by Allie Burton
And now it was too late.
I gritted my teeth and spat. “Xander warned me about you.”
“Xander played his own game.” X snuck a glance back. His gaze gleamed with a sharp light that made me shiver. “Xander knew there was a way to end the burn out.”
“No, he didn’t.” He thought the oils were involved, but he didn’t know for sure. How dare X try to tarnish my image of Xander. He cared about me, possibly loved me. “And he didn’t believe you knew how to end the curse either.”
“You found the Society’s plans, didn’t you?”
I remembered how I’d found the instructions on the computer and printed them. I’d read most of the information, but Xander had ripped off part of one page.
The scene in the library came back to me. Xander pulling out books from the bookshelf at random and sending me to the computer. How he led me to the worship room called the Holy of Holies. How I fell against the Nilometer and he looked inside…
How did he know to look inside?
Doubts tick-tick-ticked in my head, like loyalties clashing back and forth and back and forth. I didn’t know what to believe. I thought I could trust Fitch and I’d been wrong. Dead wrong. Could I trust my instincts anymore? Could I trust Xander?
X’s harsh laughter bounced around the enclosed car mocking me. “The boy knew all seven oils were needed to complete the process.”
Xander had known every oil’s name and use.
“He knew the oils had to be mixed with sand from the Nile in a special chalice under lock and key.”
Xander had mentioned needing to keep the oils separate until they’d found all seven.
“He believed only the Society had access to the chalice.” X shook his head back and forth and back and forth as if indicating I’d been an idiot about Xander.
Xander had been vague about his plans to bargain with the Society. Could it have been his position for the oils and my life?
“He was bringing you back to the Society.”
Each word X spoke was like a slap to the face. Every inch of my skin stung. My heart numbed with bitterness. My brain shocked by the reality.
Xander had lied to me. Used me. Betrayed me.
No. He’d been upset by my betrayal. He’d only been angry because I’d called Fitch ruining his plans. That’s all. If I hadn’t pushed him away, he would’ve stayed by my side. He would’ve protected me. He cared about me. Didn’t he?
Listen to your heart. Tut whispered.
I remembered Tut and his bride and how they’d been mistaken about each other’s feelings. How their hurt had cascaded by not opening themselves to each other.
An image of Xander’s smile when we’d danced in the bay soothed my temper. His protective stance on Lombard Street made me feel safe. His kiss in the fountain warmed my heart. His caring for my needs when he brought me food lightened my soul.
I loved him. I had to trust him. I should listen to my heart like Tut said or even my good memories of Xander would be gone.
“The Society didn’t know how to end the curse.” They’d said so in the park. “They planned to use my power and let it burn out.” Let me die.
“Imbeciles.” X slammed the steering wheel. “They never trusted my research. Refused to invest in it. Never cared what happened to the host.”
My gaze took in my current circumstances. “And you do?”
“I used to. Now, I care what happens to the power.” X exited the highway and swung a u-turn to head back over the Golden Gate Bridge, back to San Francisco. At least X had been honest about his evil intent.
“And you’re not bringing me back to the Society?”
“No, we’re going to the museum.”
Reverse. My thoughts tumbled to the day this all started. The day I’d been led by Fitch to the slaughter. The day I’d first seen Xander and noticed his eyes. The day my entire future had changed.
“Why?” Why return to the scene of the crime?
“The chalice is there.” X’s harsh laughter ricocheted around the enclosed space of the car. “I need the chalice to end the burn out and control the power.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Tut and my stories, our relationships, and our deceits wove together like a tapestry of mistakes. Tut had deceived Ankhesenamen by not telling her he abused the powers of the sun. By not being honest, he’d hurt the woman he loved.
Xander had been against me calling Fitch, but I’d done it anyhow. Just like Tut had done to Ankenhesenam. Tut’s mistakes mirrored my own.
Openness and honesty should’ve set both mine and Tut’s course. But we’d deceived, played it safe, not expressed our true feelings to the one closest to our hearts. And because of it both of us will end up alone.
Xander and I were supposed to be souls united. Instead we were lost souls.
Entering the museum just before dawn, I tried to shake off the sluggishness of my muscles as the two goons guided me to the back door of the museum. I would not go along with their plan. Ending the burn out was the only thing I’d agree to. I would not let them use me to rule the world or whatever scheme X had in mind. I’d make my own decisions.
We were greeted by a pale-faced museum employee with a nervous nod. The man let us in the backdoor without a word. He unarmed a new security system, unlocked the exhibit, and left. Ducking under the yellow crime scene tape, we entered the Tut exhibit.
I squinted from the harsh fluorescent lights’ glare, the exact opposite of the first time I’d been in this room. The hieroglyphics on the sarcophagus screamed that this was the final resting place of a beloved cat, because now I could read the ancient lettering. We walked right past the case with the now-missing amulet. Instead, X led the way to a lighted case holding an elaborately designed alabaster cup.
The case was open and I read the hieroglyphic text surrounding the rim of the cup. A wish that King Tut spend millions of years…sitting with his face to the north wind and his eyes beholding beauty.
Ha. Only I knew that he was in his own form of purgatory hearing Ankhesenamen’s voice but unable to reach her. While Ankhesenamen spent eternity searching for him.
The cup handles featured flowers and buds of the lotus holding a male figure on one side and a female figure on the other. Each held a symbol for eternal life. The unreadable artist signature at the base lay just above the name of the person who commissioned the piece.
Ankhesenamen.
My heart ached for the lonely queen. Had she hoped to end Tut’s curse before her death? Had she asked the priests of both religions to help? Had this cup sat empty for centuries waiting for the oils?
X lifted the cup and placed it on the cat sarcophagus I’d hidden inside only a few nights ago.
The goons pushed me forward. I struggled against them to show resistance. Still, I didn’t plan to run yet. First, I needed to see how X planned to stop the burn out.
X pulled a sealed plastic bag out of his pocket holding glossy, black sand. He opened the bag and held it up. “Sand from the banks of the Nile.”
“Did you want to make sand castles?” I couldn’t show him my curiosity. I had to taunt him like poking a stick at a caged animal. If I riled him, maybe I’d figure out my next step.
“I’m creating a power controller.” X’s eyes flashed with intelligence and satisfaction. “I call it the Sol Control.”
“Control of what?” My muscles tightened and my brain ran around in circles. I needed to appear to go along until the burn out ended, but before the control of my powers began. “You said you once cared about the person hosting Tut’s soul.”
“I did. That’s how this started.” X scratched his chin. He looked anywhere but at me. “I had to do some unscrupulous things to pay for travel to Egypt to complete my research, and I realized the Society didn’t care about me or about whoever hosted the soul. Saving your life should be gift enough.”
“Not if it’s not my life to live. If I’m enslaved.” If the world suffered.
“Save the
drama for when we contact the President.” X took off the gold gloves. “Hand me the oils one at a time.”
Goon One zipped open Xander’s backpack and handed over one of the oils.
X opened the vessel and sniffed like a taster smelling fine wine. Just like Xander had done to each of the oils when we’d found them. Then, X poured the first oil on top of the sand in the cup. “Mixing the seven essential oils with sand from Egypt is the base to achieve full power and to save you from burning up.”
Yay. My needs came first.
“Didn’t Xander tell you?” X’s merry voice hit the bull’s-eye on my heart. “Oh that’s right, he deceived you.”
I ignored his snide remarks, ignored my bruised heart.
“The Society thought they had everything planned. Use the host’s power to take control of the world and then let the poor sap burn out. Once they controlled the world they didn’t care.” X took another vessel and poured it into the cup. He looked like a sorcerer creating a magical potion. “They didn’t count on me.”
I could plan my escape by asking questions about what I needed to know. “What happened to all the other guys, the other Xanders, they wanted to use over time? Where did they go?”
X snarled and shrugged his shoulders. “The chant was read on the night of their summer solstices. Without the eclipse, each of them ceased to exist.” He opened another vessel and poured. “The poor suckers.”
Obviously, X didn’t really care about the other Xanders. If my Xander had been with me on the bridge, the goons probably would’ve tossed him off. My heart stuttered at the image of Fitch going over the rail.
“If you cared about the future host now or in the past, why are you trying to control me?” Panic pushed my voice higher.
“That was a side benefit.” X poured another oil into the chalice. “While researching how to stop the burn out I discovered a method to physically control whoever did host the soul.” X hummed between his words. “And I thought if I stopped the host from burning up, they might possibly turn on me. Like the Society.”
“How did you plan to get Xander away from the Society?”
“I didn’t.” A one-sided smile appeared on X’s face. “I bought my own sixteen-year-old.”
I fisted my hands at my sides. Anger blazed, but no flames shot out. X’s motives had started out kind of pure, to save the host of Tut. Somewhere along the way he’d grown bitter and controlling. I focused on the movement of his hands to calm my increasing fury. He’d already poured three of the oils.
A shock wave surged through me. “I don’t have all seven oils.”
“I’ve got the Fo-ti-tieng.” X removed the small round vessel from his jacket pocket.
“How did you know that one was missing?” The only person I’d told was Fitch. He must’ve told X. This small betrayal cut deeper.
“As a former member of the Society, I knew where some of the oils were located. I wanted to experiment with this particular one.” He held up a vessel I had never seen before and smelled before pouring it into the cup. “Part of my research.”
Goon One handed another vessel over.
“That’s all it takes to stop me from burning up? The oils and sand?” Even though Xander had told me the oils were important, I didn’t realize they’d literally meant my life and death. I would’ve been the one slugging around the backpack if I’d known. I wouldn’t have let them out of my sight.
X poured the fifth oil. “Tut’s soul is transferred and held in the special chalice. When combined with the essential oils and sand from the Nile, and then heated with the sun, the power is sucked and held inside the glass orb that will be formed.”
If he was right, then I wouldn’t burn out. A flame of hope sparked. X acted so sure of himself. His confidence was like that of an experienced pickpocket. No dawdling, no tentative moves.
“What are the other steps?” I leaned forward. Once all the steps were complete, the burn out would stop. Then, I’d run. Surveying the nearby objects, I decided what could be used as a weapon.
“You’ll see.” Pouring the sixth oil, his voice held an edge.
I didn’t like the way he sounded. Didn’t like what he wasn’t saying. It couldn’t be this simple. “What’s in it for you?”
“The same things are needed to stop the burn out and to create the master controller.” X poured the seventh and final oil into the cup.
My nerves stood on the edge of a cliff like I was about to be pushed off the edge. “What exactly does this master controller do?” I didn’t like the sound of it.
“The Sol Control will be like a remote for the TV.” X’s monster-like smile felt like a claw in my back.
Pain slashed my skin as the claw pushed me over the edge. Air whooshed out of my lungs like I was falling into my own personal disaster.
“Except the Sol Control will control you.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“No!” The scream tore out of me.
The goons grabbed my arms leading me closer to the cup. The mesh of their gloves dug into my skin as I struggled. I dragged my feet on the shiny floor.
I barely felt the outer pain. My insides ripped apart and lay torn and tattered in the pit of my stomach. My mind numbed. Dark shadows tromped over my future. Seconds earlier I’d had high hopes that the burn out would be ended and I’d somehow be free. That I’d find a way to escape. But now?
“Control me how?” My voice shook, but I held my head high.
Proud until your final moment.
Final moment? I gulped.
I had to change my destiny. I would not end up like Tut.
“Once the Sol Control is created, I will control you and your power.” X swirled the alabaster cup around. “I will tell you when to make the sun shine, when to dehydrate the San Francisco Bay, when to provide an example of how I could destroy the world.”
Horror leached into my skin. “No.” I would never allow X to control me. I didn’t want to ruin the environment, the natural balance of things. “Why would you want to do that?”
“For the same reason the Society did.” X held up the cup. “Money. Respect. Power.”
“People won’t respect you. They’ll be scared of you.”
“They’ll listen to me.”
I tried to cross my arms but the goons yanked them back down. “I won’t let you.”
Anger at the goons, at X, at my situation burned inside. My internal fire flared. Each of their actions was like a stick of dynamite in my soul. I wanted to scream and rant and rave.
“You don’t have a choice.” X leered.
I wanted to explode. None of that would help. I needed to stay calm, to listen, to continue to search for a way out.
“Spit into the cup,” X ordered.
“Why?” I smushed my lips together tight. No way would I comply with his request. He couldn’t make me spit.
“Since you now host King Tut’s soul, I need his essence for this to work.” X sounded like a teacher talking to a dumb student. “His essence provides the heat, the power, for the glass to form.”
I shook my head and backed up. X couldn’t make me. He might have me trapped, but I still had control over my bodily functions. My spit might end the burn out, but it would give him control over me. “No.”
“You don’t want to burn up and die, do you?” X sounded so logical. “If you don’t create the Sol Control you will die a slow and painful death.”
And if I did help create the controller, I’d put the world into X’s hands and destroy the environment in the process. I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t want to be the cause of massive destruction either. My tummy gnawed back and forth. Agreeing, I’d be under X’s control forever. Refusing I’d be a hero, albeit an unknown, dead one. “No.”
“If you don’t provide your saliva, I can always cut your arm and take drops of your blood.” X sounded like a vampire from a bad scary movie.
My stomach turned, folded in on itself. Blood made me squeamish. Cutting me wou
ld make me weaker. I needed all my strength to escape. Moistening my lips, I gathered the saliva in my mouth. I glowered at the cup debating. Lifting my head, I spit.
Aim. Shoot. Fire.
I spit straight across the cup at X. The lugie hit him square in the chest. Elation powered through me and I smirked. Having a guy’s soul inside me had taught me how to do that.
Nice shot. Tut cheered me on, letting me know I wasn’t alone.
X’s expression hardened. His eyes held a scary glint. He dropped his chin to examine my saliva sliding down his leather jacket. Grabbing the lid of the last vessel, he sent me a disgusted look. Then, he scraped the lugie off the leather and dropped it in the cup.
My spot of defiance hadn’t stopped him. My elation plummeted like my spit. X now had the final ingredient.
Smoke rose from the cup. Colors swirled, mixing and combining like a wacky rainbow. My gaze followed the motion unwillingly entranced. I couldn’t take my gaze off of this creation. The contents glowed with a strange aura.
A light flashed sending a bolt of lightning through the room. I flinched from the heat.
The goons’ hold loosened. X watched with an awed expression on his face.
A sphere formed in the cup. Colors of red and blue and yellow shaped the orb. The colors flamed and burned into a bright yellow. The shiny ball rose on a layer of smoke like the sun on a cloudy day.
I’d never seen anything so fantastical. I held my breath as the orb rose above the alabaster cup and floated like a balloon.
X stepped toward the globe. “Did you know glass was first developed around the time of King Tut’s reign?” He angled his head examining the glass globe of sun. “The golden glass will act like a controller.”
“You can’t control a king.” Or a pharaoh. Or me.
“While I was promised to host King Tut, the conditions weren’t right the year I turned sixteen.” X’s voice grew bitter. His eyebrows came together in a straight line mourning the loss of his own power. “The Society didn’t even read the chant, already knowing through advances in science that an eclipse would not happen on the summer solstice of that year. I became a regular person, just another man in the Society.”