“Are you all right?” Carter asked, looking at her curiously. He grabbed his backpack, got up from his desk, and slid into the empty one next to her.
“Why is everyone watching me?” Sudi asked in a low voice.
“You didn’t comb your hair, for one thing, and you usually wear makeup,” Carter said. He scooted the desk closer to her so other students couldn’t overhear. “And you smell like you were Dumpster diving. What happened?”
Normally she would have shot back with something clever, but his open and sincere manner made her pause. She reached for a snarled lock of hair and held it to her nose.
“I reek,” she moaned.
“Kids are saying the breakup with Brian is affecting you,” Carter explained. He placed his hand on her shoulder.
“Who said that? It’s not true!” Sudi shouted, outraged. “I am not having a meltdown because of Brian. Why would I miss him? He kisses like a donkey.”
Screaming laughter resounded throughout the room.
Sudi glanced at Brian, sorry for her outburst. A flicker of remorse crossed his face as if for a nanosecond he regretted the way he had treated her.
Sebastian, a guy who’d had a crush on Sudi at the beginning of the year, peered out from behind his chin-length bangs. “Sudi, how do you know what a kiss from a donkey feels like?”
Now the entire class was laughing at her.
Brian’s voice boomed above the uproar. “Leave her alone,” he said. “Can’t you see she’s losing it?”
“Get real.” Sudi rolled her eyes. At least now she knew where the rumor had started. “I am not losing it!”
Carter massaged the back of her neck, trying to calm her. She pushed his hand away.
“You’ll get through it,” he said soothingly. “Scott’s the best medicine. I told him to forget about what you did last night at the party. I mean, we all know you weren’t meeting Brian, so why did you tell Scott that you were?”
Sudi shrugged.
“I figured you were still upset about the cicada thing,” Carter continued. “So when he tried to kiss you—”
“He told you?” Sudi asked. The heat of a blush rose to her cheeks.
Carter nodded. “He’s going to ask you out again.”
“He said that?” she asked, eager to hear more.
But Mrs. Grumm walked into the room and tapped a ruler on her desk to silence the class.
“Later,” Carter said and turned his attention toward the teacher.
“Good morning,” Mrs. Grumm said. She pulled some papers from her carryall and set them on her desk with a sharp slap. Her glasses dangled on a chain around her neck, and her porcupine haircut made her head look too small for her barrel-shaped body.
Sudi leaned back, thinking about Scott, grateful to have almost an hour to mull over everything that was going on in her life.
“Sudi, would you like to start off by reading your essay?” Mrs. Grumm asked and sat down at her desk, biting on the tip of her acrylic fingernail.
Panic seized Sudi. She hadn’t done the homework. “I haven’t…” she stammered, trying to find an excuse, but before she could, Carter tore the title page from his work and handed it to her.
“Are you sure?” she whispered.
“It’s not very good anyway,” he replied. “You’ll probably only get a D.”
Sudi headed toward the front of the class, but when she reached the blackboard, she sensed movement near the door.
Black material, the same color as the trench coat which the mummy had worn, fluttered near the entrance. She tilted her head and craned her neck to see. Her heart raced in anticipation. The papers fell from her shaking hands.
The mummy leaned against the open door, still wearing the trench coat. But Dalila’s spell had fallen away, and a withered, shrunken corpse grinned back at Sudi.
She gasped and looked at the class, hoping no one had seen him.
The tardy bell rang. The shrill sound panicked the mummy. His nails scratched the door as his hands tried to brace his body. He almost fell, then caught himself and lumbered away.
“Sudi?” Mrs. Grumm looked up and put on her glasses. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to go to the nurse,” Sudi said and didn’t wait for permission. She bolted from the classroom and sprinted down the hallway, her footsteps banging noisily on the hard floor. She didn’t see the mummy. Where had he gone? And how had he followed her to school? He couldn’t just walk down the streets of D.C.
A scream echoed up the stairwell from the hallway below. Sudi charged down the steps, taking the last three in a leap.
Lydia was hurrying away from the girls’ rest-room, her face stricken.
“Stay out,” she stammered, and tried to say more. Finally, frustrated, she waved Sudi away from the door, but she didn’t stay to explain what had frightened her. She darted toward the stairs.
Sudi pushed through the swinging door and almost tripped over a fallen backpack. Lipstick, mascara, and a broken perfume bottle lay scattered on the floor. A cigarette smoldered on the dingy tiles.
The mummy stood transfixed by his reflection in the full-length mirror. Then he saw Sudi behind him and tried to arrange his bandages.
“Why didn’t you stay where I left you?” Sudi asked, approaching him carefully. If Dalila’s magic had worn off, then Sudi’s spell must have weakened also.
“Love made me follow you,” he explained.
Sudi wondered why her magic hadn’t diminished, but she didn’t have time to consider the reason. She had to figure out a way to hide him.
“No wonder you spurn me,” he said sadly, still gazing in the mirror. “I’m hideous.”
“We need to get you away from here,” she said. “That girl will come back with others, maybe even the police.”
“Perhaps if you smoothed oil and perfume over my legs and arms, their beauty would return. I was strong and muscular, my legs thick and brown.” He stepped closer to the mirror. “At least let me adorn my eyes. Do you have mesd’emt so I can paint my eyes for you?”
“We don’t have time,” she said.
Anxiety constricted her chest, and she had to concentrate on breathing. She didn’t know how long it would be before Lydia found someone and returned. Then again, maybe it was time to let the world know about the cult and the Hour priests. But what would happen to the mummy then?
“Let’s leave now,” she said.
“If you could have seen me when I wore my headdress,” he said. “The long hair fell thickly to my shoulders and framed my face. Queens fell in love with me once.” He turned carefully and walked toward her. “Why did you bring me back?”
“I didn’t,” she explained. “The Cult of Anubis did and sent you to destroy me.”
“That’s impossible,” he said. “I adore you.”
“Not really,” she confessed. “I cast a love spell on you, and I guess it made you forget why the cult brought you back.”
She took his hand. The cold knuckle bones protruded against her palm.
“We can’t let people see you,” she said, leading him to the door. She peeked out.
The hallway was empty. Teachers’ voices came from behind the closed classroom doors and combined in a low, dull drone.
Sudi pulled the mummy forward and guided him to the janitor’s storeroom. She opened the door, switched on the light, pulled him inside, and closed the door. The smells of ammonia and damp mops clogged the air in the small room.
“You have to stay here,” she said. “No following me this time. I’m going to get a note from the nurse so I can leave school, but I’ll be back.”
The mummy nodded.
She opened the door and edged into the hallway, then turned and bumped into Carter. She jumped. “You scared me to death,” she said. “Have you been following me?”
“Mrs. Grumm asked me to make sure you were okay,” he said, a sly expression on his face.
Had he seen the mummy? Surely, if he had, he wouldn’t be smirking; he’d
be terrified and screaming. Still, he looked at her as if he knew her secret.
“What were you doing in the janitor’s storeroom?” he asked, falling into step beside her.
“Smoking a cigarette,” she lied and increased her pace, hoping he would leave her alone.
“You don’t smoke,” he countered.
“I do now,” she said forcefully.
“Mrs. Grumm was worried about you,” he said, trailing behind her on the stairs. “You left the classroom and went the wrong way.”
On the second-floor landing, Sudi stopped, and he bumped into her this time. “I told you I needed a smoke,” Sudi said. “I can go to the nurse’s office by myself. Go back to class, and tell Mrs. Grumm that I’m all right.”
“Maybe I should stay with you,” Carter said, the smug smile returning to his face.
“Go,” Sudi answered and waited until he left before she continued up the next flight of stairs to the third floor.
Minutes later, with the nurse’s pass in hand, Sudi returned to the janitor’s closet and opened the door.
The mummy was gone.
The sun had set, and the evening damp clung to Sudi’s arms and face. She sat with Meri and Dalila behind the Lincoln Memorial and curled her toes in the wet grass, trying to ease the pain of her blisters.
“We’re never going to find the mummy by walking around the District,” Meri said, massaging her calves. “Maybe we should go back to Georgetown and see if Abdel’s home yet.”
“The mummy has probably gone back to the cult anyway,” Dalila said. “If they can cast a spell strong enough to summon his spirit from death, then they must know one to make him return to them.”
“Or maybe he’s the lead story on the nightly news,” Sudi said, trying to lighten their moods. “We haven’t watched TV all day. He could be the breaking story.”
She had meant to cheer her friends up. Instead, they stared back at her stone-faced. “What will happen if people discover that the dead can be brought back to life?” Dalila asked.
“I can’t even imagine how gross it would be,” Meri said.
Dalila shrugged. “I’d like to be able to speak to my parents again.”
“But they wouldn’t be like they were back then,” Meri argued.
Sudi pulled on her shoes and stood. “Come on. We’d better start home.”
Meri and Dalila followed her down to the walkway. They had gone only a short distance when three cabs pulled up to the curb. Tourists climbed from the first two, and then Abdel got out of the last one. His normally neat hair hung in his eyes, and his forehead glistened with sweat.
“Abdel!” Sudi shouted and ran to him, feeling an incredible surge of happiness.
Meri shrieked and hugged him.
“Where have you been?” Dalila asked, smiling.
“I’ve been looking for the three of you,” he said, and wrapped his arms around them, squeezing tightly. “You weren’t at your schools, and Dalila’s uncle didn’t know where she had gone off to.”
“The cult sent a mummy,” Sudi began, but Meri interrupted, her hands flying into the air as she excitedly continued the story. When she ran out of breath, Dalila finished for her, recounting everything else that had taken place.
Abdel nodded patiently, but he didn’t seem interested in their troubles.
“If you had come to me first,” he said, “I could have warned you that the mummy had only been sent to distract you from something more important.”
“If a walking corpse isn’t our real problem,” Sudi said, “then I don’t think I want to know what is.”
Abdel looked at her. “The cult kidnapped Scott.”
Sudi swallowed hard and pressed her fingers against her eyes so she wouldn’t cry.
“That’s against the law,” Meri said. “The authorities will get involved, and I thought the cult wanted to stay low key.”
“They won’t hold Scott indefinitely,” Abdel explained. “They’ll release him quickly, but when they do, his soul will have been replaced with a demon’s spirit, an evil demon.”
“What should we do?” Sudi asked.
“Rescue him,” Abdel said simply.
“But how?” Dalila asked. “We’re not strong enough to fight the cult. They’ve had centuries to practice their magic, and we’ve only studied for three weeks.”
“Besides, how are we supposed to know which spells to use?” Meri added. “We’ve memorized some, but they’re for silly things.”
Abdel seemed to find humor in their panic. “You’re descended from the gods who brought order to Egypt,” he said. “I have every confidence that you’ll find a way, as your ancestors did when they fought the forces of chaos.”
“But wait,” Dalila said, clinging to his arm. “You told us that the cult wants to destroy our bloodline because once they do, no one will have the power to use the Book of Thoth to stop them.”
Abdel nodded.
“So, what if this is only a trick to make us go to them?” Dalila asked.
“In every encounter, that will be a risk you’ll have to take,” Abdel answered.
“But what if we can’t stop them?” Meri asked.
“The world will be changed,” Abdel said.
“And what happens to us if we don’t succeed?” Sudi asked.
Abdel looked at each of them before answering. “Legend says that all Descendants who fail are condemned to live with the demons in the chaos at the edge of the universe.”
Sudi closed the front door and stepped silently across the dark living room. The smell of chicken frying permeated the air, and when she neared the kitchen she could hear it crackling in the hot oil. She stood in the pantry, spying on her family.
Her mother carried a plate of steaming biscuits to the table, and her father broke into song, serenading her. His deep voice drowned out her sisters’ squeals as they tried to sing along. Sudi had been part of that happiness once, but now her mind was whirring with worries that no one ever expected to face. She didn’t know how to find Scott, let alone rescue him. And how did Abdel know for certain that the cult had kidnapped him, anyway? After all, he had been a druggie in California, and maybe he had taken a slide back into that lifestyle.
“Come join us.” Her father sang the words to the tune of the Toreador Song from Carmen.
It took her a moment to realize that he was singing to her. Then she stepped into the overly warm kitchen, and sat down, wondering if this could be her last meal with her family.
“You’re late,” her mother said. Using a pair of tongs, she picked out a wing and a thigh from the iron skillet on the stove. She placed both on a plate and set it in front of Sudi.
“It’s Monday night,” Sudi said. “I thought the twins had dance class.”
“We finished with this session,” Nicole explained.
“We’re off for two weeks,” Carrie added.
“Tell us about your day,” her father said as he passed her the basket of biscuits. “It must have been a good one for you to be so late.” He winked.
“Things came up,” Sudi said absently and stared down at her food. Normally, she loved her mother’s fried chicken, but now she wondered if chickens had dreams and emotions. Did they feel the way she had when she was trapped inside a bird’s body?
“If you don’t want your thigh, can I have it?” Nicole asked, biting a piece of meat from her drumstick.
“Did you ever think that birds might have feelings?” Sudi asked.
Nicole looked perplexed. “Does that mean you don’t want it?”
“Be a cannibal,” Sudi said and pushed her plate across the table toward Nicole.
“Sudi, don’t you feel well?” her father asked.
“I’ve become a vegetarian, all right?” Sudi replied brusquely.
Her parents exchanged a quick look, and then her mother spoke. “That’s certainly all right.” She passed Sudi the bowl of succotash. “Lots of people don’t want their bodies to become a graveyard for animals.”
“Gross!” Carrie and Nicole hollered in unison.
Sudi stared at the lima beans and kernels of corn. She couldn’t eat. Nothing tasted good with tears.
“A guy told me to give this to you,” Carrie said, holding up an envelope. Hieroglyphs inside a cartouche formed Sudi’s name.
Sudi snapped the envelope away from Carrie. “Don’t you know better than to talk to strangers?” Sudi demanded.
“What should I do?” Carrie asked snidely. “Stop answering the door because someone might bring you an invitation you don’t want?”
“He came to the door?” Sudi tore at the envelope. In her haste she cut her finger on the paper’s edge and cried out, then stopped and sucked the blood.
Carrie and Nicole stared at her.
Her father took the envelope and finished opening it. “It’s a gift certificate to a health spa,” he said. “What were you afraid it was going to be?”
Sudi shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Her mother took the certificate. “The Anubis Spa is elegant and pricey. Maybe you can cash in the certificate and use the money for something practical.”
“It’s a gift,” her father said. “Let her indulge herself.”
“I don’t know,” her mother said, absently fanning herself with the card. “The spa is connected with that cult, and I’ve heard some weird things about them. You know, that California touchyfeely attitude.”
“It’s harmless,” her father said and leaned back, spreading his arms, ready to break into another song.
Sudi grabbed the invitation—she couldn’t bear more happiness—and ran from the kitchen, pretending not to hear her father and mother calling her to come back.
Upstairs, she hurried into her room and closed the door, then fell on her bed and flipped open her cell phone. She had started to speed-dial Meri when someone knocked. Her father opened the door and peeked in.
“What’s wrong, Sudi?” he asked and walked over to her bed. He sat down beside her. His weight made her side of the mattress lift.
“Growing pains,” Sudi answered. “Things have gotten really hard lately.”