Going for Gold by Annie Dalton

Author:Annie Dalton [Dalton, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lazy Chair Press
Published: 2013-07-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Khamsin’s relations lifted her father’s corpse on to a stretcher and carried it out of the house.

I could hear them going down the street, howling and wailing in a display of totally fake emotion.

The old woman hovered, saying the usual things. Khamsin’s dad’s troubles were over. He was going to be reunited with his wife in the Field of Reeds. Eventually she left. Then Khamsin lay down on the roof and cried until I thought she’d make herself sick.

After a few minutes, I felt a strangely familiar vibe. For a moment I actually wondered if there was another angel in the area.

I heard a husky mew, and glanced up in time to see a small skinny cat bound across the narrow gap between Khamsin’s house and next door’s roof.

Like the kitty Lola rescued at the temple, this one had cute tufty ears and spotted markings. She came straight to me first, making the most hilarious little squeaks, like she’d been looking for me all around Seshet and was incredibly excited to have tracked me down finally. I knew she was really just attracted to my cosmic vibes.

Next she trotted over to Khamsin and started purring like a small generator, rubbing her head lovingly against her cheek.

I remembered the way my nan’s cat would make a fuss of me when I was upset. It always helped, like it was helping Khamsin now.

Gradually her sobs quietened down.

I don’t know how long we stayed like that - long enough to see three shooting stars streak down silently through the dark.

Cleopatra’s messengers had probably gone back to their barge by this time. Maia would be hanging around the market place impatiently waiting for me to come back. To be honest I didn’t give her much thought. I was concentrating all my energies on Khamsin, talking to her softly, reminding her she had an entire cosmic agency looking out for her, in addition to her local gods.

I was hoping to avoid a rerun, you see, of what happened to Sky. She’d been hurt just one too many times. Her dad walking out, her mum going nuts, then her best friend getting knocked down by a hit and run driver - it was too much for a vulnerable thirteen-year-old to take.

No wonder she gave up on herself, just like the PODS had been hoping.

Would Khamsin give up on herself now she’d lost her only loving parent? Afraid to know the answer, I just kept talking, trusting that my spangly new birthday vibes were getting through.

A fourth shooting star shot down from the heavens. This time I shivered. The Universe is full of these huge glittering comings and goings, but did anyone have the slightest idea what any of it actually meant?

I heard a rustle as Khamsin dragged herself into a sitting position. She looked around her in a daze, seeming amazed to find her world still in one piece. The kitty jumped up on her lap and Khamsin absently stroked her without thinking.

A zillion lovely scents wafted up to us from the Street of Perfume Blenders.

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