by Gabi Moore
“Why should it be hard?” Sean asked them. “There is a directory on the other side we can use. If not, I’m sure one of the kiosk ladies has a map.”
“Different kind of map,” Emily said. “Dion got this from a special store. It shows places the other maps don’t.”
“Why would that make a difference?”
“The map we had showed the passages the ghouls used to get around the mall. You’ll never find them on any other map. Plus, many of these stores, which are closed to the general public, have a very particular clientele base. You won’t see them anywhere else.”
“Like what?”
“Like a store which sells pollution control equipment for water sprites. They still have to live in that mess and want to keep their part clean.”
Dion went on to tell him about the cafeteria for vampires and the anti-surveillance store for ghosts. It seemed the specters were fed up with paranormal investigators who wouldn’t leave them alone. They invested heavily in auto-intrusion technology to have a decent afterlife.
“They’re pushing for a lot of the counter-surveillance equipment on the market. The specter detectors still don’t understand why they were able to get voice recordings in graveyards up to three years ago, but can’t get a thing anymore. The ghosts found ways to jam their devices. They buy new equipment every chance they get.”
Soon they reached the waterfall, which marked the center of this section of the mall. It was built to serve as a wishing well and combination fountain with a goldfish-reflecting pond. Like many of the other aquatic attractions in the mall, it had a ledge where people could sit and relax. It was early in the day and the only shoppers relaxing where young mothers who’d brought their children.
“I could walk to the other side of the mall,” Dion said. “It’s a haul to get over there. Besides, the hobby shop we need to find shouldn’t be so hard to locate.”
As they sat there, a small balloon floated down from the skylight to them. No one saw who released it and all four of them were surprised by the sudden appearance of the balloon. I was red in color and had a small piece of paper attached to it. When the balloon descended in front of them, Lilly grabbed the paper on it.
“It’s a letter,” she said as she looked at the paper. “It’s addressed to you, Dion.” She detached the letter from the balloon and handed it to Dion, and she gave the balloon to Sean.
Dion slowly opened the letter while Sean tried to figure out what to do with the balloon. Sean turned to Emily. “Is there any reason we need to keep this thing?” he asked her.
“I can’t imagine why.”
“Good,” he said and popped the balloon. Several women near the waterfall turned and glared at him. Dion continued to read the letter.
“You didn’t have to make so much noise,” Emily snapped at him.
“Sorry.” It was a problem he’d always had, not knowing when something was appropriated to do or not. Somehow, Sean just never knew the social cues that guided most people through life.
“So, what is in the letter?” Lilly asked Dion.
“It was from my parents.” Dion folded it up and placed it in his pocket. The rest of the group became quiet.
“So what did it say?” Emily asked. “Can you tell us?”
“It said that they’re proud of what I’ve done and want me to continue with the quest. They look forward to being with me again. They’re all right, but still imprisoned at the center of the mall in the clock tower. The managed to get the one letter out, but they don’t think they’ll be able to do it again. They told me I need to have all five elemental powers to free them.”
“Pretty much what you already knew,” Lilly said.
“Five elements?” Sean spoke again. “I thought there were only four.”
“The fifth is the source of the other ones,” Dion explained. “It has to do with the abyss; I’m just not sure how.”
“Well,” Lilly said, “if you can find the hobby store where the Air Elemental Grandmaster is located. You can at least have that part of the quest finished.”
“It’s never as easy as that. You saw what happened yesterday. The mall builders had the ghouls kidnap Emily just to keep me away.”
“I thought the kidnapping was the ghouls’ idea,” Lilly said. She shuddered as the memories of the trip to the subbasement came back to her.
“They put them up to it,” Dion said. “We need to see Mr. Jehuti.”
“Other side of the mall,” Lilly said. “Besides, we lost the map he gave us the first time, what makes you think he and his wife will want to give us another copy? Assuming he has another to give us.”
“Did someone let a bird in here?” Sean asked.
They all turned to see where he pointed.
Indeed, it was bird. But a large one and it was in the pool of water where the waterfall emptied. The bird had long legs and a large beak. It resembled a flamingo, but it was not so colorful. The bird walked in the water toward them with a scroll in its mouth. It avoided all of them except Dion, whom it hopped up to and presented the scroll.
“I think it wants to give it to you,” Lilly said.
Dion reached over and took the scroll from the bird’s mouth. Seconds later, it was airborne. They watched it soar into the heights of the mall until it found an opening in the skylight. The bird swooped out of the mall and was last seen as a dot through the skylight.
The sounds began to fade in the mall as Dion picked up the scroll and unrolled it. None of the others noticed as they gathered around to look at it. Only Lilly remarked that it was made of papyrus, as the map yesterday was also constructed. The air became very warm inside the space where they stood looking at the scroll.
It consisted of one figure, which was a jumble of Egyptian symbols surrounded by an oval. The symbols were painted on the papyrus in very bright colors. This was no tourist replica, but an actual Egyptian document from the Old Kingdom. What it was doing inside the mall had yet to be explained. It made no sense to any of them.
Dion looked up from the scroll and discovered he was no longer in the mall. Once again, he was in the Egyptian desert of three thousand years ago. Once again, he was dressed in the simple robes of a court official from that time period. He looked across the sunbaked land and saw a woman approach him in a backless dress with her long hair tied back in a headband, which had an ostrich feather stuck in it. She held a set of balances in one hand. It was Mr. Jehuti’s wife, but she was without her husband.
Dion looked to his sides and saw his friends with him, similarly dressed. This had happened the last time he’d been in Mr. Jehuti’s store. The older man said he needed to hold a conference with Dion and Lilly. Seconds later, they were transmitted to the same scenario in the ancient Egyptian desert. This was where he was first handed the secret map to the mall.
“I see you’re alone,” Dion said to Mrs. Jehuti. Once again she walked across the sands with the aid of a staff. Dion noticed this time there was a rose carved into the head of it.
“My husband has to take inventory today. We learned of your forfeiture of the map last night.”
Sean was at a loss to figure out what was happening. One minute they were in a suburban shopping mall, now they were in the Land of the Pharaohs. He glanced across the burning sands and saw a pyramid under construction. In front of it, two men looked over a set of plans as a work team hauled a stone, which had to have weighed several tons. Other work teams were busy moving stones into place as stonecutters walked around with tools to check the fitting.
Lilly knew where she was and stayed close to Dion. Emily hadn’t been here before and turned to watch a boat sail down the river in front of them. She was perplexed by what had taken place. It didn’t bother her, as yesterday was as bad as she ever wanted to experience, but today the sun was high in the sky and it was hot. She looked down at her skirt and found a pair of leather sandals on her feet. They were tooled to resemble lotus heads where the tops joined the ankle straps.
“Her
e is the map,” Mrs. Jehuti told him as she produced it from a pouch on her belt. “Try and not trade it this time.”
Dion took it from her and looked at it. This time the passageways and stores were marked in English. The last time it was in an ancient language he couldn’t read without the aid of a seer stone.
“It’s changed again,” he said.
“The map stays in whatever language the last person used it. At least that is how it is supposed to work. I understand its close proximity to the ghouls might have changed things.”
“How did you get it back?” he asked her.
“The ghouls brought it to us. They knew it would be of no use to them after you obtained your full earth elemental powers and wanted us to put in a good word for them. They’re worried the mall builders will kick them out.”
“After what they did to me,” Emily snapped, “I hope they end up eating dirt.”
“The ghouls try to survive as best they can,” Mrs. Jehuti said firmly. “They don’t have a lot of experience dealing with humans so it causes them to make some stupid mistakes. Even after years of living in the shadows of humanity, they still have to scurry out of the sunlight. You need to see things from their perspective, as disgusting they might be to you.”
“They didn’t look at it from my prospective when they grabbed me and I was hauled down to that subbasement.”
“Again, they have this tendency to make idiotic decisions. Anyway, this is a peace offering to Dion.”
“I was told by Edward that the air elementals in this part of the mall can be very deceptive,” Dion said to Mrs. Jehuti. “What do I need to worry about?”
“They will use your baser instincts to lure you away. You are dealing with very sophisticated sylphs. These are not the ones that fly in an out of the windows on such a summer’s day. However, they are not as dangerous as the ones that fly in the upper storm clouds. You don’t have to worry about electrocution by them. The ones in the upper clouds seldom come down to earth, so it’s not much of an issue anyway.”
“How will I know what to look for?”
“I don’t have to tell you, they will be obvious when you see them. Remember, this part of the mall is governed by the element of air. There are many ways to control it, but you have the greatest ability of anyone I’ve ever seen. Use your powers carefully. I don’t think you’ll be able to get very close to the Grandmaster right away, so plan accordingly. I see you have some extra friends along for this adventure, do they know what to expect?”
Dion turned to Sean and Emily.
“I was on the receiving end the last time,” Emily told her. “I don’t want to deal with that one again.”
“This is my first time out,” Sean said. “But I’ve already seen enough to keep me here for the trip.”
“Keep in mind,” Dion said, “it will only get worse as we go closer to the hobby shop. The air elementals don’t want me to have authority over them and will do what they can to stop me from reaching my goal. They even set that plastic bull against me the last time. I was able to lead it into a kitchen store and bind it long enough to release the earth elemental they’d put inside it. I have no idea what they will try and do this time.”
Lilly looked up at the sky. The huge beetle was pushing along the sun, the same as it had done the day before.
There was a commotion and they all turned to find the source of the noise. When they couldn’t find it, Mrs. Jehuti pointed down at the ground. The looked downward to see a horde of small figures running across the sand. It was impossible to hear what they had say, but each of them carried some kind of farm implement and hurried on their way to a destination. After a few minutes, the tiny mob disappeared from sight.
“Ushabti’s,” Mrs. Jehuti explained. “On their way to some noble’s tomb construction.”
Sean looked up and watched a small boat sail across the sky. It contained several men riding in it and as strange half-human, half-animal creature at the prow. It seemed to follow the beetle, pursuing the sun directly behind it.
Emily wondered what she was doing in this place. She decided yesterday to come to the mall. She’d talked to Lilly the evening before to make sure her friend was all right. All Lilly wanted to talk about was Dion, how amazing he was and all the things he had done. To hear her talk, Dion was close to a rock star in looks and a miracle worked in ability. Emily had seen him stare down those ghoul cleaners, but she still couldn’t believe all the things Lilly told her about the mall, what it represented and the quest Dion was on today. There had to be a reason for everything, which happened that day. She wasn’t about to believe he could manipulate the elements. Real life wasn’t a comic book the kids read. There were no masked avengers who changed into men with superpowers. At least not as far as she knew.
But here she was, in the land of Egypt. The sun was pushed across the sky by a bug and a boat made out of reeds was following it behind. Worse, she’d just watched a herd of gremlins run across the sand on their way to a what? A noble’s tomb construction? Either she was insane, in a dream, or this place was real. The first two were bad enough, but the third made it worse for everyone. If the world did respond to the power of the four elements, why should she plan on attending college or finding a decent man to settle down with? Her dad had no luck on marriage, but she was determined to find someone to spend her life with. No way did she want to end up like her “disco divorcee” mother who had a different man over at her place every week.
She blinked and the landscape changed again.
Now she could see herself in the future. She wasn’t in the scene, but an impartial observer. Emily saw herself working at a cheap diner on the late shift. She had to get home in time to pick her daughter up from her mother’s. Her feet were hurt and she hated the uniform she was forced to wear to get some decent tip money. When was that no-account ex-husband going to send in his child support check? The idiot didn’t even spend time with his daughter.
She needed to find another job. This one didn’t bring in anywhere near the money she needed and the bills were starting to pile up. It was barely enough to afford a cheap apartment in a seedy part of town. How had things ended up this way?
Emily blinked again and she was back in the desert with her friends. Mrs. Jehuti stared at her from across the sands.
“You should focus on where you are now,” she told Emily. “You don’t need to look at the endless possibilities which lay before you. It was something which might happen, but that is not guaranteed.”
“I’ll keep that all in mind. So what I just experienced doesn’t have to take place?”
“No, but it will if you continue on your present course.”
The rest of the group looked in confusion at Mrs. Jehuti and Emily. The two of them experienced something, which wasn’t privileged to be shared between the others. They knew the place they stood was outside the circles of time, but none of them realized how different it all was.
“Thank my lucky stars,” Emily said. “I was ready to walk off a bridge rather than face that future. How do I prevent it?”
“It’s up to you. I can’t tell you what to do; you have to make that decision on your own. I think you already know what steps to take.”
Emily had an on-again off-again relationship with one of the starters on the high school football team. It was fine for a while, but Teddy, as she liked to call him, could be demanding. She needed to bring it to an end. Or should she take it to the next level? She didn’t see enough to know whom the man was that left her in that state.
Emily closed her eyes, but the scene did not come back. She needed to focus on her future, but decided to put it off for another day.
Chapter 4
“Can I see the map?” Sean said to Dion. “You’ve talked so much about it I want to have a look at it.”
“Of course. Just be careful about it. It’s the only one there is and I don’t know how to go about finding another one.”
“That’s because there is not anothe
r one,” Mrs. Jehuti said from across the sand. “It’s the only one which was ever made. It’s possible to make another one, but the research could take years. This one came out quickly enough because we were able to draft it while the mall was under construction.”
Sean unrolled the papyrus and looked at the symbols. It showed the two levels of the mall and the two basements beneath it. The descriptions of each store and what it sold was spelled out in very clear English. The passageways mentioned by Dion and the others were indicated on the map as well. It was a huge map and had to be at least forty inches in length.
“What happens when a store changes hands?” he asked. “Do you have to get a new map?”
“No,” Mrs. Jehuti said, “the map changes to reflect the new owner. You can watch it happen on the day the new store opens. It might happen today, since there is supposed to be a new coat shop going in.”
Just as soon as she’d said the words, Sean noticed one of the box diagrams on the map began to shimmer. Lines emerged on it and lettering filled in the space where it was located. Before his eyes, the map changed to show the location of the new store and what it sold. If he had ever doubted the ability of the map, they were gone. Before his eyes, the name of the store spelled itself on the papyrus and more letters described what corporation owned it. The final words appeared within thirty seconds.
As Dion told him, there were all kinds of passages and places marked out on the map, which would never appear on any other one. It showed the secret entrances to stores which were closed to the humans. It showed how the residents of the subbasement moved in and out of their domain. It even showed where the power lines and ectopic transmission points were located. The four parts of the mall were divided up by their elemental designation. They had left the one for “air”, just as Dion told him. However, there was one thing missing on the map.
“Why is the center of the map blank?” Sean asked Dion. “There is nothing listed here. I thought you said the management and builder of the mall resides in the center where the clock tower is located?”