by Bill Hiatt
“I’ll be happy to do what I can.”
“Good. Stan, we’ll need you for research, particularly if we encounter high-tech security I’ve had no experience with. Viviane, is that too many for Michael to support?”
“Six, not counting him? For a short time, that will work. He may be a bit groggy—and we will have to be restrained in our use of magic.”
“The rest of you, get some sleep.”
“I will stand watch,” said Ceridwen. “Someone needs to keep an eye open for security threats.”
“Thanks. All right, everyone who’s going, let’s meet on the front porch in five.”
The rest of Tal’s group seemed disappointed not to be going, but no one argued with his decision.
“Amy, you should be equipped somehow,” said Gordy. “Take my sword with you.”
“I’ve never trained with a sword.”
“Neither had I—until I had to use one.” He unfastened the scabbard from his belt and handed it to me. “Anyway, you can use the power to provoke fear without knowing how to handle the sword as a weapon. Just hold up the blade and imagine your opponents running in terror. The sword does the rest.”
Lucas walked over to me. “You’re the only one going in without any kind of armor. Take this.” He pulled an amulet from around his neck and handed it to me. “It’s the Patua of Bessouro. It doesn’t make you invincible, but it’s good protection against knives, bullets, that sort of thing.”
“What if you need it?”
“Even if Hafez gets back, he’s not in a position to mount a full-scale attack on the house. I’m sure I’ll be safe until you return.”
He moved around behind me and placed the amulet around my neck. I felt the protection engulf me the moment it was in place. I also felt the brief, gentle touch of his fingers on my neck. I found myself wishing he could go, too, but I couldn’t say that.
Michael and I walked downstairs together. The others were waiting for us when we stepped outside the front door.
“We’re going to fly—invisibly and inaudibly, of course. Stay as close together as you can,” said Tal.
I still wasn’t used to flying, though as before it was more like floating fast than flying. Khalid, flying under his own power, scouted ahead. Tal floated along somewhere in the middle, sword drawn, flames flickering up and down the blade. Magnus stayed at the back, playing the lyre and staring behind us. Aside from the realization that, if something went wrong with the magic, the fall would break every bone in my body, I felt protected.
Had I still been Amenirdis, I could have used my mastery of the wind to help. As it was, I felt like extra baggage, taking up energy, taking up space that might have gone to a more able fighter or a spell caster. As for being the Egyptian expert, Stan could probably pull up as much on the internet as I knew if he had a few minutes to do it.
By the time we were drifting over the pseudo-Egyptian mass of buildings that was Old Karnak, there was a hint of light on the eastern horizon.
“This is going to have to be a quick in-and-out mission,” said Tal. “First priority is the staff. We have to recapture it. Second priority is Hafez if he’s there. If not, third priority is Other Khalid. We need to find out if he knows how to use the staff.”
“Without, of course, hurting him,” said Khalid.
“I promise we won’t break more than a few bones—unless we have to,” said Magnus.
“He’s just kidding,” said Tal. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about Other Khalid’s situation. When I was trying to get into his mind that first time, he blocked me from the information I was looking for, but I picked up some of his emotions. He’s so unhappy that scanning him was like sinking into quicksand.”
“You think he’s ripe to betray Hafez?” asked Viviane.
“I do—but I also think that, if we can get him to that point, we can help him as well as ourselves.”
“I like the sound of that,” said Khalid.
“I don’t,” said Magnus. “We need to focus on getting out of here. We don’t have time to straighten out someone else’s life.”
“You remember the time you sacrificed yourself for Eva?” asked Tal.
“Of course, but what does that have to do with this?”
“When your body was destroyed, and you reached out to me to keep you from dying, we were all in the middle of a battle for our lives. You weren’t the most trustworthy—”
“I was then. I was fighting on your side!”
“You went far beyond anything I could ever have expected,” said Tal. “That was a relatively recent change, though.”
“I know you’ve been reminded of what I used to be like,” said Magnus glumly. The rawness of his emotions showed in his eyes. I looked away, again struggling to keep my own eyes dry.
“I’m not trying to throw any of that in your face, and we’ve all done things in the past that we regret,” said Tal. I’m just saying that you’d given me plenty of reasons not to trust you before, and I wondered if you were trying to take over my body now that yours was gone. In the end, I took a chance on you. I saved you even though it made no logical sense, even though it might have cost me my own life.”
“You never miss a chance to point out how wonderful you are,” said Magnus. The words came out slowly, more sullen than angry.
“You were just as ‘wonderful’ in that battle as I was,” said Tal. “What I was trying to say is that I took a chance on you, and it paid off. I’ve never been sorry I did—not even once. All I’m asking you to do is take the same kind of chance on Other Khalid.”
To my surprise, Magnus looked away from Tal and said nothing. His cheeks reddened slightly, and his jaw muscles tightened, as if he were gnashing his teeth.
“What do you have in mind?” asked Khalid. I didn’t know whether he was really that interested in the details or just wanted to fill the awkward silence.
“I want him to have a chance like you did,” replied Tal. “I want him to have a real family.”
Magnus rolled his eyes, but his mouth remained firmly shut, and he shifted farther away from the rest of the group. As he moved, I caught another glimpse of his eyes. I’d often tried to read the truth in the eyes of my interview subjects, but these defied me despite how much of his mind I’d seen. They seemed filled with scorn for Tal, but there was something else there, too. Was it shame?
I was all too familiar with that feeling.
“Finding Other Khalid a family may be easier said than done,” said Viviane. At his age, he won’t be as flexible as our Khalid was, and he’s had a much longer time to develop emotional scars. Where will we find parents willing to cope with all that?”
“We should try, though, shouldn’t we?” asked Khalid. “Maybe we won’t succeed, but how can we not make the attempt?”
“I’m glad you agree,” said Tal. “Keep one thing in mind, though. Being unhappy with his life and being willing to betray Hafez are two different things. To get Other Khalid to take that jump, we have to make him see Hafez for what he truly is. That process will almost certainly be painful for him. If this is going to work, you have to trust me, OK?”
Khalid nodded and smiled. He wasn’t old enough to understand how much pain Tal was talking about, despite his own recent trip down a memory lane made out of razor blades.
“Magnus, now all we need is for you to agree.”
Magnus looked puzzled. “What do you care what I think?”
“Because you’re going to have to be the one who breaks down Other Khalid’s resistance. I…you know I’m not as good as you at—”
“Doing what has to be done?” asked Magnus, sounding more like his usual self. “You want me to be the one who shoves the truth in the face of that little juvenile delinquent? Why didn’t you say that to begin with? I’m in.”
His words sounded forced, but Tal didn’t call him on it. I tensed. Asking Magnus to handle such a psychologically delicate matter was like using an ax to give someone a manicure—or was it? Mayb
e his roughness was just what was needed to get through to Other Khalid. Tough love with a vengeance—except that Magnus seemed to embody only the vengeance. I knew there was love inside him, but where Other Khalid was concerned, it was buried so deeply I didn’t know whether or not he could find it.
I began to wish I was back at Awen with the team members who were catching up on their sleep. But at least this time, whatever pain there was would not be my fault.
My view of the impending sunrise was blocked by the hotel. If one ignored the windows, it looked a lot like an Egyptian obelisk, though it was much wider and thicker. Around the windows and balconies was woven an intricate pattern of hieroglyphs. The hotel was crowned with a pyramid just like a regular obelisk, though in this case, the pyramid, except for the very top capstone, was clear. It was hard to tell because of the darkness, but it looked as if it might have been covering a rooftop pool.
As we moved closer, we aligned ourselves with the window of what should be Hafez’s suite. It stretched across the entire western side of the building.
“Curtains are drawn,” said Khalid. “I can’t see if anyone’s inside.”
“I can’t sense much either,” said Tal. “The feeling reminds me of the Summerland house. It’s not exactly a complete block, but it makes getting any definite data tough.
“Luckily, it only seems to mask magic and life signs. I can get into the electronics fine. Stan, let’s check out the system.”
I only caught a little of what they were doing, brief glimpses of what looked like 3D circuit diagrams as they probed through the building’s wiring.
“There are electronic surveillance and an alarm system, but neither looks particularly sophisticated,” said Stan.
“It’s been a while since I’ve done this,” said Tal. “Stan, guide me through it. We want to disable any security system on the top floor without, if possible, drawing anyone’s attention.”
“Want me to solve global warming while I’m at it?” Stan’s tone was mock-annoyance, but he smiled. He had no magic of his own, but I could feel his knowledge of technology as it blended with Tal’s magic. Spells hissed and sizzled through wires. Security cameras went dark. Alarm systems went offline.
“It’s not safe to go in there without being able to see what magic awaits us,” said Magnus. “The whole thing could be one big trap. Look at what happened in Summerland.”
“I hate to spend the time, but you’re right,” said Tal. “Magnus, Viviane, let’s see if we can clear the air in there a little.”
Their magic twisted through the haze, wrapped around it, pushed at it, pulled at it, but could not dispel it.
“We have two choices—abort the mission or go ahead without the ability to scan the environment,” said Tal.
“I say we go for it,” said Stan. “This isn’t like the Summerland house. We aren’t going way under the ground. We’ll be within a few steps of an exit at all times.”
“We have no choice if we want to find the staff fast,” said Magnus grudgingly. “Everyone needs to stay alert, though. This has trap written all over it.”
Tal raised a hand and used his magic like a glass cutter, carefully removing a large section of the window and floating it gently to the floor.
“Move fast but quiet,” said Khalid. “Other Me is a light sleeper—and he might sense our magic, even if he’s asleep.”
We floated through the gap Tal had created, and he and Magnus maneuvered us down onto the floor quickly but gently. I didn’t hear a single footfall as we landed.
“I’m adapting everyone to see in the dark, and I’m also setting you up to feel what I’m doing. That way everybody will know what’s up without having to ask. Keep your eyes open for magical security measures.”
“And shadow assassins?” asked Michael.
“We protected Awen against them, so they couldn’t have been sure where we were. From what we’ve seen in the past, they can’t track us very well when we’re in the air, anyway. We should have at least a few minutes before they can zero in on us. I’ve got a burst of light ready in case that happens.”
As Tal’s magic improved my vision, I could see the room as if sunlight were streaming in the windows—not the greenish shapes I could see through night-vision goggles, but the whole room in every detail.
The suite’s sitting room was larger than my whole motel room. The furniture was modern but very comfortable looking. Chairs, tables, and sofas were arranged in little conversation groups. There were several of them, but not enough to make the room seem cluttered.
The carpet was the color of desert sand, a motif picked up by the wall murals, which created a continuous desert landscape, dotted with palm trees, pyramids, and sphinxes. The paintings continued across the ceiling, sky-blue broken by the occasional white cloud.
I half-expected to see Ra driving his sun chariot across the sky, but oddly, there was no sun, even though the murals clearly presented a day scene. Looking carefully, I could see a lot of snakes in the desert, though. They were designed to look ornamental, but I wasn’t fooled—they were the servants of Apep, watching everything that happened in the room. I was relieved that I couldn’t sense any magic in the murals.
“Based on the photos in the article I read, the door to the east leads to the kitchen. The doors to the north and south lead to bedrooms and adjoining bathrooms—but I’m not clear on which one’s Khalid’s.”
We crept toward the south door. Our efforts were aided by the plushness of the carpet, which muffled the sound of our steps. Tal drew the door open slowly without letting the hinges squeak. The room was as immaculate as Ceridwen’s cabin and showed equally little sign of actual use.
“It’s the north one, then,” thought Viviane. “No seventeen-year-old’s room is going to look that tidy. And there’s not a single personal touch except that photo.”
On the nightstand was a small, framed picture of Hafez and Khalid. It looked formal, posed—and about as personal as a picture that came with the frame.
We moved slowly toward the north door, and Tal opened it for us with the same caution. Sure enough, it was a teenage boy’s. Hafez had evidently forbidden posters on the mural-covered walls, but the desk was littered with scattered papers, and the floor was strewn with a variety of clothes.
“Wow! I would never have gotten away with being this sloppy at home,” thought Khalid.
The bed had obviously been slept in, but there was no sign of Other Khalid. The adjoining bathroom was equally empty.
“The sheets are warm. Either he’s hiding in the room, or he just left.”
I could feel Tal’s mind reaching out in all directions, probing relentlessly. I also sensed his frustration at being unable to get a clear reading.
“He could be standing right in front of us, invisible, and we’d never know it. The effect on magical perceptions is actually worse than at Summerland.”
“Let’s go at this a different way,” thought Stan. “The staff is too powerful to mask easily, right? If anything shows up—”
“It’s probably still drained,” I thought.
Tal searched for the staff, but his probing revealed nothing.
“I just scanned the lower floors,” thought Magnus. “They aren’t magically obscured the way this one is. If the warm sheets aren’t a trick, Khalid is still up here.”
“He must have known we were coming,” thought Tal. “If he’s like our Khalid, no way he’s up this early.”
We walked carefully back into the sitting room.
“If we can’t clear this fogging of magical perceptions, why not make Other Khalid visible?” asked Viviane.
“Let’s try it,” thought Tal. Magnus strummed on the lyre, and his magic merged with that of Tal and Viviane, blasting the room with light. A shadowy presence appeared near the center of the room, rapidly shifting to a flat gray image, and then to Other Khalid in living color.
He looked as if we had caught him by surprise. He was barefoot, wearing rumpled jeans that
looked as if he had grabbed them off the floor and an unbuttoned leather jacket with no shirt underneath. His hair was uncombed. He waved the staff in our direction and tried to look like a badass, but I doubted he was fooling anyone.
Tal extended the inaudibility spell to include Other Khalid, so no one except us could hear him—a good thing, since he started shouting as soon as he realized he was visible.
“Stay back! I know how to use this staff!”
“Yes, we can see that,” said Magnus, smirking. “Can’t you see how overcome with terror we all are?”
“Oh, yeah? Take that!”
Blackness surged from the staff, engulfing us before we knew what was happening. It faded, but the room was no longer the same. We were standing somewhere in the Egyptian desert at night. The scene was lit only by a red moon whose glow made the sand look like dried blood. Mummies shuffled their way toward us from all sides.
“It’s an illusion!” yelled Khalid.
The scene rippled and faded. We were back in the hotel room. Magnus grabbed the staff from Other Khalid and threw it across the room. Then he grabbed Other Khalid and hauled him, kicking and squirming, back to the group.
“Nice catch!” said Stan. “How’d you know so fast?”
“That was a scene from a horror movie I saw last year, and anyway Amenirdis told us Egyptian magic didn’t include a way to animate mummies.”
“The staff is drained far enough an illusion was probably the best he could do with it,” said Magnus. “Isn’t that right, little man?”
“Let me go, and I’ll show you who’s little!”
“Let’s skip the useless threats.” Magnus dragged Other Khalid over to the window. “You got two choices. Cooperate with us, or I throw you out the window.”
“That threat’s not part of the plan,” thought Tal.
“You put me in charge of this part,” thought Magnus. “Trust me.” The word trust had a different resonance coming from Magnus than it did from Tal. I wished again I could be anywhere but here.