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“Well, that... and the ghosts,” Jabari replied, his voice dropping lower.
“Jabari, don’t be an idiot,” Rosie chided, looking over at me. “Ignore him, he just likes to wind up the new recruits.”
“I am not winding her up. There are ghosts everywhere,” Jabari insisted.
“Oh really?” I asked. “Have you seen one?”
He dodged the question. “There are loads of stories from volunteers, visiting archaeologists, and even locals who talk about the ghosts. They speak of dark figures who walk the ruins at night and glowing eyes in the darkness. I mean, we’re standing in the middle of several hundred tombs, which we’re technically disturbing. It’s not a completely crazy idea that there might be some ancient Egyptian nobles who are pretty mad at what we’re doing,” he argued.
I grinned and shook my head. “From what I know of nobles, they’d be more likely to enjoy having the ongoing attention, even when they are dead. Besides, we’re not disturbing the bodies or anything, they are long gone.”
“These ones are, yes, but what about the bodies underneath?”
“Oh, don’t start that again,” Rosie complained, looking up from her clipboard. She looked over at me. “A few years back, some science types did a scan of the temple, and they found what looked like a network of tunnels underneath. Jabari has decided they are full of treasure and mummies.”
“And curses, don’t forget the curses. You can’t have mummies without curses,” Jabari added, grinning at me.
“If they think there’s so much down there, why doesn’t the project open them up?” I enquired, pausing my drawing.
“Because they don’t think they are tunnels,” Rosie answered, rolling her eyes at Jabari. “The scans showed empty spaces, that’s all, but they weren’t clear because they are so deep down, and the general consensus is that they are probably a natural formation caused by water erosion.”
“Water erosion?” I repeated, raising my eyebrows. “But we’re miles from the Nile here.”
“We are now,” she replied, “but back then it was closer. Plus the yearly flooding would have easily reached us here.”
“Sounds more plausible than ghosts,” I said to Jabari.
“Don’t believe me then, but I’ve seen them myself!”
Rosie laughed. “No you haven’t, you superstitious twit.”
“I have!” he protested. He turned to me, clearly not getting his desired response from Rosie. “It was the last season we were out here. I was out near the temple, picking up pottery shards, and I lost track of time. It got dark, and I had to find my way back to camp using the torch on my phone. I tripped over something and dropped the phone, and when I looked up, there were these eyes looking at me out of the darkness. Glowing eyes, like a cat’s in the dark.”
“You don’t think they might have just been, you know, a cat’s eyes?” I suggested, grinning at him.
He gave a loud stage sigh. “You’re as much fun as she is. I can’t believe you British. You come to a land full of myth and mystery and refuse to see anything supernatural.”
“Well, if I see something supernatural while I’m here, you’ll be the first to know,” I assured him.
We returned to our work, and I spent the rest of the afternoon sketching out the engravings on the tomb wall with Rosie and Jabari. We chatted off and on, taking occasional shade and water breaks. Although it wasn’t as hot as I knew the country could get, it was still pretty hot for someone who had spent the first few months of the year in England. By the time half past four rolled around, I was hot, dusty, and drained, and more than happy to set down my tools for the day.
Rosie showed me where the shower block was, and though the facilities were basic to say the least, I was extremely grateful for the cool water to wash off the dust and sweat. Rosie had offered to let me share her tent until I could pop into town over the weekend and buy myself one, and I emerged from it an hour later, feeling a lot more refreshed. The professor had been right. It was half past five and the sun had set, leaving only the colourful glow across the horizon that blended in with the deepening blue of the night sky. One or two stars had already appeared, and the crescent moon hung low in the sky.
“Tory,” I heard someone call, and I looked over to see Wesley sitting at one of the tables. Nearby, a couple of volunteers busied themselves at the stoves making dinner for everyone. Rosie had told me there was a rota I’d be added to in order to help with cooking and keeping the camp clean. I sincerely hoped my personality would get people to like me before they had the bad luck to taste my cooking. I crossed the campsite to sit down opposite him.
“Hey, Wes, nice to see you’re still here.”
“Well, yes, I thought I’d stick around a bit and see how your first day went. Are you enjoying it?”
“Very much,” I answered, pausing as one of the volunteers placed a basket of bread in front of us. They returned, bringing two plates heaped high with a mix of rice, brown lentils, and macaroni topped with fried onions and what looked like a kind of tomato-based sauce. “Wow, thank you, this looks amazing!” I smiled at the girl who’d brought it, who smiled back.
“It’s koshari. Watch the sauce, it’s quite spicy.”
I nodded and immediately helped myself to a glass of water from the jug on the table.
Wesley did the same, and I noticed as he tucked into the meal, he avoided the sauce as much as possible, taking big gulps of water whenever he encountered some.
“Not one for spicy food?” I grinned at him across the table. I was quite enjoying mine, but he seemed to have gone slightly red in the face.
