Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (The Theodosia Series Book 1) by R. L. LaFevers

Author:R. L. LaFevers [LaFevers, R. L.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2008-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

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 artifacts 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. And the director of the Antiquity Institute.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.