The Serpent Waits

by Bill Hiatt

  “We get attacked by Egyptian serpents near a hieroglyph that represents Apep. Then we get pulled into a world where parts of Santa Barbara County have become an Egyptian tourist trap,” said Viviane. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

  “We’re only a few minutes away,” said Gordy. “Should we check out this Egyptianized Orcutt?”

  “Our time could be better spent figuring out how to get out of here,” said Tal.

  “On the other hand, if whoever opened the portal is somehow responsible for these developments, it’s possible some of his or her magic might be present in one of those places,” said Carla.

  “Carla may be on to something,” said Stan. “The theme park, several of the businesses in Orcutt, and the old Williams House in Summerland—you know, the one that became a restaurant in our world—are all owned by Amen Hafez, an Egyptian who emigrated here as a boy. His grandfather knew DeMille.”

  Tal sighed. “I suppose we should check out all those locations. They’re the only possible leads we have right now. Orcutt’s closest, so we’ll check that out first, then the lost city, then the house.

  “Let me do a quick survey, just to make sure there’s no obvious danger.”

  Tal leaned against the van. His eyes closed, and his face became expressionless.

  “He’s sending his mind out to look and see what’s out there,” whispered Khalid.

  After a few minutes, Tal opened his eyes again. “The place is completely different from the comparable part of Orcutt in our world, but I didn’t see any obvious hazards. Fashions and manners look the same as on our Earth. I didn’t see any signs of different laws or other things that might trip us up.”

  “We going in noticeable or unnoticeable?” asked Shar.

  “The place is too crowded to do unnoticeable very easily,” replied Tal. “Invisibility would have the same problem. People would keep running into us. I think we have to drop that magic for the moment. I’ll just suspend it, though, so I can reactivate it quickly if we need it.”

  “Isn’t…isn’t that risky?” I asked. “From what you’ve all said, whoever brought us here must have magic. Isn’t that person looking for us? Shouldn’t we keep whatever concealment we have?”

  “You catch on fast,” said Tal. “Anyone skillful enough to find a way to move us into a different universe is probably skillful enough to find a way to track us, particularly since that person must know our entry point.”

  “And if not, the person would at least be able to locate any spells of this type in the area,” said Viviane. “This kind of magic isn’t really intended to block sorcerers from finding each other. Like invisibility, concealment spells typically only work against the magically talented if they aren’t looking closely. If they suspect someone is there and concentrate, they can see right through the concealment.”

  “Tell me about it,” said Khalid. “That’s how these guys always caught me sneaking along when I was a kid.”

  “I can tell you aren’t buying this,” Tal said to me. “I wish I could offer you a guarantee, but we’re in unknown territory. I know we’re asking a lot, but can you trust that we’ll take the least risk we can?”

  It was too early for real trust, but I nodded anyway. What else could I do? I couldn’t get back to the right world on my own, and I had no one else to turn to.

  “Good,” said Tal. “There’s one more thing we need to talk about. Any time we’re in an unknown situation like this, I network us magically so we can talk without giving ourselves away. Genuine mindreading is rare, so there’s little chance of someone being able to tap into our mental communications. In the unlikely event we’re attacked, we can coordinate better that way, too. Will you permit me to connect you to the network? You’ll be safer that way.”

  “Everybody else isn’t going to be able to read my thoughts, are they?” Having Tal peeking in my head from time to time was bad enough. Being an open book to everyone? Out of the question.

  Tal grinned. “The network doesn’t make deep connections. We’ll hear from you only what you want us to hear. Just concentrate on what you want to say to us. Anything you’ll hear is something the person involved wants us to hear. OK?”

  I nodded reluctantly. I felt a moment of dizziness, but it passed.

  “Can you hear me now?” Tal’s lips weren’t moving, but I could hear his thought as clearly as if he had spoken it.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. I can hear you, too, so we’re all set. All right, everybody, back in the van.”

  The ride to Orcutt’s Egyptian district was quick and uneventful—until we got within a couple blocks of our destination. I knew we were heading into a faux ancient Egypt, but I was still shocked when I saw a pyramid looming up before us.

  The parking lot was pretty much a normal parking lot—and very crowded—but beyond that asphalt expanse, Egyptian Orcutt was like nothing I’d ever seen.

  The sidewalks had been meticulously surfaced in a way that resembled desert sand. The storefronts couldn’t entirely conform to Egyptian architecture, but they were all decorated with hieroglyphics and murals in the ancient Egyptian style. In the unlikely event that tourists forgot what the theme was supposed to be, the streets were lined with small sphinxes to remind them.

  “There’s definitely some kind of magic here, but it feels residual,” thought Tal.

  “Could be it’s not active, but it seems to be all over the place. If this is just residue, the spell that produced it must have covered the whole area,” thought Carla.

  “Perhaps it was a spell to get people to like this place,” thought Viviane.

  “You mean fake Egyptian isn’t really your thing?” thought Magnus. “I’m feeling it, too, but it’s unfamiliar. I have no idea what it does.”

  “Well, if it doesn’t seem to be doing anything dangerous, can we eat?” thought Gordy. “It occurs to me I haven’t eaten in a while, and this may be the best chance we’re going to get.”

  Tal chuckled. “As long as no immediate threat presents itself, I guess we might as well—but how are we going to pay for it? Stan, what are the odds our credit cards will work here?”

  “I wouldn’t chance it. I’m sure our other selves have cards, but it’s astronomically unlikely ours are identical to theirs.”

  “What about cash?”

  “I checked on my phone a while ago. The designs on bills and coins look the same, but I can’t guarantee there’s not some subtle difference.”

  “As always, you people are making this more difficult than it needs to be,” thought Magnus. He walked over to an ATM positioned under the watchful eye of an Anubis statue.

  “ATM cards aren’t likely to work any better than credit cards,” thought Stan.

  Without replying, Magnus touched the display. It flickered as if the machine were about to die, and then what looked like about $500 in twenties slid out of the appropriate slot.

  “We shouldn’t be stealing—” Tal began.

  “Desperate times call for desperate measures, Boy Scout. If we had to stay here long enough, even you would have done something like this eventually. I’ve just saved us half an hour or more of soul-searching.”

  Tal looked unhappy, but he let the argument drop. Magnus didn’t look as if he was willing to put the money back—if there was even a way to do that.

  We looked at the restaurants, most of which were crowded. I wasn’t surprised to discover that the group members had very different tastes. Eventually, we settled on Isis’s Oasis because it looked a little quieter than most of them.

  “Guess I’m getting old,” said Tal. “Loud music, like in those other places, just doesn’t do anything for me anymore.”

  The floors in Isis’s Oasis were also made to look like sand the same way the sidewalk was. The effect was complemented by a large number of plastic palm trees scattered throughout the restaurant. Waitresses were all dressed like the Hollywood image of Cleopatra. There didn’t seem to be any waiters. The bus boys were dressed like s
omeone’s idea of Egyptian slaves.

  To Tal’s horror, there was background music after all, but at least it was relatively quiet. However, the playlist had obviously been set up by someone who wanted to make sure we didn’t lose sight of the Egyptian theme. It started with “Walk like an Egyptian,” by the Bangles. I had no idea so many pop songs alluded to Egypt. Of course, some of them might not have existed in my world.

  We made small talk as we ate our Horus burgers and Osiris chop salads, but we continued our real conversation mentally.

  “This place gives me the creeps,” thought Michael. “I keep waiting for mummies to pop out and grab us.”

  “Whatever we’re feeling, it’s not necromantic,” said Tal. “Anyway, Jimmie would know if any of the dead were roaming the area.

  “I just wish we’d gotten more information. Except for the food, this visit was pretty much a bust—but I should have known it would be,” thought Tal. “If this Amen Hafez is really behind our being trapped here, he’s got better things to do than plaster this area with magic. I think what’s here is likely to be residue from the spell that brought us into this world. Maybe a change in frequency like that affects a wider area than the portals we’re used to.

  “Hafez’s house is a more likely place to find evidence of ongoing magic.”

  “Or to get ambushed,” thought Alex.

  “If Hafez wanted to ambush us, the best time would have been the moment we emerged here. If he’s the one behind all this, he’s got more on his mind than a simple ambush.”

  The mention of Hafez made my skin crawl, but I couldn’t see why. I’d heard the name before. Maybe my subconscious had been fretting about it—but why? Had I met the Hafez of our world?

  “Stan, can I see a picture of Hafez?”

  He looked puzzled by the request, but he called up his earlier internet search and then handed me the Sage Phone.

  The image was small, and the suit was lighter—but still very old-fashioned. The face staring back at me with those piercing eyes was the face of the man who’d been staring at me on the street.

  “I…I saw this man earlier today, shortly after my imaginary meeting with McBride. He was watching me, but when I realized I’d seen him, he…he disappeared.”

  Tal’s eyes widened. “Hafez could have a double in our world, but one who knows magic and who was stalking you just before all this started? That can’t possibly be a coincidence.”

  “If he could bring us into this world, it makes sense that he could visit ours,” thought Carla.

  “Finding him has just become even more urgent,” thought Viviane. “He’s either responsible for all this, or at least working for the one who is.”

  “I’ve been monitoring a few blocks in all directions from the restaurant,” thought Tal. “I don’t think he’s nearby.”

  “Taking his time before springing whatever his trap is,” thought Magnus.

  “We’re trapped already,” thought Stan. “We can’t go back home, and he must know that. Either he’s busy, or he’s playing with us—but regardless, he knows there’s no reason to hurry.”

  “If there’s no sign of him here, we should try the house,” thought Lucas. “It’s late enough that he could be there by now.”

  Tal looked around the table. “Any objections? Good. Magnus, would you please pay the bill. We need to get going.”

  Pausing just long enough for Magnus to finish with the cashier, we stepped out of the restaurant and headed toward the parking lot.

  “Someone’s following us,” thought Tal. “Anyone else feel it?”

  “Not exactly,” thought Viviane. “I’m picking up a hint of magic, though. Try switching on the don’t-notice-me spell. Someone tracking us will have to exert more of an effort to keep up. They’d be more conspicuous.”

  “Stay sharp,” thought Tal. “If someone is following us, whoever it is might get more aggressive if we look as if we’re going to slip away.”

  I felt a tingle I hadn’t noticed the first time the spell cloaked us. I looked around, afraid I’d see Hafez trailing us. There was no sign of him. Nor was anyone around us acting suspiciously. Everyone ignored us as expected, and some came close to bumping into us.

  “I’m not seeing anyone doing anything unusual,” thought Nancy.

  “I can still feel the scrutiny, but I can’t see anyone, either” thought Tal.

  “Invisibility?” asked Carla.

  “Not exactly, but some form of concealment,” thought Viviane.

  “Feels…Egyptian,” thought Magnus.

  My heart beat a little faster. Maybe Hafez was here, and I just couldn’t see him.

  “Kek,” whispered a voice. It was not Tal or any other member of his group.

  It was coming from inside my own head.

  The headache came surging back like a tidal wave of sledgehammers. I stumbled and would have fallen if Lucas hadn’t grabbed me. My eyes were closed. I couldn’t get them to open

  “Something’s wrong with Amy,” he yelled—or did it just sound like a yell?

  A hand pressed against my forehead. The touch was Viviane’s.

  “Get up a protective spell!” Tal was yelling, but only in my mind. I felt magic stirring around me, then crackling like static electricity.

  “I don’t think she’s under attack,” thought Viviane. “What’s happening is internal. I’ll do what I can to counteract it.”

  “We’ve got to get out of here now.” That was Shar, strong and calm.

  My eyes flew open as if someone had slapped me across the face. “I…I’m better now.”

  I felt as if I’d just been pulled out of a wood chipper seconds before blade met flesh, but now was definitely better than before.

  Viviane stared into my eyes for a few seconds. “I’m not sure this was an attack. It could be Amy reacting to the presence of Egyptian magic.”

  Shar looked all around us, his mouth narrowed into a thin line. “We should get out of here anyway. We don’t know enough to protect ourselves effectively.”

  Tal shook his head. “If we aren’t under attack, it might be worth trying to figure out who is watching us—and why.”

  Amy, you mumbled something that sounded like ‘Kek’ when you collapsed. Any idea what that means?”

  “I think that came from Amenirdis.”

  “Then you shouldn’t think about it,” thought Viviane. There’s too much risk—”

  “It’s all right. I’ve done enough reading in Egyptian mythology to know what it means without trying to draw the information from…my past self. Kek was an Egyptian god who represented the darkness before the coming of the sun.”

  “Shadow.” Umbra’s thoughts were almost as toneless as her words. “Our spy isn’t using just simple invisibility. Shadows are twisting to conceal him further.”

  “Populus Umbrae?” asked Tal. His eyes narrowed, and one of them twitched slightly.

  “No, the use of shadow is not like that of my…former people. I can see through that shadow, though.”

  “And some of us can see through invisibility,” added Tal. The psychic connection among us throbbed in my head, and my vision blurred momentarily. When it cleared, I could see a vague figure standing a few yards away on the other side of the street. He was still too shadowy for me to make out features, but even the outline of his body was enough for me to tell he wasn’t Hafez.

  I squinted, trying to bring him into focus. My eyes were irrelevant, though. What I was seeing flowed through the psychic link—it was the image produced by the combination of Tal’s and Umbra’s visions. Was that why it was so dizzying? I looked away and felt marginally better. Something still bothered me, though, as if my brain itched.

  Egyptian magic. Viviane was right. Our stalker was twisting shadows through the power of Kek. I had no way of knowing that—but Amenirdis did. She stirred inside of me, and my headache escalated again.

  “Have you extended the don’t-notice-me spell to include him?” asked Magnus.

&n
bsp; “Yes, but even so, the street’s too crowded,” replied Tal.

  We walked at a leisurely pace toward the nearest cross street. I didn’t look to see if the stranger was following us. I could feel him in every throb of my growing headache.

  “Here he comes,” thought Magnus.

  “Gently,” thought Tal.

  I heard a whooshing sound as the shadowy figure hurtled toward us, becoming more distinct as he got closer. His arms and legs were flailing helplessly, unable to counter the telekinetic lasso Magnus must have caught him in.

  “Gently!” Tal looked irritated at having to repeat himself. Smirking more coldly than I’d seen Gordy do, Magnus slowed the stalker’s approach, bringing him to rest slowly on the sidewalk in front of us. The stranger continued to struggle silently against Magnus’s grip, but it remained unbroken.

  Even up close, Umbra’s ability to see through shadows didn’t penetrate the stalker’s magic enough to make his features distinct. He looked like the shadow one sees from the corner of the eye, a hint of something that turns out not to be anything at all. Yet there was someone there—and his magic was making my head spin.

  “Who are you, and why are you spying on us?” asked Tal.

  The squirming figure didn’t respond. His frenzied but silent motion reminded me of a mime. I would have been tempted to giggle if my head didn’t feel as if it was about to split open.

  “Amy’s in distress again,” thought Viviane. “We need to make this fast.”

  I could feel her cool presence soothing me, trying to smooth out the rough edges grinding against each other in my mind. However, she wasn’t doing as well as before. Amenirdis was getting stronger. The proximity to the stranger’s magic must be pulling her to the surface.

  “Maybe we need to get out of here. If there are people following us, we’ll run across another one soon enough,” thought Tal.

  I wanted to scream “Yes!” at the top of my lungs and make a dash for the van while my muscles would still obey me, but I had as much stake in finding out the truth as Tal and his friends—more, if I really thought about it.