by Lynne Ewing
“I found the papyrus,” Dalila answered. “The spell for summoning Seth is really long. It will take at least twenty minutes to recite.” She frowned. “I hope no curious bystanders get in the way.”
Meri shrugged. “We’ll do our best.”
“I’ll see you later,” Dalila whispered. Then she began reciting the spell, to transform herself.
A magic glow spun around her, lighting the room. A flurry of sparks shot into the air, and Dalila began to shrink.
Someone tapped on the door.
“Just a sec, Roxanne, please,” Meri said. “I’ll be out in a moment.”
The door opened, and Meri’s mother peeked inside.
Meri sprang forward, trying to bar her mother from coming in.
“Mom, I can explain,” Meri said, even though she couldn’t think of a lie to account for the reason that Dalila was twirling in the middle of the bathroom.
Her mother switched on the light. “Roxanne told me.”
“She did?” Meri blinked in the harsh glare. When she looked back, Dalila was gone. A black snake wiggled across the tiles and hid behind the clothes hamper.
“I didn’t know the fund-raiser was upsetting you so much,” her mother said. “And you shouldn’t feel nervous.”
“Nervous doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling,” Meri answered.
“You look beautiful,” her mother said. “Everyone will be staring at you.”
“Yeah,” Meri agreed, but she had a feeling they’d all be looking at her neckline. “I’m all right, Mom, really. Just a little queasy. If I don’t feel better I might have to leave the dinner early.”
“Not before you give your speech,” her mother said with a broad smile.
“My speech?”
“Roxanne told me,” her mother went on. “She said it was a secret, but she knows how I hate surprises. Don’t worry. This one I love. I’m so touched.”
“I can’t believe she told you,” Meri said, feeling her heart flutter. “I can’t give the speech now. It won’t be a surprise.”
“Of course you can.” Her mother stepped toward the doorway. “I wouldn’t miss what you have to say for the world.”
Meri groaned. How was she going to have time to write a speech?
“What’s wrong?” her mother asked.
Meri placed her hands over her stomach. “Just the flu, I think,” she said and promised herself that after this night, if she survived, she wasn’t going to tell another lie.
“You’ll get used to the nerves,” her mother said. “Be down at the car in twenty minutes.”
“My hair’s still wet,” Meri said. “Maybe I should just stay home and wait until next time.”
Her mother laughed. “Wet hair is not a challenge to Roxanne.” She left the bathroom.
“Great,” Meri said glumly and watched Dalila, as a cobra, slink through the doorway.
Meri stepped back into her bedroom as Roxanne came into the room, holding a pair of spiky sling-back shoes. She almost stepped on Dalila, not noticing the creature squirming near her ankle.
Ten minutes later, Meri stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a knot at the nape of her neck, and her chandelier earrings tickled her bare shoulders.
“The person in the mirror doesn’t even look like me.” Meri wished Abdel could see her smoky eyes and glossy cheeks. She looked like a true Sister of Isis, a goddess and queen of Egypt. Maybe Abdel would have loved her enough to stay if he had seen her this way.
“That’s you, sweetie.” Roxanne stepped toward the door. “I’ll give you a moment to go over your speech. I can touch up your makeup in the car.” She paused in the hallway. “I almost forgot. Good news. Your mom said we can hire a makeup artist next time.”
“Goody,” Meri said, trying to fake enthusiasm. She doubted there’d be a next time.
As soon as the door closed, Meri went to her nightstand, grabbed the papyrus, and examined it again. Abdel had told her that the ancient Egyptians had used marsh reeds to make the strong, thin paper. They had split the stalks, then laid them across one another and pounded them into thin sheets. But this papyrus felt thicker and heavier than the others had. She studied the edge, then slipped her fingernail in between the fibers and ran it down the length of the scroll. Carefully, she pulled the two sheets apart.
Beneath the first papyrus was another.
Her heart raced as she began reading. Stanley hadn’t been trying to find a way to release himself from Seth’s command. He had been trying to steal the magic that Meri stared at now, so that the girls would have had no option but to summon Seth.
According to the ancient writing, Apep had escaped Duat once before, but that time, Isis had stopped him without any help from Seth. She had traveled down to the Netherworld and found Apep while the creature was still in his lair. Then she had spoken the demon’s secret names and ordered the serpent to remain in the land of the dead and not bother the living.
“Meri,” Roxanne called from downstairs.
“Coming,” Meri yelled back. She rolled up the scroll, grabbed her purse, and stuffed the papyrus inside, but as she started to leave her room, Miwsher meowed, and the sound made Meri stop. The feline cry came out very clear; enfolded in the yowl, her cat had said, wait.
Meri turned slowly, expecting to see a woman standing behind her.
Instead, Miwsher jumped on top of the night-stand and batted at the necklace until it fell on the floor.
“I’ll take it with me,” Meri said, rushing back to grab the beads. She opened her purse and slipped the necklace inside. “But I don’t know what good it will do me. Can’t you tell me what I’m supposed to do?”
Miwsher stared up at her, and a purr rumbled in her throat.
“All right, then, keep your secrets,” Meri said and tenderly touched the tip of Miwsher’s nose.
As she hurried from the room, she was already forming a plan.
Meri tensed as the sedan pulled up in front of the Willard Hotel. News reporters and photographers crowded the stairs and carpet under the awning. A valet opened the car door, and when Meri stepped out, the photographers jostled one another to get closer.
Meri felt hesitant and shy, suddenly self-conscious about her neckline.
A noisy burst of flashes blinded her. People shouted at her, each question overlapping the last.
She stood disoriented, wondering how she was going to climb the steps in her spiky heels with the explosion of afterimages clouding her vision.
A gentle hand clasped her elbow.
“Step and step again,” her mother said jovially, guiding her up the stairs. Then they were inside.
“You’re magnificent,” her mother spoke in a soft, tender voice. “You can handle anything.”
“I wish,” Meri answered, feeling restless about what she had to do in less than an hour.
Mrs. Autry, one of her mother’s aides, greeted them. She was dressed in a black pantsuit and held a clipboard filled with ruffled pages.
“We’ve had a lot of cancellations,” Mrs. Autry said as she led them down the spiraling staircase to the ballroom.
Two men quietly joined their entourage. Meri assumed they were Secret Service agents or privately hired bodyguards.
“With all the media coverage on the weather and that Halloween snake,” Meri’s mother said, “I’m grateful that anyone showed up.”
Nerves twittered in Meri’s stomach. She wished she could tell her mother about Apep. Maybe the military could get rid of the beast.
Just before the doorway, her mother paused. She took a deep breath and straightened her back, then walked into the ballroom with long, elegant, presidential strides.
People at the banquet tables stood and applauded.
Meri peeked into the room. The gathering didn’t look small to her. The crowd greeting her mother would distract her for another ten minutes. That gave Meri the opportunity to sneak out through the rear entrance, on F Street. She doubted any photo
graphers would be waiting there.
As she started up the stairs, she heard someone crying in the women’s restroom. Meri couldn’t ignore anyone who sounded that miserable. She crossed the short hallway and tapped on the door, then pushed inside.
A girl wearing a shimmering white dress stood in front of the mirror, her hands covering her face. The long blond extensions looked like Michelle’s, and so did the three-inch high heels.
“Michelle? Are you all right?” Meri asked.
“That’s a stupid question!” Michelle wailed. “Why would I be crying if I were okay?”
She turned around, and Meri gasped.
Bright orange blotches covered Michelle’s face. Rust-colored slashes ran across her forehead, and now reddish-yellow spots on her chin were starting to swell.
“I wanted Daddy to be so proud of me,” she said, turning back to the mirror. She swept more powder over her face with a fluffy brush. “I just used a little self-tanning lotion to enhance my color so I’d glow tonight.”
“Maybe you mixed products that shouldn’t be used together,” Meri offered.
“I’m always careful,” Michelle answered and sniffled. “After all, it’s my face. How did this happen?” She groaned and didn’t wait for an answer. “Daddy will be so angry. He said this dinner was going to be crowded with people who matter, and he wanted me to look spectacular.”
“Why would your dad care how you look at a reception for my mom?” Meri asked.
“Don’t you know?” Michelle spun around and stared at Meri. “Your mom hired my dad to be the fund-raiser for her campaign.”
Energy drained from Meri, leaving an unpleasant emptiness in her chest. Even if she survived this night, which she doubted she would, her life was going to be filled with still more of Michelle’s taunts and snide remarks.
“Don’t look so unhappy,” Michelle said, appearing glad the news upset Meri.
“I think that’s great,” Meri said, with fake enthusiasm. She wasn’t supposed to use magic for her own advantage, but if she did something nice for Michelle, maybe Michelle would be grateful and stop harassing her.
“You probably just need to use a little soap on your face,” Meri said, determined to give magic a try.
“Since when do you know about glamour?” Michelle asked unpleasantly.
Meri ignored the taunt and grabbed a paper towel. She added a little soap and turned Michelle away from the mirror.
“Close your eyes,” Meri ordered.
Michelle did.
Beautiful Isis, queen of magic, hear my words, Meri said to herself as she wiped the towel across Michelle’s forehead and down her cheeks. I entreat you, goddess of love and healing, let the blemishes leave this one here and end her weeping.
Michelle’s skin glistened and changed back to her normal color and glow.
“The soap worked like magic,” Meri said and turned Michelle back around to face her reflection.
“Wow!” Michelle whispered. She started to say thank you but stopped and looked at Meri as if she were seeing her for the first time that night. A scowl replaced her smile. “That dress is too risqué for you, don’t you think?”
Meri glanced down, self-conscious again.
“The décolletage.” Michelle shook her head pensively. “You helped me, now I’ll help you,” she said, tossing her makeup bag into her purse. “Maybe one of the waitresses has a sweater you can borrow.”
“Does it look that bad?” Meri asked.
“Trust me.” Michelle raised an eyebrow. “You need to cover up.”
Meri touched her chest. Maybe she had exposed too much. “I was leaving anyway,” she said, turning to go.
“You can’t leave.” Michelle clutched Meri’s wrist. “What will people say if you do?”
“But I don’t feel well,” Meri lied and tried to pull away.
Michelle caught her hand and led her back to the ballroom as Scott came down the stairs. He brushed his curly hair back and stared at Meri with a naughty tease in his eyes that surprised her. When he kissed her cheek, his lips lingered before he pulled back.
“You look amazing.” He glanced at her chest, then hurriedly looked back at her face. “I don’t know what you’ve done, but you should keep doing it.”
His fingers slipped down her arm, and she wondered if he was flirting with her.
“She didn’t have anything to do with her look,” Michelle said with a pout. “It was her stylist.”
“You know about Roxanne?” Meri asked, surprised.
“Daddy told me,” Michelle answered as she added more gloss to her lips.
Meri wondered if Michelle’s father was going to tell Michelle everything he found out about Meri’s private life. She sighed. She didn’t need to worry about the future until she knew for sure if she would have one.
As Michelle and Scott headed in to the ballroom, Meri turned to dash up the stairs, and bumped into Mrs. Autry.
“The senator has been looking for you,” Mrs. Autry scolded. “Where did you go?” She didn’t wait for an answer but marched Meri back inside the ballroom to the table near the front where Michelle and Scott were already seated. The room was filled with the luxurious smells of expensive perfumes and the lush fragrance of warming rolls.
Meri took her place, wondering how she was going to excuse herself and leave. Her stomach felt jittery, and she sensed she was already late.
She took deep breaths to calm herself, then pulled the necklace from her purse and studied the amulet. The bright light glinted off the gold and illuminated an indentation that she hadn’t seen before. She pressed it, and the amulet opened.
Inside, engraved on the flat surface, was a curling snake. The goddess Isis in her avian form stood over it.
A waiter used tongs to set a piece of bread on a plate in front of Meri. She hadn’t eaten since the night before. She grabbed a knife, buttered the bread, and took a huge bite, loving the rich butter melting over her tongue. As she chewed, she translated the hieroglyphs to herself: the goddess Isis, beloved of the great living sun disc, did imprison Apep, using these secret names of the demon.
“I can’t believe you don’t know the difference between a fish knife and a butter knife,” Michelle said, holding up the proper utensil and buttering a morsel of bread.
Meri glanced up, then returned her attention to the list. Each name had been carefully defaced so that the writing of the names would not give Apep power. But the markings still left the names legible. Meri felt suddenly optimistic; possessing Apep’s secret names would give her the power to command the demon and make him stay in his lair.
“I don’t want your mother to lose the election because you have bad table manners,” Michelle went on. “And why do you have those dirty beads on the table?”
“Because I’m going to save the world,” Meri answered and glanced around. Maybe she could just stand up and walk out. Everyone would think she was only going to the restroom until time passed and she didn’t come back.
Michelle sniffed. “You could at least use your napkin.”
“I’m tired of being nice, Michelle, and I don’t have anything left to lose,” Meri warned and closed the amulet.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Michelle asked.
Meri dropped the necklace back into her purse. “I have more important things on my mind tonight and—”
“Like what?” Michelle asked snidely. “How to get another nude photo of yourself printed in the paper so you can show off your body?”
Scott reached over and rubbed Meri’s shoulder. “Ignore her,” he said.
Meri pushed back her chair and started to walk away. Suddenly her mother’s voice boomed over the microphone. “My daughter had been practicing a speech for tonight, and I can’t wait to hear it. Meri, would you like to give it now?”
Meri dropped her purse back on the table and held her hands to her cheeks, trying to push back the cat whiskers that were already prickling under her skin. What was she was going to sa
y?
But as she started toward the podium, thunder shook the room. The dull, heavy sound rumbled beneath Meri’s feet.
Lights flickered, and voices rose in fear and wonder.
Meri paused. Either Dalila and Sudi were summoning Seth, or Apep was coming back into this world. Whatever it was, Meri needed to be with her friends.
An elderly man with a curved spine raised his hand and stood. His poise and authority took the attention away from Meri.
“Senator Stark,” he said, in a loud clear voice, “everyone is saying that the military has a new war technology that allows them to control the weather. Are these freak storms the result?”
“I can guarantee you that this weather is not something the Pentagon has created,” her mother answered with confidence.
“But if the information is classified,” the man said, “you wouldn’t be able to tell us if these storms were machine-made.”
“I assure you,” her mother replied.
As the diners began talking about the weather, Meri hurried back to the table, grabbed her purse and started to leave.
“I can’t believe you’re sneaking out when your mother asked you to speak,” Michelle said loudly. “My father is right. Your mother needs a daughter like me if she expects to win this campaign.”
“Michelle, get off it,” Scott said. “That’s not true. Everyone loves Meri.”
“I don’t,” Michelle replied.
Meri spun around. Abdel had told her that she could never use the magic in the Book of Thoth for her own advantage. She took a deep breath and spoke an incantation anyway, knowing that for the second time that night she was violating a cosmic law.
“In the name of Isis, queen of magic, I return all the evil wishes and unkind thoughts you have sent me,” Meri said under her breath. Then she turned her invocation to Isis and murmured. “Goddess of many names, I entreat you. May the thoughts that Michelle sends to me find a magical path back to her.”
Meri hadn’t even finished her whispered spell when a waiter holding five plates of salad lost his balance. Leafy greens slid over Michelle as the plates clattered to the floor.
