He pulled me up, crushing me tightly to his chest. Amon kept us both upright as the ground rolled beneath us. The dirt directly in front of where we stood rose as if something or—and I sincerely hoped not—someone was emerging from it. A horn pierced the surface and I worried that it was attached to an underground monster, but then the rumbling stopped and whatever it was that was sticking out of the ground remained motionless.
Cautiously, Amon stepped forward and reached out, pulling the object from the earth. It looked like a large ice cream cone, the sugar kind, but it was made of clay. Its sides were smooth except for the dirt that covered it, and on the top were Egyptian glyphs.
“What is it?” I asked as I moved closer.
“A funerary cone.”
“What’s a funerary cone? Is it used to nail the sarcophagus closed? Seems like it would break.”
Amon shook his head. “No. They line the entrance of a tomb. These carvings here are a prayer meant for the deceased. And here, we find his name.”
“So who is the deceased?”
Reverently, Amon dusted the surface and ran his finger over a portion, reading it out loud in Egyptian. He paused and looked at me before translating. “Me. This cone comes from the tomb of my last resting place. It is a message that I will find what I am seeking there.”
“So your last resting place was—”
“Thebes. Not in Thebes exactly, but likely in the tombs near the Theban hills.”
“Wait a second. On the box with all the artifacts in the museum there was a marker that said the mummy”—I shifted uncomfortably— “I mean, you, were discovered in the Valley of the Kings.” I pulled out my smartphone and looked up the site.
“It’s near where Thebes once was,” I explained. “The city is now called Luxor. I hate to tell you this, Amon, but the Valley of the Kings is the archaeological capital of the world. Oh, uh, ‘archaeological’ means the digging up of buried relics.”
Amon frowned. “Like me.”
I winced, but said, “Yes. The point is that there are probably guards everywhere, and they haven’t even discovered all the tombs in there yet. They find new stuff all the time. It’s going to be like looking for a needle in a sand dune, not to mention you’re going to have to do mind control on a lot of people for us to even get in there.”
Amon was methodically dusting off the cone artifact as I spoke. When I finished, he lifted his eyes and said, “I have to try, Lily. If I cannot succeed, then all will be lost. Will you still accompany me on this journey?”
Stepping closer, I placed my hand on his arm and said, “Of course. Now hand me the ice cream cone thing and I’ll put it in my bag for safekeeping.”
Once the relic was stowed, I expected to leave immediately for the Valley of the Kings, but Amon wanted to wait until tomorrow so he could renew himself in the sun before attempting the journey. He wanted to walk around the area that used to be his home. He held out a hand to me, and together we explored the land that was once supposed to belong to him.
As he talked, explaining to me what his home had looked like, the drab gray buildings disappeared and were replaced with a golden palace, fields of grain, and herds of cattle. I could envision Amon walking proudly among his people, riding a boat down the Nile, or feasting in celebration.
Soon we came upon a building that had been made over into a club. Techno music blasted and beautiful young people lined up, waiting their turn to get in.
“What is this?” Amon asked.
“It looks like a club. A place where people dance and celebrate,” I added.
“My people dance?”
“Well, yes. People dance all over the world.”
“Then, come, Lily. We will celebrate with them.”
“I don’t think I’m really in the mood.”
“What do you mean? What is a mood?”
“Mood is a feeling…like when…Ugh, it’s too hard to explain.”
Amon peered at me in the darkness, his eyes flashing. He tilted his head, then said, “You do not enjoy dancing.”
“As a rule, no.”
He continued to focus on me, quickly discerning more than I was willing to show outwardly.