Passage to Queen Mesentia (8 page)

“I am extremely nocturnal. During the day, I lose all energy and then consciousness. However, I won’t burst into flames.”

“What if I chopped you up into little pieces? Would that do it?”

“Wade!” Lilly looked at him with her mouth wide open.

“I’m sorry! He’s really freaking me out! I’ll tell you what, Ben, give me your address, and I’ll write down what was on that letter and mail it to you.” Wade grabbed Lilly by the arm. “Come on, I’ve heard and seen enough for a lifetime… a normal person’s lifetime.”

Lilly pulled her arm out of Wade’s grip. “I want to know the rest,” she whispered to Wade. “If you want to go on, I’ll understand.

Wade shook his head at her casualness. Why didn’t she feel the danger, too?

“What happened next?” Lilly asked Ben. “Did you go back to Egypt?”

“I did. By that time, the Hikau Khausut had invaded and war spread from Memphis to the sea. For years, I did my best to search for Mesentia’s tomb. However, in my younger years, I proved careless and rumors had begun to spread about me. I refused to be chained again. Reluctantly, I had to leave without finding her, but vowed I would return.” 

Wade said, “All right, fine. Tell me what all this grandeur has to do with us? Why should we give a shit if you get this thing back or not? Lilly’s parents already found that queen you had an affair with.”

“The fate of the world depends on it.”

“The fate of the world…” Wade mocked. “Really? Are you serious? I’m willing to bet that this thing is worth a pretty penny and you conned her parents into believing this ridiculous story.”

“You’re right,” Lilly said. “My parents did believe him. I want to know why. Wade, can we please let him finish?”

Wade said, “For the record, this is against my better judgment. All right, Mr. Sneaky Snake, what happened next? You and Cleopatra get it on, too?” Wade caught anger in Ben’s eyes as he slowly turned from Lilly and glanced his way. He also could have sworn he glimpsed the corner of one of his canines.
Right… harmless
.

“I lived in West Germany in the 1950’s,” Ben said, his expression mellowing as he talked only to Lilly. “I met a man named Roland Schelsteder. We worked together for many years, and over the hours we began to talk. I trusted him and thought of him as my friend. I would go to his house for dinners with his family; he had two sons.

“One day I shared my story with him. He sympathized with me and kept my secret. So I thought.  He was killed some months later. His wife blamed me and called me a monster.”

“At least
she
got it right,” Wade said.

“I had to flee,” Ben said. “She had threatened to turn me in as a spy. I left Germany and came here to the States. All remained quiet until years later; one of Roland’s sons arrived at my doorstep. Roland had told his wife about me, and then she had told their sons. He wanted answers. I felt a little hesitant, but for his father’s memory, I told him completely about myself and about what happened to his father. He believed me. ”

“We kept in touch; I knew he had made his fortune there in New York with some good investments, until one day—nothing. Years later, he came to call again. He told me he had a proposition and thought perhaps we could retrieve the statuette. I immediately noticed something different. Something in his eyes had changed. When you’ve existed as long as I have, you learn to read people. I knew what he wanted, he wanted to become an immortal like me. When I called him on it, acting interested, I learned his intentions were worse than I had thought. Not only did he want to become like me, he wanted to make others. He wanted to produce an army of immortals.”

“That Pyramidion Statuette can do that?” Lilly asked.

“It is the source of my immortality,” Ben said.

Wade hated that he began to consider all of what Ben had said as possible. He found himself wondering if he actually held the information in his head that could ultimately save the world from doom. He smacked his lips and exhaled before saying, “So… So how did the Stewards end up with it and not Schelsteder?”

Both Lilly and Ben snapped their attention toward Wade. He didn’t want to acknowledge the satisfaction in Ben’s eyes nor the gleam on Lilly’s face, so he looked out into the dining room, like he hadn’t asked.

“I told Schelsteder I wanted no part in his plans. My curse is personal, not a weapon. In the year 2000 I read of Schelsteder’s investments in Egypt. I knew then he searched for Mesentia. I followed him there and learned he had found someone to dig for him in Saqqara, your parents’ university. I met with your parents and told them my story, as I have told you. They assured me that they would return the statuette to me.

“I was so pleased when they found Mesentia, nevertheless, apprehensive at the same time. When your parents found the Pyramidion Statuette in the canopic jar, exactly like I had told them it would be, it erased any doubt they may have had about me.”

Lilly said, “So they didn’t put the statuette with the rest of the find. They put it back for you?” Her eyes grew with excitement. “Schelsteder knew it was supposed to be there, so when it wasn’t…”

“He will stop at nothing to build this army of invincible men. Time is of the utmost importance. I must find it, before he does.”

Lilly turned to Wade. “Will you tell us now? Will you tell us what was in that letter? Did it say where it was?”

“Yeah,” Wade growled. He knew Lilly wouldn’t say goodbye to Ben and let him be on his way to find the little pyramid statue all by his lonesome. She would go off alone with this freak with no one to protect her. “Yeah, it said.” He sighed.  “Looks like we’re all going to Egypt.”

Chapter 10

Wednesday May 4, 2005

Since Wade Roberts didn’t do idle very well, the journey had not proven pleasant so far. They had left France, a miserable five-hour layover at the airport after a torturous nine-hour flight, and had another five hours confinement in the airplane to look forward to.

He smiled at his cleverness in keeping most of the contents of the letter to himself. It kept Ben in line, and it kept him in control. Too shook up to rely entirely on his photographic memory, as soon as he had stepped into his brother’s house that night, he’d scribbled down the contents of the note. Wade revealed to Lilly and Ben only that they had to go to Cairo, nothing else. He knew he had made the right move because they already had their passports… he didn’t. He figured if he had spilled the entire letter, they probably would’ve left him standing with his mouth open. Somehow—he didn’t ask how—two days later, Ben handed him a passport.

And he had spent those two days debating if he really did believe that the fate of the world relied on them finding a little statue before the bad guys. However, he’d always come to the same conclusion; it didn’t matter because Lilly believed. So his goal was not the fate of the world, it was keeping Lilly safe.

He didn’t like the idea of having to leave his knife behind, even though he would never be able to cut and eat an apple with it again. His new distraction had become gum, which he now pushed to the inside of his bottom lip like chewing tobacco, before closing his eyes. He was ready to sleep for the length of the flight but then felt Lilly’s hand on his. His eyes popped open, and he slowly looked down to their hands and then up to Lilly’s face.

“I appreciate you doing this,” she said in a whisper.

He nodded.

“I know how you hate to fly, especially at night. I can’t believe you quit your job.”

“Well, my job’s not like yours. I can’t get a substitute like you can. I didn’t have a choice.”

“You did and that’s why I’m grateful. Hey, Wade. Umm…”

“What’s on your mind?” He asked after a few seconds.

He felt her hand lightly squeeze his wrist. “The letter.”

“You have got to be shitting me.” He waved her hand off of his. “I can’t believe you, Lilly. You’re all cozying up to me to get information, for him.”

In a hushed voice and bowed head she said, “It’s not for him; it’s for me. That note was from my parents, or have you forgotten?”

Wade looked around Lilly to Ben; he was flipping through a flight magazine. Wade sat back in his seat as he pointed to his head. “This information may be the only thing that is keeping us alive.”

“I really need to know what it said. It’s driving me crazy. Besides, even if you don’t trust him, you can trust me.”

“I do! I trust you to go straight to that creature and tell him everything.”

Lilly huffed, crossed her arms, and looked straight ahead.

“I have to think about this for awhile. All right? Give me till Cairo.”

She kept her eyes forward, an ugly scowl on her beautiful face, and Wade knew saying anything else, except what she wanted to hear, wouldn’t do any good now that she had gone into her silent mode. He scooted down a bit in the seat, pulled his cowboy hat over his eyes, and took his nap.

***

It had been six years since Lilly had traveled to Egypt, but she had visited so many times in her youth that it still felt familiar. However, she had never seen her parents’ fifth-floor apartment in Giza—her apartment now— except in the pictures her mom had sent to her over the years.

A cozy yet modern kitchen greeted them as they opened the front door. The dining room sat to the right, and they had to walk through it to get to the main reception room. It had a white sofa, two maroon upholstered chairs, and an earthy mulberry scent. Lilly knew from the pictures that if she stepped out onto the balcony, she would be able to see the pyramids of Giza on the horizon.

“How many bedrooms does this place have?” Wade asked as he dropped his bag on the floor.

“My parents’ room and one guestroom.”

“I’ll take the couch,” he said, plopping down on it.

Lilly didn’t know if he was being generous because he was too tired to fight for the guestroom or if he wanted to keep an eye on all the activity in the house. Whatever the reason, she was happy he hadn’t made a fuss. She had her small duffle bag and her purse over her shoulder and searched behind doors until she located her parents’ room. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.” After being on the plane with so many people and dealing with Wade while in the presence of Ben, she needed some alone-time.

Lilly glanced around at all her parents’ things, some of it recognizable but most foreign, like the room belonged to strangers. She wondered what her life would have been like if she had moved here with them instead of staying in Houston with Wade. Lilly tried to push the thought out of her mind that if she had come with them to Egypt, the events leading to up their deaths would’ve been different.

She sat down and then fell back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She thought about what Wade had said that day in her apartment about her blaming him for their deaths. Until that moment, she had thought it had been the last straw of their relationship. Why? “Oh my goodness,” she whispered. She did blame him. The night her parents had been murdered had been so horrible, and he had made them late. It was possible that if they had shown up, on time, they would have scared the burglars away.

Something would have changed. It wouldn’t have been the same situation.
Burglars
. That’s who she’d thought had killed them. But it hadn’t been a random crime. It had been those men in the park. They had wanted the statuette, no matter what.

Even if it had been a case of the wrong place at the wrong time, Wade didn’t know. She didn’t know. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but the person who had pulled the trigger.

“Are you all right?” Wade asked when she walked back into the living room a few minutes later.

She nodded. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on such a long trip.”

“A first for me,” he said and rubbed the back of his neck. “I made some coffee, with the bottled water like you said… would you like some?”

“Sounds nice,” she said.

Wade was hatless and shoeless, standing there in his t-shirt and jeans. She hadn’t really taken a close, good look at him in a long time. And now that she did, she noticed something had changed. She remembered the conversation on the plane; clearly, he had lost his trust in her. His face was solemn and his normal confidence wasn’t quite visible in his stance. She wanted to apologize and wondered how to start. Maybe they could sit on the balcony and have coffee and talk.

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

“Wade…”

“Yes?”

At that moment, Ben walked into the room, his shoulder length dark hair was damp and his chest still glistened from a fresh shower.

“I suppose I should be grateful for the pants,” Wade said. “Do y’all want to be alone?”

Lilly dropped her gaze to the floor.
Why can’t I stop staring at him?

Wade thrust a sheet of paper at Lilly. “Here, take it.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s exactly what the paper from your parents said.”

She read out loud:

Dear Ben

We apologize for compromising such an important mission. If you are reading this letter things have gone terribly wrong. I assume you have contacted Lilly. As much as this pains me, I realize you had no choice. I knew she would be able to point you in the right direction.

Before we left Africa we sensed we were being watched. We had many discussions as to how we should handle the article that had been entrusted to us. We were no longer in contact with you, as agreed, and had to figure out immediately what we should do.

Keeping it safe is our main goal. Let death ride the Nile; so loud but vanished are men's deeds. Yet they speak where whispers fall on ancient tombs, gold, and skins of metal. It lies as kings in fallow dust in the New Kingdom’s capital.

Good luck on your quest to save humanity. No matter what has happened be assured that we were honored to help and would do it again in a heart’s beat.

After Lilly finished reading the letter, they were all silent for a moment. And then Wade said, “So… where to next?”

“Wait a minute,” Lilly said. “This says the New Kingdom capital.