Pi poked at it with a finger, eliciting a grimace from her sister. "My skin feels hard here, like it's rotting or something."
"We need the Rod," said Aurie. "No second chances. We have to find this thing and fast."
"Let's go," she said.
The scarab curse ached and gave her a limp, but she could move, assuming she didn't have to do any sprinting.
A wisp went bobbing ahead, revealing a larger room filled with dozens of sarcophaguses. On the left wall, a painting depicted a pharaoh standing at the head of a vast field, a crook raised above his head. Men carried away bountiful grain in baskets. A line of infirm were lined up to see the pharaoh.
On the right side, a painting showed the pharaoh at the head of a huge army with a flail held above his head. Lightning shot down from the sky, driving his enemies before him, charring the nearest to dust.
A pile of bones and bronze armor at the opening to the room cracked into dust the moment Pi put a boot to them. She pulled her shirt over her mouth.
"I hope there aren't any mummies in there," said Pi.
"There won't be mummies in those. Probably old food and other stuff in preparation for the afterlife. The bones were guards they'd left in here," said Aurie.
"Bastards," said Pi, thinking about the poor souls stuffed in a tomb just because some idiot thought they would need them in the afterlife.
The next room glittered as the light from the wisp reflected off the jewelry piled on a stone table. Other tables had tin-glazed pottery depicting the pharaohs bestowing wheat upon the bowing peasants. Aurie grabbed her arm before Pi could move towards them.
"Don't touch," said Aurie. "We can't take anything out of here except for the Rod."
"I guess I'm going to have to earn my testing fee the hard way," said Pi, eyeing the jewelry. It had to be worth millions.
The black rot on her leg had moved past her knee. She ripped her jeans further upward to see how far it had spread. The flesh was growing harder, shiny and black.
The next hall had figures of guards painted onto the walls. More bones and bronze armor covered the floor.
"I bet those guards were supposed to attack us," said Pi.
"The magic faded with time. Let's hope the rest of the tombs have lost their protections too," said Aurie.
"Don't count on it. Those beetles were still alive," said Pi.
The lack of dust in the next hall gave them pause. Painted sarcophaguses were set in a circle, each one pointed out like flower petal. Gilded Canopic jars rested in shelves built into the walls.
"It looks like a museum diorama, except they have the colors a little wrong," said Pi. "Let's go, I can't wait all day."
Aurie grabbed her arm before she could move in. "Pi! Do I have to always look out for you?"
"I saved you from the beetles, didn't I?" said Pi, then noticed that Aurie was staring downward with a frown hooked to her lips. The floor had faint lines running through it like circuits in silicon.
"I didn't see it," said Pi absently.
"The earrings revealed them since they're magic. Normal torchlight would have failed to see them," said Aurie, cracking her knuckles just like she was about to perform a piano concerto. She coaxed her wisp over and whispered to it until it glowed brighter. When she was finished, a room covered in circuits and runes shimmered in the mage light.
"Shit," said Pi in admiration. "This is some serious mojo. Look at those designs on the far side. The circuits all connect to it."
Six prominent runes formed a circle: crossed feathers, the eye of Horus, the crook and flail, the jackal, and the lion. The many lines running through the floor, ceiling, and walls connected to the six runes. The intended magic of the runes was unknown, since it predated modern magic by a few thousand years.
"It's some sort of elaborate trap or puzzle. It could take hours to figure out," said Aurie.
"I don't think I have hours," said Pi.
The flesh around her knee and calf was as hard as black stone. She could barely flex her knee.
Aurie pulled out the notebook, muttering incoherently to herself. Pi examined the runes and lines as best as she could from outside the room.
She pulled a piece of bright green construction paper from her backpack and quickly folded it into an origami bird, a trick Orson had taught her in trade for help with his magic of materials studies.
With a bit of faez she breathed life into it, and sent it fluttering towards the runes on the other side. The bright green origami bird impacted with the top rune shaped like a feather.
A red glow raced out from the feather rune, zipping across the circuits until they contacted a sarcophagus. The painted stone lid ground open, and a jackal-headed warrior threw its leg over the edge, headed towards them.
"Pythia!"
"I'm trying to figure it out!" she exclaimed, backing down the hallway.
The jackal-headed warrior raised its spear as it marched forward. They each blasted it with magic, neither blows affecting it.
"It's made of stone," said Aurie.
They kept backing up. Aurie pulled a rope out of her backpack and whispered to it. The rope leapt out of her hand like a snake, slithering towards the stone warrior, who ignored it. The rope wrapped around the guardian's legs, cinching tighter until it teetered.
"With me," said Aurie, and together they blasted the jackal-headed warrior, knocking it onto its back. The impact broke the stone warrior in half, silencing its advance.
Aurie turned to Pi, a disgusted look on her face. "Can't you just wait for me? You're always charging into danger, and I have to save you."
Pi shrunk away from the words. "I'm the one who's cursed," she said quietly.
"I'm sorry, Pi. I'm just freaked out. I can't lose my little sister," said Aurie. "We learned something about the room, anyway."
They returned to the edge. The red glow had disappeared.
"Any ideas?" asked Aurie.
"I don't know, but I think I'm turning into one of those stone warriors," she said, poking her thigh. "On the other hand, I've never had muscles this tight. I bet I could win a competition or something."
Aurie was looking at her with tears in her eyes, bringing water to her own. "Oh, don't look at me like that, Aurie. We need to stay focused. We're going to beat this."
"That's what I'm supposed to be saying," said Aurie.
"When are you going to let me grow up? Or are you always going to try and be mom and dad?" asked Pi, internally cringing at the edge to her voice.
"Is that why you went to Coterie instead of Arcanium? To get away from me?" asked Aurie.
Feeling a little raw, Pi said, "Partially yes. I mean, it's not the main reason, but it certainly played a part."
It was Aurie's turn to recoil. Her arms retracted until she was hugging herself. Pi tried to think of a suitable apology, but the words wouldn't come. Great, I'm going to turn into a piece of stone while my sister hates me for being ungrateful.
Eventually, Aurie said in a low voice, "Let's figure this room out before something else happens."
It was clear the something else wasn't another triggering of the trap, but more truths between them. As Aurie put her nose back into the notebook, Pi reached a hand out to touch her sister, but shoved it in her pocket instead.
"I think I've got it," said Aurie after a few minutes. "These runes exist in other parts of the Valley of Kings on other tombs, mainly the primary wielders of the Rod of Dominion. My guess is they have to be touched in the chronological order that they ruled. A guess, but I'm not sure anything else makes sense."
"Shall I use the bird again?" asked Pi.
Aurie nodded reluctantly, which salted her wounds even more. With guidance from her sister, Pi flew the origami bird across the room and touched them in the order given: lion, eye of Horus, the jackal, crossed feathers, and crook and flail. At each one, silver light glistened through the circuits, until the final rune was pressed. Then a stone door formed in the wall where the runes were located, and s
plit in two, revealing a room beyond.
"Way to go, Aurie," said Pi.
"Way to go, Mom and Dad," said Aurie. "We couldn't have gotten through this without their notes."
The size of the next room surprised Pi. It was about one hundred feet square. Each wall contained three stone arches that went into darkness. Stone urns sat between each exit.
After sending the wisps around the room to check for hidden traps, they went in themselves. Pi's leg was almost completely stone, forcing her to limp as if she had a cast on it. She figured she had an hour or two before she was a statue, and somehow she didn't think she'd be able to move anymore then.
They peered into the arches without going into them, but couldn't see anything beyond a few feet. Sandstone brick walls, mostly. They were debating sending a wisp inside one, when a flicker of movement at the entrance caught Pi's attention.
She turned, expecting an attacking scarab, or jackal-headed stone warrior, only to find a man in a shimmering shield instead.
It was her patron, Malden Anterist. He'd followed them into the portal, and they'd practically led him to the Rod. Pi felt like a giant idiot.
Aurie finally noticed Pi staring. "What are you looking...?"
She readied a spell, until Pi motioned for caution. Her patron hadn't moved, or spoken. He was watching them. Pi felt her life hang in the balance. There was no way they could battle him and win. But she couldn't let him take the Rod, especially when her life depended on it.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The man in the shimmering shield made Aurie twitchy. He'd been there the day her parents had died. Might have even caused it.
Had it been anyone other than Malden Anterist, the patron of Coterie, she would have sent torrents of rage magic after him, but even her anger wasn't that stupid.
"Reveal yourself, Malden. We know who you are. We know you were in our house the day our parents died," Aurie shouted, her voice cracking at the end.
The man in the shimmering shield took a few steps forward. Aurie eyed the archway, wondering if it were safe on the other side.
Then the shield dropped, revealing a younger man that Aurie didn't recognize, but she knew in an instant that it wasn't Malden Anterist.
"Professor Augustus?" asked Pi, the disbelief making her sister stumble on her words.
He adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses, looking like a nervous suitor preparing to ask someone's father for a date with his daughter.
"My apologies, Pythia," said the professor. "And greetings to you, Aurelia."
"Wait," said Pi, shaking her head. "You were the one I saw that day? I always thought I'd just remembered wrong."
Professor Augustus kneaded his hands together as if he were preparing bread.
"The runic switches," said Pi, jamming her finger in his direction. "You had us make them so you could get in here."
Other connections formed, and the words stumbled out of Aurie's lips as she made them. "That was why you were coming to visit my parents. You were the one who'd made the switches. But then you turned on them and killed them."
"No. No," said Augustus, holding his hands up, palms open. "I brought them the switches. Then the house exploded. I was saved, but not by my hand."
The truth hit her squarely in the chest, knocking her to her knees. She had killed her parents with her lack of control. She'd always held out hope that Pi had been right. Which she had been, just not in the way she'd wanted.
Pi tugged on her shoulder, forcing her to return to her feet. "Don't listen to him." Then to Augustus. "Why are you following us?"
The professor took a mincing step forward, just one. He glanced up, either unsure or to gauge their reaction.
"I was friends with your parents back then. Not close, but we knew each other in the Halls. We were on the same team during the second-year games. They asked me to make the switches for them. After their death, and my near immolation, I was curious why they needed them. Never really thought about it until last year, when Pythia started inquiring about a sponsor for Coterie. A surprise. But I knew you were the daughter of Kieran and Nahid right away," he said, taking another step.
"Then why didn't you say anything?" asked Pi.
"How could I explain that I knew your parents? Not after their tragic death," he said, with another lazy shuffle forward.
"Stop!" yelled Aurie, fists at her side. "Stop. Not another step. You still haven't explained why you're here, why you're following us."
"The same reason you are. The Rod of Dominion," he said, straightening. A whiff of ozone permeated the air. His voice turned harder, commanding. "You know, Pythia, I tried to warn you away from Coterie. It's not the place for you."
Pi took a step like she was going to charge the professor. "You were the one trying to kill me?"
"No," he said. "As I told you before, the likes of you and I are not welcome in Coterie. Sure, we got in on our ability, but they never truly accepted us. I was the best student that Coterie had ever had. I could do circles around the others, even with their trinkets and private tutors. But it didn't matter, they tormented me. Enchanted my clothes to disintegrate while I was out at parties, snuck potions into my drinks that gave me explosive gas, cursed me with tentacles that grew out of my back. Those were just the harmless pranks. If they didn't try to kill me at least once a week, I grew paranoid that they'd snuck something past my defenses."
"That's awful," said Pi. "You had it much worse than I."
The condescending laugh that came from Professor Augustus' lips was made to cut.
"Thanks to me," he said. "Do you think you survived the year because the morality of students has improved? No. You survived because I protected you from yourself."
"You were the one that kept sabotaging my work? I thought it was Alton," said Pi. "They were all against me?"
"All but that blonde twit you called a friend. Her grandfather would be ashamed of her," he said with a sneer. "Yes. I sabotaged your work so they wouldn't hate you as much. And foiled the regular attempts on your life. I'll admit the enchanted spoon got past me. Quite ingenious of Orson. It nearly got you. I was quite pleased to see you pull out of it."
"Why?" asked Pi.
"Because of the Rod of Dominion," said Aurie, suddenly understanding everything. "He was hoping we'd find the tomb for him. Can I make a guess that it was you that put those books back into the Arcanium library rather than my mother?"
He quirked a grin. "Clever. Yes. I'd snuck them into the library so you would find them. I'd gotten everything I could from them, but could never figure out where the portal was. I hoped that you two would better understand your parents' notes. Which I was rewarded for, since I would have never known about the singing stone."
"That wasn't Malden who gave me the task," said Pi. "You sent me after the Rod so that I would learn about it."
He ran a hand through his hair, looking quite pleased with himself. "A bit of trickery, yes. You see, events like these are tied together somehow through the faez. Like a magical balancing scale. Your past would make it easier to find the truth about the Rod. Though I didn't think you'd summon a demon lord. That was a surprise. And you wouldn't believe what I had to give up so his succubus guardian would send you to me rather than him."
"That was you too?" asked Pi, stunned.
He knocked imaginary dust from his shoulder. "I told you that I ran circles around the rest of Coterie." Augustus removed his glasses and placed them in his coat pocket.
"Why then? Why all this? Why the Rod?" asked Aurie.
A flickering rage passed through the professor's gaze. "After all I did, after everything I accomplished, the people I killed for them, he made me the Master of Initiates. An insult. They said I didn't have the right family, the right background. When I get the Rod, I will take control of Coterie, and the Cabal through it, and they won't care about their family heritage after that."
"So Patron Malden doesn't know anything about this? The Cabal isn't trying to find the Rod?" she asked, and
when the professor nodded, she asked, "Then what are the Cabal trying to find with those gallium coins?"
Augustus smirked. "The entrance into Invictus' tower. Since they killed him thirteen years ago, they've been searching for a way to take his position as head patron. Without that power, they are limited by the charter of the Hundred Halls, bound by their own magic. The coins won't work. I tried to tell Malden that, but he's desperate. The Cabal is unhappy with him. After I get the Rod, he won't care much longer."
"So no one knows about the Rod but the three of us," said Aurie, thinking out loud.
"You've got the gist of it," said Professor Augustus.
When he'd first come into the room, he'd looked like a measly tweed-coat wearing professor who would blow away like a dandelion at the first stiff breeze. Now, he bristled with power, faez sparking at his edges.
Professor Augustus' expression softened for a moment. "I'm very sorry, for the both of you. I rather saw myself in you, Miss Pythia."
He struck faster than Aurie thought possible. He'd been carrying a spell, holding it back, then he unleashed it. She only had enough time to tackle her sister through an archway as the stone exploded around them.
They landed on the other side as the ceiling around the arch collapsed. Together, they crawled away as rocks landed on their backs and dust covered them. The avalanche was deafening.
When it was finished, Aurie and Pi were alive. Aurie coughed as dust filtered through the air.
"We're trapped," said Pi, rubbing her puffy eyes.
The darkness behind gave Aurie an itch between her shoulder blades. "I don't like this place."
"Neither do I."
Pi was sitting on her rear with her left leg sticking out stiffly. She ripped the rest of her pants away, revealing a shiny stone leg. The curse had traveled up beyond the curve of her thigh into her hip.
"I don't think I'll be doing much exploring," said Pi.
Then she pulled up her other pant leg. The curse had spread there. Pi had black spots all over her body, including one on her neck the size of a penny.
"That fucking asshole," said Aurie, pounding her fists on the ground with impotent rage. "He used us at every turn. All because I accidentally saved him. Why couldn't he have died with our parents?"
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