"Tanya Huff - Victoria Nelson - 03 - Blood Lines" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

He grew so aware of it that he felt he could go into the hold and pick its container out of hundreds of
identical containers. His thoughts became filled with it to the exclusion of all else; of the sea, of the ship,
of the sailors. One of the Portuguese sailors began making the sign against the evil eye whenever he
approached.

He started to speak to it each night before he slept.

"Soon," he told it. "Soon."

He remembered a face, thin and worried, bending over him and constantly muttering. He remembered a
hand, the soft skin damp with sweat as it brushed his eyes closed. He remembered terror as he felt the
fabric laid across his face. He remembered pain as the strip of linen that held the spell was wrapped
around him and secured.

But he couldn't remember self.

He could sense only one ka, and that at such a distance he knew it must be reaching for him as he
reached for it.

"Soon," it told him. "Soon."

He could wait.

The air at the museum loading dock was so charged with suppressed excitement that even the driver of
the van, a man laconic to the point of legend, became infected. He pulled the keys out of his pocket like
he was pulling a rabbit out of a hat and opened the van doors with a flourish that added a silent Tah dah
to the proceedings.

The plywood packing crate, reinforced with two by twos and strapping, looked no different from any
number of other crates that the Royal Ontario Museum had received over the years, but the entire
Egyptology Department-none of whom had a reason to be down in Receiving-surged forward and Dr.
Rax beamed like the Madonna must have beamed into the manger.

Preparators did not usually unload trucks. They unloaded this one. And as much as he single-handedly
wanted to carry the crate up to the workroom, Dr. Rax stood aside and let them get on with it. His
mummy deserved the best.

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruisw...20Victoria%20Nelson%20-%2003%20-%20Blood%20Lines.txt (5 of 224)23-2-2006 23:09:13
 file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20d...%20Huff%20-%20Victoria%20Nelson%20-%2003%20-%20Blood%20Lines.txt



"Hail the conquering hero comes." Dr. Rachel Shane, the assistant curator, walked over to stand beside
him. "Welcome back, Elias. You look a little tired."

"I haven't been sleeping well," Dr. Rax admitted, rubbing eyes already rimmed with red. "Guilty
conscience?"

He snorted, recognizing she was teasing. "Strange dreams about being tied down and slowly
suffocating."