The alarms stopped, but her ears continued ringing.
At last she eased into the crowd that had gathered in front of the Anubis Building. She now wore the loose pink T and Bermuda shorts that she had worn under the suit and looked like any high school girl who had come to the District on her senior trip to the capital.
Something trickled across her palm. She looked down and saw her blood spattered on the sidewalk. She had cut her finger on one of the blades. Feeling dizzy, she wrapped the cut in the tail of her T-shirt. She needed to sit down before she fainted.
Her knees trembled, but she remained standing and mentally went back over what she had done. She had never had her fingerprints taken, so the impressions she had left behind could never lead the detectives to her. She had removed the labels from the pantsuit, so the clothing left in the alley wouldn’t provide a clue. The computer case had been purchased at a garage sale in California: another dead end.
But the theft had been too easy, and that nagged at her. The priceless artifacts had been left unguarded, and that led her to only one conclusion. The cult wanted her to have the knives.
The rain had stopped, and the thunderous gray clouds had drifted away, leaving the night air moist and smelling of wet leaves. Halloween revelers paraded up and down Embassy Row, carrying trick-or-treat bags and eating candy.
Meri, Dalila, and Sudi walked away from the Australian embassy, clutching candy, and joined the throng, mostly college students, in costumes.
“Did you see the way that woman stared at your whiskers?” Sudi said and brushed her hand over the cat ears poking through Meri’s hair.
A pleasant feeling rushed through Meri, and a low rumble rose in her throat. She pushed Sudi’s hand away.
“Be careful,” Meri warned. “You almost made me purr.”
“You need to purr,” Sudi countered. “You’re too nervous.”
“Aren’t you?” Meri asked. “I’m so jittery I could puke.”
Instead of trying to hide the whiskers, tail, or feline ears that appeared when she was nervous, Meri had decided at the last moment to pull on a black leotard and dress as a cat. She wore a black velvet sash that held the Sekhmet knife close to her waist.
“But you stole the knives,” Dalila said. “That’s braver than I could ever be.”
The wind caught Dalila’s blue-silk veils and lifted them into the air, exposing the jewel-encrusted knife handle that lay flat against her smooth skin. The blade was tucked into the sequined band of her low-slung belly dancer’s skirt.
“Great costume,” said a guy dressed as a pirate.
In response, Dalila struck her finger cymbals. The brass plates pinged as she twirled with elegant grace. The skirt and veils swirled around her.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Sudi teased. “I’m the party girl.”
“At least Dalila and I wore costumes,” Meri scolded playfully. “I thought the plan was to look like trick-or-treaters in case someone caught us.”
“I’m a tango dancer,” Sudi said. With a sharp turn of her head, she embraced an invisible partner and took slow, slinking steps down the sidewalk, threading her way among kids dressed as witches, ghosts, and cheerleaders.
At the corner, Sudi did a quick foot flick through the slit in her skirt, revealing the ancient Egyptian knife, hooked into a lacy red garter that she wore above her knee.
Meri and Dalila laughed and ran up to her.
“Shouldn’t we go to the Tidal Basin?” Dalila asked, gathering her veils tightly around her.
“I guess,” Meri answered reluctantly.
Sudi grabbed their arms. “We have to stop at the Peruvian embassy first,” Sudi said. “It’s just across the street, and last year they gave out these incredible chocolate bars called Sublimes. We’re not leaving until we each get one.”
But as she started to step off the curb, a rusted old Cadillac rumbled down Massachusetts Avenue.
“That’s Brian’s car,” Sudi whispered.
“So?” Meri asked.
“Why does he always show up wherever I am?” Sudi asked, looking after the car. Black smoke curled from the tailpipe.
“Maybe because you go to the same school and hang out with the same friends,” Meri offered.
“No, it’s not just coincidence,” Sudi whispered with a haunted look. “It’s something more.”
“Why are you still afraid of Brian?” Dalila asked.
“I’m not,” Sudi snapped. She scowled and started walking back the way they had come, her heels tapping out a fast, angry pace.
Meri and Dalila silently followed her down Sixteenth Street. No one spoke until they reached Lafayette Park and stood in front of the White House.
Then the strange mood Brian had cast over Sudi lifted, and her lively energy returned.
“When you’re living there, Meri, we’ll hang out, and watch all the cute Secret Service guys.” Sudi hung her arm over Meri’s shoulder. “My parents think your mom will win.”
“She has to get the nomination first,” Meri countered.
“Invite us for tea,” Dalila added. “Can you imagine how elegant everything will be?” She clasped Meri’s hand. “State dinners! You’ll be entertaining kings.”
Meri nodded but then she glanced up at the roof and saw the silhouette of a man. Since President Clinton had been in office, sharpshooters had kept watch from the White House roof. Meri’s mother had already received death threats. Meri wondered what it would be like if she actually won the office.
Twenty minutes later, the girls stood on the western edge of the Tidal Basin, near the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Moonlight reflected across the waters, and the rising tide made waves wash against the concrete and stone bank with a gentle whisper.
“Only a few visitors are walking around the memorial,” Sudi said. “I think most of the tourists are celebrating Halloween.”
Meri glanced behind the gnarled trunks of the old cherry trees. Just one tour bus waited in the parking lot that was normally full.
“How do we even know Apep is here?” Meri asked.
“Since your last encounter with him, I’ve been keeping track of the storms,” Dalila replied. “The thunder and rain this afternoon brought him into our world. He hasn’t left yet.”
“Do you think he’s waiting for us?” Meri asked.
Sudi pointed into the dark behind the park bench. The wire-mesh fence had been twisted and bent until it was flattened against the ground. On the other side of the trees, the wooden slats of the second fence lay broken and scattered about the parking lot.
“Apep couldn’t have done that,” Meri argued, trying to ignore the ominous feeling building inside her. “A car must have plowed through the fences and plunged into the water.”
“Then why aren’t the trees crushed, too?” Dalila asked. She set her finger cymbals down and unwound her veils, then tied them around a low-hanging branch. The wind whipped the silky scarves high into the air.
Dalila pulled out her knife, her eyes serious. She kissed the blade and whispered an incantation. She didn’t look afraid.
“We should probably split up,” Sudi said, slipping the knife from her garter. She held it as if she knew how to use the weapon.
“Shout if you find Apep,” Sudi joked, with an unfamiliar catch in her voice.
“I’ll scream, more likely,” Meri said glumly as she headed south, walking away from her friends to the far end of the memorial.
A thin mist settled over the ground, leaving tiny droplets on the grass. The dew reflected the moon’s glow and shimmered with eerie beauty. Meri studied the dark shadows around the back of the memorial and wished she had brought a flashlight.
A dry rustle came from behind the furrowed trunk of a weather-beaten tree.
Anxious, Meri crept toward the sound, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She clutched the knife handle in her clammy palm, tightening her grip, and stared down, searching for the snake.
Cautiously, she peered behind t
he trunk and then let out a long sigh.
A discarded lunch bag flapped back and forth, crackling as the brown paper brushed against dead leaves.
Meri breathed deeply and pressed her hand over her jittery stomach.
The slap-slap rhythm of a jogger made her wary; a lone man was running down the walkway, his cap pulled low over his forehead.
Meri slid behind a tree and waited for the runner to pass. She didn’t want someone who might recognize her to see her skulking around the cherry trees, clutching a sharp-bladed, lethal knife.
Abruptly, the pounding footsteps stopped. She wondered why the runner had paused.
Minutes passed. Finally, Meri looked out. She didn’t see anyone on the walk or resting in the grass. Maybe the runner had moved on.
Curious, she stepped forward. She had gone only a short distance when she saw a gray lump, no bigger than a squirrel, on the sidewalk. As she neared it, she realized it was a tennis shoe. She picked it up. The lining was still warm, the sole covered with a strange stickiness. She dropped the shoe. It bounced once and fell into the pool.
A soft scraping sound filled the night. The noise increased, then fell back, only to start again.
Maybe the runner had fallen and was dragging himself over dead grass and leaves, trying to find help. But even as her mind tried to override her fear and find a logical explanation for the sound, her body reacted in a visceral way. A spasm shot up her back, and adrenaline raced through her.
As she started to turn, a shadow passed over her.
At first, she thought a cloud had raced across the sky, blocking the moonlight, but then the brisk autumn air became filled with a musty scent, after which came the rancid odor of decaying cucumbers.
Meri readied herself to attack, then spun around. She looked up, inhaling sharply, and froze.
Apep had tripled in size since the last time Meri had seen him. The giant snake reared, extending himself until his head towered above Meri.
She stepped backward, stumbling over her own feet. Her cat ears, tail, and whiskers abandoned her, leaving her to deal with her terror as a regular girl, without any comfort from her feline powers.
The serpent’s head angled over her; his mouth poised above her, fangs exposed, ready to strike.
A scream gurgled in her throat, then died.
The knife slipped from her sweating palm and landed in the grass with a soft plop. She fell to her knees, frantically brushing her hands across the ground, searching for the blade.
Before she could retrieve the knife, Apep struck.
She rolled, dodging the sudden thrust of the head, then stood, waiting; when Apep drew back to strike again, she ran forward and ducked under his body.
Her hands squished against his scaly underbelly. The snake came down hard on top of her. She screamed in pain and twisted free, turning over and over until she had gotten away from the beast.
“Dalila! Sudi!” she shouted, but the words came out as no more than a puff of air. Her friends would never be able to hear her calls for help.
The foamy muck that Apep left in his trail covered her hands. Bile rose to the back of her throat. She swiped her fingers back and forth in the dew-wet grass, trying to get rid of the gluey slime.
Apep roared. The deep, prolonged cry thundered through the night.
Meri stood, trying to make her mind work and find a plan. She edged back, mentally scolding herself for not having the courage to face Apep. She had wanted to be fierce, like the goddess Sekhmet, rather than sniveling and afraid. Fate had chosen her to be a Descendant. She was supposed to be brave, but instead she was sick with terror.
Apep slunk closer, winding toward her, his piercing eyes trying to entrance her.
She took a clumsy step back, and her foot caught on a root. Her ankle turned. She lost her balance and fell down. Her head snapped back and hit the tree trunk. Pain shot up her spine. The soreness settled in her neck with a dull throb.
Apep hissed and slithered closer. The forked tongue flicked in and out, darting up and down, tasting the air, a tracking device for locating prey. When it swiped over her face, she cried out. The tongue felt damp and left a sharp tingling on her skin.
The snake’s mouth widened as his flexible lower jaw scooped up her feet. His fetid breath choked her, and the stench clung to her skin. She stared into the gaping mouth, down into the horrible darkness, and saw the jogger’s cap.
A low and terrible moan escaped her lungs, her last desperate cry, as she watched the flicking tongue and imagined her death: swallowed, then suffocated as the reptile’s digestive acids worked on her flesh.
Slowly, Meri became aware of footsteps hammering the ground. Voices called her name. Sudi and Dalila grabbed her shoulders and, yelling savagely, yanked her from Apep’s mouth. Their fingers dug into her shoulder and arm as they tugged harder. Her leotard ripped, and the sleeve unraveled as her back scraped over the rough tree bark. Pain raced through her, and cuts stung her back.
At last Sudi and Dalila pulled her to the other side of the tree.
Meri gratefully breathed the untainted air. “Thanks,” she whispered in between coughs.
Enraged, Apep rose up. His jaws snapped violently around the tree. The trunk cracked and splintered. A branch fell. Twigs and leaves scratched Meri’s face.
Dalila shoved the foliage away and fell down on her knees beside Meri. “You need to get up,” she coaxed. “Apep will be coming after us.”
Sudi let out a low whistle and handed Meri the knife with the Sekhmet handle. “You dropped this,” she said, staring at the reptile. “No wonder. I thought you said Apep was the size of an anaconda.”
“He grew,” Meri said, choking back sobs.
The snake released the broken tree and bellowed, then slid toward them in smooth, wavelike motions, his scales glossy and white in the milky moonlight.
“He is huge,” Sudi breathed.
“How did you know I was in trouble?” Meri asked as she got to her feet, weak and trembling.
“Your screams were a clue,” Sudi answered. “We’d better get this done before the police get here.”
“A queen must not show fear.…” Dalila muttered, trying to give herself courage. “She must always instill confidence and hope in her people.” Then she turned to Meri and Sudi, a strange, blank look on her face. “We’ll survive this,” she said, but there was a question in her voice.
Meri looked down at her knife. The blade caught the moonlight and flashed with a supernaturally bright glow. “Even though Apep is evil, I hate doing this.”
“There has to be another way,” Sudi said.
“This is what is expected from us.” Dalila stood taller and gripped the handle of her knife.
Meri took a deep breath and ran. An avalanche of fear sent adrenaline buzzing through her. Her feet hammered the ground, and she yelled as she attacked the snake. She dodged his thrashing head and continued running until she stood over his midsection. She plunged her knife into his glistening scales. As the blade cut through the reptile’s body, the slick sound made her cringe.
Apep bellowed and thrust his tail, coiling it around Meri. She brought the blade down again, slicing through flesh.
The snake squeezed tighter, wrapping more coils around Meri. The pressure on her lungs made it impossible to breathe. Darkness pressed into her vision, and she became vaguely aware that Sudi and Dalila stood beside her, striking the reptile with heavy blows.
The tail went slack, and the beast squealed.
Meri took deep breaths and brought her knife down again. This time something warm splattered her face. She turned her mind from what she was doing and thought of Sekhmet. The goddess had been sent by the god Re to avenge evil for him. At his bidding, she had killed men and women until the slaughter became sweet to her heart and she waded about in their blood. For that reason and others, the goddess of destruction and war was a terrible force to summon.
Meri did so again.
“Behen a Sebau, se hetem na Ap
ep,” Meri intoned. “May I crush the evil one; may I destroy Apep.”
The wind came as a soft murmur at first, the hot air withering grass as it rushed across the Mall. The scorching gusts screeched around them and a pale image of the lioness-headed goddess appeared in the shadows, wavering over the slaughter and protecting the Descendants.
Meri sat on the walk, her feet dangling over the edge into the Tidal Basin. The tide was at its highest, the water lapping around her ankles. She leaned forward and washed her hands in the cold, soothing liquid. Wisps of blood looped and curled into the moonlit water before dissolving.
“No more,” Meri whispered. Her arm throbbed, and a stiff, painful feeling in her neck and back made it hard for her to bend low enough to clean her face. “I can’t do more.”
“It’s over,” Sudi said, dunking her bare feet into the water to wash the dirt and muck from her legs.
They had dropped the ritual knives next to the dead snake and left the carnage for others to find. Already, Meri could hear cries of alarm in the distance.
“Someone must have discovered Apep,” Dalila said. Her hair was matted, her clothes stuck to her body, but in the moonlight, Meri wasn’t sure if it was blood that covered her or the sticky film from the demon’s underbelly.
“I think we should leave,” Dalila said, standing.
“All right,” Meri said, but she didn’t get up.
Dalila made a sound: a mutter of disgust. She sighed and covered her eyes. “What did we do?”
“I’ll tell you what we did.” Sudi jumped up, dripping water on Meri’s head. “We killed a monster, and now we can party.”
“Party?” Meri turned to look at Sudi.
“Maybe being the protectors of the world won’t be so bad after all,” Sudi said, trying to sound happy.