by Jonas, Gary
“You were a member of The Golden Dawn,” Kelly said.
“Technically I was a member of Stella Matutina, which was about as close to The Golden Dawn as we had in America, but we were still just a group of magicians.”
“I need to talk to Kelly alone,” I said. “You wait here.”
Winslow nodded. “Very well.”
Kelly and I went inside, all the way back to the bedroom. “We really screwed the pooch,” I said.
“So it would seem. Do you believe him?”
“Yes, I think he’s mostly telling the truth. That means Sharon lied to us. She said he was a powerful sorcerer knowing I’d think that meant he was evil.”
“To be fair, every sorcerer you’ve encountered has been evil.”
“Most of them. A few were just dicks.”
“So what do we do?”
“I think we’ll have to work with him. Get back to Brand and Rayna and see if we can find a way home.”
“What he said about Tartarus,” Kelly said. “Is that true?”
“Hell if I know.”
“You’ve been to the Underworld.”
“I’ve been to California too, but that doesn’t mean I can tell you how to get to Redondo Beach from Sacramento.”
“Would they hide the Forbidden Texts in Tartarus?”
“They’re in the Stacks, but so far as I know, that’s in a pocket dimension.”
“So he could still be lying to us too.”
“I’m sure he’s giving us his spin on things, but I think he’s been more honest than Sharon.”
“Why are you so pissed at her?”
“We don’t have time to go into that.”
“Jonathan, we have nothing but time.”
BRAND EASTON
The next morning, Priscilla entered the dining car, saw Brand eating breakfast, and approached the table. “May I join you?” she asked.
“Of course,” Brand said and gestured to an open chair. She could have sat in Esther’s seat, but Brand knew Esther wouldn’t appreciate it. He turned to Esther. “Is Edward with her?”
“No,” Esther said. “I’ll let you know if he turns up.”
“Edward is still upset,” Priscilla said. “Based on your inquiry, is it safe to assume your ghost is here with us?”
“Yes,” Brand said. “Esther is sitting across from you. She says hello.”
“I do not,” Esther said.
Brand ignored her. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Exhausted,” Priscilla said.
The waiter approached the table. “Good morning, Miss Scarlet. The usual?”
“Yes, please.”
The waiter looked at Brand. “Is there anything else I can bring for you, Mr. Easton?”
“I’m good. Thanks.”
“Certainly, sir.”
The waiter moved off, and Brand stared at the table for a moment then picked up a piece of toast. As he buttered it, he said, “So why did Edward get his panties in a twist?”
Priscilla chuckled. “Panties in a twist?” She blushed. “Oh my!”
Brand smirked. “It’s an oldie where I come from,” he said and took a bite of toast.
“It’s certainly a colorful expression. Edward is very territorial. He feels terrible about how he behaved.”
“Better check the price of those wooden nickels,” Esther said.
“It’s all right,” Brand said. “Nobody was hurt.”
“I’m still rather embarrassed by the whole thing,” Priscilla said.
Esther rolled her eyes. “You’re not buying this bridge are you?”
Brand shot Esther a glare then softened his gaze as he turned back to Priscilla. “Really, it’s all right. You’re the only friend I’ve made on this train, so I’m not going to let an innocuous misunderstanding derail things.”
“Pulling out the ten-dollar words,” Esther said. “Why are you trying to impress this dame? She remind you of your mother or something?”
Brand shot Esther another glare.
“Oh my god! She really does remind you of your mother!”
“Esther, why don’t you go outside?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
“Go anyway.”
“You’re just trying to get rid of me.”
“That’s right.”
“Well, I never!” Esther said. She rose and stormed through the wall. She couldn’t go far, but Brand just wanted her to stop distracting him.
Brand nodded. “All right, she won’t be back for a while.”
“Perhaps that’s just as well,” Priscilla said.
The waiter brought a tray over and placed Priscilla’s breakfast on the table. He started to set Edward’s standard meal down too but jumped back when Priscilla slammed a hand on the table.
She opened her eyes wide, clutched her chest, and slipped down the chair a bit.
“Miss Scarlet?” the waiter said.
“Priscilla!” Brand said and moved to keep her from falling.
She blinked her eyes a few times. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’m feeling faint.”
“Is there a doctor on board?” Brand asked.
“I don’t need a doctor,” Priscilla said. Her breathing settled back to something near normal, and she shook her head. “But I could use some help getting back to my compartment. I need to rest.”
“I can get someone to assist,” the waiter said.
“It’s all right,” Brand said. “I’ll take her.”
“Very well, sir.”
Brand tossed some cash on the table. He helped Priscilla to her feet. She leaned against him, and he half carried her out of the dining car and back to her compartment.
“I keep embarrassing myself in front of you. I do apologize for the inconvenience.”
“No worries,” Brand said. “Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”
“I’m positive. I just need to lie down.”
“What’s going on?” Esther asked as she was pulled along fifteen feet behind Brand.
“She’s not feeling well.”
“Or she’s trying to lure you back to her place,” Esther said. “That little vixen.”
Brand slid the compartment door open and helped her to the bed.
The door slammed shut.
Brand spun but didn’t see anything. “Edward? She’s just tired. Don’t get upset.”
“He’s not upset,” Priscilla said.
Esther was pushed back, likely by Edward. “Let me go,” Esther said, confirming it was the other ghost.
Priscilla pulled down the blanket that blocked the back half of her car.
There were bags of herbs spaced around the compartment with lit candles, pentagrams, and other occult symbols. Brand started toward the door, but Priscilla grabbed him in an incredibly strong grip. She slammed him to the floor, and vines sprouted from the rug, encircling Brand’s wrists and ankles. He tried to pull free, but they were too strong.
“You bitch!” Brand said.
She smiled at him. “That’s witch,” she corrected.
RAYNA NOBLE
Lincoln and Rayna entered Central Park and wandered along the lovely path. Rayna appreciated the trees and flowers. It was an oasis in the center of a dirty city. They approached a park bench near a small brick bridge. A middle-aged man wearing thick glasses, a hat, and a black trench coat sat waiting for them. Rayna thought he looked like a skinny Clark Kent. Behind him stood an empty bench, and Rayna suspected that was why he chose that location. There were quite a few people in the park, and most of the benches were occupied, while other people sat on the grass, eating lunch.
“You sit beside him,” Lincoln said. “I’ll sit behind you.”
Rayna nodded.
The man watched as Rayna approached and sat down next to him. He waited until Lincoln was seated behind them before he spoke. “I’m Thaddeus Milton,” he said.
“Rayna Noble,” Rayna said, giving him a nod.
Thaddeus wore white
gloves and did not offer to shake hands. He kept his hands folded in his lap, and he looked around at the various people in the park with suspicious eyes.
“You seek an introduction to Alpha et Omega,” he said, lowering his voice.
“That’s right,” Rayna said, wishing he’d just name a price and be done with it.
Again he looked around as if spies would be waiting to kill him for speaking to an outsider. “Such an introduction is unusual.”
Rayna forced herself not to sigh. She knew introductions were common. How else would they get members? But she nodded and said, “Of course. And I appreciate you being amenable to making said introduction.”
More looking around. “There is a high price to be paid.”
“Not too high, I hope.”
“Five hundred dollars.” He stared at her as if waiting for her to cough and choke.
Rayna had expected ten times that price even allowing for 1920s values. Was this guy serious, or had she simply misjudged the currency rates? As she knew he expected to haggle, she had to fight to keep from grinning. The guy must be an amateur. “I was thinking more like fifty dollars,” Rayna said.
“This is a waste of my time.”
“Fifty dollars each,” Rayna said.
He shook his head. “I’m sticking my neck out for you, and I don’t even know you.”
“But you know Lincoln.”
Thaddeus adjusted his glasses. “Three hundred.”
“One fifty.”
He bit his lip. “Do you know how risky this is?”
Rayna smiled. “Look at me,” she said.
He looked.
“I’m young and I’m easy on the eyes.”
He nodded. “I can’t argue with that assessment.”
“They’ll thank you for the introduction, Thaddeus.”
He placed a finger on his lips and nodded. “Two hundred.”
“One seventy-five and that’s final.”
“Very well. Make the payment to Lincoln. I can’t be seen taking your money. I’m going to leave now. You two need to wait five minutes before you go.”
Rayna forced herself not to laugh. “Whatever.”
Thaddeus looked around one more time then slid to the end of the bench, rose quickly, and strode across the stone bridge, moving past an old man who looked vaguely familiar. The old man shambled off, and Rayna forgot about him.
Rayna laughed. “Your friend is a character.”
“He takes the Order seriously,” Lincoln said.
“What’s your cut?”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s having me pay you, so I know you get a cut. How much?”
“Twenty percent.”
“Thirty-five dollars.”
“I have bills to pay.”
Rayna wasn’t sure how one hundred seventy-five dollars in 1926 would compare to 2014 money, but she suspected it would be less than a thousand dollars. She had shoes that cost more than that.
KELLY CHAN
I wasn’t happy having Henry Winslow staying in our residence. Wow. Here I am saying our residence as if it belonged to us. As if we were a couple. Winslow was an intruder, though.
Sadek and Tuya brought a few male servants over, and they partitioned off a sleeping area for Winslow. To his credit, he did what he could to give us some privacy. Like the Egyptians, he was under the impression that Jonathan and I were man and wife.
Jonathan slept while I lay awake thinking. Getting home didn’t matter so much to me as long as I was with Jonathan. Wherever he was, that’s where I wanted to be so I could protect him. If Winslow was lying and he tried to hurt Jonathan, I would kill the man. Jonathan seemed to trust him, though, and while I didn’t want to believe Winslow, he did seem to be honest, and what he said made sense.
I turned onto my side and stared at Jonathan while he slept. He was keeping a secret from me and had been keeping that secret for a good six months. Last December he’d changed significantly in a matter of hours. He’d gone from a joking, fun-loving man who could always find a way to make things work to a hardened killer. The change was so sudden, it shocked me. I tried not to think about it, but staring at him in the darkness, I couldn’t help it.
What had happened to him?
Four months later, we protected Rayna from the Marshall Clan, a group of men from another dimension who killed her family. About the time he started sleeping with Rayna, he shifted back to being able to joke around, but he still had that hard edge. She’d softened him some—humanized him. But that hardness was still coursing through him. I liked that he could joke around again. I liked that he could pretend he was his old self.
I was supposed to be the hardened killer.
Being with Brand was an okay distraction, but just when Brand started to get interesting, we broke up.
I remembered the night he took me home from DGI. I shoved him aside when he tried to help me to bed.
“I can do it,” I said.
“I know you can,” Brand said, “but I’m here for you.”
“I don’t want you here,” I said. I didn’t want anyone there. I was supposed to be completely healed, and I wasn’t supposed to be afraid.
If he saw that fear, he wouldn’t respect me.
“I gave up everything for you,” he said.
And it was true. He’d been a Sekutar warrior. He’d still had years before the residual magic would fade and he’d be a normal man again. But he gave that magic to me.
“That was your choice,” I said.
Brand looked stunned and hurt.
“Well, if that’s the way you see it,” he said.
“It is,” I said, regretting the words even as they left my mouth.
“Well, I guess that’s it, then.” He turned and left me alone.
I could handle being alone. I was always alone.
Brand called me the next morning to apologize even though I was the one who owed him an apology. He forgave me and we didn’t tell anyone about our breakup. We didn’t spend much time together unless Jonathan set something up. So it was easy to slip back into the lonely life I’d led prior to Brand.
I felt like a bitch because Brand gave up being a Sekutar to save me, and I knew he loved me, but I just wasn’t in love with him. He seemed to think I wouldn’t want to be with him now that he was a regular man. The trouble is that I didn’t really want to be with him even when he was a Sekutar, but I’d been so lonely that I took what I could get.
But what I wanted—what I’d always wanted from the moment he saved me—was Jonathan.
I wasn’t sure we could have a real relationship. I wasn’t sure he’d want to be with someone like me. With a little time, I hoped to see if there could be something more there. I felt we were making progress even though I felt bad because he was with Rayna. I just hoped he would see me differently and might soon choose to be with me instead.
But Winslow had to come along and get in the way.
I had half a mind to get up, go to his room, and strangle him in his sleep.
Instead, I got up and pulled on one of those sheath dresses the servants had brought. The dress came to just below my breasts, and I hung my hair to cover myself. My regular clothes were drying.
I slipped out of the residence and wandered the grounds. There were a few guards out, but they didn’t see or hear me. I knew how to carry myself, and my footfalls were so silent, I wouldn’t disturb a rabbit.
In the distance, I saw Ankhesenamun standing under the colonnade leading into the royal palace. She leaned against an adobe railing with her head down.
As I approached, I intentionally made some noise so she’d look up.
“It’s late,” I said. “I see you can’t sleep either.”
She smiled at me, but it was a sad smile. “Please, come over.”
I joined her at the rail.
“You’re dressing like an Egyptian,” she said with approval.
“Yes,” I said. “How is King Tutankhamun?”
&nb
sp; She shook her head. “He’s going to die. The gods have willed it.”
“What happens to you if that comes to pass?” I asked.
She stared at the ground. “I will have to choose a husband.”
Women were mostly equal in Egypt but not when it came to rule. When Hatshepsut ruled, things were fine, but she was really coregent with her son. He preferred warring to ruling, but when he took over as pharaoh, he had her name struck from all the records and temple walls. She’d done a lot of building, but as far as Egypt was concerned, she no longer existed. Ankhesenamun would need a husband because she didn’t have a son. Whomever she chose would rule, but she would lend her husband legitimacy through her royal blood, even though the Egyptians hated her father, Akhenaten.
I understood all of that, so I simply nodded. “We spoke of this briefly. Have you given it any thought since then?”
“I have.” She sighed. “I don’t want to marry anyone in the royal court. I’ve seen the way Aye looks at me, but he is an old man and a commoner. I suspect he and Horemheb had something to do with the attack during the race, but I cannot prove it.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“If I marry one of them, they will keep me around for a short time then kill me as soon as they feel the people have accepted them. I’m young. I have many years ahead of me. But only if I choose correctly. I’m thinking I should contact Suppiluliumas because he has many sons. If I marry one of them, I would be safe for a time.”
When I looked into her eyes, I saw that she was scared.
“I don’t understand all your customs. Would people accept a foreign king?”
“They will not have a choice. There may be dissent among the royal court, but the people know their place, and when they see that life is good for them, they will not be a problem. Horemheb will not like it at all. He has led campaigns against the Hittites before. He will be furious, so if I do this, he must not find out in advance. He would be a very dangerous enemy.”