“Yes, and like us, you have a twin.”
“Sarai and I were born in Wiltshire, England. Lawrence and Gabriella were born in Athens, Greece. You and Cairo, your twin, were born in Giza, Egypt under Ophiuchus. The council of Saqqara predicted that the two born under Ophiuchus would lead us to Isis’s Book of Secrets to find the True Name of Ra. This will give us the power of the Eye of Ra. According to Saqqara legend, when Ra created his children, they came to Earth to explore out of curiosity. He was so worried that he sent the Eye of Ra to find them and to ignite the Earth. The children found their way and he cried tears of joy upon their return. From those tears, the first human beings were formed. But the power of the Eye lit up the Earth and it can do so again. The Seventy-Two have been searching for it for centuries. They planted spies in the schools because they believed we would find it. This is another reason we had to be born all over the world, not just to ensure proper constellation alignment with our zodiac signs, but to spread them thin. They were only seventy-two. But it seems that they have initiated poor lost humans in their cause.”
“So, we were all born as twins. Fourteen sets in 1977 and fourteen sets in 1988,” Memphis recounted.
Everyone nodded.
“Are all the sets male and female, and one light and one dark?”
“Yes. One aspect of the Star Essence is masculine and retains a static quality. The other aspect is feminine and dynamic. We represent the dualities in life. Our Star Essence splits to meld with the physical form. The effect manifests as twin beings: Yin and Yang, male and female, and black and white.
“Virgil has mental powers and mine are physical. We are only able to tap into each other’s power when close.” She flicked her hand to demonstrate, moving Lawrence over to the settee. “Virgil has been transmitting you information in the guise of a television show.”
Virgil smiled apologetically. “We had so much information we needed you to know, and we knew we couldn’t just send it to you all at once.”
“No wonder your ‘show’ was always on. So, this is also the case with Lawrence and Gabriella?”
“Yes, and the other Wadjet. Only you and Cairo have true balance—the powers of both the physical and unconscious world. Your brother has been focusing on his physical, and losing his conscious link to us.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s with Keturah. She killed our parents.”Sarai answered with a steely tone to her voice.
“Our parents, too.” Gabriella interjected.
“She was one of the chosen creators. But the man chosen to be with her died, so the Star Council chose our parents again for this birth class.
“Keturah was jealous that our parents had two sets of Wadjet children. She was supposed to be a chosen one. She was so angry with the Star Council and Saqqara, and like Seth, her jealousy turned her to the dark side. She found Zarzora and our parents took her in, but she had already joined The Seventy-Two. While we slept, she took you and Cairo. We were only able to escape because of our powers. We were able to spectra and landed outside of the house. Before we could stop the fire, the entire house exploded.” Sarai ended the story sadly.
“Jonathan’s head exploded,” Memphis said weakly.
“Yes. It had to be The Seventy-Two; they are growing stronger with human sacrifices. They protected Keturah and we were unable to see her true intentions or the outcome with a psionic cloak.”
“But our parents knew they would die young.”Sarai stated.
“So did ours. That is what Claudia told us,” Lawrence supplied.
“But we didn’t know we would lose you,” Sarai said as she shook her head.. “We had no idea. We searched everywhere—the darkest corners of the world—but you were still under Keturah’s cloak. She kept you under watch with that horrible foster family.”
Something occurred to Memphis; she had seen Keturah before. Keturah had come to the home for several visits as a social worker, and Memphis would cry and ask her to take her away. She pleaded with her not to leave her, but Keturah would always leave her crying on the crumbling porch steps of her foster house.
“How did I get separated from Cairo?”
“We don’t know. You don’t remember?”
“No. I don’t remember much. I think there was an accident; I remember screaming and being in a great deal of pain. I was in the hospital and then I was placed with my foster family. Do we know where Cairo is now?
“No, we don’t. We need you to locate him. You are connected and will be able to lift the psionic cloak.”
“All right, I’ll try, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that. I don’t remember what he looks like. I don’t know anything about him besides the fact that he’s now my evil twin.”
“We have his picture. I’ll go and get it.” Virgil got up from next to her.
“Okay.” She noticed her bag beside her. The message light on her phone was blinking. She probably had a ton of missed calls from Jill, and Gemma was probably wondering what the hell happened to the apartment. She reached for her bag and took out her phone.
Just as predicted, there were four missed calls from Jill and a text message from Gemma. Gemma’s text had a picture attached. She hoped she wasn’t passive-aggressively sending her a picture of the trashed apartment, not after she had been washing her dishes for the past six months.
All thoughts of dirty dishes disappeared from her mind when she read Gemma’s text and saw the attached picture.
No worries luv. w/ Gregoire. We’ll deal with the apartment upon my return.
xoxo
The picture was of Gemma and Troy! She thought back to Jill’s party; he had seemed familiar. He was posing as Gregoire; no wonder he was in such a hurry to leave. But why the games?
“Oh my God!” She jumped up from the settee.
“What’s wrong?” Lawrence was immediately at her side, and Sarai joined him.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m just shocked and a bit grossed out. My roommate is involved with this guy Troy, but she thinks his name is Gregoire. I have to call her and let her know that he’s a complete fraud, but it’s not an emergency.”
“I beg to differ. If your roommate is with the man in this picture, then I’m afraid she is truly in danger and we must hurry.”
“Why?” Memphis and Lawrence gave Sarai confused looks.
“Because,” she said, taking the phone, “the man in this picture is not Troy or Gregoire. He’s Cairo, and if your roommate is with him, then she is with Keturah and she is their next sacrifice.” At that moment Virgil returned a picture of her brother, but it was no longer needed.
Memphis felt sick to her stomach. She couldn’t believe this; it was all her fault. He must have targeted Gemma because she was her roommate. She showed no psychic abilities.
“They are most likely using her as bait. They know that she’s your roommate,” Lawrence said, reading her mind. Well, figuratively, she thought. But you can never know with these folks.
Sarai sat her down. “You have to connect with Cairo—go into his mind and pinpoint his geographical location.”
“I do not want to be anywhere near that creep’s thoughts.”
“You don’t have to delve into the deepest, darkest chambers of his mind; you’re probably not strong enough to do that. But you can connect with him superficially and pinpoint his location.”
“Like a mental GPS,” Memphis said dryly.
“Yes, that is how he was able to find you for Keturah. They are probably expecting us, so he will be ready for you and will make it easy to access his location. Now, just picture Cairo—er, Troy—and feel an urge to be near him, like you need to be where he is.”
Memphis closed her eyes and pictured her brother’s ice-cold eyes; he must have had his nodes properly activated. He had perfectly blue eyes while she walked around with cloudy lenses. Where the hell was he?
“Show me where you are, asshole,” she thought.
She immediately got a reply. “Now, sis, is that any way
to talk to your dear brother?”
She would have jumped out of her skull if she could. She would never get used to this mental game of telephone.
“Um, yawn, your mental dialogue is boring. Did you receive my e-mail?”
“Astroboy? That was you? Way to be original.”
“No, it was Santa Claus. Man, you definitely are the slower twin. You poor thing; I have the beauty and the brains.”
Memphis cringed.
“Let me make this easy for you: We’re in Jersey. Sending you the coordinates. See you in a bit. Feel free to bring the rest of the family. Gawd, I love reunions,” he said before he left their mental meeting room.
Chapter 17
Memphis tried to hide the fact that she was shaking. “They’re somewhere in New Jersey.”
Memphis looked around the room, the walls were filled with books on the universe, stars, evolution, all manners of science.
“Where are we anyway?”
“We’re in a hidden wing of Hayden Planetarium.”
“Whoa, this is Hayden?” Memphis couldn’t believe it. She spent most of her time here and there’s been this secret location.
“Well we need to get to New Jersey, I guess we can drive.”
“No, there isn’t any need for a car. We can spectra,” Sarai informed her.
“Spectra? Isn’t that the light that a star emits?” Well, we are star beings. This is how we can travel faster than the speed of light. No more subways or traffic for you, honey.” Gabriella interlocked their arms. “I’m so happy that you know everything now. I don’t have a sister, but we can be star sisters, which is so much better. We’re like superheroes with powers.”
Like Astrogirl. Memphis felt a little better about everything, and she stopped feeling sorry for herself. She wasn’t Little Orphan Annie anymore; she was a Wadjet. She had a family and now they would meet her parents’ murderer face to face. She was ready for the bitch.
“I’m in. Let’s spectra and kick some ass!” she shouted with one arm in the air.
Her enthusiasm was met with blank stares. Not even Gabriella jumped in.
“Too much?”
“Just a little, but I’m happy to see that you’re ready for this.” Lawrence smiled. He moved in close and gave her a squeeze.
Man, why does he always smell so good?
Sarai gave her a curious glance.
Oh dear, did she hear me? Memphis thought. She looked at Sarai, but she gave no indication that she had. Instead, she asked everyone to form a circle and hold hands. Memphis had watched so many movies where the superheroes/witches/wizards/elves did this before battle. She never thought that this would become her reality.
“Close your eyes and think of the location that Cairo gave you.”
Memphis closed her eyes and thought about the warehouse he showed her. “Do we have to say a few words?”
“No, we’re here,” Lawrence replied, squeezing her again. He really needed to stop that; her nerves couldn’t take it. Memphis opened her eyes and they were standing in front of the warehouse.
“That is amazing.”
“I know, right?” Gabriella agreed, sounding like a teenager headed to the mall instead of into battle to save a human sacrifice.
Memphis kept her eyes on the warehouse as they walked toward it. Of course they came to Jersey to perform a human sacrifice; everybody who’s anybody does their ritual killings here. Memphis was almost certain that it was a trap and the place would explode as soon as they walked in, but nothing happened as they entered the warehouse.
They came into the large space and found it lit by candles that formed a large circle. They could only see the center of the warehouse floor; the corners were hidden in shadows.
Gemma was right in the center of the room, blindfolded and surrounded by candles. Memphis wondered if it was the same blindfold from her hypnotherapy session. On Gemma’s forehead was an eye drawn with red ink—or blood. Memphis hoped it was the former.
“Gemma,” she called out and ran over to her. She untied her and took off the blindfold. She hesitated before rubbing the eye off her face; she never did like blood.
“Memphis, what are you doing here?” She smiled up at her dreamily. “Did Gregoire invite you? What a kinky minx. I mean, I’ve been with girls before, but I don’t usually like doing it with friends—too close to home. But you are quite lovely,” she said as she began to twirl a lock of Memphis’s hair.
“Gemma, no, you’re actually—”
Virgil quickly interrupted her. “Don’t tell her; she is just bait and most likely knows nothing. Let’s keep it that way so we won’t have to explain to her and the police later. I will take her home.”
“Oh yes.” She turned back to Gemma. “Cairo—er, Gregoire did call me to pick you up. He became ill, but I was already here with my friends.” Memphis looked back at everyone.
Gemma waved hello, but was met with blank stares.
“Not a friendly bunch, eh?”
“I apologize for the rest of the group,” Virgil said, stepping forward. “Luckily I will be your escort back tonight. And I assure you, I’m much friendlier.”
“Hello there.” Gemma was always a sucker for a pretty face.
Virgil took her hand and kissed it. Memphis, Sarai, and Gabriella all rolled their eyes. Lawrence grinned.
“Just come with me and I will make sure you get home safely.”
“Why, thank you. Are you from London? I hear an accent.”
“No, but I was schooled there,” Virgil replied as he and Gemma walked out of the warehouse.
Memphis couldn’t believe it was that easy, but then she felt a huge searing pain in her head. It was so great that she fell to her knees. So did the others. What is going on?
“What is going on? Why, it’s a family reunion. You really didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” Cairo said to her aloud.
Memphis heard a woman’s voice. “Why did you let the whore go? And we need her brother.”
“Virgil is his brother, too,” Sarai spat.
“Shut up.” The woman came up to Sarai and slapped her. “You’re just like your mother—think you know everything. You know nothing and neither did she. She was a thief. She stole my babies.”
“They were not your babies. She gave birth to Memphis and Cairo. You gave birth to nothing, because you are nothing. You aren’t even worth star dust.”
Keturah looked as if she was going to strike Sarai again. The others were still doubled over in pain; Cairo had them under psionic lock. They could not move or think through the pain.
Instead, Keturah began to choke Sarai. Lawrence attempted to use his own cerebral power to fight Cairo. He managed to rise, but Cairo strengthened his mental grip and Lawrence fell back down to his knees.
“It must be the blood from the human sacrifices giving him such brain power,” Memphis thought.
She heard Cairo in her mind. “Human sacrifices? What are you talking about?”
“Um, duh. That’s why you’re so strong. You’re all juiced up from the Third-Eye blood energy from the chicks you killed.”
“No, I’m stronger than you because of my faith—because of the power of Seth. There were no human sacrifices,” he sneered.
“Dude, were you too busy stealing my boyfriend—who is dead by the way—to read a freaking paper?”
“Jonathan was your boyfriend?” Lawrence asked. He must have tapped in.
“Jonathan is dead?” Cairo asked. He felt guilty. He had led them to him, but he just wanted to taunt Memphis with the fact that he stole her human.
“Okay, so Jonathan was my ex-boyfriend, who is now dead because his head exploded.”
“Did you kill him?” Cairo asked. He increased the pain.
“No!” she screamed mentally. “Keturah and The Seventy-Two did. They have also been killing innocent women by stabbing into their skulls so you could get some brain juice.”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t know you. Why should I bel
ieve you over my mother?”
“Because I’m your sister and she is not our mother. She killed our real mother. She blew her up like she was a science experiment.”
“You’re a liar.” He increased the pain. Gabriella passed out.
Keturah had Sarai on the ground. Suddenly Lawrence got up and rushed toward her. He made contact. She fell back, hit her head on the side of a tractor and was rendered unconscious.
Cairo called out to her, screamed in anguish and rushed over to see if she was still alive.
Memphis crawled over to Lawrence and Sarai. Sarai was so still.
“Is she…?” Memphis was afraid to finish the question.
“No, she is still breathing.”
“All of you are dead, starting with you!”
He mentally gripped Lawrence. This time he seemed to be cutting off his breathing. Lawrence gripped his throat and gasped for air.
“You killed my mother.”
“Once again, she is not your mother!” Memphis yelled at him.
“I am his mother—his true mother!” Keturah shouted. “With my help he will become the most powerful being in this world.” Keturah was up and lucid, well as lucid as someone who was criminally insane could possibly be.
“Mother! You’re not dead!” Cairo ran to her side.
“Yes, unfortunately,” Lawrence wheezed. Distracted by Keturah, Cairo had released him and he was able to breath.
“Really, Lawrence? This is not a good time to bait the crazy dude,” Memphis transmitted to him.
“I am not crazy,” Cairo replied.
“Kill them all,” Keturah said as she got up. “Starting with him.” She pointed at Lawrence as she rubbed the bump on her head.
Memphis was startled by a hand on her arm. It was Sarai; she and Gabriella had regained consciousness. They all crawled over to Lawrence and formed a huddle.
“We have to kill him,” Sarai whispered to them.
“How?” Lawrence and Gabriella asked.
“No, we can’t—he’s our brother. He’s been brainwashed; he didn’t even know that the women were being killed.” Memphis pleaded.
Written in the Sky* Rise of the Wadjet Witch Page 14