Reckless

Chapter 13 Part 2

Present Day

Character POV: Roxanne

The sun has set and the temperature has plummeted. I can see thousands more stars out here than I could elsewhere because of the desert that branches out around Siwa Oasis. There's less light pollution that the night sky has to contend with. But that's the only good thing I observe because my entire body is shaking and shivering by the time I pull the car to a stop in front of a rock outcropping and turn the car off, pulling the keys out of the ignition and pushing the door open. Once I've stepped outside, I turn and lock the car manually.

My back is turned to the rock outcropping, and I am completely oblivious to my surroundings. A musical voice from behind me makes me jump and jar my bad leg, causing me to yelp in pain as the voice says, "I was wondering how long it would be before you showed up on my doorstep." I whirl around, and I see none other than Arsinoe standing there in front of me.

Her kinky black hair is almost completely covered by a loose headscarf, her black dress loose and flowing and revealing nothing about her shape and form. She is almost entirely unrecognizable from when I saw her in ancient times. I can see her as she used to appear, her hair pulled back in the Hellenistic style, strung through with pearls. The rest of her looked more classic Ancient Egyptian. Her arms had intricate bangles with ducks on them, a broad collar of gold and lapis lazuli that was so heavy that it needed a counterweight. She used to wear a flowing almost sheer white pleated dress, at odds with the clothing fashions of Alexandria when I knew her during the era of the Roman Empire.

The one thing about her that looks the same are the lines of kohl around her eyes, still with the elongated lines even though that has gone out of style in favor of cat eyes and other curved ends to eye liner designs. Her golden eyes bore into me, lighting up her golden honey-colored face even in the dark, as she just gives me a hard look and waits for me to say something more. There's something ancient and authoritative about her, a presence that understandably conflicts with someone like Analize. And, for someone like me, makes her almost unapproachable. I blurt out, "I need your help. Analize does not know I am here, why I am here, and I would like to keep it that way." I hold my breath as I wait for her reply, expecting her to tell me to go back the way I came.

Instead, Arsinoe just gives me a long look like she's deciding whether or not she's going to help me, and then she gives a slight dip of her head and nods in the direction of the rock formation as she says, "Follow me." She turns her back to me and slowly makes her way across the section of dunes that separates us from her hidden home.

I let out the breath I was holding and follow after Arsinoe, my feet sinking into the sand and making me take twice as long to cross over to the rock than it would have taken if I were walking on any other type of terrain. I feel sand slip through the gaps in my boots, and I feel it fill my socks. Internally, I groan at the realization that these socks are pretty much ruined forever.

As I struggle to make my way up the dune, my leg begins to throb, becoming almost impossible to move. I should not have taken so much of my day trying to relax and explore Cairo. I should have just gotten on with things and come straight here. Despite my best efforts, I have to stop half-way. I bend over, closing my eyes against the pain and reaching down with my right hand to try and rub the pain out of my leg while I work on my breathing to help me cope with the pain. My head is throbbing from the withdrawal, my body shaking from cold, and my stomach roils within me. I feel it rising inside of me, and I have just enough time to turn to the side as the meager contents of my stomach comes out onto the sand.

A hand on my back, rubbing soothing circles, makes me jolt upright. For the second time tonight, Arsinoe has startled me. Her eyes flash with sadness as she looks me up and down. Silently, she offers me her arm. My cheeks burn with shame as my pride is dashed. Still, I give her a nod of thanks as I link my arm through hers and allow her to help me limp up the rest of the dune. It's only about five feet to the rock, but each step, my legs shake more and more until I've almost sure that she's going to have to drag me into the space by my ankles.

Right when it looks like we're about to run right into the rock, the air begins to crackle with what feels like static electricity, the air moving in front of my eyes almost like a mirage at night, and then the illusion completely cracks, revealing a black tunnel into the rock. We step down the small passageway, past the bones and remains of various snakes and insects, telling me that her illusion also has a defensive element, keeping out anything that is unwanted.

It's ten steps before the tunnel widens into three chambers carved into the rock. The biggest one is almost like a living room combined with a kitchen. There is a bright patterned blue u-shaped floor sofa taking up the lefthand side with a squat little table in the middle of it. Arsinoe walks me over to the couch, and I basically fall into it as she steps away from me. She walks out of the room, leaving me shivering on her furniture, trying desperately to stop my entire body from shaking but having absolutely no success. After a few torturous minutes, Arsinoe hovers back into view, a blanket thrown over her shoulder, a glass of some green liquid in one hand, and a trashcan in the other.

She walks over to me and places the trashcan right next to me, handing me the glass of green liquid before she spreads the blanket out over me. I watch her with stunned silence, not sure what to make of her acts of kindness. We haven't spoken for three millenniums, and yet she acts like we are the best of friends. Analize would be throwing me outside in disgust and chastising me for daring to disrupt her in this condition. She walks over to her kitchen and sets the bottle down on the counter as she calls over her shoulder, "That potion I just gave you will speed up the withdrawal process. By tomorrow, you will be able to drive back and fly out of here. You can stay here tonight, because I will not be responsible for you dying on the way back."

"Thank you," I murmur around the rim of the glass cup before I tilt it back and take a sip of her potion. I almost gag at the sharp taste, but I force it down. The minute it hits my stomach, it soothes, which prompts me to take another long sip of it despite the awful taste.

Arsinoe slowly removes her head covering, putting it down on the rock-cut counter. When I've drunk about half of her potion, she starts speaking to me again. She drags her golden gaze back to me as she says, "I heard that Ariadne was back on the scene. Word like that spreads across the globe like wildfire. I wondered how long it would be before you would need someone to bounce something off of, and heaven knows that wouldn't be Analize." I smirk despite the way my body aches. Arsinoe crosses her arms over her frame, the sleeves sliding back and revealing her old duck bangles, a hint of her history and how her love for her country hasn't changed despite the overhaul in values and depictions. She purses her lips before she nods in my direction and says, "So, why don't we get down to business while you can still talk. Why are you here?"

I hold up a finger in a gesture for us to pause as I tilt my head back and chug down the rest of her potion, belching despite myself at the end and muttering as I press my hand to my mouth, "Excuse me." She just stands there, waiting for me to get on with it. I lower my hand from my mouth as I tell her flatly, "I need answers. You are the best diviner and scryer that I have ever met. I was hoping you could get me those answers, that's why I brought the water. It's not the lake as it used to be, I know. The lake has dried up mostly, but the river that is connected to the current body of water was connected to the ancient lake, so it's as close as I can get to being the same waters," I mutter, looking away.

She smirks as she nods to herself. "It also doesn't hurt that I am the only diviner left," she muses, and I smile a tight grin at her. She turns towards the bottle of water and says over her shoulder, "Alright, I'll do it. Sit tight." She pulls out a bowl and pours the water into it. She has her back to me so I can't see every little thing she does. I hear her muttering words under her breath as she leans over the water. She stands up then and calls over her shoulder, "I need more. I'll be right back."

I say nothing as she walks into theback chamber.