by D. S. Murphy
“Look out!” I shouted, dropping the threads of the Palici and swiping my fingers towards Antiope’s thread. She blanched when I grabbed it, paying no attention to Mist’s arrows on my now-numb arm. Curt shrugged off the frozen Amazon, and took her out of the game with a light tap against her neck. I felt a buzzing in my palm and looked down at my hand in surprise. Through my closed fingers, I could see the faint outlines of two threads in my right hand, along with the one Palici I’d forgotten to release. It happened so quickly, I wasn’t exactly sure how it happened. I thought I’d already let go of the Palici’s thread before grabbing the Amazon, but somehow it slipped and got stuck between my palm and my thumb. I was holding three lesser heirs at the same time. I grunted as Mist fired another volley of arrows, this time across the back of my thighs. The sharp pain brought me to my knees, and I let the threads go. It was taking too much energy to hold them, and I was feeling weak from blood loss. Besides, they’d already been defeated by my teammates. I watched them sulk off the field, shooting me glances mixed anger and surprise.
The battle wasn’t over, but I was. I heard shouts behind me as Dion and Tori blazed a hasty offense, easily cutting through the last of our defenses and grabbing our flag. Up ahead, Able unleashed a swarm of ravens that cycloned around the heir’s flag, along with ants the size of dogs that clawed their way out of the dirt. Even through all this, I saw Priya dart through and grab the flag. She raced down the steps and was almost in the clear when the ground swallowed her legs.
Or more accurately, dark, enormous fingers, dripping with mud, lifted her off the ground. From the way Stephanie was waving her outreached hand, I realized it was her doing. The massive hand dragged Priya backward, taking the flag from her, then flicked her casually down the steps. The horn sounded, and I turned to see that Dion and Tori had already crossed the midfield. The match was over. We lost.
I made my way off the field, my muscles burning and my clothes stiff from blood. I felt light-headed, and stumbled towards the white tent on the sidelines. Sitri and Curt appeared beside me, both back to their normal human selves, and practically carried me to Alice, who made me lie down on a cot so she could start working on my wounds. My hand was shaking so badly she had to hold it still while she cleaned the deep cuts on my fingers and arms.
“You did well,” Sitri said. “Really well. I’ll bet Able told Mist to keep an eye on you; there’s no way they would have let us win that match. And even so, I’ve never seen the roots get that close to winning. We’ve never even gotten the flag at all before, and we wouldn’t have this time, without you.”
“Yeah I’m awesome,” I smiled. “Though in a real fight I would have died in the first few minutes. I was saved by some kind of black unicorn.”
“Odontotyrannos,” Curt said. “I’ll have to thank him later. I should’ve stayed with you, but I figured you could protect yourself.”
“Apparently not,” I said. “I’m a one-trick pony. Seeing the threads isn’t worth much if I can’t reach out and touch them.”
“About that,” Heph said, reaching for a wooden box. “I’ve been fooling around with something that might help.”
He opened the lid and showed me a finely-wrought iron glove, held together with intricate filigree decorations. Plated sections were jointed together over the fingers, ending with a long hooked nail.
“It’ll protect your hand in battle,” Heph said, “and the hooks should make it easier to single out individual threads. The black iron should also weaken their magic, maybe even cut the hunters off from their source completely.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said. Alice finished bandaging my cuts and I pulled the glove on, flexing my fingers. The metal was cold against my skin, but not uncomfortable. “It would have been useful about twenty minutes ago.”
“Sorry about that,” Heph said sheepishly. “Able didn’t want to make things too easy for you, and I think he was a little worried about that match, to tell you the truth. Plus, we still don’t fully understand your powers. He wanted to test your raw ability, before adding extra enhancements.”
The seekers and the heirs were up next, so I had some time to take it easy. Heph brought out folding lawn chairs so we could relax on the sidelines, and even had a cooler full of sodas and beer. It was so casual, I almost forgot we were preparing for the end of the world. Against regular humans, the lesser heirs were nearly unstoppable. They didn’t even need to bring out the river gods or the Amazons; a handful of lesser heirs decimated the seeker troops and their magic tricks.
The magic barrier held back the lesser heirs for a while, but finally Able grew bored with the game. He nodded to Dion, who got a boost from Tori sending him high up into the air. He landed with force, slamming his staff so hard into the ground it cracked the earth, and sent a shockwave of magic that knocked dozens of seekers off their feet, toppling the shield devices.
As I watched the remaining heirs surge forward, I rubbed my fingers together, trying to replicate the motion I’d made earlier, that resulted in me capturing two threads at the same time. It seemed I didn’t have to pinch the threads with my fingers, I could hold them in my fist as well. I just needed to hook with my forefinger, pull down into the crook of my thumb, and use my thumb to pin them against my palm.
I wondered how many threads I could hold at once. In the last round, I held three lesser heirs for several minutes, but it felt like I was holding electric eels; I could feel their hosts squirm against my grip. I doubt I could have held onto another thread, at least not for long. When I first touched Mist’s thread, I barely grazed it with my finger. Holding on completely, to a magical being, was too challenging without magic of my own.
My eyes widened as I realized I might be able to hold more threads, for longer, if I had my own source of magic. I excused myself and hurried back to the house, to find Athena’s staff hanging in the armory. It was heavier than I remembered, and my arm felt weak under its weight. By the time I made it back to the field I was already exhausted, but I didn’t know when I’d get another chance to experiment with my power. Able wanted to see what I was capable of? Well, so did I. He’d set up these games to show how weak and unprepared I was, and it almost worked. But I wasn’t going to sit back and let him dictate what I could or couldn’t do.
“You sure you want to play another round?” Sitri asked, when I returned to the field bearing Athena’s staff. It was obviously too big for me, and I had to hold it awkwardly so it didn’t drag behind me on the ground. My hair was wild and my clothes still covered in my own blood from the slicing I’d endured earlier.
“I have to do this,” I said. We lined up again, this time against the torches. They were fierce and battle trained, and stronger than any human. Together they were an unstoppable force. But they didn’t have magic of their own, which I hoped meant that they’d be easier to control.
I saw Able smirk as I lifted my staff; it was clear I had no idea how to use it. But I didn’t have to use it. The staff radiated with power. I gripped it tightly and took a deep, calming breath. Then I reached out with my gloved hand – now wrapped in beautiful, but wicked looking, nearly black metal. It wasn’t quite as comfortable as the leather one, and the metal was cold at first, but it made me feel strong.
As soon as the whistle blew, as my team charged forward, I reached out, focusing on the opponent’s threads. They were organized, like a tight lattice, practically a rug. I swung my finger, slashing my metal claw through the ranks, and pulling them down to hold in my palm. I repeated the gesture again and again, until my palm felt like I was holding on to a swarm of bees. The pressure was nearly unbearable at first, but then I felt power flooding into my left arm, from Athena’s staff, and flowing down towards my right. The stinging sensation was uncomfortable, but not unbearable. Like I thought, I needed to have access to more magic than I was trying to control – like a counterweight. Luckily, since torches had no power of their own, Athena’s staff had more than enough magic to keep them contained. My own team
faltered near the midfield, as none of the torches began to move or charge forward, and their battle cries dried up in confusion.
I walked confidently forward, in my torn jeans with the staff lifted high, outstripping my teammates, until I reached the enemy lines. I walked past the first few rows of torches without even turning my head to look at them. When I got closed, I scooped up the remaining rows and added them to my collection, almost like I was catching butterflies and putting them in jars.
When I reached the other end of the field, I climbed the steps and grabbed the flag. The pressure was mounting, even with Athena’s staff, and the weight of it alone was starting to make my arm tremble. But I made it back to the midfield and dropped the flag on the ground triumphantly. I released the threads, and they snapped back in place, like the tightly wound string of one of Mist’s bows. I could almost hear a sharp twang as they rushed through the air, though it may have been a collective gasp of relief from the torches, as their vital essences were restored to them. At least a dozen were swept off their feet completely.
My eyes caught Puriel’s from across the field, and I felt a rush of guilt at the pain on his face. It reminded me of the expression he made just before he fell; doubt, fear, confusion. Only this time he didn’t burst into flames, and when he caught me looking, he straightened, and I thought I saw him smile. He nodded at me. I felt bad using my gift to prove a point, but I was done hiding. I wasn’t going to spend years honing my gifts so I could be Able’s secret weapon and personal assassin. I had power, but I was going to use it my way, for the things I cared about and believed in.
I looked up at Able, who was sitting on the sidelines in a makeshift throne carved out of pure obsidian that must have taken twenty torches just to carry out here for his pleasure. His expression was dark and inscrutable. Stephanie and Mist stood next to him, still frozen with surprise at my victory, as the rest of my team broke into cheers and applause. I’d single-handedly completed Able’s challenge, taming hundreds of torches in the process, without anyone getting hurt.
“So,” I called loudly across the field, leaning against Athena’s tall staff. “Egypt. When do we leave?”
11
It took us three hours to get to Cairo. I was actually surprised Able caved, but since he’d built a reputation on fairness, he couldn’t exactly go against his own word. He was actually helpful – as long as we took precautions. He seemed genuinely impressed with the iron glove Heph made me. I think part of him was anxious to see how well it worked against hunters in real combat. But that didn’t mean he was sending me out into danger. We were on strict orders to call for help at the first sign of trouble.
And it wasn’t exactly a solo mission. I could tell Able was reluctant to let Puriel out of his grasp, and risk losing his two best weapons at once; but we’d proven ourselves a good team and he refused to let me go without him. Jessie demanded to come with as well, even though I would have felt more comfortable with Maddie’s experience as a seeker. Still, Able sent her to the bazaar with a handful of gold coins, and she returned with enough Q-bombs to take out a few hundred hunters, should we need them. The only thing we agreed on was that Sarah should stay put. And then there was Sitri. He didn’t ask permission, and Able didn’t need to grant it. I wasn’t sure if that was because Able trusted him implicitly, or if Able simply wasn’t worried about his former favorite pet. A dark voice in my head whispered that Able was hoping Sitri wouldn’t come back from this trip at all; which paradoxically would void the main reason I was even risking the journey.
I wasn’t exactly sure where things stood between us. He was still acting distant, and weird since we’d returned to Nevah. But I couldn’t forget how he’d kissed me on the island of Kos, how his fingers burned a trail across my body. Sometimes I caught him staring, and I recognized the look of longing and desire in his eyes. He was just torn between his loyalty to Able, and guilt over his feelings for me. Someday he’d have to work out his own issues, but I knew he cared about me, and for now it was enough. If we won the war, if Zeus and his forces were vanquished, maybe then we could figure our shit out. For now, I agreed with him, at least in theory: this wasn’t about us. There was too much at stake. Even so, I wasn’t ready to snip Zeus’s thread if it meant taking out thousands of innocents. If there was any other way, a chance of untangling Zeus’s ball-of-hostages to leave him exposed, I had to at least try.
Even though it was late November, the sultry heat in Cairo hit us like a physical wave. I quickly realized I’d packed too many layers, and stripped down to my T-shirt. We tracked the address Heph had given us to a run-down hotel, where he’d made reservations. The walls were decorated with fronds and palm trees, and the elevator was so small Puriel and Sitri couldn’t both fit at the same time.
“I’ll take the stairs after I check in,” Sitri said. Heph had made the reservations under a fake ID, just in case. Because our little gang had little natural magic, that would make use hard to track – but if Zeus realized we were outside of Able’s forest fortress, he’d come after us with all his resources.
“He couldn’t have sprung for a better hotel?” Jessie asked, flopping down on the twin mattress. “I’m pretty sure I saw at least three cockroaches on the way up here.”
“He said most supernatural creatures would be staying at the resorts and classy hotels downtown, so we’d be safer here. Think of it as a cultural experience,” I said. We tossed our bags in the room and freshened up a bit, then collected the boys from the next room. They were both sitting on the edge of their beds, staring at the walls. I realized making them bunk buddies might be too much of an ask; they were an odd couple to say the least – a fallen angel and the last remaining hellhound.
I didn’t even know where to start, so I suggested we take a walk and get our bearings. We walked through the streets, avoiding motorcycles and tuktuks – basically a three-wheeled scooter that served as a mini-taxi. Everywhere we went, people shouted at us in multiple languages, trying to encourage us into their shop or restaurant. One even gripped my arm to pull me inside. Puriel grabbed the front of his shirt and practically lifted him off the ground, knocking over a table of antiques that clattered to the ground. I pried his fingers away and we hurried down the street and ducked around the next corner.
“We’re keeping a low profile, remember?” I said, but I smiled at his sheepish look. Puriel was raised as a hunter. Subtlety and restraint weren’t exactly his strong points. The heat was oppressive; we’d barely gone thirty minutes before stopping for tea at an air-conditioned café. Unfortunately it was served hot, in a small glass with a large sugar cube. With their bulky size and shifty vigilance, Sitri and Puriel looked like a pair of underground FBI agents playing good cop, bad cop. Even with sunglasses and baseball caps, they stood out.
“Maybe they need fake mustaches, or a beard?” Jessie suggested.
“It’s fine,” I said, nodding at a passing family in matching fanny-packs. “As long as we pretend to be tourists, taking selfies and buying postcards. The problem is, once we start asking around for Isis. At best, they’ll give us a statue of the goddess; at worst, they’ll take us to a terrorist recruitment center.”
“We need to find the Hekau,” Jessie said, using the Egyptian word for seekers. Maddie told us that heka meant magic, so it translated as magicians.
“Maybe an antique shop, like in Seattle?”
“Isis hasn’t been seen for centuries. Humans don’t live that long. What we need is an undiscovered, buried temple,” Sitri said, finishing his tea and grimacing at the sweet-bitterness of the leaves and sugar at the bottom of the cup.
“So what, we start digging somewhere in the desert?” Jessie said. “We need a treasure map, or something.”
“The genie did say she was beneath the sands,” I said.
“Most of the rulers were buried in the Valley of Kings,” Puriel said.
“Isis wouldn’t be there, she’s a queen,” Sitri said.
“There are still hundreds of
undiscovered tombs,” I said. “It’s possible.”
“I thought the pyramid was a tomb?” Jessie asked.
“That’s just what they teach in the schools,” Sitri said.
“But, it’s worth checking out right?”
“I don’t know,” Sitri said. “It was abandoned a long time ago. Now it’s mostly a tourist attraction.”
“Come on, we’re in Egypt! We can’t go home without seeing the pyramids. Besides, you don’t know where to start – why not start with the biggest mystery known to mankind? Besides, if Isis was queen of Egypt, cleverer than a million gods, don’t you think she had something to do with them? At least we should check them out.”
There was a desperation in her voice, and I knew it had something to do with the dark mood of the table. Now that we were here, I realized this was my party. The boys were here to keep me safe, but I was the one who demanded this quest, and I had no idea where to start. Suddenly, showing up in Egypt with no plan seemed foolhardy.
“Fine,” I said finally. I didn’t have a better idea, and doing something was better than sitting here. Puriel and Sitri were too big to share a tuktuk, so we split up during the journey. I rode with Puriel. Sitri seemed to be deliberately avoiding me, or at least being alone with me. I tried to shrug it off. We had more important things to worry about.
The city of Cairo went right up to the edge of the desert leading onto the Giza Plateau. There was something surreal about viewing the pyramids through the large glass windows of the KFC across the street, where we stopped so Jessie could use the bathroom. Camels were lined up outside, along with makeshift stalls and blankets, selling junk to tourists. It was hard to tell which antiques, if any, were authentic. Most were probably made in China. Jessie stopped to get Sarah something, and returned with a bright blue statue of a scarab, as big as my palm.
