Get out your popcorn, tourists beware, here comes a paranormal adventure with a historical twist, set in Egypt--and Britain.
From Chapter 29 'Darkness': 'Did I just try to dive into that goo to get at a dead guy?' Trueth asked.
Define dead,' Me...
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Do you realise—if you put your life on the line somebody else will have to pick up the pieces?
Trueth shook out of her trance. There was a voice in her head other than her own. A male voice. She tentatively thought What?
You understand me just fine. Giving up is not acceptable.
Trueth squinted into the dusky desert and saw nobody. It is acceptable to me.
The voice continued relentlessly. No, it isn't. You have no idea what you're doing—or thinking. But your ka does, which is how I spotted you. Do you have supernatural speed or what? You managed to run far beyond the zone where they're searching. Nobody will find you here.
Despite her exhaustion Trueth felt the first stirrings of anger. Fine, then unfind me but leave me some water. And get out of my head.
'I can do the latter, but as to the rest—I won't.' A young Arab in a nightshirt came round the rock where Trueth had found shelter.
I'm no Arab. Nothing against them but I'm Egyptian. And I'm not wearing a nightshirt either but a galabiya. You really have no clue, do you?
'Will you get out of my head!' Trueth would have strangled the man but her strength had evaporated. The Egyptian Arab—he raised his eyebrows above his aviator sunglasses—or whatever he was, came closer and she recognised the professor's son.
The man handed her a missile-sized Thermos flask. 'Drink, but take only little sips, you are badly dehydrated.'
A lukewarm fluid slid down her throat, and her body screamed for more. It tasted pleasant but it was not water. Trueth wiped her mouth and watched her hand in horror.
'That is ... blood!' Trueth nearly jerked the Thermos into the desert.
'Are you mad?' Nightshirt asked her. 'This is karkadi, tea made of Hibiscus, we like it a lot. I had nothing else around when I dashed off to help you.'
Trueth conceded to down more of the gunk. She slowly revived and with it came a feeling of unease. The situation was surreal. She was drinking something from somebody she had never met before who had been talking in her mind.
Or so she thought.
One of them was certainly mad. She had to be cautious. To make it worse, he had the type of Latin lover good looks she liked to see on screen but not towering above her. That guy had got far too close for comfort.
Trueth drank more of the strange tea. 'What are you doing here?'
'Well. I couldn't exactly let you die of stupidity, could I?'
She had regained enough energy to become agitated and rose to face the long-shirted menace. Finally, a familiar and unwelcome heat rose inside her, burning the back of a throat still raw from her flight. 'This is none of your business. You have no idea, no right ...'
