that's what the old queens were signaling. Okay, she'd go with the flow of discovery.
"But where is the staff of Thoth Hermes?"
The word Philadelphia echoed in her mind in response.
"I've already been to the island of Philae, and it's not there," she said in a quiet voice, her patience straining. "Please don't send me back to the States to Philly."
"Under Ptolemy II Philadelphos," an out-of-body female voice whispered.
"Begun by the king of Ethiopia, on the site of the old temple," another whispered.
"The Temple of Dakka."
"Thank you," Damali said with an exasperated sigh as she turned and hurried outside.
Small fishing boats dotted the shore with splashes of prickly bushes and dried grasses. Deep yellow sand and earth covered her feet and clung to the hem of her white pants as she found the structure. The desertlike heat, however, was mercifully tolerable because of the off-water breeze.
She gazed up at the three floors of rooms and two terraces, deciding. Simply sensing her direction, Damali slipped into the entrance and vestibule, and made her way into the dark, musty space. Philae had given her a token of love via a rose quartz crystal. The temple of Isis promised epiphanies to come. Now all she had to do was navigate the isolated, dusty old building. The queens were deep, always answered spiritual questions in a riddle and in accordance with a cryptic numbering pattern. Three stops on this one. Damali froze. Three was the trinity, also representing man, woman, and child. Wholeness, healing. This structure had three floors. Okaaaay.
She raced up the steps and got to the top floor and counted three rooms to the right, working on a hunch. As she entered the dimly sunlit room, her eyes scanned the intricate friezes that were carved into the stone walls. Right in front of her face. A battle scene, a staff lowered over a king. The moment she neared it, the dual serpents on the scepter slid along the wall, making her jump back.
She watched the moving stone exit at the base of the wall with her hand readied on the hilt of her sword, but didn't move as two black snakes slithered along the floor, hissed at each other, struck, and then entwined in an erotic, pulsing dance. They separated so that a golden staff came between them and formed a large crystal ball at the top supported by a twined golden platform beneath it, and went still.
"Awesome," she whispered, not sure she was ready to go near the staff until the energy within it settled down. But she took a deep breath, moved toward the now all-golden instrument, and closed her fist around the smooth, round crystal globe.
Instantly, she was moving fast, everything around her blurred white, and she came to a hard stop on a grassy knoll. Majestic mountains were all around her. She glanced up at the strangely vivid blue sky that had two suns, one unnaturally iridescent, the other bearing down radiant solar heat. She scanned the horizon and slowly but surely, the mountainside wall gave way to the presence of two huge, black onyx sphinxes. Did she fall into the Valley of the Kings, or what?
Her heart beat fast, her nerves were wire taut. Even with her blade and a scepter on her, it wasn't about standing around waiting for something weird to jump off.
"Cain!" she shouted, hoping that he wouldn't materialize as something really freaky she'd have to fight.
Damali waited as she heard leisurely footfalls. She listened hard. No hoofs, okay, that was a very good sign. Two feet, not panther paws or something whack. No bat wings or the sound of leathery flight, a real positive sign. She clutched her staff tightly with one hand and her Isis handle with the other.
But her grip loosened as Cain came out of the entrance of what seemed like a temple. All he had on was a sheer swath of white linen casually tied at his hip. His broad chest was bare, his locks clasped back in a golden, scarab-studded band, his smile a serious weapon right through here.
"You came to me?" he said, his eyes appraising her without censure as he raised one knee, placed his bare foot against the onyx, and leaned against a sphinx base.
"Uh, yeah," Damali stammered, almost unable to look at him, he was so fine. "We need to talk."
"Be my guest," he said, his eyes constantly roving over her as he pushed away from the statue, gave her a slight bow, and waved