Star Angels. The New World. Viktor Khorunzhy

swished, running to the water. “You just look at that: as if someone has dabbled laundry blue in it!”

      “I thought they had just been colouring the pictures in tourist hand-outs,” Katy admitted. “But it appears the sea is indeed like that!”

      So the girls dived into the bright waves with colourful fish in the basketry of coral, feeling quite happy.

      Michael joined his daughters soon. And all troubles and concerns were pushed off into the background. There were only the warm sea, the splashes glittering in sunlight, and the cheerful laughter…

* * *

      Being relaxed and satisfied, the whole family was eating their lunch with great relish at the hotel’s restaurant. Katy and Alice were interrupting each other trying to share their impressions of the day.

      After the dessert, their father stood up.

      “Girls, I suggest you to go to bed early doors. We’re visiting pyramids tomorrow, so you’re having an early wake up.”

      Katy and Alice nodded willingly.

      “We’ll just have a little stroll along the coast, daddy,” Katy said. “And then back to the hotel at once.”

      Hand in hand, the girls were shuffling off along the inshore waterline. Warm sea-foam resembling fresh milk was caressing their feet. It all seemed like a fairytale.

      “You know,” Katy spoke seriously, “I used to be afraid of incomprehensible things. And now it’s approaching me and I’m not scared at all…”

      Alice grasped what her sister was trying to say.

      “I feel exactly the same,” she answered in a soft voice. “But it’s easier for me to take it, as I’m much less wise and smart as you are. Anyway, we shouldn’t be afraid of anything, especially, when we are together.”

      Katy clasped Alice’s hand gratefully. That’s right, she was not scared of anything as long as together with her sister. And with Michael, of course.

      Chapter 5

      More and More Mysteries

      Having got cozy on their comfy beds, the sisters were not going to sleep so far.

      Although they both knew they would have to get on their feet early the next day, the slumber hadn’t even come close to the young travellers. Alice tucked her headset into her ears; she was listening to local music.

      Katy was rummaging in her backpack, getting ready for tomorrow guided tour. Once again the girl laid her hands on the Book with hieroglyphs. The rare folio was magnetizing Katy. Having opened it, the girl started examining the swan-necks of unknown symbols, seeming so mysterious.

      “Are you awake?” Michael peeped into their room.

      “Yeah,” the girls chorused. Alice had taken her headset out.

      “Is that the Book you’ve been talking about?” father came up to Katy, having noticed the folio lying open on her knees. “Are you trying to read it?”

      “Are you mocking me?” Katy grumbled. “There’s nothing but hieroglyphs. With absolutely no translation, would you believe? I’ve tried searching some of the symbols and had even succeeded in translating some, but what’s the point? There are thousands of them… I’d need a hundred years to decrypt it…”

      “Well why ever?” Michael retorted, taking the Book. “It’s quite readable. When you know the language.”

      Both girls broke into a laugh: the very thought seemed amusing to them. But Michael was taking his time with the Book, turning page by page.

      “We could ask the hotel interpreter,” Katy suggested. “Perhaps he could help us find some Ancient Egyptian expert.”

      “The very man is standing right in front of you,” Michael uttered suddenly, beaming.

      The girls glared him in disbelief.

      “Dad, are you kidding?”

      “When in the world have you had a chance to learn it?”

      Michael sat down on Katy’s bed.

      “Well, I haven’t always been a cop,” he told cagily. “I used to do military service… at a certain organization where Ancient Egyptian language was… so to say, in particular favour.”

      “Is that so?!” Katy was wide-eyed. “Could you read it to us? Like right now?”

      “Why wait?” Michael sniggered. “I’ve promised to help you…”

      The girls moved up closer to their father. They couldn’t still believe Michael would read Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs just like that.

      “I wouldn’t read you the whole Book. I hope one day you’ll do it yourself… It tells about three worlds, arisen at the same time. The Star-God created the Human World, the Dark World and the Angel World, having bound them together for eternity. He left a Crystal in each of them. The Earth is inhabited by humans, the Dark World is deserted and uninhabited, and the third World is inhabited by what we’re used to call angels.”