**Ch 14: Blue Gold Eyes

Well, that was the end of the book. An interesting read, I thought.

Buzz! Tom texts us, saying we're rolling out to leave. Before going, I took my engagement ring off and put it in a safe place from inside my handbag.

~~~

The last week of March arrived, and I just now found that blue-gold beetle with a papyrus we've been searching for.

"If you're reading this, my love, now you only need to find my chamber beneath your feet. Find the blue-gold eyes, and there you will find where I rest." I read out loud to Tom, who is beaming in delight.

"That is great!" He chimed super excited, and loud for that matter.

"Let's search the room since the clue said beneath your feet. The entrance to the hidden chamber must be somewhere in here," I suggested.

"Sounds like a splendid idea!" Tom exclaimed in this weird chipper mood.

Throughout the whole week, Tom has been strangely nice. Perhaps, he is feeling guilty for taking my credit and backstabbing me after all these months since we are nearing the end of our mission. Whatever the motive might be, I appreciate the fact he was treating me better.

Together we felt around the enclosure that was still intact within the palace. Above us, part of the ceiling had holes in it. Most of the walls are still solid on the golden brick foundation. Click!

Suddenly, this large portion of the stone brick wall that is covered in hieroglyphics slid down and revealed the stairway to another chamber.

"You found it!" Tom praised me from behind. "Well done, Victoria!"

"We did it, Tom!" I cheered, hoping the feud between us would come to an end. After stealing my findings and acting like a big shot, I wanted to get past it. Together, he and I flickered our flashlights down the narrow old stone wall stairwell.

"Watch your step," Tom warned as he walked in first while I pursued in from two steps behind him. After twenty steps down, the stairwell led us into a massive square-shaped chamber. Hieroglyphics covered each old wall, and broken pottery was everywhere. Toward our left, there were tombs and unwrapped remains of these mummified corpses scattered all over the floor.

"Grave robbers must have been here long before." Tom sighed in greater disappointment when he shone his flashlight around the destruction the grave robbers left.

He noticed this was a Royal family, and a tomb that would belong to a Pharaoh was stripped of his riches. Now his sarcophagus lays empty from his mummified corpse that once laid to rest inside it.

"There is nothing else in this room. The Pharaoh must be one of these three mangled-up corpses scattered on the floor." Tom grumbles, flustered about what to do.

Before I could comment, it was happening again. My mind drifts between the gaps of time. The chamber brightened with light shining into it from the staircase. The remains of the demolished mummies reset neatly inside their resting place. Each pottery repaired to its newer condition. All the sandy dust and dirt withered away. The cobwebs in the corners perished before my eyes. Like a magic trick, the room was restored to its original beauty.

A coldness crept up my skin to feel the Pharaoh walking straight through me. That was when I saw the mirror memory of the Pharaoh in his prime. I couldn't see his face because his back faced me. Being mentally stuck in the time-gap between present and past, I couldn't move fast enough against the heavy gravitational pull within the space of time.

Nonetheless, I watch his hand go on the wall, where he pushes the two blue-golden eyes of the anubis on it. A hidden door opens up, splitting the bricks apart. The door-shaped section of the wall moved vertically to my left before the Pharaoh walked in and never came out. With him inside, the door was sealed shut.

Afterward, my mind started to return. Sunlight dims, and the walls peel from their restored color. The corpses in the room get recklessly demolished and dismantled throughout the floor. Sand and dirt cover back onto the golden brick flooring. Then the spiders reconstruct their webs.

"Victoria, are you not listening to me?" Tom shouts angrily.

"I'm sorry, I zoned out," I lied, going toward the wall to spot those blue-gold eyes on that faded anubis.

"Quit playing around!" Tom snipped. "The team is coming down with supplies. Help me uncover the remains of these corpses. Will have to analyze them, and figure out which one is the Pharaoh."

I smiled, staring at the faded blue-gold eyes. "I don't believe that will be necessary," I told him, pushing on the two eyes.

Before Tom could even ask what I was talking about, the wall cracked. Just as I saw it happen in my time-gap vision, the wall opened. I shine my flashlight into another hidden chamber. Behold once, I did, I saw the Pharaoh, laying on what may have been a bed. The ancient bed was all but decayed. Now he lies on a flat stone base. His skin was mummified brown. He was shirtless, but he still wore what was once a white linen kilt. He looked as if he had stripped himself from the jewelry he wore.

Nothing about this made sense. According to my vision, he walked in here and never came out. I shined my light on his face to get a better look at him. His discolored ideal lips were partly opened. He has a narrow nose, oval eyes, upper cheekbones, and a defined jaw. His facial appearance appeared to be square-diamond shaped.

In his utmost supreme reign, this man would've been a killer on the eyes. His vast body now looked thin from decay but no doubt he had a breathtaking figure when I saw him alive within my time-gap.

Minutes later, our team, along with many others met us here. Everyone was applauding, and thrilled to have discovered we found the main prize. This is why we have all taken the job of finding this mysterious Pharaoh. Cautious as ever, we placed his fragile body on the lifting bed. Then he was hauled up to be analyzed for further studies. Everybody was patting Tom and me on the back for finding him. And once more, it felt nice to notice he didn't claim it was his discovery.

However, he still didn't admit I was the one who figured out where the Pharaoh's body was hidden. As everyone left, I peered into the chamber and shone my flashlight everywhere. Something tugged my conscience that there was more than meets the eye. There was something out of place about this Pharaoh. Yet I couldn't figure it out.

"Are you coming, Victoria?" Donny asked me, standing outside the first hidden chamber.

"Yes, I'm coming," I answered and followed him up.

Everyone had already left, so Donny and I followed. Just when we made it to the tent area near the front. We heard these cheerfully loud thunderous uproars.

"You did it again, Tom!"

"I can't believe you found the Pharaoh!"

A lot of whistling and clapping filled the ancient city. Right when I thought Tom was done being a swine toward me. The jerk took full credit like he had since I've been here.

Donny touches my shoulder and tells me. "You are a strong young woman. Stronger to be putting up with this. Remember, the prideful always fall."

I pat Donny's hand, resting on my shoulder. "Thank you, Donny." I faintly smiled, grateful to have had his support and friendship since day one.