doesn't hurt so much anymore, but I... I'm still having some trouble believing this is all real."
He stood. "Well, I can show you around the museum if you like. Maybe you'll feel more comfortable if everything is familiar to you."
"Okay." I felt a little braver as I got to my feet. Ahk held out his arm politely, and I took it.
He led me almost to the entrance way, then stopped. "These statues are my... protectors, I suppose you could say. A bit like sentries or guards."
I followed his gaze and saw two huge statues with jackal heads and dangerous-looking spears standing on either side of the door. Their heads nearly reached the tall ceiling, and their legs alone were nearly as big around as I was.
One of them turned to look at me, making a low growling sound. I realized I was trembling.
Ahk saw my fear and shot the statue a stern look. It stopped. "Don't worry." he said reassuringly. "They follow my orders and no one else's."
We continued out of the room, and Ahk introduced me to quite a few of the exhibits, including the leaders of two miniature wax figure armies, Jed and.... someone. I forgot his name two seconds after Ahk told it to me, but I do remember it sounded something like "Octopus".
I think.
I'm terrible with names. Especially Roman ones, apparently.
Jed and what's-his-name insisted that we stay and watch the little men from their armies have dueling matches. Apparently, Jed was trying to prove to what's-his-name that ancient army tactics were overrated.
As Ahk and I pretended to be interested in the miniature duels going on on the floor, I leaned over and whispered to him. "What's the Roman guy's name again?"
"Octavius." he whispered back.
I knew it sounded like octopus.
Suddenly, a needle-like thing shot right past my cheek. I jumped. "What was that?"
Ahk stood immediately. "Oh, dear."
Jed and Octavius whirled around from where they'd been sitting, watching their men spar. "Invaders!" cried Octavius dramatically.
I glanced over at the miniature army of ancient looking indian-like people who had crept up on us and were shooting darts from their blowguns. The darts were even smaller than a pin.
"To arms!" called Octavius to his army. "We'll show these savages!"
"We should go." Ahk whispered, pulling me to my feet. "They might look harmless, but their blowdarts really actually hurt."
"If you say so." I followed him quickly, and we escaped into a different hallway without any of the miniature people noticing.
"Dum-dum!" Came a voice from the top of the stairway. The Easter Island head again. "I waaant gum-gum!!!"
I glanced at Ahk. "I actually do have some gum in my pocket...."
He grinned, catching my meaning. "Let's do it."
"Should we?" I balked.
"Probably not." he replied, pulling me up the stairs two at a time.
I stared at him. "What happened to 'always perfect'?"
"Oh, come on!" he pleaded. "He's been asking for gum ever since he got here! I want to see what will happen when he actually gets it."
"Oh, fine." I mumbled, trying to hide my own smile.
We skidded to a halt in front of the Easter Island head, and I rummaged in my hip bag before pulling out a pack of bright pink bubble gum. "My friend gave this to me last week for my birthday and I had no idea what to do with it, since I detest gum and like pink even less." I muttered by way of explanation.
"Was last week your birthday?" Ahk looked startled.
"It was like a month ago, but she felt bad because she didn't get me a present before..." I trailed off, opening the package. "Hey, Mr. Dum-dum. I got some gum for you." With that, I tossed the entire unwrapped package at him, figuring he wouldn't care either way.
He caught it in his mouth and began to chew and chew and chew. Ahk and I exchanged glances.
For a moment, it seemed nothing out of the ordinary would happen. Then the Easter Island head tried to blow a bubble.
And everything went downhill from there.
An enormous bubble began to form. I backed away. "Ummm... I don't think there was enough gum in that little package for-"
Splat! The bubble popped, and the Easter Island head began chewing again, this time harder. It had what looked like a pink mustache above its mouth from the gum that had stuck there.
"Maybe we should..." I trailed off as it began to blow another bubble, stone cheeks puffing out with the effort. The hot pink bubble kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and...
Heaven's sakes! It wasn't going to stop, was it?
Ahk and I backed up even more, exchanging wide-eyed glances. I heard a chattering noise from down the hallway and whirled around.
A monkey was clambering into the room.
Ahk groaned. "Dexter. I thought Nicky was going to..."
The monkey's gaze caught on the gum being blown into a bubble, and it scampered excitedly towards the Easter Island head.
Ahk tried to stop the monkey. "Dexter-"
At that moment, the ginormous bubble exploded, spattering pink, sticky goo all over the room. I ducked, and Dexter raced to pick at the globs of gum on the statue's face. The little monkey shrieked as his hand got stuck.
The Easter Island head was bellowing about something, but I couldn't tell what it was saying. Its face was plastered with a layer of the pink gum that had splattered and stuck.
I stared at Ahk with wide eyes. "Look what you did." I hissed.
He stared back. "Uh-oh."
The hilarity of the situation stuck me as the monkey squalled again. I began to giggle. The corner of Ahk's mouth pulled up, but he kept a straight face, fighting against the grin. "Let's get out of here."
Together we fled the crime scene, me dissolving into fits of mirth and Ahk maintaining a mostly serious countenance all the way up until we made it back to the Egyptian Exhibit room. Then he finally cracked.
We collapsed onto one of the benches side by side, laughing. Ahk was doubled over, chortling and choking on his laughter, while I almost fell off the bench. He caught me just before I did, and I tried to get out a thank-you but only managed a "th-thu-th..." before I dissolved into laughter again.
After awhile, Ahk got control of his mirth. His eyes sparkled and he met my eyes, breathing hard. "Oh.... my." he finally gasped out. "I... I don't believe I've laughed so hard in... in..." He trailed off and was silent for a moment. Then he met my eyes thoughtfully. "I've never laughed so hard."
I managed to stop laughing. "I think the last time I laughed this hard was..." I remembered, and all the mirth left me as tears sprang to my eyes. "Was on my fifteenth birthday, with my... with my mom."
He stopped, as if he could see there was something more to my words than there seemed to be.
I glanced away, wiping a single tear from my cheek before he could see it. "My mom died six months ago." I whispered softly. "I... I haven't been the same ever since then."
His expression changed, and he looked at me in shock, then sorrow, then sincerity. "I am so sorry, Emily."
I nodded, sniffling a little. He held out his arms a little bit hesitantly, and I realized he was offering me a hug.
In a moment I had launched myself into his arms and was hugging him. I felt a bit awkward -- I mean, I barely knew the guy -- but hey, he had offered, and if I had refused him that would have been even more awkward.
"Thank you." I told him quietly as I drew back. "Thank you for making me laugh. I really needed that, you know."
"I'm glad I could help." Ahk replied seriously. He looked at me, gauging my mood, and I made sure I was smiling. I wasn't sad... really. I wasn't going to ruin the laughter and mirth we'd shared only a few moments ago with my own self-pity.
I pushed back the memories that had been haunting me for months and glanced at Ahk in bright-eyed humor. "The sight of that Easter Island head with gum splattered all over its face..." I trailed off, cracking up again.
He laughed too, shaking his head.
A thought struck me. "Poor Larry. Does he have to clean that up?"
Ahk nodded. "We'll go help him." He tilted his head. "Or, at least, I will. You can come if you want to." He shot me a teasing glance, and I laughed again.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world."