The Vessel of Ra

Chapter 22: The Angel and the Sky

Carlo clutched at Lucy's fingers clamped down on his windpipe. He could not budge them. His head beat with pressure. Lucy's face transformed with Ra's cruel glee.

Drusus' hands sparked. Electricity shuddered through Lucy. Carlo's face went numb.

"Stop!" Lucy gasped.

"No," said Drusus. "By God, Ra, I will not allow you to take her!"

"Don't hurt me! Please, Drusus!"

Carlo peeled her hands away. "Not Lucy," Carlo croaked. "No emotions. Still Ra."

"Please, Drusus!" Lucy cried out. "Don't let Ra win!"

Carlo rolled away from Lucy, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

"I... don't know what to do," said Drusus. Electricity arced in his hands. "There has to be some other way!"

Damn Isis. She knew Lucy could not hold Ra all along. "Yes," said Carlo. What was it, this other way?

A sand spray gusted from the temple, scrubbing rock to smoothness. Balthazar charged after the sand. "Errant gods return to exile," said the guardian. "Ra, you are inside your mistress, but she is now your prison. There is no escape for you and she will not bend to your will."

Lucy circled her hands, a ramrod of darkness moving toward Drusus. The electricity he held broadened into a wall. The dark force collided with the blue light, and Drusus flew backward in the concussion. He landed on one knee and skidded across the stone ruins. His eyes glowed.

She is mine now, Ra said.

"Lucia is the child of Bartholomew Klaereon and Calpurnia Julii," Balthazar said over the static and sizzle. "Her parents were potent, powerful sorcerers. You cannot triumph over her. Soon, Ra, you will be a memory."

Above them, the sky creaked and groaned. A woman's silhouette, made of the night above them, unfolded herself.

"Nuit!" Carlo knew no one had heard his terrified squeak.

Nuit's long arm plunged down and pressed Lucy to the ground.

Ra shouted, You are my subject, Nuit. I command you to stop!

Lucy became still. Nuit pulled her arm back, the sky groaning like a wooden bridge in the wind.

Carlo crawled toward his friend. "Lucy?"

"She is well," said Balthazar. "Ra's death throes were necessary, but they are over."

"Ra's dead?" asked Drusus.

"No," said Lucy, sitting up. "Ra is inside me."

"Is she safe?" Carlo asked.

"Much safer than Ra being allowed to do as he pleases." Balthazar scowled. "He should have been Banished. Your father has much to answer for."

"He has already answered for it," said Lucy. She stood, her bearing more like Isis's than her own. "Carlo, my apologies for strangling you. It won't happen again."

Carlo's mouth gaped open. He turned to the efrit. "Balthazar, how can we know she's safe?"

"There is no certainty."

Carlo stepped in front of Lucy. "I will not allow you to hurt her."

"My lady will not allow me to," said Balthazar. "Against my better judgment, I leave Lucy Klaereon to her fate."

"I will be responsible for her," said Drusus.

"No," said Carlo. "We will."

"You have protectors aplenty, Vessel of Ra," said Balthazar.