Malika.10:12 am.
Farah woke up with a headache, she got up to take a shower and found Malika sitting in the balcony. "Good morning." Malika didn"t reply; she was holding the necklace and gazing at the Nile. "I had the weirdest dream…I was in Greece…in a breathtaking restaurant and I had a killer moussaka dish…" she said, yawing hard between each sentence. "I was drawing some city…I don"t think it exists, but it seems very familiar… Did you sleep well?" she yawned once again. "Malika?"
Malika looked at Farah in surprise. "Did you sleep well?"— Malika shook her head no and looked away— "are you sick?" Farah asked.
"No…I"m fine." Malika"s phone ranged it was her Egyptologist friend Rayan; Farah left her to answer and went to the bathroom murmuring a melody that was stuck in her head from the moment she woke up. "Good morning."
"Good morning, I got two hours before heading to work; we either meet now or in the evening."
"Now is much better, I will wait for you downstairs, where are you?"
"I"m near the hotel." they ended the call and then Malika told Farah she was heading downstairs to meet her friend.
Ten minutes later.
"These are the papyrus I told you about." Malika gave it to him waiting for his response. He took a deep look at them without blinking.
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"I never saw any writing like this before," he said.
"Does it mean it"s not real?"
"I guess they are, the texture is very close to the ones we found in tombs, but they are brand new. And… the writings; look at this one"— he pointed at some lines of hieroglyphs— "those letters only used in the book of the dead, it could be a spell."
"A spell?" Malika rested her back and looked confused.
"Where did you get them?" he asked suspiciously.
"Someone sends them to me." Malika was about to say something else but stopped.
"It seems like there is more into it," he said, frowning. Malika sensed that Rayan wouldn"t entirely believe her.
"Something weird is happening," Malika said, looking directly into his eyes.
"What do you mean?" he eyed her confused face. Malika showed the necklace to him; he kept looking at the papyrus and the necklace while Malika told him what happened to her since she got the box. "It doesn"t make sense, but that papyrus is somehow supporting your story."
"How?!"
"I can"t translate everything, but I think it a spell to change reality but also this writing is confusing; look," he said and pointed at something for her to see. "If my translation is right, it talks about a forbidden act that controls destiny and protection over someone or something," he said and looked at Malika. "I don"t know what any of this has to do with you or your friends but the word "wake up" is mentioned here multiple times maybe it means something," he sighed then continued. "Be careful; I truly don"t know from what exactly but be careful."
Malika looked at him then closed her eyes breathing heavily. "Do you want coffee, you look desperately in need," he said, smiling fondly at her. She smiled back and nodded even though she was freaked out, she couldn"t help but welcome his tries to lighten up the conversation. Rayan was a charming man with a bunny smile that gave him an innocent look despite the full beard and his overall manly personality and appearance.
After ten minutes.
Rayan got back and put a cup of hot coffee on the table between them. He was holding his cup and took a sip as he sat on the chair across from her. Malika held her head; she became more muddled than before. "Rayan, I feel something terrible is about to happen," she said, shaking her legs. "It"s not just me, Farah also had weird dreams, I feel that I"m not myself! Like I"m stuck."
He took another sip and said, "I don"t know of any of this actually make sense, but it does somehow." Malika sighed and grabbed her cup to drink. The coffee was surprisingly delicious and had a foreign taste. Malika swigged a mouthful of coffee with relish. Rayan was watching her with an unreadable smirk on his face.
"I don"t know what to do, should I believe what"s written on these papyruses?" she said, pointing at the papyruses on the table.
Rayan looked at her and sighed. "To be honest, I think it"s real, I want to help you but there are no actual resources confirming how deeply they used their magic, we know that the book of the dead existed at some point in their history but no one ever found it so it might be true."
"But…if it"s true and it did happen then why me? What should I do with those?" she said, pointing at the necklace then at the papyruses.
"I know someone who can help," a waiter suddenly said and stood in front of them. Rayan and Malika looked at each other and then at the waiter who looked in his mid-thirties. "I"m truly sorry to eavesdrop but I know a man who can help you." Malika eyed him; he was a normal-looking man, yet he had a weird tattoo covering parts of his forearm. She looked at his face again then at Rayan who didn"t look alerted or annoyed.
"Really? Who?" Rayan said. Malika looked at him then at the waiter.
"A man, people call him "Hakim" no one knows his real name, but he is a historical genius and his wisdom shocks everyone, he works with the government especially with difficult discoveries, He might know something more," the waiter said and wrote his address on a piece of papers he had with him. "I apologize again," he said and left them.
Malika took the paper and said, "That was awkward."
"People here are very helpful, are you going to see Hakim?" Rayan said and continued his coffee.
"You properly gonna call me crazy but I think I should meet that man."
Rayan smirked back and said. "I think you should too." she held the paper tightly, feeling that Hakim is the key answer for everything.