****
She pushed away from him and ran from the pyramid, gathering her skirt higher so that it didn't tangle under her feet. He growled as he came after her and she squealed, picking up speed so she could elude him. They ran throughout the pyramids, sliding from the dark shadows into the dying light of the gradually setting sun and back as he chased her.
Finally, she ducked into one of the pyramids, turning to the entrance as his silhouette appeared against the darkening sky. He stepped toward her and she stepped back, catching herself on the wall as she stumbled over something she had not seen on the floor. Her fingertips touched the stone, dipping into the grooves of a hieroglyph, and in an instant the chamber around her was gone.
Liora felt the pull deep in her stomach and a scream tore through her as she realized what was happening. In the next moment, she lay on the ground in the pyramid in Egypt, the voices of the crew filling the space around her as they gathered around her.
"No!" she screamed, pulling onto her knees and clawing at the wall, trying to find the hieroglyphs that would bring her back to Amasis.
"Liora!" Ethan's voice broke through her own frantic screams and she turned to him. "What the hell happened?"
She let him bring her to her feet and as she looked around she realized she was not in the small chamber behind the false wall, but another, larger chamber she hadn't seen before.
"How did I get here?" she asked.
"I don't know. You were beside me one minute, and then the next you were gone. We've been searching for you for hours. Where did you get that dress?"
Liora gathered the dress in her hands, balling as much of the skirt into her palms as she could and pressing it to her face. Sobs racked through her body and she felt like she couldn't hold herself up. She couldn't get back to him. Amasis himself had said he didn't understand how she had managed to use the portals that had been sealed for thousands of years.
Ethan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she let him lead her out of the chamber and along the corridors until they stepped out of the pyramid. She was still sobbing as he guided her into her tent, the pain threatening to crack her chest in two. His hands eased her down onto her sleeping bag and she heard him mutter to someone who had followed them to get the doctor.
"I don’t need a doctor," she said, her crying now quieted and replaced by an aching emptiness. "I need Amasis."
"Who is Amasis?"
"The descendant of one of the extraterrestrials who came thousands of years ago and helped build these pyramids."
"Please don't start that again, Liora. This is serious. You were missing for hours. Something must have happened to you."
Liora shook her head against the pillow, curling into a tight ball.
"I am serious. He has been waiting for me."
"Where?"
"I found a hidden chamber in the pyramid and it transported me to his planet. He showed me the ruins of pyramids that have been there for thousands of years, since they decided that the people of Earth weren't worth their alliance and left."
Before Ethan could reply, the doctor came into the tent. He instructed Liora to sit up and poured water down her throat, insisting she was suffering from heat exhaustion.
"She should leave tomorrow," he said over his shoulder to Ethan, "We can finish this investigation without her. We have enough of her notes on the hieroglyphs to get through."
His words sank in and suddenly Liora was on her feet, running back toward the pyramid. She leaned down as she passed the tool tent, scooping a chisel off the ground without stopping. Behind her she could hear Ethan and the doctor screaming at her, but their words were drowned out by the pounding of her heartbeat and the rush of her blood in her ears.
Liora ran down the corridor into the chamber and through the false wall into the smaller space. Lifting the chisel, she began pounding at the wall, desperately trying to engrave a symbol into the stone.
"Stop! Liora, what are you doing?" Ethan shouted, climbing through the false wall into the chamber with her.
She continued on, screaming with the exertion of each movement, frantically hitting the wall until her arms gave out and she couldn't lift the chisel again. Her body crumpled to the ground, the tears pouring again, and Ethan dropped to his knees beside her, gathering her against him as she cried.
Suddenly she noticed a flicker of light out of the corner of her eye. She looked up and saw a new hieroglyph glowing in the stone. A moment later, another appeared, closer to the false door. She touched it and in an instant, another appeared, this one right outside the false door in the main chamber. As she followed them, more of the glowing symbols appeared, guiding her along the wall of the chamber to the opposite corner.
Light pulsed along the seam of the corner as she drew closer, and Liora touched her palm to it. Instead of another false wall, she felt the entire wall shift slightly and blinding light poured into the space. The stone beneath her hand gave way and was replaced by soft, warm skin. Strong fingers intertwined with hers and she stepped back, helping Amasis step through the wall into the chamber.
As soon as he was standing beside her, he gathered her against his chest.
"My light," he whispered into her hair, "I thought I had lost you."
"Dear god," Ethan said from behind them, "You were telling the truth."
Liora raised her head to respond, but she heard the commotion of the rest of the crew racing down the corridor and she looked up at Amasis desperately.
"Go," she said, pushing him back toward the gap in the wall, which was starting to ease closed.
"Not without you," he said.
"Take me with you."
Amasis tightened his grip on her hand and stepped back through the wall, pulling her along with him. She felt a hand close around her wrist and she screamed, yanking against the doctor's grip so he could not pull her back through. Amasis tugged hard on her and finally she ripped out of the doctor's hand and stumbled into Amasis's arms just as the wall sealed behind them.