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not?”
    I nodded. Sacrifices to the gods were always pitched from the
cliffs of Mount Zucaris, far to the north of our city. Often people gathered to
watch. The offerings were most often goats or bulls, but sometimes humans were
tossed to their deaths on the jagged rocks below, enemy soldiers taken captive
in battle, traitors to the king. Witches.
    “There’s a special chest, a treasure chest. The scrolls will be
inside it. You must take it from the cave after the rituals are over and keep it
with you wherever you go. You must leave it to someone you trust at the end of
your life, with these same instructions, and so on down through the generations,
the ages, until the time when my sisters and I can return and set things
right.”
    “But how will you get the chest to the cave?”
    “I have a friend who will put it there. He will not know who
you are, nor may you know who he is, for the safety of you both.”
    “And how will you find it again in some future lifetime?” I
asked.
    “Just the same way I’ll find you, little Amarrah. By witch’s
magic.” She extended an arm through the opening and ran her hand over my hair.
“So, do you accept this sacred task?”
    I bit my lip and nodded firmly. “I do. I won’t let you down,
Indira. I won’t let any of you down.”
    “I know you won’t,” she told me. “Now go, before you’re caught
down here. That would ruin our whole plan.”
    I clasped her hand, moved it from my head to my lips and
pressed kisses to it. “I love you, Indira. And Magdalena and Lilia, too. I love
you all so dearly. Please tell them that for me when you see them. And that I’m
so grateful for all you did to make my life better. I will never forget you.
Tell them.”
    “I’ll tell them.”
    “I don’t want you to go,” I sobbed as she took her hand
away.
    “There’s no need to grieve, child. We’ll return.”
    With a vengeance, I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud.

Chapter Seven
    “Now you remember.”
    It was Lilia’s voice I heard, even though I knew that was
impossible. I was still lying on that basement floor, and I was staring up at
Lilia, all silvery blonde, not dark like before, but aglow, like an angel. She
wasn’t real—and yet she was.
    “I remember,” I whispered. Vaguely, I was aware of the sounds
of violence—Harrison and the priest, fighting it out. The box, though…the box
was still in my arms.
    “Then you know how important it is that you get the box to
safety. It won’t be long now before Indira will return. She’ll need it.”
    “How long?” I asked her.
    “Within your lifetime.”
    “Shall I keep it, then?”
    “They’ll never leave you alone if you do. Father Dom, others
like him, they’re obsessed. But I know a safe place.”
    “Where?”
    “With a woman. Her name is Meredith Guillome. She works at
Cornell University. She has a calico cat with her wherever she goes. She’s a
witch. Give it to her. No one else.”
    “I will. Will I see you again, Lilia?”
    “Twenty years,” she told me. “If all goes well, that is.” And
then she looked toward the fighting men. “Best save your dear soldier before
it’s too late. He was always such a brave one.”
    And then she shimmered and was gone.
    I scrambled to my feet to see the two men struggling and knew I
had only been out for a few seconds. And I also knew that my beautiful Harrison
had risked his life to save mine before.
    I spotted a shovel in the corner and, setting my precious box
down, snatched it up, raced over to the men and swung it hard.
    The priest went down like a sack of feed.
    And Harrison just stood there staring at me like he’d never
seen me before. “Wow. That was…that was…awesome.”
    I smiled. “Just returning the favor.”
    He frowned a little, but came closer as I set the shovel down
and bent to pick up the box again. “I’ll carry it. It’s not exactly light.” He
took it from me, tucking it under an arm, and I just stood there, staring up at
him and