“Yes, but she was lost to me. I thought she had died, but now that I am out of the camera, I can sense her, but I cannot pinpoint where she is exactly.”
“Havenwood Falls is a special place. The disconnect between you and Khalida may be due to the magic surrounding us.”
“What?” Nathan questioned.
“Why are you shocked, Nathan?” Calla Lily laughed. “You had to have some clue. It’s part of the reason you are here to begin with.”
He rubbed his forehead. “Nope. Completely clueless. Just hoping I’d encounter a miracle.”
She cast a glance at Amani. “In a way, you did.”
Nathan blew out a burst of air and ran his fingers through his hair. “I guess you’re right.”
“Khalida is more than your sister—she’s your twin. It is a bond stronger than siblings,” Calla Lily said as she continued to examine the lines on Amani’s hand. “Your parents were human, but they are not your blood. You are something different.”
Amani nodded as she held her breath. “Yes.”
“What are you, Amani?” Calla Lily asked skeptically, running her hands along the fate line.
“She can’t tell you,” Nathan interjected. “That is why we are here. I’d hoped you could tell me, because she can’t. Amani is forbidden to speak it, or it will draw the watchers’ attention, and that is not good, apparently.”
Calla Lily released Amani’s hand. “Hmm. Okay.”
“Why hmm? What’s wrong?” Nathan asked.
“I do not know what these symbols mean that are interlaced with the lines. I’ve never seen them before. I mean, they look like hieroglyphics, but I can’t be sure.”
“They are,” Amani replied.
“May I see?” Nathan asked.
She gave Nathan her hand. “Hmm. Well this one is the symbol for life, and this one is the symbol for protection. Here,” he pointed, “is the symbol for the Ka, and this one here is a feather, which could represent a few things.”
“It is for the goddess Ma’at,” Amani said, then pointed to the next hieroglyph. “And this is for Hathor, and this one here is . . .”
“The Eye of Horus,” Nathan interrupted. “The all-seeing eye.”
Amani nodded.
“Why would these be interlaced with your lifeline, Amani?” Calla Lily asked.
“I’m not certain.” She shrugged. “I told you, I’m unique . . . Khalida and I both are.”
Calla Lily sank back in her chair, disappointment furrowing her brow as she strained to look deeper. Unfortunately, within seconds, she released Amani’s hand and confessed, “I’m not sure I can help. I see a lot, but with you, I am blocked from seeing your past or your future. It’s all a hazy mess.”
Chapter 11
"The tarot cards you spoke of. Can they show the past?”
“They can,” Calla Lily replied and drew out her deck to set them on the counter. “They can tell the present and the future, too, but you have to understand how they work. Have you ever used this type of divination?”
Amani shook her head.
Calla Lily began to shuffle the deck, but Amani put her hands over them. “May I connect to you to understand them?”
Calla Lily gave her a quizzical look. “Of course.”
Amani closed her eyes and used her power to see into Calla Lily’s thoughts. She didn’t want to pry into anything personal. She only wanted to understand enough to show Nathan and Calla Lily what she was unable to speak.
A few moments passed, and the cards began to fly one by one in a line from the table up into the air. In the open space at the center of the shop, the tarot deck swirled like a roaring tornado for a few moments before landing on the floor in a perfect Celtic Cross Spread.
Calla Lily was in awe. “You’re a fast learner,” she said as she walked over toward the cards.
Amani opened her eyes and smiled. “I promise I only looked into what I needed. Nothing more.”
“I know. I could sense where you were in my mind.”
“I have no idea what is going on,” Nathan interjected, “but as long as you two do, that’s all that really matters.”
Calla Lily lifted the hem of her skirt and knelt down to get a closer look at the spread. The first card and the card related to Amani was the World. It was reversed with the Justice card lying across it. She looked over her shoulder at Amani. “You certainly know how to make things clear, now don’t you?”
“I will need you both to brace yourself for what is to come when you get to the Temperance card. There is only one way for me to tell you without actually speaking it,” Amani said as she wrung her hands together. “Before my mother died, I saw her memories. I’ve never told anyone this, not even Khalida,” she said before swallowing hard. “I always feared the judgment if anyone knew the truth. I loved my mother and father and never wanted any harm to come to them.”
Nathan was a little peaked, but he was also nodding his head in agreement.
“Okay then, what do you want me to do?” Calla Lily asked.
Amani closed her eyes. “Pick up the card.”
Calla Lily glanced at the grounding card. It was the Tower. The card associated with shocking change and catastrophe. Mix that with the Temperance card in the reversed position, and this was going to be a journey. Calla Lily reached up for Nathan’s hand. “I’m not sure what is going to happen, so please hold on.”
Nathan gave her a quick, false smile and took hold of her hand.
The moment Calla Lily touched the card, the room began to spin. Suddenly, they were no longer in Callie’s Trinkets and What Nots, but instead were in an unfamiliar place, watching as events played out before them like a motion picture.
Neema knew it was odd to check in on adult children as they slept, but the day she had dreaded for twenty-five years was finally here. Where had the time gone? They were just babes in her arms, and now they were grown women. Beyond their prime, some would say, for marrying and having children of their own, but Neema and her husband had not pushed the girls toward marriage. Instead, they tutored them in multiple languages and various cultures, broadening their scope of knowledge. They were as smart as any man and as cunning as the pharaoh’s own children. It had been a choice on their part to make them of supreme value. Neema even hoped maybe they could rule one day, if given the chance.
As Neema watched Amani and Khalida sleep, she was anxious to see what, if anything, would change. Would they even change at all? Would it happen when the moon was at its peak in the night sky? Maybe the prophecy had been false; maybe having her as a mother changed their fates. Neema thought back to the day when her world shifted. She wasn’t the one who’d given them life, because she and her husband were both human. She was, though, the one who loved and cared for them every day and every moment. They were her treasures, yet as the days quickened toward their maturity, she began to fear the truth of who they really were.
Amani and Khalida were djinn, or so she was told, but to her, they were precious angels in need of love and care. She was warned to watch for any signs of peculiarity, because djinn could be tricksters, but the girls had never been anything other than sweet and kind. Every djinn aged a quarter of a century before their powers and talents were revealed. However, Amani and Khalida were not typical djinn. They were something else—something unique—and that was the reason they lived among the humans and not their own kind. Neema liked to believe their uniqueness was meant to save the world one day or to heal the sick.
The corner of her mouth quirked up as she looked down at her girls. Amani slept soundly, but Khalida was tossing and turning—nothing out of the ordinary. Satisfied they were okay, Neema decided to pray to Hathor and Ma’at for guidance instead of worrying the entire night away.
Neema plucked a single feather from a dove and placed it into a pile of burning embers. As the feather began to burn, she lifted the copper dagger from the altar she’d prepared and pricked her finger, letting the blood pool before swirling with her offer
ings. Neema removed the ankh from the cord around her neck and placed it over the ashes of the feather. She patiently waited for Hathor to appear. When nothing happened, Neema sighed. Maybe it was a sign. She walked over to the chair on the open balcony and sat down stiffly, awaiting the goddesses’ return. As she stared into the distance, a gentle wind caressed her skin, lulling Neema to sleep. Her thoughts drifted to the day the twins were born.
On the day of their birth, Neema gave Amani and Khalida names to enhance their souls, as was her belief. The soul was made up of five parts—the Jb: the heart; the Sheut: the shadow; the Ren: the name; the Ba: the personality; and the Ka: the soul—and it was Neema’s plan to ensure they’d be worthy on the day they’d meet the goddess Ma’at by bestowing them with names to suit who they were as part of the universe. Neema honored all Egyptian traditions, and had since she was a young girl. Especially anything honoring Hathor and Ma’at.
Neema had been born of privilege and was married to a man of wealth and prestige, but she had a secret only she and the goddess Hathor knew. Neema had been unable to produce an heir, and her husband was growing weary of her infertility. She prayed night and day for Hathor to bless her with a child, and finally the goddess appeared before her with a proposal—one she would not refuse.
“I’ve heard your prayers, child, and I’ve come to give you what you ask,” Hathor said in a gentle tone.
“I will do anything,” Neema begged, “please.”
“Twin girls were born of fire and air, but not human girls. These djinn will require watching over—careful watching. Do you believe you are worthy of the task?”
Neema dropped to her knees and looked up at the powerful deity. “I do. I only want my belly to swell and to feel the link of mother and child. Will they know I am theirs, as they are mine?”
“They will only know you as their mother, but you may never tell anyone of this night. Only you are to know, understand?”
“Yes, goddess. I will love them as my own.”
“On the twenty-fifth year of their birth, you are to make a sacrifice in my name and burn it, letting the smoke rise and billow. When the flames recede, you are to place this ankh into the ashes, and I will come to you once again,” Hathor said, handing Neema the golden symbol of life.
Neema bowed and held the ankh to her chest.
“Go now to your husband and seduce him. Make certain he is fully pleasured, and when you wake, the twins will be within your womb.”
Tears spilled down Neema’s cheeks. “Thank you, Goddess. Thank you for these gifts.”
“I do hope by giving you these girls that they will turn into worthy beings.”
“I will make it so. I will be a good mother.”
“Be well, Neema. I will return to you when they come of age,” Hathor said solemnly before disappearing from view.
Neema rose, fixing her hair and gown before going to do as the goddess asked. Her husband had been sleeping, but could easily be roused by Neema’s touch. Tonight her belly would fill with not just one, but two children, and it pleased Neema to not only show her husband, Garai, how much she loved him, but also how virile he was to produce twins. Their children would not be male heirs, but they would still be a blessing. Neema caressed her husband until she had his attention and then let the thin wisp of material fall from her shoulders onto the floor, exposing her bare flesh and rousing every bit of Garai’s senses.
The couple made love for hours, the moon’s glow illuminating Neema’s tawny skin as she writhed above her husband. They both seemed engulfed by the flames of desire. It was as if they’d never tasted one another, and this was their first moment of ecstasy. Neither wanted it to end.
As the sun began to rise, the couple lay in each other’s arms, sated and exhausted. The slaves entered to bring them trays of fruit and beer, but noticed their sleeping masters and quietly left the room. Garai and Neema spent the day in bed, not bothering to rise until the sun began to set. Garai seemed pleased with himself, often commenting that their escapades of the previous night were sure to produce the child they so desperately sought. Neema contentedly ran her hands over her womb, knowing he’d be pleased with Hathor’s gifts as much as she was.
Neema grabbed a handful of grapes and a few figs before striding back over to Garai. As he watched her walk to him, her breasts appeared fuller, and the gentle curve of her hips seemed to fill out with each step she took. His chest filled with pride in knowing his seed had taken hold. Neema’s naked body was luxurious, and he wanted to taste her once again. When she reached his side, he pulled her into his arms and rolled her onto the bed. Neema giggled and fed him a fig.
“What has you so boyish, my love?”
Garai licked his lips and ran his hands over Neema’s swelling belly. “This. You. Our soon-to-be family.”
“But how can you be so sure?” she teased.
“You already have the glow of a woman bearing a child,” he said and kissed her.
Neema grinned inwardly. “Then I shall praise Hathor for her gift and honor her in every way.”
Garai grinned and let his hands roam until he could no longer control his desire. He entered her, and the waves of passion once again ignited between them.
Neema was jolted from the memory of her and Garai when the sound of footfalls resonated behind her.
“Mother!” Amani cried out. “Come quickly. Something is wrong with Khalida.”
Neema jumped to her feet and ran with Amani to Khalida’s side.
“What is wrong with her, Mother? Why is her hair alternating between dark and white?” Amani asked.
“I do not know.” Neema’s voice quivered as she watched gold symbols appear and disappear on Amani’s back as well.
Khalida’s eyes opened, and she stared blankly at her mother and sister. Neema gasped, and Amani cried out as they watched Khalida’s eyes change from a golden amber to an opaque white, then back to amber.
“Oh, Sister. What has happened to you?” Amani pleaded.
Khalida reeled back and asked the same, as fissures of fire erupted over Amani’s caramel-colored skin. Symbols took shape and etched words in ancient script over her entire body. Amani dropped to her knees and begged her mother for answers.
Tears welled in Neema’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have told you long ago, but it was forbidden. I’m so sorry, my precious girls. Your Ren means wishes and aspirations, just as Khalida’s means immortal. You two are my immortal wishes, and I love you both.”
Neema ran to the altar and pleaded to Hathor to appear immediately, but nothing happened. Maybe the sacrifice was not great enough. She gripped the dagger in her hand and plunged it into her chest. “I beg of you, Hathor, protect my girls as I have protected your secret,” Neema cried out. “I sacrifice myself to save them.”
Amani ran to her side and held her dying mother in her arms. “Mother, no! Why would you do this? We need you.”
Neema brushed back a golden lock from Amani’s face. “You’ve been my greatest gift. Forgive me. All I did was for love—always love.”
Khalida strode over to Neema. “What secrets?” she asked coolly.
Tears spilled from Neema’s eyes as her blood pooled around her. Khalida had always been the mischievous one of the two. She always searched for trouble, while Amani kept the peace. As Neema looked at them now, their djinn sides revealing themselves, it became clear. Amani with her dark, dusky grey skin and flaming hair, and Khalida with her pure white hair and fawn skin. They were light and dark, merged as one yet split in two.”
When the day comes for your souls to be weighed, make certain your heart is worthy,” Neema whispered.
Khalida’s eyes narrowed as she look at Neema. “Are you even our mother?”
Amani gasped. “You dare ask such a question!”
“Always the naïve one, sister. Look at us. Do we look like her?”
Amani looked down at her changed skin and then up at her sister’s now white hair, still refusing to acknowledge the truth
. Neema squeezed Amani’s hand, shifting her attention back to her mother.
“I am your mother in all the ways that make a mother. I carried you in my womb. I gave birth to you and suckled you at my breast. I cared for you every day. Loved you like no other, but you are not of my blood. You are so much more than blood and bone. Be true and remember my peace and joy, and always my love,” Neema said, the last three words in barely a whisper, before dying in Amani’s arms.
Tears spilled from Amani’s eyes, while Khalida stood defiant.
“Our life is built on lies,” Khalida hissed.
“She may have lied, but she did love us. She was, as she said, our mother in all the ways that mattered.” Amani cried as she stared down at her blood stained hands.
Just then the door slammed open, and Garai stormed in.
“What is all the ruckus?” he demanded. As he continued into the room, he saw a stranger holding his wife’s lifeless body and flew into a rage.
Amani looked up at him with her now darkened skin and realized he didn’t recognize her.
“What have you done?” he cried out as he tore Neema from her arms.
“We’ve done nothing. Neema did this to herself,” Khalida spat.
“Neema? Never. Who are you to say such words?” Garai growled.
“Khalida means no disrespect, Father,” Amani interjected.
“Father? I am not your father. Guards!”
“Do not call him Father. He is no more our father than she was our mother.”
Garai narrowed his eyes at the two strangers before him.
Amani slowed her breathing and wished the changes that turned them into this would stop and he could see them as they truly were. Even as she thought it, her skin flickered and her hair fell in golden waves over her shoulders. “See father, it is us, your daughters.”
“What are you?” Garai asked in confusion as he watched her change into the daughter he knew. He shook his head, whispering to Neema as he rocked her. “What have you done, my love? What have our daughters become? Demons? Sorcerers? Witches?”
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