Page 20

FENELLA

F enella pressed her face to the SUV's window, watching the chaotic Cairo traffic.

The city blurred past in a kaleidoscope of colors, honking horns, and more people on the streets than she had seen anywhere else.

After the serenity of the village and then the long flight, the sensory assault was overwhelming.

Watching a motorcycle weave between cars with three people balanced precariously on its seat, she asked, "Is it always like this?"

"This is actually light traffic," Kalugal said from the front passenger seat. "Wait until you see rush hour. It's like watching a choreographed disaster that somehow never quite happens."

His driver, a stern-faced man named Ahmed, navigated the chaos with the calm of someone who'd long ago made peace with Cairo's anarchic traffic laws. They were in a convoy of three black SUVs, Kalugal's security detail split between the vehicles.

"How large is this city?" Fenella asked. "I mean people-wise?"

"The Greater Cairo metropolitan area has a population of approximately twenty-two million." Jacki lifted a stuffed toy Darius had dropped and offered it back to him. "But the city proper is home to about eight million."

That was a lot of people, and it seemed like they were all out on the streets.

"How far to your estate?" Din asked.

"Another twenty minutes, assuming no accidents block the roads." Kalugal turned to face them. "You'll love the house. It's an old Ottoman-era mansion I've spent a lot of money restoring."

The city gradually gave way to more affluent neighborhoods, the buildings growing larger and more ornate.

When they finally turned through a set of massive iron gates, Fenella felt like she'd entered another world. The estate was surrounded by high walls topped with decorative ironwork that concealed some very non-decorative security measures.

The house itself took her breath away.

Three stories of honey-colored stone and graceful arches, with intricate wooden balconies and windows screened by latticework. Gardens surrounded it, an oasis of green and serenity in the dusty, noisy city.

As their convoy pulled up to the main entrance, staff emerged from the house like a well-orchestrated welcoming committee. At their head stood a young man in his late twenties, slim and neat in pressed khakis and a white shirt, his smile bright and full of straight white teeth against olive skin.

"Professor Gunter!" He bounded down the steps. "Everything is prepared as you requested. The rooms are aired, and the meal is almost ready to be served, and I have gathered the items you asked us to locate."

It took Fenella a moment to recall that Kalugal used the pseudonym Professor Gunter when traveling, and she wondered if he was also shrouding his appearance to resemble his chosen avatar.

"Excellent work as always, Joseph." Kalugal clapped the young man on the shoulder. "Everyone, this is Joseph, who keeps this place running. Joseph, our guests."

Joseph dipped his head. "Welcome to Cairo. If you need anything during your visit, I am at your service. No request is too small or too strange. The professor has trained me well in anticipating the unexpected."

His English was accented but clear, and his grammar was correct.

When they were ushered inside, Fenella tried not to gape like a tourist. The entrance hall soared three stories high, with a fountain in the center and staircases curving up on either side.

The walls were covered in geometric tile patterns that seemed to shift and dance in the light filtering through stained glass windows.

"The bedrooms are on the second floor," Joseph said as other staff took their luggage. "The entire east wing has been prepared for your exclusive use."

Kalugal grinned. "What he means is that he's quarantined you away from my archaeological specimens and reference library. He lives in fear that guests will accidentally break something priceless."

"It happened once," Joseph said. "And the vase was already cracked."

"It was also three thousand years old," Kalugal countered.

Joseph shrugged as if to say it hadn't been his fault that Professor Gunter's guests were clumsy. It made Fenella like him immediately.

As they were shown to their room—a spacious suite with high ceilings and doors opening onto a shared balcony overlooking the gardens, Fenella set her bag on the bed. Annani's figurine was inside, and she was acutely aware of how precious it was and how carefully she needed to handle it.

"Dinner will be served in one hour," Joseph said from the doorway. "I hope it will give you enough time to freshen up." He dipped his head again and closed the door behind him.

Fenella sank onto the bed, suddenly feeling exhausted. The flight, the time difference, and the sensory overload of Cairo hit her all at once.

"You alright?" Din sat beside her, pulling her against his side.

"I'm tired and a little overwhelmed. It will pass."

"We can skip dinner if you want to. We'll just shower and get in bed."

She shook her head. "I'm hungry. The prepackaged meals on Kalugal's jet were not that great. I'm surprised that he didn't assign one of his guys flight attendant duties to serve us proper meals."

Din chuckled. "Or brought Atzil along."

An hour later, refreshed after a shower and a change of clothes, they gathered in what Kalugal called the small dining room, though it could have comfortably seated twenty.

The table groaned under the weight of dishes, and Fenella's mouth watered.

There was roast lamb, stuffed vegetables, multiple types of rice, flatbreads, salads, and other dishes that Fenella couldn't identify but smelled amazing.

"Yusuf, or Joseph as he likes to be called these days, grew up poor and hungry," Kalugal said as they took their seats. "That's why he's convinced that running out of food is the worst possible hospitality failure, and he always makes the chef prepare twice as much as needed."

"It all looks and smells amazing," Kyra said.

Jacki waved a hand over the offerings. "Let's eat."

"Don't mind if I do." Fenella reached for one of the platters and scooped a generous portion of rice with roast lamb onto her plate.

After they were finished and the staff had cleared the main courses, Kalugal led everyone to a spacious salon. "I'm curious to see what my team has found while we were gone."

"Shall I bring the items now, sir?" Yusuf, aka Joseph, asked.

"Please," Kalugal said. "But first, my guests are in dire need of strong coffee." He smiled at Kyra, who had started to doze off. "We are not done for today, my dear."

She shook herself. "We are not?"

"I want us to examine the figurines before we retire for the night."

"Of course." She straightened her back. "Coffee will be helpful, though."

A few minutes later, a server arrived with a tray of small cups that emitted a strong aroma of coffee.

It was sweetened with too much sugar, but whatever was in that stuff was like a booster shot of energy, and after finishing her cup, Fenella felt like she could dance the night away. Either that or have her way with Din on that beautiful bed in their room.

What they had done on the jet had been just the appetizer.

With coffee and dessert consumed, she half expected Kalugal to invite everyone to a smoking room, or maybe to the garden she'd seen from the window of her room, but he didn't. Instead, he opened the large wooden box that Joseph had put on the side table beside him and peered inside.

"Shall I take the items out?" Joseph asked.

"No need, thank you," Kalugal said. "We would appreciate some privacy, though."

"Of course, sir." Joseph dipped his head and ushered the rest of the staff out of the room, closing the double doors behind him.

Kalugal leaned forward conspiratorially.

"Yusuf used to be one of my diggers. He showed up at the site one day, skinny as a rake, claiming he had experience.

He didn't, of course, but he was so eager to learn, so quick to pick up English and adapt to whatever was needed.

I promoted him to site assistant, then house manager when I realized his real talents lay in organization rather than excavation. "

"He seems very capable," Jasmine observed. "An intelligent fellow."

"He is, and what's more, he might be a Dormant."

That got everyone's attention, and Fenella regarded their host with a frown. "What makes you think so?"

"It's just a hunch." Kalugal smiled. "Sometimes I get them." He turned to Din. "That's how I knew that David, Sari's mate, was a Dormant, and I brought him over to her as a gift with a ribbon on top." He pretended to tie an imaginary ribbon in the air.

Din snorted, and Fenella wanted to ask him what the heck Kalugal was talking about, but maybe she should wait until they were alone to hear that story.

"If you suspect him, why haven't you tested him?" Kyra asked. "With males, it's easy. All he has to do is fight an immortal for a minute or so to activate the immortal's venom glands and get bitten."

"Selfish reasons, I'm afraid." Kalugal lifted his coffee cup and took a sip. "If he turns out to be a Dormant and transitions, he'd need to come to the village. And I like having him here, running my house."

"That's not fair to him," Jasmine said.

"I know." Kalugal had the grace to look a little sheepish.

"The truth is that at first, I thought he had a wife and children because he told me he did when I hired him.

If he transitioned, he would have to leave his family, and that seemed cruel.

But it turned out he'd lied about that to get the job.

He thought I'd be more likely to hire a family man out of pity. "

"So now that you know he's single, why not test him?" Fenella asked.

"I keep putting it off, but Jasmine is right that it's not fair to him."