It took Trueth a week and a lot of sun-flow to get Seisi back on his feet and shuffling around the temple. Metjen had told their visitor he was in a small local shrine, which according to Iseret would have been normal back then.

Rani-Ra helped with the in-temple patient care. She had hardly left her station since they brought Seisi in. Trueth was amused but not surprised. Their swimmer still had a cheesy face. Sunshine would quickly change that. Once he regained his strength and re-stocked on muscles, he could pass for Metjen's brother in terms of general build, more even than lanky Ranofer, who favoured the professor.

Trueth had been keeping a medical journal. She tapped the reed pen against her lips, ink dropped onto the floor and ran over her fingers.

'Shit. Have I got ink anywhere?' Trueth addressed Metjen's shendyt-clad front, which displayed his muscles to perfection.

He grinned, his teeth white in his tanned face. 'Ask me whether there is somewhere you haven't got it.'

She rubbed her finger on the pillow she was sitting on, gave up and rose. 'Seisi will need to see daylight or he will never heal properly, you do realise that?'

Metjen nodded, still grinning. 'We can take him home, nobody can overlook our garden.'

'It's a possibility,' Trueth said. 'You'll need to put a spell on him to keep him sedated on the drive home. Assuming your driving doesn't wake him up—'

Metjen blew her a raspberry.

'Can I continue? Thank you. This world is so different. The noise alone, the traffic, mobile phones going off, bloody aeroplanes above, once he's outside he'll get blasted. I mean, the guy is five thousand years old.'

Metjen played with the golden string of amulets around his neck. 'He's a priest, and he's got the Blessing. Another world should not come as too much of a surprise. We just tell him it's the demons at work. We're probably telling the truth, anyway.'

Trueth raised a warning hand, for Seisi entered the chamber; Rani-Ra in tow. Trueth wondered what he thought of his shadow; he kept a polite distance. Even that pink galabiya of Metjen's sister did not make him react, nor did he change his expression when she sashayed up to him and brushed against his hips. Those pale green eyes kept remained fixed on whatever he perceived on the wall. Or in Beyond.

Another stone statue, Trueth thought in disgust and wished Rani-Ra good luck. At least she had staked her claim, something that Trueth still did not dare to do with a certain somebody.

It was decided Metjen would tell Seisi how much time had passed and where he was. They had to do this soon, for he was the opposite of a fool and had worked out things were not quite as they should be.

'Warn him the professor will want to get a carbon-dating,' Trueth said.

'Won't work, chap's still alive,' Metjen said.

All went well given the circumstances. Metjen and Iseret delivered a joint briefing-or grilling, depending on who was talking, and Seisi listened intently. He cheered when he learned that yesterday's menaces were only blackened bones on the ground. He was shocked to learn the Guardians and Pharaoh did not make it, and he was even more horrified when he learned about the plight of the sleepers.

'How long ago has all this happened?'

Iseret and Metjen sent sightless stares at the ceiling and the floor, respectively. Nebmutef tapped his shendyt-clad thigh and supposedly found a part of his impeccable attire which needed straightening.

'Pray tell me. I understood it would take 100 years until another attempt could be made. I can surmise more time has passed. You all behave in the most unusual of ways.'

'Er, no,' Metjen said. 'Add another zero to that number.'

'I see.' Seisi paled, then realised this was not the end of it. 'What else should I know?'

'Multiply it by four and add a few hundred.'

A shiver ran through Seisi's bony frame, and he went even whiter in the face than before. 'This gives me extreme fright. Are the good people of the temple as old as I am? For they look it where I do not?'

'Nah,' Metjen waved him off. 'A couple of hundred, some of them. Most are even younger. Forget it. And Trueth, Rani-Ra and I are even-how old were you when you got pickled?' Metjen asked.

'I do not comprehend?' Seisi said.

'Chucked... thrown into that container?'

Seisi's brow cleared, and he nodded eagerly. 'Ah, twenty and eight.'

Trueth took it to mean the bloke was in the same age bracket as she and Metjen. If one ignored a few millennia or so. No big deal.

Iseret's voice sounded from the back of the room. 'You and I are the only ones left on this plane to remember Kemet.'

'If it had not been for you, things would still be as they were before!' Seisi appeared to have overcome his unearthly fear of the dark prophet as he insisted on calling their ex-high priestess and treated her more as a parolee, one whose presence he did not care for.

'Then you would be long gone!' Iseret hissed.

'Yes, much enjoying the fields of eternity instead of sitting here with you!' Seisi shot back, finally showing his emotions.

Trueth wondered what the history between these two really was.

Seisi refused to yield to a spell for the drive into the capital. He wanted to experience his surroundings and mumbled about other dimensions which could not be worse. Trueth wondered what Beyond really was. These people controlled boatloads of power. She had been made to understand her talents might well be strong but to achieve real greatness she needed that blind eye stuff. She was certainly not ready for it and felt comfortable with what she had achieved. Plus she would be able to keep her hair and not run around like the Dalai Lama, bless him.

Nebmutef had shuffled up to her. He seemed to be listening to words only he could hear. 'Wait, I need to speak to you.' The old priest peeked behind him hervously, his hands trembling. 'Pray be cautious with Her Wisdom. I am not convinced Iseret is who she pretends to be.'

Trueth sighed. 'Metjen says she cannot lie. She might not always speak the truth, certainly not all at once—but what she told us so far was correct. Seisi confirms that.'

'A high priestess of Hathor can never deceive, I agree. But a dark priestess?' Nebmutef tutted. 'Metjen has become far too trusting these days—I will be vigilant, even if he is not. You think well, go and think about my words. Only time will tell.' Nebmutef nodded to himself—and a tic started in his cheek as Iseret came into the room and with impatience told them to move outside.

Trueth followed slowly and stared after Nebmutef—just when you think it is safe to go back into the Nile, pollutants notwithstanding, the crocodiles turn up again.

'Cat got your tongue?' Rani-Ra asked Trueth on the drive back. She shook her head. Even Blondie, who ate almost anything, would not touch tongue. Rani-Ra had put her hands over Seisi's. Most likely she was worried he might be overwhelmed by his new environment, the traffic, Metjen's style of driving, which involved a full-blown confrontation with the other vehicles on the road—or all of it together.

That was not the case.

Instead, Seisi was fascinated. With lively interest, he seemed to embrace the new experience—like the cyclist in a billowing galabiya who screamed as Metjen bore down on him and dove towards safety into a cluster of prickly bushes lining the road.

'This is most exhilarating,' Seisi shouted. He leaned out of the window to watch the hapless man and Trueth together with Rani-Ra pulled him back inside.

'Be careful and do not speak when you meet people. I can morph your language, so you understand what they say but I don't want to put any more strain on your mind and change your speech,' Metjen said.

'You can pretend he comes from a funny desert tribe?' Trueth suggested.

'I am not one of those who dwell in the wastelands,' Seisi said, giving her a vacant green frown.

'If I understand Iseret correctly, those people came and helped your sorry band of survivors,' Trueth said.

'Pharaoh and the Guardians were not that.'

'Boys, girl, hello? Will you cool it please—yark!' Rani-Ra swore as Metjen nearly steered into an open truck full of palm trees. Their fronds thrashed in the slipstream of the Jeep's passing. At least they were homing in on the house and after going round the corner with tyres screeching, Metjen pushed the remote to open the garage.

'I perceive, you still have holy objects,' Seisi said solemnly.

'No, we have Hi-Tec instead,' Trueth responded. 'We pray to the gods of mass production.' Before Seisi could ask her who those were, Metjen had mind-poked her in a way that hurt. He informed Seisi they were facing not a shrine, but a shed for modern transportation. He should not pay heed to the red-haired woman as the Lord Seth once in a while took possession of her.

Seisi smiled with understanding and patted Trueth on the back. She was fuming; bloody Metjen saw links that did not exist, while ignoring things that were right under his nose.

Trueth took a deep breath and followed the others who had entered the garden via the back gate. The welcoming committee had appeared—all five of them. Seisi bowed, and three of them bowed back, which confused him considerably. He coughed, shifted around to examine the house and garden and must have started a mind-exchange with Metjen, who was shaking his head.

'What's up?' Trueth asked.

'He keeps insisting we're nobles of the highest rank and he finds our friendliness unusual. He's also surprised our house is so small. It's not what he expected. And he wonders what the satellite dish is for.'

But the humble environment helped to relax their visitor, and he tried only three times to offer his services in the household before he allowed Metjen's mother to instal him in the hammock. 'You look completely washed out, dear—it's these disgusting surroundings you've been in for so long. We'll take care of you. I've got the guest room ready.'

So over and above getting into her favourite spot in the garden, the guy was annexing Trueth's room. Instead, she got promoted to the lofty heights of Metjen's top-floor apartment, which she had never visited before. She leapt up the stairs, Blondie and Mish-Mish padding up at the rear.

Metjen climbed in front, which gave her an excellent view of his muscles as they bunched in his firm buttocks... . She hastily adjusted the silly smile on her face into a more neutral expression as he opened the door and with a bow admitted her into the holiest of holies. Maybe it was not that but the neat flat still took her by surprise. The rock concert posters would not have been her choice of wall decoration. She also hoped Metjen would not turn on the speakers. The thumping she had noticed from downstairs had not sounded like her type of music.

But otherwise this was the pad she had not even known she desired. The room where she dropped her bag was only twice the size of her cell in the temple, and they would have to share a bathroom. It did come with a decent bed, however, as well as a window facing the garden she had grown so fond of.

Up here she was on a level with the palm tops. I felt like floating in green. The idea made her feel guilty again, she wondered what Seisi must have gone through once and decided to be as nice to him as she could. But it was not he who kept occupying her thoughts all too often in the last weeks.

Metjen popped up in her mind. Coffee was ready. Trueth found him on a small balcony reaching out into the canopy, where they sat to share a brew that might have come in handy in that underground vault. It was certainly strong enough to dissolve those remains in no time.

Metjen mind-launched a pillow at her. 'You have the weirdest thoughts.'

She caught it with her hands. 'And Your Weirdness has not been invited to share them. Enough of that, as the chief weirdo would say. What are we going to do?'

'I don't know.' Metjen raised a hand to ward off comments. 'I understand why Iseret was so reluctant, the choices suck. We might cause the final destruction of those sleepers, assuming they're not gone yet, or worse—we accidentally dump them back into this world and worst of all, we attract the demons. I don't like any of this. And I haven't even dared to explore the bloody possibilities, rational analysis is bad enough.' He must have realised something else as he nearly spilled his drink.

'What would happen to us even if we go ahead? Even if it works, to send the sleepers on their way we seem to have to pass through the portal. What do we do then?'

'We live happily ever after?' Trueth suggested.

'Come on. Life's no fairy tale. Fun only starts when you die.'

'Yes, we might perish en route. Whereby I don't think so—they wanted the Guardians and Pharaoh to return, so survival must be possible. But it would mean we are stuck in the mirror world,' Trueth said.

'How do we get out of there?' Metjen asked.

'My thoughts entirely.'

'Shit.'

They drank their coffees in silence. Mish-Mish sauntered onto the balcony, turning a movment into a form of art. The expression of disdain on his teddy bear face was belied by the high-voltage quivering of his feathery tail. Of course, chances were high he was more excited by the potential of food rather than their overall presence. Trueth decided that this was her chance to find out what that gorgeous idiot really thought of her. She took a deep breath.

'Metjen, I—'

A knock sounded on the door, and the cat bounced into the corridor, welcoming the arrival of another potential source of food. Mish-Mish was seldom wrong. Seisi joined them with a basket full of bottles and food and a cheerful feline at his heels.

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If you enjoyed this chapter, please don't forget to comment and vote. This chapter is dedicated to @Sarian. She has written her very own version of the Beauty and the Beast, her world is downright scary and full of demons. I suggest you have a look for yourself. Sorry - no roses in this chapter, but at least some palm trees!