Auset blew her nose into a tissue. "Yes, my father's shop is at that end, under the arcade."

Valerie traced the balcony walkway that went around three sides of the courtyard and marked out the upper fl oor. Though it overlooked the garden full of plants, it also held pots of fl owering vines that hung down over the carved balustrades. Behind them she could see the doors and windows to the private rooms.

Derek sat down with Nefi on his lap. "I was planning to stay at the Sheraton," he said to Valerie, "but Auset's father invited me to stay here. I want to spend more time with Nefi , anyhow. Not that I want to replace Yussif, of course."

Valerie saw where his eyes went, toward the photo at the center of the table, and she picked it up. Yussif sat on the ground and leaned against a palm tree in Al Dakhla. On his lap was Nefi at the age of one, already with an explosion of curls. In the three-day beard that he insisted on keeping, Yussif still looked fi erce, but his eyes beamed contentment.

One of his large hands held his adoptive daughter around the waist; the other held up the brightly clothed Cleopatra doll that Derek had sent as a birthday present from the Munich opera. The fi rst of a series of lovely and impractical gifts from all over the musical world.

Gently laying the picture back down, Valerie thought fondly of * 55 *

Yussif, that rare kind of man who cheerfully , lovingly raises another man's child. Yet in the gods' scheme of things, he'd been an afterthought when the Child's natural father proved a poor choice as paterfamilias.

How had the gods not noticed that Derek was gay? Or that she herself was? Yet the two of them, unrepentantly deviant, carried the bloodline of the chosen priest, Rekemheb.

She looked around again. "It seems like an idyllic place to raise a child."

The houseman set down a wide tray with a metal teapot, numerous glasses, and bowls full of yogurt, tahini, and pita.

Auset thanked him and poured tea for all of them. "It's a safe place for us, for awhile. But my father is religious, and mullahs and imams come and go through the house all the time. If it gets too Islamic, I plan to take a vacation with my other grandparents in Jerusalem."

Jerusalem? Derek's eyebrows went up. "Aren't they religious too?

Your mother's family, I mean."

"Yes, they are, but the two religions would sort of balance out, I think. Savti and Babi always made a fuss over me when I was little, and now they have a great-grandchild. They have a shop in the Old City, so I would visit them just to get away from Cairo for a while." She passed around the yogurt, cheered, it seemed, by the talk of travel.

"I thought Egyptians needed visas to get into Israel."

"Not Jews. Remember, there's that right-of-return thing. I've been there lots of times with my mother."

Valerie frowned. "You're as Jewish as I am Christian."

"I'm as Jewish as I need to be. My mother is Jewish, and by Jewish law, both Nefi and I are too. Only my father needs a special visa.

Absurd, isn't it?" She added more tea to Valerie's glass. "How long can you stay? I'd love for Nefi to spend time with you."

"I'd love it too. A lot depends on whether I can save Rekemheb."

"Save him? From what?"

"Nekhbet appeared in Brussels suddenly and told me that Rekemheb's ka has disappeared because his mummy is damaged, she thinks. I promised that I'd drive down to his tomb and see if I could save him."

"I never really understood about kas. Just how would you do that?"

* 56 *

Vulture's Kiss "You know that the ka-spirit can migrate to a statue, if it looks like him, but only if you get there in time and do the right ceremonies. We plan to order the statue this afternoon, and when it's done, rush it down to his tomb."

While Valerie spoke, Derek unwrapped the little pink shoes and slid one absentmindedly onto one of Nefi 's bare feet. She accepted it, intrigued. "All the pain we went through to save his mummy and it would be for nothing." He buckled on the second shoe.

"That's why it's so urgent that we get to him right away. I estimate two days to get the statue carved and two days to get to the tomb."

Auset took Valerie's wrist. "Wait. You're going to try to save the ka of Rekemheb? Why not Yussif too? Doesn't he have a ka?"

Valerie raised her brow in tentative agreement. "He ought to. But for a ka to live in the underworld, he needs an earthly form."

Auset looked appalled. "Y ou mean I'd have to mummify him fi rst?" "No. You could make a statue too, I guess, like we're doing for Rekemheb. But I just don' t know. When the gods came to Dendara, none of us thought to ask if the rules applied to all of us. And when I asked Nekhbet, she refused to say."

"Well, I guess we better hope Rekemheb makes it, so we can ask him, right?" Then, as if realizing the cumulative weight of the problems, Derek rubbed his forehead. "So how should we do this? Should I go with you, Val? Auset? What do you think? Maybe we could all go together, like before."

He hugged his daughter briefl y as she examined the brightly colored objects on her feet.

"What are you thinking, dear?" Auset was adamant. "I couldn' t possibly take a small child into the desert. And I won't leave her alone either. She still doesn't understand why Baba doesn't come home."

"It's all right, Derek." Valerie touched his hand. "I need you to come with me this afternoon to get the statue made, but you don't have to go to the tomb. I'm the only one who knows the incantations anyhow .

You should stay in Cairo with your family."

"Sounds like a plan," he said, obviously relieved. "So when are we visiting this image-maker person?"

"As soon as I've made a quick trip to the hammam for a bath. I'm * 57 *

wearing the same clothes I had on in Brussels, so I apologize if I'm a bit ripe, Auset. I considered going before I came here, but seeing you was more important."

"You can have a bath right here," someone said.

Valerie glanced around to the source of the soothing voice and saw a gray-haired woman in the kitchen doorway wiping her hands on a towel. Hannah Ibrahim opened her arms and Valerie stepped easily into the light maternal embrace. Though they had met only briefl y, at Auset's own house, Valerie felt a warmth that had carried over.

"You know you are family here, Valerie, dear. Derek has the guest room, but we can make a place in the library for you to stay with us."

Valerie studied the mother of Auset al Fakhir. Hannah was short and slight of build, but had a force of personality that seemed to lend her substance. She had an age-softened version of her daughter's sensuality, but while Auset confronted the world with wisecracks, Hannah met it with quiet conviction. She had not only stood up to family condemnation for marrying a Moslem, but she had also protected her willful daughter and illegitimate grandchild from hostility on all sides.

"Oh, thank you, Hannah, that' s very kind. But I've stayed for so long at Sammed' s place, it really feels like home. Besides, he' s just evicted a couple of people for me, so it would be impolite not to go back.""Shuff , Jaddee !" Nefi lifted one pink foot toward her grandmother.

Hannah stroked the new shoe with her fi ngertip. "Gameel, habibti,"

she said, admiring their beauty.

"Duktura Foret," a baritone voice said behind them.

"Oh, Mahmoud al Fakhir, good morning." Valerie knew not to offer her hand to a conservative Muslim, but she inclined her head in what she hoped he understood was sincere warmth.

Auset's father was tall and slightly stooped. In spite of doing regular business with the West and of having sent his daughter to college in New York, he seemed in every other way a traditional Egyptian. A full beard, now shot through with gray, grew down to his collar, and his galabaya and turban were both white. He looked like any of a thousand men prostrating themselves in the Citadel mosque every Friday.

And yet she knew from Auset how very untraditional he was, in spite of himself. At the discovery of his daughter 's pregnancy, he had * 58 *

Vulture's Kiss been furious, but after a few weeks of silence he had evidently decided that family was more important than shame, and so he accepted her back. That his daughter and son-in-law had embraced polytheism had not yet been revealed to him.

Al Fakhir sat on the remaining chair and patted his knees. Nefi slid off Derek's lap to climb onto her grandfather 's, where she was obviously at home. Reaching over her shoulder he took the knife, cut a piece of melon, and placed it into Nefi 's plump hand.

Fahd was suddenly at the table. " Sayyid. Fee raghel mistaneek barra aiyz yeshufak. Amerikani, " he said in a rapid, agitated stream.

Auset looked at Derek. "An American? Do you have any idea who it could be?"

Valerie turned toward him as well. "You didn't tell her?"

* 59 *

15.

Grandfathers Harlan Carter entered hesitantly, clearly surprised by the lush, perfumed garden. Valerie suspected that the atmosphere of elegance and prosperity didn't quite fi t with the reverend's picture of a squalid people in need of salvation.

The men at the table stood up to receive him.

Though he was clearly taken aback, Al Fakhir offered him his hand and gestured toward the remaining chair.

Carter sat down, brushing imaginary dust from his trousers. "Pleased to meet you, Mr . Alfakker, is it? Mrs. Alfakker." Mispronouncing the name, which was not hers in any case, the reverend held out his hand to Hannah.

After an awkward moment, she touched his hand lightly and withdrew it.

"Yes, and oh, there she is, my granddaughter ." He reached over to Nefi , who still sat in al Fakhir's lap, and pinched her cheek. "Hello, sweetie. Well, aren't you a beauty. Your daddy's goin' to have to beat the boys away with a stick, isn't he?"

Nefi leaned backward away from him, and al Fakhir raised a protective hand in front of her. "She does not know you."

"Of course she doesn't. Not yet anyhow." He wiggled his fi ngers at the puzzled child. "Honey, this is your other grandpa, and is he looking forward to spoiling you rotten!"

"Pa, please," Derek said. "She has no idea what you're saying."

"That's all right. She'll understand this." He reached in his pocket and held up a wrapped candy . "See, peppermint. Everybody loves peppermint."

He handed the candy to her, and she opened the crackly cellophane.

Without taking her eyes from the stranger , she put the sweet into her mouth with the palm of her hand. She wrinkled her nose for a moment, then took the sticky lump out with her fi ngers.

Auset scooped it from her hand with a paper napkin. "She's never seen candy. Egyptian children don't eat much of it."

* 60 *

Vulture's Kiss Reverend Carter would not be deterred. "But I bet they love toys as much as American children do." From the other pocket he withdrew a stuffed bear, only slightly larger than his own plump fi st. He presented it to the fascinated child, and she smiled broadly as she squeezed its soft plush. "What are you giving her? Derek asked. "A toy bear with armor?

"This is the Armor-of-God stuffed bear. Look, he' s wearing the shield of Faith, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Sword of the Spirit, and the Helmet of Salvation. It teaches kids that God is their salvation."

Nefi squeezed the soft plush bear, clearly pleased.

Al Fakhir, who still held her in his lap, forced a polite smile and spoke to Nefi in Arabic.

"Shukran, " she said dutifully.

"She says 'thank you.'"

"Doesn't she speak English?"

"Not much, Pa. I see her only twice a year . And I try to speak to her in Arabic."

"Well, she can learn, of course. She's a smart girl, I can see that."

Reverend Carter took hold of one of the little hands, "I am your grandpa.

Say 'grandpa...grand...pa.'"

Nefi yanked her hand away and Auset intervened. "Perhaps we could have the English lesson some other time, Reverend."

Carter stood up. "Of course. There's plenty of time for that. I won't disturb your little family any longer." He addressed Derek. "Would you come by the hotel today? I have something important to discuss with you.""Sure, Pa. But only for a few minutes. Valerie and I have urgent business this afternoon."

"Just stop by before you go. It' s very important." He nodded toward al Fakhir, who set Nefi down in order to rise courteously but didn't speak.

Fahd came to escort the stranger out.

"Don't for get." Reverend Carter squeezed Derek' s arm as he turned to leave. He followed the housemaster out, his blue polyester suit seeming somehow alien in the Arab garden.

Valerie glanced over at the rival grandfather . Al Fakhir had watched the cler gyman depart and still stared at the empty path. She * 61 *

detected more than simple dislike in his expression. Something very old, some archaic battle that once was fought with swords, seemed to have awakened in him. How could it not have? The terrorist's hand had reached into his family, and now some know-nothing foreigner had invaded his house as well.

* 62 *

Vulture's Kiss

16.

Hammam Valerie strode along the narrower alleys of the souq. Over her head, elaborate screens of Mameluke bay windows overhung the street. Behind them, she was certain, idle women gazed down onto the activity below . A wide red carpet hung from below one of them, waiting to be dusted.

The Khan was timeless. It seemed to always have the same heat, colors, sounds, and smells, and when she returned here after an absence, it was as if she had never been away. In the spice souq, the shops were doing brisk business, and as she passed them, she suddenly smelled cardamom, clove, and incense.

She passed the wood-carvers working on their elaborate screens under the shade of an awning. Their decorations, like their script, curled in languid arabesques. But languid was one thing she was not today.