Nefertiti’s Curse: An Urban Fantasy Page 19
The scholar in her was intrigued by the structured society and technical marvels she had glimpsed over the past several hours. But the realist in her was concerned by the amount of time it was taking her hosts to respond to the information she had given them.
She had expected her appearance to spark a dialogue, but thus far, few words had been exchanged. She had made several unsuccessful attempts to communicate in English with the male and female who had escorted her to their village. Though she was certain they could understand her, they hadn’t uttered so much as a grunt in reply before the female asked her in disconcertingly flawless Norwegian if she would like some water.
Om’Risi entered the room, trailed by Tu’Lok, a male who was substantially larger than the others Astrid had seen.
After seating themselves, Om’Risi placed Astrid’s document on the table. “Where did you get this?”
* * *
A week earlier, at almost two in the morning, Astrid had approached the statue of Athena that dominated the atrium of the building where she worked.
After she had spoken the ancient incantation and prayed for an audience, the goddess who was the true secret behind her research prowess animated the stone.
“Do you seek wisdom or war?”
Astrid knelt. “War may lead to wisdom, and wisdom to war.”
“Rise, mortal.”
“Your beauty is as the rushing waves and your knowledge reaches beyond all horizons,” Astrid said.
The statute smiled. “How is Jonas?”
“Stronger than I ever imagined.”
“He has opened your eyes then?”
“He has.”
“Yet your face holds more worry than joy.”
“The events you warned of have come to pass.”
“Has a War Council been called?”
“Not yet.”
“Then all is not lost.”
“I fear that situation is temporary. My allies say that the Americans are preparing to wage war.”
“Yes,” Athena confirmed. “The Stallion of War readies itself.”
“Then I must do what I can while I can.”
“What knowledge do you seek of me?”
“I wish to know the way to the place where the Garden of Eden intersects with the mortal plane.”
A look of alarm appeared on the statute’s face. “For what purpose?”
* * *
Astrid told Om’Risi that she had sworn an oath not to reveal her source.
“I see,” he said, stroking his chin. “What do you ask in exchange for it?”
She knew that asking for nothing would undermine her credibility. “There is a flash drive in my backpack containing digital copies of several inscriptions that I would like to have translated. And I request to be shown the way directly back to Oslo. I don’t think my body can handle the hike back.”
Both of her interrogators perked up.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re asking,” Om’Risi said.
“The paths,” she said.
“What paths?”
She folded her arms. “The North American Sasquatch tribes are descended from the Great Claws of Babel. It’s why you’re multilingual. You have a treaty with the Tuatha Dé Danann which grants you full access to the subplanar tranversal pathways controlled by the Fae.”
Om’Risi and Tu’Lok exchanged a look.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“Where is Xavier?” Zina demanded.
After not hearing from him for three consecutive days, she had canceled another tour date and come to his house, where she found Isabella and an Asian man she had never seen before.
“Someplace safe,” Isabella said.
“Safe from what?”
“Zina, please sit down.”
“Why? Is he hurt?”
Someone began banging on Xavier’s backdoor.
Isabella looked at Dao-Ming, who went to investigate.
“Zina,” Isabella said. “Xavier is not hurt, but there are some important things I need to tell you. You can stand or sit, but I need you to listen.”
Michelle walked into the room. Her eyes were puffy from crying and her hair and clothing were streaked with dirt.
Dao-Ming stood behind her, prepared to act.
“What the...” Zina muttered. “Who is she?”
“Why have you come here?” Isabella asked Michelle sharply.
“I didn’t know where else to go. I think they were trying to kill me.”
“Who was trying to kill you?”
“The DSO.”
Dao-Ming moved a step closer to her.
“Why would they do that?”
Michelle looked at Isabella’s feet. “I’m not who you think I am.”
“I know who and what you are, Mami Wati, but knowing does not answer my question.”
“Wait, she’s a Wati?” Zina asked.
“Mi De Yah, Sistren,” Michelle answered.
“Where is Carlos?” Isabella asked.
“He went to DC for a meeting. I think he’s in trouble too.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Serious trouble.”
“He told you this?”
“He could only send me a signal. That’s how I know it’s bad.”
“You think someone is trying to kill you. You think Carlos is in trouble. What do you know for certain, child?”
Zina went to stand next to Michelle. “I don’t know what the hell is going on up in here, but if she’s a Wati, you can’t talk to her like that. You don’t have any kids in this room.”
“Where is Xavier?” Michelle asked. “I want to talk to Xavier.”
Zina took a step back toward Isabella. “Hold up. Why do you need to talk to my man?”
“He’ll know what to do.”
Zina turned to Isabella. “Is she the important thing you needed to talk to me about?”
“No,” Isabella said. “She will be leaving shortly.”
“Leaving?” Michelle asked. “Where I am supposed to go.”
“Go to your people.”
“How am I supposed to get all the way to Saint Lucia with the DSO looking for me? I barely made it here.”
“You should not have come here. You’re putting us all at risk.”
“The sea women can stay with me,” a male voice said from behind them.
Isabella immediately sent a blast of glowing purple energy in that direction. Dao-Ming disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The energy blast harmlessly dissipated when it struck Baynin’s chest.
Dao-Ming appeared behind Baynin. The tip of Yefet’s spear immediately dimpled the skin of his neck.
“You have my word that no harm shall come to them,” Baynin said. His face was pockmarked with burn wounds.
“I’m not going with anybody without talking to Pax,” Zina announced.
“Paxton Briggs,” Isabella said, “is sheltering in a bunker in Costa Rica with your master recordings and most of your money. That’s why your bank cards have been getting declined and you have been unable to reach him for four days. That is the important information I came here to tell you.”
“I can confirm that,” Michelle said. “I saw the report two days ago.”
“Pax wouldn’t do that to me,” Zina said.
“He would, and he has,” Isabella said. “There is much more you need to know, but it appears time is a luxury we no longer have.”
“He’s just been someplace without a cell signal,” Zina insisted.
“We must depart quickly,” Baynin said.
“I don’t know about this,” Michelle said.
“We’ll take you to Xavier,” Yefet said.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
The bucolic campus of The Rittenhouse School in the East Falls section of Philadelphia did not look much different than the campuses of the other expensive private schools around the city. But its students could never have recess outside.
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sp; Etapalli Tototl, the school’s director, was typing an email to the parents of a Fae student when the security system activated. A piercing alarm began blaring in the main building and the halls rang with the clanging of blast doors slamming down. She leapt from her chair and sprinted out the door.
Like most schools, Rittenhouse had undergone drills to prepare for the presence of an active shooter on campus. Unlike most schools, it had also practiced surviving a full military assault. Unfortunately, those preparations had assumed such an attack would be carried out by human soldiers with known vulnerabilities.
Etapalli yelled an Aztec war cry as she raced down the hall, hoping it would attract the invaders to her instead of the students. Her arms glowed molten orange as she summoned her Tzitzimitl magic.
When she rounded the corner of a corridor leading to the lower school, she was confronted by one of the enormous assault robots that had drilled up through the floor.
She cast two gouts of enchanted lava at the mechanical monstrosity. To her dismay, the lava merely dripped off the attacker’s matte exterior and fell to the floor, where it incinerated the tile.
The machine raised its arm cannon and riddled Etapalli’s body with high caliber rounds. Then its treaded wheels began rolling in the opposite direction as its torso rotated one hundred and eighty degrees. It trundled down the hall, murdering every supernatural child it could target.
“ACU Team 3 has achieved mission success,” announced the technician monitoring the assault from the DSO Operations Center.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Somewhere over Brazil
Michelle was relieved, and surprised, to discover that Baynin’s private jet had a full shower and a wardrobe full of designer women’s clothing.
She and Zina sat in comfortable chairs in the rear of the plane’s spacious cabin across from Yefet, who was sharpening the blade of her spear with a pumice stone.
“The dresses are for Baynin’s lovers,” Yefet explained. “He likes them to be in glam mode at all times. If you flip the shoe rack around, there’s a makeup stand like you wouldn’t believe.”
Michelle peered at the tall beauty.
“And no, I’m not one of them,” Yefet said.
“Are you sleeping with X?” Zina asked without looking away from the window.
Yefet got up and walked toward the front of the cabin.
“Technically, no” Michelle said.
“That means y’all have seen each other naked.”
Michelle didn’t say anything.
“What’s the issue? I know my tour keeps me away a lot.”
“Him tink your boom boom de champion, gyal,” Michelle said.
“That’s what he tells me, but now I’m starting to think he just has a type.”
“That’s not it.”
“Are you serious? You could pass for my sister.”
“That’s not what he sees when he looks at me.”
Zina turned from the window. “What kind of Wati are you?”
“A Daughter of the Seven Seas, kissed by Oshun.”
“So that’s why every man we passed couldn’t take his eyes off you. Real talk, I was starting to feel some type of way. And if that pilot comes back here and checks on you one more time without noticing me, I’m gonna write the address of my Instagram page on his forehead with a Sharpie.”
They both laughed.
“Wait,” Zina said, “so who does X see when he looks at you?”
“You would have to ask him.”
“Girl, keep it one hundred.”
“He said he sees a cross between Gabrielle Union and Amerie.”
“What? I wasn’t anywhere in there?”
“No, but like I said, you’re all he talks about. I’m standing there butt-ass naked and this Bumboclaat is busy telling me how he’s not going to leave you.”
“You were naked and it still didn’t pop off?” Zina asked skeptically.
“We were interrupted.”
“Oh. Who was it? Isabella?”
“No, it was my version of Isabella.”
They were silent for a minute.
“Does he play Leave It or Love Jones with you?” Zina asked.
“I don’t know what that is.”
This seemed to placate Zina. She nodded toward Yefet. “What’s up with homegirl over there?”
“You don’t know?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t be asking.”
“That’s Xavier’s sister. She’s the main reason I decided to leave with them.”
“You know what,” Zina said, “I want to be shocked by that news, but look at that face and those tattoos. Their Daddy couldn’t deny either one of them.”
“Do you remember the bald-headed chicks in the Black Panther movie?”
“Wakanda is real?”
“No,” Michelle said, chuckling. “I’m just saying she’s off the chain like they were. You saw her sitting here with a spear, right?”
“Her? That chick has been on the cover of my Victoria’s Secret catalog at least three times.”
“Let’s just say she has another side.”
“If you say so,” Zina said. “What’s the deal with her and ol’ G?” she asked, flicking her head at Baynin.
“You heard what she said.”
“I heard what she said, but I can see there’s something between them just like I could see there was something between you and X.”
“I see the same thing, Sistren, but I’m going to mind my business.”
“What kind of Wati does that?”
Michelle laughed. “Ne’er one that I know. Let’s ask her for the four-one-one after we land.”
“And where are we landing?”
“If the report I read was right, we’re going to a rainforest.”
“A rainforest?”
Zina got up and headed toward the rear of the plane.
“Where are you going?”
“To hit that makeup stand while I still can.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Zildan was finishing a joke. “Then she goes, ‘Not those kind of nuts!’”
Chiyem, Bethany and Konstantinos broke into exuberant laughter. They were seated at a table in Chiyem’s laboratory, drinking African beer to celebrate the success their inhibitor had shown in curing Zildan’s condition.
It was also something of a going away party for Konstantinos, who was scheduled to return to Washington the next day to set up fabrication of the inhibitor for testing on a larger sample population.
A part of the scientist regretted the need to leave. He missed his family, but the last ten days had been the most intellectually stimulating of his life. Chiyem and Bethany had exposed him to miraculous biological phenomena while always showing a willingness to defer to his greater expertise whenever it was warranted. They had forged new friendships based on personal and professional respect.
But his duty to his species came first.
“I have another one,” Zildan announced. “You’ll like this one, Doc.”
“Uh oh,” Konstantinos said.
Zildan looked at Bethany. “You might want to cover your delicate ears for this one, Princess.”
“Bite me,” she said.
“Wait, really?” Zildan asked.
“Tell the joke man!” Chiyem said.
“Okay, okay. So, a Syranian and a koala bear walk into a bar. Everybody stops and stares. The Syranian turns to the bear and says, ‘I thought I poisoned you.’”
Konstantinos leapt up from the table and reached around his back for the pistol secured to the waistband of his pants. Then he fell to the floor unconscious after the orc soldier who had been hiding behind a nearby pylon touched a lucidity staff to the back of his neck.
The orc turned to the group and said, “Orc walk into bar and everybody die. Boom!”
Then it laughed at its own joke.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Somewhere in the Mountains of Nepal
Astrid’s mysterious map had led him to one of the most inhospitable mountain elevations on Earth, where, for the past four days, he had been fighting a losing battle against a ferocious wind that seemed to have a mind of its own. Twice it had blown him off the mountain only to blow him back onto it just before he crashed into the canyon floor. These unnatural meteorological phenomena by themselves would have been enough to convince him that the map was genuine. But further convincing became unnecessary once he had gawked in astonishment at the fifty-foot tall warrior angel who was guarding the undulating portal two hundred yards beyond his tent.
He had traveled here to enter that portal, but the wind refused to let him traverse the gap.
He diverted his mind from the bone-chilling cold by rereading one of the documents the strange Norwegian woman had asked his tribe to translate. She had claimed, unconvincingly, that it was merely a fable from a lost civilization that had once existed near the Mediterranean Sea.
THE LADY OF THE NILE
And so it was that two keepers of the Lord’s garden came upon a serpent who claimed there was a Tower in Babel that could grant the Gift of Tongues without eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Languages.
Baynin, the keeper who had dominion of the animals that roamed the garden, cast the serpent out of their presence, but not before its words had taken hold in the heart of Afara, the keeper who had been given dominion of the garden’s earth, wind and water. It was not long before Afara convinced Baynin to travel to Babel to see this tower with their own eyes. Baynin commanded Shi’Bak and Kinora, the original pair of Sasquatch mates he had soulcrafted, to serve them on the long journey.
Upon arriving in Babel, all four of the travelers inhaled the unfathomable air that expanded the language centers of the mind. This is how the Sasquatch people gained the Gift of Tongues.
When night fell, Baynin went into the village that surrounded the tower to partake of the local mortal women, an act which did not darken Afara’s heart as jealousy was not something known to Keepers. The villagers cried out in fear upon seeing Baynin’s servants. Shi’Bak, the male and larger of the two, was struck down by archers. In vengeance, Baynin destroyed a portion of the tower’s base, causing it to topple to the ground. This is how the Tower of Babel came to be no more.