The Memory Painter: A Novel (32 page)

“Please don’t.”

“Why the hell not?”

Linz and Bryan’s eyes met in the rearview mirror. Linz answered, “Because it will be our word against his. There’s no record Bryan was ever there. My father will erase every trace of him.”

“We can’t just pretend nothing happened!” Barbara shouted.

Bryan put his hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. “We won’t. Just give us some time. I need you and Dad to go away for the weekend, check into a hotel.”

“You’re joking. I’m not leaving you.”

Bryan insisted, “I need to know that you both will be safe. Linz and I are going to deal with her father.”

“The man who had you kidnapped? Honey, you can’t fix this by yourself. Right now we need the police.”

“And the police can’t do anything. You don’t understand what I’m dealing with. I need to do this my way!” Bryan paused. When he spoke again, he sounded calmer. “Someday I’ll tell you everything, but right now I need you to trust me.”

They drove in silence the rest of the way, until Linz pulled up in front of Barbara’s house.

Barbara turned to Bryan and tried again. “This is not going to fly with your father. He just won’t leave like this.”

“Then you have to convince him,” Bryan said.

“Don’t put this on me. Come talk to him. He’ll be home any minute.”

“He’ll only ask questions I can’t answer.” Bryan insisted, “You need to go pack an overnight bag and be ready to leave when he gets home. You can explain things to him in the car.”

Barbara put her hand over her mouth. She looked like she was about to break down.

Bryan got out and opened her door. “Just give me a few days. I’m sorry to put you through this. Thank you for getting me out.” Bryan tried to reassure her. “We’ll be fine. I promise.”

“I want a number where I can reach you, and I want you to check in with me every day.” Barbara added, “You have until Monday. Then we’re going to do this my way.”

Bryan nodded, willing to agree to anything that might buy him and Linz more time. He gave her a hug. “Please do what I asked,” he reminded her.

She squeezed him tight. “Be careful.”

He got into the passenger seat and rolled down the window. “Tell Dad I love him. I’ll call you soon.” He tapped Linz’s leg—a silent cue for her to drive—and waved good-bye to his mother. As they drove off, he leaned his seat back and let out a deep breath.

Linz looked over at him. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t see any other way.”

“No, you did the right thing.”

They drove on in silence, each of them dealing with the shock of the last twenty-four hours. No more walls stood between them.

Bryan closed his eyes and asked, “Whose car is this?”

“Finn’s. He helped. How the hell are you even awake with midazolam in your system?”

“I remembered a life as a yogi. Mind over matter.”

Linz gave him a sideways glance. “You’re serious?”

He cracked open one eye and peeked at her. “Yeah. You stayed in India. I went to China to train Shaolin monks.”

They both burst into laughter, as if that was the most hysterical thing either of them had ever heard.

“I can’t believe your mom is Barbara,” Linz added, and they doubled up even harder.

“I wish I could have seen your face when she opened the door.”

They laughed until they had tears in their eyes. “Stop, I can’t breathe,” Linz begged. She took several calming breaths and grew serious again. “So what do we do now?”

“I don’t know. I’m thinking.”

“We need to hide, leave Boston until we can figure this out.”

“Agreed.” Bryan straightened up. “Where’s your passport?”

Linz shot him a look. “My house. Why?”

“Let’s get it, then swing by my place.”

“Why do we need passports?”

“To go to Egypt.”

Linz pulled over and turned on the hazards lights. She was beginning to feel light-headed. “You want us to go to Egypt?”

“Conrad is obsessed with getting me to remember a life there. That’s what the procedure was for. The answer to everything is in Egypt. I’ve had … dreams about it.” Bryan refrained from sharing anything else. He wasn’t ready to talk about it.

Linz chewed on this information, remembering what Conrad had said before Michael and Diana had died. The key did lie in Egypt.

She thought about the Egyptian goddess painting and realized it had been left untouched to taunt them. Her heart began to ache again at the thought of how his studio had looked, every painting a black void.

Bryan looked at her, concerned. “What?”

“I went to your place to look for you. Someone had broken in, and everything was trashed. All your paintings were…” She couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Bryan processed the news with little emotion. “They’re just paintings. I could do them all over again if I wanted to.”

“How can you say that? It’s your work, your creations.” She could feel herself getting weepy.

“Because I really could paint them all again. They’re just memories,” Bryan said softly, “road maps to help me get here … to get to you. I don’t need them anymore. I just need my passport.”

“What if it’s been taken?”

“I keep it hidden. We have to go to Cairo,” Bryan repeated. “You know we do.”

“We can’t just fly off to Egypt.”

“Why not? We both have the money.”

“What about Finn?”

“We’ll give him an update when we get there,” he reasoned. “Say we needed to lay low for a while.”

“For how long?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Until we have enough leverage against Conrad. Do you have a better idea?”

She didn’t. Her mind and heart felt so battered she just wanted to curl up and cry. Part of her was still unable to believe that her father was really capable of hurting them. But he had already shown his willingness to inflict harm on Bryan, and that was enough.

She shook her head. “It’s too dangerous to go back to either of our places. He could have people watching them.”

“So we send someone else.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.” Bryan threw up his hands, sounding frustrated. “Penelope? Isn’t she your oldest friend?”

Linz was about to voice another objection, but Bryan stopped her. “I know this has to be unbearable for you. You’ve been bombarded with realities you didn’t know existed and are having to face truths about your father … about what he did…”

They both sat quietly together, dealing with the weight of the past.

Bryan took her hand. “We found each other again for a reason. We remembered for a reason. This journey didn’t start with us or even with Michael and Diana. We’re locked in a cycle. We need to see beyond it.”

*   *   *

Even though it was well past midnight, the lights inside Conrad’s home still glowed. He was on the phone in his office. “What time did she check him out? No. It was a last-minute transfer. I’m sorry no one called.”

He hung up and went to the liquor cabinet. He was about to pour himself a Scotch but instead threw the glass against the wall, shattering it to pieces.

With a growl, he strode into the next room, took a samurai sword down from the gallery wall, and sliced the air with the blade again and again.

*   *   *

The Holiday Inn was just three minutes away from the airport. Linz and Bryan had already booked their flight to Cairo. Their plane would leave at 5 p.m. the next day. Penelope had agreed to pick up Finn’s car in the morning and bring their passports and an overnight bag with some of their clothes. She had a million questions, but Linz had promised her that she would explain everything when she got back. Now all they had to do was wait for morning.

Bryan and Linz got into the shower together. They took in each other’s bodies and washed like lovers, as if they had known intimacy for years.

“I was so scared,” Linz whispered. “It was like everything was happening all over again, and I wouldn’t be able to save you this time either.”

“You did save me,” Bryan said, moving her hair away from her eyes. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you everything before.”

In answer, she took a step closer and kissed him. All fear fell away forgotten. It was time for their bodies to remember.

FORTY

EGYPT

10,000 BC

Sirius, the star of Isis, had been invisible for seventy days. Today would be its last day in hiding. Every year the star vanished for seventy days, and awaiting its return was considered to be a time of preparation for rebirth. On the seventy-first day, the city of Heliopolis held a celebration, where everyone came together and united.

Thoth looked down at the city from his favorite vantage point. He did not mind the rain. Today nothing could affect his mood. He always looked forward to Sirius’s return and all of the promise it held, and this year, the celebration marked the happiest day of his life—the day he would finally meet Hermese.

It had taken him seven years to win the chance to meet her. Hermese had been born the High Priestess of the House of Atum—the only child of the Guardian of the Great Pyramid, and the next in line to become Guardian herself.

It was forbidden for anyone in the House of Atum to speak with a commoner. Since the pyramids had been built, they had lived away from the city in a temple fortress—no one even knew how many the House of Atum numbered. The Guardians continued their lineage by taking a lover from the city to conceive a child. They were not allowed to marry. After the birth, the chosen man or woman had to return to their homes in Heliopolis and could never see either the Guardian or their child again.

This practice had been in place as long as anyone could remember, and it was an honor to be chosen. If the next Guardian in line happened to be a female, when the time came for her to choose her partner, the city would hold a great tournament before Sirius’s return, and all of the eligible young men would come forward to demonstrate their virility.

These were games of goodwill, and the tournament only allowed the use of wooden sticks; contestants never suffered anything more than bruises or mild injuries. Stick fighting was an ancient sport, and it had ceremonial aspects as well. The warriors wielded their weapons with a speed and agility that was akin to dancing.

Thoth had never witnessed a tournament, although he had trained for one all his life. The current Guardian was a man, and years ago, when he had been ready to sire a child, there had been a grand pageant, where every eligible maiden was presented before him at a dance. Now that his daughter, Hermese, was of age, the city was ecstatic.

The tournament had lasted two weeks—and for those two weeks Thoth had fought for her. In the end, it had come down to him and his older brother, Seth.

They had sparred for hours in the rain, to the wild cheers of the crowd. By day’s end, they had each exhausted six sticks. When they simultaneously broke their seventh, the two mud-caked brothers bowed to Hermese and took a break for water and bread.

During the next round, Seth won the match. He was older, stronger, and the more seasoned fighter, and he had been considered the favorite from the beginning. But to everyone’s shock, Hermese chose Thoth as her champion. That Seth won the tournament but not the prize caused a great stir—and it strengthened the divide between the brothers.

The rift had occurred after the tragic death of Seth’s wife, Kiya, who had died during childbirth, along with their newborn son. Seth had been away on a hunting party and had not been present. Instead, Thoth had been the one at Kiya’s bedside, holding her hand through her pain and witnessing the moment her spirit left her body.

Even the Guardian’s daughter, Hermese, had come to take part in Kiya’s death ceremony. Kiya had been Hermese’s playmate as a child, chosen from hundreds to be her companion. She had spent most of her childhood with the House of Atum, where she had been treated like royalty, and when her time at the temple fortress had come to an end, Hermese’s family had showered her with gifts and wealth. Thoth had heard Kiya tell countless stories about what it was like growing up with Hermese, whom she had loved more than a sister.

When Hermese came to pay her respects, it was the first time Thoth had ever caught a glimpse of her. She had stood on the tallest dais in the Sun Temple, but even from afar he could not mistake her tears. That had been seven years ago, and he had loved her ever since.

Seth had returned a week after Kiya’s passing. He was inconsolable, and his grief gave way to resentment when he discovered that Thoth had been the one to comfort her. He had never forgiven himself, or Thoth, for not being the one by her side. With Kiya and his son gone, his heart had hardened into a bitter seed.

When Seth had announced that he would participate in the tournament for the Guardian that spring, Thoth had hoped this was a sign that the old Seth had returned. But as they sparred, he had seen the look in his brother’s eyes, and he realized that the bitterness had grown into something much worse—a dark animus against life. Thoth believed that, if Kiya had only lived, Seth would have been a different man. Perhaps Hermese had sensed this as well.

Thoth planned to ask her why she chose him after their first meeting. He would be allowed to enter the temple fortress tonight, on the eve of Sirius’s return.

*   *   *

By that afternoon, the rains had subsided in time for the grand procession to lead Thoth to the Temple of Atum. He would be the only person allowed inside. The pyramid complex was a quarter day’s journey from Heliopolis, and the crowd had now begun to gather at the temple gates, which had been adorned with thousands of white lotus flowers for the occasion.

Thoth’s father, Ramses, opened the gate. Seth was noticeably absent.

His father embraced him. “Horus smiles on us this day.”

Thoth looked at his father, surprised by his choice of words. Horus had been the last ruler of the first settlers of Old Egypt. Horus’ parents, Osiris and Isis, had been the original Guardians of the pyramid, and had supposedly lived for centuries. They had died hundreds of years ago, but Thoth still knew the legends: After the Great War, the last of the super beings had journeyed to Egypt, bringing all of their knowledge and wisdom with them. They built the Great Pyramid and its two sisters, along with the Sphinx, the temples, and all of Heliopolis. It was an attempt to salvage the way life had been before the Great War—a time in history that the people called the First Time, a time before the war had brought disease, death, greed, and rage to mankind. The last Guardian who had truly possessed divine powers was Horus, and when he died, the First Time died with him. After that a new age began—the Age of Man.