by Bill Hiatt
Tal’s eyes narrowed as he looked at him. “Well, at least you know me a lot better than these guys, but how could you possibly have guessed I’d be here? I only decided not to drive back to campus fifteen minutes ago. You have psychic powers you’ve never told me about?”
“I’ve never heard anybody question a party so much. Why not just enjoy yourself?” Stan walked in Tal’s direction.
Tal’s eyes widened. “You came down from Stanford for this surprise impromptu whatever? And…and you got buff?”
“I’ve been working out.”
“Since I visited you two weeks ago? Dude, you couldn’t have built muscle that fast. It’s not physically possible.”
This world’s Tal slumped, but Gordy caught him before he hit the floor.
“Well, took you long enough to get a sleep spell going,” Stan said to Tal as he became visible.
“I wanted to make sure I knew what I was dealing with,” said Tal. “I was pretty sure Other Tal would never have developed magic, but I wanted to be certain before casting a spell on him. The last thing we need is complications.”
I could hear the others gathering around, though I couldn’t see all of them. Tal had concealed the ones that would have been impossible to explain to Other Tal, like Magnus and Michael.
“Yes,” said Viviane. “With that in mind, we need to get him to bed and dull his memory of the last few minutes enough that he’ll think he dreamt it all.”
“We have time to do a clean erasure and insert a false memory,” said Magnus. “Why not do that?”
“The less magic we use on him, the better,” said Carla “In our world, Tal gained magic as a result of the awakening spell, but he might have had the potential for magic even without that. I had a little unconscious magic before Alcina awakened in me.”
“That was only because you’d had four years of exposure to Tal after his magic developed,” said Magnus. “He and I both have that tendency to bring out latent magic in others, but it takes time.”
“It has been happening faster lately,” said Viviane. “And we don’t know what else he might have been exposed to with Hafez lurking nearby. After all, it took Amy less than twenty-four hours of relatively distant exposure to develop magic and spontaneously awaken a past life after Hafez primed her.
“To be safe, we use the minimum amount of magic—and we find someplace else to use as a base.”
“Yeah,” said Tal. “We need to minimize the possibility of activating any magic potential he wouldn’t understand and might not be able to cope with.”
“But where can we go?” asked Michael.
“First things first,” said Tal. “Magnus, can you do the memory work? I’ll scan Other Tal to make sure there’s nothing else to worry about.”
Tal put his fingers gently on Other Tal’s forehead and closed his eyes. He jerked as if he had been slapped.
“Damn Hafez and his traps! There’s some kind of magic implanted in Other Tal’s head, and it feels Egyptian. Amenirdis, can you discern what it does?”
Tal kept his left hand on Other Tal and extended his right hand to me. I took it, and I could see exactly what Tal was seeing.
Deep within Other Tal, magic that looked like an Apep snake was coiled, waiting.
“It’s a way for Hafez to keep Sophia under his thumb. If Hafez chose, he could kill Other Tal instantly, just by wishing him dead.”
“I feared there was something like that,” said Sophia. “I hadn’t seen a vision of it, but it is so like Hafez. Can you undo what he has done?”
Tal looked up. “We can, but we have to be careful. If Hafez crafted this spell to respond to tampering the way he did the magic in the capstones, it’s possible an attempt to break the spell might trigger it.”
“There is more to this than just Apep’s magic,” I said. “I think Hafez must have used the staff.”
“Then the safest way to lift it would be with the staff,” said Tal. “Magnus?”
“Brought it just in case,” said Magnus, walking over to where Other Tal lay. “Tal, why don’t you feed strength to Other Tal? That won’t keep the spell from killing him if it triggers, but it might keep him alive long enough for Viviane and Carla to put him in stasis.”
“Great idea,” said Tal. He moved out of Magnus’s way but kept one hand on Other Tal. Viviane and Carla moved in and touched him as well. Magnus put one hand on Other Tal and kept the other one on the staff.
None of them acted friendly—they were resolutely all business, though circumstances made that essential. At least none of them stared at me as if they wanted me dead, and they had no hesitation about including me in their efforts. Perhaps Lucas had been right.
“Amenirdis, put your hand on my shoulder,” said Magnus. “I’m going to need your guidance, and for something this precise, the physical contact is helpful.”
As soon as I touched Magnus, I could see what he was seeing, just as I had been able to before with Tal. Though they were only in their early twenties, they must have had much practice to handle magic so easily.
Unfortunately, the same was not true of Magnus’s handling of the staff. There had been no time for him to practice, and he had never even seen Hafez do what he was now attempting. I could feel his tight nerves through the connection.
“Combine the insights of Thoth and Isis,” I suggested. “That should help you analyze what Hafez has done.”
Gentle magic poked and prodded the snake, which didn’t even twitch. So far, so good.
“The spell seems pure Apep, but it looks as if making a wrong move could awaken it and kill Other Tal, just as we feared,” said Magnus.
“Do you now have a clear view of how the spell is constructed?” Magnus nodded. “Use the power of Apep to undo it—slowly.”
Another snake appeared in Other Tal and twisted around Hafez’s serpent. It began to pull gradually. The original snake twitched, and Magnus drew back.
“It would figure that Hafez would block the easiest way. What else is there?”
“Given what Set’s magic has done…” I couldn’t bring myself to say more.
“Spit it out,” said Magnus. “Now’s no time for squeamishness.”
“It may surprise you, but try the power of Set. It is he who does the most to protect Ra from being devoured by Apep during the sun’s journey.”
A desert sandstorm encircled the snake, but another serpentine twitch caused Magnus to cancel it.
“You need to kill the snake in one blow. It is said that when Ra’s boat passes into the underworld and Apep seeks to devour it, Set fetters him and spears him. That doesn’t kill Apep, who cannot die, but it does destroy him for the moment. A move like that should break the spell.”
Magnus glanced over at Sophia. “Any input?”
Though Sophia was rubbing her hands together nervously, she smiled at Magnus. “Just have faith in yourself. I know you can do this—but you need to know it, too, or you won’t be able to.”
Magnus’s nerves were as taut as a bowstring. I didn’t think he meant me to feel so much of what he was feeling, but he hadn’t had time to get much sleep. I could feel the fatigue relentlessly clawing at him.
Set’s spear flashed at the Apep serpent, but it twisted as if it would awaken before the spear could get to it, and again he pulled back at the last minute.
“I can’t seem to hit it fast enough to take it down before it triggers,” said Magnus. He was gripping the staff as if it was the only thing keeping him from plunging over a cliff.
“Amenirdis, this might work better if you would allow Magnus to access your mind directly,” said Tal. “He inherited all the effects of the knowledge potion from me, including the one that makes us able to absorb enormous amounts of information quickly. That’s how I get tech information from Stan. When I was studying healing, that’s how I get medical information from Viviane.
“If he absorbs your knowledge of Egyptian gods, he’ll be able to interact more confidently with the staff. Otherwise, it
could take weeks for him to master the basics.”
After what had happened before, I was surprised he’d make that suggestion, and even more surprised that Magnus didn’t object. Had they really started trusting me so quickly?
I wasn’t any more anxious than Amy was to have someone rummaging around in my head, but I was in no position to object. Besides, lives depended on Magnus mastering the staff.
“Whatever you need.”
I felt Magnus probing my mind, and I did my best to let him in. The process was less comfortable than being networked for power sharing or simple communication, but I gritted my teeth and managed not to fight it.
Like hundreds of sheets of papyrus caught in Amun’s wind, everything I knew about the gods blew from my mind into Magnus’s. I still remembered everything, but now so did he. If only we had possessed such magic in my time. Priests could have been trained in minutes instead of years.
The serpent in Other Tal’s head twisted for no reason. Magnus, still assimilating the mountain of information he’d drawn from me, became disoriented trying to shift quickly back to monitoring Other Tal.
The channel he had created to my mind was still open. In his moment of confusion, some of his thoughts and memories flowed through that channel into me. Though not as overwhelming as when he had been in the grip of Set’s magic, the experience was intense enough that I let go of his shoulder and stumbled backward.
“What’s wrong?” asked Lucas, reaching out to grab me if I fell.
What wasn’t wrong? Magnus was arrogant, sarcastic, sometimes even juvenile—but that was just the outer layer of the pyramid. I had thought what I had experienced before had been amplified by Set’s magic, but even without that, Magnus’s pain was so intense that experiencing it was torture.
His desire for Eva burned so intensely that the smoke from it clouded my vision and seared my lungs. His feelings for her were chiseled into a stone that the years had not eroded.
What shocked me, though, were the fantasies. Magnus saw Other Tal dying, saw himself slipping in to take his place with just a minor shapeshift.
Murder in His Heart?
Did Magnus intend to kill Other Tal deliberately? Had he wanted to do that, he had already had the opportunity. Still, magic could be tainted by the hidden desires of the one who crafts it—and only a small slip on Magnus’s part could kill Other Tal.
My horror must have shown on my face. Tal ran to my side. I was too shocked by what I had seen and felt to close off my thoughts. He may not have intended to peek into my mind, but what I had seen in Magnus’s mind was very near the surface. Tal’s eyes widened. He may not have seen everything—but he had seen enough.
“Magnus! Drop the staff!”
“What?” Magnus looked at him with dull eyes and continued to grip the staff as if letting go meant death.
“What’s up?” asked Shar, looking at Magnus suspiciously.
“Magnus is thinking about killing Other Tal so he can take his place,” said Tal. His voice was quiet, but his tone was as icy as Magnus’s futile flames of desire were hot.
“What? No, I’m not. That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? You kept me prisoner when you were trying to take my place—and the only reason you didn’t kill me then was that you needed my blood to sustain the blood double spell that created you.”
“That was years ago, and I’ve changed since then. You know I have. You’ve all seen it. Is this about before? I know what you saw while I was under the influence of Set was bad, but we all looked bad.
“Wait!” He stared straight at me, his eyes narrowing. “You did something! You’re trying to get back at me for forcing you to give me access to the staff.”
“I saw what you wanted to do in her mind,” said Tal. “But even if she had the ability to create a false memory, she didn’t have the time.”
Magnus looked around the room. I couldn’t help doing the same. I saw concern, suspicion, hostility—but little faith in Magnus. Sophia looked blank. Eva looked away. Everybody else tensed, ready to attack Magnus if needed.
“Oh, I see how it is,” said Magnus. “Dan can be forgiven for sabotaging Tal’s relationship with Eva. Carla can be forgiven for selling her soul and placing everyone else’s lives in danger. Alex can be forgiven for beating Khalid to a bloody pulp when Ares was manipulating him. Apparently, even Amenirdis can be forgiven for ripping our souls bare.”
“The jury’s still out on that one,” mumbled Gordy.
Magnus ignored him. “I’m the only one no one can ever forgive. And what’s my crime? Being what I am. Dark magic created me. But so what? I didn’t ask to be Tal’s dark side incarnate. I didn’t ask to exist at all.
“And look how far I’ve come. I rose above my fate. I became better. You’ve all seen it. But no matter what I do, I’ll never be good enough. At best, I’m tolerated. At worst, I’m suspected.”
“What I saw—” began Tal.
“I admit it. I thought about taking Other Tal’s place if he died. That’s different from wanting him dead—and way different from killing him.”
I wasn’t sure if Magnus could be trusted, but something about everyone staring at him like a hyena pack ready to pounce disturbed me.
Under other circumstances, they could be looking at me the same way. Maybe they would be later.
“What I saw—what Tal saw through me—doesn’t prove Magnus intended to kill Other Tal,” I said. “It just means he thought about what could happen. That’s different.”
“How do we know you’re not conspiring with him now?” asked Shar. “He’s used you before. What could he have offered you this time to get you to side with him?”
“When would she—” began Lucas. I raised my hand to stop him. If his friends were that angry, better they took it out on me than on him.
“So now you’re mad at her again—because she took my side?” asked Magnus. “You’re all unbelievable. Haven’t some of you thought about how convenient it would be if I died? You know you have. Not so long ago, we all saw it and felt it. But none of you have ever killed me or even tried to.”
“I wouldn’t—” began Jimmie.
“But you’ve thought about it! You’ve thought about shoving that sword of yours through my chest. You most of all. Because you know Eva doesn’t belong with you. So do I. Tal and Michael know it, too—they’re just too fake-polite to say it.
“Maybe Amenirdis did us a favor. Now none of us can deny how we really feel.”
“Magnus, that’s enough,” said Eva.
“And you,” said Magnus, pointing an accusing finger at her. “I could have learned to live with you being with Tal…even Michael. But why are you with him? That seven years of life he missed shows, Eva, it shows. He’s a boy in a man’s body.”
Jimmie had murder in his eyes, and his right hand brushed across his sword hilt, but he stayed where he was. Even Michael’s boyish face was red with rage. The pack was getting ready to spring.
“Enough!” said Sophia, her voice more commanding than I had ever heard it. “I’ve met all of you only recently—but I know you, sometimes better than you know each other. Hafez has made me study you for months.
“If magic ripped the darkest parts out of any of us and exposed that darkness to the world, it would be pretty ugly, wouldn’t it? Any human’s darkness would. You all know that better than you should have to now. So yes, Magnus has done some terrible things. He’s thought some terrible things. So have we all.
“But we don’t have to let that darkness define us. None of you have. All of you have risen above it—Magnus included.” She looked right at Tal. “Learning to forgive played a big role in that, didn’t it?
“Do you think I would have allowed Magnus within a mile of my son if I thought for even a second that he was capable of killing him?”
She walked over and hugged Magnus, whose angry face went slack with surprise. As soon as she let go, she turned to the rest of the group and pointed at Other Tal. “This is my Ta
l. This is my choice. And I say Magnus needs to be allowed to finish. He has the best chance of success. As for the rest of you, the negativity needs to stop now. The only way he can succeed is if you have his back.
“That’s also the only way any of us will survive the next twenty-four hours—together.”
Sophia’s eyes went blank, and she shuddered. She spoke—no, not her. The voice was deeper and more powerful, though it came from her mouth. “The only way to defeat Apepi is to unite against him. Only through the union of opposites can he be overcome.”
With another shudder, her eyes returned to normal, and she looked around, puzzled.
“What was that?” asked Tal. “I’ve never seen my own mom become someone else like that.”
“I suppose it must have something to do with the way Hafez forced my abilities as a seer to the surface. Your mother’s emerged in a more natural way, didn’t they? I guess that’s why we aren’t exactly the same.”
“Who was that speaking?” asked Shar.
“I never know. Higher powers use seers as mouthpieces more often than you can imagine. Now, may Magnus continue—with your full support?”
“Yes, absolutely,” said Tal. “Everyone who has a job, get back to it.” The others didn’t look happy, but the combination of Sophia and the otherworldly voice was hard to argue with.
I was still linked to Magnus, and I stood next to him, although he shouldn’t really need me. He had my knowledge of the Egyptian gods, though I could sense he was still assimilating it. Once he made it his own, he should know what powers to invoke from the staff.
“May I offer a suggestion?” asked David, moving closer.
Magnus looked up from the staff. “If it doesn’t involve casting me into outer darkness.” His tone was lacking its usual sarcasm, but nothing else had replaced it. The words were almost as toneless as if they came from Umbra.
“I have been pondering what the voice said. The ‘union of opposites’ might be a reference to you and me. I am the Lord’s anointed, and you are a priest of Amun. I am an ancient soul. You are a new one, despite the past-life memories you inherited from Taliesin. We are different in…many other ways, as well.”