Cleo de Nile's Collector's Edition Diary

Un-De Nile-able Boredom
It’s been centuries since we woke in this pyramid and Nefera has been on my nerves for all of them. Thank Ra that Daddy had the foresight to construct separate burial chambers for my sister and me. Daddy had all the comforts of home-palace available here for just such an entombment, but even he couldn’t have screamed that we’d be buried this long. I try to stay upbeat about our circumstances. The good news is I haven’t aged a day, I look as gore-geous as ever. The bad news is, there’s only Daddy, Nefera and a few loyal servants to see me.

Eye Class Visions
I dreamt of a floating pair of glasses that moaned a lot. The glasses weren’t in pain; that was simply how she communicated. Odd that I feel confident the glasses were a “she”. I’ve known many monsters who would enjoy a fashionable pair of cat-eye frames. But no, the glasses were a she and she felt somehow familiar, in that way of dreams. I told our royal cook all the details I could recall. Cook was a soothsayer before we became entombed; here, she claims, the thick walls block her reception. But she says lately her visions have been coming back. I’d like to believe her, but when I told her about my dream, she said something rather mystifying: “The spectacles of your future are your long-past lost destiny.” After that I needed another nap.

Things are Cooking Up
Today, Cook poked her head into our parlor and “psssst!” at me. Hissette, who was dozing by my feet, lifted her head and hissed back. But Cook is not easily deterred and “psssst!” again, this time crooking her finger at me to follow. I was shocked but also monstrously curious. “Be careful associating with her, Cleo,” Nefera warned,”you know Father does not approve of fortune tellers. He only brought her with us because he is overly fond of her date-and-honey porridge.”

Since Nefera commanding me not to do something is the surest way to get me to do something, I hastily followed. Cook ran ahead and I barely had time to see her sneaking out another door. I followed her into a dark, narrow hallway where she lit a candle to light our path. Reaching the dead-end, she turned to me and said, in a creepy, un-Cook like voice, “I had a premonition. And it let me here.” then, in the flame’s reflection, I saw it, on a wall I had never before encountered, in a hallway I had never before walked, hieroglyphics I had never before seen: a book, an owl, and cat-eye glasses. And next to them a princess who was so fabulous, she could be none other than me.

Wrapping with Nefera
“What does it mean?” I asked Nefera the following evening, clearly desperate for answers. “It means you have been trapped in this tomb for so long, you’ve lost your brains,” she replied with her usual lack of pleasantry. When I didn’t respond she sighed and answered my question. “Sister, listen, many say that Cook has true foretelling abilities. Many also believe that the walls of this pyramid are etched in prophecy that cannot be denied. Our dearly departed Mummy once told me that she took these things very seriously. So I would remain an open casket to the possibility that it’s real. Although it’s unsettling that such powers would be given to a mere servant.” Hissette nodded wisely and she so rarely agreed with Nefera that I had to take my sister’s council to heart.

End Game
I’ve decided to take the day off from overthinking about glasses and owls. I’ve asked some of the royal servants if they’d like to play a game of catch so I can practice my fearleading routines. Since Nefera is as bored as I am, she will fearlead for the opposing team, and her spoiled pet scarab, Azura, will be the ball. Hissette, who loved a good game, volunteered to be the goal post. Of course, what she enjoys most is uncoiling to make the goal higher when the whim strikes her, and catching the ball - in this case Azura - in her jaws. Azura does not care for playing games in the least.

We played in the atrium where the crack in the ceiling gave us a bit of sunfright. I had the advantage given that Hissette’s subtle goal adjustment skewed the game in my favor. All we were missing was someone adept with numbers to keep score. Strangely, as I was mid-flip, a shadow crossed my face and for a heartbeat I thought someone was peering down at me from outside the pyramid! Someone wearing cat-eye glasses!