Hey everybody! I know I said that the first one would likely be a one-off, but honestly, I can't stop thinking about ways to develop it and so many people have asked for another so I couldn't resist!! Here's the first part of the second chapter - it's turning out to be a hell of a long one. No sexy times in this particular part, but Part two will be coming in a few weeks so don't worry :)
Also, I'm a stickler for historical correctness so please, please ignore anything that just doesn't add up!
*****
The journey home from Egypt was arduous for Anabeth. She felt as though she were surrounded by shadows and couldn't speak to anyone about it.
The boat journey home was miraculously calm - on the way there the sea had been wild and terrifying, leaving Beth feeling sickly and weak. However, God must have been smiling upon them, for their return took only one week, despite having to sail around Europe, rather than take a train across. Beth's father, Edward, didn't trust trains in non-English speaking countries. He had told Beth that they were filthy and full of evil.
They had spent only two days in Cairo - a place which Anabeth now adored - so that Edward could speak to several of the British ambassadors there, before moving to Alexandria and then returning home. It was the Egyptian's right to house the findings of Sekhemkhet's tomb first, as the artefacts were found in their country, however Edward had been assured by the Colonials that the British Museum in London would be handed the pieces for an exhibition after one year.
Beth found it difficult not to marvel at the fact that she was walking in the same city that Pharaohs once had. The lives that must have been lived on the very soil that she stood on were a wonder to her.
Now, when Anabeth was standing at the railings, looking down on London from the Thames while the ship docked, she could hardly reconcile that the beautiful cities of Alexandria and Cairo and the smog riddled streets of London were on the same planet. She could scarcely make out the people waiting at the bottom - there were so many, and they were packed together so tightly. She was sure, however, that Robert would be among them, most likely holding a large bouquet of flowers. Beth briefly wondered if she could pretend to faint and get carried off the boat without having to speak to him.
There were going to be reporters from the newspapers, hoping to be the first to speak to the great Edward Brightbury, explorer, curator, and archaeological genius. Beth tried not to be bitter about it. Sekhemkhet's tomb was technically her find.
Edward and Charles were the first off the boat with Anabeth following meekly behind. The reporters would not be interested in what she had to say. She was well dressed, but not fashionable enough for news. She was intelligent, but she was not a man. She was opinionated, but not a Suffragist. For all intents and purposes, Anabeth was invisible to most of the world.
"Darling!" Robert stepped around the men with cameras.
At thirty-two years old, Robert was a short man, though very handsome, and his bouquet dwarfed him, making it difficult to spot him behind others. He was a barrister, earning a high wage and a pristine spot in the upper-middle class, making him a great partner for Anabeth. She was unsure, however, how a man so intent upon marrying the first pretty girl he saw was still single at thirty-two.
"That's really not necessary," Anabeth whispered to Robert when he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. To say that she was even slightly interested in the man would have been a gross overstatement.
"Nonsense!" He bellowed, attracting attention to them. One of the reporters seemed very interested in this exchange and asked her father about it.
"Ah, yes, this is my daughter, Anabeth. She accompanied us to Egypt. She has an interest in history and likes to watch us work." Beth had to grit her teeth to stop herself from mentioning that she did plenty of the work herself. Her father would have been furious.
"And the gentleman beside her?"
"Robert Wishaw, barrister at the High Courts, and future son-in-law to this wonderful gentleman," Robert introduced himself, gesturing to Edward who jovially laughed along with him.
Not if I have any say in it
, Anabeth thought, horrified that Robert would take such a liberty without her consent.
Without her father or brother, Anabeth carried on to the carriage that was waiting, not yet loaded with the luggage.
It took just under an hour for her father and brother to join her and the carriage to actually start the journey back to their home in Upper Brook Street, between Grosvenor square and Hyde park. A fashionable place to live, with easy access to areas for taking a walk, and so close to the museum for her father that it takes him only fifteen minutes to arrive in the morning.
Anabeth felt a terrible sense of melancholy, as they passed through the less well-off streets. London may as well have been one giant slum for how appealing it was to her now.
From the moment that Anabeth crossed the threshold of her house she felt a chill that she would never banish. It was as though all the heat had been sucked out of the building and only a stale, damp air remained. The walls, though hung with tapestries and paintings, seemed dull and worn. The house was nothing as she had remembered it. Everything lacked lustre.
At night Anabeth awoke in the early hours of the morning, unable to tell dream from reality. The walls around her would pulse and shine with gold as they had in the tomb, but they were still the walls of her own bedroom. She would hear whispers in languages foreign to her, beckoning her to follow them, and still she was unable to move. This was the only time that Anabeth could feel true warmth surging through her - the only time she felt content, though she was scared. These dreams would seem so vivid to her in the moment and yet when she awoke in the morning she would scarcely be able to remember them.
This continued for a week - the feeling of being oppressed by her home - and only lessened when she was asleep or outside. It was fortunate that she had so many social engagements to keep her occupied. Her book group, which her mother insisted she attend, was very eager to hear of Egypt, even though Beth had been there less than a week, but more eager to hear about Robert and whether or not he had mentioned a proposal.
In actual fact, Anabeth hadn't heard from Robert since he had met her at the docks. It was a welcome surprise, but strange all the same. The man hadn't been able to leave her be for more than two days for the last four months.
Beth had little time to dwell on this fact, however, as at the end of her first week home an illness began to take grip. She suffered from sickness and dizziness for most of her waking hours, though it never interrupted her sleep. It only took two days for her mother to call the doctor to their home.
Doctor Richards was an elderly man who, as far as he had told her, had seen everything. Unlike many of the doctors that she had been forced to endure, Dr Richards was a kindly looking soul. He did not ask her to take her night shift off, he simply did his examination above it.
"Remind me of your symptoms," he asked, pressing his fingers into her abdomen and rocking them gently. When he had first heard the symptoms his first question was whether or not Anabeth was married. When her mother informed him that she was not, his eyes narrowed. Beth was worried, but she couldn't possibly be with child. It had been a dream back in Egypt - there was no other explanation.
"Sickness and dizziness," Beth's mother replied for her. "And she becomes gripped with this fear at times. It's as though she were hallucinating."
Anabeth could not bring herself to voice what that fear was of. She would be committed to the asylum if they were to know.
"Any nightmares?" The doctor asked in a quieter voice, allowing Beth to answer for herself.
"Yes. I wake up at night sometimes and I can't move. I hear voices talking to me and then I fall asleep again." A tear escaped the side of her eye. Hearing voices wasn't something one admitted to easily - especially not in a foreign language that she didn't understand. She'd heard stories of people speaking in tongues.
"Well then," Dr Richards pulled away, packing his bag. "There's nothing too abnormal here. It seems like the tail end of seasickness to me."
