by Annie Dalton
“Find somewhere for them to sleep,” Mardian told Baraka. “Clear a storeroom if need be.”
Baraka seemed startled. “You intend them to travel with us, my lord?”
Mardian stifled a yawn. “The papyrus has survived for over one thousand eight hundred years. It would be a shame to lose it to bandits now, don’t you think?”
“He’s such a sweetie,” I whispered to Maia. “He feels genuinely protective towards those girls.”
“I doubt it. Humans usually turn out to have a secret agenda.”
“Maia!” I protested.
She giggled. “Oops - was my dark side showing again!”
“Just a bit!”
I couldn’t help laughing. Maia was outrageous sometimes.
I heard Baraka teasing the girls as they stumbled sleepily below decks. “It’s ten days or more to Alexandria by river. If you haven’t come up with the goods by then we’ll just have to throw you to the crocodiles.”
“Do you see how the Universe works!” I wanted to tell Maia. “We went with the flow, and it still panned out!” Not only were we still on track for saving Egypt, we were going to do it in luxury!
But no one likes to hear, “I told you so.” Plus if we were going to be stuck on the same boat for ten days, we had heaps of time to work on Maia’s attitude.
Chapter Fourteen
I could feel the river flying past in my sleep as Cleopatra’s barge travelled through what was left of the night. Tomorrow we’d stop at Abydos, the next town along the Nile, where Mardian and his team would rope in another batch of gifted humans for the queen’s mystery project. Before he left the girls to settle for the night, Baraka had reeled off the names of the other towns where we’d be stopping over on our journey; Hermopolis, Heliopolis, Memphis, Saqqara, Giza with its famous pyramids…
I vaguely heard Maia leave the cabin in the early hours, muttering about a headache and fresh air.
The next thing I knew, I felt a light dab on my cheek. I opened my eyes to see Khamsin’s cat gazing intensely into my face. When she saw I was awake she started washing, tail-tip twitching, obviously alert to every tiny sound, like, Don’t let your guard down, angel girl. You lucked out with the royal barge, but these are dangerous times.
“I don’t know, kitty!” I teased her. “Divine cats are soo bossy!”
I was just playing. I knew the cat wasn’t really talking to me.
A woman slave softly entered the cabin with a jug of scented hot water. Another slave followed with an armful of freshly ironed clothes. The slaves left as silently as they came, but they had somehow changed the vibe in the cabin and Khamsin and Amisi sleepily opened their eyes.
I wish you’d seen their faces as they took in the full gorgeousness of their accommodation for the first time - the carved furniture made from exotic scented wood, the richly coloured rugs and hangings.
Amisi pulled the sheet over her head and I heard a muffled wail. “I want to stay in this dream forever!”
A male slave stole in with a tray laden with fruits and preserves, and a stack of warm flat bread wrapped in a snowy cloth.
When he’d gone, Amisi slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the tray. I heard her stomach growl. “Khamsin,” she hissed. “This tray is made of go/d!”
“Don’t touch the food!” Khamsin said fiercely.
Amisi looked bewildered.
“The gods gave us a new life! We’ve got to do things right. We’ll wash and put on clean clothes first, then we’ll eat.”
And Amisi humbly agreed.
I don’t know if it was gratitude to the gods, or if Baraka’s crocodile joke had stuck in Khamsin’s mind, but after a huge breakfast, she unpacked her perfume-making tools and she and Amisi set to work.
They immediately hit a snag. A glance at Khamsin’s mum’s notes showed her she was missing crucial ingredients.
Khamsin tugged at her hair. “We need some costus before we can even get started. They used that a lot in the old days as a base.”
“Khamsin, I have some!” Unwrapping her cloth bundle, Amisi tipped out several small bottles, pushing one across to Khamsin. “I thought they owed me,” she said, seeing Khamsin’s surprise, and her hand crept up to cover her swollen eye.
When Khamsin removed the stopper from Amisi’s bottle, the kitty backed off in alarm. I thought ‘costus’ smelled like an extremely confusing cross between damp violets (mmm) and damp dog hair (euw!).
“It’s good stuff,” Khamsin pronounced.
As I listened to them talking, I realised that blending perfumes was a bit like chemistry. Used in micro-quantities, in combination with certain other ingredients, this bizarre wet dog/violets combo would be changed into something rich and warm.
I thought you could just bung all the smells in one bottle, shake it up and bingo - perfume! But with really special perfumes apparently, you had to take it slow, leaving certain smells to ‘marry’ with each other, keeping your blend warm or cool depending. I started wondering if ten days was going to be enough!
But as Khamsin and Amisi went on enthusiastically swapping info, it dawned on me that ancient Egyptian-style perfume making was also very much like magic. For instance at one crucial stage in the perfume making process, you had to repeat certain charms, plus at the proper time you exposed your blend to starlight or moonlight, so as to absorb divine vibes from Nut, the goddess of the sky.
It turned out that between them the girls had almost two thirds of the ingredients on Khamsin’s mum’s list. The rest they could pick up along the way.
Amisi said her uncle didn’t give two figs about perfume, he just sold the stuff. Khamsin said viciously that her step-mum couldn’t tell frankincense from mule dung which made Amisi laugh.
“Khamsin isn’t an Egyptian name,” she commented curiously.
Khamsin looked faintly embarrassed. “It’s what desert dwellers call the wind that brings storms. The khamsin was blowing when I was born.”
That girl was destined to have a cosmic name whenever, I thought. Sky, wind…
“My name means flower,” said Amisi. I could see she half-expected Khamsin to laugh.
“Obviously the gods always intended you to be a perfume blender,” Khamsin said, with one of her rare smiles.
Amisi turned away. She wasn’t used to hearing positive things about herself.
Lady Iras popped her head round the door, smiling to see the girls with their tiny bottles of oils and essences lined up on the rug. “Mardian sent me to tell you not to spend all day sweltering below decks,” she said firmly. “You have to come up and see your beautiful land!”
Like the queen, Lady Iras wasn’t technically Egyptian. I’d heard the girls say she was from Nubia. Yet like Cleopatra, she was totally Egyptian in her heart.
I followed them up on deck, wanting to see if Maia was OK.
It was a truly lovely morning. Birds were darting everywhere. A heron was standing on one long thin leg among the reeds like it was doing yoga practice. White lotus flowers floated on the water.
Maia was sitting with her eyes closed, listening to her iPod and looking like death. I touched her on the knee.
“Oh hi,” she said listlessly, taking off her head phones.
“Not feeling too good?” She shook her head.
“Oh no!” I exclaimed “When did you lose your pendant?”
“Oh, I lost it in the storm,” she said without much interest.
I gasped to see the livid burn mark where her ankh had been.
“Some of that divine lightning must have hit you! No wonder you feel rough. It’s weird you didn’t get symptoms till now though.”
“I know,” said Maia feebly. “I think the smell of Khamsin’s oils pushed me over the edge. I might have to stay up on deck from now on. Sorry babe, I know I’m leaving you to do all the hard work.”
“Khamsin and Amisi aren’t exactly hard work!” I said to reassure her. It wasn’t how I’d imagined this trip working out, but Maia couldn’t help being und
er the weather. That’s what I told myself, and if I had doubts, I quickly pushed them out of sight.
Chapter Fifteen
My days slipped into a pattern, as I kept busy going back and forth between the girls and my invalid friend.
We were gradually leaving the arid land of Upper Egypt behind. The air became more humid and different plants grew on the lush green banks. One morning we saw a family of hippos dozing among the reeds, like small, half-submerged mountains. It was the first time I’d realised why Egyptians called their country the Two Lands. It really did feel like we were gliding through a different world.
Maia stayed up on deck as we’d agreed, but she still had vague flu symptoms, which she insisted was down to the divine lightning burn.
One night I came up to give her a progress report on the girls.
“I can’t believe how well they’re getting on! Sky never let anyone get close. Khamsin’s been hurt too but she’s willing to risk making friends.”
“Yeah well, early days,” Maia said grimly. “Wasn’t Sky mixed up with the - what do your mates call the Dark agencies? Pea pods?”
“No pea, just PODS,” I corrected, embarrassed for some reason.
Despite her aches and pains, Maia seemed tickled. “Oh, like shorthand for Powers of Darkness. Tres sinister!”
“It was Sky’s boyfriend who was in with them, anyway, not Sky,” I objected. “He’s nothing to do with Khamsin.”
She shrugged. “Once humans get into a groove, they tend to stay there for life after life.”
I was shocked. “I don’t agree! If angels don’t believe people are basically good, what the sassafras are we for?”
Maia quickly looked away. Even by the flickery torch-light I could see she was too pale. I felt ashamed of myself for almost shouting at a sick angel girl.
She said humbly, “You care about these kids, don’t you? I could learn a lot from you.” I didn’t know what to say, so I hastily changed the subject.
“I can’t wait to find out about Cleopatra’s plan, can you?” I giggled. “I can’t imagine how she’s going to defeat the Romans with a bunch of silversmiths and pastry chefs and whatever. It sounds almost like she’s planning some seriously upscale party.”
I didn’t know it, but I wasn’t actually that far off.
The kitty had followed me up on deck. Now Adjo was gently scratching her around the ears, which made her purr with pleasure.
“You have the eyes of the moon goddess,” he told her. “You will bring us luck.”
“There is something special about that cat,” I said to Maia. “You know she appeared, like, minutes after Khamsin’s dad died?”
Maia shuddered. “Ugh! Cats creep me out.” She saw my shocked expression and groaned. “You love them, right?”
“I thought all angels liked animals,” I admitted.
She sighed. “Actually, it’s more that cats don’t like me. She won’t come near me, haven’t you noticed? And she watches me all the time.”
This was true, I realised. I remembered how the cat had hissed a warning, just before Maia appeared on the roof. I wasn’t about to read anything sinister into that. Everyone knows animals have sharp senses. She must have picked up a teeny whiff of Hell residue on Maia. Brice’s jacket still smells whiffy though he’s been back ages now.
Maia wrapped her arms round herself, shivering. “Sometimes I think I’ve gone too far to go back now,” she said bleakly.
“You are back, you silly angel girl,” I teased, trying to make her smile. “Everything is going to get better and better now, you’ll see. Seriously, I’ve seen it happen with Brice.”
I was bewildered to see Maia’s eyes fill with tears. Even after everything that happened later, I still think those tears were real.
I woke up next morning with a mission.
I was going to help this troubled angel girl rebuild her shattered confidence. Maia just needed someone to believe in her, the way Lola had believed in Brice. Brice was easily as bad as Maia when we first met him, if not worse - and look at him now!
I felt a burst of happiness radiating from my heart, like a tiny sun. With my support, Maia was going to blossom into a really special angel - maybe more special than most, because she’d been into the dark and come back.
I flew up on deck to share my early morning thoughts, but there was no sign of Maia anywhere, it was like she’d just dropped off the boat.
Really this is a good sign, I told myself quickly. If she’s gone for a walk, she’s getting better.
The previous night we had moored close to a temple where the priests were friendly to Cleopatra’s cause. The scent of almond blossom from the temple orchards wafted through the boat. It was so early only slaves and angels were awake.
I went to dangle my legs over the water. Morning mists were rising from the river bank. It was nice, like being in your own private scented sauna!
I heard a familiar giggle and Maia materialised beside me. “Sorry babe, had to get away for a few minutes! Can’t take being stuck in one place.”
I thought Maia had been gone much longer than a few minutes, but she looked like a different angel girl. She was absolutely glowing.
“I used to be like that,” I admitted. “Reuben used to call me Houdini. I just hated being pinned down!
Couldn’t work in a team, couldn’t keep to a timetable!”
Maia gave me a sly smirk. “Is Reuben your boyfriend?”
“No! He’s just a really good friend who happens to be a boy.”
“Yeah, yeah! So where does poor Indigo fit into
all this?”
I tossed my hair, secretly enjoying Maia’s version of me as a heavenly sexpot. “Hey keep your options open, I say!”
“So you won’t mind if I go walkabout now and again?”
“Of course not.”
Maia flashed me one of her fabulous smiles. “You could come with me!” she offered. “I found this really cool little oasis.”
“One of us has to stay with the girls,” I said firmly.
She pouted like a little kid. “Surely you can leave them for half an hour? What could happen in half an hour?”
“Maia! The gods blew us back to Cleopatra’s time to take care of them! They must have some concerns about their safety.”
Her expression darkened. “Sometimes you are too freaking angelly for words, Mel Beeby! If I was to spit in your face, you’d go, ‘Ooh Maia, I wonder why you did that? Is it maybe your tragic childhood?’”
I stared at her. I was getting an empty feeling behind my belly button that was a lot like feeling sick.
“I can read your mind, remember?” she warned. “You’re thinking ‘Lola would never speak to me like that’. ‘Why isn’t good lovely Lola here instead of bad evil Maia!’”
I flushed. “No, I’m not!” But that’s exactly what I was thinking.
At that exact moment, Khamsin’s kitty biffed her head forcefully against my hip pocket. That’s what it felt like, though she couldn’t actually have biffed me, she was visible and solid and I was in my angelic light body. Still, whatever it was that she did, I felt, or heard, a tiny clunk in my pocket.
I could not believe I’d forgotten about my mobile. I could have been calling Lola up for chats all this time!
Of course when I took the phone out, it turned out I’d brought Lola’s by mistake. No probs. I could just call my own number.
I didn’t mean to peek at Brice’s text message. It flashed up all by itself.
no angel chick called maia known here, tell mel b u. careful lug b
My whole Universe went blurry. I genuinely thought I was going to pass out.
“Who’s your text from?” Maia’s voice was so close, my heart almost jumped into my mouth.
I instantly pressed DELETE.
“Oh, it’s not for me,” I told her quickly.
I actually managed to smile, but my mind was racing, remembering Lola on the tour bus: Has anyone but you actually seen this angel g
irl?
And she never once came inside the hostel, I thought.
Ma/a wasn’t an angel at all.
“If it wasn’t for you, why do you look so upset?” she insisted.
You couldn’t hide anything from Maia. I’d have to give her a reason she could relate to. “You bet I’m upset,” I snapped. “Lola’s gone off with my new phone and left me with her rubbish one.” I coolly returned her stare.
Suddenly she broke into a grin. “Ooh, naughty naughty! If I didn’t know you were an angel, I could have sworn I saw your Dark side then! OK, I’m off. I’ll just be an hour or so. Sure you don’t want to come?”
I shook my head, keeping my smile fixed in place until she vanished.
I almost collapsed on to the deck there and then, but I was scared she might be hanging around, checking up on me. I tottered below decks on jelly legs, desperately aiming to look casual.
The girls were still fast asleep.
I was so upset, I was literally gnawing at my nails, something I hadn’t done for years. I couldn’t believe that an hour ago I had wanted to save her. I felt so stupid. Stupid gullible Mel.
Khamsin and Amisi were starting to stir, giving each other sleepy smiles, like, “Hi, another perfect day on Cleopatra’s barge.”
If they only knew.
All day I was like a cat on a hot roof, waiting for Maia to pop up with her mad giggle, and wondering what the sassafras I’d say when she did. But hours went by and she still didn’t show.
Somehow I held it together until the girls had gone to bed.
Then I went up on deck and started pacing and talking to myself like a seriously disturbed angel girl. I didn’t know what to do. Was I just supposed to wait here like a fool till she finally decided to show up with some big made up story?
Khamsin’s cat had followed me up on deck. She perched herself on the ornamental lotus on the prow, watching me closely, her eyes like tiny glowing moons in the dark, as I paced and muttered.
Maia the cosmic liar with her pants on fire. And I’d known from Day One. So I’d been lying to myself about Maia lying to me. I’d allowed her to blatantly run rings around me ever since that day at the museum.