And then everything began to tilt.
The pyramid, the sand, the sky. All began to slide sideways like a card table that someone had flipped over. Penelope only had a moment to panic before Domino lost his footing and they all went tumbling into the abyss.
They fell through the sky, the desert now above them. Everything else was just a jumble and a flash. Pyramid, city, palm trees. A glimpse of her sister’s red hair. Or was it Willow’s cloak? A hoof, a saddle horn. The world continued to rotate. A scream ripped from Penelope’s throat. Something rose up to meet them, a sweep of darkness, and Penelope closed her eyes…
With a rumble, everything righted itself. They weren’t falling anymore. They were standing on solid footing again. The pyramid stood before them. But they were not in the same place at all.
The bright sun had turned to purple twilight cut by the twinkling of early evening stars. The desert was gone and instead they were surrounded by an endless sea of reeds. A soft breeze moved through them, creating a soothing shhh-shhh. And the pyramid was lit by torches, dozens of them, glowing against the first blush of night.
“What just happened?” Penelope whispered.
“I—I think we shifted to an alternate…another version of this place,” Felicity answered.
They all stared up at the pyramid. It was undoubtedly the same one as before.
“Like—a copy of the other place?” Dynah asked. Her tone was hushed, like the wind through the reeds.
“I guess that’s a good way of saying it,” Felicity said with a nod.
“I can feel it,” Willow said, leaning forward in her saddle, eyes bright.
And Penelope knew what she meant by it. Because she felt it, too.
The fifth seal.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Felicity
The call of the fifth seal felt almost like catching the scent of a campfire after riding all day, and the knowledge that with fire came warmth and a meal. It was a sensation that wove around her, tickling her nose, making her mouth water. She wanted nothing more than to follow it.
But she felt something else. Sekhmet. The goddess’s power emanated in this place, as unmistakable as the heat of the sun beating down on a sweltering day. Felicity shivered in fear and in awe. If Sekhmet was personally guarding the seal, they had no chance at all. As a Rider, she held significant power. But it was nothing, nothing, compared to this.
“This is a fool’s errand,” Dynah said softly from her left.
“I always was a fool,” Willow said. “No point stopping now.”
“It’s true,” Penelope said. “If we give up, the Apocalypse happens and we’re victims of it like everyone else.”
Felicity flicked out her tongue to moisten her lips. Her mouth had run dry. “I suppose it’s not a matter of ending, but how we choose to end.”
Dynah lifted her head, sat back in the saddle. “Well. I never did allow another woman intimidate me.”
She shot Felicity a smile and kicked out of her stirrups before dismounting. Felicity and the others followed suit, leaving the horses amidst the reeds. They began the hike toward the pyramid, stepping carefully to avoid the marshy bits of soil where mud squished up around their boots. The pungent smell of decaying plant matter stung Felicity’s nose as they walked.
The near night provided the perfect cover for their covert approach. As the pyramid loomed over them, Felicity scanned left and right for other living things. Her heart climbed into her throat as she caught sight of a giant monster sitting next to the pyramid, but a moment later she realized it was a stone sphinx. The cat-headed monument seemed to be made of obsidian, gleaming in the torchlight like a black panther. Above it, the stone of the pyramid glowed a faint golden color. Magic pulsed off of it, almost as strong as that of Sekhmet herself.
Felicity saw the first guard just before they left the cover of the reeds, which stopped abruptly about twenty feet from the base of the temple. Not just one, but dozens of them. They were not human. Some had the heads of lions, others hawks, others jackals. Their bodies seemed to be made of stone. Skin dark and perfectly smooth, muscles perfectly defined. Each carried a tall bronze staff with a piece of jade at the top.
The call of the seal came from beneath the temple. This time it really was underground, and not just guiding them to this copy of reality where Sekhmet still reigned. Felicity could almost see it, a glowing trail of light, stretching between her and the pyramid, illuminating one of the entrances in the side of the rock.
An entrance, of course, guarded by half a dozen of Sekhmet’s servants.
But beyond…
“There,” Dynah said, pointing toward the rear of the temple.
A smaller entrance with only two guards. Whereas the first entrance was three men tall and six wide, framed by many torches, the second looked like a mere crevice in the stone, lit by a single flame. The Riders crept through the reeds until they were level with the second doorway.
“Shall I?” Willow asked, pointing toward the two guards.
“No,” Penelope said. “Way too noisy. As would be my power if they start coughing up a storm.”
“Well, I don’t want to kill them,” Dynah said, placing a hand on her chest in dismay.
“I can do it,” Felicity said.
She raised her right hand, pointing it toward the guards, and she thought hunger. Instantly they began to shrivel, to shrink. Their muscles lost their firmness, their cheeks hollowed out, they lost the strength to hold their weapons. Felicity felt a pang of guilt as they both slowly crumpled to their knees in the sand. After a moment they just lay there, too weak to move or call out.
“Good job,” Penelope said, though it made Felicity wince.
They didn’t waste further time. Willow darted out of the reeds and made for the door, and the rest followed. Felicity glanced up at the enormity of the pyramid as she stepped through the threshold, letting the thing swallow them whole. Darkness greeted them.
They used the call of the seal to guide them, moths to flame. The dark tunnel they had entered soon split, one going up and one going down. They took the tunnel that led below the earth. Stone steps took them down a level. At the next landing, they could see the glow of torches and Felicity paused behind Willow as they peered out. A huge room sprawled before them. Dozens of passages and stairwells stemmed off of it, an endless maze. Runes and hieroglyphics covered the floor, the walls, the pillars holding up the ceiling.
The call led them across the room and down another flight of stairs. With each step she took, each step further into the depths, Felicity could feel her power growing. She didn’t know why she had a connection to the earth as a Rider, but she welcomed it now. Her senses were alive and alert, not just physical, but magical. She could taste the sand that made the blocks that made the temple. Smell the time and history in them. Feel the shimmer of magic across the whole pyramid, a power both connected to and distinct from Sekhmet’s own. Even in the dim lighting, she could see like a hawk. Not just the strange glowing trail of the seal, but everything around her.
Even deeper they went. It would take them weeks to explore the vastness of this place had they not felt the call of the seal. Felicity had initially been surprised that they didn’t have more guards posted, but now she knew why. The pyramid was its own guard. A labyrinth of darkness and sand and magic.
And then she felt the call of something else, quite abruptly, as they crossed through one of the huge rooms that connected the maze of tunnels and stairs.
She stopped in her tracks, and Dynah nearly ran into the back of her.
“What is it?” she asked, cocking her head to the side quizzically.
So, she was the only one who felt it. Felicity swallowed the lump in her throat. “I need to do something,” she said.
“Do what?” Willow asked, looking at her as if she was crazy.
And maybe she was. Crazy for even letting a flame of hope blossom in her chest. “There’s something else here in this temple, something that
can help us. I need to find it.”
When the others continued to stare at her, she said, “You can go on. Find the seal. I’ll catch up to you.”
“I’ll go with you,” Dynah said. “Willow and Penelope can find the seal.”
Willow narrowed her eyes at the two of them, but Penelope placed her hand on her best friend’s arm. “It’s probably safer if we split up anyway. Less likely to get caught.”
“Fine,” Willow said. “But just remember—in and out as fast as we can. It was your idea.”
Felicity nodded. “I won’t be long.”
Penelope tugged on Willow’s arm and they continued, following the glow down another flight of steps toward the seal. Felicity knew the seal wasn’t much further. Down one more level, and a bit to the east. She could feel the pulse of it like her own blood. Her new destination wasn’t far, either. She turned and strode across the room in the opposite direction.
“Where are we going?” Dynah asked, trotting to catch up.
“I’ll show you when we get there,” Felicity said.
The door to the room was hidden by magic, but Felicity saw it clear as day. She didn’t know how or why she could sense it and the others couldn’t. But it whispered to her, a voice she couldn’t turn away from. She took Dynah’s hand and stepped through what appeared to be a solid wall. It swirled like mist as they crossed through it, and she heard Dynah let out a small gasp of wonder.
As libraries go, it was about as opposite as possible from those she’d seen before. No straight wooden bookcases in neat rows. No leather-bound or paperback texts. It looked more like a grotto. The same sandstone columns found in the other rooms of the temple, but the symmetry of the place was off. Whereas the rest of the temple had been all straight and concise lines, the walls of the library curved like a note of music.
The books themselves were made from thin stone tablets or sheets of crystal. They sat in carved stone nooks in the wall. Another section of the wall was pocked with holes filled with hundreds of papyrus scrolls. There was also a stone table in the center of the room, and on this sat several books, including the one which called to her.
“What is this place?” Dynah whispered, her blue eyes wide as she took it all in.
“I think it’s Sekhmet’s library,” Felicity said. “Or one of them.”
She crossed to the table, to the book which hummed and murmured. It was quite small, perhaps six inches in height, with a cover made from a thin slab of dark gray stone. With trembling fingers, Felicity touched the cool surface. The book opened, the papyrus pages fluttered, and when it stilled again, the runes on the page glowed green.
Dynah stood at her shoulder, so close Felicity could smell her hair. “How are you supposed to read that? It’s… symbols. Not English.”
“Runes,” Felicity said softly.
It was quite true that she couldn’t read ancient Egyptian runes. Except that these runes wanted to be read. As she stared at them, they morphed and rearranged themselves, forming into words on the page that she could understand.
“Do you see that?” Felicity breathed.
Dynah frowned. “I still see the same thing.”
Felicity ignored this for a moment, her eyes poring over the pages. “It’s a spell,” she said. “For turning dark powers to light. A spell of transformation.”
The lines on Dynah’s face deepened. “I don’t understand.”
“If there’s any hope of us getting out of this,” Felicity explained, “We have to learn to use our powers for good. What kind of a future do we have if all we can do is create chaos and discord?”
“You mean… I could still have power, but use it for something other than controlling the dead, and causing death?”
Felicity took Dynah’s hand and squeezed her fingers. “Exactly what I mean. A chance for a future. And what’s more, I think with this spell we could not just stop, but reverse, the Apocalypse.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dynah
“Reverse the Apocalypse?” Dynah echoed.
Deep down in this room, far below the surface of the earth where she felt so very far from the stars, Dynah felt a surge of light.
“Yes,” Felicity said. “I’d have to figure out how to work the spell first—I mean, it’s not like I’ve ever done something like that before.”
“Don’t you just read spells out loud?” Dynah felt like she’d read this somewhere, in a fable or fairytale.
Felicity shook her head. “I don’t think so. Not something like this. It requires certain objects to go along with the spell, and certain conditions.” She turned the book sideways, squinted at the pages. “It says something about the moon I don’t quite understand. But it’s a start.”
“If we could reverse the Apocalypse… do you mean undo all the damage we caused? All the lives we ended?” Dynah felt a tightness in her chest. Would that bring her father back to life? Her father, but not her mother. Because her mother had died at his hand.
“I think it’s possible. I need to study this book more,” Felicity said. “Maybe find someone who can help us understand it.”
“A future,” Dynah said. She let out a huff of laughter.
“What’s funny?” Felicity asked, frowning.
“Just…” Dynah hesitated. “It’s stupid.”
“I don’t think anything you say is stupid,” Felicity said earnestly.
“Well, like we talked about last night in the tent. When I think of the future I wanted most just a couple weeks ago, it’s so utterly absurd. You know. Finding a husband. Being a good wife. Getting a huge ranch with lots of horses.”
Felicity made a face. “Well, the ranch part sounds nice.”
Dynah giggled. “One out of three.”
A laugh parted Felicity’s lips as well. “You’d make a terrible wife.”
“What?” Dynah swatted her. “What makes you say that?!”
“I can’t see you obeying any man. Since when have you ever?”
“I suppose that’s true.” Except for her father. She’d had to obey him, or else. Right up until the end. “Tell me more,” she said to Felicity, because she could feel the darkness of those memories sucking at her, and she didn’t want to let them in.
“Well,” Felicity said, turning from Dynah and bending over the pages of the book, “If we can learn to control our powers, use them how we want to use them…”
She trailed off, face serious as she leaned over the book, one finger hovering over the words, moving along with her eyes. The light from the torches gleamed on one of her black curls, which had come loose and lay along her cheekbone. Dynah realized how pretty she was, and for once, she didn’t feel jealous or threatened by another woman’s beauty.
Felicity straightened, looking at Dynah. “I think we can each learn how to flip our powers. Like, I could create food and water. And you could bring people back from death, instead of causing it. It says here,” and her finger stabbed at the page, “that the number four means creation. Instead of weaving destruction, we could save humanity.”
“It makes a bit of sense,” Dynah said slowly. “I remember that day we ran into each other— literally—outside of the alleyway in Hawk’s Hollow, and then when we touched, our magic sparked between us. And it didn’t feel dark or bad.”
“It was quite lovely, in fact.”
Felicity held her palm up between them, and Dynah raised hers to meet it. Energy moved between them, just like that day. It had seemed an impossibility at the time, and she’d been frightened. But now her fear was gone. She knew what magic was now, and she understood the bond she shared with Felicity. So, she stood and basked in the wonder of it, watching as the sparks reflected in Felicity’s dark eyes. She didn’t miss the stars half as much when they were right here in front of her.
Dynah reached out her other hand and touched the dark curl hanging along Felicity’s cheekbone, swept it gently out of the way. Her magic left a trail of effervescence along Felicity’s skin, and they both sighed a
t the same time. Dynah took a step closer, her hip brushing against Felicity’s…
A great rumbling shook the temple.
The floor rocked, and sand sifted down from the ceiling above. Dynah and Felicity’s heads snapped toward the door in unison, toward the glowing path they’d been following before taking a detour.
“The seal,” Dynah groaned.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Willow
At the bottom of the stairs, Willow stopped and sucked in a breath. Behind her, she could hear Penelope gasp.
A long, high-ceilinged chamber stretched before them. It rose three times as tall as the other rooms beneath the pyramid. The sandstone pillars stretching from floor to ceiling looked like massive cypress tree trunks, inlaid with glowing runes and beetles. Rose quartz tiles made up the floor itself, emitting a faint pink shimmer. Far, far in the distance, two giant statues stood at the other end of the room, one with the head of a jackal, and one with the head of a hawk.
But it was none of those things that made them stand and stare.
It was the universe of stars that hung in the space between them and their destination.
The whole room was filled with them. They shifted ever so slowly, as if rotating around a sun. Not just stars but milky ways and black holes and constellations. Each sparkled, casting a pale illumination over the room. Willow thought she could hear them singing, just the faintest of sounds in the silence.
“I think we found the right place,” Penelope said.
Willow nodded. Even if they hadn’t still felt the tug of the seal, it was obvious this was a special room.
They began to walk down the length of the chamber. It was rather huge. Willow realized, with growing impatience, that she was quite used to riding her horse everywhere. Walking took forever. She considered breaking into a jog, but she wanted to stay alert in case there were guards posted at the seal. And because she had to avoid running into the stars.
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