"It was the strangest thing ever," May said as she used her finger to push her hair behind her ear. "I mean, he said I've got all the symptoms of being pregnant... so I don't understand what happened but it was kinda scary."

I arched an eyebrow and shook my head. "That doctor needs to go back to medical school," I said.

She chuckled from behind her screen back in Oakville. "I'm fine though, so don't worry about me."

I smiled before sighing.

"Aunty Maya, you look exhausted."

Now I laughed, "you won't believe what's going on here."

"I'm sure you'll have a thousand great stories to tell when you get home."

I smiled at my princess, wanting so badly to tell her that Akhenatem wasn't dead in a tomb. But I couldn't tell her, not yet at least. Because he wasn't exactly completely alive either.

He clearly wasn't taking this resurrection thing very well.

Once I returned back to the hotel with him at about four in the morning, he collapsed. His face went unbelievably pale and his heartbeat was slowing. It almost even felt like he was getting thinner and thinner by the second. I wanted to take him to the hospital but he said not to. He assured me that no regular doctor could help him.

So I helped him to bed and hoped to god he would get better.

I had to sleep on the couch for two hours and then head out at six to explain what had happened last night. Akhenatem's chamber still had that open chamber with the resurrections spells. The only difference was that there was no longer a body on the bed and the scarab image was gone.

I made it clear that I was the one who opened the entrance. I lied, saying it was actually plaster and thankfully there was never any text over that area, aside from the note from Akhenatem which appeared and vanished on its own and only I had seen. If I had actually destroyed a spot with ancient text or images on it, I would have gotten in a lot of trouble.

Thankfully, the officers who accompanied me into the tomb last night were fine. After taking Akhenatem out of the tomb and leaving him in the car, I ran back up the cliff and shook the two officers awake. I lied to them and told them that I knocked out too, and it was probably because of all the dust from when I wiped off the paint from the wall.

They believed me.

Everything was fine.

But despite my attempts to make this all sound less crazy, my PhD students were thoroughly freaked out. The tomb filled with resurrection spells and no body was an odd thought, though. I was sure they thought that he rose from the dead and walked out at some point.

And they weren't wrong.

After that crazy long day, I had come home and seen that Akhenatem was not doing any better.

Which was why I didn't tell May about him when Ethan told me about all the craziness that was going on back at home. I for one knew that it was definitely no coincident that all of her things returned at that time.

But now a week had passed since then and Akhenatem was still sick. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do to make him better. My only goal right now was to bring him back to my niece. I wanted nothing more than her happiness right now... but there was literally nothing I could think of doing to help her.

"Aunty Maya?"

"Yeah, yeah?" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at her.

She chuckled. "You should sleep Aunty Maya."

"Right, you're right."

She blew me a kiss. "I miss you, can't wait to see you back home!"

I returned the kiss. "Just a little while longer, honey. Bye, Princess."

She waved.

And with that, I turned off my laptop.

I placed my face in my hands and rubbed my eyes, letting out a breath and stretching. I had so much more work to do... but so little energy. I definitely needed a nap if I wanted to function properly, but I had no time for a decent nap.

Oh, the life of a scholar.

"I think that was the test."

I was startled by the voice, causing me to stand up from the couch in the hotels small living area and turn around.

Akhenatem was holding himself up against the doorframe of the bedroom, still looking extremely weak.

"You're up!"

He smirked, before struggling over to the couch and sitting down.

I sat down in front of him. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible," was his response.

He looked horrible. He had thinned incredibly in a matter of days, literally to the point of looking boney.

He had dark circles and pale skin, his eyes looking practically lifeless.

"The pregnancy," he suddenly said, his voice deep and weak. "It was a test, I believe."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was put to rest, Lord Hepu, the high priest of Amun mentioned some sort of test," he took a breath, filling his tired lungs. "My reason for being resurrected in this time is purely to be with her. My court worried that once I was awake in your time, she may have moved on. If that were the case then I was meant to truly die and move on to the afterlife, since I am not needed here."

My eyebrows rose.

I was a little insulted by the fact that his court wanted to test my nieces' love for him. But at the same time, I understood. "So, did she pass the test?"

"Judging by the fact that I can stand again, I think so," he said before clearing his throat. "I believe her decision to keep the imaginary child meant she passed."

"So you think you'll begin to get better?"

"We will see."

I sighed in relief but then reached out and touched his cold, boney hand. "I think you should continue to rest," I said. "I will go grab you soup... something to help speed up the healing... but for now, rest."

He nodded.

"Pharaoh... I should call you that, right?"

His mouth quirked up, showing his amusement despite being so weak. "Just call me Akhenatem."

"Alright, Akhenatem. Do you want me to help you back to the bed?"

"I'm fine."

So I nodded my head and got up to go get that soup I was talking about. It didn't take me long to get it, since there was a restaurant just downstairs, but when I returned to the room with the soup, I was surprised to see that the Pharaoh was still up. He was sitting at the couch staring at something in his hands.

When I walked over to him, he looked up at me in surprise.

"You okay?" I asked, noticing that it was my phone he was looking at.

He nodded, putting the phone aside. The screen was on long enough though for me to see that he was looking at a picture I took of May.

I sat back down next to him, pulling the soup out of the bag and handing it to him with a spoon. "You miss her?"

It was quite obvious that he didn't like to talk about his feelings. He smirked and sipped a spoonful of soup without answering me. He looked like he really enjoyed that sip of soup since he savoured it.

I opened my mouth to continue the conversation but after he swallowed the soup he sighed. "I thought that the sleep would go by quickly," he said. "As sleep usually does... but it felt like an eternity had passed when I woke up."

"You were quite disoriented for a bit," I said, not really knowing what else to say. I had no idea how to relate to him.

He looked down at the soup, silent for a moment. "How is she? Really?"

"She struggled... but I'm sure you know as well as I do that she's a strong person," I smiled at him. "She did what she had to do to keep moving forward."

"She looks different," he continued.

"She's grown."

He nodded. "Into a beautiful, strong, young woman, I presume?"

"You saw it with your own eyes in that picture, didn't you?" I chuckled. "She's on her way to becoming a teacher, you know."

"Good," he said. "That's what she wanted to do."

I smiled warmly at him. "So what exactly happened?" I asked. "How did you manage to make this whole thing work out?"

"Well, I'm not quite certain if any of it has actually worked out you," Akhenatem looked at me for a moment before looking back at the soup. "Did May tell you everything?"

I nodded. "I'm pretty sure she has."

"About my father and the gods forcing me to pick between her and my country?"

I nodded again.

"It was a test created by the gods... to see if I had truly changed my ways. If I had picked to return with May then my punishment would have been to have to live with the death of my people... simple as that."

"But you picked to stay," I remarked.

"And for that I was rewarded," he said. "Once I defeated my brother I returned to Thebes where I ruled as king for another four years. I used that time to completely repair the damage I had done. I gave all of the people I imprisoned a fair trail and compensated those who suffered due to my harshness."

"That's wonderful!"

"And once I felt that I had returned Egypt to its proper state of complete maat, I relinquished my throne to my brother. Once he was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt, I took up the offer of a reward for my actions. Lord Hepu was in no way strong enough to send me through time. He did not use dark magic as well. Instead however, the gods granted him with a spell book that could be used to put me in a sleep like state until the time was right."

"Magic... amazing."

He nodded. "I had the tomb prepared and hidden well from tomb robbers. I knew for certain that you would be the one to find it... if not then no one would. I also knew that you would figure out how to wake me up. May told me a thousand times that you were very intelligent. Besides, you were the only scholar who was ever able to figure out the truth about my childhood."

"It's quite an honor to know that you think that, Akhenatem."

"I was right, wasn't I?" He smiled for the first time since I met him.

I started to grin, truly feeling ecstatic. "So why the sealed shrine? Was it just to mess with us?"

"The only way the spell would actually work was if the spell book that was given to Lord Hepu was sealed inside the sarcophagus and shrine that was meant to be for me," he said. "After twenty-four hours of no sunlight or moonlight, it was meant to disintegrate, setting all the spells that had been cast onto me into motion. It was a means of making sure the book did not get into the wrong hands."

"Makes sense," I said. Well, it makes as much sense as a magical spell filled story could make. "So... let's say I didn't find you. What would have happened?"

"I would have been sealed in that tomb for all of eternity, in an endless sleep."

My eyebrows rose. "Wow, you took a big risk there."

"If it meant a chance to be with May, then..." he let out a breath and then continued to drink his soup.

I watched him for a long moment before I sighed. "I've been thinking about how I was going to get you back to our country," I said. "The only way is to take a plane, but you don't have a passport. We can't even apply for a passport since you don't have a birth certificate or a license or any sort of identification–"

"I have no idea what that means," he said, cutting me off but continuing to finish off his soup.

I chuckled. "It means there's no way as of now to get you to May."

Now I had his attention.

"I'm heading back home in two days... and there's only one person I know who might be able to help you, but he's one hell of a man who does not like to cooperate with me."

"I thought the stress would be over the moment I woke up," he sighed.

I smiled as I stood up. "Sorry to disappoint you, Pharaoh," I said. "But if there is one thing I can promise you, it's that I will do everything I can to reunite you with May. And while I work to do that, you rest. Rest and get better. May wouldn't want to see you like this."

Akhenatem looked at me for a moment and then he smiled and let out a breath. "You are as remarkable of a woman as May promised you would be."

I grinned. "Trust me, you haven't seen anything yet."

~ ☥ ~

As soon as I got off that plane, I had Ethan drive our car down to the Khan Manor, as I liked to call it. May's family house was large, nothing in comparison to Ethan's father's place, but much larger than anything both Ethan and I could afford. And that meant something since Ethan and I were both successful in our fields.

I told Ethan about everything that was going on over the phone before I got here. He was absolutely stunned. I knew he was still in a state of disbelief since he remained silent for most of the ride... but I couldn't blame him. This was definitely a "you need to see it to believe it" kind of situation.

May's mother and I got along relatively well, so I admit I was quite pleased when she was the one who opened the door.

"Hey, Shreya," I smiled at my sister-in-law.

"Ethan, Maya," she returned the smile and hugged me. "I saw you on the news, I'm so proud of you."

I chuckled. "Thanks, Shreya."

"But what are you doing home so early?" She asked, "I assumed unearthing a tomb would take months."

"It will," I said. "But we all have to take breaks right."

My sister-in-law looked at me carefully before nodding. "That's true," she said. "And come in, you two... you didn't bring Kiya with you?"

"She's with mum," I said. "I kind of have something serious to talk to you about."

"Really?"

"Well, not you... Darius."

Shreya let out a laugh of disbelief.

"I know," Ethan started, "I though she was crazy too."

"And what exactly is it for, Maya?" She asked. "What's so important that you'd walk right into the lions den?"

"May," I simply said.

Her eyes widened. "What's wrong with May?"

"I'll tell you two together."

Just as we reached the staircase, I was surprised my Marv making his way out of the living room. "Aunty Maya! Uncle Ethan!"

"Marv!" I rushed over and gave him a tight hug, "you're home!"

"Yeah, home for the weekend... and what about you? Why are you back?"

"I've gotta make a deal with the lion," I winked at him.

Marv knew exactly what I meant by that and both his eyebrows rose. "Goodluck."

I chuckled.

"Well, if it's any help to you," Shreya started as we walked up the staircase, "he just took a shower and usually he's a lot calmer after a shower."

Ethan snorted while I smiled at her. "Good to know."

When we reached his office, Shreya knocked before opening the door and letting us all in, including Marv, who decided to join the coversation.

Darius looked up from his paperwork in surprise before narrowing his eyes and setting all his work down.

"Honey," Shreya started, "Maya flew all the way home from Egypt to ask for your help."

He arched an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair.

Darius' office was the epitome of luxury. It had couches and wooden walls and hundreds of books on bookshelves... It even had a panoramic window behind the desk he was sitting at. It was a beautiful office indeed.

"Congratulations on your find, Maya," he said, his voice deep but emotionless. "You've made quite the name for yourself."

I could tell that he wasn't being sincere since the small smile on his face did not reach his eyes. Nonetheless, I thanked him.

"So what exactly is it you need?"

Well, it was now or never. "In short, there's a young man I need your help bringing from Egypt."

"What?"

I let out a breath, standing a little awkwardly in front of the so called Lion. "There's a boy... he's very intelligent and I want to bring him here... as a student under me."

"Get a student visa," he said, shrugging it off. "It's not that hard. Especially now that you have your recent work on your CV."

"You see, that's the problem," I said, taking a step forward to see him better. May's father was a handsome man. I remember when I first met him, seeing how handsome he was made me think that he must have been a real prince charming. And boy was I wrong. However, despite having such a cold demeanor he had very nice light, brown eyes, which I could imagine, if you didn't know him any better you would think were kind. "He's not exactly an easy person to deal with."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"He has no birth certificate. No passport. No nothing," I said. "In a sense, he doesn't even exist in this world."

Now I had his attention. He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and knotting his fingers together before holding them in front of his lips. "He does not exist?"

"I know, it's hard to understand but–"

"You are asking me, Maya, to bring to our country a young man who, in a sense, does not exist?"

I nodded, trying not to bite my lip. I didn't want to look like a child in front of him. I had to look firm and strong.

"What do you take me as? A fool?" He asked, sternly. "What is he, a criminal on the run?"

"No, no!" I said, quickly. "He's just... a member of a family of tomb keepers, sort of." I had to think of a lie, fast.

"Tomb keepers?"

I nodded.

He gave me a demeaning laugh before leaning back in his chair. "You might as well just leave, Maya."

I let out a breath. "Listen, Darius... I didn't want to have to do this but... I can't explain this to you completely. I just can't. Not yet. You just have to trust me–"

"Even if I wanted to help you, why would I trust you?"

I was taken aback by that and started to glare.

"Because both of us love May," I said, firmly.

He narrowed his eyes.

"We are polar opposites but the one thing we have in common is that we both love May."

"What does this have to do with May?"

"Again, I just can't explain this to you completely just yet... maybe if you came and met the young man you'd understand better but all I can say right now is that if you bring him here, May will be happy."

"You must think I'm crazy–"

"You barely ever see her, Darius... but when you do, I know you can see that she's miserable. She pretends that she isn't but she is..."

"She's right about that, dad." Marv said from behind me. "I know you've seen it too."

Darius looked at his son for just a moment before looking back at me.

"And I can assure you, Darius... I can bet my entire career on the fact that this boy I'm asking you to help will make her happy. He is important to her and I can't explain it just yet... but you'll understand soon."

Darius groaned and rubbed his face before standing up. "This is ridiculous–"

"Honey..." Shreya called. "It wouldn't hurt to at least go and meet the boy, would it now?"

Darius turned around and looked out of the panoramic window with his arms crossed. I assumed he was thinking about it.

After a moment of quiet, I looked nervously at Ethan, who was just standing there in silence. He was completely skeptical of the fact that Darius would help us.

"If I were to help... and that's an if, what exactly would I say is my reasons? That I want to help my daughter be happy? No judge would take that as an acceptable reason to bring a basically non-existent foreigner into our country."

"I thought that part through... he is a very intelligent you man... if you come and meet him you will see. I was thinking we say that I really want to sponsor him and make him a student of mine... I'll even adopt him if I have to," as weird as that would be for May... at least he'd be here.

"Adopt him?" Darius turned and looked at me. "He has no family?"

I shook my head. "No one who is alive, at least."

He closed his eyes and looked like he was counting to himself to prevent any harsh words. "You are making this harder for me by the second."

"Darius, you are the best lawyer here... one of the best in the country," I said. "If you can't help us then no one can. Please. I'm leaving back for Egypt in two days... if you'd just come with me and meet him, you'll know he's worth it."

Darius looked back at me with a look of displeasure.

"Dad," Marv said. "If you don't do it then I'm going to try."

"I will too," Shreya added.

"That's unnecessary," Darius said. "I will go to Egypt and see who this boy is. If he is unimpressive then Maya you will be paying for my flight back home."

I let out a breath. "Yes... yes! Thank you Darius!"

"Don't thank me," he said, sitting back in his seat. "I haven't said I'd help you yet. I just want to see who this boy is."

I smiled, that was enough for me.

He may have been a cold hearted jerk... but I knew he loved May. He had a horrible way of showing it, but he loved her.

~ ☥ ~

Just like Darius had said he would, he flew back with me to Egypt. We didn't talk at all, partly because he flew first class while I stayed back in economy. But that was good. I think us sitting next to each other would have been very awkward.

When we landed, Aarvind was the one who picked us up from the airport. I had asked him to watch over Akhenatem, telling him that he was a son of a friend who wasn't doing so well.

I trusted Aarvind a lot because he was serious, yet willing to help.

"How is he?" I asked as Aarvind helped to load my bag and Darius' bag into the trunk of the Jeep.

"Much better," the young man said. "He told me yesterday that I didn't need to come to check on him anymore. But I did, of course."

I smiled, glad to hear that.

Darius didn't say a word to me during the whole ride to the hotel. Even when we got there, he didn't say a word to me. He only spoke up when we opened the door to my hotel room and Akhenatem walked out from the bedroom. He looked unbelievably healthy again. The muscle had returned to his bones and his skin had returned to a beautiful copper colour. He looked healthy now, his dark eyes looking bright.

"That's him?" Darius asked, stepping into the room.

I nodded, though I couldn't help but notice the look of surprise on Akhenatem's face.

Darius set his small suitcase aside but then hesitated. And then the two just looked at each other for a moment. I wondered if Darius felt that same déjà-vu feeling that Ethan felt when he saw him. "What's your name?" Darius asked, firmly.

"Atem," he said, shortening out his name.

"Your full name, boy."

"Akhenatem..."

"Darius, he doesn't have a last name, sort of."

"No family name?" He looked at Atem as he sat down on the couch.

"My father's name is Ahmenmose."

"Then make that your last name," Darius said. "Some cultures use their father's names as last names, so that's fine."

I started to smile, but then Darius looked at me. "Do you think I'm stupid?" He suddenly asked.

"What?"

"His first name is Akhenatem?" He asked. "Do you think I don't know that that is the name of the Pharaoh you are studying? Do you think a judge won't notice that and find that suspicious?"

"That's actually his name, Darius," I said, honestly, sitting next to him on the couch. "I know it sounds strange but like I said before, I can't exactly explain it just yet."

Darius rubbed his face with his hand. "This is absolutely absurd."

"Tomb keepers like to name their children after Pharaoh's?" I tried, making it up on the spot.

Darius rolled his eyes. "This is a waste of my time."

"Please Darius... for May–"

"Maya, it could take months to get the permission needed to get him a passport. Then another couple months to get him to be allowed to come to our country."

"But all of it will be worth it in the end, May would be so happy–"

"That's if it even works out. This is not a simple case–"

"But you're the best of the best," I said, trying to flatter him into agreeing, though I also knew deep down that it was true. He was one of the best. "If you can't do it then no one can. So please, at least try."

Darius looked annoyed but then he sighed. "Keep your name as Atem," he said. "Atem Ahmenmose."

"So you're going to help us?"

"You to prove his capacity to be a valuable student of Egyptology–"

"Yes... yes. I can do that," I said. "Iesha, my friend, she's an expert in hieroglyphs and a very highly respected official and scholar in Egypt. I could ask her to come in and take a look at his skills–"

"What skills?" Darius asked, sternly.

I looked at Akhenatem.

"I can read and write fluently in my–" he hesitated, "–the language of the ancients. I can also read and write in English."

I nodded, looking back at Darius. "I am sure Iesha will be impressed by him. He's very good... it's almost as if the language was his mother tongue," I didn't actually ever see him read or write in hieroglyphs but I knew I wasn't lying when I said what I did. "I can have her write a letter to support his intelligence."

Darius stood up. "You have one day to get me that letter. I'm booking my ticket back home for tomorrow night. I can't stand this heat."

"I'll have it within the next couple hours!" I said, thrilled.

"It better be good. You are asking me to do something ridiculous and I refuse to go through with it unless I have a chance of winning," he said, beginning to walk to the door and grabbing a hold of his small suitcase on his way there. "I care more about my credibility as a lawyer than I do for my rebellious daughters happiness."

I let out a breath, knowing he didn't really mean that.

"Mr. Khan," Akhenatem called.

Darius opened the door, but looked over at the Pharaoh.

"Thank you," he said, sounding sincere.

"Yes, thanks, Darius," I added.

Darius looked at the young man for a moment, and then at me. He then let out a demeaning huff. "Don't thank me. I'm not doing it for either of you, anyways." He then walked off, shutting the door.

After a moment, I looked at Akhenatem. "You met him, right? In this other life?"

"I called him an incapable father who does not respect his daughter."

I laughed. "Well, it's no wonder he agreed to help you."

He looked at me, confused.

"Darius is... a confusing man. He loves May and acts this way to her because he wants the best for her. He thinks her becoming a lawyer would be just that, the best thing for her," I explained. "He treats her like this to try and scare her into doing what he thinks is best. Because he loves her."

Akhenatem let out a huff, almost identical to that which Darius let out before he left.

"If you really said what you did to stick up for May, to try and protect her, then after sleeping off his anger he probably realized he liked you," I said. "If he liked you in this other life then maybe that's why he agreed to help you."

"Because he loves May," Akhenatem said, more to himself before rolling his eyes. "Fathers."

"Yeah."

"It would mean a lot to May to know this. Since he's horrible at showing that he cares about her," Akhenatem said as he looked at me.

I nodded. "Is it bad to say that he reminds me a little bit of how I imagined you would have been as a mean Pharaoh?"

Akhenatem looked at me with surprise but then smiled a small smile. "No," he said. "To be honest... I was thinking the same thing."    

~ ☥ ~

HEY EVERYONE!

Just thought I'd let you know that a little bit later this week I'll be putting up a bonus chapter before the next upload!!! I hope you're excited!!

Thanks so much for reading, as always! Please don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT and FOLLOW!!! You guys have been doing a lot of that recently and it's made me so happy and eager to keep uploading! ='D! I love knowing what you think of the story!!!!!

Thank you so much!!!!

Love,

Luckycharms <3