by Moni Boyce
Willow realized that if each apartment only had two bedrooms, Ulrik would be relegated to sleeping on the floor. When she stepped outside to knock and find out about the sleeping arrangements that’s when she saw Anippe and Ulrik down the hall. He had his arm slung over her shoulders. Guess she didn’t have to worry after all, he was definitely going to be well taken care of.
It was comforting to be in a new place and know you were in the company of people that sympathized with what you were going through, had walked a mile in your shoes. She hoped that the pair would have happiness even if it was only for a few stolen moments.
In the bedroom she was sharing with Eli, she found him stretched out on the bed, fully clothed and fast asleep. He hadn’t slept that well on the plane. She knew he was exhausted. She grabbed her bag and shut the door. It was the perfect time to read some of her mother’s letters. Zoriana had gone in her room and shut the door. She was sure she would not be interrupted by her. After she settled on the sofa, she pulled the bundle from her bag. The letter she’d been reading on the plane was the first one she opened.
May 23, 2002
Dear Willow,
I’ve been in Delphi for nearly two weeks
now. There has been so much to explore.
The plan was to go to Egypt before heading
back to the U.S., but I’m afraid that is no
longer an option. We’ll have to return
sooner than expected. Something is going
on, but I’m not exactly sure what. I
have a bad feeling. Maybe it’s just in
my head, but I can’t shake it. There’s
someone I want you to meet. I’m not
certain you’ll get the opportunity and that
makes me sad, because I think you’d like
him if you did. Continue to be good for
Teresa.
Love,
Mom
Many people would have ended the letter with a, ‘See you soon.’ Or ‘Until we see each other.’ Not her mother. She must have already known she would never see her again. Something in her chest hurt knowing her mother lived with the knowledge of when death would come for her. Everyone was going to die; most people didn’t know the how or the when. Her mother did. For a moment, she just sat there without moving as the light faded from the sky and night descended.
Despite knowing that death loomed, her mother still chose to fall in love. She wished she’d had more time in Greece to talk with Hadrian. Her mother really cared about him. She’d wanted the two of them to meet. That was a big deal. Maybe once all of this craziness was over they could sit down and get to know one another.
SOMEONE SHOOK HER AWAKE.
“Hmm.” She mumbled, still not sure what was a figment of her sleep addled brain or what was real.
“Wake up sleeping beauty.” The low, sleep-tinged voice that was attempting to coax her awake sent delicious shivers up and down her spine. She smiled with her eyes still closed. “Hmm.”
She could hear the smile in his voice when he responded. “Why didn’t you come to bed? We both ended up sleeping in our clothes.”
One eye cracked open and looked at Eli upside down. He would always be a welcome good morning. She stretched her arms above her head and stared at him.
Often when they woke up together like this, and the day was still quiet and still without a lot of noise, she had the illusion that they were just two ordinary people just living their life. They were going to wake up and prepare coffee and breakfast in the kitchen, laze about reading the newspaper on a weekend morning or kiss each other goodbye as they each headed off to work.
For a fleeting moment, she lived in that fantasy. Then reality crash landed in her lap and reminded her that a vampire was hell bent on making her his servant and possibly his bride, she was half fae and not all of her powers had manifested themselves, he was a witch that had a duty to protect her and they were not supposed to be together.
They were not here in Egypt on vacation. The mission was to find The Book of Prophecy and figure out how to defeat Killian so she didn’t have to be on the run the rest of her life. She sat up and sighed.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” She looked at him. “Let’s shower, eat and figure out how to locate the book.”
A couple hours later they all sat around the living room of the apartment they occupied trying to figure out the best plan for finding the book. They had the riddle The Pythia had given her which is what got them here, but now they had to determine if that was just the clue to get them to Egypt or if the Sphinx figured into all of this.
Gamal and Anippe had provided quite the breakfast spread when they showed up and things seemed cozy between her and Ulrik though they did their best to disguise their amorous looks. Clearly, her coven did not approve. Gamal didn’t seem to mind. Willow returned her attention back to what was being said. It was always so easy to get caught up in other people’s drama than to deal with her own.
“I think we make that the first place that we look for the book. Figure out a way to clear out tourists so there is no one in our way to look for trap doors or things like that. If that doesn’t work then the Great Pyramids are there in Giza next to the Sphinx. We make those the next location to search. I believe the book is probably hidden at a high profile destination. An area that had once been a dig or excavation site.” Phaedra ended the explanation to her plan. No one could argue with that logic. It made sense.
She had yet to make amends with her. For some reason she felt Phaedra probably figured it was no love lost between them. Phaedra was Eli’s best friend so it was important enough to her to right things between them. Oh yeah and the teeny tiny fact of her putting her life on the line for her. Yeah, that little reason was enough to say how sorry she was for accusing her of being a megalomaniac and psychopath to boot.
Eli startled her from her thoughts. “Was there anything in your mother’s letters? Did she make it to Egypt or have any clue the book was moved here?”
She shook her head and avoided everyone’s eyes. Again she felt like a big disappointment, like she was letting everyone down. Why couldn’t The Pythia have given her a straight answer when she asked where the book was located? Better yet, when she was having all of those retro whatever visions Eli mentioned where she was shown the past, why couldn’t she have seen then where the book was moved? If only her mother had visited here, she could go to the location and see if anything called for her to touch it. Then a vision might show her what her mother saw. At least they might be that much closer to knowing something.
He must have sensed her distress because he patted her leg and kept talking. “I definitely agree that we need to clear everyone out if we can.” He looked at Gamal. “I know you mentioned not using magic if we don’t have to, but in case it’s at the Sphinx and we have to resort to magic, it would be helpful not to have a bunch of tourists in our way.”
“What kind of excuses can be made to have it closed?” Ulrik asked.
“It’s not just the Sphinx you have to worry about the whole area is usually ripe with tourists on any given day. The area to be closed off would need to be much bigger.” He rubbed his chin and pondered ways to cordon off the area. “Let me make a couple phone calls.” As he stepped outside the apartment he was already talking rapid Arabic with someone on the phone.
This was all starting to feel like Greece all over again. They had no clues or definite ideas. Essentially they were looking for a needle in a haystack. She wanted to scream she was so frustrated. When she happened to look up, Max was staring at her. He gave her a small smile and motioned for her to meet him outside. She nodded. She could feel both Eli’s and Phaedra’s eyes follow them out the door.
Max leaned his arms on the railing of the balcony. “Pretty serious stuff.”
“Yep.” She avoided his gaze. Sometimes she forgot how well he knew her and how well he was tuned into her emotions.
“It’s okay to feel helpless
, Willow.” He spoke the words softly. Over the past few months she’d grown accustomed to him providing comic relief, she forgot how insightful he could be. “It’s okay to feel anger, frustration.”
“I miss the days when you couldn’t talk.” A mirthless chuckle escaped as she dabbed leaky eyes and looked out on the rooftops of the nearby buildings.
“Ever since everything with Eli you’ve been keeping everything so bottled up. You’re upset with yourself for not being able to save Eli, upset over not being more helpful in finding this book... L.I.G.”
Genuinely, she laughed this time. He came over and vigorously rubbed up and down her arms.
“Just let it go?” She laughed harder this time. “Let it all go, huh?”
“Yep. It’s everyone’s job to figure this out. Don’t feel like you have to take on anything alone.”
She hugged him. He always had this calming effect on her. If there was one thing she was glad for it was that. He might not be her dog anymore, but he was still her friend. “Thank you.” It came out muffled because she was pressed against his chest.
After a few more minutes outside they walked back into the apartment. Eli looked at her with a question on his face. She gave him a smile and went and sat beside him on the floor. He leaned into her. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She kissed him on the cheek.
CHAPTER 18
Eli
When Willow returned after her talk with Max she seemed more herself. He liked that they had a strong bond. He wrapped his arm around her. Whatever had been weighing on her had been removed. He could see it on her face. If only the issues that plagued him could be resolved with only a talk.
Part of him felt a little relieved that Gamal had asked them to limit their use of magic in public spaces. He had to admit he was feeling a little uncertain about his performance right now. The thought of someone needing to count on him or depend on him for his magic had him second-guessing himself. His magic wouldn’t be as powerful as it once was and he didn’t want to be the reason someone got hurt. If he only had to use his fighting skills he felt secure in taking on any attack or enemy, but knew he had to get his confidence back up when it came to magic or he was useless to them.
While they waited for Gamal to come back with information, Morgana and Mathilda walked across the hall to their apartment.
A short while later, Gamal came back. He slapped his phone against his thigh and looked a bit sheepish. “My father wants to meet all of you before he deals with having the Sphinx and Pyramids shut down.”
Phaedra stood. “We are happy to meet with your father if it means accomplishing what we came here to do.” She tried to appear diplomatic and levelheaded, but he knew her blood was boiling. If the man had met with them to begin with, as intended, they wouldn’t be sitting on their hands now.
“I will have the vans brought around so we can head to the coven.” Gamal left again.
“I apologize that things have been so crazy since your arrival.” Anippe addressed everyone. “There is always politics here when it comes to getting anything done. It is not my father’s way, but there are some in our coven that would rather see themselves making the decisions so he must jump through hoops to keep everyone happy.”
He understood all too well how that worked.
“Thank you, Anippe. We appreciate your father doing his best to accommodate us.” Phaedra gave the girl a genuine smile. Anippe smiled and returned to Ulrik’s side.
Eli knew this meeting was going to be anything but pleasant, especially since Gamal and Anippe had already mentioned some of the members of the coven didn’t like the fact that he and Willow were together.
Mathilda and Morgana returned and went to stand by Ulrik and Anippe. “Are you okay?” Ulrik leaned towards Mathilda with a concerned look.
“Yes... why?” Mathilda leaned away from him and looked annoyed at him invading her body space.
“Your eyes look strange.” He stared into her eyes and kept getting closer.
“I’m fine.” She moved away from him clearly creeped out and sat on the floor.
That was peculiar. He’d have to ask Ulrik about that later. Should he be concerned about something going on with Mathilda? He never figured her for a pill popper or any other sort of drugs, although drug use might explain her out of character behavior of holding a grudge for this long. He glanced over at her and watched her talk to Phaedra. No. He couldn’t see her doing that. Not much longer after that Gamal came back for them.
The drive to the coven took them to the affluent neighborhood of Heliopolis. They passed luxury hotels, swanky restaurants and upscale shopping centers before they arrived to the residential section. The houses were on a grandiose level and sat behind security gates.
The house they pulled up to was similar to the other homes in the neighborhood: terra cotta colored stucco with Roman motif ornamentation made of gypsum plaster. The house was three stories tall and even had a small spire on one side.
“I think I should remain out here. My presence won’t help your case, and I don’t wish to hurt your chances of getting what you need.”
Eli hated the idea of kowtowing to some people especially these idiots that were offended by his and Willow’s relationship. On this occasion, he was glad it was Phaedra calling the shots because he would have brought Ulrik in the house just to piss them off.
“Thanks for being considerate Ulrik, maybe it is best you wait outside.”
“I’ll keep you company... we can take a walk.” Anippe jumped at the opportunity to spend some time alone with Ulrik. The two walked off down the street before they made it to the door.
The door had a huge bronze door knocker that was a replica of the goddess Isis, with her wings spread out on either side of her and a solar disk with cow’s horns sat on top of her head. Like most coven doors there was no keyhole. Gamal pulled out a key and the keyhole appeared. When he placed the key inside it turned on its own and the door opened.
Gamal did a quick about face. “Please remove your shoes before entering.” He kicked off his shoes and left them by the door. They all followed suit.
When they stepped inside the décor consisted of deep jewel tones. There was no time to see anything other than the living room because off the side of the foyer they were led into a room that had a long wooden table that sat low to the ground. Floor cushions surrounded the table on all sides.
“Please have a seat. My father and some of the members will be here shortly.” Gamal left them to get situated while he went in search of his father. Eli sat in between Willow and Phaedra.
A woman came into the room carrying a tray. “I have brought you some Shai while you wait.” For a moment he wished he’d done some research on common words so he knew what Shai was.
The little glasses she sat down in front of each of them had a hot, brown colored liquid in it. He picked it up and took a sip.
Tea.
He took another sip. It was really good tea.
Gamal entered the room. “My father and some of the Elders are going to dine with you. A meal has been prepared for your arrival.” He glanced towards the door and then turned back to them and dropped his voice. “A few tips on dining with Egyptians.” Everyone leaned in to listen. “Let my father or one of the Elders serve you, do not serve yourself. Second, we eat mostly with our hands, but do not use or eat with your left hand. It’s considered unhygienic...” He looked upwards for a few seconds like he was trying to remember everything he needed them to remember before his father and the Elders arrived. “Oh yes, and don’t ask for salt... and also don’t ask how the food was made.”
Just as he finished up an older, portly man with a beard entered the room. The galabeya, a long-sleeved, floor length tunic he wore, was pristine white. Two other men, similarly dressed, but skinnier and beardless, and a woman wearing a flowing skirt and blouse followed him. They sat on the remaining cushions at the table.
“My name is Bakari. I am the head of the Badawi coven.
” The portly man introduced himself. “These are some of the Elders: Kek, Sabra and Fukayna.”
Once the introductions were out of the way dishes were delivered to the table. Eli knew the falafel dish as soon as it came to the table, but some of the other dishes he wasn’t sure about. Gamal wasted no time in filling them in on the names of the delectable dishes that came to the table.
“That is mahshi.” He pointed at a dish of red and green bell peppers stuffed with a rice mixture. “That stew is called molokhia. Those green bits are chopped up leafy greens and there is chicken, coriander and garlic.” Everything smelled delicious. “That dish is fattah. On the bottom is rice and some crispy bread, then you have a tomato sauce and beef.”
He took his seat. “For dessert we’ll be having konafa. I’ll explain what it is once it’s served... Eat up.”
Maybe this meeting wouldn’t go as bad as he originally assumed, they were being served a meal. The thought had just barely passed through his mind when Kek, who had yet to serve himself or anyone else spoke. “So you are the Oracle.” He said it as a statement and not a question as he looked at Willow dubiously.
“Yes.” She smiled at the man. Eli could tell she hadn’t caught the man’s tone.
Kek’s eyes cut to Eli. For long, tense seconds they both eyed each other. Eli was trying not to be disrespectful or rude since he was a guest and no longer the leader of The Protectors, but this guy was starting to piss him off. It’s like he wanted to start something just so he could have a reason to make sure Bakari said no to them.
“Kek, let them eat their food in peace. We show our guests hospitality when they come here. There will be time enough for questions after the meal.” Bakari didn’t even look up from his plate of food when he spoke.
It took Kek a minute, but eventually he dished food onto his plate and ate in sullen silence.