Ferguson, J. A. - Call Back Yesterday.txt

by Call Back Yesterday. txt (lit)

  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 . . .”