I nodded.
“I invoked a spell from the Book of the Dead to be able to communicate my thoughts to you. This is how we understand one another.”
“Then you can understand anyone, from any country?”
“If I need to, yes.”
“Why did you choose me?”
He didn’t answer for a few seconds but looked at me. Then he plucked a blade of grass and twirled it between his fingers. “You were there,” he answered simply.
Sitting back on the bench, I folded my hands in my lap and studied his face. With each answer he gave, my incredulity grew. It wasn’t possible. “Can you show me something?” I gestured with one hand. “You know…something magical?”
“Transporting you to the park and controlling your actions is not proof enough of my power?”
“Well, I’ve been operating under the assumption that you were hypnotizing me somehow, so I need to see something else to be convinced.”
“What would convince you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The ten plagues of Egypt, raising an undead army, resurrecting your long-lost love, something like that.”
Amon frowned. “Why would I do any of those things?”
Shrugging, I answered, “That’s what mummies do in the movies.”
“What is a movie?”
“It’s like a play. A drama.”
“I see. I do not wish to bring a plague to your city. To raise an army of the undead, I would need to channel a great deal of power, which I do not have at this time, and I have never found a woman to love.”
“Really? So there’s no mummy girlfriend out there?”
He cocked his head. “My brothers await me, but there is no one else. No other friends that are females.”
“Hmm. Interesting.” I mentally shelved that piece of information. “Okay, so then do something else, something different.”
After a moment of thought, he said, “I need to conserve my power, so I will do something small.”
“Okay.”
Shifting forward, I watched Amon with hawk eyes as he raised his hands and cupped them together. Nothing was happening. He closed his eyes in concentration and then slowly pulled his hands apart. Light filled the space between them and I felt the sting of little particles brushing against my face as tiny grains of sand flew toward his fingers.
I watched in fascination as the sand swirled and the outline of a sphinx began to take form. A jogger crested the hill and I jumped off the bench, catching Amon’s hands in mine. The light disappeared and the sand fell around us in a gritty shower.
“I believe you,” I whispered. I suddenly became very aware of how close our faces were, the attraction between us tangible and warm. My breath caught and I blushed as my gaze drifted from his eyes to his lips. He didn’t back away or move at all, but I felt a shift, as if the air between us had suddenly become very warm.
Any slight movement and we could be kissing. With a twinge of alarm, I realized that I wanted to experience his lips pressed against mine, and I wondered if it was something I truly desired for myself or if he was making me want it.
I couldn’t understand how I could go from absolute hatred—well, as close as I got to it, anyway—to trusting a guy who was an ancient mummy, complete with powers, to wanting to make out with said ancient mummy in just a matter of minutes. Boy, I was…Out. Of. My. Mind.
Backing away a few inches, I felt a breeze cool my stinging cheeks.
Clearing my throat, I squeezed his hands and said, “Amon, whatever powers you have, you can’t show them to anyone but me and your brothers. Promise me.”