Dianne Salerni - The Eighth Day

“That spell’s too hard to hold for more than a couple minutes,” she said. “It would have to be something else. Do you think you can remember a brief incantation in Welsh?”

“I’ll be freakin’ Harry Potter if you need me to be.”

“If I send you out to tell them I demand food or something, can you steal a candle and matches? If natural light hurts him, I can work with that.”

He nodded. “There’s candles on the tables in the courtyard outside this room.”

“They might kill us if we do this,” she warned him.

“So what else is new?”

AFTER SUNDOWN,Jax and Evangeline were moved from the hotel into one of the Land Rovers and driven down a cobblestone road to the Avenue of the Dead. Information on Teotihuacán swam up from Jax’s memory, although he would’ve sworn he’d never paid any attention to Extraterrestrial Evidence . There were three famous structures in this ancient city: the Pyramid of the Moon at the end of the avenue; the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, hidden behind hills almost a mile away; and the Pyramid of the Sun—the third largest pyramid in the world.

It was going to be one heck of a climb to the top.

Wylit couldn’t do it. His men had brought a sedan chair to carry their lord like a king. Heavy and wooden, with carvings on the legs and back, it was cushioned in red velvet and topped by a canopy. Two poles were bolted to the arms so that four men could carry it. When Jax saw Wylit emerge from one of the Land Rovers, he didn’t know whether to laugh or throw up.

The Kin lord had dressed himself like an Aztec king. He was bare chested, which exposed more of his flaky, peeling fish skin, and bare legged beneath a short skirt. To top it all off, he wore a headdress of feathers fitted around the carved wooden face of a serpent.

“This is bad,” Evangeline murmured. “He’s invoking the shamans of this place.”

“Aren’t they all dead?” Jax whispered.

“Encapsulated in an alternate timeline and snipped off from reality, but still here . . . in a manner of speaking.”

Jax shuddered, remembering how Evangeline had been in the coffin and not in the coffin at the same time. The people of this city had vanished waiting for a “next day” that never came. In a way, they were still waiting.

Up and down the avenue, men with guns were deploying on the tops of other structures. A pickup truck bumped along the concrete road on its way to the Pyramid of the Moon with a double-barreled machine gun in the bed. “What’s that?” Jax asked.

The nearest of Wylit’s vassals who wasn’t a Balin promptly responded, “Twin M2 Browning. By the orders of my lord.”

Jax had to smother a smile even though there wasn’t much to smile about. He hadn’t needed to chant a verse or even direct his question at that man. Evangeline’s magic buzzed at the back of his head, and he felt empowered.

They were ordered to start climbing, just behind the men carrying Wylit and ahead of the two Balin brothers. Jax glanced around discreetly, but there were enough armed vassals on site to block any escape attempt. Their path up the pyramid was illuminated by floodlights set up on the landings and powered by generators. After the first section, Evangeline struggled to mount the steep steps, and Jax carried the train of her gown. When he looked up to see how much farther they had to go, he spotted Tegan on the second terrace.

“A little help?” he called.

Tegan didn’t budge. “I’ve been up and down three pyramids today, sniffing out security. She can do one .”

Evangeline staggered onto the level surface and said, “You didn’t have to drag a wedding train behind.” She’d braided her hair to get it out of the way, but loose strands were plastered to her face and neck with sweat.

Jax hauled the white fabric up the steps and dropped it in a heap. “Have you sworn on with your new masters?” he snapped at Tegan.

“No,” she replied, looking Jax up and down with a sniff. “I’m not as stupid as you are.”

She smelled Evangeline’s spell on him. Jax watched her, not sure what to expect from her after five days as Balin’s pet bloodhound. But he’d never known what to expect from Tegan.

“My mom’s a Normal, you know,” she said.

Like, he hadn’t expected that. “No, I didn’t know.”

“She ran out on us years ago.” Tegan dropped her voice. “Doesn’t mean I want her snuffed out like a candle.” Then she gave Jax a strange, distant smile. “Did you know there’s a tunnel under this pyramid? Runs all the way to that smaller one on the other side of the ruins.”

Jax blinked. “Actually, yes,” he said, surprising himself. That TV show again.

“ They don’t,” Tegan murmured, glancing at Wylit’s vassals. “Very interesting smells, those tunnels . . .”

“Donovan,” barked John Balin, coming up behind Jax. He motioned with his hand for Tegan to continue up the pyramid, and Jax was gratified to see the climb had left even Wylit’s chief vassal breathless.

Tegan ran up the next set of steps, and Jax turned to Evangeline. She stared back at him. What had Tegan been trying to tell them? Could they possibly hope . . . ?

“Keep moving,” Balin growled.

Jax gathered up Evangeline’s train, and they ascended the towering staircase. When they reached the fifth terrace, there was still one more level to climb, a rounded hill of large stones sunk into cement leading to a level cobblestone surface on the summit.

Wylit’s men must have been busy all day. A table of dark wood and iron filigree had been set up like an altar. It had probably been stolen from the hotel, along with another table to hold the crate with the mummy. The locals were going to wake up on Thursday to some really puzzling paranormal activity on the pyramid.

Then Jax remembered. There wasn’t supposed to be a Thursday.

“My lord.” John Balin offered his arm to Wylit when the sedan chair was set down. “Take care where you step.” The Kin lord swayed as Balin guided him to the altar. I should take a running start and push him over the edge , Jax thought. He tightened his muscles and pictured himself throwing an old man off the top of a two-hundred-foot pyramid.

First kill’s the hardest . Miller had texted that to Riley.

But there were four men plus Balin between Jax and Wylit, and the pyramid didn’t drop off abruptly anyway. A good push would send the old man tumbling down the hill, where he’d roll a few yards and end up on the fifth level terrace, ticked off but still alive.

One of the men who’d carried Wylit to the summit directed Evangeline to the altar, while another one warned Jax to stay where he was with an outstretched hand.

Wylit surveyed the ruined city below. “Almost two thousand years ago, a mighty civilization vanished from this place,” he said. “A century after that, on the opposite side of the world, another civilization was confined to a prison made of time.” He turned on Evangeline. “Your ancestor betrayed us to our enemies. Why do you think he did it?”

She glared back at him. “The Llyrs and the Arawens were abusing their power, and too much blood had already been spilled trying to stop them.”

“I’m sure there was a great deal of blood spilled in the casting of this spell,” Wylit said, his lip rising in a sneer. The skin of his face crumpled like wet tissue paper. “Sacrifices were made.”

“No, I don’t think so.” Evangeline frowned.

“You believe Merlin, Niviane, and Arthur were too virtuous to cut a few throats? You are naive, child.” There was a mocking tone to Wylit’s voice Jax didn’t like at all. “And what constitutes a sacrifice? It’s not a sacrifice if the offering isn’t worth something to us, is it?”