The Pyramid of Souls (15 page)

   "We wish you would tell us, Nick," said Atsu.

   "If I do not tell you, then Rasputin cannot ask you or somehow force you to tell. But don't worry."

   "Not so easy, my friend," Atsu replied.

   The three of them slipped out the front door of the hotel and hurried down the street to one of the other big hotels on the Las Vegas strip. There, they caught the last bus to the Hoover Dam, over an hour away.

   Settled in their seats, Nick stared out the window as the sky darkened and stars began to twinkle. Minute by minute, the time gnawed at him. He felt a knot in his gut, but when he thought of Isabella trapped inside the pyramid, he concentrated instead on going over each part of his plan.

   The entire ride, Nick, Atsu, and Siti were silent. At one point, Siti took Nick's hand and squeezed it.

   "Good is on your side, Nick. You will not fail."

   Nick glanced at her. "I hope you're right."

   Eventually, the bus slowed and then stopped. The tour guide, who had been prattling on into a microphone about the sights, stood. "Time to disembark. Those who wish to take pictures of the dam at night may do so. Others can walk across the dam. The bus leaves in precisely two hours. I'll remain here so you can ask me any questions. Enjoy one of the engineering wonders of the world!"

   Nick, Atsu, and Siti climbed off the bus and milled around with the small crowd. "I don't see him," Nick whispered.

   "What if he doesn't come?" Atsu asked.

   "He will," Nick replied grimly. "He hates me that much."

   "Why?" Siti asked.

   In his head, Nick could hear the words he'd despised at first when he'd arrived to live with the family—the words of his cousin Damian, the words he now embraced. "Because of my destiny."

   The three of them walked cautiously toward the center of the dam. A forecast of rain, along with a huge cloud cover, meant very few tourists were on the dam that night. The massive expanse of concrete was lit up with spotlights through a haze of fog. Nick could hear the deafening roar of water below them. He knew it was a long, long, long way down.

   A mist filled the air, making the night feel humid despite the desert and reducing visibility. Nick scanned the dam, squinting. Finally, on the far side, half a football field's length away, Nick spotted him. He would stand out anywhere. Though he wasn't in his monk's robes, he had matted hair and an unruly beard. He was dressed in black pants and a black shirt. Even from far away, his eyes were piercing. They pulsated with hatred. They called to Nick hypnotically.

   "Stand in back of me," Nick told the twins. "When he puts the pyramid down, I'm going to walk toward him. You grab the pyramid. Take it on the bus back to the hotel, and have Damian and Theo free the souls."

   "What about you?" Siti's voice trembled.

   He met her gaze. "I must meet my destiny."

   He walked more quickly, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and Siti and Atsu to ensure their safety. Enough people had been hurt by the Shadowkeepers over the years. He hoped the twins would follow his plan precisely.

   Alone on the dam at last, he came within ten feet of Rasputin. "Where is the Pyramid of Souls?" he asked.

   The monk placed a worn leather satchel on the ground. He opened it and took out an object concealed in white linen. He unwrapped it slowly…and Nick couldn't help but gasp as its triangular point gleamed in the darkness.

   "For obvious reasons, I will rewrap it so we do not attract unwanted attention." Rasputin hurriedly covered the ancient artifact again and shoved it back in the satchel.

   Nick took three steps closer to the monk. "Atsu?" he called over his shoulder. "Go and get the leather case."

   Atsu walked past him cautiously and placed a hand on the satchel handle. Nick took another two steps closer to the monk.

   "Return to Siti, Atsu. Then the bus."

   His friend appeared to hesitate.

   "Atsu…no. Do as I say."

   Atsu nodded sadly, lifting the heavy satchel. He moved behind Nick and walked toward his twin sister.

   "I see you thought better of trying to trick me again," Rasputin said. "Your cousin will have her life back. And you and I will rule the magic world."

   Nick took another step toward the monk. Then he suddenly ran to the edge of the dam. He climbed up the metal railing separating the walkway from thin air.

   "What are you doing?" the monk hissed. He made an attempt to grab Nick.

   "I'd rather die than end up with you," Nick declared.

   And with that, he dove over the edge in a horrifying leap toward the raging waters below.

All along, Nick's plan had been to dive over the edge and then levitate down the river to safety. But once he was over the edge in the sheer blackness of the misty night, he lost his bearings and found himself plummeting in the direction of the most dangerous part of the water, roiling and foamy and violent. Nick tried to levitate, but it was no use. He had no sense of up or down. The confusion weakened his magic. He fell faster and faster, until the roar was so deafening that he couldn't even hear his own thoughts.

   He had always heard that people's lives flashed before their eyes before they died. Now he knew this was so. As water sprayed his face, images swirled through his mind. He saw his grandfather and his father. He saw himself skateboarding. But then he had a rush of memories from the last six months, with the new family he'd never known he had. He saw the smiling faces of his clan of cousins and relatives, he saw the bright lights of the stage, he saw the animals, and he saw his cousin, Isabella—his best friend. Knowing she was going to be safe, he was ready to plunge into the water. He was willing to trade his life for hers.

   And then a miracle happened.

   Suddenly, Nick fell against something—and it wasn't water. He felt strange creatures beating him in the face. He thought they were bats. Then he was lifted, buoyed higher and higher. He waved his arms, trying to see, but he only faced blackness.

   As he was lifted higher, he realized what the creatures were.

   Ravens.

   Hundreds, if not thousands, of them were holding onto him, flapping their wings and carrying him far from the dam, far from the rushing waters below—and best of all—far from Rasputin.

When Nick realized the ravens weren't hurting him, that they were instead saving his life, he relaxed and allowed himself to be carried through the desert night. The breeze from their wings soothed him, and the sky caressed his face, as if welcoming him back from a watery grave. The rain and cloud cover that had offered him darkness at the dam had blown over, revealing the Milky Way trailing across the sky and a crescent moon.

   Eventually, the birds slowed their flight, drifting toward the earth, and Nick was set down in the soft desert sand.

   Miranda stood there in the moon's glow, a pleased smile on her unlined face.

   Nick faced her. "I don't understand. I—I thought you were on
their
side."

"What did Madame B. tell you the very first time you Gazed?"

   Nick thought back to the night of his thirteenth birthday. "She said never assume."

   "Precisely."

   "But…you—you haunted poor Edgar Allan Poe. He was a mess. Delusional."

   "Walk with me, Kolya," Miranda said. The flock of ravens remained behind them, and together Nick and the strange woman strolled through the chilly desert air.

   "Edgar Allan Poe was a very disturbed man. Sometimes, Kolya, we use our magic thinking it will do good. I gave him his celebrated poem, hoping it would help him. I chose him because I knew he needed inspiration in order to save his wife. I chose him thinking that his fearlessness as a writer meant he was destined for greatness. Had I known he was so fragile…perhaps I would have made a different choice."

   "So all along, you've been a guardian of the Pyramid of Souls?"

   She nodded. "Ravens are found in Egypt, you know. My ancestors go as far back as the hieroglyphics, too. And just as Anubis was the protector of the dead as they made a journey to the afterlife, we were the guardians of the Pyramid of Souls. Alexander the Great stole it during his campaign of destruction and despair at the fall of Tyre. Alexander's magician, fearing its power, took it into the desert, intending to bury it. For a time, the elephant was its keeper. Only animals were entrusted with it, because only the animal kingdom is free from greed. But grave robbers obtained it, and as you know, artifacts still get stolen from one side by the other, over and over throughout history."

   "So you really
are
a friend to the Grand Duchess."

   "Yes. And you really
are
an impudent young man." She winked at him.

   "And out in the barn? When Maria was there? All the ravens?"

   "I've been watching out for you, Kolya."

   "Why?"

   "Because I predict great things for you." She smiled ruefully. "I learned my lesson with Edgar Allan Poe. I choose those whose destinies are great…but I choose them more wisely now. I cannot make the weak strong. But a leader—a boy who will grow into a man, shaped by his destiny and a true heart…well, he is one to safeguard as closely as the Pyramid of Souls."

   Nick swallowed. "If you hadn't saved me, I would have died at the dam."

   "I could not have allowed that to happen."

   "I'm really sorry I doubted you. I wish you had told me who you really were—"

   "But you needed to see with your heart," she interrupted. "That is the true vision of magic. Never assume, Kolya. See with your heart. Listen with your soul. Now come…I am sure your cousins will be worried sick. And I'm sure you want to see Isabella."

   "Will she be all right?"

   "Like you, Kolya, she is pure of heart. Even the Shadowkeepers can't turn her from her true self."

   As Nick and Miranda returned to the flock of ravens, the birds gathered close to him. Now, instead of being frightened by them, he stretched his arms wide. With a
whoosh,
they lifted him skyward.

   "
Whoo!" Nick let out a huge yelp. Then, facing the starr
y sky, he was lifted homeward. He was returning to the place he belonged—to his True North.

N ick walked cautiously into Isabella's room. The entire clan was gathered around her. The room was silent, and Nick's heart seemed to plummet to his shoes as he walked.

   Sascha was lying in bed with Isabella, and his cousin had her head on Sascha's belly. Isabella's long brown hair was splayed out near her head, and she was pale—he had never seen her so pale.

   The crowd around her parted.

   Swallowing, but finding his throat was dry, he approached her bed. Her chest barely rose and fell, and he could hardly tell if she was breathing.

   "Isabella," he exhaled and knelt by her side. "I'm so sorry. I wish I had never made you disappear."

   At the foot of the bed, Sergei was crying and wringing his handkerchief out. He blew his nose. Then he wailed, "
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! What a tragedy! What a tragedy! Th
e horror of it all!"

   He continued sniffling. Damian put a hand on Nick's shoulder. Nick stared up at him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I was going to do," he confessed, "but I felt like it was the only way. He said if he saw either you or Theo, he would throw the Pyramid of Souls into the waters."

   "Cousin…this time it worked out. But next time, you might not be so lucky."

   Nick nodded. Then he turned back to Isabella. Come on
,
little cousin, come on!

   Sergei blew his nose again. "It doesn't seem right that in all this, the little girl is the one who gets hurt."

   The room was silent. And then they all heard her say, weakly, "I am
not
a little girl."

   Nick started laughing.

   Even Damian laughed. "Indeed, she isn't!"

   Isabella opened her eyes. "We need to rehearse. The competition is the day after tomorrow. And I want to win."

   Nick shook his head. "Even after everything…you're still the most competitive person I know."

   Even as he teased her, he looked into her eyes. He didn't have to Gaze. It was unspoken: Isabella was back, unchanged.

Backstage, Nick accepted a hug from Atsu and Siti. "Let us not lose touch," Siti whispered. "You have done a great thing. You have returned the pyramid. And our elephant."

   Nick flushed slightly. "Anyone would have done what I did."

   Atsu shook his head. "No. Not anyone. Come, sister, we must watch Nanu's final performance before bringing her home." He shook Nick's hand. "Until we meet again."

   Siti kissed his cheek. "You indeed are as great as your destiny portends. Someday you will lead us all."