Chapter 25

The yeti froze, its thick fur blowing wildly as it stared at her for a moment before it sniffed the air, then spun and disappeared into the trees.

Silence surrounded them when the thunderous footfalls died down. Snow continued to fall, dampening any natural sounds of the forest.

"Paige?" Dewey called.

Paige's chest heaved as she sucked in deep breaths of the icy cold air. She glanced around in search of her attacker, her brow furrowing. "He's gone."

"Yeah, and I'm not complaining. Let's get the snowmobile back up and get out of here."

"Right," she said, still staring into the woods in search of the snow beast.

After a moment, she swallowed hard, wresting the snowmobile from the snowbank and restarting its engine.

She climbed aboard and revved the engine. "Nestle in. We're going all the way to the airstrip."

"You got it," Dewey said, bumping against her back as he shifted around in the carrier.

Paige gunned the engine, sailing away and finding the road. After twenty minutes, she passed her now snow-covered vehicle, continuing on toward the airstrip.

The snow slowed and came to a stop as they traveled farther south toward the airfield. Within five miles of the runway, the snowmobile sputtered and died.

Paige swung it into the trees, climbing off. "Guess we walk from here."

"How much farther?" Dewey questioned.

"Maybe four, five miles," Paige said as she trudged along the edge of the road. "There's a lot less snow here. Let's hope we can take off."

"I'm really looking forward to being in Egypt after this."

"Are you cold?"

"I'm cold, but I'm okay. I'm not freezing like I was before. Your scarf is keeping me nice and toasty. And I'm sure the adrenaline helped."

"I really thought we were dead back there."

"When we hit the snowbank and the yeti charged us?"

"Yep," Paige said with a nod, readjusting the carrier on one shoulder and her tote on the other. "Why did he run away?"

"Maybe he got too cold."

"He's an abominable snowman. I'm not sure that can happen."

"No idea. Maybe your purple skin."

Paige lifted her chin as the air around them warmed considerably. "He saw that in the mine and still attacked us."

"Maybe you looked scarier in the moonlight."

"Oh, maybe he thought I was one of those glyphs."

"What?"

Paige twisted to glance over her shoulder. "Glyphs. The beautiful purple ladies."

"Oh, Valkyries."

"That's right," Paige said with a grin as she veered off onto the road leading to the runway. "Are Valkyries scary?"

"I guess the case could be made that they are. They're pretty dangerous in addition to being beautiful."

Paige's smile broadened as she spotted the plane in the hangar and quickened her pace. "That's me. Beautiful and dangerous."

"Don't forget mysterious."

"Right. Paige Turner, beautiful, mysterious, and dangerous."

"You should put that on your SupNet profile."

"Mmm, I'll get right on that the moment we're on the plane."

"And headed somewhere warm," Dewey murmured.

Paige rubbed her gloved hands together as she strode into the hangar, imagining the heat of the desert sands. "Let's go to Egypt!"

Within twenty minutes, they were settled in the warmth of the plane, the engine roaring and awaiting de-icing before takeoff.

Paige emerged from the bathroom and plopped onto the couch, stretching out under the blanket. "Still purple."

Dewey glanced up from the article he was reading on the RP. "Yep. But at least you're no longer half frozen."

"Thank goodness for small mercies," Paige said as she tucked the blanket tighter around her. "And we're not lying dead in the middle of the Ural Mountains getting all covered in snow so some random hiker can stumble upon our bodies in the spring thaw."

Dewey arched a fleshy eyebrow at her. "Whoa, that was oddly specific."

"What's even odder is the fact that we're still alive."

"Why do you always knock our abilities? Quite personally, I'd like to think we survive on our wits and savvy."

Paige scrunched her nose and stared at him. "Wits and savvy? I don't have either of those. I'm a klutz. But you're missing the point. Why do these creatures always come rushing at us on the verge of killing us and then just run away?"

"You got me," Dewey said, returning his attention to the RP. "But I don't mind it."

Paige let her head fall onto the pillow behind her. "I'm not complaining either. But it would be nice to figure it out."

"Figure this out. The Crystal of Increased Energy is somewhere in Egypt."

"Okay. What am I figuring out?"

"Where is it?"

Paige craned her neck, her chin hugging her chest. "Like in all of Egypt?"

"Yeah."

"How should I know?"

"Well, you wrote it. You said Egypt! Could you possibly have been any more specific? Where did the pixie say it was?"

Paige pushed herself up to sit and motioned for the notes on Dewey's lap. "Luxor, I think. Let me see those notes. I'm pretty sure I wrote it down." She scanned the scatter of words on the paper before she poked at one. "Right here, see? Luxor."

Dewey shot her an unimpressed glance as the plane barreled down the runway. "Right, Luxor. Just sitting in the city center? Or is there a specific building?"

"Not in Luxor. Just near Luxor."

"Near? How near? What are we looking for here, Paige?"

Paige shoved her glasses up her purple nose and offered a timid smile.

Dewey let his eyes slide closed. "You don't know."

"I figured we could ask around when we get there."

"Right. That's a perfect idea. You, a purple woman, and me, a teal dragon, can ask the locals if they've seen a giant magenta crystal lying around anywhere."

"That's not what I meant. Plus, I figured we could use the flight to research. Isn't that what you do best?"

Dewey narrowed his eyes at her. "So, in other words, you'll go to sleep and I'll research."

"I'll help," Paige said. "Look up tombs around Luxor."

"Tombs around Luxor?" Dewey asked.

"Yeah. I got the impression from what I read that a Pharaoh had this thing at one point. So, I'm thinking it's in a tomb there."

Dewey tapped around on the RP, pulling up information. "You're lucky I'm good at research." He scrolled through the list before he counted off the tombs on his fingers. "Okay, Valley of the Kings is right outside of Luxor, and we've got sixty-three tombs and chambers."

"What are some of the names?"

"King Tut," Dewey said, glancing up at Paige.

She shook her head. "No, what's another one?"

"Ummm, Ramesses II."

Paige wrinkled her nose, and Dewey let his shoulders slump.

"You have no idea, do you? You're guessing."

"I barely looked at the information on this. I figured the Russia trip would be so much easier than it was, and I could just figure it out now."

"Well, start figuring, Paige, before we're roaming around Egypt, sweating to death, and some sand monster beats us to it."

"Sand monster? Are there sand monsters?"

"Have you seen The Mummy?"

Paige's eyes went wide. "No."

"Really? I thought you were a movie connoisseur? I can't believe you've never seen The Mummy. That's really surpri–"

"I've seen the movie. What I mean is, I can't believe there are mummies."

Dewey stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed. "Really? That's a stretch?"

"Come on. Ancient entities wrapped in bandages running around the desert?"

"We literally just ran into two yetis, and you can't get on board with the idea of mummies."

"Okay, fine. There are mummies. So we'll have to avoid the mummies, too. This isn't helping. Give me my notes back. There has to be something else here."

"What book did you get that out of?"

"Umm," Paige said as she scanned the paper. "Magical Add-ons and Other Paraphernalia."

Dewey poked at the screen for a moment, then tapped on the buttons. "Here we go. Let's see."

Paige rose from her cozy nest and circled behind Dewey to peer over his shoulder as he scrolled through the book's information.

"There," she said, pointing at the screen. "Ogres of the Tipult Canyon offered it as a tribute to a powerful Pharoah in the middle of the first century BC."

"Okay, that narrows it down." Dewey poked around on the screen again, pulling up another page. "Thirteen Pharaohs in that time. Let's see if any of them are buried in the Valley of the Kings."

Paige's shoulders slumped as he scanned the article about the valley's permanent residents. "Great. They're all from the earlier dynasties."

She wandered back to the couch and plopped onto it.

Dewey tapped around on the screen again, staring down at it for a moment. "You don't think… Nah."

"What?"

"Middle first century BC. And the pixies recently found this crystal," Dewey murmured.

"Spit it out, Dewey."

"You don't think it's in Cleopatra's tomb, do you?"

Paige crinkled her brow before understanding set in. "The one they just found? That Edwards woman, you mean?"

"Yeah, her and that guy that looks like Sawyer from Lost. It was all over the news."

"Oh. Oh, wow, I wonder if you're right."

"There have got to be precious gems in that tomb. It fits with the timing. And the pixies could have an in with someone hired to help with the excavation and cataloging."

"So, we need to take a trip to Cleopatra's tomb."

"Sounds like a blast," Dewey said, tossing the RP aside.

"Do we have a connection there? Someone we can trust who will give us the crystal to archive?"

Dewey grabbed his communication device and tapped on it before flying over to join Paige on the couch. After a few moments, Ronnie appeared on the screen. "Paige, Dewey, what's the…" She stopped, her eyes going wide before her forehead crinkled. "Paige, are you okay? You look a little…"

"Purple," Paige said.

"Random side effect from the cure I gave her for the vampiric parasites. Which, by the way, is working beautifully. I'd guess by the time we get back, she'll be completely cured."

"Great. Will she stay purple?"

"No. Just temporary, six months or less."

Ronnie offered a slow nod as she continued to study Paige's purple skin.

"Anyway, Ronnie, we're onto something here with the Crystal of Increased Energy, and we need to know if there are any friendlies at a specific site."

"Name it," Ronnie said, grabbing a pen.

"Cleopatra's tomb."

Ronnie dropped the pen without writing even a single letter. "Nope."

"Really? Not a single person?"

Ronnie pressed her lips together into a thin line and shook her head. "Sorry, kiddo. That's way too high profile for the library to have a presence. Too many questions. I hate to say it, but you're on your own. You'll need to keep everything on the down-low. Get in, get the crystal, get out. If you're caught, the library will disavow any knowledge of you."

"Wait, what?" Paige questioned, her features crinkling with concern. "Like secret agent, black-ops stuff? If we're caught, we're on our own?"

"I'm sorry to say, Paige, but yes." The phone rang, and Ronnie flicked her gaze toward it. "Sorry, I've got to take this. Good luck, you two."

The screen narrowed to a pinpoint as Ronnie's image disappeared.

"I can't believe this is happening," Paige said, shooting an incredulous glance at Dewey. "On our own? We can't do this!"

"We can't risk the pixies getting the crystal either."

"Maybe they already have!"

"Check your SupNet account," Dewey said, jabbing a finger at Paige's phone.

Paige unlocked the phone, tapped on the app, and scrolled through her saved posts to find the Luxor-based pixie.

She clicked on her account and scanned the recent posts. "Nothing."

"Okay, so it's still in play."

"Maybe she got it and didn't announce it."

"Doubt it. She's a show-off. They're probably still making the deal, or still searching for it in the tomb."

"So, we've got a chance to beat them to it," Paige said. "Okay. How do we get to this tomb?"

"Well, we can fly in by chopper, which would have been my choice." Dewey tapped his chin before he poked a finger in the air. He poked at the communication device again.

Ronnie's image appeared again on the screen. She held a finger up as she spoke into her phone's receiver. "Yes… Yes… Yes, sir, I know that… No…I am certain they are doing everything they can… I trust them completely… No, I haven't heard from them, so I have no reason to suspect anything is amiss."

Ronnie shot a pointed glance at the camera, arching an eyebrow. "I will do that as soon as I hear anything. All right, Director. Mm-hm. Bye now."

Ronnie slammed the receiver down into the cradle and stared at them through the camera. "That was Director Crandall. He's concerned that we are running out of time to retrieve these assets. You need to get this wrapped up as quickly as you can."

"About that, Ronnie. We can't get any help getting the crystal, but can you at least get us to the tomb?"

Ronnie tapped around on her keyboard, glancing sideways at them. "Let me see what I can do. We can't make our presence known there. Especially with Paige's purple skin."

Paige winced, rolling her eyes at the complication. "Worst time ever for me to need to be cured of a deadly disease."

"It may be for the best. If you were to say or do anything suspicious, we're sunk. Okay, I got you hooked up with a few camels, a guide, and some provisions. He'll meet you at the airstrip and get you to the tomb. He's well aware of the library and its function, so no need to hide anything."

"Okay, good," Paige said with a nod. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Listen, before you go…" Ronnie lowered her eyes to her desk, her features pinching. "Don't screw this up. If you don't get that crystal and the wand…I'm afraid our branch will be shut down."