Amira slammed the car door as she walked over to the grisly scene. She swallowed hard before glimpsing beneath the white sheet.

At one time, the young woman before her had been beautiful.

But now….

Her long hair was matted and large clumps had been pulled out. Her once tanned skin had taken on a whitish blue pallor. Amira’s stomach churned as she glimpsed the young woman’s broken fingernails. It appeared as though she’d tried to claw her way out from somewhere. A tiny diamond ring graced her pinky finger.

Holden appeared behind her.

“Shit, even though I’ve seen it dozens of times it never gets any easier.”

Amira jumped tearing her eyes from the body. Shivering, she nodded.

“No, it doesn’t.” She lit a cigarette and took a long drag on it.

“What’s your take on this?” She asked Officer Fullerton, a young cop as he walked up.

“She’s dead.”

“Is that your lousy attempt at humor? Seriously?” Amira stared at him with disdain. He shrugged. Amira wasn’t surprised. The asshole was known for being insensitive.

Amira cased the room looking for similarities between the five girls they’d found so far. Other than they were all young and attractive she couldn’t find any.

Groaning inwardly, she pulled a cigarette out of her pocket.

“Smoking again, Amira? Thought you gave that up.” Holden grinned at her. Shit, every time he smiled at her she got annoying butterflies in her stomach like she was some kind of teenager. He was so fucking hot.

“I did for about a minute.” She flicked the ash on the floor. Casting another glance at the body, Amira decided she had to step out for a minute. It was getting overwhelming.

As she stared at the sea gulls swooping down to the water in the harbor, she thought of her mother.

Closing her eyes, Amira could still hear her mother’s voice the last time she’d seen her.

“Now be good kids for Mommy. I’ll be right back. Just sit here for a few minutes.” Amira’s mother, Iris said as she dropped Amira and her brothers off at a gas station.

Eight year old Amira held tightly to her two brothers as they stood watching their mother drive off in a blue station wagon. The three children clung together as they waited for their mother’s return.

It was cold. The wind howled as snow began to fall. It was late well past their bedtime. Amira’s youngest brother, Anthony began to weep with exhaustion. Amira cuddled them to her as she fervently wished for her mother’s return.

A few hours passed and the children collapsed exhausted on the sidewalk. The owner of the gas station, a burly man with a greying beard noticed the children huddled together.

“Where are your parents, little girl?” He asked Amira. She raised her tired, brown eyes up to him.

“My mommy said she’d be back.” Amira answered looking shyly away from him. Her little brothers whimpered at her side.

“Is there someone else you could call? Your daddy or maybe your grandma?” The man smiled down at them.

The cold air whipped around them.

“It’s really cold out here. Why don’t you come inside and I’ll fix you all up with some nice hot cocoa.”

Amira shook her head.

“No, thank you. We’re supposed to wait here for our mommy. She’ll be back.” Amira stood staunchly holding her brothers’ hands. They looked up at the man with big sad eyes.

The man felt touched by the tiny, helpless children. He wanted them to come inside so he could call someone to help them. He had an awful feeling that their mother wasn’t coming back.

“Did your mommy say you couldn’t come inside? Look, you can come inside where it’s warm and wait right there at that window. If she shows up, you’ll be able to see her.” The man pointed at a window in front of a red booth.

“Please, Mira.” Her brother, Anthony pleaded.

She threw a quick glance at the highway. The cars had slowed significantly in the past hour and Amira had a terrible uneasiness building in her stomach.

Her mother wasn’t coming back.

Still, she had to cling to hope that she would return. What would she, an eight year old girl do with her two younger brothers all alone? Who would take care of them?

“All right. But I want to sit right there.” She pointed at the seat right next to the window.

“Sure thing.”

The man led the trio of children into his store. Soon he had steaming hot cups of cocoa sitting in front of them. Eagerly, the children sipped the delicious hot drink.

“Say, when was the last time you kids ate? I’ve got some amazing pancakes my cook, Dinah could whip up for you.”

“Pancakes!” Little Aleister, her youngest brother beamed nodding.

“I don’t have any money.” Amira looked down shamefully.

He smiled at them.

“That’s okay, honey. It’s on the house.”

He ordered Dinah to whip up a batch of pancakes while he sat and talked with the children.

“So, your name is Amira? Do you have someone I could call?”

Big tears began to well up in her eyes.

“We don’t know our daddy.”

“G-Pa!” Anthony clapped his hands together bouncing in the seat.

“Your grandfather?”

Amira shifted uneasily in her seat. Her mother didn’t like her grandfather. Something to do with his religion. She didn’t quite know. Still, she recalled her mother screaming obscenities at her grandfather on the phone telling him he couldn’t see her or her brothers.

“Yes, we have a grandfather.”

“Does he live near here?”

Amira nodded.

“I think so. He lives here sometimes. He lives in Egypt, too.”

“Egypt?” The man’s eyes widened.

“Yes. It’s far away from here. It takes a really long time to fly there.”

Dinah stopped at the table with the tray of pancakes.

“Here. Specialty of the house. Fresh buttermilk pancakes.”

She placed huge plates of pancakes in front of the children. Her brothers wasted no time lathering theirs up with butter and pouring syrup on them.

Amira picked at her food.

“Could I call your grandpa? Would he come to get you?”

She took a bite of her pancakes.

“Yes, I think so. But mommy doesn’t like him.”

“Why, honey?”

She shrugged.

“Something to do with religion.”

“Do you like him, Amira?”

She nodded.

“Then I’ll call him. Can you write his name down for me?”

Amira wrote his name as best she could.

“Ammon. That’s an interesting name.” He smiled stroking her long silky dark hair.

Amira winced at the stranger’s touch. Her mother told her never to talk to strangers yet this one was being so kind to them. She couldn’t help but feel at ease.

“I found one listing for Ammon Faraday on Roundtree Lane. Is that him?”

Amira nodded as she dug into her pancakes. The man left the table to call her grandfather.

After the children had finished their pancakes, Amira saw headlights turning into the parking lot of the gas station.

“Mommy!” She squealed grabbing at her brothers’ hands.

But seeing the long black sleek car of her grandfather, she stopped.

The man in the gas station watched as a tall, dark skinned man emerged from the car. He was dressed in a formal black suit with a white shirt. His eyes were dark brown as was his hair. He could immediately tell he was of Middle Eastern descent.

“Mr. Faraday? I’m the man who called you.”

“Amira! Anthony! Aleister!” The man threw open his arms towards the children. Both boys raced to him, but Amira hung back.

“It’s okay, Amira. It’s your grandfather.”

“I know, but Mommy said---“

She was interrupted by her grandfather. His voice was low and commanding. Jim could hear the strong accent in his voice.

“Amira, you need to come with me. Your mother has been in an accident.”

Amira’s eyes widened and her face went pale. The man felt so badly for her.

“What? Is she okay?” Amira cried.

“She’s fine, Amira.” He patted her back pushing her towards the car.

“Thank you for calling me, Sir.” Mr. Faraday extended his hand.

As he drew closer, there seemed to be something off about him. Something Jim didn’t like. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something almost sinister about Mr. Faraday.

“We had pancakes, G-Pa!” Anthony danced around his grandfather.

“Oh? Let me take care of that.” Mr. Faraday dug into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills.

Jim shook his head.

“It’s on the house.”

“I insist. I should repay you for your kindness for looking after my grandchildren.”

Mr. Faraday pressed several bills into Jim’s hand. He shoved them into his pocket.

“Take care, kids.” He waved at them as they got into the luxury car.

Amira’s deep brown eyes gave him a haunting final glance as the car drove away.

When they arrived at their grandpa’s house, Amira swallowed a hard lump in her throat. She was sure something terrible had happened to her mother.

And she was certain her grandfather had something to do with it.

As they walked into the lavish home, Amira’s brothers raced happily to their new rooms.

“G-Pa, how did you know we were coming here?” Amira asked.

He smiled down at her.

“A grandfather always knows particularly one who studies the arts.”

“The arts?” Amira thought of her grandfather painting pictures.

“The dark arts, my dear.” He grinned as he ushered her upstairs.

His voice frightened her. What ‘dark arts’?

As they climbed the winding staircase, she marveled at the glorious fixtures in the house, the elaborate crystal chandelier sparkled like diamonds casting their reflection throughout the foyer.

Suddenly, her attention was captured by a huge portrait of what she believed must be her grandmother hanging from the wall. The woman in the picture was young looking so much like her mother today. Her skin was an olive color like her grandfather’s. She had long black hair and startlingly beautiful green eyes. Around her neck was a gold chain and a huge U shaped pendant dangling from it.

“So pretty,” Amira murmured.

“Your grandmother, Dalila. She was a magnificent beauty just like your mother.” He turned to face her.

“Just like you.”

Amira swallowed as she walked behind her grandfather to her room. It was much larger than the room she’d had at home with her mother. It was decorated in soft lilac, her favorite color. Several teddy bears and dolls lined the shelves on the walls. A huge four poster bed with a canopy was in the center of the room on a pedestal. It sported a lavish purple comforter trimmed in white lace. It was the prettiest room she’d ever seen.

“Do you like it, Amira?”

She did like it, but something about the whole situation was bothering her. This had been planned.

But why?

Where was her mother?

“G-pa, where’s Mommy?”

He sat down patting the bed beside him. Reluctantly, Amira slid up on the bed next to him.

“Your mother has gone away, Amira.”

“I thought you said she was in an accident.” Amira crossed her arms over her chest.

“I had to tell you that. We were in front of outsiders.” He replied referring to Jim, the diner’s owner.

“Where did she go?”

His eyes glazed over as he looked blankly at the wall.

“Far, far away to the land of our ancestors.”

“Egypt?” Amira guessed.

“Yes, near there.”

“Can we go see her?”

“Perhaps in the future. She is unreachable at the moment.”

Amira began to cry.

“It’s okay, darling. I will take care of you and your brothers. This is what she wanted.”

Then Amira remembered how angry her mother was at him. If she was mad at him, why would she send them to live with him?

“G-pa, Mommy is mad at you. She wouldn’t send us to live with you.”

His eyes darkened a moment then he smiled. His teeth were even and white.

“Darling, your mother and I had our differences. She didn’t want to embrace her heritage, her birthright. I insisted that she do so. In the end, she saw it my way.”

Something in his voice seemed definitive. Amira sensed she shouldn’t talk anymore about it. He was her grandfather and she knew he loved her.

“I miss her.”

“If you’re a good girl, you may see her again someday.” He pressed his lips to the top of her head.

Amira tossed her shoes off and pulled down the covers.

“It’s late, darling. If you look in one of those drawers, you’ll find some pajamas. Sophie picked them out.”

“Who’s Sophie?”

“My housekeeper and your new nanny.”

Amira was terribly confused, scared, and sad. But most of all, she was tired. She did as her grandfather told her and she pulled out a pair of soft pink pajamas. She slipped them on and got under the covers. She took a big brown bear from one of the shelves that reminded her of her old stuffie at home, Bear-Bear. She snuggled down under the blankets and soon fell asleep.

Several months passed, the children grew accustomed to living with their grandfather. Amira began to relax around him and enjoyed being there. Her brothers were delighted. They hardly seemed to miss their mother.

Then the chanting started.