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

Grindle was shaping up to be very interesting, indeed.
    The room also held the most astonishing collection of exotic weapons I had ever seen, surpassing our weapons room back at the museum in London. Henry would have been green with envy! There were thrusting daggers and chakrams, long knives and short swords, strange pointed weapons with a use I could not even guess. There was a deck of ancient tarot cards that had a faint malevolent feel to it, a winged frog, samurai war masks, and dried scarab husks. In the midst of all that strangeness sat a crumbling mud brick. What kind of brick would have earned a place among all these oddities, I wondered? I peered closer, not surprised to see strange carvings and glyphs upon it.
    "What do you think of my cabinet of curiosities, Miss Throckmorton?"
    I whirled around, surprised that I hadn't heard the Major come in. He stood tall and erect, his shoulders thrown back as if he was constantly at attention. He wore a bright red jacket bedecked with all manner of medals and brass. His thick white muttonchop whiskers covered the lower half of his face and met with the mustache that flourished atop his very stiff upper lip. His beak of a nose looked permanently sunburned, and his eyes were squinty, as if used to peering into the distance in search of danger. "Y-your what?"
    "My cabinet of curiosities." He gestured with his hands, indicating the whole of the room. "Mementos of a life spent searching out the mysteries of the world."
    "Very impressive, sir." I glanced over at the shelves, then back to the major. "But I do have one question..."
    He gave a crisp nod. "Fire away."
    "Why do you have these things when it is the Brotherhood's mission to remove curses from ancient artifacts?"
    His blue eyes studied me intently. "You believe they are cursed?"
    "Yes, sir. Some of them, anyway."
    "Very good, Miss Throckmorton, if not completely accurate. Show me which ones you have questions about."
    "Well, that bronze mask, for one."
    "Not cursed, I'm afraid. It did, however, belong to a sorcerer from the Sichuan province in China. Perhaps you sense the vestiges of his power."
    His words sent me reeling, for if I understood him, and I am fairly certain that I did, then it was not only Egyptian artifacts that still held power in this world. Nor were my unique abilities confined to Egyptian magic.
    "What else?" he asked.
    "That thrusting knife." I pointed to a wickedly sharp blade with an elaborate handle.
    "My katar, a Hindu thrusting dagger. Again, not cursed, but it has taken a number of men's souls from them and those souls are said to linger in the blade."
    His answers were not the least bit comforting. "What about those black feathers, there?" They didn't feel cursed, but I was hugely curious about them.
    "Found among John Dee's possessions. Do you know who John Dee is, Miss Throckmorton?"
    I swallowed. "Yes, sir." John Dee had been a scholar and one-time tutor to Queen Elizabeth I. He was said to have searched long and hard for ways to communicate with the angels.
    "Then you no doubt understand the significance of that wing."
    I stared at the small brace of feathers, unable to believe what he was implying. My glance fell on a chisel next to the feathers. It was ancient, possibly from the Old Kingdom, and some sort of power rose up from it, but it was too mixed with the remnants of the others' for me to be able to tell what it was. "What about that chisel?"
    "Not cursed, exactly, but it does hold some power."
    Taking a leap of faith, and perhaps wanting to give him a test of my own, I asked, "Is it an artifact of the gods?"
    His gaze sharpened. "What do you know of the artifacts of the gods, child?"
    "Quite a lot, actually."
    He smiled then. "Come, let us have a seat and you can tell me what you know."
    I settled myself on one of the chairs facing his desk. "How much has Lord Wigmere told you about me?" I asked.
    "Quite a lot, actually," he said with a smile. "But apparently not everything."
    "That's