The Amulet of Amon-Ra (16 page)

“I put it in there,” said Neferhotep. “Earlier today, I made up a mixture of herbs that are recommended for the exorcism of demons, and said a spell over it—just in case. After I took the amulet from Ka-Aper, I put the mixture in it.”

Jennifer raised her eyebrows.

“It worked on Ka-Aper,” said Neferhotep. “You know what happened to him.”

“What did happen to him?” asked Ramose.

Hatshepsut let out a tired sigh. “It seems my priest had been possessed for years. The demon has been vanquished. I fear that my old friend Ka-Aper will never be the same again, however. Bibi is taking care of him right now.”

“Some of the other priests told me Ka-Aper had been meddling with old, forbidden subjects,” said Neferhotep. “Potions, spells…Perhaps he inadvertently called a demon to him. In any case, the demon's reaction to the amulet told me much. But because you could wear it without fear, I knew you weren't a demon.”

“I told you so,” said Tetisheri.

“You were right,” said Neferhotep, nodding at her. “So, now we need to work on how to send you home.”

“I suppose so,” said Jennifer. She slowly closed the lid of her amulet.

“Must they leave us so soon?” asked Tetisheri.

“We have to,” said Jennifer. She looked at Meryt-Re, who was missing a daughter. “Although I wish I could stay a little longer.”

“I don't want you to go. Not yet,” said Tetisheri. “I don't care who you are. I like you.”

“Thank you,” said Jennifer, giving her a warm smile.

“Are boys the same in your time?” asked Tetisheri.

“Well,” said Jennifer, glancing at Mentmose. She realized she didn't really know. Maybe she should have paid more attention to Kelly and Ashley!

“Teti,” said Satyah. “I don't think you should talk to this…person.”

“Why not? She's not going to hurt me,” said Tetisheri. She turned a blazing smile on Jennifer. “Are you?”

“No,” said Jennifer. “Of course not.”

“Oh, Tetisheri,” said Satyah. “You trust so easily. Some day…”

“She was always a loyal girl, Satyah,” said Meryt-Re.

“To everyone,” said Mentmose. He blushed and smiled at Tetisheri. “Even me.”

Tetisheri beamed at him.

“We should speak of that,” said Satyah. “Soon.”

“Mother?” said Tetisheri.

“Things have changed since you were betrothed,” said Satyah.

“It is only you who have changed, Satyah,” Meryt-Re said quietly.

“I would be happy to have Mentmose as a son-in-law,” said Hekhanakhte. Satyah whipped her head around to stare at him.

“Things may change yet again,” said Hatshepsut. “Change is, as we have seen, inevitable. We would do well to remember that.”

“Of course, your Majesty,” said Meryt-Re.

“Yes, Pharaoh,” said Satyah, bowing.

“Speaking of change, after we have discovered how to send these people where they want to be, Ramose, I would like to discuss a royal commission with you. Apparently, it is time I prepared myself for my death.”

Tetisheri gasped. “Your death?”

“It comes to us all, child,” said Hatshepsut, gently. “Even to countries, it seems. We cannot avoid it, but we can make provision for it, before we all crumble to dust.” She turned to Jennifer. “Was my mummy also destroyed, along with everything else?”

“We thought it might have been,” said Jennifer. “But it was just hidden.”

“Hidden?”

“As a precaution, probably. Your mummy was just recently identified.”

“Are they sure?”

“Beyond a doubt,” said Jennifer. “They found a box with your cartouche on it, which held a tooth you had lost.”

Hatshepsut put a hand on her cheek. “A tooth?”

“It was matched to your mummy. Then there was the DNA evidence…”

“The what?” asked Neferhotep.

“Never mind, Neferhotep. Thank you, Dje-, I mean, Jennifer. It is good indeed to know that my existence in the afterlife is assured. At least I have not crumbled away to dust,” said Hatshepsut.

“Dust…” said Jennifer. She peered at her amulet. “Grandma, you don't suppose this was filled with…mummy dust?”

“No, no. I feel sure Daoud wouldn't have allowed that. He had a deep reverence for his country and its history. If he did put the dust in there, it would not have been from a mummy. Though some people did grind them up, in Victorian times.”

“Ra!” said Mentmose. “You grind up our mummies?”

“Oh, not anymore,” Grandma Jo assured him. “No one is allowed to do that. When we find your tombs, we put the items in a museum.”

“Museum?” said Neferhotep.

“It's a kind of place where all sorts of people can come to view ancient artifacts,” said Jennifer. “Ours has a traveling exhibition of stuff from your country right now.”

“Including a most fascinating fragment of a tomb painting,” said Grandma Jo. She winked at Jennifer.

“Amazing,” said Neferhotep. “Is that where you found the amulet?”

“No. Well, sort of. The curator gave it to me. Grandma, do you think Daoud knew what would happen when I opened it?” she asked. “Do you think he put the dust in the amulet?”

“I don't know. Maybe.”

“If he did, then we have no hope of going home,” said Jennifer. “He's not here.”

“Maybe it was something from our time that did it,” said Tetisheri. “Something that had been in there for, oh, centuries.”

“Like what?” said Jennifer. “After that long, anything we put in it would be…dust.” Her eyes went wide. “Dust! These herbs…in my time, they would be dust.”

Tetisheri clapped her hands over her mouth.

“These plants were meant for banishing a demon,” warned Neferhotep. “They worked for that. Ka-Aper is free; the demon is gone from us. But this…”

“Maybe they could ‘banish' us, too,” said Jennifer.

“I don't know any spells for that,” Neferhotep began. Meryt-Re put her hand on his arm.

“Try,” she said.

“I don't know what would happen,” said Neferhotep. “It might need something else to make it work that way. I'm sorry. I don't know what that would be.”

“Myrrh!” said Jennifer.

“Of course,” Neferhotep said softly. “Myrrh is one of the items that we use to anoint our mummies, to assist them in their travel to the next world.”

Hatshepsut rose and walked to the little cupboard which held the Double Crown, then opened the painted door and reached inside, bringing out a small glass bottle. She held it carefully as she returned, then handed it to Neferhotep. He held it up to the light. Golden liquid moved sluggishly within.

“Myrrh,” he said. He removed the stopper and sniffed. “The finest kind, too.”

“Naturally,” said Hatshepsut, one side of her mouth lifting.

Neferhotep turned to Jennifer and held out his hand. “May I?” he asked.

Jennifer lifted the amulet over her head and gave it to him. He opened it, then poured several drops of the fragrant incense into the mixture of herbs. Shutting the amulet firmly, he gave it a vigorous shake. Finally, he pressed the amulet to his forehead and closed his eyes, then muttered some words.

“There,” he said, re-opening his eyes. “Now it is up to you.”

Tetisheri, off to the side with her parents, took in a breath like a sob. Hekhanakhte hugged her around the shoulders, then shook his head as if trying to clear it. He swayed a little, then smiled down at his daughter.

Jennifer took the amulet from Neferhotep and walked to Grandma Jo's bench. Sitting beside her, Jennifer lay the amulet flat on her palm and prepared to open it.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Are you?” Grandma Jo countered.

Jennifer paused. She didn't really want to go. But she knew she had to. She scanned the room, gazing at the family and friends she had known for so short a time.

Mentmose had moved close to Tetisheri and was holding her hand. Satyah and Hekhanakhte, who stood off to one side, didn't seem to notice. Neferhotep was watching Jennifer and Grandma Jo closely and gave them an encouraging nod. Ramose had his arm around Meryt-Re, whose fists were pressed tightly against her chest. She held her breath, waiting. Jennifer nodded. Waiting for Dje-Nefer to return.

“Stop,” said Meryt-Re, lifting Ramose's arm away from her. She approached Jennifer, then enveloped her in a hug. “Though I want my daughter back, I will be sorry to see you go. Farewell.”

Jennifer swallowed and brushed at her eyes. “Thank you.”

Last of all, Jennifer looked at Hatshepsut, the female Pharaoh. “If this works, I guess this is goodbye,” she said.

“I will not forget you…Jennifer,” said the Pharaoh.

“I won't forget you, either,” said Jennifer.

“Then I am content,” said Hatshepsut.

Jennifer looked at Grandma Jo and flipped open the amulet. “Let's go.”

Both of them sniffed, hard. At first, nothing happened. Jennifer sighed, and her breath stirred the sticky mixture. The smell of the sharp myrrh was tinted with the scent of the other ingredients.

Her eyesight blurred. Then the world tilted and suddenly she was surrounded by the familiar, gold-shot darkness. For a moment, she thought she saw a ghostly outline of a man wearing a tall, white, split headdress.

And then, nothing.

Jennifer pushed past some of the other kids from Mrs. Goodwin's class, deftly avoiding Tyler's outstretched foot, and pulled Hannah over to the case containing the cosmetic pots.

“This is what I was talking about,” she said.

Hannah peered at them, then raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows. “So?”

“They're for make-up,” said Jennifer. “See that little stick? They dipped it in kohl and drew lines around their eyes with it.”

“Eyeliner?” said Hannah. “Huh.”

A small glass bottle, with thick white wavy lines, just like the one Hatshepsut had used for myrrh, stood next to the clay pots.

“And that one was for perfume,” said Jennifer. “They used a lot of scents.”

“Cool,” said Hannah, bending to get a closer look. “I wonder where I could get some.”

“They might sell replicas in the gift shop,” said Jennifer.

“Is that where you got your necklace?” asked Hannah.

Jennifer cupped the amulet, faded and chipped by time, in her hand. She had threaded it onto a leather cord so she could wear it as a pendant. “No. Someone gave it to me. A friend.”

“Nice friend,” said Hannah.

“You like it?”

“It's okay,” Hannah said, trying to sound indifferent. She stroked the back of the scarab with one finger.

“Hey, what's up?” said Kelly as she and Ashley joined them.

Hannah shrugged, dropping her hand. “Not much.”

“Did you see the mummy?” asked Ashley.

“Yes, and ew, it's gross,” said Kelly.

“At least it's better than all those ceramic pots,” said Ashley. “Borrrrring!”

“The tomb painting's kind of neat, though,” said Kelly. “Did you see it, Jen? There's a girl on it that looks a lot like you!”

“Yeah, I saw it,” said Jennifer, smiling.

“By the way, we love what you did to your hair,” said Hannah.

“It took the stylist hours to do all the tiny braids,” said Jennifer. “My grandmother paid for it.” She liked the way it looked in her mirror, even though it wasn't glossy black.

Hannah fingered her long blonde hair. “Maybe I should get mine done, too.”

“That would be cool,” said Jennifer.

“Hey, why aren't you listening to that Egyptologist guy?” asked Kelly. “I thought you were really into this stuff. I mean, you took all those books and videos out of the library.”

“I've seen it before,” said Jennifer, shrugging. She looked over to where Daoud and a young, dark-skinned woman were talking about the ushabtis to Mrs. Goodwin and some of the kids. “Grandma Jo and I got a personal tour a couple of weeks ago.”

“Hey, has your grandmother talked your mom and dad into letting you go with her when she goes to Egypt next year?” asked Kelly.

“She's working on them,” said Jennifer, grinning. “So am I.”

They were reluctant, but Jennifer had been mentioning the educational benefits. A lot. She and Grandma Jo were pretty sure her parents were about to cave in.

“Do you want to get together at my house after school so we can work on our Egyptian house project?” asked Kelly. Hannah rolled her eyes.

“Okay,” said Ashley. “I'll ask my mom if we can use some of her dollhouse modeling clay. She showed me how to make tiles with it a couple of weeks ago.”

“You into that?” asked Hannah. “It sounds boring.”

Ashley shrugged. “It's fun. We made pots and bowls with it, too. I'll show you.”

“Oh, all right,” said Hannah.

“Okay,” said Jennifer. “We could do it today, but not tomorrow. I have a ball game.”

“Can I come?” asked Hannah. “Your coach is cute.”

“Sure. I'll even introduce you,” said Jennifer, with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Hannah giggled.

Mrs. Goodwin called out to the class. Daoud and the young woman were taking them to the other room now. Jennifer, Ashley, Kelly and Hannah tagged along at the end of the file. At the door, Jennifer paused and looked over her shoulder at the mummy and its tomb painting. She let the others get ahead of her, then slipped back.

Somebody had moved things around a bit since her last visit. There was a bench in front of the painting now. Jennifer sat on it and held her amulet.

“Hi, Dje-Nefer,” she said softly to the girl in the painting. “I wonder how your life went after I left. I hope you had a good one.”

“Jennifer?”

Startled, Jennifer jerked her attention away from the tomb fragment. Daoud was standing beside the bench. “May I sit?”

“Sure,” said Jennifer. “I thought you were giving a tour to my class.”

“My assistant, Rasha, is doing that. She is very knowledgeable about the later time periods,” said Daoud. “So I can talk with you.”

He and Jennifer looked at the tomb painting. It really was a very good likeness.

Jennifer cleared her throat. “Daoud? You knew what was going to happen when I opened the amulet, didn't you?”

Daoud was silent for a moment. Then he sighed. “Yes. I knew.”

Jennifer waited. Daoud glanced at her and gave her a tired smile. The lines in his aged face seemed deeper than before.

“As you say in English, it is a long story,” said Daoud. “It began, as you know, several thousand years ago.”

“About thirty-five hundred,” said Jennifer. “During Hatshepsut's time.”

“Quite so. I remember it well,” said Daoud.

Jennifer nodded. “Because you were there.”

“Yes.” For a moment, he seemed to waver, and the image of a bare-chested man wearing a white kilt and a tall split head-dress floated in front of him. Jennifer looked from him to the statue in the corner of the room. The image winked out, revealing Daoud's old, friendly face once again.

“Amon-Ra,” said Jennifer, in a satisfied tone. “It was you that I saw, when Grandma Jo and I traveled back to this time, wasn't it?”

“I am Amon-Ra,” Daoud confirmed. “Much diminished, of course.”

“So does that mean you're a god?”

“That is not precisely the right term. Although, to the people of Ancient Egypt, my people must have seemed that way,” he said. “There never were very many of us, and we tried to keep hidden, as much as possible. Some of us were…odd-looking.”

“Neferhotep and Hatshepsut said they thought they had seen you,” said Jennifer.

“I'm sure they did. Even we had to eat some time,” said Daoud. He winked. “And why shouldn't we consume the good food given to us as sacrifices?”

Jennifer laughed.

“We were probably seen many times. We live a long time, unless we are killed. Long enough to be considered immortal. I myself am more than five thousand years old.”

“Wow,” said Jennifer. “You must have been through a lot. Wars, and other stuff.”

“Sadly, many of those,” he sighed. “You humans are…energetic.”

“Humans? Are you…aliens?” asked Jennifer.

Daoud laughed. “Oh, no. We belong to this planet, too. We are merely older beings. Do you not have stories of creatures other than man, with supernatural powers, even in your culture?”

“Well, sure,” said Jennifer. “Elves, fairies—things like that.”

“Just so,” said Daoud. “They probably stem from the same source. We have certain talents that you do not. Do you know of telepathy, telekinesis, that sort of thing?”

“Um, telepathy is mind-reading, isn't it?”

“Speaking mind to mind, rather. Telekinesis is moving objects only with the mind,” said Daoud. “Some of us have other talents, like taking over an animal or human body.”

“You mean possession! Like the demon took over Ka-Aper,” said Jennifer.

“Yes. Poor man.”

“And…I took over Dje-Nefer. Then…am I like you?” asked Jennifer.

Daoud shook his head. “You are human. It was I who caused you to switch bodies with her.”

“You? I thought the amulet and the dust did it,” said Jennifer. She looked at her amulet. The dust was long gone
.

Daoud clasped his hands together. “Partially. The dust was made of certain elements that are not easily obtained today. The mixture is one that our people used as a focusing agent, to assist our powers. When humans got their hands on the recipe, they used it for other purposes.”

“Like getting rid of demons?”

“Yes. They found out it had an effect on some of us. Even though the mixture was greatly weakened by age, it was still effective for me. It took a lot of effort on my part, and I am weakened with age, too. I had to rest for several days after I sent your ka through time.”

“Is that one of your powers?” asked Jennifer. “Time travel, I mean?”

“Not precisely,” said Daoud. “I can cause a human's personality to move to another's. It was made easier by the fact that you and Dje-Nefer were so similar.”

“Why did you make us switch bodies?”

“It was the only way. I couldn't send you physically.”

“Why did you send me back?”

“I knew what you had to do. What you had done, actually. In the past.”

“You mean Hatshepsut? The conspiracy?”

“Exactly. I didn't know what had happened at the time, of course. I only realized what you had done after you had done it,” said Daoud. “I didn't even know you were there, until the entity that had possessed the unfortunate Ka-Aper had released him.”

“The demon,” said Jennifer.

Daoud sighed. “No more a demon than I am a god. Just someone who had the power to take over a human consciousness. When he left Ka-Aper's body, I realized what had happened.”

“How did you know? You weren't there,” said Jennifer.

“I was there.” He lowered his voice and intoned, “It is good to know that we are still remembered.” His outline wavered again, as a faint image of Tetisheri's father faded in and out.

“Hekhanakhte!” said Jennifer. “You were him!”

“For a short time,” said Daoud. “Like that other entity, I also have the ability to put my consciousness in a human body, for a short time. Or I did, once.”

Jennifer tilted her head to one side. “Hatshepsut said you were her true father…”

“I admit I was much taken with her mother, Ahmose,” said Daoud. “She was beautiful. I would like to think that Hatshepsut was my daughter in spirit. I admired her. But, no. I did not possess Thutmose the First. I do not feel it is ethical to meddle with another person. The few times that I did, I did not enjoy it.”

“You controlled me,” said Jennifer. “You made me go to Dje-Nefer's body.”

Daoud ducked his head. “I know. It was necessary. You were there, so you must have gone. I had to make sure that you did.”

“How did you find out?”

“When I possessed Hekhanakhte, I heard your explanation of who you were, and it was then that I realized that I, or someone like me, must have caused you to travel through time. I didn't know why, then.”

“But you did later.”

“I did know that the demon was becoming more powerful, and I had only just found out his plans to kill Hatshepsut. I didn't know what to do. Then you showed up. Later, I decided that I myself had sent you. I waited a very long time to give you a certain amulet. I did not know that it would be centuries. Then, a few weeks ago, a girl who looked just like Dje-Nefer came to the museum.”

“Me,” said Jennifer.

“You,” Daoud agreed.

“Why me?” asked Jennifer. “Why not some other girl? There must have been others who looked like her.”

“There were a few other girls who looked something like Dje-Nefer. It could have been one of them. Only you would have known that Hatshepsut's mummy had been found.”

“Because I was born in the right time,” said Jennifer.

“Yes, precisely. Also, I recognized your grandmother when she came to Egypt. She looked much like Mutemwija even when she was younger,” said Daoud. “I was tempted to give the amulet to her then. But she was not the one who was supposed to have it. Afterwards, I thought that perhaps if I found her again, I might find you. So I acquired an official education and made sure that this collection of artifacts came to your city. Your grandmother had told me where she lived. I hoped she had not moved.”

“Couldn't you just have used your, um, powers, to locate her? Or to come here?”

Daoud shook his head. “I am very old. I still have some of my powers, but they are weak.”

“So you gave me the amulet and waited.”

“I didn't know exactly when you would go, but I hoped it would be soon.”

“Why?”

“So I could apologize to you,” said Daoud. “I hoped I would still be in this country when you traveled through time. I felt that neither you nor I had any choice in the matter, and that distressed me. Unlike that other entity, I honor free will.”

“Why did he possess poor old Ka-Aper?” asked Jennifer.