Page 153 of Taming the Beasts

And honestly, I didn’t care about Kebe embalming vampires or any of that. There was a war going on outside the bank that apparently my boyfriends were doomed to lose. “How do we undo what you did with the coin?” I asked.

“You can’t really undo it,” Kebe said. “You have to cure it. If I can find what I’m looking for, that is.” She walked over to one of the walls to inspect the artifacts.

“Are you seriously expecting us to believe that there’s another magical cure in this vault?” I asked.

“Well, it would be the only cure in this vault. Because I clearly lied about the Anubis coin being a cure. Haven’t you been paying attention?”

Of course I’d been paying attention! I just didn’t realize that ancient Egyptian goddesses didn’t understand sarcasm!

“So what can cure them?” Emma asked.

Kebe kept scanning the shelves. “One of Baset’s possessions most likely. Baset created werecats. She did it so that there were creatures to help defend the pharaoh. But then she had this whole weird thing about how they could defend anything after sunset. Lies. Werecats are not invincible. She always exaggerates like that. Acting like things are a way bigger deal than they are. It’s a cat thing.”

“She’s the goddess of cats, right?” I asked.

“Mhm. Werecats were never meant to hold the role for very long. It was like serving in the military today. You served your pharaoh for a time and then the next men took your place so you could live a normal life. So there is an artifact that reverses the curse.”

She picked up a goblet, shook her head, and put it back. “Like all cats, Baset’s focus wanes a bit. Sorry,” she quickly added. “I meant likesomecats. But Baset really does have bad focus. So the item she created to reverse the werecat curse was done in the laziest possible way. It would reverse any curse put there by a god or goddess. I’m sure of it.” Kebe looked at me. “Cats can be very undiscerning if there is literally any kind of distraction. At least this cat goddess.”

Kebe picked up an instrument she’d told me about before. It kind of looked like an abacus I had when Iwas little. I used to love counting on it. But it was all metal without any colorful beads.

“Aha,” Kebe said.

“What is it?” Emma asked.

“A sistrum. It’s a beautiful musical instrument. Baset used to carry it around to ward off evil spirits. And to invoke her protective presence. This would be my best guess for a cure.”

“Your best guess?” I stared at her. “We can’t go out there with just a guess! We’ll be killed.”

“I know. Such naughty vampires that coin created.”

“Kebe, we need to know for sure it will work.”

“There’s no way to know for sure unless we try to play it next to one of the vampires or werecats.”

Emma stared at the sistrum. “What if it cures Zoey’s boyfriends but not any of the vampires? Then we’ll just have five more vampires in a few minutes.”

“But you’re forgetting how lazy cats are,” Kebe said. “Sorry. Some cats. Like I said before, Baset would have just made a generic cure. She’s never been bothered by specifics.”

“Can you like...go ask her?” I asked.

“Baset?” Kebe laughed. “No.”

“Why not?”

“We’re not exactly close. I may have said a few insensitive things about cats several decades ago and we’re kind of feuding right now. She really knows how to hold a grudge.”

Well, I was sure whatever Kebe had said about cats was very rude. Because all she seemed capable of doing was saying awful things about them. I mean, she’d literally come to Crooked Point with the intention of killingmy boyfriends. How the hell was I supposed to trust her now?

“How are we supposed to believe anything you’re saying?” Emma asked, voicing my thoughts out loud. “For all we know, you’re still trying to kill Zoey’s boyfriends. And if you have no idea how the sistrum works, it might hurt Callum too.”

“I would never purposefully hurt Callum,” Kebe said. “You know how much I care for him. I didn’t create him, but one of my creations did. He feels almost like a son to me. He’s one of the good ones.”

I really hoped that Callum didn’t start calling her “Mommy.” Because that would really give me the ick. And I’m sure it would give Emma the ick too. They’d only just gotten married. No one needed to be getting the ick right now!

“Every minute we stand in here debating what to do could be the minute that Huxley gets hurt,” Kebe said.

Did she think I didn’t know that?