Innocents & Demons by Holly Jahangiri

Author:Holly Jahangiri
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror, drama, humor, speculative fiction, psychological
Publisher: Holly Jahangiri

The old woman led her daughter through the Temple of Karnak. “I don’t know why, Charlotte, but I have always preferred Luxor by moonlight. Perhaps it is the shadows the obelisk casts, or perhaps...” She paused, then shook her head as if to clear the memories. “Tomorrow we go to the Valley of the Kings.”

“If you’re up to it, Mama.” The younger woman held the older woman’s elbow, steadying her.

“Impertinent brat,” muttered the mother, yet there was nothing but affection and indulgence in her tone. She stood a little straighter, lifted her chin, and said in a clear, steady voice, “Of course I’m up to it!”

That flash of blue defiance in those eyes! Ah, it stabbed me in the heart. I flattened myself against the cool, stone wall of the Hypostyle Hall; but of course, she wouldn’t know me after all this time. Her mind would not accept, and her eyes would move on. I kept still...

“You, there! Come out of the shadows.” Amalia looked at me sternly. “I won’t stand for this skulking around. I know that you are following us, and I demand to know what mischief you’re about, young man!”

Young man! I choked on laughter; tragic as it was, it struck me terribly funny that she, who was but a child to me, should call me young. I stepped out of the shadows, smiling. I held out my hands, palms upward – see? No tricks up my sleeve, no mischief here. Just a little illusion, a folding of the fabric of time – but would she know me for who and what I was? I held my breath.

“Senet?” she whispered. “It can’t be, and yet...”

Her daughter looked thoroughly perplexed. “You know this man, mother?”

“She knew my father, I think.” I smiled, and winked at Amalia. She nodded. “That’s right. I’m an old woman, I forget that that was then and this is now... You look so like your father,” she said, sighing. She reached out one wrinkled, arthritic hand and stroked my cheek. And then, my heart leapt with wonder! She smiled slowly, understanding dawning like the sun upon her face - she winked back. My heart felt light as a cloud, heavy as a lead weight.

The next day, we visited the Valley where she and I had walked and talked and made love so many years ago. Her daughter’s eyes were filled with wonder as Amalia told her vivid tales about her grandfather and her own experiences as a young girl, working at the dig site. She did not mention me, and I gathered from their conversation that Edgar had died nearly two decades earlier.

Why didn’t you come back? I longed to ask. I waited...

Charlotte climbed the stairs to the majestic tomb of Hatshepsut, leaving me alone with my beloved Amalia. She took my hands in hers. “I had a good life, Senet. A good, long life. Oh, don’t look so grieved to hear me say it; to me, it was a good, long life.” She grinned, but a moment later, a cloud passed over her face and dimmed its radiance.

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