[Child laughs]
[Muffled heartbeat]
Ha ha ha!
Hey, come back here, little toad.
Hey!
Grab him!
Yo! Slow down, chief!
He stole my ankh.
Your what?
My ankh.
What's an ankh?
Back off, Godzilla, and I'll show you!
That's it.
I need it for my story!
You stole it out of my private drawer!
Stop! Stop!
Thank you.
Now, why did you take... what is it?
It's an ankh.
You should have asked. You're always taking my stuff.
Tucker, ask him.
Can I borrow your ankh?
Don't make this any harder.
Oh...
All right.
Thank you.
I need the ankh
because it's an ancient symbol everybody knows.
It means life.
My story's full of ancient symbols,
but you have to know how to read them.
Like the ankh...
It means life, and that's good,
but you have to be careful
because sometimes life could be far worse
than anything you could imagine...
Including death.
Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society,
I call this story...
Back up! Back up!
Less than 1/4" to the left.
Hold it.
Right through here.
That's where it's supposed to go.
You're right.
There's not supposed to be a wall here.
What is that thing?
Sweet mother of Pearl!
Yeah, looks like it's from Egypt or something,
some kind of tomb.
Ain't these things supposed to have
curses on them or something, huh?
Get out of here. You watch too many movies.
I think we better call someone on this.
Funny, it doesn't look like mount snowbird to me.
Where do we buy our lift tickets?
Five minutes, no more.
Dad, we're really going this time, right?
No last-minute emergencies?
Just a quick peek,
then we're off to the mountains
for a whole week-- promise.
He lies.
[Tucker] Josh and Cleo Dugan's mom died when they were little,
so they were brought up by their dad, the professor.
Don't touch it!
He tried hard to be a good father,
but unfortunately, he knew more about ancient stuff
than about taking care of kids.
Professor Dugan! Professor Dugan!
This is amazing! In all my years--
I'm on vacation, Dr. Capel-Smith.
Five minutes, and I'm gone.
I believe you'll think twice
when you see what we've got.
Vacations come and go, but a find like this
happens once in a lifetime.
And it was here all the time,
right under our noses!
[Professor Dugan] My god. Where did you find it?
It was hidden behind a false wall.
Must have been sealed there for decades.
Unless I'm mistaken, it's--it's...
It's from the Egyptian temple of light
that was robbed in 1921.
Uh... yes, quite.
We have to get this to my lab now.
Ha ha ha!
[Cleo] You know what this means, right?
Yeah.
No vacation, no skiing...
No life.
I'll create an entire Egyptian exhibit around it.
The publicity alone
will increase donations to the museum tenfold.
Another vacation trashed.
"August 21, 1921.
"The archaeological community was shocked to discover
"that the newly unearthed temple of light
was ransacked last evening with most of its ancient treasures stolen."
The Egyptian authorities
are going to go ballistic
when they find out
it's been in the museum all this time.
Mina the guardian...
And we've got her.
Who?
Mina was a goddess. The ancient Egyptians believed
that she used her ring of eternity
to bring forth life from the earth every spring.
She should have used the ring on herself.
Maybe she wouldn't be stuck in this old box.
[Capel-Smith] But there was two sides to the legend.
Mina was beneficent but vindictive.
She supposedly had the power
to turn her enemies into stone.
[Thud]
Got it.
You sure about this?
Yeah.
[Professor Dugan] All right. Help me, quickly.
Careful.
Yuck!
Cool!
Magnificent!
[Professor Dugan] There she is-- Mina the guardian.
Don't feed him.
Maybe we can starve him out of there.
I doubt it.
Just because he doesn't have a life
doesn't mean he can ruin ours.
It's important.
It's, like, historic.
Oh, yeah. Like the important monkey bone
that nuked our vacation last year
or the time he left us alone for Christmas
to see some old pot somebody dug up.
What can I say? He lives to work.
He needs it.
What he needs is a girlfriend.
Chow time.
Cleo, look at this.
I managed to translate some markings
on the sarcophagus.
Apparently there were blood sacrifices made to Mina
to ensure a fruitful harvest.
Yuck.
Then I found this. Uh...
Yes.
The legend... Of the ring of eternity
was widely known,
but there's also mention
of an elixir of life.
See, the elixir brings life,
the ring brings eternity.
[Sarcastically] Wow! I'm totally blown away.
There's also mention of a curse.
Really?
The guardian's curse -- that was fairly standard--
but the ancients always threatened
horrible death and torture
to those who disturbed their tombs.
Which is exactly what we did. That's... swell!
I need you guys to get back to the museum
and pick up that new set of photos.
My extra set of keys are in the kitchen.
Uh, Dad, does this officially mean the vacation's off?
Hmm?
Bingo.
We'll get the pictures.
Josh, Cleo...
I--I'm sorry, kids. It's just that...
It's OK, Dad. We know.
[Cleo] Give him a break, would you?
[Josh] Why? He doesn't give us any breaks.
We only get a couple of school vacations a year,
and we get dumped on because of...
That.
Yuck!
It's his work, Josh.
And what about us? I mean, we don't rate?
We're here. We're alive. I mean, that thing is...
I don't know what that thing is, but it's really gross.
We'll go skiing next time.
Next time is all we ever get.
[Kicks tomb]
Oops.
I can't believe he missed this.
Don't touch it. There's a curse.
It's an ankh... The symbol of life.
Oh, we've got to show Dad.
I'd better carry this.
I can take it.
Well, it's safer with me.
I can do it, Josh!
Gross.
I'm not picking it up.
You take the ring. I'll take the vial.
Don't drop it.
I found these, right?
When the names go in the paper,
remember, I made the discovery.
Oh, wait. We forgot the pictures.
I could, like, go down in history.
Babes love fame. I could...
[Papers rustling]
Cleo?
What?
Cleo?
What are you...
Dad! Dad! We found the ring of...
Eternity.
[Josh] Uh-oh.
Dad?
Dad!
[Telephone beeping]
What happened?
[Hangs up telephone]
"I've got to go to the museum after all.
Sorry. I love you-- Dad."
He must have split before all this happened.
[Object shatters]
What was that?
[Footsteps]
Somebody's out there.
You don't think it was the...
Go away! Leave us alone!
We got to get Dad!
The window!
Dad! Dad!
He's not here. It's the curse. It's the curse!
Get out of here. That stuff is made up.
Oh, yeah? Does this look made up to you?
It's real, Cleo, just like the legend said.
No way!
What about that bottle you're carrying around?
That's real, too! And where's the mummy?
I don't believe it!
No? It's gone, Cleo!
What are you saying?
That a 10,000-year-old mummy just hopped off the table and--
[thud]
Yeah.
That's exactly what I'm saying.
We'll lose it in the basement.
Forget it. We'll get lost down here.
Now what?
There's a fire exit on the other side.
What's that nasty smell?
I--I think we've got to turn...
Aah! Aah!
Oh, wait. Wait.
It's just stuffy.
Come on.
There.
Yes.
It's locked.
How can they lock a fire door?
Oh, what is that smell?
[Footsteps]
I'm going for the stairs.
No!
It jammed the door.
We're trapped.
Aah!
Dad!
Dad, are you OK?
Oh... I think so.
What... is going on?
[Thud]
I think you're about to see for yourself.
Dr. Capel-Smith?
Look out! The mummy's on the loose.
Ha ha! I don't think so.
What exactly is going on, doctor?
Your children have something I want.
What?
I don't understand.
Well, then you're not as astute as I thought.
I want the ring of eternity.
I didn't find the ring.
No, but your children did.
I thought you had discovered the ring, professor,
and I wasn't about to let it be claimed
by the Egyptian authorities
when it was so near my grasp...
So I searched your home.
Dad! Dad! We found the ring of...
Eternity.
Uh-oh.
Dad!
[Dr. Capel-Smith] As it turns out,
your children are more clever than you.
"I've got to go to the museum after all.
Sorry. I love you-- Dad."
Knowing your plans,
I hurried back here before your children arrived.
And so now here we stand.
Now, if you would be so kind
as to hand me that ring.
You're not thinking--
Oh, yes. I intend to use that ring for myself.
Now give it to me!
I wouldn't if I were you, professor.
That odor you smell is kerosene.
I've soaked most of these crates.
One touch of this torch,
and this museum becomes a furnace.
You wouldn't.
You want to take that risk?
I say we give it to him.
I have to think.
There's nothing to think about. We've got to do it.
Josh, give him the ring.
But what about--
Just give him the ring, understand?
Good boy.
Now, slide it over here.
Come on. Come on!
Now let them go.
I'm afraid I can't do that, professor.
I'm sure you'd go right to the authorities,
and I can't have them tracking me
for the rest of eternity, now, can I?
Don't do it, doctor. Please.
At least let us see if the ring works.
Why not?
It's...
It's wonderful.
Behold, you are now gazing at...
An immortal.
Ha ha ha!
What's this?
I...
can't...
move.
Aah!
Look out!
Save! And a beauty.
It's incredible.
I guess he got what he wanted after all--
immortality.
Very clever, little sister.
Excuse me?
The translations-- they said,
"the ring brings eternity,
the elixir brings life."
He knew we had the ring,
but he didn't know we had this.
The elixir.
It's real.
[Creaking]
Um, we forgot to tell you, Dad.
The mummy's missing.
What?
My god, it's alive.
The elixir brings life,
the ring brings eternity.
Josh, don't!
Mina.
Mina?
I wonder if she likes to ski.
So the true guardian's curse was immortality...
And Dr. Capel-Smith...
was the final victim.
The end.
See? Wasn't that worth letting him borrow it?
I guess his story was pretty good.
Hey, the little toad still has my ankh.
Tucker!
Here we go again.
Captioned by Grant Brown