The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1)(54)

I nodded. What Zia described was pretty common. Egyptians have been making extra money that way for centuries.

“One night when I was eight, my father found a statue,” she said. “Small but very rare: a statue of a monster, carved from red stone. It had been buried in a pit with a lot of other statues that were all smashed. But somehow this one survived. He brought it home. He didn’t know...He didn’t realize magicians imprison monsters and spirits inside such statues, and break them to destroy their essence. My father brought the unbroken statue into our village, and...and accidentally unleashed...”

Her voice faltered. She stared at the picture of her father smiling and holding her hand.

“Zia, I’m sorry.”

She knit her eyebrows. “Iskandar found me. He and the other magicians destroyed the monster...but not in time. They found me curled in a fire pit under some reeds where my mother had hidden me. I was the only survivor.”

I tried to imagine how Zia would’ve looked when Iskandar found her—a little girl who’d lost everything, alone in the ruins of her village. It was hard to picture her that way.

“So this room is a shrine to your family,” I guessed. “You come here to remember them.”

Zia looked at me blankly. “That’s the problem, Carter. I can’t remember. Iskandar tells me about my past. He gave me these pictures, explained what happened. But...I have no memory at all.”

I was about to say, “You were only eight.” Then I realized I’d been the same age when my mom died, when Sadie and I were split up. I remembered all of that so clearly. I could still see our house in Los Angeles and the way the stars looked at night from our back porch overlooking the ocean. My dad would tell us wild stories about the constellations. Then every night before bed, Sadie and I would cuddle up with Mom on the sofa, fighting for her attention, and she’d tell us not to believe a word of Dad’s stories. She’d explain the science behind the stars, talk about physics and chemistry as if we were her college students. Looking back on it, I wondered if she’d been trying to warn us: Don’t believe in those gods and myths. They’re too dangerous.

I remembered our last trip to London as a family, how nervous Mom and Dad seemed on the plane. I remembered our dad coming back to our grandparents’ flat after Mom had died, and telling us there had been an accident. Even before he explained, I knew it was bad, because I’d never seen my dad cry before.

The little details that did fade drove me crazy—like the smell of Mom’s perfume, or the way her voice sounded. The older I got, the harder I held on to those things. I couldn’t imagine not remembering anything. How could Zia stand it?

“Maybe...” I struggled to find the right words. “Maybe you just—”

She held up her hand. “Carter, believe me. I’ve tried to remember. It’s no use. Iskandar is the only family I’ve ever had.”

“What about friends?”

Zia stared at me as if I’d used a foreign term. I realized I hadn’t seen anyone close to our age in the First Nome. Everyone was either much younger or much older.

“I don’t have time for friends,” she said. “Besides, when initiates turn thirteen, they’re assigned to other nomes around the world. I am the only one who stayed here. I like being alone. It’s fine.”

The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. I’d said almost the same thing, many times, when people asked me what it was like being homeschooled by my dad. Didn’t I miss having friends? Didn’t I want a normal life? “I like being alone. It’s fine.”

I tried to picture Zia going to a regular public high school, learning a locker combination, hanging out in the cafeteria. I couldn’t picture it. I imagined she would be as lost as I would.

“Tell you what,” I said. “After the testing, after the Demon Days, when things settle down—”

“Things won’t settle down.”

“—I’m going to take you to the mall.”

She blinked. “The mall? For what reason?”

“To hang out,” I said. “We’ll get some hamburgers. See a movie.”

Zia hesitated. “Is this what you’d call a ‘date’?”

My expression must’ve been priceless, because Zia actually cracked a smile. “You look like a cow hit with a shovel.”

“I didn’t mean...I just meant...”

She laughed, and suddenly it was easier to imagine her as a regular high school kid.

“I will look forward to this mall, Carter,” she said. “You are either a very interesting person...or a very dangerous one.”

“Let’s go with interesting.”

She waved her hand, and the door reappeared. “Go now. And be careful. The next time you sneak up on me, you might not be so fortunate.”

At the doorway, I turned. “Zia, what was that black shimmery stuff?”

Her smile faded. “An invisibility spell. Only very powerful magicians are able to see through it. You should not have.”

She stared at me for answers, but I didn’t have any.

“Maybe it was...wearing off or something,” I managed. “And, can I ask, the blue sphere?”

She frowned. “The what?”

“The thing you released that went into the ceiling.”