by Lynne Ewing
“Because of Brian?” he asked.
Sudi nodded her lie.
“Sometimes young men can be heartless, because they don’t know how to behave yet. They’re learning to develop social skills, the same as you.” Her father pulled her close to him and kissed the top of her head. “Besides, Brian is a jackass,” he added. “I never liked him anyway.”
Sudi pulled away from her father and walked over to her open window. “Dad, do you believe in magic?” Sudi asked.
“Of course I do,” he answered.
She glanced at him, surprised.
“Today’s magic is tomorrow’s technology,” he explained. “We use things once considered magic every day. When Marconi told his friends that he had invented a way to send messages through the air without wires, they took him to see a psychiatrist, because they didn’t believe such a thing was possible. But Marconi invented the radio, and now we send pictures through the air. We all watch TV, and that’s a kind of magic, so why couldn’t there be more? There has to be.”
Sudi leaned on the windowsill and looked out at the starry sky. “It’s scary looking up there and wondering what might be looking back at us.”
“That’s an odd thing to say,” her father said, joining her. “Why would you feel afraid? You have me and your mom to protect you and keep you safe.”
Sudi nodded, but she knew she would never feel completely safe again, because somewhere in that night sky lurked enemies: ancient gods who wanted to destroy her.
“Look,” her father said excitedly. “A shooting star!”
Sudi gasped and pulled her head back inside. She eased away from the window.
“It’s only a meteorite,” her father said. “Your hands are trembling. Why are you so afraid?”
“A shooting star is an arrow shot by angels to stop a demon before it can reach the earth,” she explained.
“Where did you learn such nonsense?” he asked and hugged her, patting her back.
“The History Channel,” Sudi lied. She couldn’t tell him she had read it in the Book of Thoth.
“I think we’re safe from demons for tonight,” he said and started from the room, but at the doorway he turned back, a worried expression on his face, as if the terror thrumming through Sudi had somehow telepathically transmitted to him.
“You’re safe with me, Sudi,” he said. “You don’t need to be afraid of shooting stars or anything. If Brian…” He left his question unspoken, but Sudi understood.
“I’m fine,” Sudi answered. “Brian never hurt me.”
Her father nodded and left the room.
For the first time in her life Sudi felt ill at ease with her window open. She shut it and stared back at the black night pressing against the glass. She tugged on the cord and closed her drapes. This had to be a bad dream, some kind of cosmic joke. She couldn’t be descended from the god-kings of Egypt’s past. She was only a teenager who loved to dance and flirt with guys and had trouble conjugating French verbs.
But the gift certificate in her hand told her that the supernatural world was real, and that she was experiencing the ultimate reality.
Sudi stood in the Penn Quarter near Chinatown and stared across the street at the Anubis Building. Black glass covered the entire facade and reflected the fast-moving clouds. Her thoughts kept jumping forward to Scott. How were they going to find him in there? Moreover, she had thought that she would have been able to sense danger, to know instinctively that her enemy was near, but her shivering came from the cold breeze that snapped the flags and clanged the hoist clips against the towering poles behind her. That’s what she told herself, anyway.
A hand touched her shoulder. She winced and spun around.
“Sorry,” Meri said. The wind tossed her hair into her face. “I’m a ball of nerves, too. I almost didn’t come. I kept thinking, what if it’s just a spa and we do something stupid that costs my mom the nomination? She’d never, ever, forgive me.”
“Then I guess you’d just have to come live with me,” Sudi said, and wrapped her arm around Meri’s shoulder. She felt sorry for Meri that her first worry was always about her mother’s political career.
Dalila joined them. “I have the spells we’ll need.” She clutched a leather tube containing a papyrus from the Book of Thoth. “At least, I hope I do.”
“Let’s go.” Sudi started across the street, dodging around traffic. She had hidden the snake wand in her baggy cargo pants, and it thumped painfully against her leg. She’d have bruises, but that was the least of her worries.
“Even if we get inside, how are we going to find Scott?” Meri asked. “The building must have ten floors.”
“I guess we’ll just look around,” Sudi said.
“I’ve thought about it,” Dalila said as she joined them on the curb. “I think the building covers a shaft that leads down to subterranean rooms and tunnels like the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, but instead of a burial chamber, we’ll find a temple.”
“That’s a good start,” Sudi said, and pushed through the front door, grateful that Dalila had a plan. She hurried up to the front desk.
A receptionist sat alone. She had a thin nose, large, almond-shaped eyes, and a strong resemblance to the famous bust of Nefertiti. Sudi assumed she’d probably gotten the job for that very reason.
“We don’t have an appointment,” Sudi said, trying to keep her voice steady. “But we were hoping we could use our gift certificates today.” She slapped her card on the marble counter and immediately wished she hadn’t made such a dramatic gesture.
Meri pulled a matching gift certificate from her pocket and unfolded it before handing it over. Dalila held hers between two fingers and waited for the woman to take it. They had each received an envelope the night before: a mysterious delivery from an unknown man.
The receptionist smiled, and a look of recognition crossed her face. She leafed through an appointment book too quickly; Sudi sensed that it was a meaningless show. She felt certain the woman knew what she was supposed to do.
“The only treatments available right now are for full body massages,” the receptionist said.
“We’ll take them,” Sudi answered.
“Follow me.” The woman stood and ran her hands through her glossy hair, then started down the corridor. A slit in the back of her long black dress exposed perfect legs and bare feet.
She opened a door and escorted them into a dimly lit, perfumed dressing room. Mirrors surrounded them. Sudi caught her reflection and quickly looked away. The stark fear in her eyes unnerved her; she didn’t need more to add to the panicky feeling inside her.
“You can undress here,” the receptionist said. She opened one of the mirrors and pointed to folded robes stacked on shelves next to bottles of lotion. “Take everything off and put these on. I’ll come back in a few minutes.” She left, closing the door behind her. The latch clicked into place.
“Why do they want us naked?” Meri whispered.
“That’s usually the way it’s done for a massage,” Sudi said, pulling the wand from her cargo pants.
“It’s creepy, like they’re getting us ready for virgin sacrifices,” Meri said and gave Sudi a meaningful glance.
“I haven’t done it yet,” said Sudi as she answered Meri’s look and nervously twirled her wand like a drum major’s baton. “But becoming a sacrifice to the god of chaos was never one of my fantasies for losing it.”
“They probably won’t kill us,” Dalila said. “Just replace our souls with the spirits of dead evildoers.”
“Thanks,” Meri said sarcastically. “That makes me feel a whole lot better.”
“Well, it’s true,” Dalila answered and squeezed the leather cylinder against her chest. “Do I have to take off all my clothes?”
“Hell, no,” Sudi said. “As soon as we know the receptionist is gone, we’re out of here.”
Sudi pressed her ear against the door. When she didn’t hear anything on the other side, she cautiously opened it and poked her head into the ha
llway, then slipped out. Meri and Dalila joined her, and together they stole to the end of the hallway and turned down another corridor filled with laundry carts.
“There.” Meri pointed to a broad metal door. A sign on the front read: STAIRS.
Sudi hurried toward the door, pushed against the bar and stepped onto the landing. Dank, mildew-scented air engulfed her.
She waited for the door to close behind Meri and Dalila, and then she started downward.
The security lights gave little illumination, and on the next two floors they had burned out. Sudi grabbed the cold metal railing and accidentally hit the wand against the banister. The resounding clang echoed around her and made her feel as if she were descending into an endless abyss. She leaned over and peered into the shadows. She couldn’t see the bottom, and sudden terror seized her. Maybe this was a trap.
“Just continue,” Dalila commanded from behind her.
Sudi started again.
A few flights later, a faint rumbling vibrated through the stairs. Sudi stopped, and Meri tumbled against her.
“Is that thunder?” Meri asked, a haunted look creeping into her eyes.
“The lord of chaos,” Dalila said and paused.
The sound grew louder until a deafening roar filled the stairwell. The vibration shimmied up Sudi’s legs and through her body.
“We’re far below street level now,” Sudi said, trying to use logic to calm her own fears. “It’s probably just a Metro train passing on the other side of the wall.”
The sound became muffled. Silence followed, but it was several moments before Sudi had the strength to start down again.
Finally they reached the end of stairs and faced another door. EMERGENCY EXIT was printed across the front.
“It’s nothing after all,” Meri said and sat on a step.
“The door probably leads out to a Metro platform,” Sudi agreed, not sure if she felt disappointed or relieved that their journey had ended in nothing.
“Let’s go back,” Dalila said and started up the stairs, her footsteps banging noisily. “I suppose they could have hidden Scott in one of the treatment rooms.”
“Or maybe he’s not here at all,” Meri said, gloomily. “Maybe they’re holding him on a farm in Virginia. We’d better go see Abdel.”
Sudi followed behind Dalila and Meri, but lost her footing on the edge of the next stair and slipped. She caught herself and glanced down. A sprinkling of sand covered the lower steps.
“Wait,” she yelled, her voice echoing in the stairwell as she ran back and lunged against the door. It opened, and she stumbled over the threshold.
A blast of hot air shrieked around her, tangling her hair and lashing at her clothes. Her lungs and mouth filled with the sting of desert heat. She stepped forward, letting the door close behind her. Her wand pulsed in warning, the hieroglyphs moving in a never-ending flow.
The wind died and she found herself alone beneath a vaulted ceiling in the forecourt of an ancient temple. She lifted her head, trying to take in all the colors and gold. Paintings covered every wall.
Then, from far away, came the haunting howl of jackals, sweet sounds that awakened an odd longing, and a keen awareness that she was walking toward her death.
Sudi turned, expecting to see the gray metal door, but the building had vanished, and in its place, golden desert stretched across the horizon, dividing an intensely blue river from a turquoise sky.
“Meri! Dalila!” Sudi shouted. The massive walls threw back her voice, and her cries echoed around her.
With a rush of wind, Meri stepped through the air, her hair whipping around her. Dalila followed after her, head bent against another gust. From behind them came the sound of an unseen door slamming shut.
Sand continued to whirl in eddies about Sudi’s feet, then settled, covering the floor with swirling patterns of spiral galaxies.
Dalila rubbed her hands over the cut stone in one of the truncated pyramids that supported the pylon. Then she shielded her eyes from the sun’s glare and gazed out at the desert. She inhaled sharply. “Is that the Nile?”
“Where are we?” Meri asked, looking up at the monumental gateway towering above them.
“I think we’ve either stepped into another dimension or we were somehow thrown back in time,” Sudi answered.
“Then let’s find Scott,” Meri said, “and leave, before something happens to keep us here.”
They stepped through the gateway and removed their jackets. Sudi took off her sweater, too, glad she had worn a short-sleeved T-shirt underneath. Then they walked between two rows of columns that looked tall enough to support the sky.
Wooden statues of Anubis guarded the next doorway. Over that entrance, written in detailed hieroglyphs, was a warning: only the damned enter here.
“Should we go inside?” Dalila asked, staring at the inscription.
Sudi shrugged, not sure, and glanced at her wand. The hieroglyphs etched in the bronze lay still. She prayed that was a good sign, and started forward, pausing inside the entrance. Oil-burning lamps sat on carved wooden pillars. The flames flapped back and forth, making shadows jump and twitch. The air was stale and smelled strangely of wet copper pennies. Sudi tried to swallow, but her mouth was so dry that she coughed instead. The sudden sound of her cough reverberated down the endless corridor as if she had been leaning over a bottomless well.
The girls huddled together and slowly started down the sloping ramps and steep stairs.
“This is laid out more like a tomb than a temple,” Dalila whispered as they continued downward.
The passage ended in a huge room with vivid paintings and hieroglyphs on every wall.
Sudi stared at a drawing of the solar barge passing through the underworld at night and felt a wave of nausea. Beneath the vessel, the condemned stood in fires, flames crawling around them, their mouths open in silent wails, pleading for the sun god’s mercy.
“The wall paintings show the ancient Egyptian’s concept of hell from the Book of the Hidden Room,” Dalila explained. “My parents called the book the Amduat.”
“The drawings look so real,” Sudi whispered.
Meri traced her finger over the hieroglyphs below a painting of twelve men whose hearts had been ripped out and placed on the ground between their feet. “The bloody ones with torn-out hearts are welcome here,” Meri translated the writing. “I bet that’s not part of the original test,” she added.
“I don’t think this temple is a place where the blessed dead would want to find themselves,” Dalila agreed.
Sudi looked away. “Let’s find Scott and get out of here,” she said.
But Dalila lingered, her fascination stronger than her fear.
“I remember how much paintings like these scared me when I was a little girl,” Dalila reflected.
“Don’t they scare you now?” Sudi didn’t wait for an answer but started toward the next passageway.
“The wicked are excluded from the cycle of life,” Dalila explained, “and sent to the chaos at the edge of creation.”
“Where we go if we fail,” Meri said solemnly.
“Maybe,” Dalila continued. “Some scholars think chaos is actually in the deepest parts of the underworld. The fierce goddess Sekhmet presides over it. Her minions torture the wicked and drink their blood. But worst of all, the condemned are denied the light of the sun god.” She turned slowly. “Maybe these passages lead to chaos.”
“Stop!” Sudi blurted out. “Why are you going on as if this is real? These are just myths.”
Meri and Dalila stared at her.
“What does it take to make you believe?” Meri argued. “Haven’t we experienced enough? Do you have to have a demon dig your heart out before you’ll acknowledge that this mythology is real?”
“It can’t be,” Sudi said; she had a strange sensation of falling into endless space. “Please, tell me it isn’t. I don’t want it to be true, because if it is…”
“Because if it is, then everything in
these paintings is what the cult wants to bring into our world,” Meri said, finishing for her.
“Do you think demons will be recruited from the damned to come here and torture…?” Dalila’s voice faltered as if that new world were too horrifying to imagine.
Sudi forced herself to look at the paintings again. The misery she saw made her resolute. She was determined to stop the cult, but her determination wavered as a niggling little voice asked her how. She knew no incantations except for one love spell, and turning into a bird wasn’t going to scare any of the creatures depicted in these scenes.
“Let’s get away from here,” Sudi said, marching forward.
“Wait.” Meri tapped her finger on the painting of a creature with the head of a crocodile, the forelegs and body of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus. “Dalila, is this the creature you become when you transform?”
“For now, anyway, I look like Ammut,” Dalila said unhappily. “She lives in the underworld and devours the hearts of the wicked.”
“We’d better hurry,” Sudi said and hit her wand twice on the floor before starting forward again.
Meri and Dalila followed her this time, and together they continued on until a larger corridor crossed the hallway in which they stood. Sudi headed toward an entrance cut in the rear wall, but paused, as she became aware of faint singing.
Suddenly, Dalila grabbed her arm, and hurried her behind a massive pillar. Meri fell against her, her teeth chattering with fear.
Sudi peered out.
A man marched toward them, carrying a pole; a headless black animal pelt that looked like that of a dog hung from the top like a flag. Behind him, a priest wearing a cloak made from leopard skins walked solemnly, carrying a golden bowl in the crook of his arm. His head was shaved, and thick kohl rimmed his eyes. On his chest he wore a pectoral ornament of a vulture, and several amulets.
Sudi recognized the ankh, the T-shaped cross with the loop handle. It was a symbol of life and divine immortality. A gold cylindrical tube clicked against the other charms; she wondered what it held inside.
The priest dipped his fingers into the small bowl and sprinkled water over the ground and pillars, ritually cleansing the path to the sanctuary.