Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by Robin LaFevers

Author:Robin LaFevers [LaFevers, R. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Andersen Press Ltd
Published: 2022-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAOS RISING

I woke up to the sound of sawing. Well, it sounded like sawing. When I managed to pry my eyes open and look around, I saw Isis raking her claws on the door, trying to get out. She’d left big raw gashes in the wood. Father was going to kill me.

I leaped out of bed. She took one look at me, arched her back, and hissed ferociously. Clearly whatever magic I’d woven last night was gone this morning. Heart sinking, I opened the door and watched her dash out of sight.

My eyes were gritty with sleep, so I washed my face, then changed into a clean frock.

Starving, I hurried to the sitting room to start breakfast, hoping Mum had thought to bring some supplies from home. When I reached the sitting room, I stopped to sniff. ‘Is something burning?’ I asked Henry.

‘No. Mum’s making us breakfast,’ he said, fidgeting and banging his heels on the bottom rung of his chair.

‘But Mum doesn’t cook,’ I reminded him.

‘Well, today I decided to,’ Mum announced as she carried a plate of charred toast and an eggcup over to Henry. ‘I’ve neglected you horribly for months. I want to make it up to you.’

I stared at Henry’s blackened toast. By poisoning us?

‘I’ll start one for you.’ She went back to the sideboard and slipped a thick piece of bread onto the toasting fork. ‘How many eggs would you like?’

I watched Henry pick up one of his blackened toast strips and boink it against his egg. He frowned. It was supposed to dip, not boink.

‘Only one,’ I said, my eyes still glued to Henry’s plate.

‘Coming right up, dear.’

Henry boinked his toast once more, then gave up. He picked up the egg and took a bite.

‘Mum?’ I asked.

‘Yes, dear?’

‘How do you decide which artefacts to bring back with you when you’re on a dig? You mentioned that you had to leave lots of things behind, so how do you choose?’

‘Oh, I don’t know. Sometimes it’s because we don’t have anything else like it in the museum, or it might be one of a kind. Mostly I just rely on instinct.’

Ah! Perhaps Mother was mistaking a tingle of warning for an instinct. Surely this ability of mine came from somewhere. ‘Instinct?’

‘Hm-hm. I let my instincts guide me as to which will make the most striking exhibit.’ She carried a plate and eggcup to the table and set them in front of me. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Just curious.’ I stared at my egg for a moment, then lifted my spoon and sliced off the top. Just as I feared. Hard as chalk. ‘Do you ever get the willies when you’re down in the tombs? Just you and all those ancient relics?’ I asked.

‘What a ridiculous question! Of course not.’

‘Who actually knew about the Heart of Egypt, Mum? Knew that you’d found it?’ I took a small bite from an un-burned corner of toast and began to chew.

‘Well, there was the work crew, Nabir, Hakim, Stanton, and Willsbury.

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