“This place is weird.”
“Welcome to the university underground,” Lily said cryptically.
He looked at her, but she was moving along the tunnel at a rapid clip. They took another corner, then another, so deep into the building he felt he was irretrievably lost. Graffiti started to dot the walls, as well as moss and moisture. The pipes rattled and hissed near the ceiling. He felt, deep inside, that he was not welcome.
They rounded a corner and walked up a flight of stairs. Daylight broke over them. A feeling of oppression that had been tight on his chest suddenly fled. His hands itched as he looked out of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the stairwell. He put the irrational fear out of his mind. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of walking in the building, they stopped outside an office door.
‘Prof. H. Ulbricht’ was emblazoned on a surprisingly nice plaque fitted to the door. Lily knocked, then entered without waiting for a response. Jonas, confused, followed her in.
“Lily, my flower, how nice to see you!” Professor Ulbricht’s voice was rich. He sounded like a jolly man before Jonas even saw him. His English was clear and well pronounced, tempered only by his German accent. Jonas finally got his first sight of the man as he stood to greet Lily. Ulbricht was short, perhaps five-foot-six at most, and rotund. He had white hair and a jolly face. His nose looked red, like that of a heavy drinker, and his cheeks were rosy. The only reason Jonas didn’t immediately blurt out his first reaction was the well fitted suit the man wore. In every other aspect, he looked exactly like Santa Claus.
“Uncle Heinrich,” Lily shouted back as she jumped into a hug.
“Unc—” Jonas looked back and forth between the two, bewildered. “Uncle?”
“Oh, oh my. You must set your friend straight, my dear,” Ulbricht said in a jovial tone.
“Jonas, this is my uncle Heinrich Ulbricht,” she started.
“Now dear, you know you mustn’t say that.” He released her from the hug and held her at arm’s length.
“Fine,” she sighed. “He’s not actually my uncle. Just been best friends with my mom and dad since before I was born. Was there in the hospital with them when I was born.”
“Sounds like an uncle to me,” Jonas said. He stuck his hand out to the professor. “I’m Jonas.”
“Oh, my! I’m so sorry, how rude of me.” Ulbricht shook his hand and introduced himself. “I am Professor Heinrich Ulbricht, but any friend of my Lily flower can call me Heinrich.”
“If it’s okay with you, sir, I’d rather stick with Professor for now.”
He nodded. “That is all good, Jonas.”
“I do have one question though- are you by chance related to Mister Holcomb from Holcomb's Pharmacy?”
“Now that is a strange question. No, I do not believe I have ever even met the proprietor of that establishment. What makes you ask that?”
Jonas shook his head. “You could be brothers.”
“Ah, I think I understand. It is because I look like Klaus,” he said as he laughed. “I assure you, I am not him.” Ulbricht winked. “Now, how can I help you two?”
“We have—” started Jonas.
“We have a journal,” Lily said, slightly louder. She looked at Jonas and laughed lightly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to talk over you.”
“No, it’s totally fine. You tell him.”
“Okay,” she said. She practically bounced as she did. In fact, as she spoke, she did bounce lightly on the balls of her feet, hardly able to contain her excitement.
“So, there’s been this whole strange series of events around Jonas here, and there are vampires, and he was in Egypt, and then we found this Journal and—”
“Slow down, kleine Blume.”
Jonas looked at Lily. She had been excited through the whole series of events, willing to help him every step of the way, but her uncle seemed to bring out a child-like level of enthusiasm he had yet to see. He felt a strange surge of jealousy, which caught him by surprise.
“Sorry,” she said sheepishly.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning.” Ulbricht indicated the chairs in his office and said “take a seat. Tell me everything, and perhaps I can help.”
“Okay, so it’s like this,” she started. Then she looked at Jonas. He had taken a seat in a deep plush chair, fascinated by her. When he didn’t respond, she gave a small hand wave.
“Oh, uh, go ahead Lily. You tell stories better than I do anyway.”
“That’s just patently untrue,” she said with a smile. “But if you insist, I will.” She took a seat, then looked back at her uncle. Ulbricht looked between them, then signaled for her to wait.
“This appears to be something significant. I will make us coffee.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing,” Jonas said from somewhere deep in the comfort of his chair. He could feel it actively pulling him in, seducing him to sleep.
“Very well, three coffees coming up.”
35
The three waited in a comfortable silence as the coffeemaker in the corner bubbled away, releasing the smell of roasting coffee. Ulbricht picked up several mugs, inspected them for cleanliness, then began pouring out cups. He handed the students their mugs before he took one for himself. Then he sat and waved to his visitors to begin.
“It starts like this,” Lily said brightly. She recounted meeting on the flight out to Egypt, how he was terrified of flying. He tried to object, but when she gave him a flirty glare, he gave up. She continued with going to university while he was working in the dig site. He gave little details here and there as she spoke. They covered finding the tomb, opening it via the clever mechanisms.
Then she started to talk about the party. “He was approached by a man named… uh…”
“Hatem Bitar,” Jonas provided.
“Right. Hatem invited him to a party happening down in Sharm El-Sheikh. He gathered his friends,” she said, then looked at him for help.
“Simon and Dylan.”
She nodded. “Yeah, them. They went to the party, and that’s when everything got weird.”
Professor Ulbricht raised his off hand to pause the story. “Define weird for me, Lily.”
“Well, there was a VIP room, where they went to enjoy um…” she trailed off.
“Exotic dancers,” Jonas said, his cheeks flushing.
Ulbricht had his hands steepled in front of his face. “I see,” he said with a small nod.
“Then Jonas had something sort of… shoved up his nose?”
Jonas nodded when she looked over. He tried to sink even further into the chair, using the mug to hide his face.
Ulbricht asked “and that was?”
When Lily didn’t answer, Jonas spoke up. “I thought it was coke at first. Mind you, I don’t do drugs. Not even marijuana. Just not my thing. But, uh, yeah, it looked like coke.”
“But it wasn’t?” Asked Ulbricht.
He shook his head. “No. It looked off. Gray, instead of white. More like ash instead of crystals.”
“Fascinating. What happened then?”
Jonas continued the story. “Uh, that’s when it actually got weird. Like, really weird.”
Ulbricht waved his hand. “Go on then.”
“I was attacked by one of the dancers. She tried to bite me. In reaction, I threw her through the window. Like, completely through. It was thick glass; she should have bounced off. Then I threw another woman out the broken window. And I ripped a third dancer off Dylan and threw her at Hatem, who was snarling at me like a wild animal. I did it at like, super speed.”
He could see the professor was skeptical. “Even if that didn’t happen, we hauled ass out of the club and got the car back from the valet. It was nearly dawn. We had somehow misplaced something like six hours.”
Ulbricht nodded. “That could be explained by drugs and alcohol, which I’m assuming were also present.”
“It was. Like I said before though, drugs aren’t my thing,” Jonas said defensively.
; Ulbricht raised a finger again. “Yet you were exposed, willingly or not.”
“That’s true,” he replied with a sigh. “Anyway, we started driving away in Hatem’s beamer—”
“Beamer?” Asked Ulbricht.
“BMW, sorry. A type of car.”
“I’m very familiar with the BMW. They come from my motherland, Germany. They are called Bayerische Motoren Werke AG there. Sometimes abbreviated. Beamer is a new term to me. Please continue.”
“Right. Where was I? Oh yeah, driving the car. We were just leaving the club when we heard two thumps on the roof. I floored it, and we took off. It was a really fast car. I got on the highway back to Cairo. Then Hatem put his fist through the windshield.”
“An astonishing feat of strength on its own, no doubt,” said Ulbricht.
He nodded. “For sure. I stomped on the brakes, and he and the dancer in yellow were flung from the car.”
Jonas continued the story, explaining how his hands burst into flames, how the two attackers also burst into flames, and the trees that took their place. Then he explained going back to the dig. He skipped the nightmares, which Lily noticed, but she said nothing. He explained, somewhat ashamedly, how he was exported. Then he recounted the party at Madsen’s house.
“How fascinating. How does all of this relate to this journal?” Ulbricht asked as he took the leather-bound book from where it lay. “What importance does this have, and why do you need my help?”
“Well, that’s the easy part,” answered Lily. “While we were researching everything we could about his encounters, we came across that journal. It is the only link we could find to the word Rakitaki.”
He made a ‘humph’ noise, then opened the front page. He read the title out loud.
“Ein Offiziersbericht der ägyptischen Front. This means ‘An Officer’s Account of the Egyptian Front.”
“Well, that sounds like it’s related,” Lily said.
“Perhaps. This is a lengthy journal.” Ulbricht rapped his knuckles on the book for emphasis. “It will take me some time to translate for you. I will call Lily flower here when I have it done. Thank you for sharing your story with me. I will start right away.”
Sensing the polite dismissal, Jonas stood. He shook the Professor’s hand, then waited while Lily gave her uncle another hug. She turned and walked out of the office.
“Your uncle is an interesting man,” Jonas commented.
Lily turned in the opposite direction they had approached from. “You have no idea. He’ll come through for us though.”
“Why did he kick us out so abruptly?”
“What do you mean?” She asked over her shoulder.
“Well, we were telling the story, but the moment he read the title on the first page, he seemed to clam up,” Jonas said as he caught up.
“That’s probably because of what the title implies.”
Jonas thought for a moment, then came to the obvious realization. “Nazis.”
They turned a corner and found themselves back in the lobby of the building. He stopped and looked around. “Wait, we’re back at the lobby. What the hell.”
“What? Yeah, of course.”
“Why did you drag me all over existence to get to his office?”
She laughed and said “that was a joke. My uncle loves to do that to people. We walked around pretty much every inch of this building. We even passed the office once, but you didn’t notice.”
“Haha, very funny. But it was Nazis, right?” he asked pointedly.
“Yeah. Uncle Heinrich remembers Nazi Germany. He escaped with his parents after their Jewish neighbors were taken.”
“That… that’s scary shit.”
“Because of that, we’re going to leave him alone.” She turned to him and locked eyes. “Got it?”
“Yeah, of course. He’s doing us a favor anyway. But he seems like a really nice guy. I bet he was awesome growing up.”
“He was.” She opened the door to the cold world beyond. “Now, what should we do with the rest of the day? I’m pretty sure we’re done with studying for now.”
“My brain feels cooked.”
“Mine too. Movie?”
He pulled her into his side. To keep her warm, as he mentally told himself. “Sure. Which one?”
“I heard about this really good one that’s about dancing. It just came out on Friday.”
He looked at her, how the sunlight reflected off her hair. Her eyes glittered with happiness. She was still full of energy.
“Sure, sounds good.”
36
Jonas returned to his classes on Monday, though Calhoun’s was still locked up. He stopped by the student counselor that afternoon. She looked up and smiled in greeting.
“Hey, uh, did Professor Calhoun get back from Egypt yet?”
She shook her head. “Oh, isn’t it just the most exciting thing! They stayed on for another month out there because of some huge find!”
“What huge find?”
“I was told by a very reliable source that they found mummies and treasure!”
Jonas shook his head. “I was there when we found all that. Why did they extend the trip?”
“Even if you were on that trip, I’m not authorized to give out any further information.”
“Authorized to give out more? You just told me they had a big find. I’m just asking for more details. I was supposed to come back with the team over the weekend, they were a few days behind me.”
“I’m sorry, young man. I don’t have any more information for you.”
Jonas sighed and walked away. He didn’t have any way of getting more information about the team or the digs. He didn’t even know if they had finished processing the pyramid and all its treasures.
When he had a free afternoon, he walked off campus to Holcomb’s Pharmacy. He was surprised to find the door locked with a note taped to the inside. It read ‘Gone for a few days. Back soon.’ He wondered what that meant. Danielle walked by just then, glanced at the door, and kept walking.
“Danielle! Hey, how are you?”
She stopped and looked at him, then her normally sour expression lightened.
“Jonas, hey.”
He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the sign. “Know what this is all about?”
She shrugged. “Told me Sunday during closing he was leaving town for a bit. Something about an auction. Why?”
“Oh, I was just going to stop by, say hi. Haven’t seen you guys in a few months.”
“Mhm,” she grunted. “Since it’s still closed, I’ve got other places to be. I’d check back in a week or two.”
“Uh, yeah. Take care, Danielle.”
She waved over her shoulder as she left. He returned to campus, both relieved and saddened. He had hoped to see Holcomb, but he never managed to find a good souvenir for his friend.
He attended his classes during the week, then partied on the weekend with Elliott at Kaala’s. He still questioned his memories of Madsen. He wished he could spend more time with Lily, but she had gone home late Sunday night. He found himself wishing she would appear in the strange way she seemed to.
His sleep was still troubled, but the strange nightmares much less frequent since his return to America. He had finally started feeling human again. Simon, Dylan, Jodie and Sydney still hadn’t returned two weeks after he had been deported. Another weekend was approaching, and he wanted to hang out with Elliott and forget about the troubles he’d had. It seemed more like a dream with each passing day. He barely paid any attention in his final class of the day.
“Thank god it’s Friday,” Lily said behind him. He spun in his seat to see her smiling devilishly at him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I heard you’ve been bored out of your mind, so I came to save you,” she said quietly. The professor at the front of the lecture hall either hadn’t noticed them talking, or simply didn’t care.
“That doesn’t explain why you’re in my economics class.”
>
She snickered. “I can’t explain why you’re in your economics class.”
“Because I need it to graduate.”
“Boring. Besides, I have something to show you,” she said with a smile.
He smiled back. “You really like doing the whole ‘surprise’ thing, don’t you?”
“Now you’re getting it,” she said. “C’mon. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”
“Did you just quote ‘Wargames’?”
“You’ll never know,” she said with a wink. Then she stood and walked to the back of the class. She paused at the door, looking at him. He sighed, then packed his textbook and notes into his bag, and hurried after her.
“You know, it seems like I do a lot of running after you,” he said as he joined her in the hallway.
“Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?”
He shook his head and adjusted his bag on his shoulder. They made it into the cold but sunny day outside the building.
“Well, what’s the big deal?”
“This is,” she said as she produced a neat stack of papers.
“And those are?”
“My uncle’s translation of the journal. He finished yesterday.”
“That’s great! What’s it say?”
“I don’t know. He called me up, then gave it to me and kicked me out of his office. He was not happy about the project. Barely even gave me a hug,” she said huffily.
“Well, it’s Friday afternoon. How about pizza and library?”
Her attitude immediately changed at the mention of pizza. “Just what I was thinking.”
They hurried over to the library and checked in with the librarian.
“Hey, that journal came back, right?” Lily asked.
“Yes, Professor Ulrich returned it yesterday morning. I understand you have more leeway than most students, but please refrain from doing that again. I got in trouble with the head librarian until I mentioned it was you that took the book.”
Rakitaki: A Jonas Quartermain Adventure Page 26
