Page 56 of Ancient Obsession

“Amenmose may have been writing about his love for this Mery⁠—”

“Dear Diary,” Cody said. “The sand is in my crack again, but Mery said the funniest thing at lunch…”

Demetrius snorted a laugh.

Dave continued, ignoring him. “If the mummy has awakened, he may be trying to find this Mery. And each person he tracks down who isn’t him, makes him angry.”

“How’s it tracking them down?” Demetrius asked.

Oliver made a face. “It might have something to do with fungal spores that got on all of us.”

“Gross,” Cody muttered, then held his hands up as Dave shot him a glare.

Dave turned to Oliver. “But you were the only one who touched it?”

Cody made a sound like a record scratch. “What the actual fuck?”

“Oh my God.” Oliver put his face in his hands.

Cody let out a yelp and gave Demetrius a wounded look. “Why’d you pinch me?”

“Take a guess,” Demetrius said, then reached across the table to touch Oliver’s forearm. “Hey, come on. Let’s keep talking about this.”

Margie came out of the kitchen and delivered their food. She didn’t linger, as a party of six entered the diner.

Dave ran a hand up and down Oliver’s thigh and leaned in. “I’m sorry. I thought they should know everything.”

“No, you’re right.” Oliver glanced at Cody. “Just trying to avoid triggering the beast.”

“Wait, am I the beast?” Cody grinned. “Gotta say, I don’t mind it.”

The conversation was paused as they all took some bites of their meals. Demetrius was the first one to break the silence.

“To your knowledge, were you the only one who touched the mummy?”

“Not sure. I mean, that night when we opened the coffin, yeah, I think I was the only one who actually touched it. But if someone stole it, they would have touched it as well, although they would have most likely worn gloves.”

“If someone stole it,” Demetrius repeated. “Do you think that’s a possibility?”

Oliver made a face. “No, I don’t.”

Demetrius leafed through Samira’s notebook some more. “She copied a lot of the symbols from the scroll into her notebook, but she didn’t get a chance to translate them.”

“Yeah, I saw that,” Oliver said.

Demetrius grinned. “We know someone who might be able to decipher some more of this.”

“Oh no.” Cody scrubbed his hands over his face. “Please don’t say her name.”

“You’re talking about Clarabell,” Dave said.

“Yeah, of course,” Oliver said. “Do you think she’d take a look?”

Demetrius chuckled. “Are you kidding? You know Clarabell. She lives for stuff like this.”

“Maybe I should make copies of the pages or something?” Oliver reached for the notebook, but pulled his hand back. “I don’t know. I mean, if Samira turns up, she’ll want it back.”

“Clarabell has a scanner,” Demetrius said. “I can have this back to you tomorrow, would that work?”