Born of Shadow - Book 1 (complete)

Chapter 11

"Are you sure? I hate to mess up your plans," Kami asked.

"It's fine. I didn't have anything planned today. Well, I did have a prior engagement with my bed involving lots of shut eye and possible drooling since I'm so knackered, but I suppose I can do without sleep a little longer."

She wished she were safely with her grandparents already, but it wasn't like she had a lot of options. There were no flights out of Cairo for several hours at least, and surely Liam and Haji needed to get home to their families soon. She couldn't ask them to camp out at the airport indefinitely. She just needed to get to her grandparent's house safely.

"Okay," she said. She tried to act nonchalant about it, but inside she felt relieved to travel with two guys who were familiar with the country. She still had her misgivings about being forced into this situation, but what choice did she have?

"Let's move out then," Liam said. They picked their way through the crowded airport and outside. She climbed into the backseat of the bulky black SUV and buckled up. She liked the way the leather seats smelled, like the vehicle was brand new. Liam sat in the passenger seat next to Haji.

Kami gave the directions to her grandparent's village to Haji. He was familiar with the area and pulled out a map to show them how Hamin was triangulated between Cairo and Alexandria, a few hours north of Giza and about fifteen kilometers south of Alexandria.

Haji veered into the congested traffic. Kami gripped the handle so tightly that when she glanced down, she realized her knuckles were white. She tried to relax, but it was next to impossible with the back-to-back traffic.

"Are you nuts?" Kami cried as Haji swerved around a bus packed with tourists.

"Relax, Kam," Liam said. "When you've got 20 million people living in a city designed for about 4 million, what do you expect? You have to be aggressive here."

They continued to make a herky jerky progress down the street, stopping every few seconds with a slamming of brakes. The six-lane road should only be three cars deep, max. Instead there were three cars on their left and two on the right.

Then a man walked right in front of them.

"Hello? Crosswalk?" Kami said.

Liam and Haji busted up.

"Good one," Liam said, tears practically streaming from his eyes. It wasn't that funny.

"Let me guess. There's no designated place to cross," she said.

"The girl's quick," Liam said. "You gotta love Cairo. It's controlled chaos."

Chaos? Yes. Controlled? She didn't buy that. At least they were protected by a thick barrier of metal by being in a car.

The SUV continued its tedious creep. They were surrounded by smog and pollution and a cacophony of horns that gave Kami a headache. Between closing her eyes and rubbing her head, she saw interesting bits and pieces of Cairo. Several vendors lined the streets laying out their wares. A woman stood out on a balcony beating a brilliant red and gold rug. The display windows reminded her of fashion boutiques back home, only the signs were written in Arabic as well as English.

She breathed a sigh of relief when they drove out of the city. They had only driven for about ten minutes when they came to Giza and slowed down. More traffic.

The SUV slowly drove down roads lined with trees with skyscrapers in the distance. Suddenly Kami gasped. A pyramid loomed in front of them. The juxtaposition between modern and ancient was cool but jarring.

"Impressive, eh?" Liam said. "That's not even the largest one. That's the second biggest pyramid—commissioned by Khafre."

"I've seen them on the internet, but it's not the same," she said. "How many people must it have taken to build the pyramids?"