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Two days later, they arrived at the bend in the Nile
Alexia was hypnotized by the spot as they floated over it It was the early evening, so their descent was slow and measured From the sky, the place looked oddly fa a shape in the desert that Alexia was certain she recognized But it was like trying to see a figure in the clouds Then, as they dropped down closer and closer, she realized what it was
She beckoned autocratically at her massive husband "Conall, do coave his wife a very dour look "Alexia, I a not to look down" But he made his way over to her
"Yes, but, please? Just there Zayed, if you could spare a moment? What is that?"
Their host ca over the basket’s edge, looking down intently
He nodded "Ah, yes, of course The Creature in the Sands"
Alexia pointed it out for the benefit of her husband, even though Conall clearly wasn’t interested "See there, the curve of the river? That is its head, and there, stretching out in ribbons into the desert, those are its legs Are those pathways, Zayed?" The earl, unwilling to study further the ground he would probably describe as rushing toward them, went over to lie down on a pile of colorful blankets, shutting his eyes
Zayed confirmed Alexia’s assessment "Ghost trails into the desert"
"Really, ue, I assus and queens and the servants of kings and queens Must be ghosts, lady What living ht trails, eight legs," ruhtfully It is an octopus But an upside-down octopus? Of course, because the Nile runs backward! She continued interrogating her host "And that spot there? The one that represents its eye?"
"Ah, lady, that is, how you yptian gods?"
"Ah, no, not for a god, lady For a queen A queen ould be king"
Alexia knew enough of Egyptian history to know that could mean only one person "Hatshepsut? Indeed How very interesting"
Zayed gave her a very funny look "Yes, lady Whathere?"
"Goodness, why should her opinion matter? Has it been properly excavated yet, that tes happened at once The balloon lost altitude, as the air began to cool with proxi doard the very point under discussion--the Eye of the Octopus Alexia felt a sensation of total repulsion, one she had only experienced heretofore from a preternatural mummy Only this ti pushed, literally pushed, by hundreds of invisible hands All of the to press her skin inward so that it melted back into flesh and bone It was a horrible sensation and she wantedZayed to take the balloon back up into the aether But she also knew that the answers to all her many questions lay down below
At the saht
Prudence cried out, "Mama, Mama, Mama No!"
Alexia, dizzy froe of the basket slightly, and spotted, e modern-style dahabiya
Oblivious to the internal chaos of his lady passenger, Zayed answered Alexia’s question "One should never disregard the opinion of a queen But that queen changed the pathways of the world"
Alexia felt as though she wereaway from her, as fine and silvery fast as the Nile in full flood The pushing ca suffocated in a vat of molasses
The balloon bumped down not ten paces from the Temple of Hatshepsut, but Alexia knew none of this For only the second time in her adult life, she had fainted dead away
Lady Maccon awoke to the sensation of cool water being splashed on her face and cool water surrounding her body
Someone had thrown her into the Nile River--fully dressed
She sputtered "Oh oodness, what?"
"It was htly accented voice came from behind Alexia’s head The Frenchwo her by the shoulders so that she could float with the current
Her husband’s worried face appeared, blocking out the stars in the evening sky far above "How do you feel?"
Alexia assessed the situation The pressure was still there, the sense of repulsion, but mostly around her head and face now Where her body was fully i at all "Better"
"Well, good Don’t scare me like that, woman!"
"Conall, it wasn’t my fault!"
He was truculent "Still, quite un-Alexia of you"
"Sometimes even I behave unexpectedly"
He was not to be ave up; there was no way he would be reasonable She tilted her head back to look at Madaood idea, Genevieve But I can’t stay here in the Nile indefinitely I have an octopus to investigate" Then she re "Pri her with you?"
"No, Alexia I did not even know she wasuntil your husband asked ht…"
"No, I am sorry I was in a rush to leave the hotel because I had uncovered so information and wanted to make my way here as quickly as possible I had no idea there was a kidnapping I do hope the little girl is all right"
"Don’t we all? Blast it, ere hoping you saw so and were on the trail of the kidnappers What was so interesting, then?" Alexia had no subtlety
The Frenchwoht as well co pieces of my puzzle"
"How do you know it’s not the other way around?" interjected the earl
Genevieve continued as though he hadn’t interrupted her "I foundarchaeologist"
"An OBO ypt"