A Little Rhine Must Fall (31 page)

:No:

I was disappointed. Throttling aside, it would have been nice to have another option. One that didn’t involve sacrificing my baby.

“I need this amended,” I told the witch. “I need safe travel for me, my baby,
and
the cat.”

“That was not our original deal,” he complained.

“You have exactly four seconds to agree before I walk,” I bluffed. “It’s the same deal and you know it. Amend it now.”

He thought briefly about arguing but must have decided that the WAND was still getting the good end of the bargain. The contract wording was changed to include Bastet and my baby and all that was left for me to do was to sign.

I took the pen in hand and shakily wrote my name. If this was the right thing to do, why did it feel so horrible? The head witch placed a gilded knife beside the pen I had just laid down.

“Make a small cut on your thumb and place your thumbprint beside your name,” he told me. “I will do the same.”

“You first,” I said, not wanting anything to do with blood.

He neatly sliced through his thumb, waited till there was enough blood to make a good print and pressed his thumb firmly onto the contract. He handed me the knife and sucked on his thumb. Gross. There was no way I was going to cut my thumb with the same blade that had his blood all over it.

“Aren’t you going to sterilize the blade?” I asked.

He sighed and rummaged around in a desk drawer for some hand sanitizer. I liberally doused the blade in the alcoholic goop and rubbed it with my fingers to make sure every inch of the metal was covered.

Some things are better done before you have too much time to think about them. I quickly cut my thumb and smeared the print on the page. The sanitizer stung in the cut, but at least I hadn’t cut too deep.

“Splendid!” the witch clapped his hands. “It has been a pleasure doing business with you.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I muttered.

“If you could please come this way,” he waved me towards the door. “We have set up on the back patio.”

By “set up” he meant “drawn a gigantic, complicated pentagram in blood.” The patio was a huge area of concrete with cushioned chairs and umbrellas, closed for the night, next to an Olympic-sized pool. I noticed that the pentagram had been carefully drawn on a section of concrete that was perfectly smooth, unlike the stamped patterns on the rest of the patio. The lines from the stamping or cracks between the slabs must mess up the magic.

I know several people, my mother being one, who are afraid to fly. They know that it is perfectly safe, that the physics of flying make sense, that people do it every day. But it doesn’t change the fact that deep in their primeval brain something tells them that man is not supposed to leave the ground. Like Meg Ryan in
French Kiss
, they want to run screaming off the plane before it leaves the ground. I felt like that now.

I had traveled several times by Zipline and so I knew that it was possible and worked well. But it still didn’t feel safe and I would rather have strapped myself to a gazillion tons of rocket fuel and lit the fuse than step into another one of those creepy, blood drawn designs. However, no one was asking me my druthers.

Chapter Thirty-One:

… Boom!

Bastet ensconced once more on my shoulder, I stepped into the center of the design and held my breath. If it weren’t for the fact that the WAND wanted my baby, I would have suspected this to be an elaborate trap to get me to suffocate on the moon. Even knowing that they wanted me alive and well, at least for the next several months, I still didn’t trust the magic enough to provide air in an airless environment.

When I opened my eyes I was back on the moon. Black, grey, lifeless, and cold. Black specs began to dance in front of my eyes and I took my first gasping breath. I can’t say how relieved I was when there was something to pull into my aching lungs.

“Whew!” I exclaimed. “I can breathe!”

Bastet ignored my comment and hopped down to the ground. This was her first trip to the moon and she was plainly curious. She sniffed around a bit and then came to sit at my feet.

I was trying to sort through the information that was clogging my brain. Then, I felt it, like a piece of metal being pulled towards a huge magnet. “That way,” I pointed, out over the bleak landscape that looked exactly the same no matter which way you turned.

:Should we leave something here to mark the spot?:
Bastet sounded a little nervous. She was right, if we walked away from the Zipline there was no guarantee that we would be able to find this spot again.

I shrugged, I was hoping not to need the return trip, but if everything went wrong it would be silly to be stuck up here to slowly starve to death. I was still wearing my backpack purse, so I took out the spare diaper I always carry, opened it up big, and spread it on the ground. A couple of moon rocks to hold it down and we were ready to go.

Bastet snickered.
:We’d love to see NASA’s face if they ever land here again!:

The pull from (what I was hoping was) the spaceship was getting stronger, and I’m not sure I could have resisted following it if I’d wanted to. I set off confidently across the rocks and was soon taking bouncing strides that ate up the ground.

:Hold it!:
Bastet told me.
:This is the edge of the Zipline air:

I landed gently on the ground and asked anxiously, “Can you keep us breathing on the other side?”

She closed her eyes,
:We think so:

“You
think
so?” This was not the time for uncertainty.

She growled.
:Give us a moment:

“Great,” I muttered. “Just great. For want of air the world was lost.”

:Shut up:

It seemed like hours but was only a few seconds before she opened her eyes and said,
:That should do it:

“How will we know if it’s working?” I asked.

:You’ll be able to breathe
: she said dryly.

“Great,” I said again.

There was nothing visible to the naked human eye to show where the Zipline air ended and where Bastet’s magic began, so I took a tentative step forward, holding my breath. Bastet trotted past me, her momentum raising her off the ground with each step, making it almost look like she was swimming through the air.

She turned to look back at me.
:Well?:

I tried to take a breath and there was air, glorious air! How is it possible that we take such a wonderful miracle for granted every second of our lives?

:Great Horus!:
Bastet cried.

“What? What?” I looked around frantically. What was wrong?

:Look!:
She was staring up at the sky. I followed her gaze and stared in horror.

“Hey, I can see my house from up here!”

It was not the time for levity, but I couldn’t help muttering the old line under my breath. The Earth hung over my head like a gigantic, blue and white marble. The contrast between it and the barren, black and grey landscape around me made the bright planet especially vivid and beautiful. I felt homesick, or perhaps just sick, knowing that there
was
no more home.

I had also just lied. I
couldn’t
see my house from up here. Mushroom clouds dotted North America, and the one covering central Florida was kind of blocking my view.

I felt lightheaded. “Holy crap,” I whispered.

:It appears that the humans are fighting back:
She had regained her calm.

I blinked rapidly trying to clear my vision and force a different reality into the view.

:We wonder what that will do to our Zipline?:
Bastet mused.
:Exiting in the middle of nuclear aftermath is not our idea of a ‘safe’ return:
She cheered up.
:Perhaps that will invalidate your contract!:

I looked at her like she was crazy. “Forget the contract! My family is gone!”

She studied the Earth again.
:Yes. You are probably correct. We doubt that they survived that blast, and if they did, the radiation will probably kill them quickly:

“Thank you for your concern,” I said dryly.

She cocked her head at me.
:You seem to be taking this well. Usually you run around yelling at people when you are stressed; are you in shock?:

I rolled my eyes and restarted my bouncing walk. I
was
trying to play it cool, but I was milliseconds away from a total emotional breakdown.

:You have a plan that you have not told us about!:
Bastet was surprised and triumphant.

“Maybe,” I answered.

:Maybe?:

“Maybe, as in, I’m not sure that it will work, but it’s the best thing we have going for us right now.”

:We knew it!:

“You did not know it.”

:The Oracle said you would save the Earth. We believed her. That constitutes
knowing
:

“You know that if this doesn’t work we’re dead?” I asked her.

She sobered up.
:Yes:

And there was the one fact that was keeping me sane through this whole ordeal. If my plan didn’t work, I was dead. I wouldn’t have to live life without Mark and the girls. Or give my baby over to be sacrificed. I would be dead. Funny when you put things in that perspective how calm you can be.

“We’re here,” I announced, stopping.

:There’s nothing here:

I closed my eyes and felt the magnetic tug on my brain. “This is it.”

I opened my eyes and looked around. Still nothing, just rocks and dust and greyness. I closed my eyes again and reached out with my hand to where I felt the spaceship to be. My hand formed to the cold smooth side.

:Hathor’s horns:
Bastet cursed quietly.

Now what? The info upload was beginning to fade, but I could still feel the internal clock ticking off the seconds to the explosion. We were almost out of time. If I couldn’t do what I had come to do in the next three minutes it wouldn’t matter anymore.

The blue smear of blood was still on my arm and I pressed that flesh up against the invisible ship. Just as I knew it would, the ship shimmered into visibility and a hatch lowered to touch the ground, sending up a small puff of moon dust.

I had no time to marvel at the complexity of the alien craft. No time to linger and stare at the technology, the glittery lights, the odd inhuman curves and designs on the inside. I was a woman on a mission, rushing past sights that scientists would give their left legs to study for only a few minutes.

Inside the ship, I followed the pull of my brain and went unerringly to the blank panel hidden in a dark corner of the ship. Another swipe of my blood-stained arm and the panel opened, revealing a soft, gooey-like pad.

Without thinking I plunged my hand into the gunk, letting it envelop my fingers and seep into my pores. It was cold and felt like I had jumped into a freezing pool of water. I gasped, but then it was into my brain and any physical sensation was forgotten in the shock of something touching my mind.

Alien/Karen had transferred to my brain all the information I needed to complete my task. It was child’s play to order the ship to abort its self-destruct sequence and then I gave the hidden command that I had bet not only my life and my family’s life on, but also the future of the world. Talk about high stakes!

The command went out from my brain pathways, down my arm, through my fingers, and out into the ship itself. And then everything went black.

Chapter Thirty-Two:

Three Months Earlier

I awoke two hours later, crushed under Mark’s arm, and sweating with our combined body heat. When I gently detangled myself, he flipped over on his other side and started to snore. I grinned and quickly threw on some sweatpants to go out and walk the dog.

Of course he was fast asleep on the couch and felt very mistreated to be dragged outside and forced to urinate in the middle of the night. He gave me a soulful look and slowly dragged his feet toward the back door.

I had just reached the sliding glass door when the events of the past three months erupted in my brain. I sank to the floor, holding my head. Holy cow! It worked! It worked! My hands went instantly to my belly; it wasn’t round and bulging, it was still flat and barely rounded. I stood up, reveling in my ability to jump to my feet without huffing and puffing, and did a little happy dance. Harvey was doing his own kind of dance so I quickly stopped my celebration and let him out into the backyard.

I started to follow him but then turned and ran to my daughters’ room. I had to see them again. They were both lying fast asleep, perfect, unharmed, and peaceful. I stifled a little sob and tiptoed out of the room before I woke them.

I still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but if I was right, there should be a figure silhouetted against the back fence. I stepped out onto the porch and searched for a split second before seeing it. That should mean that …

The screen door squeaked open behind me.

“Hey, Annabeth!” I greeted her, grinning like a crazy person.

“Hi, Piper,” she said in her soft voice.

“You can leave your clothes here,” I told her as she opened her mouth to ask permission.

She paused, a puzzled look on her face, but then said, “Thanks.”

A gentle breeze fanned my neck from behind and Cecily was standing on the porch. The first time this had happened it had taken me a while to realize that she was the figure I’d seen against the fence. I was way ahead of the game now. Months ahead!

“Piper,” she greeted me, eyes scanning the yard.

“Cecily!” I threw my arms around her in a hug. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you!” I pulled back, “Do you?” I was pretty sure I was the only one who remembered what had happened, but it didn’t hurt to check.

Cecily disentangled herself and also looked puzzled. “Are you okay?”

Annabeth slipped out of her dress and started to take off her bra. I closed my eyes but remembered that Mark hadn’t woken up that night and so there was nothing to worry about.