by Allie Burton
He’d known. He’d always known.
My arms gave way and I fell into a heap. Quivers rocked my body. Math had understood I had a connection to and could find the trumpet. There’d be no doubt who stole the trumpet from him. If I ever escaped, there’d be no hope for us.
With weak limbs, I crawled back to Mom’s side. “Did you plan this?”
Holding my breath, I waited for an answer. I prayed she didn’t know or didn’t understand the process. Hoped she wouldn’t curse me to a life enslaved by the Order.
Mom’s tongue stumbled over dry lips. “Your father.”
Shock electrified and sizzled across my skin. A painful breath whooshed. My stomach flipped inside out. Deflated, I sagged against the platform. Two words that had never been spoken. I had no clue who my father was, or where. “My f-f-father planned for my slavery?”
Chapter Twenty
Piper
My father.
The foreign words pinged and pulverized in my head. I didn’t even think my father knew of my existence. He’d always been an unknown entity. An unmentioned being. An enigma.
As a kid I’d wondered. As a teen I’d asked. Mom had always shut me down.
Now, I understood he’d known about my existence, had machinations on my person, was controlling and cruel. The only other person I knew like that was…
My gaze darted to Aaron.
Inside, I screamed. Terror scraping my bones as if in a horror movie and seeing the monster revealed.
In his leader’s robes, he stood by the middle of the platform, holding the trumpet and the scroll like a scepter and crown. His kingly expression fit the analogy. His head high, his shoulders straight. His dark eyes narrowed into slits of evil.
A shiver wracked my body, quaking my limbs and my internal organs. He was repugnant. He couldn’t be my father.
Aaron held out the trumpet toward me. “Your father named you Piper. He knew your destiny.”
My shoulders sagged. At least Aaron wasn’t my father. Who was?
The question had always been in the back of my mind. Now, it tore into my psyche. It was time I learned the truth.
Leaning closer to Mom, I whispered, “Who is my father?”
Mom didn’t answer. Her lips didn’t move.
No breath came from her mouth.
“Mom?” With burning eyes, I put my hand to her chest and felt nothing. “Mom?”
As if a collapsed wheel bearing, my heart throbbed and punched and thrust, crushing my ribcage. Raw aching spread from my midsection to my limbs, resembling cracking glass. The fissures filled with enraged sorrow. “No!”
The chorus of the members’ chanting grew louder with my agony.
“She’s passed on.” Aaron’s voice shouted in triumph. In celebration.
I was being sucked into a whirlpool of crazy.
“Nooooo!” My scream rent through the music and the chanting. The only opposition, drowning in the Order’s sounds of joy.
I dropped my head onto Mom’s chest, listening harder for a heartbeat. The only noise I heard was the wallowing of my own tears.
Mom was dead. Gone to me forever.
Hiccupping, I tried to control my breathing rate. Tried to control the anguish and grief. I was a wet rag lying on top of my mother’s dead body. Everything hurt. My head, my muscles, my heart. Turning my head, I forced my eyes open. Forced myself to face the world without Mom. Forced myself to face my fears of enslavement.
Pushing aside my grief, I focused on my fury, letting it build and billow. I’d delivered the trumpet as Aaron had requested. Betrayed Math and would never see him again. And yet, Aaron had betrayed me. Lied to me. And wanted to enslave me.
The chanting changed. The members moved, stomping their feet and clapping their hands. A celebration more than a funeral.
A bell rung, ringing my reality in a death toll. A present with a dangerous cult who’d killed my mother. And a future planned by my unknown father and controlled by Aaron.
My lungs deflated and I couldn’t breathe. Gasping, swallowing, drowning. I couldn’t live this way. With him. I pushed myself to the surface of my life and took a deep, cleansing breath. I had to escape. Escape before they finished the ceremony bonding me to the Order for life.
Members bowed and chanted. They made strange motions with their hands, as if cheerleaders performing a routine.
I sat up, taking in the spectacle. “What’re you doing?”
“Performing the ceremony for your mother to become an Akh.” Aaron was handed a silver dish. He took out a stick with a ball on the top and flicked his wrist. Liquid splashed onto Mom’s body.
My protective instincts panicked and I threw myself in front of her body protecting her from the liquid. “Mom’s dead.” Knowing Aaron, it was probably a different kind of poison. Or an acid so he could easily dispose of the body. “She’s not going anywhere or becoming anything. Especially not an Akh.”
Strolling to the other side of the platform, he flicked the wand again, splashing both me and Mom.
I ducked. The clear liquid hit my arm. Nothing happened. No pain or sizzle.
He flicked again. Splashed us again. “The dead become Akh when they have the proper funeral.” He flicked the wand a third time. “Which is what we are doing.”
I swiped the liquid off my cheeks—from the wand, not my tears—and studied the people swarming around me. The cloaked men were less focused on me and more on their dancing.
The hooded and robed members moved in a choreographed motion, stomping and marching and swinging their arms. Aaron read from the scroll in a foreign tongue, his voice growing more fervent. The incense in the room grew thicker.
My chest rose and fell and rose and fell and rose and fell, trying to get air and control my grief and fear. I was drowning again. Drowning in new information with more dire consequences. I wanted to run, to use the escape tunnel Math had found. To escape.
I couldn’t leave Mom’s body behind. I didn’t want her to become an Akh. Didn’t want her to continue to serve Aaron after death.
“…and are worshipped by the living.” The switch to English in Aaron’s prayer caught my attention. He moved to the side of the platform and took hold of Mom’s chin.
I knocked his hand away. “Stop.”
I’d seen the murals of ancient Egyptians removing organs through a dead person’s mouth. Aaron wasn’t touching Mom’s body.
“Piper, we are bringing your mother’s soul back to life.” His scolding tone treated me like a child. He’d taken away my childhood. “Your mother will make your powers stronger and continue to be with you forever.”
I stilled, liking the idea of Mom being with me. What was the price? “How?”
“As an Akh, she will live in an in-between place where she will strengthen your powers once you blow the trumpet.”
Terror streaked through my veins. My skin tightened around my body like a noose. Math had told me about this miserable half-life and I’d already blown the trumpet. Aaron didn’t know that tidbit.
“So, if I blow the trumpet,” I picked my words carefully, temptation teasing. “My mom won’t pass on? She’ll stay with me?”
“Exactly.” Aaron took the trumpet from a member and held it out to me. “All you have to do is play.”
My mourning tugged at my quivering soul. “But she’s already dead.”
“She’ll live within you.” Aaron shook the trumpet at me. “Play.”
“And if I don’t blow the trumpet?” I asked the question too late. I’d already blown the trumpet, therefore had I already doomed Mom to the horrible half life?
“You will blow the trumpet.” Aaron’s demanding-no-arguing tone scraped again. “We’ve waited over a decade. Your father planned this from the moment he met your mother. When she became pregnant, he forced her to blow the Trumpet of Peace. Then, she deserted him and ran away to the States. It took us years to track her down, knowing the touch of the trumpet would torture her. It’s not surprising she tur
ned to drugs for relief.” Aaron didn’t sound sympathetic to Mom’s addiction.
Everything had been an act.
“You knew when you located us what Mom’s problem was?” I’d been too young to understand. Mom had always talked about demons in her soul and how the drugs were the only thing numbing her agony. She’d never talked about Egypt or my father.
“Yes. And we were happy you survived her destructive habits.”
So they could use me.
The anger building and wavering exploded like a match to gasoline. Fury fired inside me, heating my skin and blowing my mind. “Forcing her to play the trumpet caused the destructive habits.” The internal flames fanned into fear. I’d played the trumpet, too. “If I play, will I feel internal torture and turn to drugs?”
Aaron held the trumpet higher, closer, to me. “If you play every day, you won’t feel any pain. You’ll be all powerful.”
His words echoed and pounded in my head. The proclamation terrified and tempted. Indecision danced in my stomach and doubt waltzed in my soul. I’d never had power or authority. No one ever listened to me or cared what I wanted. And if I grasped this power, could I defeat Aaron and forge an alliance with the Soul Warriors?
And maybe a personal alliance with Math?
With shaking hands, I took hold of the trumpet. My fingertips warmed under the silver’s touch. Power zoomed through my bloodstream, making me stronger. I knew I was already stronger than most teens. I recognized the essence of the trumpet’s magic, felt the hum of connection. I’d sensed this attachment before I’d played because of my blood link. What choice did I have?
Mom was gone. Aaron and Order members surrounded me, waiting. Math hated me. I’d already played and didn’t want to face the demons Mom had endured. And, since I’d already played was Mom already an Akh?
Similar to when I tried to sense the trumpet at the Society’s mansion, I put out feelers. Mom? Are you there?
Because I’d taken hold of the trumpet Aaron must believe I’d agreed to his demands. “With your powers and the Akh, I will become the almighty sacred leader. Presidents and kings will bow before me. I will rule the world.”
His diabolical laughter chilled every inch of my skin. Mom? Are you sure this is what you want for me?
I was asking for advice from a soul caught between heaven and Earth. A person who never advised me in life. A person who I never counted on.
Aaron continued on, “Once you use your mother’s powers she will be linked to you forever. She will have immortality in the half-life and you, Piper, will have immortality on Earth.”
Revulsion rippled over my body. I’d be Aaron’s slave not just for a normal lifetime, but for forever.
Forever.
Except if I was all powerful, could I seize control of the Order, steer the organization in a new direction?
Aaron took a curved knife and slashed open his palm. “We will take a blood bond so I can direct both your mother and you.”
“Direct me?” My stomach churned. My hands holding the trumpet shook more. I wouldn’t have any real power. I’d be a slave to Aaron’s demands.
Evil demands.
“You don’t think we’d let a mere girl control our power?” His abrasive chuckle made me feel like a lowly slug.
I could go along as I always did, or I could take a stand.
“What happens if I blow the trumpet,” because I had, “and don’t use Mom’s Akh?” I tried sounding casual and curious.
Aaron paused in his act of gathering his blood. Angling his head, he studied me as if trying to decide if the question was serious. “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t use the Akh powers.” He analyzed my expression and continued, “If the powers are not used and your mother is not worshipped she will be released from the bond and travel to the Afterlife.” Aaron’s glowering became more focused on me. “That’s not what your father wanted.”
I didn’t care what dear-old-unknown-dad wanted. Anticipation and anxiety thrummed in my veins in an opposing rhythm. If I didn’t use the Akh powers, Mom would be free. At least that would be one of us. I’d thwart Aaron’s plans.
Yes, her death would be her end and I’d miss her, but her Afterlife would be so much better. I’d been taking care of her for as long as I could remember; why would I stop at her death?
My spine stiffened. Everything inside hardened. I pursed my lips, ready for a fight. Would I rather die fighting, or live a living death at the Order’s command?
Chapter Twenty-One
Piper
“It’s time to pay the piper, Piper. Play Tut’s Trumpet of Peace.” Aaron used a red, sacred cloth to wipe the blood from his hand. “It’s time to forge your link with the Akh and with me, your sacred leader.” He held out his hand, wanting to shake on a deal. A blood-bonding deal. “It’s time to face your destiny.”
The quaking inside me stopped. This was no time for timidity or anxiety or doubt. Resolution stamped on my mind and my soul.
He was correct. It was time.
Time to take action.
Time to do what was right.
Time to possibly die.
Wrapping my hands tight around the trumpet, I brought the mouthpiece to my lips.
The members stopped chanting. Their beady gazes gaped through their hooded cloaks. Aaron’s eager expression had a joker smile. He leaned forward, urging me to play.
Playing wasn’t a fear because I’d played before when I put the professor, Aria, and Olivia to sleep.
That was my plan. I’d play. Aaron and the members of the Order would fall asleep. I’d escape and run away. I didn’t know where I’d go. Far from the Order and from Math. Maybe I wouldn’t die. Mom would leave me forever because I’d played the trumpet before her death. Not during the ceremony. And I’d never worship an Akh the way Aaron expected.
Goodbye, Mom.
I wished I knew whether she could hear me. I wished I had time to say more. To tell her I didn’t blame her for the way she’d acted when I was a toddler, or the way I was raised. To tell her I empathized with her torture because I might experience it soon.
How long would it take the internal torment to start? I’d played the trumpet yesterday and hadn’t felt anything. I mean, besides the grief of my mother’s death and the loss of Math’s affection. Could Math’s healing power help? Would he be willing to help?
My heart wept at what I’d lost.
A trembling warmth grazed my cheek. I was wrong, Piper. You should follow your own path.
I squeezed my eyes tightly closed, feeling the burn of emotion. Mom?
Yes, Piper. The trembling touch stopped at my shoulder. I thought by leaving Egypt I’d escaped your father and the Order. But I was weak. I turned to drugs to numb the pain. And when Aaron found us when you were seven, I went willingly. Anything to get rid of the torture.
Emotion welled under my tightly closed eyelids. Mom had tried to save me when she’d run from Egypt while pregnant. She loved me.
I put the trumpet to my lips. I’m going to get out of this. I’ve already played the trumpet.
Yes, I know. Mom’s words seemed to leave her soul with a smile. We wouldn’t be communicating unless you’d already played.
Hope flittered. So, Aaron doesn’t know we’re talking?
No.
My hope was squashed by another thought. A dark thought. I’d doomed my mother. Because I played, are you stuck in this half-life forever? Are you an Akh?
Not yet. You haven’t used my Akh powers.
I let out a breath wheezing into the trumpet and made a short, squat noise. Firming my shoulders and back, I puffed my cheeks ready to play. I’m not going to Mom. I won’t use your powers. You’re going to heaven in the Afterlife.
Mom deserved peace.
Blowing into the trumpet, I let the music soothe my uncertainty. I’d play and wait for Aaron and the members to fall asleep. Then, I’d sneak out the secret passage, never using Mom’s Akh. She’d be free. And I’d be on the run.
>
Alone.
Without Math or Mom.
I played.
And played.
And played.
Aaron’s super-concentrated expression focused on me. He didn’t move. Didn’t speak or chant. The rest of the members stared at me, too. No one’s eyes closed.
Panic slithered in my veins, causing my blood to curdle in concern. Why aren’t they falling asleep?
Mom’s trembling warmth touched me. They’ve been protected against the effects of the trumpet.
The curdling blood became waves of terror, making my head woozy. My breath faltered and the trumpet sputtered. Aaron flashed a suspicious look. Did he guess my plan? Math had mentioned a way to protect yourself from the trumpet’s effects. Everyone in this room must have taken the precaution.
My gaze darted between Aaron and the exit. Between the members and the exit. Knowing I couldn’t live under Aaron’s command, I vowed to fight. I’ll fight against them.
And I will fight with you.
Working with Mom and her powers, I’d be invincible against the Order, except I refused to sacrifice her. If you use your Akh powers to help you’ll be forever in this state.
I know the rules of the game. Mom’s touch felt warm, but the tone I sensed was frigid. I wasn’t able to protect you during my life. I will protect you now.
Hysteria spiked in my dizzy head. No! I won’t let you. I was the one in charge of the Akh, that’s what Aaron said. Not quite understanding how it worked, I knew she had to listen to me. I don’t require your assistance.
I refused to sacrifice Mom when she could go to the final reward. When she could live in heaven and finally find peace.
Aaron’s glare narrowed.
Piper, I want to help. Mom’s desperation fell on flat ears.
I refused to risk her soul. Leave, Mom. Go to your final resting place. I love you.
I love you too, Piper. Mom’s touch slipped away. My sweet, brave child.
I wavered, feeling only emptiness. A deep, black hole of loneliness. A blank nothingness of sad. I knew I was alone. Knew I’d fight alone. Knew I’d probably die alone, too.