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He poured a gold necklace into her hand It had a syptian symbol:

"That’s the basketball hoop on Ra’s head," I said

Walt and Sadie both frowned atthe ical for them "I mean it’s the sy loop, the syht?"

Sadie sed as if thein her stomach "Eternity?"

Walt shot

"Yeah," he said, "u for Ra And good things, i you luck I , but…I kind of lostin her palm "Walt, I don’t--I mean, thank you, but--"

"Just remember I didn’t want to leave," he said "If you need help, I’ll be there for you" He glanced at me and corrected himself: "I mean both of you, of course"

"But now," Bes said, "you need to go"

"Happy birthday, Sadie," Walt said "And good luck"

He got out of the car and trudged down the hill We watched until he was just a tiny figure in the gloom Then he vanished into the woods

"Two farewell gifts," Sadie uys I hate old necklace around her throat and touched the shen syazed down at the trees where Walt had disappeared "Poor kid Born unusual, all right It isn’t fair"

"What do you mean?" I asked "Why were you so anxious for Walt to leave?"

The dwarf rubbed his scraggly beard "Not ot work to do The ive Menshikov to prepare his defenses, the harder this is going to get"

I wasn’t ready to drop it, but Bes stared at et any more answers from him Nobody can look stubborn like a dwarf

"So, Russia," I said "By driving up an empty staircase"

"Exactly" Bes floored the accelerator The Mercedes churned grass and mud and barreled up the stairs I was sure we’d reach the top and get nothing but a broken axle, but at the last second, a portal of swirling sand opened in front of us Our wheels left the ground, and the black li into the vortex

We slaroup of surprised teenagers Sadie groaned and pried her head off the headrest

"Can’t we go anywhere gently?" she asked

Bes hit the wipers and scraped the sand off our windshield Outside it was dark and snowy Eighteenth-century stone buildings lined a frozen river lit with streetlaolden church doreen and blue I ht have believed we’d traveled back in tihts, and of course the teenagers with body piercings, dyed hair, and black leather clothes screa on the hood of the Mercedes because we’d almost run them over

"They can see us?" Sadie asked

"Russians," Bes said with a kind of grudging adic for what it is We’ll have to be careful here"

"You’ve been here before?" I asked

He gave me a duh look, then pointed to either side of the car We’d landed between two stone sphinxes standing on pedestals They looked like a lot of sphinxes I’d seen--with crowned human heads on lion bodies--but I’d never seen sphinxes covered in snow

"Are those authentic?" I asked

"Farthest-north Egyptian artifacts in the world," Bes said "Pillaged froht up here to decorate Russia’s new i Like I said, every new eypt"

The kids outside were still shouting and banging on the car One sainst our windshield

"Um," Sadie said, "should weout by the sphinxes Been doing it for hundreds of years"

"But it’s like "

"Did I mention they’re Russian?" Bes said "Don’t worry I’ll take care of it"

He opened his door Glacier-cold wind swept into the Mercedes, but Bes stepped out wearing nothing but his Speedo The kids backed up quickly I couldn’t bla in Russian, then roared like a lion The kids screamed and ran

Bes’s forot back into the car, he earing a inter coat, a fur-lined hat, and fuzzy mittens

"See?" he said "Superstitious They know enough to run frood in a Speedo, yes," Sadie said "So what do we do now?"

Bes pointed across the river at a glowing palace of white-and-gold stone "That’s the Here"