Theodosia & the Eyes of Horus Read Online Free

otherwise.
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    CHAPTER THREE SCORPIONS ON THE LOOSE
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    BOTHER . I had hoped to avoid another meeting with the supreme master of the Arcane Order of the Black Sun for a while longer. Say, a lifetime. In fact, that's why it had taken so long for Will to coax me out to the Alcazar to see Awi Bubu; I'd been trying to avoid Trawley. He was mad as a hatter and convinced I was a reincarnation of Isis and had mystical powers. Of course, that was all nonsense, but even so, he had a nasty habit of snatching me off the street.
    Whiting stepped away from the lamppost and sauntered in my direction. He hesitated as a black carriage turned down the street and then drove past. Just as he started to
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    move again, the carriage pulled sharply against the curb, merely a few feet in front of Whiting.
    Oh dear, not reinforcements, I thought. Surely three grown men against one eleven-year-old girl were good enough odds for them. Wait a minute. I knew that carriage. It was spotlessly clean and shiny, unmarked black; it belonged to the Brotherhood of the Chosen Keepers. The door opened, and a worn, familiar face with a thick white mustache and solemn blue eyes looked out at me. "Theodosia?"
    "Lord Wigmere!" My voice caught on a faint sob of relief as I hightailed it over to the carriage, giving Whiting a wide berth.
    "What on earth are you doing in this part of town, child?"
    "Attending a magic show," I explained, looking longingly inside the carriage.
    "Here, get in. This isn't a safe neighborhood for a young girl to be wandering alone. Danger seems to find you easily enough without compounding the problem by being careless."
    "It's not my fault, sir. Trouble does seem inclined to follow me around," I said as I hopped into the carriage, settled myself on the opposite seat, and smoothed my skirts to hide the trembling in my hands. That had been close. "Thank you, sir."
    I thought briefly of mentioning the scorpions following me, but I didn't want to bring on another scolding. Besides,
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    he had told me a while ago that they were harmless. Annoying, but harmless.
    Wigmere rapped on the ceiling with his cane, and the carriage lurched forward. Although he was impeccably dressed in his frock coat and top hat, he looked older than he had the last time I'd seen him. More careworn. "I wouldn't have thought you were interested in parlor tricks and magic," he said.
    In for a penny, in for a pound. "It was because of Will, sir. He'd located a rather suspicious Egyptian magic show and wanted to see what I thought of it."
    Wigmere snorted through his mustache. "That boy! He has no idea what we're up against. He thinks he's landed in a penny dreadful and is having a grand adventure."
    "It was an unusual magic show, sir."
    "Bah!"
    "And Will was extraordinarily helpful with the Dreadnought situation," I reminded him. "I could never have pulled it off without his aid."
    "Nevertheless," Wigmere said. "This isn't a game, and I won't have him treating it as such. Too much is at stake. Your safety included."
    "Yes, sir." Well, I'd tried.
    "Speaking of the Dreadnought ...did Fagenbush give you the news about Bollingsworth and the others?"
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    "No, sir, he didn't," I said.
    Wigmere cleared his throat. "Well, the good news is our doctors from Level Six were able to stabilize Bollingsworth's condition. It will take a while, but he will recover from the curse he got from that rope of yours."
    "And then what will happen to him?"
    "Then we'll toss him into our deepest, darkest prison and throw away the key."
    "What's the bad news?" I have learned that when someone starts out with the good news, bad news is certain to follow.
    "Unfortunately, there has been no sign of the men who escaped the Dreadnought. The Brotherhood has searched high and low, to no avail. I'm afraid they have gotten clean away."
    My heart sank. "It would be so lovely if just once they could all get locked up," I said.
    "I agree. But having them on the loose is just one more reason it is so