his hand to order her to inch into the deeper shadows. She
had only gone a few inches when the gun fired, and a bullet
struck the stone right beside her. Shards pierced through
her wrapper, and she cried out in pain.
Something rushed past her. Not something. Simon. He
leaped out of the building and knocked the gun from his
brother’s hand. It bounced once on the stone and dropped
into the pool with a loud splash.
She jumped to her feet and ran toward the door. Maybe
it was in shallow water where she could fish it out.
Hearing a shout behind her and the thud of a vicious
blow, she saw Simon go down before Reverend Fairfield’s
fists. Simon fell back into the temple. He reached for his
brother’s leg, but the vicar put his other foot on Simon’s
throat, and Simon froze. Darcy bit back her cry of horror.
If the vicar jammed his foot down, Simon would be dead
before he could draw another breath.
“You should have spent less time with your books,
Simon,” he jeered.
Darcy looked around for a weapon. There was no time
to find the gun. She smiled grimly when she saw the iron
feather on Thoth’s scale. If it was not attached . . . She
lifted it with both hands and inched back into the shadows,
circling behind Reverend Fairfield.
Simon glanced once in her direction, then locked eyes
with his brother. “And you should have spent less trying
to turn my father and me against each other.”
Reverend Fairfield shrugged, his foot still on Simon’s
throat. “You made it easy. Him with his fear of death and
you with your fear of life. I’m only offering you what you
both have wanted since your mother and our sister died so
tragically.”
How much longer would Usi’s ka enjoy taunting
Simon as it must have Kafele? She took another step
toward them and began to raise the iron feather.
“Did you cause that, too?” Simon asked, his choked
voice warning Reverend Fairfield’s boot was pressing
down on his throat. “They stood in your way of getting
Rosewood Hall as well.”
“They were fools, and they got what fools deserve.”
He laughed. “What you and your silly Darcy—” He hissed
out her name as he had in the cellar.
She jumped forward and slashed down with the feather.
He was too tall. The blow glanced off the side of his head,
knocking him toward the back of the temple.
Simon scrambled to his feet and grabbed her arm. He
tugged her toward the door. Shoving her out onto the grass,
he pushed on the statue of Ra. She jumped to her feet as it
toppled. Before she could ask him what he was doing, he
ran toward the stepping stones, towing her after him.
A thunderous crash sounded behind them. She turned
as the statue rocked. She heard a man’s single shriek. A
single shriek which was muffled by the fall of the statue
crashing to the ground and shattering. Then there was only
silence. Beneath the statute, the vicar lay, dead.
Simon stared at the statue and the dead man. Darcy
thought he would speak, but he said nothing. Instead he
took her hand and tugged on it, leading her across the rest
of the stones to the pond’s shore. She turned to look back
at the temple. The statue of Thoth still stood in place, its
scale in balance.
“He was killed by stone, as Meskhenet was,” she
whispered.
“As Kafele was when he went to try to save her.”
She stared up at him. “How do you know that?”
“I’m not sure.” He rubbed his forehead. “It must be
the residue of the gas fumes.”
“It’s something different.” She pointed to the two
clouds of light. “Something very different.”
“We saw them before. What are they?”
“I suspect they are what remains from the kas of
Meskhenet and Kafele. The part that isn’t within us.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I know it’s incredible, but it’s the truth.”
“It isn’t as incredible as this love I have for you.” He
drew her into his arms. “Andrew was right. I was afraid to
live, but you gave me back my life. A life I want to spend
with you. Will you forgive me for trying to chase you away
when I knew how easily you could capture my heart?”
She laughed before he kissed her with the passion that
had been theirs even before he first touched her. A passion
that would become more familiar as their lives in this
incarnation unwound.
As they walked back through the maze, she said, “I’m
afraid you will have to obtain my grandmother ’s
permission before we can wed. She will be in a foul mood
after her encounter with the ka lights.”
“Not even that will daunt me.” He twirled her into his
arms again, then looked past her.
She turned to see the two clouds had followed them.
They blinked several times, then wafted together as they
had when she and Simon had first become lovers. This
time they did not separate before they evaporated away.
Her eyes filled with tears, for she knew those small
remnants of Meskhenet and Kafele were together for the
rest of eternity.
“Can you explain that?” Simon asked, awe deepening
his voice.
“I believe so.” She slipped her hand into his and said
as they walked out of the maze. “Let me start at the
beginning, so you will understand it all.” She smiled as
she copied Jaddeh’s intonation each time she had told a
very young Darcy a story. “Meskhenet lived within a lotusscented
palace . . .”
Ferguson, J. A. - Call Back Yesterday.txt Page 32
