Part 10 (1/2)

Johnson produced a king-sized Twix from his equipment bag. ”I came prepared this time. And you can sleep in the car.”

She reached up to pat his shoulder. ”Thank you.”

”No,” he said, ”thank you.”

More tears filled Mamie's eyes. ”Don't. Not yet. My part's not finished. I can still fail.”

”I'm sorry, did I upset you?” He frowned at me, silently asking if I got what she meant.

I shook my head. Maybe she was still worried that she'd fail to See something in time to help us when we needed it most. She'd voiced that fear before. We hung by a thread, and her actions might have more impact than anything the rest of us did.

”Come on, Sis.” I took her arm and guided her into the gray hallway. ”Let's take you home.”

Chapter Thirteen.

Mamie and I spent the rest of the morning and all of lunchtime talking to Aunt Julie about Ann's promise that the covens had stopped producing monsters.

”Well, the chatter hasn't increased in the last twenty-four hours and we haven't had any new requests for a.s.sistance, either,” Julie was saying. ”Maybe she was telling the truth.”

”I think she was.” Mamie pushed her gla.s.ses higher on her nose. ”What we need to do now is closely monitor anything new that pops up. That could lead us to the Dark Master's proxy.”

The Shadow Man. Strange that the thing in my nightmares wasn't even the real boss. I hoped I found him before anyone else did. Finding-and killing-him was the only way I could ensure that Mamie wouldn't be taken at some point.

”I'll keep you updated on everything. Davis said he created a secure connection, both network and phone, for you to patch in to our operations center from home,” Julie told her. ”You'll have access to our database. Essentially, everything the intelligence team sees, you'll see.”

A knock sounded at the door and Major Ramirez stuck his head in. ”Oh, good. I was hoping you were here.”

”Me or the captain?” I asked.

”Neither.” He flashed a rare smile. ”I was looking for our shaman.”

”Oh.” Mamie perked up. ”You have something to give me.”

”Uh, yes. How did you-no, never mind.” His laugh sounded a little awkward as he set a messenger bag on the conference table. ”I've been carrying this around for months, wondering who I should give it to, then woke up this morning realizing it should go to you.”

He reached into the bag and pulled out a large, leather-bound notebook. A notebook that was all too familiar.

”That's Zenka's journal,” I said. ”But I thought it'd been destroyed. Where did you get it?”

”Technically, it was her husband's, but her people gave it to me before I left Africa. She must've had a feeling something was going to happen, because she gave it to people she trusted before she was killed. They said she told them if anything happened to her, I needed to take it to the one who can read it.”

Mamie had already slid the heavy book over and opened to the front page, frowning at the vaguely head-shaped sketch. ”False start.”

In more ways than one. Zenka's husband had dreamt of the wielders, then had drawn what he'd seen. Brandt's face never became clear to him-which made sense after he died and Will took his place. Will's picture was in there, too.

As was mine.

”You're in color,” Mamie told me. ”You and Will. The others are in pencil.”

”Yeah.”

”Interesting.” She flipped past Will's sketch, the last page I'd ever seen, then stopped. ”She's in pencil.”

We all leaned over the page Mamie was pointing out. ”She” was Aunt Julie, sitting in a loose crouch with a smirk on her face and Parker's knife in her hand.

I glanced up at Ramirez. ”Did you ever see this page?”

He was staring at it with his mouth open. ”I swear on my dead abuelo's grave that this wasn't there before.”

”Very interesting.” Mamie's smile was mysterious. ”If you want the truth, it was blank, completely blank, until I touched it. Then Aunt Julie's portrait filled in.”

Tink chuckled in my head. I knew that Zenka was more than she let on. Her husband, too.

”That's not disturbing or anything,” I told her.

Magic exists. Get over it.

She had a point. ”What else is in there? Any other pages mystically appear?”

Mamie flipped through the rest of the book, touching each page. ”No. Just some writing in the back.”

”That's what I wanted to ask you about. It's not any language I recognize,” Ramirez said, his large brown eyes wide. Even after everything we'd been through, someone's ”too much” ticket could still get punched now and then. ”I showed it to the general and Colonel Tannen, and they thought it was some kind of encrypted message.”

Aunt Julie leaned over Mamie's shoulder. She was pale-the portrait must have troubled her, too-but her voice was calm and steady when she said, ”It looks like Greek?”

”It's all Greek to me,” I muttered.

Mamie shot me a perturbed glance. ”I think it's Latin. I took four years of Latin in high school and another two semesters in college and that's what it looks like to me. But you're right, Major Ramirez, it's all jumbled, like it's encrypted.”

”That's why I brought it to you,” he said. ”To see if you could decode it.”

My sister's forehead wrinkled. ”I'll try. May I make a copy or take a picture of the page?”

”We're giving you the book,” Ramirez said. ”There was an inscription in the front, in their tribal language. One of the villagers told me it said 'for the one who Sees.' We think that means you.”

Mamie closed the journal and stroked the leather cover. ”I'm honored to receive it.”

Odd way of putting it, but then again, a gift from two shamans to another was kind of a big deal. ”Keep us posted on what you find out,” I said.

”I will.” She stood, hugging the book to her chest. ”Do you need me for anything else? I'd like to go back to the hotel to pack.”

I bit back a smile. Transparent as always-she really wanted to pore over the pages alone. ”I'm sure Captain Johnson can give you a ride. I have more to do here, but I'll see you before you go.”

Mamie was already halfway out the door, and she gave me a little wave over her shoulder before b.u.mping into the wall because she was trying to read and walk at the same time. I laughed. No matter what shamanistic weirdness she showed from time to time, she was still totally herself, pigtails and all.