Pharaoh’s Curse Pt. 07

"The beginning of the restoration of Egypt back to the days were she was a great power," Andrew said in an alien voice.

"But what does that mean, Andrew?" Alex asked in a concerned voice.

"Means reclaiming the lands that once flew the banner of Egypt," Andrew said factually.

"Andy, you're talking about war?!"

"I am; Egypt was founded on a war, and its rebirth will require the same sacrifice." The two argued for the rest of the hour, only to have Alex blow out a breath in frustration when she couldn't make that alien voice see reason. That making war just to extend the boarders of Egypt was a bad thing.

"We've gotten off track," Alex said, rubbing her temple.

"You're the one who was arguing with Gods, not I," Andrew stated vaguely, seeing how that clearly shocked his mother.

"Then... then... that was..."

"Ra," Andrew spoke in an authoritative voice as he nodded.

"Ugh!" Alex exclaimed as her back bounced against the back of the couch. "You know Andy, I'm glad it's you that has to deal with them and not me," she said, peering up at the ceiling of her apartment.

"Hey!" He certainly didn't want to deal with them either, yet he had no choice in the matter. "Don't make me advocate my throne, then they'll turn their eyes onto you," Andrew said jokingly.

"Don't you dare!" Alex hissed, pointing her finger at her son.

"Why not? You would so get to delve into all this knowledge that's floating around inside my head," Andrew taunted, "and I can resume my life in New York just being little ol' me."

"Nah-uh," Alex said, shaking her head and crossing her arms below her breasts. "What would Bast say about it, hmm? Surely, your godly wife would have some very strong words about it," she uttered, turning her head when she saw the shadow of a cat arching its back and playing along the surface of her coffee table. Only to see Bast sitting in her cat form on the sill of her window, cleaning her right paw while her green eyes peered intently at her son.

"Don't you look at me like that," Andrew huffed and grumbled as he folded his arms while Bast spoke into his mind.

"Well, is it true? Are you going to give up your crown?" Bast asked testily.

"Not like I could, regardless if I wanted to or not," Andrew stated angrily.

"True, you can't; you are Pharaoh. It's time you learned to accept it and that we, the Gods, have great things in store for you."

"Uh-huh, sure, and I bet you're not even going to tell me, are you?" Andrew asked heatedly, glaring at Bast. Who didn't utter a word to his question, only to swish her tail and proceeded to clean her other paw. "So, shall we continue, or are you done with your questions?" he spoke, turning his attention back to his mother, rolling his eyes at the amusement that flooded his mind when Bast was laughing in his head.

"Of course not!" Alex stated with a wide smile on her lips. "We have so much to go over. But let's skip ahead, shall we, and go right to Den[15]," she said; ever since their trip to Atlantis[16] and Andrew telling her the first pyramid they saw there was built by Den, she's wondered how Den even got to the island in the first place.

"So skipping Djet[17] and Merneith[18], I see," Andrew mused.

"I'm sure we'll get back to them in time," Alex said, nearly wiggling in her seat. "Explain to me how Den even got to Atlantis in the first place?"

"Umm..." Scratching his head, racking his brain to find the answer to his mother's question. "They visited Egypt first; I mean before it sank and wherever it now resides."

"But why would they build a pyramid there when the first one wasn't built until Djoser[19] had the Step Pyramid built," Alex said, trying to understand it all.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Andrew said plainly.

"Son, we went to freaking Atlantis of all places; you've found tombs that no one else has found in the one and a half centuries of Egyptology; we've met beings that shouldn't, in all honesty, exist, yet they do," Alex said, slyly glancing over at Bast. "Baby, trust me when I say this, I do believe you. It might take me a bit to wrap my head around it, but I do believe you."

"They were built as teleporters in layman's terms, so you can understand," Andrew said, knowing his mother would never ever grasp the concept of magic. Hell, even he couldn't wrap his head around it either; it seems too damn... farfetched if you asked him. Yet, he had the memories of it in action, so he knew it worked, nor could he simply brush off what had happened when he climbed the steps of that one pyramid and sent them all to Punt[20]. When his mind had cleared enough, if he thought back to it, he could still feel the magic that was stored in that monument tingling his skin. His eyes glanced down to his fingertips as he rubbed them together, feeling his divine spark itching to be let loose.

"Please, please don't tell me you're going to say aliens did it?" Alex bemoaned, knowing she's heard far too much of that floating around, namely in her classroom, thanks to the Ancient Aliens show. Arching an eyebrow when she heard her son snort at her, frowning when Andrew was fighting back from bursting out in laughter. "What's so funny?!" she huffed, slapping her hands on her thighs, causing her breasts to jiggle as she did.

"She's laughing at you," Andrew said with the straightest face that he could as he pointed over to Bast.

"Then tell me how people who had no advanced technology could move stones over one hundred tons, miles from where they were quarried," Alex said combatively.

"Magic." Was the only word Andrew spoke, seeing the disbelieving look in his mother's eyes. "Do you think torches burn blue?" he asked, referencing when he fell down into the hidden chamber in Amkhakha. "Do you academics honestly think thousands of slaves could pull, much less move a two-ton block of stone, up a ramp no less? The Pharaohs of old thought it a waste to squander such a resource when they had other means. How do you think they were going to move that obelisk five hundred miles away from here, which even your experts claimed was a hundred tons or so, with sheer manpower?" he asked, casting his mother a look.

"Okay, mister hotshot, if magic is real, then why isn't it around today, hmm?" Alex retorted, thinking she had asked a 'gotcha' question.

"Because people stopped believing in it," Andrew said factually.

"So, you're saying all I have to do is believe, and magic will just happen?" Alex asked in disbelief. Her eyes followed her son's hand as he reached across her coffee table and took one of her notebooks and a pen. Leaning forward, curious to see what her son was writing as he scribbled down quickly in hieroglyphics on the sheet of paper he had torn from her notebook. Her eyes glanced over to Bast, who was watching on with interest as Andrew folded up the piece of paper - Into what? - she couldn't say, yet it had a familiar shape to it as he gently set it on the table when he was done. Her ears burned as she listened to his incantation as he prayed to Thoth[21] to make her see. Nearly leaping out of her seat when the origami-shaped animal sprung to life and started to amble around her tabletop. That was before Bast leaped through the air and landed on it, squishing it flat.

"It's not polite to make other Gods' images before the one that watches over you, My Pharaoh," Bast grumbled in Andrew's mind as she sat on the very likeness of the Set animal[22]. Sensing Set's[23] displeasure of her defilement of his animal, giving her butt a good wiggle for good measure, then whipped Andrew's face with her tail before springing back to her spot on the window sill.

"Andrew, what was that?!" Alex asked in mystified wonder.

"The Set animal, or Sha as you might know it," Andrew said offhandedly with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Can anyone do what you just did?" Alex inquired, knowing she had access to the vast stores of ancient Egyptian spell tomes that they never made public. Only those that have worked or are working at the museum would know about them where they were stored in climate-controlled containers to keep them from disintegrating any further than what they had already had.

"Sure, don't see why not," Andrew muttered after a few moments of thought. "I mean, if I can do it," waving to the flattened image of Sha on the table, "don't see why anyone else can't," he said, wondering if that was a good idea to allow people to just go around and cast spells willy-nilly without regard to those affected by it. "But for now, we'll keep it between us, alright?"

"Andrew, don't you have any faith in people?" Alex asked, a little hurt that her son would want to lock this knowledge away.

"Have you seen the state of the world? Mankind is a selfish race; they squander what they're given and bicker and fight over what their neighbors have. They blame others for deeds that they themselves have undertaken or for those long past. No, as man is to this day, they aren't ready for this. They would abuse it just to get what they wanted and damn the consequences of their actions. No matter if it might bring about the end of the world just so long as they get the instant gratification they so covet."

"That's a little harsh, don't you think, son?" Alex asked in a motherly voice.

"Yeah, maybe, but you don't have untold thousands of years of memories jammed into your head. People back then to today have not changed. Sure, society might have advanced, ending many of the ills that had taken place throughout all of time. Yet deep down, in the core of man, the group, not the individual, they are still the greedy, self-centered, scared beings they were six thousand years ago," Andrew said in a monotone voice. "Let me put it in a simpler way, would you allow some joker off the street access to the nuclear arsenal? No, of course, you wouldn't; no one is that stupid, I would hope. You want that kind of power controlled and contained by those that know how to handle that kind of responsibility. It's the same with magic. Untold calamity could ensue if one isn't careful of what they're doing with it."

"So, what you're saying is magic will be under the control of the priests and priestesses of the temples once Egypt has returned to its ancient ways?" Alex asked, noting the curious look in her son's eyes.

"It might."

"Then tell me, son, just how did you learn it in the first place?" Alex inquired in a teacherly voice.

"Where do you think I learned it from?" Andrew countered.

"Don't tell me Thoth taught you personally?" Alex was flabbergasted when Andrew simply nodded his head at her question. Her mouth opened to speak some more, yet was stopped when two distinct knocks sounded on her door. Turning her head, wondering just who could be at her door at that time of the morning. Her eyes glanced over to Andrew as he rose off the floor and sauntered over to the door.

"Andy!" Anta and Carla greeted cheerfully once Andrew had answered the door, throwing their arms around him once the door was wide enough to do so.

"You know, since we are in your Royal Harem,[24] shouldn't we just stay with you from now on?" Carla asked coyly as her index finger played lightly along Andrew's left pectoral muscle.

"Mmmhmm, we should; just think of all those nights with me wrapped around you," Anta purred, snuggling her body tightly against his. Then she released a squeal of joy at the sight of Bast on the sill. "Bast!" she shouted excitedly as she quickly rushed over to where the polymorphed goddess sat. Who allowed Anta to scoop her up in her arms, knowing she would get the attention she craved. She was a cat goddess, after all.

"Morning, Alex," Carla greeted after getting her morning kiss in, listening to the door closing behind her.

"Hello, Carla," Alex returned the greeting, keeping her annoyance from her voice, hoping to get more time with her son.

"I take it something was about to happen?" Carla asked, her eyes pointing at Alex's discarded garments.

"No... well, maybe, if Andrew was better behaved," Alex said, teasing her son mercilessly.

"I was so behaved; you dare taunt your Pharaoh?!" Andrew joked.

"Then why is she topless?" Anta countered, getting a beaming smile out of Alex.

"She wanted something; I only saw it fair I get compensation for it," Andrew stated, turning his nose up at them.

"But why topless?" Carla intoned as she walked over to where Anta stood to bask in Bast's cuteness.

"What, I like boobs," Andrew said plainly like that was common knowledge.

"So, what brings the two of you here so early in the morning?" Alex asked, blowing her son a kiss, not bothering to cover up since they had all seen each other naked numerous times.

"Well, Andy and I..."

"The three of us," Carla corrected; she wasn't about to miss out on spending time with Andrew when it didn't involve some dead King or a museum. Smiling widely when Anta just puffed out her cheeks at her, knowing she, too, was thinking along those lines.

"Were thinking," continuing on like she hadn't been interrupted, "of going and visiting my parents," Anta said, getting rather bashful since she's never brought a boy home to meet her parents before. They knew she was dating; that was a given; they just didn't get the chance to meet any of them due to them living in Helwan and her father working so much to make her college payments. Her face grew redder by the second when Alex's eyes grew wide and then lit up.

"Oh, I see; you two have gotten that far into your relationship, hmm?" Alex mused in a teasing voice, causing Anta to instantly drop her chin down to her chest. "I think I must..." Alex's head snapped over when her phone went off, glaring angrily at where her phone lay, knowing full well who was calling her. Surging off out of her chair, noticing her son's eyes following the bounce of her breasts as she stomped towards her room. "Yes? I'm on... oh, what's this about?" Walking over to the doorway and slowly slid it closed when it appeared to be serious, seeing Andrew shrugging his shoulders when Anta and Carla looked at him before the doors closed her in.

"They do know we're coming, right?" Andrew asked, ignoring the soft tone of his mother's muffled voice from her room.

"Talked to Mom last night when you dropped me off; they're eager to meet the man that's swept their daughter off her feet," Anta said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Good, would hate to pull up in..." Instantly, his attention centered on Bast as she spoke into his mind while enjoying how Anta was softly rubbing her right ear. "There's no..." His voice died in his throat when those green eyes pierced his soul. "Then you best know how to get there because no way in hell I'm aimlessly walking around Cairo for it," Andrew grumbled, having to be content with a nod of her head, knowing full well he couldn't rightly go against a goddess. That was just asking to be turned into atoms and cast throughout the cosmos in her anger. Not a fate Andrew was determined to undergo.

"Andy, what did she say?" Carla asked, lightly resting her hand on his upper right arm.

"We're taking a boat," Andrew sighed when their eyes cut hard into him. "Yes, that boat," he said when they gave him that questioning look of theirs.

"You mean it? We're going to journey on the solar barge like those of the past?" Anta asked with excitement in her voice.

"Seems so," Andrew admitted. He just hoped this didn't bring too much attention to him. That was the last thing he needed at the moment if the news caught wind of it.

"And as your Queen consorts, we'll be treated accordingly, won't we, husband?" Carla cooed, rocking forward and backward on her feet with her hands behind her back with a devious smile on her lips.

"Ugh!" Andrew moaned, tossing his head back at the fact they were getting more enjoyment out of this than even he was.

"Don't be like that, Andy," Anta said sweetly as she rested her hand on his chest. "It's bound to happen sooner or later. Plus, don't you want your people to know you have two very hot and desirable women by your side?" she asked, matching Carla's smile. All turned when Alex's bedroom doors quickly rolled open, and out she stepped, clothed with a garment bag along with a small overnight one in her hands.

"As much as I would like to join you on your day trip, it seems the board thought to change up the whole setup we had decided on at the last minute, so I have to run to the museum and see if I can't work things out before the big event tonight," Alex informed them with disappointment in her voice as she stepped up to Andrew and placed a kiss on his cheek then a very long one on his lips. "Remember, be there at seven, no later, okay?" she spoke softly, knowing this would have been a perfect day to spend with her son, maybe even reenact the memory she had when she was in New York.

"What if..."

"Nah-uh, you promised; you are a man of your word, aren't you? What kind of Pharaoh would you be if your word can't be trusted?" Biting her lower lip as she saw the scowl forming on her son's face. "Girls, make sure he's on time tonight, and have fun. I'm sorry I can't be there to meet your parents. It's not every day you tell them you're marrying into Egyptian royalty. Be safe, honey," she whispered before heading out the door.

"Andy, can we take Bast along with us? I would hate to leave her here all alone," Anta said in a cute little tone.

"Why? She was alone for thousands of years in that chamber..." Taking a step back when Bast hissed angrily at him and not in a teasing way. "Alright, alright, she's coming," Andrew stated, retreating to fetch his shoes.

******

"Bast, I know you're just going to love my house, especially my room," Anta chatted with Bast, ignoring the looks she was getting from the passersby as they walked to where their boat had been docked since early that morning. "So, Andy, Carla, and I have been discussing about last night and what Halima had said to you. Did you purposely leave a God out or something?"

"No," Andrew replied, noting the extra swish to Bast's tail as he glanced over at her.

"Are you going to tell us?" Carla asked, eager to know what he was thinking.

"In time when I know it can be done," Andrew said as they waited for the light to turn.

"But when you do, will you?" Carla asked again, slipping her hand into his right, flashing him a smile when Andrew nodded. Looking down when Andrew's cellphone went off in his pocket. Placing a kiss on his cheek and scurried to Anta's left side to give him some privacy knowing just who was calling him.

"Hey, Dad, how's it going?" Andrew answered happily. Due to the hectic nature of the tour, they didn't get all that much time to talk like he had hoped they would.

"Oh, you know, work, work, not like you, gallivanting around the world with pretty ladies, staying in fancy hotels, eating some good food," Julián said, teasing his son.

"What can I say, Dad? It's a curse," Andrew retorted with a smile on his lips. "How's Mom doing?"

"She's fine; sad that we couldn't come to see you in Paris for Christmas; it wasn't the same without you here."

"I know; it was the same for me, too," Andrew said, recounting the holidays they had spent together when Wilma came into their lives.

"Just know, we'll be thinking about you and worrying to no end until you're back home and safe in your room."

"Yeah, it's going to sound delightful after spending months in the dessert," Andrew jested, glancing at Bast, knowing that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Not if the feeling he was getting from her was any indication of future events. "How was her last check-up?"