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“Was it candy?” I asked, trying to see where the fruit had rolled off.
She turned her eyes toward the sky, as if asking God to give her strength.
“No! It’s called Zarin, and it’s a fruit that turns into tiny little snakes in your stomach that digest your food for you.”
My eyes almost popped out of my head. Corri, who was sitting in her usual spot on my shoulder, screeched like a banshee and hid behind my blue hair.
“What happens after they digest your food… for you…?”
She sighed, defeated. In her eyes, I really was a child right now, and she had no other option but to babysit me.
“They curl into balls and you poop them.”
I let out a breath of relief. “At least they don’t wriggle when they come out…”
She shook her head, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me with her to the front of our group. She didn’t take her eyes off me until we reached the temple, and didn’t let go of my arm, either. I felt like a brat who’d promised she’d behave, then went right ahead and did the opposite. But the city was so exotic, so fascinating, and so lush that it was impossible to resist its charm! Everything was shining bright and delicious! I saw men with olive green skin and crocodile tails peeking out from under their long, traditional skirts. There were women so short that they barely reached my hip, and I wasn’t a tall girl by any means. Children with skin as black as onyx selling freshly squeezed juices at street corners, old women covered in white robes from head to to
e weaving tiny stones into bracelets and necklaces, and griffins trotting high and proud down the streets, their wings tucked on their backs. Underneath my mask, my mouth was agape. A speck of dust must have found its way in, because I sneezed, and then I sneezed again. Next to me, Professor Maat froze, her huge eyes filled with fear.
“I’m okay, I promise. I’m okay.” I sneezed a third time. “It’s just dust.”
“Scarab dust!”
“I’m okay!”
“Well, if you die when we get home, it’s on Headmaster Colin. That’s all I’m going to say.”
I chuckled and followed her into the Great Temple.
“If Hell didn’t kill me, Professor Maat, I don’t think the Carnelian City will.”
“There are worse places than Hell, Miss Morningstar.”
The Carnelian City wasn’t ruled by a king or queen. The highest authority was the priest running the Great Temple, but this temple was like no other I’d ever seen or thought existed. It was made to worship dozens of gods and goddesses, with human features, animal features or combined, from this pocket universe or from others, kind or cruel, bringers of life or death. It was hard to believe, but I actually saw a statue of Santa Muerte by a window, next to a statue of Ganesha. There was a Jesus on the cross, an Anubis with his jackal head, and… No! No, it’ can’t be! I rubbed my eyes so hard, and when I looked again and saw the same thing, I wanted to pull them out of my head, wipe them on my uniform, and maybe give them a good wash, too.
“GC, is that…”
He was beaming. He stood up straighter, pulled his shoulders back, and now he was walking like he owned the place.
“That’s my grandfather.”
“Golden Calf Apis the First,” I murmured, bewildered. “I had no idea there are still people who worship him.”
“Mr. Apis, let’s not cause a commotion,” Professor Maat whispered discreetly. “These people don’t need to know who you are.”
That deflated him a bit, but he quickly recovered. We stood in front of the golden statue of the calf, with its mighty horns and sapphire eyes. The eyes were literally two generous sapphire stones.
“Handsome, am I right?”
Paz cocked an eyebrow, and Francis sighed. Today was not their day. There were symbolic offerings of rice, flowers, and something that looked like candy at the statue’s feet, but by the small number, I guessed the false god of the Old Testament wasn’t worshipped by too many people in the Carnelian City. At the same time, it was obvious there were so many gods in this place, that it wasn’t impossible to believe some were worshipped by only one or two people, maybe a household.
“Everyone is free to bring a statue of their god or goddess in the Great Carnelian Temple,” Professor Maat explained. “Religious freedom is greatly encouraged here, to the point where people can even invent their own creatures they want to pray to, carve statues, and place them among the gods and goddesses we all recognize.”
“I don’t recognize that one,” said Caspian, pointing at a mythical beast with a human torso, wheels instead of legs, twigs on its back instead of wings, and an oversized head out of which a set of triple horns protruded.
“Err… I don’t think you’re supposed to,” said Mrs. Maat. “Must be something local.”
We moved on.
