Celtic Rose (30 page)

“Gabriel, I know what happened. At least, I think I do,” Kallisto said, slightly confused. He opened his eyes then and looked at her seriously, no hint of worry or joking on his face. “In the airport when I zoned out on you all, the enchantress...Mother came to me and told me everything would be fine. She comforted me and had me relaxed. You felt that, but I think she did something to me that would keep me calm through the traveling. As soon as my feet hit the ground here I seemed to wake up and now I feel fine.” Kallisto patted Gabriel’s chest where he still held her hand, and smiled at him. He smiled back and finally released her hand, practically vibrating with relief.

They traveled away from the airport and found the nearest city. It was surrounded by a wall, and was the only one left that still had aspects of ancient Egypt. It was perfect. As far as they could tell there was only one opening to enter and exit. It very nearly resembled the outside of the castle from their first life, but it was much larger. It didn’t just hold one castle and the housing of the guards and servants; it held a whole city. The walls went on for miles before curving around. Inside they couldn’t really tell the city was encased in a stone wall. There were many tall buildings, businesses, and houses everywhere.

The first thing they had to do was find a place to stay. What they found was basically a palace, but it’d been transformed into a beautiful hotel. They got rooms using the coupons they received from the hotel in Phoenix; Kallisto guessed they came in handy after all. The rooms were next to each other with adjoining doors and were more like apartments. Each apartment had two bedrooms.

Each room had a living room with an entertainment center complete with television, DVD player, video game consoles, DVD’s, and video games. There was a tan suede couch and matching recliners positioned around the entertainment center. Another huge chair faced the picture window that looked down into the square. The chair was big enough for two people to sit in, and it came with a foot stool.

Standing at the window Kallisto could see the center of the square. There was a beautiful fountain in the center with a statue of Anubis holding what looked like a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. People walked around the square dressed in Egyptian clothing; not the fancy formal kind, but the commoner clothing with veils for the women. The garments were beautiful. There were shops everywhere around the square. People were going in the shops and coming out with bags of different items. There were a lot of tourists traveling around the square taking pictures and buying souvenirs. Kallisto walked away from the window to look at the rest of the apartment.

The bathroom was huge. The tub looked like it was big enough for four people to sit it, maybe more. There were candles placed around it, unused. The sink was interesting. It looked like a blue bowl with gold Egyptian symbols and it was sitting in the middle of the table under the faucet. The table matched the bowl in design exactly. The faucet itself was golden; it ran up and then down to the bowl in a type of S shape. The handles for the hot and cold water were the shapes of hawks or eagles. The tub and the toilet matched the sink in the fact that they were blue with golden designs of Egyptian symbols all over them. The floor was blue tile with golden flecks. The walls were about the same color blue and there were designs of the Egyptian gods painted in gold all around the room.

Kallisto went into the bedroom to unpack with the other girls. There was a door between the two bedrooms that could be opened, and they could see and talk to each other while they unpacked. Both of the beds in the room were on the far wall of the room facing the door to the other room, and two four-drawer dressers were on the side walls by the beds. A table with a lamp on each side sat between the two beds. The walls were blue-gray in color and adorned with paintings hung all around the room. Royal blue comforters with gold vines running through them decorated each bed, while the sheets underneath and the pillowslips were royal blue satin; they were very soft and slick. By the closet stood a white and gold vanity with a beautiful mirror surrounded with golden vines, and covered with several perfumes, brushes, hair clips, combs, and makeup. There was even a paper telling women how to do the traditional Egyptian look with their makeup. Kallisto thought it would be nice to be able to blend in and resemble a native of the country rather than a tourist.

Gabriel knocked on the adjoining door; Kallisto opened their side. He walked in carrying several bags, and placed them on the couch.

“Come on out here, girls. I need to talk to you for a minute,” Gabriel said loud enough for them to hear, and they walked into the living room area. Talus, William, and Kalan came in from the other room. Ephiny went to William and they sat on the couch together. Ramina and Kalan sat on the floor in front of the couch. Talus grabbed Kallisto’s hand and pulled her to one of the chairs. He sat in the chair and she sat on the arm. They waited, looking at Gabriel expectantly.

“I have good reason to believe that the witch’s minions are somewhere here in Egypt. To be able to have any kind of safety out of doors, we’re going to have to be disguised. While you were unpacking I went to a store in the square and got us some disguises. These sacks hold all the items. There are many to choose from, and you won’t have to wear the same thing every day. Ours are in the other room. We’re going to need to go out tonight and look for the guide that was mentioned in the prophecy. I don’t know if we’ll find her tonight or if it’ll take a few nights, so we’ll stay disguised until we do,” Gabriel said, smiling.

They looked at each other and back at Gabriel. They had smiles on their faces.

“All right! We get to be super spies!” Kalan said ecstatically, and everyone laughed with him.

“We can do that, Gabriel. We even have instructions in our room on how to do the traditional makeup of Egyptian women. We’ll look the part in no time,” Kallisto said happily.

“Oooh. I can’t wait to see what you girls look like in those outfits and that makeup. I wonder if you’ll look as good as you did in the traditional Celtic clothing.” William looked at Ephiny.

“I bet we’ll look better than we did, even then,” Ramina told him. Ephiny stayed quiet with a shy smile.

Kallisto grinned. “I can’t wait to see what you guys look like in your clothes. From what I’ve seen outside it should be quite a sight.”

The guys grimaced, all but Gabriel, who smiled smugly, like he knew it was going to be a sight–at least for William and maybe the others, depending on how elaborate Gabriel decided to go.

“Now Gabriel, the guys have to be able to blend in with the locals, not stand out like circus freaks,” Kallisto joked.

“You know me better than that, Kallisto. They’ll blend, but they might blend with a different part of the culture than is usually seen,” Gabriel laughed. Somehow, Kallisto thought their clothes would blend just fine. He just liked to see the fear in their eyes. She shook her head, still smiling. Talus, William, and Kalan stared at Gabriel as though his teeth and claws had grown out again.

“Come on boys; let’s go see what Uncle Gabriel has for you.” Gabriel turned and walked through the door to their room. The guys stood up slowly and walked sadly to the other room. They looked like kids who’d just lost a puppy. Kallisto had to smile. They looked back, asking for help with their eyes–the girls just smiled and waved them on. They shut the door as they went through to confront their fate. The girls laughed at their expressions and turned to the bags Gabriel had left behind.

“Well, let’s see what we have so we can get ready for a night on the town.” The girls smiled at Kallisto and each grabbed a bag to go through. There were several blue outfits in the bag Kallisto chose; Ramina chose the bag with green outfits, and red outfits filled the bag Ephiny chose. The other three bags held clothing in yellow, purple, and black. Each bag held several garments in a single color throughout, so the bags were designated by color. They each chose garments in each of the colors. One bag had several different pairs of shoes and another bag had many different accessories to accent the clothing. They were definitely going to look the part. Kallisto chose a blue outfit for the first night’s festivities. Ramina chose a black one, and Ephiny chose a purple one. They dressed and then looked at each other. The outfit Kallisto had on was loose fitting on the arms and legs with sheer fabric in those places. The fabric that encased her chest was thick satin that hugged her curves, what little of them there were. The delicate areas were encased tightly in that type fabric, but the rest was sheer like the arms and legs. Kallisto’s stomach showed through the sheer fabric just below the thick satin until it reached her hips. The scarf that went with it was the same sheer fabric but did a good job of hiding her face, all except for the eyes. The sandals she chose to go with the outfit were like spun gold and matched the glitter in the outfit, defining it. Ramina and Ephiny’s outfits were made in the same fashion as hers only different colors. They all had golden glitter in them, and the girls chose golden sandals to match. They found several items of belly jewelry that were easily seen through the thin cloth, along with rings, necklaces, and earrings to match.

The next thing to be done was the makeup. They followed the instructions and made it look very natural and authentic, and when they were finished they looked in the mirrors and then at each other; everyone was very pleased with the outcome. All that was left was to wait for the guys. Kallisto couldn’t wait to see just what Gabriel had in store for them.

The guys finally made their way into the room. Talus was the first one they saw. He looked relatively normal. The pants he had on were white and a little baggy but nothing unsightly. The top he wore was blue, a little darker color than Kallisto’s. It was a pull over shirt that came to the middle of his thighs, with a white belt around the center of it and a slit in the top that came down to a point a little higher than mid-chest. The shoes looked like comfortable walking shoes. He was very handsome, even in the baggy clothes. Kallisto had seen others down on the street dressed like him. Kalan was dressed much the same as Talus, but his shirt was black and the pants had a tinge of grey, as did the belt. William was the one that had the more traditional Egyptian clothes. It was sackcloth that went over the head and came down to his ankles. He was frowning when he came into the room. He was completely covered and the clothing was baggy. Kallisto had seen many of the men looking like him down on the street as well. He had another piece of cloth over his shoulders that hung down to his ankles. His shoes were just like the others. He had a head wrap on and looked very much like a pale Egyptian.

The guys came in with their eyes downcast nervously and shifting uncomfortably in the unfamiliar clothing. Finally, they looked up. They saw what the girls were wearing and froze, their mouths dropping. Gabriel sashayed in behind them in clothing that made him look very much like a biker: black steel-toed boots, black jeans, a black t-shirt, a black leather jacket, and a bandana on his head. He was smiling as he walked through the others to stand in front of the girls. They were the ones gaping then.

“Now, why do we all have to dress like locals and you get to stick out like a sore thumb?” Kallisto said, standing. The movement must have done something interesting with the clothing because Talus took in a loud breath. Kallisto looked down and around herself to see if anything had come off. “What? Why are you looking at me that way?” she said placing her hands on her hips.

“Nothing’s wrong Kallisto. I’ve just never seen you show so much skin. It’s very... surprising.” Talus smiled nervously. Kallisto smiled but wasn’t sure they could see it through the veil.

“You like it, huh?” She put her arms up and made a slow circle to give him the full affect. He swallowed loudly. Gabriel laughed, reminding her of her earlier question. “So Gabriel, are you going to answer my question?” she asked, turning back to look at him.

“Sure I will, I was just waiting for the display to be over,” Gabriel said, muffling another laugh. “I’m not the only one that’s going to stick out like a sore thumb. You three are going to get so much attention that no one within this area is going to be able to not know you’re there.” He gestured to the clothing.

“Wait a minute. The joke was on us, not the guys?” Kallisto said shocked. She’d never thought in a million years that Gabriel would play a joke on any female. Gabriel chuckled.

“The locals here keep everything covered. The only women here who aren’t totally covered are the belly dancers and other entertainers.” Gabriel grinned evilly. She’d never thought to see that look on his face for anyone but William.

“What is this all about Gabriel? Why do you want us to stand out so much when you told us we needed to hide and blend in?” Kallisto couldn’t fathom why Gabriel would do something like that. She thought he was getting more open and kind in this life and she found herself wondering if he was just getting more cruel. Gabriel’s evil smile softened.

“I want you to stick out in the crowd as a test, but not so much that any of the witch and warlock’s people would be able to tell who you are. It’ll be dark when we go out so the tattoos won’t show through your sheer fabric; your faces are covered, and it’s very hard to be able to tell who you are from their point of view without seeing a full face view. They only know what your faces and tattoo’s look like; they won’t be able to tell beyond that. As for the guys, they’ll only know them by seeing them with you, but William has very distinguished hair in these parts. If one of them were to see Williams reddish colored hair they’d know who he was very quickly,” Gabriel said and turned to William. “I’m very sorry, William, that you have to dress this way but it’s more common to see those with headdresses in this type of clothing than it is in the clothing that Talus and Kalan are wearing. I promise I only did this for discretion, not for spite.” He turned back to Kallisto still smiling.

“Alright then, but what do you mean by a test?” she asked, still suspicious. He’d redeemed her faith that he was softening by being courteous to William, who still had his mouth open; not because of Ephiny now, but because of Gabriel’s courteous remark. She was still leery of the evil smile she’d seen on Gabriel; there had to be a reason for it.