Metjen inhaled to calm down his ragged breathing, raised his bandaged arms over his head and lurched into the room, mumbling to himself.

'Four long shendyts, embroidered. Four short shendyts, plain. '

On the right, Metjen spotted Seisi gripping an amulet. He had started speaking an invocation, sweat beading his brow. Metjen wondered which spell his friend had been about to use.

Trueth was hiding among the boxes at the back, all he could see was an arm and a hand, the palm glowing in blue. She too must have been ready to tackle the intruders. Instead, she waved once and withdrew her hand.

'Three pleated linen robes bearing the insignia of Ra, Osiris,... .'

The three intruders had been focussing on Seisi, but now whirled around to face the newcomer. They froze in mid movement, their eyes widening with shock. The man closest to Metjen dropped his gun, metal hit concrete with a clink. Fortunately there was no bang, the weapon had still been secured. Guard number two dropped his jaw as well as something else, the smell of urine hit Metjen's nose despite the wrappings he was swathed in.

'Several pairs of leather sandals in all sizes, a spear encrusted with jewels - that can't be one of ours, must be Pharaoh at it again... .'

The guardsmen screamed, Metjen shuffled to the side to free the entrance and the intruders fell over each other in their desperate effort to flee from the room. Their panic echoed through the basement, until all was quiet again.

Seisi attached his amulet back on the necklace he hid under his galabiya and observed him from top to bottom. 'Your methods are unconventional for certain.'

Trueth's dusty mop rose above the boxes like a scruffy princess in a Punch and Judy show. 'Blimey, finally I get my walking mummy.'

Metjen realised he still held his arms in the air, lowered them and spoke the invocation in reverse. The air around him shifted and his body emerged from the wrappings. He scratched his itching arms.

'Fleas?' Trueth asked helpfully and climbed down from her crates.

Seisi compressed his lips to a thin line. 'I was ready to use the Claws of Anubis, I really do not do this often enough, it might have gone wrong.'

'And I was about to knock them out, I just couldn't warn you, Sei. Guys looked like they had itchy trigger fingers,'Trueth said.

Seisi straightened the arms of his garment. 'How about mind-calling?'

She shrugged. 'Can't. Would have to touch you for it.' She poked Metjen's shoulder. 'Hey Your Wisdom, can you explain how they found us? My understanding was these guards would be asleep?'

'Call me by that title once more and you'll regret it. Otherwise, I would say our lookout thinned the veil too much,' Metjen said. 'They must have heard the noise.'

Oh, now it is my fault?

'The boxes you were after are over there,' Trueth pointed over her shoulder. 'Seisi had them nicely sorted, when these guys barged in. Maybe we should get a move on. I'd imagine, it won't take them long to work out that somebody has tricked them.'

Metjen nodded. 'Sod caution.' He sent out his ka and scanned the boxes. No walking sticks. Why was he not surprised? He should have done this earlier and saved them all a lot of time.

'Could it be in another room. Or another box. Or another museum maybe?' Trueth asked.

'Father says no.' Metjen patted dust from his trousers. 'If the thing isn't upstairs, which it isn't, then it could only have been here. The sticks on loan at other collections are not what we need.'

Trueth faced him. 'So Britain it is.'

He mirrored her stance. 'Yes. You are very fortunate that we'll accompany you home.'

Before she could respond, Seisi pointed at the exit. 'We must leave. I can hear voices.'

Metjen called. 'Iseret?'

There was no response.

'She's miffed. You're right. Let's scarper.' Metjen dashed into the corridor.

They ran along the dark passage, dodging boxes on the way, then sprinted up the stairs and into the hallway where they had first entered. Noises echoed from the basement.

'Iseret, I need a veil!' Metjen shouted.

Something hissed in the dark and the surrounding air took on an oily sheen.

'We thank you,' Seisi said, just as Metjen dissolved the wall and they tumbled through. Their side of the museum was still cloaked in shadows but from the front came the sounds of sirens and the noises from a lot of vehicles and even more people screaming and shouting. The strobes of flashlights came round the corner, followed by the sound of running feet and screams. They had been discovered.

'Follow me!' Metjen raced towards the back and through another wall. He heard two thumps followed by swearing on the other side and realised it had solidified right after he had passed through.

'Shit!' He stopped in his tracks. He still was not fully recovered, this was not supposed to happen.

'Can you do something? I'll need a moment to recharge,' he hollered.

More swearing, followed by a heated exchange. Next he heard Seisi invoke the Pinions of Nekhbet. Carried on a rush of invisible wings, Seisi and Trueth came flying over the wall and crash-landed at his feet.

Loud shouting not far from the obstacle indicated that their pursuers were catching up.

'I hope they haven't seen us go Batman on them.' Trueth picked herself off the floor.

'It is too dark here. Where is the car?' Seisi was racing ahead.

Does that guy never get out of breath, Metjen thought as he panted in his wake. And had he just used the word car? He pressed the remote control and the lights of the Jeep came on with a beep. They threw themselves inside, slammed the doors shut and with screeching tires, Metjen shot into the night.

Strobes of street lights were illuminating the inside in rhythmic flashes as they raced along.

'This was a waste of time.' Metjen yanked the steering wheel to the left as a string of cars shot into his path. His lights were green, but this did not mean much. It was an attractive shade of green, though.

'About time you got your vision fixed, you can then do your job via home office,' Trueth commented from the back seat.

'Thanks.' A lorry careened into his path from the right and he leaned on the horn. 'It's not just me and you know that.'

Seisi addressed the windscreen. 'What are you doing with this device?'

'Are you speaking to me?'Trueth asked.

Metjen responded in Seisi's stead. 'He's not praying, that's for sure.'

'How am I supposed to know when you keep staring ahead.' Trueth was tapping and swishing away on her smartphone. 'I'm checking my social media accounts. Mum and Debs have been messaging like crazy.'

'I can't blame your mother,' Metjen said. He flashed his lights at the moron in a clapped out wreck who dared to cross his path. 'I haven't yet sussed out how long we've exactly been gone in this world but if I was a mother I would get nervous if I got only static from my daughter for a while. '

Trueth finally looked up and narrowed her big blue eyes. 'We weren't exactly close. Deborah is cuddly and nice. I'm not.'

He tended to agree with her. Still, this was going to be awkward. He turned towards her, emphasising his point with his hands. 'However you want to play this, at some point you'll need to settle with your mum.'

What was this bus doing on his side of the road? Metjen pushed out his ka, the steering wheel turned and the car shot around a coach load of tourists. Trueth had gone rigid in her seat and dropped the smartphone.

'Will you hold on to the steering,' she panted.

Seisi gazed over his shoulder. 'He does not need to. See, the high priests can-'

'-I don't care what they can do. When his lordship is driving a car I happen to be in, he uses the frigging steering wheel!'

There was no point in having an argument, and creative driving was not their only problem.

'I don't want to upset you even more, but have you checked what's behind us?'Metjen held on to the wheel with one hand and pointed the thumb of the other towards the back of the car.

The flashing lights of police cars filled the rear window and they were gaining on the Jeep.

'Open a flipping portal. Now.' Trueth screeched. Her tone was a bit shrill, but the advice was sound, demons or not, so he did as bid.

A deep blue rip shot at them and swallowed the car, pressure built up in his ear and his stomach lurched as the vehicle careened through-whatever it was careening through. An instant later it thumped back onto the road, springs protesting loudly.

He checked. Trees overhead, the familiar streets of Maadi, no police lights behind them. They had made it back home and he had even managed not to accidentally shift them all back to Kemet.

'Do me a favour.' Trueth was rubbing her head, she must have hit the ceiling at some point. 'Go and practice this high priest stuff. Or ask Iseret. Preferably both. And preferably fast.'

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This chapter is dedicated to my reader, littlemissflawed. Thank you!!!

The image is taken from DeviantArt, copyright to be established.