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"You can do this," Ibits, all the annoying bits, which I iht run away from you if they knew the truth But I won’t I’ll still be here Now, tellidiot, so I can save your life"
My hand tingled against his forehead His life passed throughwith our parents in Los Angeles I saw my birthday party when I turned six and the cake exploded I saw our e science textbook; our dad playing jazz and dancing me around the room while Carter covered his ears and yelled, "Dad!" I saw moments I hadn’t shared with ht in a riot in Paris; Carter and Zia talking by candlelight in the First Nome; Carter by hi at his Eye of Horus aainst the teod He’d never told ht I was the only one who’d been so tempted
Slowly, Carter relaxed His worst fears passed throughas the poison gripped his heart With his last bit of willpower, he told me his name
[Of course, I won’t tell you what it is You couldn’t use it anyway, hearing it fro, but I won’t take chances]
I raised the wax figurine and spoke Carter’s secret name Iure turned green and melted in my hands Carter’s fever broke He shuddered, took a deep breath, and opened his eyes
"Right," I said sternly "Don’t ever ride another bloody snake ain!"
"Sorry…" he croaked "Did you just--"
"Yeah"
"With my secret name--"
"Yeah"
"And all roaned and covered his face as if he wanted to fall back into a co hi your brother in his place and being cruel I wasn’t cruel Besides, after seeing into the darkest recesses of Carter’s mind, I was a bit ashamed, possibly even in awe There really wasn’tsecrets--oh, dear He was tame I hoped our situations were never reversed and he had to heal me
Bes came over with Lenin’s head tucked in the crook of his ar a nibble, as Lenin’s forehead was --victim of a frontal choco-lobotomy
"Good work, Sadie!" He broke off Lenin’s nose and offered it to Carter "Here, boy You’ve earned this"
Carter frowned "Does chocolate haveproperties?"
Bes snorted "If it did, I’d be the healthiest dwarf in the world Nah It just tastes good"
"And you’ll need your strength," I added "We have a lot to talk about"
Despite our loo deadline--as of tomorrow, only two more days until the equinox and the end of the world--Bes insisted we rest until the followingHe warned that if Carter exerted hi poisoned, itthe ti to so much trouble to revive my brother, I rather wanted to keep him alive And I’ll adically myself, I don’t think I could have moved farther than the veranda
Bes called the front desk and ordered a personal shopper to buy us some new clothes and supplies in town I’m not sure what the Arabic word is for coed to find a new pair When she delivered our things, she tried to give the boots to Carter, then looked horrified when Bes pointed at ot a supply of hair dye, a coe colors, and a headscarf that was probably all the rage with Egyptian women, but which I decided not to wear, as it would probably clash with the new purple highlights I wanted for ot jeans, boots, and a T-shirt that read Property of Alexandria University in English and Arabic Clearly, even personal shoppers had hieek
The shopper also s--blocks of wax, twine, even soh I doubt Bes explained to her what they were for
After she left, Bes, Carter and I ordered more food froo by The breeze from the Mediterranean was cool and pleasant Modern Alexandria stretched out to our left--an odd s, and ancient ruins The shoreline highas dotted with palm trees and croith every sort of vehicle from BMWs to donkeys From our penthouse suite, it all seey of the city, the bustle and congestion belohile we sat on our veranda in the sky eating fresh fruit and the lastbits of Lenin’s head
I wondered if this was how the gods felt, watching the mortal world from their throne room in the Duat
As we talked, I set the two scrolls from the Book of Ra on the patio table They looked so plain and har theuring out how to use them to awaken Ra It seeht hours, yet here we sat, sidelined and exhausted, forced to rest until thebitten by that Doctor Dolittle snake…and he calls me impulsive Meanwhile, Amos and our rookie initiates were left alone at Brooklyn House, preparing to defend against Vlad Menshikov, a od of evil