Pharaoh’s Curse Pt. 03

"How can you know any of this, as far as I'm concerned you're just making it all up!" Carla growled.

"Did I make up the Sphinx rising, the hidden tomb that hasn't seen the light of day in over three thousand years? Can any one of you tell me how I, a simple teenager, could know how to do any of that when you three have dedicated your lives to this study?" Andrew asked, with a pointed look. He noted how Anta wanted to say something yet kept her mouth shut.

"Then where are you getting all this information from?!" Alex asked, worryingly.

"I don't think you want to know," Andrew said, weakly.

"Why not?" Alex inquired arching an eyebrow.

"Don't think you would believe me if I told you."

"Alright, lets shelf that conversation for later," Alex muttered before quickly writing down the location of where Andrew had pointed at on the map. If he was right, and there was a growing suspicion that her son was going to be right on so many things, she didn't have any idea what was in store for the world. Wondering how many text books were going to have to be rewritten with all the finds he was going to discover. "Carla will you get the satellite photos," Alex ordered, glancing up at her son as she put the finishing touches on her notes.

"Sure thing Professor," Carla said, in a monotone voice. Shooting Andrew a glance wondering if Andrew had indeed gone insane or if she was just now noticing it. The things he was saying no rational person would say.

"These blow ups are the clearest we can make them before the image became blurry," Alex said, once Carla laid the print outs on the table.

"Any one got a magnifying glass?" Andrew asked, looking at the three of them. He had to make sure the markings were still there.

"So mind filling us in on what's so important in the Qattara Depression?" Anta asked, as Andrew studied the photos.

"The tombs of the Pharaohs of Lower Egypt," Andrew said, matter-of-factly. Not seeing Carla and Anta looking to Alex, who shrugged her shoulders, something else Andrew missed.

"Don't ask me, Andrew has this wild theory that the Pharaohs of that time were buried there," Alex said, waving to the photos.

"Theory huh?!"

"Until you can prove it, then yes, it remains a theory," Alex nodded.

"Alright, then let's take a flight back to Egypt, if you're going to doubt me," Andrew said, laying down the magnifying glass.

"I don't know Andrew, it isn't like we can just drop everything and dash off," Alex said, leaning on the table. Trying not to allow her cunt to throb at the thought of having Andrew back in her apartment.

"Okay, let's put it this way, if you humor me, I'll go along with the rest of the tour."

"Andrew, does that mean... you'll come with me (us), to London, Paris... Rome?" Alex asked, feeling her heart fluttering as her son nodded.

"Isn't like we actually have to be here. Most of the stuff is already up, its just the little bits that need the fine tuning. Plus two days out in the desert won't be too bad," Andrew said, with a sly smirk. "My finder's fee still applies to everything we find."

"You'll have to buy the tickets, the museum only paid for the flight here and for the rest of the tour," Alex said, lifting herself off the table.

"Sure not a problem, although are you ready to be proven wrong?" Andrew asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"What if you're wrong Andrew? Hmm? What are you going to do about the time wasted on this side venture?" Alex asked, with a cocked eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something," Andrew said, pulling out his phone as he walked out of the examination room.

"Yeah, I'll be back soon. Okay, I'll be safe I promise Dad. Love you too," Andrew said, as his mother walked out of the room.

"Alright, Anta and Carla will stay here and oversee everything until we get back," Alex said, watching how her son ended his call. "I take it Julián wasn't pleased to know that you'll be gone for a few days."

"That's putting it mildly."

"Well then, I suggest I take you home so you can pack and get your passport," Alex said, smiling warmly at her son.

******

"Holy...?!" Andrew yelped as his mother laughed like mad as their jeep jumped the sand dune. "And you let her drive?!" he hissed as he looked at the back of Bill's head as he sat behind him as he and Haas clung on for dear life as his mother raced across the sand.

"Where's your sense of adventure Andy?!" Alex asked, her mirth was carried on the air.

"You left it at the bottom of the last two dunes, and what do you mean where's my sense of adventure. I did just travel over two thousand miles in one day just to prove a point," Andrew stated as his knuckles turned white due to the death grip he hand on the handle as he kept from being thrown from the Jeep.

"You really think the Pharaohs of the Lower Kingdom had their tombs out here?!" Hass asked, as her red bandana kept her dark brown hair out of her face as she looked over at him.

"I know it," Andrew stated plainly.

"Man, you know no one believes you, right?" Bill asked, peering around the left side of his seat.

"Well, everyone thought the Sphinx was just a simple monument and not something that hid a tomb that housed three separate Pharaohs, one I might add that not even your Professor or her colleagues knew existed until I came along," Andrew said, arrogantly.

"Okay, we all can admit that find was amazing Andrew, but that was a fluke and you know it," Alex said, her red hair whipped behind her as she stared at her son in the rear view mirror.

"Was it?" Andrew replied with a smirk.

"What do you mean?"

"Take a right here," Andrew said, directing his mother to the outcrop of rocks in that sea of sand.

"Alright Andrew, this is your show, lead the way," Alex said, as she, along with her undergrads, tightened the straps of their backpacks. Containing the tools and gear to document everything they will or should find if her son spoke the truth. If Alex was truthful she had a suspicion that her son was going to make her look like a fool, along with all the other Egyptologists who dotted the country. She knew the find set everyone's blood on edge. Mainly because they themselves had yearned for a find like that all their careers and here comes along her son and does something not any one, herself included, could have achieved. Her sky-blue eyes ran down her son's body as his eyes looked for something that was no longer there, whatever that was. "You okay honey?" Alex whispered as it appeared her son was somewhere else at the moment as her hand rested on his bicep.

"Yeah..." Shaking off the feeling, his hand curled into a fist as he felt the ring heating against his skin. Feeling his mother's fingers skimming along his arm as the sand gave as his foot pushed against it as he stepped forward. His eyes scanned the rock face looking for the signs that led to the salt tombs that were dug into the earth of the Qattara Depression. "This way," Andrew said, in a monotone voice as he slipped in-between two boulders that were placed there to hide the entrance of one of the tombs.

"How is it that you aren't sweating?" Haas asked, as she, Bill and her Professor all sported sweat stains whereas Andrew was dry as a bone.

"Would you accept that I have the blessing of Ra?" Andrew asked, with a straight face. Seeing his mother rolling her eyes.

"Okay Andrew, just where are we?" Alex inquired slyly reading the hieroglyphs that lined the stone around the sealed entrance of what appeared to her as a tomb.

"Come on, you got those fancy teacherly skills all tucked away in that brain of yours. Why don't you ponder on just who lies within," Andrew said, as he leaned against the boulder with an amused smirk on his lips.

Slinging her backpack around, taking her brush out of the small pocket. Slyly eyeing her son, she couldn't believe that there were hieroglyphs all the way out here. Then again, she did have a feeling that her son was about to make her appear foolish. Gently brushing away the crust of salt that had formed over thousands of years in that salt-infused land.

"Siamun[17]," Alex whispered. "Haas tell my son just who Siamun..."

"He was the son of Osorkon the Elder[18]," Andrew said, wondering why that name left a foul taste in his mouth. Shrugging his shoulders when his mother peered back at him. "Seems I know more about Egypt than even you," he teased, "who would have thought?"

"Since you seem to have knowledge that we, who've studied this field, do not, tell us, just how many tombs are in this area?" Alex asked, inquisitively.

"Twenty," Andrew said, without even thinking about it.

"Twenty, really?!" Bill asked, skeptically.

"Hey, believe me or not," Andrew shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, here is a tomb that's not even supposed to exist, by your standard, and yet here we are staring at the opening of Siamun's tomb."

"It's a shame we can't go in, I'd love to see what's in there," Alex sighed, knowing they would have to break through the stone that protected the entrance. Waving for her students to get out of the picture as she stood a few feet back as she lined up her cell phone with the entrance after she and her undergrads had brushed the salt off the stone. Sending the picture to Zahi Hawass and the rest of the Supreme Council of Antiquities telling them of the find that Andrew had discovered and that there were more tombs buried there. They just needed to get the funding and the permission from the government to start the dig once winter was over, or after they were finished with the Amkhakha temple. The thought of how many text books were going to have to be rewritten popped into her mind once again.

"So believe me now?" Andrew asked, with a coy smirk.

"Okay, you have my attention Andrew," Alex said, looking over at her son. "Since we're in Egypt, how about you show us where Akhenaten and Nefertiti are buried," she said, smiling, feeling Haas's and Bill's eyes on her then darting to her son.

"You can't possibly know where they are?!" Haas exclaimed. She wasn't there when the Sphinx rose or when he found that tomb. She liked to keep to herself, which is why she wasn't involved in all the weirdness that happened at the temple. Still, the way he was going on about everything and speaking like he knew where everything was buried beneath the sand unnerved her greatly. It was just astronomical that Andrew could know half of what he does.

"I'm about to blow the world's mind," Andrew chuckled as he walked back to the Jeep.

******

"I see you brought back up," Andrew teased as their Jeep pulled to a stop along side another one as they arrived at King Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

"Of course, I did. You've caused quite the stir with your discovery of that tomb in Giza, and now, while I can't say the Pharaohs of Lower Egypt are buried there, I do have a strong suspicion you're going to shake up Egyptology once we get the go ahead to explore the tombs. And you telling me, and in turn my department, you know where Akhenaten and Nefertiti are buried? You're damn right there's going to be people here. I hope you weren't pulling my leg when you told me that you knew where they are, because I would hate for you to be found out as nothing more than a fraud," Alex said sweetly, as she peered behind her at her son.

"Well then, I can't disappoint, now can I?" Andrew stated as he eased out of the Jeep.

Andrew stared down into the tomb of Tutankhamen as he listened to his mother and her students detailing what they found in the Qattara Depression. Listening to them chattering away in excitement of what it could mean for Egypt and for historians as well. Andrew knew it would fill in a great many blanks about one of Egypt's dark ages. Plus he knew once he revealed this secret, which the Pharaohs had kept hidden all this time, he would never go back to being plain old Andrew. Feeling the ring heating as he felt the ancient magic that sealed their tomb from unwanted eyes.

"Here Andrew," Alex said, handing her son a flashlight. "It's dark down there and I'd rather you not trip and fall," she said, in a motherly voice. Trying not to notice how his skin had a slight glow to it as the sun struck it.

"Well Mr. McCain, for your sake I hope you weren't pulling our legs," said a late fifties, salt and pepper haired man who stood beside a slightly older Egyptian woman.

"Let's see, I have found a new site that's somewhat like the Valley of the Kings in Qattara and the tomb in Giza. I would have thought you egg heads would be jumping for joy over the news..."

"Andrew behave," Alex whispered a warning in his ear. Ignoring the strange blue light in her son's eyes as she noted his annoyance.

"What you found in Qattara remains to be proven. While the find in Giza is a marvelous addition to the history of the Old Kingdom. It was only a matter of time before someone with proper training would find it," the man said arrogantly, as he looked down at Andrew.

"Why did I even bother leaving New York?" Andrew grumbled. Feeling his mother at his back as he descended into the tomb. "You're recording this right?" he asked, over his shoulder. "I'd hate to be called a charlatan," Andrew said, narrowing his eyes at the man.

"Bill's manning the camera," Alex said, her voice echoing in the tomb as they delved deeper into it. "Okay, this is the chamber where Tutankhamen's sarcophagus was found as you can see Mr. McCain there is no other exit or another room in this place."

"You sure about that?" Andrew asked, arching an eyebrow at his mother who nodded. "Then let me amaze that little mind of yours," he said, walking over to the far right wall. The memories of the past leading his way as Tutankhamen's knowledge flooded his mind. Placing his hand on the stone, his body blocked the purple flare of his ring as he gently pushed on the hidden door. "I hope none of you shaved today. Would hate to hear that you died because you failed to believe," Andrew said, stepping out of the way showing off the open doorway. Smirking hatefully at the man who had dismissed him as he stood with a gaping mouth at the sight. "It's amazing how all those properly trained archeologists missed something as mundane as a simple door," he sneered at the man. "Do you want the honors of being the first one to gaze upon Akhenaten and Nefertiti?" Andrew asked, gazing at his mother who nodded her head very vehemently. Smiling warmly at his mother as he noted the sparkle in her eyes. Nodding when those sky-blue eyes voiced their thank you, his eyes dipped low as they fell upon his mother's ass as she slipped through the open doorway.

"Oh my... come here," Alex quickly waved her son over. "Look," pointing at the hieroglyphs, "do you mind giving us a translation Mr. McCain?" she asked, smiling warmly at her son. No one other than those who were at the temple dig knew Andrew was her son, and she planned on keeping it that way. She had a feeling; if she played her cards right then she and her son would be making numerous headlines and she didn't want the world to know that Andrew was indeed her son and lover in case a photo of them ever got out of her making out with her son.

"If you want Ms. Sanders," Andrew teased, if she wanted to be formal two can play at that game. "Here lies the traitors, the heretics, may Ammit[19] forever feast upon their souls for their sacrilege of the Gods," he read aloud. "Tell me class, just whom did the Egyptians refer to as traitors and heretics?" Andrew asked, peering at those to his right. "Shall we continue on?" Smirking at his mother when those behind him were too stunned to speak.

"Oh my! Look!" Alex nearly shouted at all the gold, the scrolls, the pieces of chariots that all contained Akhenaten's and Nefertiti's names on them. Everything else was either obliterated or defaced that contained their names that didn't find themselves stored with their bodies. "Bill, Haas, Dr. Anders, Dr. Ali over here!" she exclaimed as her flashlight shone upon the two sarcophagi at the far end of the chamber.

Andrew moved out of the way before he was trampled. He didn't need to see it to know who they were. His memories from Tutankhamen told him where everything was placed.

"Oh my god! It is her!" Haas squealed in joy. Her fingers ran along Nefertiti's cartouche.

"Dr. Ali, look here all the spells to protect the Pharaoh in the afterlife have been chiseled off ," Dr. Anders said, running his fingers along the gold surface of Akhenaten's sarcophagus.

"Very interesting Dr. Anders," Dr. Ali mused as her brown eyes ran over the surface.

"Well Mr. McCain," Dr. Anders peered over at Andrew, "when we were informed by Dr. Sanders that you knew of their location, I, and I know many of my peers, thought you were some snake oil salesman trying to earn a quick buck. Yet now," looking around the chamber, "consider myself a believer," Dr. Anders said, with a smile on his face.

"As long as I get my finder's fee," Andrew said, shrugging his shoulders. "You kids have fun now," he said, waving to his mother from over his shoulder as he walked back out. The moment he stepped out of the door and into Tutankhamen's main chamber, time seemed to stop just like it had done at his home in New York.

"So young Pharaoh, you've finally accepted your role," Isis spoke as her image on the wall began to shimmer.

"Not like you Gods gave me much of a choice in the matter. Now did you?" Andrew asked, still under the suspicion that they had forced his mother to flee from her family.

"The Pharaoh is needed to restore Ma'at."

"What does that even mean?! How the hell can I restore something that I don't even fucking understand!" Andrew growled.

"You will Pharaoh, you will." With that the image grew still and the world began to spin again.

"Andrew?!" Alex whispered from behind him. Listening to his huff as she hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry I doubted you! Do you realize what you've done here?! Do you know how many of us have waited for this day?! Oh, how I can't wait to study them!" she said, excitedly.

"We need to get a team out here immediately," Dr. Ali spoke as she approached.

"Agreed. We definitely need to get a team here as fast as we possibly can," Dr. Anders spoke.

"Abasi would be more than happy to lend a hand," Alex said, offering up her grad student as her colleagues exited through the door as she turned to greet them.

"Excellent. I hope we can purloin your other two students while you're in New York," Dr. Anders said, with a warm smile. Slyly running his eyes down Alex's alluring figure.

"I'm sure they'll be happy to unearth this remarkable find," Alex said, happily. "Won't you?" she asked, looking at her students once they emerged.

"Oh yes?!" Haas nodded excitedly.

"Sure Professor," Bill agreed eyeing Andrew warily. Twice now he has witnessed things that shouldn't be. Things that all his studies told him couldn't be.

"So..." Poking his mother in the arm, "feel like finding Thinis since we're close and all that jazz," Andrew said, smirking evilly at their shocked faces.

"Mr. McCain it isn't wise to tease a lady," Alex said, yet Andrew could hear the pout in her voice.

"What, haven't I shown you enough by now for you to believe me?" Andrew asked, shaking his head as he left the tomb.

"Wait a minute Mr. McCain!" Dr. Ali called out as she raced to stop his ascent. "What you said about Thinis, you weren't joking about that were you?"

"I've been told I've got a horrible sense of humor."

"Then you really do know where Thinis is?" Dr. Anders asked, joining Dr. Ali's side.

"Sure do, I told her," Andrew said, pointing at his mother. "She didn't believe me, like you didn't believe me about Qattara or this place," he said, nodding to the now open hidden door.