They Who from the Heavens Came (The Wisdom, #1)

Itzy slept well into the morning and woke to a long string of texts from Aidan. The first few were sweet, but they soon became more abstract, until Itzy read something that made her start in surprise.

An hour later, she sat in Oz and Seth’s living room. Oz and Itzy shared the sofa, while Seth sat on the floor stroking Eurydice.

‘Madness,’ Seth declared once they’d heard Itzy out.

Oz looked thoughtful. ‘Don’t be so hasty,’ he said.

Seth’s eyes widened. ‘Oz. Seriously? You’ve never raised a human, before. You really want to become the resurrectionist, just to help some bloke in his grail quest?’

Oz shrugged. ‘It’s not about Aidan. I need to know what my father was up to, before I lose my head thinking about it.’

Which was how they found themselves on the London Underground, on their way to Russell Square station.

On the way, Seth turned to Itzy and said a little too loudly, ‘I know how we could get answers. Why don’t you just write us all a happy ending?’

The marvellous thing about London was that none of their fellow passengers batted an eyelid at this strange remark.

Itzy didn’t dare meet Seth’s eyes. ‘I’ve never done that before,’ she said.

‘Never done what? Written a happy ending?’ He sounded bitter.

‘Well, I have, but not until after lots of horrible stuff happened first. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be interesting, right?’ She picked at her fingernail. She felt intensely awkward after what had happened with Seth the night before.

‘Besides,’ Oz put in, ‘I don’t want Itzy to make up an answer for me. I want the truth.’

Seth made a noise and looked away for the rest of the journey.

By the time they arrived at the museum, it was getting late, though it was still light out. Tourists and boisterous Londoners bustled past them on the street, undoubtedly on their way to a pub or club for the night.

Aidan was waiting for them outside the Victorian black iron gates topped with ornamental spikes so no one could climb over. Beyond the gates, the museum stood in all its faux-Roman majesty, its perimeter studded with creamy Ionic columns.

Aidan wore dark jeans and a t-shirt that matched his eyes. Beside him were Verdi in black jeans and an even blacker t-shirt, and Melody in a denim miniskirt and hot pink off-the-shoulder top. Itzy found herself staring at Melody, trying to see what Aidan had seen in her – comparing herself to the other girl. Her jealousy took her by surprise.

When Aidan saw the approaching trio, he smiled and edged away from the gates. The two groups met each other and stopped a few feet apart. Aidan flashed Itzy a look of longing, like he wanted to reach for her, hold her. Her jealousy melted away. She flushed and tried not to notice the way Seth and Melody watched them.

Oz cleared his throat and began the introductions in a guarded voice. Aidan smiled and introduced himself and his companions. ‘Good to meet ye on better terms,’ he said.

There was a moment of silence, in which they all remembered the cornfield.

Before the tension could thicken further, Aidan nodded at Oz and said, ‘Thank ye for agreeing to do this.’ His grey eyes glinted.

Oz seemed pleased by the acknowledgment, but all he said was, ‘No worries.’

Some of the tension dissipated and they walked together to the tall gates.

‘How are we getting in?’ asked Oz.

Seth started to say, ‘I can –’

But Aidan was already sliding his hands up and down two of the bars in the gate. The metal dripped at his touch, like a Dali painting. It pooled at his feet and he stepped through the gap he’d made. Black sparked in the air.

From the other side, he said, ‘Anyone joining me?’

Melody immediately climbed through the gap, as if proving her loyalty. Itzy, momentarily thrown, went through next, and the others followed.

‘Don’t you think we’re attracting attention?’ Itzy asked.

Seth motioned to the busy street bordering the museum. A group of twenty-something-year-old men pushed past, singing a football anthem in at least five different keys. They were followed by a crowd of laughing women decked out in pink. The woman in the centre wore a sash that read, Bride to Be.

‘It’s London,’ Verdi said through his hair. ‘Who ever notices anything here?’

He was right; as on the Tube, the crowds were engrossed in their own conversations, while seamlessly dodging each other as they crossed paths. They weren’t paying any attention to four teenagers on the wrong side of the museum gates. It was a little unsettling to think how much one could get away with in such a city.

The sextet crossed the square, passed the modern art sculpture erected to greet visitors, and mounted the steps to one of the main doors. It was oversized and made of heavy dark wood.

Seth drew a square with his hands. A block of transparency materialised in the door, and faint light poured out from within. Aidan let out a whistle of admiration and Seth stood back proudly. It was remarkable, to be sure, but Itzy couldn’t help thinking there had been an element of competition in it.

‘Your turn,’ Oz told her. ‘Take care of the alarms before we go inside.’

Itzy nodded and closed her eyes. In her mind’s eye, the letters did fandangos together, holding each other close and caressing one another, melting into words of her own design. The words spread out in neat rows, forming a series of sentences, a paragraph. When it was complete, she added the punctuation and the mental story glowed with finality.

She opened her eyes, uncertain her paragraph had worked. Then she saw that blackness, like oil trying to break through mesh, and she was filled with conviction. ‘It’s done,’ she said.

They entered the museum and were swathed in the remaining sunlight beaming through the glass ceiling. At the centre was the museum library, surrounded by the gift shops and a circular stone walkway, with doorways leading off to the exhibits.

Itzy had been to the museum uncountable times, but only as a little girl. Stephen had taken her. He’d known most of the staff and given his daughter personal guided tours, explaining the history of each artefact, while she only half-listened, her imagination running away with her and dreaming up historical romances.

Since her father left – since she made him leave – she hadn’t returned to the museum. It held too many painful memories of times when Stephen had tried to share something with her and teach her things. Walking through it now, she felt numb at heart.

The exhibit rooms were dark, so Seth illuminated them with flicks of his wrist. They took a left turn and found themselves in front of the Rosetta Stone display.

‘I’ve never seen it so clearly,’ Seth threw over his shoulder as he examined it through its glass casing. ‘Normally there’s a queue and it’s murder getting to the front.’

The trouble with that museum was it was just so big. It was easy to get lost in it – and they did. They walked through an oversized doorway flanked by Babylonian sentinels with the bodies of horses, the wings of eagles and the faces of gods. They passed through a hallway displaying stone carvings of the Sumerian Annunaki. They hit a wall and went back the way they came, eventually hitting a sea of granite Egyptian statues.

Finally, Oz found a map and guided them to a broad stone stairway. They climbed up the steps and stared at the battered mosaics that hung on the walls. They made Itzy think of her mandala rug.

At the third floor, they were faced with three decisions: they could go left, right or straight ahead. Ahead, they could see pottery and bones. To the right were samples of Hellenistic Greek urns, in saffron and black.

‘I think it’s in here,’ Itzy said, and she led them left.

The first room was filled with Egyptian paintings and pottery, forgotten board games, feathered fans still in usable condition, and jewellery made of gold and lapis lazuli. The next room held a collection of sarcophagi, the paint still bright and colourful.

The room after that was what they wanted.

Huge glass display boxes lined the walls, with yet larger displays standing as islands in the room. Each contained its own mummy, complete with sarcophagus. One mummy particularly captured their attention. It was encased in a wooden body cast depicting gods and pharaohs, all in olive green, indigo, burgundy and gold. The head was covered with a gold and black mask, a stoic expression stamped on its face for all time, while the body decomposed underneath.

For the first time, Itzy was hit by the enormity of what they were about to do. After all, she had seen Oz’s animal skeletons – but humans? Zombie films had never been her thing.

‘Do you really think this will work?’ Itzy wondered as she stared through the glass. Perhaps there was still time to turn back.

‘All the ancient texts say the Egyptian rulers were born of the stars,’ Aidan said. ‘If these mummies were left behind on Earth when the Ancients disappeared…maybe they know what happened to the Wisdom.’

Silence fell over them as they took this in. It made Itzy uneasy. Without other visitors, the museum room was creepy. It felt like the mummy was watching her – no, like the whole room was watching. She couldn’t help imagining everything in the museum coming to life and raging at them for trespassing. Strangely, the artefacts’ accusing blank stares made her feel more criminal than when the quartet had physically broken into the museum.

‘So,’ breathed Melody, ‘is there some ritual to perform first, or do we just get on with it?’ She looked to Aidan, as if he held all the answers. Itzy felt herself slip an inch closer to him, without meaning to.

The others were quiet. Then Seth looked at Oz and said, ‘I suppose you just do it. The sooner we get out of this place, the better. I have a bad feeling.’

So it wasn’t just Itzy.

Oz exhaled deeply and closed his eyes in concentration. Whatever was going to happen…well, it was going to happen.

The others braced themselves, when a noise crashed in one of the other rooms.

Oz’s eyes flashed open. ‘Is that a security guard?’ he asked.

‘I didn’t hear an alarm go off,’ said Melody.

The noise came again – and again. It sounded like it was getting louder…or closer.

‘Someone’s coming,’ said Aidan. He dashed to the doorway to look.

The noise came again, this time from behind them.

Aidan started to say, ‘What –’ when he was cut off by something whizzing past his head. It lodged itself in the wall next to him. He started when he saw what it was:

A long slender sword.

‘Bloody hell,’ he cursed when he’d caught his breath.

There was a whistling sound. They all ducked as a second sword flashed through the air. In the doorway hovered a suit of samurai armour from a Japanese exhibit. No body dwelt within it, yet it had structure and moved like a person. It clunked toward them, wielding a long sword, despite having no arms. Held by nothing, it danced dangerously in the air.

Itzy stared at the armour in terror. It wasn’t just what was happening that scared her; it was the conviction that she had somehow caused it – because this was precisely what she had been imagining just moments ago.

When she caught Aidan’s eyes across the room, it was clear he had worked that out, too.

The armour stepped menacingly in her direction.

Aidan trained his eyes on their would-be killer. ‘Itzy, make it stop,’ he instructed in a low, deep voice.

‘I – I can’t,’ Itzy stammered.

The enchanted armour came closer.

‘What d’ye mean?’ Aidan asked. ‘You created this. Can’t ye make it stop?’

Itzy closed her eyes, fighting off tears, and threw her palm to her forehead. ‘Okay, I just – I need time to think of something.’

‘We don’t have time,’ Verdi said grimly.

The armour hurtled toward them, parting the group and rushing right for Itzy. Its sword was aimed at her, hungry for gore. It was like a bad dream, where she could see what was about to happen but could do nothing to prevent it.

Just as she ‘woke up’, she felt herself being dragged. She threw herself forward, but the tug was too strong. An eye blink later, she found herself back in the vestibule. All around her lay limitless doorways, and through one of them, she could watch the scene unfold in the museum.

‘Seth!’ she screamed, furious. ‘This is my mess to fix!’

But no matter how she shouted, no one appeared to hear her.

She had been entirely removed from their world.