The Cursed Scarab by Suzanne Weyn
“What’s so mysterious about that?” Taylor asked.
“Many people believe that Nefertiti and Akhenaten convinced their subjects that the queen had died but she was really alive, disguised as Smenkhkare.”
“Nobody is certain Smenkhkare was really Nefertiti. It’s only a theory,” Professor Mason said.
“I believe it,” Dr. Bey told them. “It allowed Nefertiti to rule even after the pharaoh died, which she did for twelve more years after Akhenaten’s death. It makes sense.”
Mrs. Mason nodded. “That’s something I’d like to add to my play. I think it’s very interesting.”
“It is,” Taylor agreed. The idea that Smenkhkare was Nefertiti disguised as a man was very cool.
Dr. Bey nodded as he stepped away from the door. “Indeed, a very possible theory.”
“Oh, that’s great!” Mrs. Mason said. “We have to hurry, Taylor, I don’t want to be late to meet the cast and director. Maybe there’s still time to add to my play.”
Dr. Bey stood holding the door open for them. He studied Taylor with a serious intensity. “Goodbye, Dr. Bey,” she said as she followed her mother out the door.
“I’m sure we will meet again,” Dr. Bey said.
THE THEATER in the museum was brightly lit. Sound-proofing tiles were hung in pyramid shapes on the auditorium walls, and thick purple curtains hung onstage. When Taylor and her mother arrived, the ten-person cast and the director rushed to greet them, smiling, shaking hands, and introducing themselves.
“I’m so glad that you’re here. We are eager to start, Ashley,” the director said to Mrs. Mason. Her name was Nevin and she was a slim woman, dressed in a black shirt and jeans, with her dark hair pulled back into a bun. “We’re still on script but we’ve read through the play together. Today I’d like to walk through the play and have you suggest any changes you think we need.”
“I do have some new ideas, even after just a couple days in this gorgeous city,” Mrs. Mason said. “Is it all right if I add a whole new scene, or even two?”
“Whatever you like,” Nevin replied. “We want the play to be as wonderful as it can be.”
Mrs. Mason smiled. “Great! I can’t believe I’ll be seeing my play performed here!” She turned to Taylor. “This will be your first chance to see the play performed in a genuine Egyptian setting. Watch and let me know what you think.”
“Okay.”
Nevin turned down the lights in the audience as Taylor took a seat in the fifth row. Her mother and Nevin sat on the edge of the stage while the actors began with their scripts in their hands.
A young man and woman stepped forward, center stage, and began to read. “Feel the sun, Nefertiti, my love,” the young man read. “Here is where we’ll build our new kingdom. I will call it Akhetaten.”
“Akhetaten,” the actress playing Nefertiti repeated. “Horizon of the Aten. A perfect name.” The actress lifted her hands up. “Here we will worship the Aten, the sun disc.”
“Yes,” the pharaoh actor said. “Our people will forget their old gods and goddesses. In this new capital city, the Aten will be worshipped above all others.”
The actor playing Pharaoh Akhenaten put his script down and spoke to Mrs. Mason. “I thought the kingdom was called Amarna, why do you call it Akhetaten?”
“It’s the name the ancients used. The name Amarna came later, after the kingdom had been abandoned,” Mrs. Mason explained.
The actress playing Nefertiti stepped forward. “Does anyone know what caused Akhenaten and Nefertiti to start this new religion?”
Mrs. Mason shook her head. “Not really. Some scholars think it was a trend toward a more scientific view of the universe. Maybe they were thinking about the movement of the earth, and the seasons, and how life depended on having the sun. But no one is really certain.”
The actors continued with the play. Taylor sat forward watching, finding it all fascinating. She was so intent on listening and watching that she gasped when she realized someone was sitting beside her in the darkened theater.
“Dr. Bey!” Taylor cried softly.
“Sorry to startle you, my dear.”
The light from the stage threw dark circles under Dr. Bey’s eyes and deepened the lines of his face.
“Where’s my father?” Taylor asked. “Is he all right?”
“He’s happy as a clam poring over ancient manuscripts. He’s right where I left him, in my office.”
“Should I tell my mother you’re here?”
“No,” Dr. Bey said. “I came here hoping to speak with you.”
“Me?”
“Nefertiti calls to you, doesn’t she?” Dr. Bey said.
“She’s so beautiful and interesting,” Taylor agreed with a nod. “I want to know everything about her.”
“You already do know — but you’ve forgotten.”
“I don’t understand.” What could he mean by that?
“You know about reincarnation, don’t you, Taylor?”
Taylor had read enough about ancient Egypt to know. “It’s the idea that after death a person’s spirit can be reborn into another body,” she replied.
“Exactly. Through the centuries Nefertiti has been reborn many times. Sometimes she has been a princess, other times a movie star or a powerful ruler,” Dr. Bey said.
“Interesting,” Taylor said. “I wonder who she is now.”
Dr. Bey bowed his head. Why was he doing that? Then a startling idea occurred to her and her eyes widened with the shocking understanding.
But surely he was mistaken!
“You don’t mean me, do you?” Taylor asked softly.
Dr. Bey lifted his eyes to stare at her. “Your Highness.”
“No! No! You’re wrong. I’m no princess or politician.”
“Not yet, but you’re young. Who knows what the future will bring? You have already been born into a family that reveres the Egyptian ancients, and you share that interest. You are a perfect choice for Nefertiti’s traveling spirit.”
“You’re joking, right?” she said.
Dr. Bey shook his head. “I recognized you the moment you appeared in the museum. Those eyes! That graceful, long neck.”
Taylor clutched her neck.
“But the reason that I am sure — certain beyond doubt — you were once Nefertiti is in your bag.”
“My bag?” Taylor grabbed the daypack she’d tossed on the chair beside her.
“Look inside,” Dr. Bey said.
Nervously, Taylor fumbled with the bag’s drawstring. She saw what he was talking about right away.
The blue scarab sat in the center of the bag.
Taylor looked at Dr. Bey in alarm. “This wasn’t here when I came in. They searched my bag.”
“I saw it when you took out your phone,” Dr. Bey told her. “That’s when I knew.”
“Knew what? That I’m a thief?! Because I’m not! I’ve been trying to get rid of this thing! I even dumped it in the trash at the airport.”
“Dumped a priceless treasure in the trash?” Dr. Bey asked, shocked.
“I know how it sounds, but — this scarab has been following me.”
“And it always will.”
“What do you mean?”
Dr. Bey slowly stood. “There’s much to explain. I will come to see you and your parents tomorrow. Tell them to expect me at eight.”
“But, Dr. Bey, what —”
Dr. Bey didn’t wait for her to finish her question. He bowed to Taylor and then seemed to disappear into the darkness.
Where had he gone?
Taylor grabbed her pack and hurried out of the aisle after him. The light from the stage allowed her to see well enough to make her way up the aisle. She wanted to give him the scarab to hold on to. What if those people from the cab ride came back, or Valdry?
When Taylor got to the end of the aisle, she stepped into a circle of red light from the exit sign and paused. It felt like someone was staring at her, and Taylor swung around toward an open sid
The little girl from the hotel stood in the doorway, framed by the bright light from the museum. For a moment, she and Taylor stared at each other. This was definitely a child — no old woman.
“Taylor!” Mrs. Mason called from the stage, searching for Taylor. “Where are you?”
“Up here!” Taylor shouted back.
Turning toward the little girl again, Taylor found that the door was shut and the girl was gone.
THAT EVENING Taylor sat on the small balcony outside her hotel room with Jason beside her. Even from the third floor, the sound of traffic below still rumbled. A warm breeze ruffled her hair as she cradled the blue scarab in her cupped hands. It was quiet — no humming or movement — as though it were asleep.
“How did your parents react when you told them what Dr. Bey said?” Jason asked. He’d been out all day on the Nile with his mother and some of the others from the trip. Ribbons of sunburn striped his forehead, cheeks, and chin.
“I didn’t — not yet.”
“Why not?”
Taylor sighed. “Maybe I want them to hear it from Dr. Bey when he comes over tomorrow night. If I tell them they’ll just think I’ve gone crazy. They’ll worry or send me to a doctor or something. I don’t want to miss a minute of this trip shut in the hotel room because they think I’ve got sunstroke or some other problem.”
“How did you feel when he said it?” Jason asked. “Do you think it could be true?”
Taylor tilted her chair back onto two legs and balanced with her feet against the balcony wall. How did she feel? It was difficult to explain, but a memory kept coming back to her.
“Once I was in the ancient Egyptian section at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” Taylor recalled. “I stood near the reconstruction of the Temple of Dendur, and I had the strongest feeling that I’d seen something like it in a past life. Then I looked around, and all the people were reading the little plaques and studying the surrounding art. Judging from their intense expressions, I thought, they all seemed to have that reincarnated feeling. But then I remembered that the ancient Egyptian empire lasted over two thousand years — that’s a lot of people who might have lived a life back then, even more than one lifetime.”
“Then you do think it’s possible?” Jason said.
“Reincarnation? Sure. It sort of makes sense. But for me to be …”
“Could Dr. Bey be right?”
It sounded so crazy. She’d heard of deluded people who believed they were Napoleon or Joan of Arc. Wasn’t this just the same? “I don’t know,” Taylor said.
“Would you like it if it turned out to be true?”
“Not if this creepy scarab keeps following me around and setting off airport security alarms,” Taylor said, smiling.
“No, seriously — don’t you think it would be cool?”
“It makes me worry,” Taylor replied sincerely. “It’s so much responsibility. If I’m an ancient princess, what am I expected to do? It scares me. Right now I just want to be a regular girl — a tourist — seeing Egypt with her parents.”
Taylor turned the scarab over in her hands, and then stood up. “I’ve got to find some place to put this.”
“Each room has a small safe with a key. It’s in the front closet,” Jason said.
With a nod, Taylor left the balcony and headed for the closet. After depositing the scarab inside, she locked the safe carefully and tucked the key inside a zippered pocket in her daybag.
“It should be safe there,” Jason said.
“I only hope it stays there,” Taylor said.
The next day Taylor sat beside Jason and gazed out the window at the Nile River on her left. They were riding an air-conditioned minibus carrying her parents, Jason, his mother, and four more members of their university tour group.
In the front seat, their guide, Professor Johnson — a stout man with glasses wearing a safari-style helmet — spoke about Amarna, which had once been called Akhetaten, the seat of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s kingdom.
“ ‘Something’s rotten in Akhetaten,’ said Akhenaten,” Jason joked in a whisper.
Taylor smiled. “ ‘You’re right, sweetie,’ said Nefertiti.”
There was still another hour to go before they reached Minya, the small town where they would stop for lunch before taking a motorboat the rest of the way to what was left of ancient Amarna.
For the next hour, Jason napped while Taylor pressed her head against the glass, watching the majesty of the Nile River race past. Palm trees lined the shore and the areas near the river were much greener than inland. Many riverboats and sailboats cruised along its vivid blue waters.
Soon her eyes felt heavy and she closed them, lost in a dream.
She wore a long, cone-shaped crown like the kind Nefertiti wore, and a white gown that tied at her waist. She talked to a slim man whose tall crown was also made of gold.
“The nights exhaust me so, my queen,” the man said, as the first rays of dawn streamed in through long windows.
“Aten be praised,” Taylor said to him. “We are safe for another day, dear Akhenaten.”
The Pharaoh Akhenaten held the blue scarab up to the window. “Our greatest treasure,” he said. “How would we ever live without it?”
As he held the scarab, it disappeared out of his hand …
… and appeared in Nefertiti’s lap.
“I thought we would be safe by moving all the way out here, away from the old capital at Thebes,” Nefertiti said, “But, alas, it seems they have followed us even here.”
“Thank the heavens we have you to keep us safe.”
“True,” Nefertiti said, lifting the scarab, “but for how long?”
“For as long as you rule and keep control of the scarab,” Akhenaten said.
“I cannot live and rule forever,” Nefertiti said. “When I depart this earth, what will become of our people?”
“There are things we can do, my dearest one — in this lifetime and the lifetimes to come — to protect the people. I will consult my advisers and priests.”
“I don’t want to live forever,” Nefertiti said.
Akhenaten sat beside her. “Unfortunately, that may be our only choice.”
TAKE A moment to reapply your sunscreen,” Professor Johnson advised the group as they emerged from the bus. “You’ll find very little shade here.”
The flecked, broken stones at Amarna glittered in the scorching desert sun. There wasn’t a lot of the ruined city to see — some broken columns, chipped steps, and slanted, once-rectangular doorways. A tall tower reflected the glistening sunlight. The foundations of the ancient, ruined city were still evident, but the buildings were mostly gone.
“I’m so glad we made this trip,” Mrs. Mason said to Taylor as they walked through the ruins. “I can picture it as it must have been — such a magnificent place. I’ll be able to add so many details to my play.”
“I wish more of it were still here,” Taylor said, squinting against the intense light.
“There is more at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo,” Professor Mason said. “They have a great exhibit right now with a full re-creation of the city. You didn’t get to see it yesterday, but we’ll certainly be back there during this trip.”
“I wonder what Dr. Bey wants to talk to us about tonight,” Mrs. Mason said. “Any ideas?”
“Maybe he’ll offer me a job,” Professor Mason replied with a chuckle. “What do you think, Taylor? Want to live in Cairo?”
“I don’t know …” Taylor said, still pondering her dream. “I doubt he’ll offer you a job, anyway.”
Professor Mason pouted and seemed offended. “No offense, Dad,” Taylor said. “He only just met you yesterday.”
Taylor’s parents strolled forward to stay with the group but Taylor lagged behind, trying to imagine the city as it once had been, and as her mom had been able to picture so easily. She’d seen artists’ renderings that showed it as a mostly open space with tall pillars and angular buildings. There was something
The dream she’d had on the bus had been so real. And now that she was standing here in Amarna, ancient Akhetaten, it seemed to her that this was exactly where it had taken place.
So had she seen something from the past? How could she have known what the city looked like, what it would feel like to stand inside, if she’d never been there? And why would the scarab be the greatest treasure of the pharaoh and his wife when Professor Johnson had said they had tons of jewels and gold?
The scarab was made of only semiprecious stone. It was just a scarab, in an era when so many of them had been made.
“Water?” Jason offered, coming up beside her and holding out a metal canteen.
“Nice! An old-school canteen,” Taylor said, taking a swig.
“I don’t believe in bottled water — all that waste.”
Taylor nodded and wiped her mouth. “Same. Thanks.” Together they caught up with the rest of the group.
Professor Johnson continued his talk, pointing out that the city had been built with cliffs on three sides and close to the Nile River.
He moved on toward a set of stone steps and the group followed, with Taylor hanging back. “Come on,” Jason said to her.
“Wait.” A dizzy feeling had come over Taylor. She held on to Jason’s arm to stay upright. “I need to sit for a minute.”
“Should I get your parents?” Jason asked.
Taylor spied them at the front of the crowd, deeply absorbed in Professor Johnson’s talk. “No. They’ll just make a fuss. I’ll be okay in a minute.”
Jason walked her over to a patch of shade in a corner where two broken walls butted each other. “Have some more water,” he said, offering his canteen again.