Into the Dark (The Conjurors) (8 page)

With a growl, the man was on his feet again, lunging at her. By now Thai had reached the fight, and he kicked the man on his back from behind. The man spun around to face him, and Thai punched him in the face. The man staggered back. “You better get out of here before you get seriously hurt,” Thai grunted.

The man’s body tensed and she saw that the slime on his hands also oozed out of his bare feet. Instinctively, she knew that if any of that goo touched Thai, he might not survive. For the first time since the fight started, she felt fear. It made her gut clench. There was no way she would let him hurt Thai. As the man’s foot left the ground, she tackled him to the ground.

Valerie made sure that she pinned him down, and expertly hit him in the head with her elbow. The man went limp, unconscious. At that moment, she thought that she heard a familiar woman’s voice scream, “Idiot!” from a great distance, but there was no one at the monument other than the four of them.

Valerie looked at the slime sliding down the man’s arm. The putrid smell stung her nostrils. “That must be poison.”

“You’re right,” Thai whispered, horrified. “If it had touched me…” He shook his head.

“Hey, Val, if you ever needed more proof that your magic is tied to your fighting ability, this is it,” Cyrus said with a grin.

“That felt – amazing,” she said, trying to process what she had done. She had never felt so powerful and in control. Then she noticed the stunned expression on Thai’s face, like he couldn’t process what had happened, either. “Thai, are you okay?”

“I didn’t see the poison on his feet. He could have killed me.”

“Let’s get far away from here before he wakes up. We’ll be long gone when he tries to look for us.”

“No, Valerie, you don’t get it. You saved my life.”

“No – we beat him together. And your life wouldn’t have been in danger if it weren’t for me.”

“Well, thanks,” he said in a tone that was a mixture of admiration and gratitude.

Valerie looked away. She never knew what to say when someone thanked her. “Any time.”

Cyrus crouched over the unconscious man. “Now that I see this guy up close, I think I recognize him. I’ve heard people talk about someone helping out the Fractus with tasks they need done on Earth. His name is Venu.”

“Why isn’t he dying from the magic inside him, like me?” Valerie asked, confused.

Cyrus glanced quickly at Thai before answering. “It’s rare, but there are exceptions. Venu doesn’t have a magic power, like you. He’s part amphibian or something, from what I hear. That kind of magic – a person possessing qualities from nature – doesn’t break Earth’s rules for some reason.”

“So he can’t come to the Globe? He must feel like a freak on Earth.”

“Leave it to you to worry about the mental well-being of a guy who tried to kill you,” Cyrus said with a roll of his eyes. “But anyway, I heard that he was offered the chance to come to the Globe from the Conjurors. But he refused. It was too late – the Fractus had already gotten to him. No one knows what they promised him, but he’s doing whatever they want.”

“I guess the Fractus want to stop you from getting to the Globe, Valerie,” Thai said quietly. “But we’ll make sure they fail.”

Valerie and Thai traveled with a new sense of urgency, turning the trip from Stonehenge back to the London Heathrow Airport into a race to escape before Venu regained consciousness. Valerie couldn’t help looking over her shoulder every few minutes, half expecting to see his enormous shoulders in the distance, lumbering after them. Only when they were safely aboard their flight to Cairo, Egypt, and Thai had scanned all the passengers to make sure Venu wasn’t on board, did she finally feel her muscles relax.

    “I wish there was some way we could know for sure that he isn’t following us again,” Thai said after they were safely in the air.

    Cyrus popped into view, sitting in a cross-legged yoga pose on top of the bald head of the man sitting in front of them. Valerie couldn’t repress a grin, but Thai hissed, “Get down from there! That’s so disrespectful.”

    “Whatever, he’ll never know,” Cyrus said, but he sat in the empty seat between Valerie and Thai instead.

    Before they could start bickering, Valerie asked, “Did you find anything out about that Venu guy?”

“Sorry, Val. I tried to follow him to see what he’s up to, but he’s protected.”

    “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Usually, a Conjuror thinks about someone on Earth really hard, and we’re at their side in seconds. But no matter how long and hard I thought about Venu, I couldn’t find him. That means that someone on the Globe is using a charm to prevent anyone else from locating him.”

“So there’s no way for us to know where he is, then,” she replied.

“Nope. It’s kind of ironic – the charm was originally created to protect children on Earth from being bothered by the Fractus who like to scare kids. But eventually the Fractus found out about the charms and now one of them is using it to stop anyone from finding Venu.”

“At least we know he’s not on this flight,” Thai said. “We should take advantage of the fact that we’re safe for now and get some rest.”

Valerie nodded. She was exhausted, so she was able to sleep for most of the flight. It wasn’t until the wheels of the airplane came into jarring contact with the runway in Cairo that she awoke. Rested and confident that Venu was hundreds of miles away, she felt the thrill and worries about her adventure return.

    “We made it! He’ll never find us now,” she said hopefully.

    Thai didn’t look so sure. “I don’t understand how he tracked us to Stonehenge in the first place. It’s like he knows where we’re going. Maybe someone is watching us and feeding back our whereabouts to him. What if he knows about the Great Pyramid, too? He could be only a few hours behind us. We need to go straight there tonight so you can get off this planet!”

    Valerie turned to him, her forehead wrinkling with worry. “Thai, you’re not going to like what I’m about to ask you, but it’s important. I don’t want to leave tonight. I want one last full day on Earth. Once I leave, I can never come back. And even though we’re in a foreign country right now, it’s not half as foreign as the world I’m traveling to. Please, give me one day.”

    Thai didn’t immediately reject her request with his usual condescending commands, as she expected. “I can understand that – I’d want the same thing if I were you. But you’re in real danger and I really don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I don’t know what Venu is capable of and who might be helping him.”

    “I know, and it’s unfair of me to ask you to risk your life by waiting another day. I can find my way to the portal from here. The directions are all in my head. We can say goodbye now, if you want. The last thing I want to do is to put you in any danger.”

    Thai’s eyes flickered with anger. “You really don’t get me, do you? I’m not afraid for myself! It’s you he’s after, and I won’t leave your side until you’re on your way to the Globe. To imply that I would abandon my quest at the first sign of trouble is an insult.”

    Valerie felt awful for making him think that she underestimated him, especially when she thought he was one of the bravest people she’d ever known. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that at all. I meant–”

    He interrupted, “You can have your day as long as no more trouble finds us. But the second anything weird happens, I’m getting you out of here right away and I don’t want to hear a word against it from you.”

    Less than an hour later, Valerie and Thai had disembarked the plane, collected their luggage, and found the air-conditioned bus that would take them to a campground in Cairo where they would stay for the night. But just as they settled in, Cyrus appeared, perching on the arm of Valerie’s seat. His mischievous grin sparkled in the bright Egyptian sunlight.

    “I’ve got a surprise, guys. Turns out we have a contact here who has pulled some strings for you two. Get off the bus at the Mena House Oberoi. A host will be waiting for you. He’ll take care of you.”

    “But what about-” Valerie started to ask, but Cyrus had already disappeared.

    Thirty minutes later, the bus passed through 20-foot, ornately carved iron gates that led up a flower-lined path, through a maze of elaborate gardens, and then pulled up to the front door of a building that resembled a palace more than any hotel that she had ever seen in Oakland.

“Mena House Oberoi!” the driver shouted.

    Valerie and Thai stared at each other in disbelief, their stunned expressions perfect mirrors of each other. Valerie heard Cyrus laugh. “You Earth-dwellers are so easily impressed.” Thai pulled her off the bus, and she stared at everything in a daze.

    “Is this a mistake?”

    “It’s real, Val. Enjoy it,” Cyrus whispered in her ear.

    The enormous front door of the hotel opened, and they were immediately greeted by a tall man clothed entirely in white except for a blue silk sash elaborately embroidered in gold with symbols that Valerie didn’t recognize. “On behalf of my employer, I welcome you, American guests,” he said with a friendly smile. “I am Chisisi, your personal host here at the Mena House Oberoi. It is my great pleasure to attend to your every need while you are here.”

    Valerie and Thai were so blown away by the magnificence of the hotel and the reception that they were dumbstruck – that is, until they saw Cyrus pretending to make out with a golden statue of the ancient Egyptian god Ra. It was all Valerie could do to keep a straight face.

    “Come, let us get out of the midday sun,” Chisisi said cheerfully. Then, without wasting another minute, he whisked them past check-in so quickly that all the glittering finery became a blur. He stopped before a distinguished dark wood door at the remote end of the thirteenth floor.

    “Enjoy, with our compliments,” Chisisi said as he unlocked the door.

    Valerie entered the room and gasped. The living room of their suite was bigger than any hotel room she had ever seen. It was extravagantly decorated in golden hues, including an enormous gold mirrored circle that adorned an entire wall. Chisisi unloaded their backpacks and looked at the two gravely.

    “Please know that you are most welcome here at Mena House, but I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you that you must be on your guard. Please do not assume there is no danger here or anywhere in Giza. We have many strange guests visiting our landmarks, and not all are friendly. Do not hesitate to call upon me if I can be of service. Simply call Amun at the reception desk and ask for me.”

    “Oh, I’m sure we can take care of ourselves, but thank you for your generous hospitality,” Thai responded.

    “As you wish.”

    Chisisi left, and Thai exclaimed, “I’m pretty sure that Chisisi guy rolled his eyes at me!”

    But Valerie was already out on the balcony, and the view took her breath away in a way that she thought nothing ever could after seeing Stonehenge. In the distance, three tall pyramids were silhouetted against the pink and gold skies of sunset. Even from miles away, their dark, heavy presence was both imposing and intriguing. What secret passages and forgotten stories lay under the weight of those boulders? The thought of unlocking those mysteries sent a shiver of fear and excitement through her body.

Valerie sensed that she was not alone. She turned around and saw that Thai had stepped out on the balcony, but he looked as if he had totally forgotten his indignation at Chisisi. He was looking at her as if he was seeing her for the first time, and he smiled. It was the first time she had seen him smile, and she suddenly felt several degrees warmer.

Thai’s eyes turned from Valerie to the scene before them. “This trip keeps getting more and more incredible. The view is like something out of a movie,” he said.

    “It’s beyond any adventure I ever imagined,” Valerie whispered. She turned to look at him and found that he was already staring at her with his intense eyes, though they seemed softer now. She had the overwhelming desire to step closer and see if he really smelled like vanilla and cookies, like she remembered.