by Louise Voss
After Heather’s call, Angelica had positioned herself in the high-backed gold velvet throne in the vast entrance hall, her arms resting on the chair’s arms, her robe arranged so that its sleeves draped artfully down the sides. To assuage her anxiety, she had put on her ceremonial robes. They were made of a heavy cream silk shot through with gold threads, and had wide gold satin cuffs and hems. It always made her feel calmer and more in control when she donned them. And knowing that Maddox would once again be under her control was like a shot of valium coursing through her veins.
She turned towards Heather, who was dragging Kate by the hair. ‘I hope you’re about to tell me that Paul Wilson is dead.’
Heather’s face immediately fell. ‘I’m sorry, Dadi,’ she said, her head bowed. ‘I still haven’t found him. But I have brought you Maddox. And I’ve left Egypt tied up at Feverfew, in Main Street. He seems OK.’
Angelica sprang out of her throne. ‘What? You’ve been away all this time, with no results? I have to know he’s dead! What’s the matter with you? Do you even know where he is?’
She slammed her fist into her thigh, panic and rage coursing through her. Why was nothing going right? Surely the Goddess couldn’t be testing her this much, so late in the Cycle? ‘Sekhmet, why? Why are you doing this to us?’
Preeti rushed over to Angelica and knelt beside her, holding her hand and stroking it with both her own.
Heather, her face twisted in a belligerent scowl, dragged Kate to the grand staircase, unlocked one of her handcuffs, passed the chain through the banisters and secured it. She couldn’t resist giving Kate a savage kick in the ankle before turning back to Angelica.
‘I tracked him down all right. He went to Glencarson to visit Diaz. I missed him by minutes. You don’t know what it’s like out there. It’s chaos on the roads. Borders are all shut. People are going crazy …’
Angelica snatched her hand away from Preeti’s soft pawings. All these lieutenants, so carefully chosen for their strength and courage and faith, trained and groomed for months and months, a crack team – but now look at them! The team was cracking up. Preeti was weak, Heather was inept, Simone was acting strange and distant – in fact, where the hell was she? Brandi and Cindy dead …
‘How the fuck did he find Diaz? What does he want?’ Angelica screeched.
Kate’s entire body recoiled when she heard Paul’s name, and she felt as though a bolt of lightning was zigzagging through her. Chained to the bottom banister, she could hear everything that was going on, but it was hard to see without craning her head round like an owl, and she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. But even unsighted as she was, the tension in the room was obvious.
‘Where’s Simone?’ Angelica demanded. ‘Simone!’
Kate heard a door open and close on the floor above, and the sound of soft footsteps. Simone seemed to glide down the stairs, the picture of beauty and elegance in her white robes and serene expression. She looked like a catwalk model, even with the large bump on her forehead.
‘Yes, Dadi, sorry, I was meditating and—’
She looked down the stairs, straight into Kate’s eyes, and panic and horror flitted across her features. Kate looked away immediately, thinking, shit, no, Simone, don’t look at me like that, she’ll know, she’ll be able to tell you helped me, then we’re both in for it, why didn’t you run when you had the chance?
Suddenly it was as if everyone in the room was suspended in time, frozen in a tableau of terrible dawning comprehension. Kate prayed that Angelica hadn’t seen the look. She tried to make herself invisible, to shrink into the banisters and vanish, taking Simone with her …
Angelica saw the look. In that split second, everything fell into place. How Maddox had managed to get out of the house, escape into the woods, saddle up Egypt and escape. Worse – far worse, how Brandi, her loyal and trusted servant of Sekhmet, had died.
‘Sister Simone,’ she said, slowly, calmly. ‘How exactly did Sister Brandi die?’
Simone walked over and stood before Angelica’s throne, her arms folded, eyes defiant. Her jaw moved up and down from her constant, irritating gum-chewing, a habit Angelica had been unable to rid Simone of, in the same way she had never really embraced the elocution lessons and shed her ghetto talk. She realised now that she should have seen it as a sign, that Simone was not pure of heart, that she had never truly cast off her old self. But she had loved her, like all the Sisters.
Angelica had to look up to see into her beautiful smooth-skinned face, the perfect planes of her cheekbones and arch of her eyebrows. How could Simone have done this to her? To Brandi?
Simone affected surprise at the question. ‘I don’t know … I wasn’t there, remember? You’d sent me out to search along the mountain road. I assumed that Maddox had shot her.’
Angelica narrowed her eyes. ‘She wasn’t shot. When Sister Preeti and I carried her body home to prepare it for the burial ceremony, Sister Preeti had to remove a knife from her back. I didn’t make the connection at the time, but I have now: it was your knife, wasn’t it? You stabbed your Sister.’
Preeti gasped.
Simone laughed, but it was forced. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Dadi! Why would I stab Brandi? I loved the bones of that girl.’
‘Let me see your knife, then.’ Angelica held out her hand. ‘I assume you have it under your robes, as always?’
Simone delved slowly into the split in the side seam of her robes – robes were worn over other clothes, so the knife should have been in its sheath around Simone’s waist. Then she stopped.
‘It’s not there,’ she said. She pointed at Maddox. ‘She must have taken it. I ain’t seen it for a day or so. I was gonna ask if anyone had found it.’
Angelica looked at the Englishwoman, tied to the balustrade like a dog on a leash, twisting her neck round so she could see what was going on. She felt like twisting that neck right round, until it snapped. ‘Well? Maddox? Did you kill our Sister Brandi?’
Kate strained her head to see Angelica’s face, and studiously ignored Simone’s. Preeti was crouching at Angelica’s feet, her hands covering her mouth, her eyes two dark ‘o’s of horror. Kate knew that the danger she was facing had escalated to a new level. Before, she had been collateral damage. Now, it was personal. She got the impression that Angelica didn’t really care which of them had actually killed Brandi. What mattered was that she knew that Simone had helped her escape, so even if Kate had stabbed Brandi, Angelica would still blame Simone.
Kate hesitated. A large wilted petal dropped off a lily in one of the huge vases next to the staircase, and the silence in the room was so intense that they all jumped slightly at the soft sound as it landed on the parquet floor.
If she said no, Simone would probably be killed instantly, executed as a traitor.
If she said yes, they would probably both die anyway.
She ought to say no. She had to stay alive to find the vaccine, to find Paul and Jack.
But Simone had helped her. Simone had already saved her life once. How could she repay that with a death sentence?
She opened her mouth, still not knowing which of the two words would come out.
‘It was me. I killed her, OK?’ shouted Simone, her voice harsh in the stillness. ‘I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry, Dadi, I was aiming at Maddox, but I was running at the time, and tripped over a root as I threw the knife, and it landed right between Brandi’s shoulders. I was too ashamed to tell you. I’m sorry I lied. I’ve been up there for hours, begging Sekhmet’s forgiveness … Please say you forgive me too?’
Simone fell to her knees and clutched the hem of Angelica’s robes.
‘But you helped Maddox escape,’ said Angelica flatly.
‘No! I swear – ask her. I didn’t. She took my gun and hit me with it. I didn’t want to tell you because I should never have left my gun, not even for a second … Ask her!’
‘She didn’t,’ said Kate. ‘I took her gun and knocked her out with it.’
The sound of soft sobs filled the room – Preeti was crying. Kate felt a momentary flash of optimism – the more division and conflict there was between the remaining Sisters, surely the better it would be for her chances of escape? But Angelica’s next words extinguished all hope:
‘Sister Heather, take Maddox and Simone away and lock them in the basement. They are traitors, and traitors must die. The ceremony will take place in an hour’s time; you and I will officiate. Go put on your ceremonial robes. Sister Preeti, take the Jeep to Feverfew and bring Egypt home. Leave the car there. And pull yourself together, woman. This is your last chance to grow a backbone, do you hear me? If Sekhmet is telling me I chose badly, that my Sisters are not up to the task they have been set, then I will suffer the consequences. I don’t need you – any of you! I will fulfil Sekhmet’s prophecy even if I have to do it by myself. Now get out of my sight, all of you.’
Preeti left the room, stifling a sob, and Angelica turned to Kate and Simone as Heather strode over to them, her eyes dark and murderous.
‘There will be no more delays, Maddox. It is time for you to die. Both of you. And not just because Sekhmet demands your sacrifice.’ She marched up to Kate and screamed in her face. ‘I demand it too!’
56
Heather was grim-faced, refusing to meet Simone’s eyes as she shoved her and Kate down the stairs and handcuffed them to a pipe.
‘You could have had everything,’ she hissed to Simone. ‘But you’ve fucked up big time.’
‘Heather, you gotta help us. Angelica’s crazy. Come on, Sister, we’re friends.’
Heather grabbed Simone by the throat and pushed her against the wall. ‘I was never your friend. And I’m not your Sister any more, ya hear?’ She spat on the floor at Simone’s feet. ‘You’re nothing to me now but a walking corpse.’
With that, she marched out, leaving Simone and Kate alone in the velvety, laundry-scented semi-darkness.
‘Why didn’t they gag us too?’ Kate asked, after a while. She’d grown so used to her hands being bound that she wondered if it would feel strange were she ever to find herself in a situation where she was able to move her arms freely. She and Simone were tethered to a hot-water pipe running along the wall of the basement. It scorched Kate’s wrists whenever she accidentally touched it.
Simone, who still appeared shaken by Heather’s violent outburst, shrugged. ‘No need. Not like anyone can hear us down here anyways. Shit, woman, we are fucked.’
‘I thought Angelica was bad enough, but that woman – Heather – is even scarier.’
Simone looked at the floor. ‘She’s angry because I betrayed Sekhmet.’
‘I thought you didn’t believe in all that.’
‘I don’t. At least, I don’t think I do. Hell, I don’t know what I believe. But shit, Kate, what if it is all true? I mean, I felt it. I really heard her, I heard Sekhmet talk to me. She chose me, through Angelica. Nobody ever chose me for nothing good before.’
‘Simone, listen to me. You were brainwashed. You didn’t hear her speak to you, not ever, because she doesn’t exist. That milkshake thing that Angelica made you take every morning? She tried to force me to drink some. I’m certain it had something in it, something that gave you hallucinations, or delusions. Made you believe in Sekhmet. It’s not your fault.’
Simone was silent for a moment. ‘The vitamin,’ she said eventually.
‘That’s what she called it, was it?’
‘Yeah. Tasted awful, but she made us drink it. Said it was essential for muscle tone and concentration.’
‘Hmm,’ Kate said.
‘I thought it was the real deal,’ Simone said bitterly. ‘Sekhmet, the Golden Age, the whole thing … I totally believed it. But you’re right – Angelica ain’t nothing but a psycho murderer.’
The two women sat in silence for a moment. Kate tugged the handcuffs, wriggled her hands, but there was no way they were getting free.
‘Do you think the virus has spread – round the world, I mean?’ Simone asked. ‘I ain’t seen a TV or the internet since this thing started.’
‘It could have done. I don’t know.’ Kate pulled hard against the pipe again but it remained immovable. ‘It would only take one sick person to get on a plane and then … it’s totally out of control.’
‘So you and those guys at the lab were trying to find the cure for it?’
‘Yes. We were so close, too. Junko had just figured something out, something that might have held the key – but she’s gone.’
‘What about other scientists, in other labs?’ Simone sounded hopeful. ‘It can’t have only been you working on it.’
‘I’m sure it wasn’t,’ said Kate. ‘But we were the best hope – well, until you lot arrived and killed most of us.’
Simone hung her head.
‘And if Angelica goes ahead with this … sacrifice, or whatever shit way she wants to dress up our imminent murder, then the chances are that there won’t be a vaccine, and this thing will get completely out of control.’ Kate shook her head in despair. ‘Do you think she’s really going to go ahead with it?’
Simone laughed, mirthlessly. ‘You’ve seen what she’s like. She don’t give a damn about nothin’ apart from Sekhmet’s supposed fucking will. She does whatever she thinks Sekhmet says … Actually, Sekhmet says whatever Angelica wants to hear.’
‘Where did she get it all from, anyway?’
‘Visions. Dreams. Says Sekhmet’s been talking to her since she was a kid. Her granddaddy had this gold statue of the Goddess that he brought back from Egypt. Angelica used to play with it when she was a little girl. If I’d known she was so fucked in the head, I wouldn’t have gone near her. But then, I guess, we were all fucked in the head otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten taken in.’ Simone rattled her own handcuffs, her biceps straining as she pulled against the pipe. ‘Angelica didn’t tell us about the virus, of course, not for ages …’
There was a faint scratching sound from inside the walls. Simone froze.
‘Was that a rat?’
‘Well, at least you won’t be around to see the rats taking over,’ Kate said. ‘And you won’t die of the virus, either.’
‘That’s good, about the rats. But I don’t have to worry about the virus – we’re all immune. Part of our initiation ritual to become a Sister of Sekhmet: Angelica gave us the virus and then the antidote, to make sure we’d be immune once she’d released it. Though we didn’t know that at the time.’
‘Do you know where she got hold of it? Did she take you to a lab or a clinic somewhere?’
‘She did it right here. Don’t know where she got the stuff.’
‘What can you remember about it?’
Simone snorted. ‘I ain’t no scientist, all I know is that Angelica gave me a shot. But it worked damn fast, I know that much. One minute I thought I was gonna die, then I had the shot – next day I was well enough to go for a walk in the yard.’
‘And Angelica called it an antidote, you’re sure about that?’
‘Yep. I’m pretty sure she did.’
Kate pondered this. ‘That’s strange. Because an antidote is something you give for a toxin or a poison, not a virus. With viruses, you use a vaccine for someone who hasn’t had the virus yet, or an antiviral drug for someone who’s already got it. It’s weird that she referred to it as an antidote.’
Simone made a face. ‘Her brain is screwed. Maybe she made a mistake. Or maybe I mis-remembered.’
Kate rattled the pipe with renewed vigour. Simone must have got it wrong. Whatever it was that stopped the virus, it was fast-working. She wracked her brains to think what could have been used to create the antivirus, something Angelica had access to that she, Kate, never had … It could save millions of lives, if only she could figure it out. Assuming she could stay alive long enough to be able to try. ‘Come on, Simone, you’ve been trained in combat and survival – surely you can get us out of here?’
‘I think I’m pretty much all out of ideas, honey. We co
uld try and shift this pipe, but I don’t reckon it’ll budge.’
‘Let’s pull, together. We can’t give up, not now.’
They both heaved and strained, leaning as far forward as the handcuffs would allow, but the pipe did not give an inch.
‘Can we overpower them when they come for us?’
Simone shrugged wearily. ‘Doubt it. Angelica and Heather are both crack shots, Preeti’s there as back-up, and we’re cuffed. We don’t stand a chance.’
‘Don’t be so negative,’ Kate said. ‘I thought your meditation was all about acceptance and tranquillity?’
‘Fuck that,’ said Simone.
They slumped back against one another. Kate could smell the other woman’s sweat and perfume, her solid presence, and she felt overwhelmed with pity and sympathy for her.
‘Simone – I just want to say … thanks. Thanks for helping me escape, twice. I’m so sorry this has happened. But don’t blame yourself for any of it, OK? You’re a good person.’
‘Oh, can it,’ said Simone.
If she ever got out of this, Kate promised herself, and things returned to normal, she was going to take a break; a real break, with Jack and Paul. And the next time she saw Paul, she would ask him to marry her.
If she ever saw him again.
Who was she kidding? Defeat flooded through her as the reality of the situation struck her afresh. She slumped back against the basement wall, her wrists aching as much as her head and heart.
At that moment, the door at the top of the basement steps creaked open. Light flooded in, and Kate screwed up her eyes to make out the hunched shape of an old man standing there. It was the same man she and Simone had seen in the kitchen when Kate had escaped.
