Safa stared at her pet carrier as though she was seeing a ghost. She stood still, paralyzed, even as Paz and Barry bumped into her on both sides.

“Can you tell me what’s in there now?” Paz whispered.

Safa took a slow step forward and knelt. With a timid, calculating motion very much unlike her, she lifted the covering towel away. She recoiled, her face a mask of confusion. One millisecond shock played across her eyes and the next tears of joy.

“Sekhmet!” She cried.

“My God,” Peter said as he looked down at the writhing figure in the pet carrier. Ina, Wilder and Frankie closed in behind him, their faces equally perplexed.

Behind the tiny bars of the carrier was the wrapped, mummified form of Sekhmet, Safa’s dear feline compani...

Please subscribe to keep reading.