out, the East Harbor of Alexandria was so polluted from raw sewage that the divers who went in regularly were supposed to wear cautionary headgear and dry suits, though not all of them took that mandate to heart. Locals still swam in the stuff. Brief exposure was unlikely to infest me with parasites or turn me radioactive. And in the meantime…
In the meantime, my introduction to the scope of the project quickly distracted me from any inauspicious beginning.
I’d arrived too late in the day to make suiting up for a dive practical. But more than in the relatively shallow waters of the harbor—which is maybe twenty-five feet at its deepest—most of the work was being done by computer, and much of that was on shipboard. The following few hours became an enjoyable blur of information about latex molding techniques, aquameters, nuclear resonance magnetometers and sonar scanning. The archeologists really weren’t collecting artifacts from the sea and transferring them to some museum. They were mapping them, photographing them, sometimes raising them long enough to make molds, and then leaving them exactly where the assumed earthquake and/or tidal wave had once left them.
In situ.
I was so enthralled by the catalog of watery finds—sphinxes, statues, algae-covered pillars—that I almost forgot why I was there. Almost. Then Rhys reminded me that we had a dinner engagement for which I should probably clean up, and I remembered my real goal.
Isis.
Goddess grails.
And a supposed Grailkeeper whom he’d met, who’d said she would share the rhyme she’d learned about the location of the Oldest of the Old’s chalice. Hopefully in English.
Considering that someone had tried to run Rhys down a few days ago, not long after he’d spoken to this woman, he wasn’t the only person to suspect she might know what she was talking about.
The Hotel Athens, where most of the expedition was staying, had slotted me into a plain but neat third-story room, which I would share with a fortysomething Greek scientist named Eleni. It had two twin beds, one plain wardrobe, and a window overlooking trolley-car tracks with overhead wires that sparked whenever a trolley passed. As with many midrange European hotels, the bathroom and shower were down the hall.
I dressed as conservatively as before with the exception of sandals—my boots would take a while to dry. Since this was a social call, I decided to wait on rigging up a harness for my still nameless sword and instead left the weapon under my pillow. But I put my essential belongings—cell phone, money, matchbook—in a modest leather fanny pack, to keep my hands free. My passport had its own special pouch under my long-sleeved shirt. I pulled my hair back in a long brown braid.
And, after some deliberation, I put Lex’s damned ring back on. Things can get stolen in hotel rooms.
I hadn’t even been in the Arab Republic of Egypt for a day, but already I assumed that Mrs. Tala Rachid would be wearing a head scarf at least, maybe even a veil.
I assumed wrongly.
The vibrant, sixtysomething woman who greeted us when we arrived at her beautiful villa looked more Greek than Egyptian. She had beautiful black hair slashed with gray at her temples, which she’d drawn off her swanlike neck into a modest bun. Her knee-length blue dress would have been appropriate for the museum soiree I’d attended a few nights back. And, sure enough, she wore the sign of the vesica piscis on a beaded chain around her neck.
“Circle to circle,” I said softly, upon our meeting.
“Never an end,” she greeted—the correct response—and extended her hand to shake mine. A small blue cross, tattooed inside her wrist, peeked out from beneath the sleeve of her dress. “I’m pleased to meet you, Professor Sanger,” she said warmly, her accent exotic but her English impeccable. “Or should I call you Doctor?”
“Neither, please,” I insisted, trying to hide my surprise at her appearance and poise. She was, after all, a Grailkeeper. “I’m only a postdoc, it takes a while to earn tenure. And doctor still makes me think of medical professionals.”
“As a medical professional, I appreciate your modesty.”
Now I stared. “You’re…?”
“Dr. Rachid,” she confirmed, gesturing us into a luxurious parlor. “As was my mother before me—and her mother was a midwife. There are still some of us on this side of the world, Mrs. Sanger.”
Missus? Oh…the ring.
“Maggi is fine. I didn’t mean offense.”
“Of course not.” Gracefully, she managed to seat us before settling onto a sofa herself. She kept her knees together, her ankles crossed. Her posture was excellent. “My career is admittedly less common here than in the West. But even the Muslim women can practice as doctors.”
The…? “You’re not Muslim?”
“I’m a Copt,” she clarified, extending her wrist again so that I need not sneak a peek at the tattoo I’d only glimpsed before. Definitely a cross. “Coptic Christian.”
Hello. While Christianity in Rome wasn’t sanctioned until the fourth century, it had flourished in Egypt from its very beginning—yet another reason that we’d passed the first monastery. Early writings such as the Gnostic Gospels had also been recovered here.
Rhys said, “The Copts, though a minority now, are the Egyptians who can most directly trace their lineage back to the Pharaohs.” Like Cleopatra?
“And to priestesses of Isis?” I guessed, with a shiver of comprehension. “That’s how you can help us find her chalice.”
Most of the Grailkeepers I’d met, myself included, had learned special nursery rhymes as children. Those rhymes held within them the riddle to where their mothers’ mothers’ mothers had hidden their ancestral grails. Maybe it was the dry heat, or the faint scent of tropical flowers in the air, but I could easily imagine this woman’s ancestors protecting holy relics in the court of Pharaohs.
“Precisely,” said Dr. Rachid. “The truth of the cup’s location has been in my family for centuries.”
“Then the divers are looking in the right place?”
She nodded, but her smile was mysterious. “One could say that. But before I share what I know…I’m afraid I must ask you for some assistance.”
I looked at Rhys, whose brows furrowed. “You said you wanted to meet her,” he protested. “You didn’t say anything about favors.”
“I apologize, but I had to make certain she is as competent as you told me.” Dr. Rachid nodded, seemingly to herself. “And clearly she is.”
My throat didn’t tighten with any premonition of danger, but my bullshit meter was sure in the red. “How could you possibly tell my level of competence just by shaking…my…?”
Oh. My hand. Whatever force the Melusine Grail had imbued me with, Dr. Rachid seemed to have sensed it.
I probably should have asked if she, like Munira at the bazaar, thought I was some kind of champion—but damned if I could force the question out. It was too overwhelming an idea, way too big a responsibility to handle while jet-lagged. Instead, if only to avoid that particular elephant in the corner, I asked, “What kind of assistance?”
“Ah.” She ignored me to stand as her maid showed another woman, holding a notebook, into the room. “Jane. I’m so pleased you’re here.”
“Tala.” If the woman’s red hair, spattering of freckles, and blue jeans hadn’t given her away as a Westerner, the blunt edge of her East-London accent would have. I guessed her to be about my age, maybe a little older. “Father Pritchard, it’s good to see you again.”
I arched a look at Rhys. Father Pritchard? And here I thought he’d stopped practicing.
“I’ve been volunteering as a counselor when I have time off,” he explained, low. “I do have training,