Free Theodosia and the Last Pharoah by R. L. Lafevers

discovery and escaping undetected, I had forgotten that I had no idea where I was going. I glanced back at the house. Should I ask Habiba? Would she want to know where I was going or, worse, tell Mother?
    Just as I decided I'd have to risk it, a shape darted out in front of me. I leaped back, then relaxed when I saw it was only Gadji's monkey, rather than a small demon, which is what it had looked like at first. That meant Gadji must be nearby, and he had lived in Luxor. Maybe he knew his way around.
    Almost as if reading my thoughts, Sefu turned and scampered back the way he had come, pausing once to be certain I was following.
    He stopped in front of a ratty abandoned shack with a pile of rags in the doorway. Except the pile of rags turned out to be Gadji. The small, sleeping boy tugged at my heart. It wasn't just that I was grateful to him for having helped me at such great cost to himself. It was more than that. With a niggle of surprise, I realized that I'd told Mother the truth; something about him made me homesick for my younger brother, Henry. Gadji was smaller and younger than Henry, but his outlook seemed older. Probably from having to live on the streets and make his own way. I imagine that would mature a person right up. But while Gadji was clever and shrewd, he was also remarkably cheerful for someone in his position. I found that most admirable.
    Sefu pinched Gadji and woke him. Gadji rubbed his eyes and sat up, then leaped to his feet when he saw me standing over him.
    "Good morning," I said, politely ignoring the fact that he'd been sound asleep.
    "Good mornings," he replied somewhat stiffly, no doubt feeling embarrassed about having been sound asleep.
    "No luck finding your family?" I asked.
    He scowled ferociously at me. "Not yet."
    "I could help you if you'd like," I offered.
    He thrust his chin out. "I am not needing your help."
    Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed! Or doorway, I amended. Ah, perhaps that was the problem. Or maybe he was hungry. Henry is always grumpy when he is hungry.
    "Would you like some breakfast?" I fumbled in my pocket for the small snack I had brought along for lunch.
    He recoiled from the food. "Gadji is no beggar, miss."
    Hadn't he just said yesterday that he would beg if he had to? Maybe it was easier to beg from those you didn't know. Thinking fast, I said, "But I have a job for you and I have nothing else to pay you with."
    That caught his attention. "What sort of job?"
    "You used to live in Luxor, right? Do you still remember your way around?"
    Gadji nodded and eyed the small packet more hopefully.
    "Well, I need someone to act as my guide around town."
    Gadji nodded. "I will guide you, and for this thing I will accept your inadequate payment—"
    Inadequate? I thought I was doing him a favor.
    "—and then you are owing me," he finished brightly, grinning broadly as his good humor returned. He snatched the food from my hand and demolished it in about thirty seconds. Then he was ready to go. "This way, miss." The monkey leaped up onto his shoulder, and we were off.
    As he led me down the dusty streets, I nearly sprained my neck trying to take in all the sights. It turned out, I needn't have bothered. Luxor itself was basically a small village with a handful of grand hotels.
    The only area that gave me pause was a small cluster of streets just off the main thoroughfare. Gadji tried to hurry by, but I called him back. "What's down here?"
    He frowned. "Gadji not sure, but very bad. No place for effendi miss."
    "How do you know that if you're not certain what's down there?"
    His frown turned to a perplexed scowl. "Gadji just knows this thing, miss."
    The truth was, I could feel a foul, roiling miasma emanating from the alley. Could he? Was that how he knew it was very bad?
    " Antikahs, " he said at last. "No good, very bad antikahs. Not like miss's."
    Did he mean a black market in antiques? Or something more ominous, such as horribly cursed artifacts? I made a mental