Claire paused. “Look, I can’t tell you any longer to avoid Armand, but please go in with the truth. The man is manipulating, calculating, cold and sneaky. He is the epitome of selfishness and puts his own agendas above all others, even those whom he should put first. He had a lot of money, yet never gave your mother a dime for you. He certainly never came to your aid when your parents died and he discovered you’d been badly hurt. I know, because I called him and told him what happened. The man did absolutely nothing. He told us vehemently that he could not take care of you, or in any way get involved in your life. Not that I expected him to, but I thought he at least would have done something.” Claire crinkled her nose in disgust. “Margaret also confided to me one night that because you were his daughter something had to be done to you in order for him to repay some sort of debt. I have absolutely no idea what it involved, but it repulses me to think that he ever used you in any way. I tried over the years to find out what he did to you, but Margaret refused to tell me. She only said that she had no choice in the matter and that because of her mistake, you were an innocent involved in something she couldn’t prevent. Kelsey, please, I’m telling you to let this evil man fight his own battles.”
That’s impossible. I’m already too involved. Kelsey glanced at Jay, who appeared thunderstruck at hearing the things Claire had said about his father. Everything he ever felt about his dad also was coming to light. The man really was a total cad.
“I’ll think about it, Mom. I’ll talk to you when I get home.” She paused. “And, thank you. I know this must have been hard to tell me.”
Claire reached out her hand, as if trying to touch her through the screen. “Honey, I’m so very sorry. Are you going to be okay?”
Kelsey put out her fingers and touched her computer screen as well. She gave her a sad smile. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Really.” She paused. “Do you have anything else to tell me?”
Claire put her hand to her heart. “I swear on my family’s life I have no more secrets. I promise you. This one was big enough. It actually feels good to get it off my chest after all these years.”
Kelsey nodded. “I’ll call you when I get back to New York. I love you.”
“I love you, too, sweetie. You know that, right?”
I do know that. “Right back atcha.”
She clicked off the link and the screen darkened.
She turned and squinted at Jay. “Now aren’t you glad we didn’t sleep together?”
Chapter 14
USTHA
“Let’s get out of here.” Kelsey closed her computer and placed it in her backpack.
“Where are we going?” Jay asked.
“We have to find your father. Correction… our father… I want to know what was so important that this manwhore sold the souls of his children out to a psychotic, covetous, and vindictive goddess.”
Jay paled noticeably and swallowed. “Um, where do we start?”
“Let’s go back to the temple that Kher-Khept-Kenmut took us to. I want to look at those paintings again. I could swear I saw something on one of them that seemed different than anything I’ve ever seen before. Maybe it will explain things.”
They made their way across the district and to the old church. Kelsey and Jay passed through the stone gate and entered the abandoned sanctuary. Everything appeared the same until they went into the vestibule behind the altar. The trapdoor was gone. Kelsey knelt to the floor and felt around. Only a slab of unbroken rock remained.
“The trapdoor vanished. How is that possible?” Jay asked.
A woman spoke up. “It’s there. You just need to know where to look.”
Kelsey whirled around and stared about.
She saw no one.
“Who’s there?” Kelsey took a step forwards. “Show yourself.”
A woman’s voice chuckled from above and Kelsey glanced towards the ceiling. A being hovered above them. Her billowing white robe fluttered around her, and her short-cropped blond hair bobbed around her head as if she were swimming in a pool of water. She floated down towards them, suspended above their heads.
“So, you’re the infamous Ustha?” Kelsey glared. She spied Jay grabbing a broken slab of rock for protection. As if that would be any defense against this goddess.
“Who else would I be, little girl?” She floated a bit lower until she perched just out of reach. When Ustha came close enough to Kelsey to see her more clearly, her eyes widened and blazed with disgust. “By the Gods, you look just like her! I should kill you now just so I don’t have to look upon your countenance, but that would be too easy. I have other uses for you… until you die.” Her face contorted with malice, twisting her beautiful features cruelly.
Other forms emerged from the shadowed corners of the temple. The Usthatan had arrived. Kelsey dropped her bag and prepared to fight.
“Get them,” Ustha ordered, and the men quickly surrounded them.
“How did they find us?” Jay whirled in circles. He thrust out his broken rock as a weapon when anyone came too close.
Kelsey swung at a man who ventured too near. He dodged her and backed up. “I took my opal off.”
“Why in the hell did you do that?” He took a swipe at another guard, who gasped in pain when Jay made contact.
“Because I’m done hiding.” An Usthatan circled her and made a swipe at her legs. She jumped back and leapt behind a fallen pew.
The Goddess laughed. “Hide? As if you could ever hide from me. Stupid human.”
Two minions came at Kelsey and she kicked one in his chest and elbow-jabbed the other in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor. Three more men came out of the shadows and slinked towards her.
A volley of gunshots deafened her and an Usthatan to Kelsey’s right took a bullet between his eyes. A soldier grabbed her from behind in a choke hold and then released her when another volley of gunshots sounded. He fell to the floor in a dead heap. Three more of Ustha’s minions ran down the center aisle towards them.
Kelsey had just a moment to glance up and see Gianni leap through a ragged hole in the wall. He threw himself onto one of the approaching soldiers and with a knife, slit his throat. Nigel slipped around a column and grabbed another minion, both of them falling to the ground.
A soldier swung at Kelsey. She ducked the blow and pounced on him, twisting his neck savagely. Another dove at her and they both dropped to the floor. Grabbing his head, she smashed her skull into his nose, grasped his testicles and yanked. With a shriek, he released her. Jay appeared by her side and slammed his rock into the man’s skull. The shrieks ceased.
Kelsey glanced behind Jay, seeing the guard he’d fought with writhing on the ground, his face covered with contusions. So, he can fight. Now I know.
Shouts echoed from the front of the church and Armand stormed in, firing as he ran. He froze in the aisle when he saw Ustha floating above him.
The Goddess pointed her finger in his direction and her voice boomed throughout the church. “How dare you, Armand! You made a promise to me and I rewarded you with everything you ever wished for. This is how you repay me?” Her eyes radiated red, illuminating the room in a fiery glow.
Armand aimed his gun. “I paid my debt to you. I gave you my children. I owe you nothing any longer.” He fired, but the bullet went right through her and did nothing.
Ustha opened her arms, her form expanding to triple her size. “I gave you fame and now you seek to take back your payment? You try to destroy me? You betrayed the deal, Armand. I’m allowed to kill them now.”
Ustha whirled on Kelsey and pointed her fingers. Their tips glowed and flames shot out from them. Kelsey dodged the firebolt and fell to the floor. The flames hit the altar next to her and shattered it, sending wood fragments flying.
“Leave her alone!” Armand reached for Ustha’s robes and screamed when his hands touched the fabric. He fell to his knees in agony and smoke smoldered from his fingers.
“Dad!” Jay rushed down the aisle towards his father.
<
br /> A thunderous voice boomed from the front of the temple. “Begone, Ustha!”
Kenmut stood in the doorway and glared at the female Decan. “Leave my children alone.” He threw a lightning bolt her way, but she easily dodged it.
Her cackle made Kelsey’s skin crawl. “I will never leave them alone and you know that. This isn’t over, my love,” Ustha crooned.
“I was never your love.”
Ustha glowered at him. “I will have their souls, and you and your family will soon be dead. You will have no more place in the night sky.” She cocked her head. “Unless, of course you have an alternate suggestion?”
“Leave now or I will kill you myself, Ustha. I doubt any of the gods will stop me. You have become nothing but a nuisance to all of us.”
Ustha’s eyes blazed, but suddenly she stilled as if listening to something. She directed her gaze at Kenmut. An evil grin played at the corner of her lips. “Oh, another one of your children has died, Kenmut. Can you hear him?” she mocked. “His soul is trying to fly to Osiris, but he can’t, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Soon, there will be just thirty-three.” With an inhuman laugh, Ustha whipped her body about until she became a whirling tornado and shot through the broken roof, straight to the night sky.
Seconds later Kenmut groaned and winced as if in pain. His knees buckled and he rested his hand against the broken pew for balance.
Another one of his descendants is gone. It’s weakened him further.
Armand held out his burnt hands and appealed to Kenmut. “Grandfather?”
His face a mask of absolute fury, Kenmut took off his opal pendant and then flicked his wrist. Armand’s opal earring fell from his ear. Instantly, Armand fell to the floor as a grand mal seizure rocked him.
“Dad!” Jay jumped back, unsure of what to do. “Someone, help him!”
Armand writhed and thrashed on the ground. His eyes rolled back in his head, leaving only the whites staring sightlessly at the ceiling. Foam frothed from his mouth.
Kenmut just stared at him stonily.
Jay appealed desperately to Kenmut. “Grandfather, please. I beg of you.” Jay seized the opal from the floor and tried to put it back in his father’s ear, but his dad was bucking too much.
He is cruel, too. Kelsey stood in front of Kenmut. “You don’t have to do this,” she challenged.
Kenmut watched dispassionately as Jay finally succeeded in getting the earring back in his father’s ear, and Armand slowly came out of the seizure. Kenmut scowled at both Jay and Kelsey. “You both would make terrible gods. Too much empathy.”
Kenmut swooped towards Armand, and the man shrunk back against Jay. “When you sold your soul and the souls of your children to Ustha for fame, you sold part of my soul, Armand. How dare you? I protected you with my very essence and you betrayed me. I should annihilate you now.” His voice boomed across the church and shook with his wrath.
Armand shivered violently. “I’m so sorry. I was young and stupid. I didn’t understand the price I would pay.” The man sobbed and held up his burnt hands.
“And even if you did, I doubt that would have changed anything. You are the epitome of all that is selfish in humans.”
“I know, I know. I’m not worthy,” Armand cried.
“No, you’re not.” Kenmut’s body pulsed ferociously and Kelsey felt the air in the room begin to warm. The hairs on her arm tingled and she felt a power building in the room.
He’s going to kill him right now?
Kenmut inched closer.
She was appalled. For all his talk, life meant so little to these gods. I have to do something. No matter what Armand’s done, I have to try. Could I take his soul away for just a little while to protect him before Kenmut sends him to Osiris? The Decan may not even realize what happened.
Kenmut raised his hands towards Armand and his fingertips lit with flames.
I am not going to let him die. Kelsey began to wiggle her fingers in the age-old motion. Up and down, up and down, in and out like the waves hitting the surf on a beach. The air around her began to ripple. The sound of a long horn from far away echoed distantly. She concentrated on Armand… felt for his essence. She wasn’t even sure she could take him. She’d tried to take Ari many times, but never succeeded.
Maybe it will work, because he’s my father. My blood? Up and down, up and down… she could see the tendrils of Armand’s soul forming, she could see what she needed to latch on to… Yes, there it was. So close.
A shockwave ripped through the sanctuary. It hit Kelsey squarely in the chest and threw her violently into the pew behind her. Her head connected with the wooden bench and she nearly blacked out as stars filled her vision.
When she managed to stand again, she saw Kenmut’s stare glowering at all of them around the church. Nigel and Gianni were climbing back to their feet, and Jay crawled back over to his father who tried to rise.
“Who did that?” Kenmut snarled.
Everyone stared at him, bewildered. Except for Kelsey.
He doesn’t know it was me? So, for all his power, he doesn’t know everything.
Kenmut’s eyes had narrowed to angry slits. He stared at each of them in turn, yet his gaze settled on Kelsey the longest. “Heed me now, children. Don’t make me do that to you again. Stay away from the bardos while you are here in this land. They are not to be involved in this. That is my last warning. Do you understand me?”
Kelsey remained silent while the others looked on confused. But Kelsey knew the truth. He didn’t have total control and for all his talk of being able to feel her soul, he didn’t have hold of all of it.
Armand had come out of his seizure and his contrite pleas broke the spell of silence. He grasped the hem of the god’s robe. “I want to make things right, Grandfather. I just don’t know how.”
Kenmut kicked him away disgustedly. “Start with the truth, you pitiful human. Begin your penance with your children. You brought them into this world. How about you tell them how you sacrificed their very lives for your own personal growth? They are in this situation because of you, and my family is in peril because of you.”
Suddenly Kenmut’s eyes widened and he flinched again. He appeared to pale considerably.
The Decan put his hand to his forehead, his expression clearly pained. He turned his glare on Armand. “She just destroyed another soul while I have been dealing with the likes of you. That’s two I’ve lost tonight,” he whispered. “This is on your head, Armand. I won’t forget this.” With a flick of his wrist, the church lit up with a white glow and Kenmut vanished.
They all stared at the empty space Kenmut had occupied only moments before. Everyone was silent.
Jay still had his arm around his father and helped him to his feet. Armand shuddered and kept his burnt hands out in front of him.
Gianni and Nigel walked down the aisle and stood next to Kelsey. The dead minions of Ustha lay scattered where they had fallen.
Jay stared at the dead soldiers and then at Armand. “What exactly did you do to us, Dad?”
Armand swallowed hard. “I did the worst thing imaginable. I sold my soul and those of my children to Ustha… all for the Golden Twin Coffin.” He put his head in his hands and wept.
Chapter 15
ARMAND
The five of them sat in the living room of Armand’s apartment. Take-out food containers covered the coffee table and formed a pile on the floor. Nigel and Gianni sprawled on the couch together, passing back and forth one of Armand’s bottles of red wine.
Kelsey and Jay lounged on the area rug, finishing up shwarma sandwiches and chips they’d purchased from the corner stand. They’d just finished recounting what happened in the cavern with Kenmut, and concluded with the recent attack at the temple. Everyone was justifiably shocked and surprised. Gianni and Nigel spent a lot of time admonishing her that she had been foolish to have tried to take on the Usthatan by herself.
Her pendant was squarely back around her neck. She’d put it back
on when Kenmut had entered the temple, and thankfully hadn’t gotten sick when he’d removed his opal to punish Armand.
“I wanted to know what I was dealing with,” Kelsey said. “I’m sick of running.”
“Well, now you know,” Gianni said.
Nigel snorted. “Fine time to try to suss it out, Lass. You could have got both you and Jibade killed.”
During this exchange, Armand paced the room. His hands were covered with bandages and gauze. He’d suffered second degree burns on every finger, along with his palms. Blisters had already started to form. He was lucky it hasn’t been worse. He’d be uncomfortable for a few weeks, but they probably wouldn’t scar his hands, something he whined and fretted about the entire time Nigel had tended to him.
Armand strode over and stood in front of the Sa picture on the wall and fingered one of the post-it notes. His gaze kept darting around the room, never settling on one thing. He glanced at Nigel and Gianni, his expression apprehensive. He appealed to them for help, but they remained silent.
With a deep sigh, Armand turned to Jay. “Jibade, son.” He paused, swallowing hard. “You may not believe this, but I have loved you from the moment you came into my life. You were the most beautiful, perfect little boy I had ever seen and I fell in love with you the instant I met you. You are everything a father could have ever wanted and there is nothing in this world that I wouldn’t do for you.”
Jay stared at his father, apparently trying to rationalize the words he said compared to how he treated him growing up. “So… what happened, Dad?”
“So much, it’s hard to explain.” He sat down on the computer chair. “Did you ever find out that I'm adopted?”
Jay’s eyes widened in surprise. “No, I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Armand sighed. “I don’t know. I guess the time to tell you came and went, and I just never got around to it. But, it’s true. I was found abandoned in a Paris public park when I was just a few months old. A policeman heard a baby crying and when he searched behind the slide, he found me bundled up in blankets with a note pinned to them. The note said merely, ‘Please take care of my baby. I can’t take care of him any longer. We make each other sick.’”
The Quest of the Empty Tomb Page 12
