He scooted closer to her so that their noses nearly touched. “That’s an impossibility.” He pulled her close. Lucy’s heart beat so loud, she heard it above everything else. Then their lips met. And when his kisses became more passionate, she thought she might faint. That only lasted a moment until she allowed the feelings Will had awoken within her to run free.
TWENTY
MORNING GLOW
IN THE dream Lucy was once again in the box with the gods. It looked different than her last visit. Spider web fissures ornamented the walls, allowing rays of light to bombard the inside. It wasn’t hot like it should be with all the sunlight beating down on them. But that could’ve been because Lucy was dreaming of the place and not really there.
“Did you enjoy the boat ride?” Apep laughed manically. He’d been crumpled in a corner, his dark robes concealing his body so he appeared to be nothing more than a pile of old laundry. When he spun around, Lucy was shocked to see that his face had withered, like an old apple.
Bastet didn’t look much better. The sparkling darkness that usually radiated around her had turned into a mere wisp. “I saved your life again by sending that bolt of moonlight,” Bastet said. “I’m still counting on you to put the amulet pieces together.”
“This blasted box won’t hold us much longer and once we are free, I’ll be coming for you.” Apep’s form was abruptly in front of her, so close that he touched Lucy’s forehead. His burning hot finger caused a sharp pain shook her whole body and she screamed…
“Hey, Lucy. Wake up. It’s okay. You’re safe.”
She opened her eyes to find Will’s sky blue ones studying her worriedly. “Will.” She smiled, hugging him tightly, letting the dream and the pain she’d experienced evaporate.
“Hello, Mrs. Godwin,” he chuckled, nuzzling her ear.
After a good long time, the two of them got out of bed, dressed, and hand in hand went down the stairs. She paused before she reached the bottom.
“What is it, Luce?”
“Do you think they’ll notice?” She felt different, and more womanly after what had happened between her and Will. Surely the others would be able to tell the difference as well.
“What?” he asked, though the smoldering looking on his face told her he knew exactly what she was saying.
“You positively look like the cat who swallowed the canary.” She slapped him on the arm. “Never you mind.”
He pulled her to him. “If they notice, that’s okay. It’s what happens between husbands and wives.” He kissed her shoulder, before giving her a quick hug.
“You’re right.” She placed a smile on her lips and took a deep breath.
“Good evening, love birds,” Sebastian said, raising his glass, as soon as they entered the dining room.
Lucy felt her face get hot. “Good evening.”
Sebastian sat at the head of the table while Dashel sat on his left and Harriet on his right. The duke had only his usual glass of the red substance in front of him while the other two had eggs, fruit, potatoes, and toast on their plates.
“How’d you sleep?” The duke seemed positively cheerful.
She glanced at Will and felt heat creep up her neck and into her cheeks.
“We slept most excellently, thanks for asking.” For his part, Will seemed to be enjoying himself, not at all perturbed by the duke’s innuendos.
Will helped Lucy into her seat and then sat beside her. “Breakfast for dinner? Sebastian, you scoundrel. I thought that was something they only did in my time.” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “I’m starved.”
“Me too,” Lucy said.
Everyone laughed, though Dashel and Harriet appeared slightly uncomfortable.
Lucy’s cheeks got so hot she thought she might start a fire.
“All right, I suppose we should let the newlyweds eat in peace.” Sebastian finished the rest of his drink.
Dashel and Harriet agreed wholeheartedly.
“After you two finish eating, we need to get started on the spell.”
Will shoveled a large bite of eggs into his mouth, and nodded.
“How long should it take?” Lucy asked before taking a bite of toast slathered in strawberry preserves.
Sebastian became serious. “Time is all very relative as the two of you know. To us it might seem like minutes, but could end up being hours or vice versa. That’s why we need to get started as soon as possible. We want to make sure we do all we can before William is whisked back to his time.”
Lucy was no longer hungry and set down her fork. “I’m ready.”
“It’s okay, Miss. Eat. You need your strength.”
“Thank you, Harriet.” But she couldn’t bring herself to pick up the fork.
TWENTY-ONE
BASTET’S HEART
FINISHED EATING, the five of them made their way up to the attic room. It looked the same as before, pristine and bright. The table had been moved. On the floor, drawn in red was a snake eating its tail. Within the circle sat the bowl filled with the ingredients Lucy and Will had collected the other day. At equal distances outside the circle were symbols that represented earth, air, fire, and water.
“If you each will stand on one of the symbols.”
“Does it matter who stands where?” Will asked, picking the symbol that looked like fire.
“No. Though since you chose the fire symbol, let’s have Lucy stand on the symbol for water.”
Lucy moved to the spot with three squiggly lines, indicating water.
Dashel and Harriet took air and earth.
“Very good. Very good.” Sebastian took a book from the table before moving into the center of the circle. He stood over the bowl holding the ingredients. “Now,” he paused and met each of their gazes. “Whatever happens, do not move off the symbol. You represent the living anchor or incarnation of each emblem. If you step off at any time, the spell will be broken.”
They all muttered their understanding.
“Excellent.” He opened the book and pulled a large blade directly from within the pages before the book vanished. Lucy blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “All of the ingredients are within the sacred bowl, except one.” He faced Harriet. “I’ll need the blood of a human virgin.” He picked up the bowl.
Harriet wrung her hands together and shifted from one foot to the other. “Milord, I am a virgin, sure enough.” Her face changed to the color of ripe watermelon. “But, there’s the other issue.” She gave Lucy a quick look.
Lucy shook her head, wondering what she meant.
Dashel interjected, “Why must you use that knife on her? Couldn’t you just prick her finger? That’ll produce blood just the same.”
Sebastian paused. “Your concern for Harriet is admirable, but I need much more than a few drops of blood, Dashel.” He cleared his throat. “As to your worries, I’m aware, but you are three-quarters human. For the purposes of this spell, that’s all I need.”
Harriet visibly relaxed. “Good.”
Lucy couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. “What’s the other quarter?”
“Now is not the time for that question, Mrs. Godwin,” Sebastian said. And then to Harriet, he went on, “Hold out your palm.”
She did, making a face. “Is it going to hurt?”
“Not too badly.” He ran the sharp end of the knife over her outstretched hand. Blood immediately dripped into the bowl. Sebastian quickly wrapped a cloth around the cut and said some words in a language Lucy didn’t understand. The contents of the bowl began to sizzle. Dashel and Harriet joined hands once again. “Don’t move.” He moved back to the center of the circle. Spoke more words in an indiscernible language, though Lucy understood one word, Ra.
Sebastian placed a hand over the bowl, and that’s when everything started to happen. The ground began to shake. Lucy nearly fell over. “Take each other’s hands,” Sebastian yelled. Wind came next, sending strong gusts through the room. The shelves blew over, sending thei
r contents everywhere.
“What’s happening?” Harriet asked, her eyes wide and her head searching in all directions.
Lucy was doing the same. She was afraid one of them would be knocked off their symbol. The room tilted and the table came at them, but it stopped like there was an invisible force keeping it at bay.
“Remember what I said,” Sebastian said. His dark hair was flying around his head, giving the illusion of a thousand tiny crows encircling him. He raised his hands above his head, the knife still in one hand. “Come forth, Ra, greatest of all Egyptian gods. Father of the sun, bringer of light, creator of all that is living.” He waited. They all did. But nothing happened. “Come forth!” Sebastian said again.
The room went deathly still. It was so silent Lucy could hear the birds chirping outside the window. Harriet and Dashel exchanged looks. Will gripped Lucy’s hand more tightly.
Sebastian seemed perplexed. “Odd,” he said, stepping out of the circle. As soon as he did, the floor within the circle vanished, becoming a dark hole.
Lucy looked down and saw that the darkness was swirling. Far below she could make out two figures. The longer she looked, the closer they got. “It’s Apep and Bastet. They’ve escaped!” Apep’s robes flapped around him. His face was no longer shrunken and he looked positively furious. She leaned toward Will, seeking assurance, but remained on her symbol.
Sebastian turned around. “Impossible.” The look on his face told a different story. “I knew working the spell would have consequences. I didn’t believe this would be one of them.” He stepped back. “Don’t worry. Once they’re out of the vortex, I will trap them within another box. They will not be allowed to harm anyone.” He gave Lucy a serious nod. “I promise.”
Lucy thought it unwise of the duke to make such a pledge. Even he couldn’t control the actions of two gods. She made a move to step off her symbol, but Will held her fast. “Remain where you are,” he whispered softly.
She swallowed, fighting her every urge to run away. “But I’ve been in the box with them at night while I slept. It was Apep who nearly drowned us. He promised he would kill us. We need to go far, far away.” She felt her whole being begin to shake. “I’m afraid. For me, and for you because I don’t want us to be over.”
“Keep the faith, Mrs. Godwin.” Will’s face was as serious as she’d ever seen it.
“Whatever happens, we’re here for you.” Dashel spoke, his face lined with determination.
Harriet nodded her agreement.
“Yes,” Sebastian said.
He cut his own palm and dropped blood into the vortex. It created a barrier between the gods and them. Bastet screeched in anger, placing both hands on the underside. The barricade shattered around them and Bastet smiled triumphantly. “They’ve become immune to my power. I may have to take back my promise.”
“Come on, Sebastian,” Harriet said, her eyes gleaming brightly. “There must be something more you can do. You’re the Duke of Vladimir. That means something!”
He rolled back his shoulders, and gave her a winning smile. “Right. Let’s see.”
While he debated internally, something began to happen with Lucy’s amulet. It became hot and started to shake. “My amulet is moving, Will. What about yours?” She knew he still wore it around his neck, same as her.
“Yes, I feel it too.”
Lucy watched the locket around Will’s neck come out of his shirt of its own volition. She felt hers do the same. It pulled against her neck, straining toward the vortex. “It must be Bastet. She is trying to put them together.”
“No, that can’t be,” Harriet said. “Part of the curse of the amulet made it so that Bastet could have no dominion over it. That includes touching it or moving it or anything of that nature.”
“Well then, what is happening?” Lucy asked, turning toward Sebastian.
“I’ve never called forth a god before. I have no preconceived notions.” The color of his eyes changed from black to red and his face became more angular, making him seem much less human. “I’m going to seal the void, keeping these two out.” The winds picked up again. He recut his hand and squeezed more blood into the vortex while speaking different words. As the blood hit the opening, it immediately started to close.
“It’s working!” Harriet said, her eyes shining with relief.
But it wasn’t closing fast enough. Bastet and Apep moved upward faster and faster, clawing their way out just before it sealed. They stood in the center of the circle.
“I told you I was coming.” Apep’s total focus was aimed at Lucy. He raised his hands, sending the sleeves of his robes up, revealing black markings on his forearms. “Death is your destiny.” He trained both of his open palms at her. “It has been since the moment you touched that amulet.” Dark orbs shot from his hands, but before they reached Lucy they changed course and were sent into the wall behind her. The whole house trembled under the force of the impact.
“Apep, no!” Bastet appeared in front of Lucy, and sent him flying. Dashel ducked as the god shot over his head and through the window.
Bastet faced Lucy. “Now, put the pieces of the amulet together.” Her voice was low, seething with menace. “I will have my heart.”
“We won’t do it,” Lucy said, glancing at Will to make sure he was in agreement.
He nodded.
“Yes, you most certainly will, or I’ll destroy him.” She wrapped her hand around Dashel’s throat, her fingers digging into his flesh as she squeezed. “And after him, I’ll kill her.” She flicked her other hand toward Harriet, who made a choking sound, grabbing hold of her own throat. Bastet was choking her lady’s maid.
“Stop!” Lucy shrieked. She couldn’t let that happen.
“I will stop as soon as you reunite your piece of the amulet with his.” She gave them a malicious look.
“We can’t.” Will held out his hands, using the motion to convince Lucy to stay where she was.
Lucy cried out, desperate to help Dashel and Harriet. She couldn’t let them die.
Will seemed to know what she was thinking. “The whole Earth will cease to exist if we put that amulet together. We must not allow that to happen.”
Sebastian came forward then, speaking his strange words. A bolt of light shot into Bastet, sending her backward, into the table. It split it two at the force of her impact.
Dashel and Harriet immediately began to cough, heaving in deep gulps of air. “I’m fine,” Dashel said. “Harriet?”
“I am not permanently injured.” Lucy might have been more easily convinced if Harriet’s face had not been so blue.
Bastet stood, brushing the broken pieces of wood off her dress.
Sebastian sent another bolt of light at the goddess, but she was ready this time. She caught it. “You will regret the day you ever tried to hurt me.” Bastet twisted the bolt into a circle within her hands before sending it back at Sebastian. The force of it hit sent him into the door. It ripped from its hinges with a tremendous crash. Lucy heard both the door and Sebastian’s limp body crashing down the stairs. “Now then, where was I? Oh yes, killing your friends.” She returned her stranglehold on Dashel and Harriet.
“I can’t watch them die,” Lucy said, ripping the locket from her neck. She went to Will.
“Lucy, what are you doing?”
She tore Will’s amulet from his neck. “I’m sorry, Will.” She held a piece in each hand and faced Bastet. “Let them go and then I’ll do as you’ve said. But not before.”
“Do it, first,” Bastet returned.
“No, not until you release them.”
“Bastet put down her hands. “Very well.”
Dashel and Harriet fell limply to the ground, coughing and sputtering as they tried to breathe.
“Miss, you mustn’t,” Harriet said, her voice raspy.
Lucy shook her head. “There’s no other way.” She removed each piece from its respective locket, letting the lockets fall to the ground. Now she held only the two halve
s of the amulet.
“Lucy, my love. No,” Will pleaded.
“You promised.” Bastet’s face shone with glorious victory.
The pieces gravitated toward each other like magnets. As soon as they touched, the two halves cinched together, and the amulet became whole once again.
Immediately, the ground began to shake.
“Look,” Harriet said, pointing at the sky, fear etched on her face.
Dashel, Will, and Lucy looked up. Stars began to fall, leaving trails of light in their wake.
“It’s happening! I’m free,” Bastet cried, taking the whole amulet from Lucy. “Now my father has no choice but to give me a heart.”
“Tis true, daughter. You have broken the curse I placed upon you.” A bright figure appeared before them. He stood in the shape of a man. Long orange-gold hair hung down his back, like a lion’s mane. Lucy tried to shade her eyes. His whole body glowed with radiance, making it difficult to look upon him, but she couldn’t turn away.
“See, Father,” Bastet said, holding out the amulet for him.
It occurred to Lucy that she was actually looking at Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun. Sebastian’s spell had worked! Hope returned to her heart.
“Yes, I see what you’ve done.” He took the amulet and crushed it into nothingness. The room immediately stopped shaking. “Your selfishness knows no bounds, Bastet. I’d hoped that thousands of years as the goddess of the moon and the stars would have given you perspective.”
“Perspective. What are you talking about? I had but one task. To get the amulet pieces back together. I’ve done that.”
“And in the process, you’ve condemned millions of innocent people to death.” He shook his head, sending droplets of sunlight to the ground. They sizzled as they burned the floor, making the room smell like fire. “But a promise is a promise.” He laid a hand over the place where her heart should've been. “Tis finished. You now possess a heart, the ability to love, and the ability to comprehend the full weight of what you've done.”
Bastet gasped, falling to her knees. She clutched her chest. “It’s mine.” Her eyes filled with tears. They watched as her momentary happiness turned to exquisite pain. She could now experience the full impact of all she’d done over the millennia. Bastet began to sob. For several minutes she seemed to have lost the ability to speak. “No, it's too much!” She clawed at her chest. “I don't want it. Take it back!”
Past the Ages: Book Two Page 11
