HalfWorlder #Wattys2017

Chapter 31-The space before a lightning strike

           

"Thank God you're okay, Gil." Mom grabbed me and pulled me to her.

My mind was a million places but in this moment I felt guilt mingled with my own pain. "I'm sorry I scared you. I got all your messages," I spoke into her shoulder. "But only a few days ago."

"Oh, honey." She pulled back. "Not even over-protective moms can mess with fate. It's okay." Tears spilled from her eyes. She was just grateful I was alive. "I'm so sorry." I knew she was talking about Alexandra.

She mussed my hair. Dad was still quiet. "I feel like all of this is my fault. I should have gone with you. I messed up the pattern."

Dad shook his head no.

"No. It's me. I was never supposed to get trapped here." He clenched his fists together and paced. "I was supposed to be waiting for you to arrive up there, to get you down here faster."

Anger and frustration were rippling off my normally mild-mannered father. "The Oracle told us to find the pattern from the sky. That it would reveal the path to the Aten. It was supposed to buy you enough time. She said every second counted."

Elaine walked up then.

"She was clear about it." His voice went quiet. "'The space before a lightning strike is all that separates doom from might.' That's what she said. That was my part. Instead, I got trapped here. I wasn't up there waiting! I am the kink." He pointed to the ceiling, to a place nearby in shadows. Another hole. The place he fell through.

"This place is caving in everywhere. All the decoy tunnels are collapsing."

Dad nodded. "I don't know how much that matters, but this, all this is my fault. We found the pattern, but we failed you."

"Joe," Elaine interrupted. "Don't blame yourself. This was all Khonsu's fault. He's the one who changed the pattern. Not you. Not us."

"What did ... did that animal do?"

"He pretended. He's like a chameleon." She dropped to her knees in front of me, her expression serious. Her dark brown hair was cropped short with military precision and her eyes were sharp and focused. "He came on the dig as a student and charmed his way into our circle. We thought he had such potential! But then I caught him with my computer going over the Bau traces we mapped and I knew. Of course he ran, but he had on a Bau tracer. We followed, and Joe and I we saw him duck into the Jaguar Temple. The rest, it seems, is history."

"We got lost," dad finished. "We fell out here. Then we got too close to the Aten and it trapped us for whatever reason. And we weren't up there to do our part like we were supposed to."

My mind felt numb.

This was all too much.

"It was Khonsu." Elaine said it again. "He led us astray. He changed the path. He is guilty of all this," she swept her hand around the room. "And more."

We were quiet then thinking of Alexandra.

And Wep, he was finally quiet too.

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I shielded my eyes from the sun as we emerged out the door of the jaguar tunnel. The staunch old temple had finally served its purpose. It could go on crumbling away now if it wanted to. All its secrets were being exposed to the light, one by one, as they emerged from its front door. Ra and Isis shook as they emerged into the sunlight. Time had destroyed much in their millennia underground. She had entered a pristine temple. The one she exited was falling down.