Thursday, May the Twentieth
So, Hargrave began packing, shipping, and
selling all of the goods in the tomb. He claims some
of them are going to the museums, but I am certain
I witnessed him selling, chiefly, the canopic jars
(which Mr. Longville explains as jars containing the
most important organs of the deceased Queen).
Sunday, May the Twenty-Third
Today Hargrave sent me a note saying he was
building the mummy new mechanical organs as
well—to replace the original ones preserved inside
the canopic jars. After some hemming and hawing,
I returned to the dig, and found, to my great surprise,
the place nearly deserted! I headed to Hargrave's
tent only to discover it abandoned as well, the
man's belongings strewn about as though
he had been violently interrupted while
packing. I turned to find the Egyptian
historian waving frantically at me.
"Please, Miss, there has been a great
disaster. The mummy is cursed!”
I only then noticed the large
bloodstained rips in the back of the tent. He
pulled aside the torn sections of tent, and we looked
down upon the corpse of an Egyptian worker. I
recognized him, though his face and chest were
horribly distorted—it was the man Hargrave had
kicked out of the way upon entering the tomb!
"That man is dead," I gasped.
"His lungs have been stolen!" cried the historian.
I spun on my heels, revulsion welling up inside
me, and collided with someone. I recognized that
firm chest, having collided with it before. "Percy!
There is a murderous mummy on the loose!"
Mr. Longville's first reaction was to take me to
the safety of our tents. He then consulted a large
book on Egyptian curses that he (of course) just
happened to have upon his person.
"A mummy is revived through magic, according
to the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. It says
that to lay the dead to rest, we will require this
book and a... it's like a scarab-covered jewel," Mr.
Longville said.
Mr. Longville looked at me, and together we
said: "An amulet!"
"We found such an amulet in the tomb!" I said.
Where had it gone?
Shortly after, the lights flickered out. We rushed
outside to see generators giving out, sparking in the
dark. Our surprise was interrupted by a horrible
scream. Mr. Longville and I ran toward it, but we
were too late. The historian's body lay on the other
side of the dig, torn nearly in half. Above him
crouched the emaciated figure of the mummy,
pulling gore out of the ruined torso.
"Hetepheres," I said. It was nearly a whisper.
She stood and I saw in her eyes a deep,
eerie gleam. Bloody pieces of flesh hung
between her shriveled fingers, and then
she turned those fingers toward herself, thrusting what they held inside
the glowing mechanical pieces of her
own body! But glowing more mystical
than the machines was a cracked scarab
over her heart.
I wished to rush forward and capture her,
but my horror was much too strong. I could
only watch as she left the historian's body and
disappeared once more into the desert. His dead
hand gripping the amulet!
Torches were lit and the other monster hunters
arrived. It seems Sir Hammerhorn had found
another worker with his own stomach removed
nearby! Oh that poor man—and that stomach
to have never tasted sausage, egg, and chips! They
examined the body of the poor historian. We
discovered Hetepheres had taken his liver.
"What can this theft of body parts mean?" I
asked.
"She is trying to reconstitute herself," Mr.
Longville said, while examining the amulet. “To