by Lynne Ewing
Meri pulled herself up and limped over to her friend. “Are you all right?”
“Of course I am,” Sudi snapped.
A hellish scream made them turn, and then a gun fired.
“Why would they need a gun?” Meri asked. “Apep is dead, a thousand pieces—”
“There!” Sudi shouted.
Meri followed her gaze.
Apep moved toward the water’s edge, restored and larger than before, his scales smooth and gleaming. He slithered over a park bench and then the chain-link fence. The metal supports creaked and groaned under the reptile’s weight as the bars bent. The snake dragged the wire mesh over the walkway, with a terrible screech of metal.
He splashed into the pool, and in the same moment, lightning streaked across the night. Thunder crackled and smashed, the low rumble shaking the ground. Rounded masses of clouds swept in from the east and began building, piling one on top of the other until they hid the moon.
“It’s just as I feared,” Dalila said at last. “When destroyed, many Egyptian gods and demons simply regenerated. Apep is stronger now.”
“The cult leaders let me steal the knives,” Meri added. “They were taunting us. They knew we couldn’t destroy Apep.”
“They haven’t won,” Sudi said, gripping Meri’s hand. “There has to be another way. We just need to find it.”
“But how many people will Apep destroy before then?” Dalila asked softly.
Lightning shot jaggedly across the sky, and the rain fell in large drops as thunder rocked the night again.
Meri, Dalila, and Sudi started walking in the rain, ignoring the groups of people who had gathered.
The voices faded behind them, and then there was only the sound of rain.
When they reached the area where the tourist buses parked, they saw a huge, rusted Cadillac. Brian got out and grinned, resting his arms on the roof. Rain pelted his face.
“Do you need a ride home?” he asked with a chuckle in his voice.
“Brian,” Sudi said, “have you been following me?”
“Why would I be following you?” he smirked and looked at Meri. “I liked that picture of you in the newspaper.”
Meri rolled her eyes.
“That’s unbelievable Halloween makeup,” he said, no longer gazing into her eyes. “Where did you get it?”
“CVS,” Meri lied, glancing down at her tattered leotard.
“Let’s get a cab,” Meri said to Dalila and Sudi.
“Like this?” Sudi asked. “No one will give us a ride.”
Dalila looked back at Brian. “How did he know where to find us?”
“Come on!” Brian yelled, his voice rising with impatience. “I’m getting wet.”
“Maybe he’s joined the cult and he’s watching us for them,” Sudi said in a harsh, low voice. “I don’t know. What else could it be?”
“Let’s play along with him,” Dalila said. “He’s here for a reason. Let’s find out what it is.” She walked over to the Cadillac with a saucy stride.
“Do you think he just wants to get back with you?” Meri whispered to Sudi.
“Not likely,” Sudi replied as she followed Dalila.
“We’ll get your car dirty.” Dalila tossed Brian a flirty smile as she waited for him to open the passenger-side door for her.
“I can clean the car,” he said, staring at her bare belly.
Dalila slid inside, letting her skirt ride up and expose her perfect legs. She glanced at Brian, watching him watch her, and didn’t shy away from his gaze. Instead, she stretched and posed seductively.
“Where did she learn that stuff?” Sudi said in a low voice to Meri. “I wish I’d been homeschooled by her teachers.”
“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Meri agreed. “And she knows just what she’s doing. I bet she’ll get Brian to tell us what he knows and he won’t even know he’s blabbing.”
Meri crawled into the back as Brian pushed in behind the steering wheel.
The car rolled away. Windshield wipers made a slick sound across the windows, and then Brian turned on the stereo. A rhythmic, pounding vibrated through Meri. She could feel Brian watching her through the rearview mirror, and when she glanced up, he was staring at her. His gaze returned to the road, and they drove to her house without talking.
“Sudi, are you going to be okay?” Meri asked as she got out of the car.
“I’m safe.” Sudi nodded. “Dalila’s with me.”
Then Sudi leaned forward and spoke to Brian, “Go to my house next.”
The car sped away, red taillights reflecting off the rain-slick street, and turned at the corner.
Meri splashed through the puddles and hurried to the back of the house. She unlocked the door, entered, and punched in the security code, then stood for a moment in the warm air, letting the heat embrace her before she undressed.
She curled her wet leotard into a ball and dumped it in the trash, then stepped naked into the kitchen just as the electricity went out. She grabbed the box of emergency candles and headed upstairs, grateful that no one was home.
Georgie had cleaned the bathroom earlier, and the scent of Clorox took Meri’s mind off the odor clinging to her. She lit a dozen candles, setting the bases in the wet wax she had dripped onto the rim of the sink, and then she took a shower by gleaming candlelight. She sat in the tub and let the spray wash over her head. She didn’t want to comb out her hair and find a piece of snake flesh clinging to a strand.
By the time she was finished and stood dripping on the rug, the thunder had quieted and a plan was running through her mind. She stepped into her bedroom and glanced at the flashing display on her clock. The electricity had returned, but she wasn’t sure of the time. Still, she felt certain she could walk to Abdel’s house and return before her mother got home.
She reasoned that Abdel would not have taken the Book of Thoth with him. It would have served no purpose; the next mentor would only have to bring the scrolls back.
Before she had even thought her idea through, she was pulling on her sweats. She grabbed a book of matches and her house key, punched a code into the alarm panel, and headed out the door.
She jogged down the sidewalk, her tennis shoes smacking against the wet pavement.
The sky was clear again, the moonlight bright, but the strange stillness in the air promised another storm.
As she neared Abdel’s house she slowed her pace and looked around. Eerie Halloween music played in an apartment building on the next block, and jack-o’-lanterns set out earlier still had candles flickering inside them in spite of the storm. But she didn’t see anyone.
Still her nerves thrummed as she jumped up on Abdel’s front porch. She reached across the railing to see if she could force open the window, but when she pressed her fingers against the glass, she caught something in the corner of her eye. She turned, surprised.
The front door was open.
She pushed against the wood, letting the door swing wide. It bumped against the wall.
Caution told her not to call out. She slipped inside and closed the door, then waited. When she didn’t hear anyone inside the house, she crossed to the stairs and started up the steps, her breathing shallow and loud.
As she reached the third-floor landing, she paused again. A gentle movement of air brought the faint scent of smoke. Had someone just extinguished the wicks in the oil-burning lamps?
A clammy cold filled the hallway, but other than that and the smoke, she didn’t hear or feel anything strange. She entered the room, struck a match, and lit the wick floating in the first bowl of oil. The fire flared, leaving a thin black mark on the wall.
Meri blew out the match and then turned, not prepared for what she saw.
Papyri from the Book of Thoth had been unrolled and stretched across the floor, as if someone had been in a panic to find a spell. Had Abdel done this before he left? He had been searching for an incantation to protect the Descendants from Apep, but Meri couldn’t imagine that he would ev
er have treated the ancient writings so irreverently.
Another thought occurred to her: the cult leaders also wanted the papyri. Maybe she had interrupted someone who was trying to steal the sacred writings.
She didn’t think her sudden appearance could have panicked a cult leader. But she didn’t understand why a thief would unwind the scrolls and leave them in such a chaotic jumble when he could have just taken them.
A shadow moved. Meri became aware that someone was standing behind her.
Adrenaline shot through Meri, preparing her exhausted body to fight. She turned around and grabbed her neck. “Ouch!” she yelled, rubbing the tender muscles.
Tiny red eyes gazed back at her from the dark corner. Then chirping filled the room, and a bird with an elegant, S-shaped neck waddled toward her, its blunt claws clattering on the hardwood floor. A long, daggerlike beak opened, and a loud trill came out. Meri covered her ears.
“Sudi?” Meri asked.
The flapping wings turned into graceful arms, and the bird grew taller. Sudi appeared. She wore clean jeans and a boy tank. Her wet hair was pulled back in braids. She hugged Meri, and the musky fragrance of her shampoo filled the air.
Meri’s tension eased, and she let out a huge sigh.
A tweet escaped Sudi’s mouth. She coughed and tried again. “You scared us to death,” she said, brushing fine, fluffy feathers from her arms.
“Where’s Dalila?” Meri asked. She looked at the shadows hovering near the back wall.
A cobra slid forward, twisting and curling until it stood on the tip of its tail; then, still whirling, its body thickened, and Dalila appeared, spinning out of control.
Sudi and Meri grabbed her and stopped her from hitting her forehead against the bookshelves.
Dalila pressed her hands on either side of her head. “I’m so dizzy,” she said. “I think I’m going to be sick.” She wore Sudi’s clothes: a denim miniskirt with a pink baby-doll top and flip-flops.
“At least you didn’t become that devourer monster with the big butt when you transformed,” Sudi said. She turned her attention back to Meri. “We asked Brian to leave us both at my house,” Sudi explained. “My parents and sisters are still at a Halloween party, and Dalila couldn’t let her uncle see—”
“—What a mess I’d become,” Dalila said. “Besides, I didn’t want to be alone in the car with Brian. His behavior is unacceptable.”
Meri raised an eyebrow and glanced sideways at Sudi. “Translation?”
“He rubbed Dalila’s knee,” Sudi said.
“And my thigh,” Dalila said, her eyes huge. “I thought he was Carter’s friend.”
Sudi wrapped her arm around Dalila’s shoulders. “The thought of getting caught making a move on you made it even more fun for Brian.”
“He can’t be trusted.” Dalila shook her head and shuddered. “I never want to be alone with him, ever.”
“I know that feeling,” Sudi answered, and pulled a tube of gloss from her pocket. She opened it and spread tangerine color over her lips, then puckered and passed the gloss to Meri.
“Does he know anything about the cult?” Meri asked.
“We’re still not sure,” Sudi said. When Meri didn’t apply the gloss, Sudi took the tube and put it on her lips for her. “But after we showered, we decided to come back here. We figured Abdel would have left the scrolls and—”
“—We wanted to find a spell to stop Apep from coming into our world.” Dalila held her lips out for Sudi to shine. “There has to be an incantation—something. After all, the ancient Egyptians wrote the Book of Overthrowing Apep. It gives spells and instructions for stopping the monster; so why can’t we find anything to help us?”
“That’s why I came here,” Meri said, but secretly she felt hurt that they hadn’t called her. She looked at the scrolls spread across the floor. She couldn’t believe that Sudi and Dalila had done that to the sacred text.
Dalila began rolling up a papyrus. “We thought we could find the answer,” she said with a look of remorse, “but that’s not an excuse to treat the Book of Thoth this way. I don’t know what made me act so disrespectfully.”
“Maybe trying to stop a giant snake that can swallow you whole requires extreme behavior,” Sudi said. “We did the right thing.”
Meri placed a comforting hand on Dalila’s arm. “It’s okay,” she whispered.
But Dalila appeared truly ashamed. “I’m so sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt anything. The hieroglyphs are so fragile.” Her eyes were glassy with tears.
“It was mostly me, anyway,” Sudi said, stepping forward to take the blame.
All three began to pick up the papyri and roll them. Meri dropped hers in a leather case and set it inside a trunk.
“So what did Brian tell you?” Meri asked.
“Just like always, he talked about how cool he is,” Sudi answered, and then she sighed heavily. “If he did join the cult, and now I’m not sure that he has, I can’t imagine the leaders entrusting him with any secrets anyway.”
“He’s exceptionally foolish,” Dalila added, and then she collapsed on a stool. “What if we can’t find the spell? What happens if we don’t stop Apep?”
“Our next mentor will know what to do,” Meri said, with a confidence she didn’t feel.
A sound from downstairs made them stop.
The front door shut with a definite clack.
“Could the wind have done that?” Sudi asked.
“I closed the door,” Meri whispered. “Someone just came inside.” Her heart hammered. She hoped it was Abdel.
But then she heard the footsteps. A shuffling step was followed by a loud tap. After that came the shuffling noise again, of someone dragging a hard-soled shoe across the floor. Then another knock hit the floorboards, and immediately the shuffle sounded again. It didn’t sound like Abdel’s easy stride.
Meri looked at Sudi and Dalila.
“Do you think that’s our new mentor?” Sudi asked.
Whoever it was started up the stairs, pounding heavily on each step. The old wood creaked under the visitor’s weight.
“If that’s our mentor, then the person is an old geezer,” Meri said, trying to figure out the odd mix of sounds. “And whoever it is must weigh at least a thousand pounds.”
“How are we going to get all of this cleaned up?” Dalila whispered frantically, panic in her face. Her fingers worked another papyrus, rolling it. “We can’t let our new mentor see what we’ve done.”
Sudi grabbed her hand. “We don’t have time to pick everything up,” she said.
“Then what are we going to do?” Dalila asked with a wild look in her eyes. “Should we transform?”
“I don’t know about you two,” Meri whispered, “but I’m definitely too tired. I’d get stuck in some in-between phase.”
“We can’t let our mentor find us,” Dalila said. “How are we going to explain this?”
“We’re not going to,” Sudi said. “We’ll hide, and after our mentor gets settled in for the night, we’ll sneak out.”
“Where are we going to hide?” Meri asked, looking at the stacked trunks and bookcases pressed against the walls.
“Here.” Dalila slid beneath the table.
Sudi joined her. Then Meri squeezed between them.
The person had crossed the second-floor landing and was starting up the third flight of stairs. The harsh scraping sound made Meri cringe.
“We forgot to put out the light.” Dalila gripped Meri’s arm. “Our mentor will wonder why the oil lamp is burning.”
“How are we ever going to kill a monster snake when we can’t even handle something like this?” Meri muttered under her breath.
She scrambled across the floor to the shelf that held the oil lamp, then stood, licked her fingers, pinched the wick and put out the flame. The smell of smoke floated into the air.
As she started back to the table, a flashlight shone on Meri’s face.
Stanley Keene stood in the doorway, holding
the flashlight in one hand and leaning heavily on Meri’s wand with his other. His breathing made a harsh, annoying sound.
“Light the lamp again, Meri,” he said, apparently not surprised to find her in Abdel’s house. “Please, light them all.”
Meri struck a match.
Stanley hobbled into the room, using the wand as a cane. He stopped and gazed down at the scrolls still lying on the floor.
“Fascinating how these little drawings can be used to indicate sounds as well as the objects they depict.” He tapped the tip of her wand on a hieroglyph that looked like an owl staring sideways at the reader. “That tiny creature represents an m sound.”
“You know how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs?” Meri asked, lighting another wick and wondering why Stanley was there.
“Now,” he whispered. “If only I’d known then.”
She struck another match and watched him wander around the room, looking at the scrolls.
At last he found a papyrus, which had been tied with a string. A lump of mud covered the knot and was stamped with a seal. He picked it up and carried it back to the table. Then with a slow, strenuous effort, he sat on a stool.
He glanced down at Dalila and Sudi, still hiding under the table, and regarded them contemptuously.
“Cowering beneath the table,” he said and frowned. “How do you expect to save the world?”
Sudi crawled out from under the table, and Dalila eased out after her.
His focus swung back to Meri, who was lighting the last line of lamps. Flames darted and curled, casting an orange glow about the room.
“Your wand doesn’t work,” Stanley complained. With a surge of wild anger, he beat the snake head against the floor. “It’s supposed to ward off evil, and it didn’t.”
“I never said it would,” Meri answered, bewildered, and stepped back to the table. She stood over him. “You stole the wand from me.”
“Yes, my little cat,” he said, calm again. His swollen fingers gathered her wet hair, then squeezed the ends and let go. Heat radiated from him, and she wondered if he had a fever.
“You knew the cat following you was me?” Meri asked.