CHAPTER I

Silver Triplets

It was a busy morning at the new Richmond Castle by the sea, Lady Harriet Rosdnow was shouting at her teenage children to hurry up. Sir Willam Rosdnow shook his head as he sat in his favorite armchair in the library, sipping on his morning tea and reading his copy of The Seven Cleopatras.

The library was massive, being the only room in the castle to span the entire height of the building. Willam designed it himself to have a floor to ceiling glass window on the side where the sun rises to let in as much natural sunlight as possible. High rows of shelves were filled to the brim with books alongside the remaining walls.

Out of the window, one can see the castle’s courtyard, a fountain at its center that had four sphinxes on each corner with water spewing out from their mouths into the basin. A black Rolls Royce Phantom was parked near the fountain, facing the window, it was the first ever car of its model to be made and it was Willam's prized car.

Another vehicle was parked near the castle’s main door, it was an omnibus loaded with traveling trunks on top of it. A black and gold carpet was laid on the grey tarmac going from the entrance of the omnibus to the castle’s door. Two people dressed in black and white were busy loading the vehicle with the last of the bags.

Willam slammed the book shut just in time as his wife entered the room. Her blonde wavy hair was all over her face as if she had just fallen down the steps. Her dark green dress was ruined with white patches and stains, and one of her shoes were missing. Willam could see the fury in her eyes between her messy hair.

“Who was it this time?” he asked while trying not to laugh.

“All of them!” she shouted. “They know we-”.

She stopped herself, closed her eyes and started to take a few deep breaths. She opened her eyes again and then looked at her husband with a forced smile.

“I wish they can grow up already, Will. Do you remember what we were doing by the time we were their age?”

“It was a different time, my love. The world was not the same back then,” said Willam.

He stood up and hugged his wife for a few seconds. He then held her face in his hands and smiled back at her.

“I hope this trip opens their eyes to the world, they will see a life different than their own and an experience they never knew existed. Remember our first time together in Egypt?”

Harriet laughed and buried her face in her husband’s shoulder. She looked up at him and smirked. “Yes, I do. You expect me to forget where you got me pregnant with those little monkeys?”

“They got that monkey side from you I’m afraid” said Willam.

Harriet gasped and playfully punched her husband on the shoulders.

 “Now go wash up and change, I will go give the kids a talking to. Also, the pilot called a while ago and informed me that the aircraft is almost ready.”

She nodded, then kissed him on the lips and hurried out of the library.

Willam took the book from the table and stretched his body. He put it back on the shelf next to his armchair and made his way outside to the hallway where he was met with his three nonidentical teen triplets, two girls and a boy.

“You know you will all get punished for what you did to you mother,” he said calmly.

“We are sorry father, Isaac forced us to do it,” explained the two girls nervously, “he said that he will put cow poo in our pillows if we don’t do as he says. He told V to put the cream inside the bucket and told me-”

“You’re a swine Kira!” Isaac shouted.

Willam pulled Isaac firmly by his arms and pulled back his hair.

“You will apologize to Kira, and you will apologize to your mother,” he said in a slow and passive tone. “Right now.”

“But father-”

Willam stared into his son’s eye as he started to tighten his grip on his hair.

“I’m sorry, Kira.”

Willam opened his hands and release his son’s hair.

“Go upstairs to your mother, now.”

Isaac turned around and stormed up the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

“Vivian, Kira,” said Willam, looking at both his daughters and lowering himself to match their eye level. “Are you girls alright?”

“Yes, father,” said Kira. “Isaac is just being a prick.”

He put his hands on both their shoulders. He felt sad that Isaac was a bully to his own sisters, not only was he a bully at school, but at home too. Their social status gave Isaac the impression that he was above everyone, and people made him believe that he could escape trouble because of his status.

“I will make sure he doesn’t bother you again.”

 “He thinks he can get away with anything just because he is a boy.”

“Ignore him Kiki,” said Vivian. “Us girls are more mature at our age anyway.”

“We are getting taller too!”

The girls laughed together and hugged their father. Willam patted their heads and smiled at them. Both Kira and Vivian looked almost identical, even though their personalities were not. They were quite different from one another, Kira loved wearing bright colored clothes, she was more cheerful and playful and was usually the more excited of the siblings for picnics and adventures. Vivian was more into darker clothes and was gloomier than her sister. She preferred to cherish her time alone and read lots of books in the silence of her room.  Both girls had silver blonde hair and piercing grey eyes.

Vivian was slightly taller than her sister, and she had a thinner nose, which was a way to tell them apart. They were both stunningly beautiful, and they knew it. They were chased by boys and even girls during secondary school, and everyone wanted to be their friends. However, the girls were careful on who they made friends with, as Isaac wouldn’t take their relationships with people lightly, he would bully their friends and didn’t allow boys near them.

Isaac was taller than his sisters, and like them, he also had silver blonde hair and grey eyes. He was well built for his young age. He liked to torment other students while hiding behind his family name and status. Even teachers would not want to get into arguments with him, as they preferred to have a good relationship with the Lord of Richmond in case they needed his help or support one day.

“Come on everyone, we have to get going” shouted Willam towards the stairs.

He left through the main door towards the omnibus, greeted the servants and thanked them for their help. He made sure to tell them to keep the garden watered and the grass trimmed.

“You are such a disrespectful boy,” Harriet shouted from behind him.

He turned around to see her twisting Isaac’s ear as he grinned. His face immediately became blank when his eyes met his father’s.

“I am very sorry, mother,” said Isaac with a shaken voice. “I didn’t mean to ruin your dress, I thought I could just play a little prank and we can all laugh”

“Well, your apology is not accepted!”

“Mother, I promise I will not ruin any more of your dresses again,” said Isaac.

“I will see about how you behave on the trip, then maybe I will forgive you” she said. She looked around her and made sure everyone was outside. “Is everyone ready?”

They were, and all of them got into the omnibus. The children first, followed by their mother and father. The vehicle was quite spacious and was way more comfortable than a horse carriage.

It was a sunny, hot day so having a ceiling was a blessing in this weather. The road trip was rather pleasant, the sky was clear, and the Sun’s angle shone scenically on the landscape as it passed them by.

Motorized omnibuses were not as common as horse carriages, thus it attracted attention and many onlookers. Willam glanced at Isaac to see him smiling to himself in pride, he knew that things like this made him feel superior. Willam tried multiple times to teach and discipline his son, but society had proven to be much more powerful. Everyone who knew Isaac treated him as a young Lord and gave him too much unearned respect, which gave him the illusion of power and supremacy.

The road trip took almost two hours from Richmond to Croydon, where the airstrip was located. The Rosdnows, especially Lady Rosdnow was a frequent traveler, and she had been given VIP access for the entire family when they bought their first aircraft three months ago. The aircraft was a heavily modified Vickers Victoria, it was refitted specifically to fly over long distances while carrying people and their cargo.

Willam was not a fan of flying, he thought it was still too dangerous as many aircrafts had been reported to fail and crash over the years. He preferred the old method of traveling by sea, as there was less risk involved and more experienced captains to man the ships. But this new aircraft added custom emergency measures and safety features which made him feel safer than usual.

The journey they were about to embark on involved two-stops for refueling, the aircraft would land in France, and then in Italy, before it finally arrives in a British airfield near Luxor. The journey itself would be about fifteen hours including the time spent in all the stops.

It was the first time for the kids to travel, and Harriet was stressing out the fact that they needed to sleep through most of the flight.

This was easier said than done, as it was a very noisy flight. Unlike Harriet, who slept instantly, Willam had trouble sleeping from the loud sounds of the engine. He could tell that his son and daughters were not comfortable as well. Willam spent most of the flight between trying to sleep and trying to stop Isaac from making the trip any more difficult than it needed to be.

He kept annoying his sisters and made fun of Kira for falling out of her seat during turbulence. At one point, Isaac went to the pilot and started talking with him and calling him a glorified coachman. Willam was forced to use his hands and hit his son hard on the shoulders, while his mother gave him a stern talking to about respect to those who help and aid their family in their endeavors.

After the plane finally reached its final destination, the family was met by a cheerful gentleman that was rather short and chubby. He was wearing a desert tan shirt and shorts, and a hat with white cloth hanging from the back.

He greeted Harriet and her family and snapped his fingers to some people to transport the luggage from the aircraft into a horse carriage. Willam was the happiest of all that the flight was finally over, and he was the first to get on the passenger carriage and sat next to the coachman.

Although it was very hot, he enjoyed the breath of foreign lands. He looked upon his family as they made their way onto the back sofa. When everyone was in their place, they started moving.

“How are you feeling Will?” asked Harriet as she put her hands on her husband’s shoulders from behind him. “I know you do not like flying, but this was the fastest way to get here.”

“It was fine,” he replied. “My ears need to adjust to the peaceful quiet after that loud engine.”

She held her husband’s hands and looked up at the sky. “Isn’t it amazing? The Sun.”

“Yes, we will have plenty of it here. Enjoy kids!”

He could hear his children looking around in amazement and pointing at stuff they are seeing for the first time; they were too focused and excited to hear him, so he turned back to his wife.

“Are you sure this is the right place, my dear?”

“Yes, absolutely certain of it!” she said. “Thanks to Mr. Mornson.”

“We definitely are certain,” said Mr. Mornson with a wide smile on his face. “I even made sure by excavating a little bit in the area mentioned in Dr. Davinson’s diary and found what looked like a tomb entrance. I promised Lady Rosdnow not to proceed until she was here to witness it.”

“Thank you, George,” she said. “We shall start early in the day tomorrow.”

“As you wish, my Lady,” he replied with a head bow. “I will get my men ready by tonight so we can start at sun rise.”

“Don’t start without us,” she said with a laughing tone while looking at her husband.

The carriage crossed a bridge above the River Nile. Luxor had such a charm in it. Willam was always fascinated by this Egyptian city more than any other. He loved the calm nature, the nice smell of the air, the vegetation, and the farms. The Nile also looked cleaner and more beautiful here than in Cairo. He was looking forward to tomorrow’s expedition, it meant a great deal to his wife and thus meant a greater deal to him.

 He knew that they will be staying at a camp near the excavation site, he had to record everything in his exploration journal for his university lectures. His wife held his hand during the ride and tightened her grip the closer they got to the tomb site.

The camp was smaller than Willam had expected, he could see two large tents and two big tents and a smaller one. He was informed by Mr. Mornson during the ride that one of the large tents held all the expedition equipment and the planning table, while the other one is where all his men rest. One of the big tents was for Mr. Mornson, while the other was for himself and his wife. The smaller tent was big enough for the young triplets to sleep in comfortably.

He immediately recognized that Isaac did not like that idea at all, but he had no choice in the matter anyway. He wanted to make this trip memorable for his son, hoping that he learns that not everything is handed to him on a golden plate, and that not everyone is out to serve him on his every needs.

The family reached the site, it was filled with people in white robes and head dresses. A man came up to them, he was wearing a long brow, translucent veil that covered him from head to toe.

“Salamo Alaikom,” the man said in Arabic.

“Alaikom Salam,” replied Willam and Harriet together.

They started talking about the site in Arabic. The Rosdnows were well versed in Arabic and spoke it fluently. Harriet made sure to teach her kids Arabic at home, where she brought an Egyptian lady, whose sole job was to teach the Rosdnows Arabic and especially the Egyptian dialect.

A dozen men were hard at work, busy digging and removing sand from what looked like a large stone emerging from the ground.

The family had dinner later that day with Mr. Mornson, it was a traditional Egyptian dish called Koshari, which Willam called ‘The Ultimate Killer’. It was made from a pasta base, topped with rice, topped with lentils, topped with fried onions, and finally topped with very spicy tomato sauce. The meal, he thought, was so heavy that it was originally intended to kill the person eating it.

However, such dinner was necessary for a deep sleep. That sleep was needed for the very long day ahead of them, the day that his wife will finally have completed one of her life's goals, by finding her father’s lost tomb.

       CHAPTER II

Buried History

Isaac opened his eyes slowly, the meal he had earlier made him sleep like a log. He sat up and looked around, his sisters were not in the tent. There was a note by his bedside, written by his mother.

Isaac,    

     We tried waking you up earlier, but you were so tired and went back to sleep again, so we let you rest. Your father and I, along with your sisters, are going to attend the opening of the tomb. I left you an egg sandwich on top of your bag for breakfast. Please come as soon as you finish it, I am sure this will be a big discovery for our family.

Your Mother

An egg sandwich, something normal to eat at last. He stood up and stretched his body, then went down on the floor for quick morning push-ups. He then grabbed his sandwich and his hat and left the tent.

He could see many men around a large entrance of some sort, it looked more of a temple’s entrance than a tomb. The closer he got, the more he realized that what had being excavated was more of a building buried below the desert sand, this was not a tomb as previously anticipated by his mother.

He unwrapped the sandwich and started eating it as he walked. The eggs tasted so good with this local bread. It looked like pita bread, and he knew it was freshly baked from the fluffiness.

Outside the entrance, there was a carriage with a large white cloth on top of it, covering the contents. Someone shouted in Arabic for Isaac not to touch it. Ignoring the warning, he decided that he had to see for himself, so he unveiled a corner of the carriage.

He immediately turned away in disgust, the sandwich fell from his hands onto the sandy floor.

He tried holding it in, but he couldn’t help it as the fresh bites of egg sandwich made its way up his throat and he threw up all over the floor. He could hear the men laughing at him as he puked.

One of them ran towards Isaac and told him that he was warned, he then patted his shoulders. Isaac pushed off his hands angrily and walked away.

He looked up again at the carriage to confirm that what he saw was a pile of human corpses. Flesh still attached to their bones, slowly rotting, and emitting a stomach clenching stench. Eyeless skulls were staring him right into his soul, with traces of hair still on the head and the chin.

He tried to hold himself together to seem tough in front of those who were laughing at him. He shouted an insult at them in their dialect, but they just laughed even more.

He already hated it here, he did not want to be a part of this trip to begin with, he wanted to learn the drums and start a band with his school gang during the summer holidays, instead of wasting it here.

He did not like anything about this country, it was all sand, no greenery, harsh rock formations, everyone looked and dressed funny, and there were no motor vehicles or anything that reminded him of home. He knew that this was only a two-week long trip and he just had to endure it before going off to do his own thing, away from his family.

With clenching fists, Isaac stormed into the entrance of the alleged tomb.

The tunnel was long and would have been pitch black if it had not been lit by the sun and some torches placed inside by the workers. The walls were filled with multiple ancient illustrations and drawings. The tunnel reeked of that same smell of rotting flesh mixed with centuries of layered dust. He could not see the end of the tunnel, and it seemed to go on forever.

From a distance, he could hear voices and the sounds of steps and paper being flipped. It seemed as if the walls and ceiling were getting narrower and shorter the deeper he walked.

After some time, the voices became more recognizable. It was his mother talking to a man which he assumed was Mr. Mornson.

 Finally, he made his way to the end of the narrow passage which opened into a surprisingly large room with a remarkably high ceiling that was supported by large, decorated columns on the edges. The sudden transition from a narrow tunnel to a high ceiling room took him by surprise.

     “Ah!” his mother said in a surprised tone. “Our lazy bear is up at last.”

He despised being called that, it annoyed him greatly that people had labeled those who consider themselves night owls to be lazy and a waste of space. He couldn’t help himself to do anything productive in the early mornings, he felt that he did his best both physically and mentally towards the end of the day.

“Good morning, mother. Good morning, father.”

“We wanted you to share this great moment with us, Isaac” his mum said. “We found the lost tomb, but it was no tomb after all. This here is a small temple that was buried under the desert for thousands of years.”

“How are you sure that this is the place Gran was at?” he asked. “Is- is he one of those that are piled outside?”

He watched as his mother’s face slowly turned bland. He instantly regretted asking this question, especially in front of his father. He didn’t want to get into any more trouble with him, as his moral lessons were already getting on his nerves.

“We think so, my sweet boy” she said as she put her hands on his face. “The bodies are very decomposed, and according to his diary, it said that thirteen people would enter the tomb and we did indeed find thirteen bodies.”

“I- I am sorry.”

She hugged him tightly and he could feel her body shaking a little. She let go quickly and walked towards Mr. Mornson. His father walked to the corner of the room, explaining something to his daughters about the writing on the walls.

Vivian was very gifted with understanding Hieroglyphs, and she was the only one between her siblings to be interested in pursuing a career in Egyptology like her parents. This reason made Isaac believe that she was the favorite child in the family. That didn’t bother him much however, as he knew for a fact that he was the only son of the Rosdnows and that he alone was going to carry that family name forward. They were also turning 14 tomorrow and he will finally be a man, he thought.

“Dr. Rosdnow,” said Mr. Mornson. “I hope you can make something of the writings on the walls and pillars?”

“These are strange markings, very strange indeed. I can’t quite make anything of it other than some vague conclusions,” Willam said as he looked more closely at the inscriptions. “In all my years as a professor in this field, this is the first time I come across something so ambiguous.”

He placed his middle finger on one of the walls. While moving his finger across the ancient texts, he translated “Here is no place for something, only the something can pass.” It was clear from his way of translation that he either wasn’t sure of what he was saying, or that he didn’t understand the meaning behind them. He continued to translate.

“Sons and Daughters of Heka, with the power of something, the something begins your path of ascension.”

“Heka? Isn’t that the Egyptian God of magic?” asked Vivian from across the room.

“Yes dear, it is extremely rare to find him inscribed on walls of any temples.” He looked to his wife. “I believe this is why your father was very interested in this temple, this is a unique find indeed.”

“Unique?” asked Vivian. “Heka was found before in a temple in the city of Esna.”

“True,” Willam said with a smile. “But an entire temple dedicated to him is a unique find. Heka is very overlooked by most Egyptologists as they are mostly interested in other Gods like Anubis and Osiris.”

“But that’s because these Gods are cool.”

“They are, but I would argue that Heka is one of the most important Gods in all Ancient Egyptian history.”

“If he was, then we would see more of him and -”

“We should honor my father,” Harriet said suddenly. “We should donate the money we will get from this discovery to his name and contributions to Egyptian History.”

She started to sob, and tears began to form in the corner of her eyes. Isaac saw his father take her into his arms and kiss her forehead. One of the few things he took to admire about his parents, is their long-lasting love for one another.

 He overheard Vivian talking to Kira.

“I don’t understand what this means, it says that the three hands of something will always find something in something.”

“Something in something what?” asked Kira.

“I am not sure…”

“It shows a body with three faces and three arms.”

“I don’t remember seeing this symbol before, I wonder what it means.”

Isaac walked around alone for a while, he didn’t feel like being around anyone and he wanted to be back home with his friends. Some of the workers entered the temple through the tunnel and called everyone out for dinner.

Mr. Mornson smiled and rubbed his belly.

“It’s time for lunch, roasted camel today,” he said as his bushy mustache widened with his grin.

Everyone made their way out of the temple except the two sisters. Isaac decided to follow his parents outside, the temple was full of dust and the air still smelled like rotten flesh.

After another long walk through the tunnel, Isaac saw all the workers sitting inside the big tent, eating meat and rice with their bare hands.

Disgusting, he thought.

A large man, wearing thick black gloves, was standing over a lit fire under a small camel attached to a wooden pole. The man was rotating the camel with one hand and eating some of the meat with the other. Half of the camel wads already gone, eaten by the workers.

It was a very alien thought for Isaac to eat camel meat. His parents didn’t seem phased by this at all, and neither were his sisters who had just emerged from the tunnel behind him.

“Camel meat! Yum, I always wanted to try it,” said Kira as she ran towards her mother and sat next to her quickly.

“I don’t think it will be any different from cow meat,” said Vivian.

“I think it’s ghastly,” Isaac commented. “Camels are the horses of the desert; would you eat a horse?”

“Fine, Izz,” said Kira, “Stay hungry.”

Isaac decided to help himself to some rice without any of the meat. As if it wasn’t enough that he hated the place, being hungry as well seemed rather humorous at this point. Surprisingly, the rice was incredibly tasty, way better than the bland rice he was used to having back home.

He looked towards his parents as they were talking to Mr. Mornson about going to the city to meet with a local professor and a camera crew to film and attend the opening of the temple. They asked if the kids wanted to go with them, but the sisters refused and so did Isaac. He thought it was going to be a boring trip anyway, and he’d rather stay and give his sisters a hard time for fun.

The adults said their goodbyes and left on the same horse carriages used previously. Some of the men had already left on foot, while the remaining were packing their things.

Isaac wondered if those who left actually lived in random tents in the desert with their families, what a harsh life that would be for them.

He looked around for his sisters when he caught a glimpse of Vivian just as she entered the tunnel.

He knew she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and as he could not see his other sister around the camp, he was sure that she went inside too. He planned to scare them off by making noises and talking in a deep voice. He quickly finished his last spoonful of rice and made his way towards the tunnel.

As he walked deeper, he could hear the distance laughing and loud talking of the men outside slowly fade away. The Egyptians were very loud people, he thought, especially when they were in large groups. He could see that the people here had a bond with one another in a way that he had never seen before.

The tunnel seemed darker than it was previously, although still lit with torches, but the Sun was no longer reflecting its rays along its depth. He slowed down as he heard both of his sisters talking inside.

“Are you sure you never noticed this before, V?”

“I am telling you, I pressed on this by mistake and this tile flipped around.”

“These are all right-hands, can you read what it says?”

“I can, but it doesn’t make sense. It says here is where a something being opened by something.”

“Isaac is behind us, V.” said Kira quickly as she noticed his shadow slowly creep up onto the wall.

“What do you want?” asked Vivian. “Your lame pranks won’t work here.”

“You are here without permission, if father hears about this-”

“If father hears about this,” said Vivian, mimicking his voice.

“He won’t be happy to know you came here without his approval.”

“We aren’t doing anything wrong.”

“Come here you two,” demanded Kira, cutting them off. “I want to see if maybe we all put our right hands here, other tiles may also turn around. Maybe even a secret door.”

Isaac stomped through, pushing both his sisters out with his shoulders. The sisters looked at each other, and Kira signaled Vivian to ignore him.

Isaac put a hand on his hip, pretending to be interested. The tile she was talking about was paler in color when compared with all the other tiles in the temple. It looked as if someone recently put it there instead of it being buried for thousands of years.

On the tile, there was an engraving of an inverted triangle that was divided into three parts, each part had another engraving of a right-hand. Around the edges of the tile was the hieroglyphic writing which Vivian was reading from previously.

“I’m not doing anything,” Isaac said. He turned around to face his sisters. “Haven’t you heard of the people who were cursed from meddling with things in that Pharaoh’s tomb?”

“You aren’t serious,” Kira said. “You don’t really believe in this hogwash, do you?”

“There must be a reason for these three right hands,” Vivian said.

She looked at her brother.

“Come on, be fun for once.”

“Izz is scared of being cursed,” said Kira, she pulled her tongue out.

“Fine!” Isaac exclaimed. “Here.”

With an annoying grin on his face, Isaac put his hand on the bottom section of the tile. Kira to his right, and Vivian to his left, they both put their right hands onto the other two sections of the tile.

In an instant, the temple became void of life.