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Luxor Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
WHEN THEY GOT back to the Luxor Hotel, Crowley rang Cameron.
“What’s up, buddy?”
Crowley smiled. “You sound chipper for... what time is it there anyway?”
“Time?” Cameron asked. “What even is it? I was hoping to hear from you again. I’m glad you haven’t been shot or anything. What do you need?”
“Well, your concern warms my heart. I need you to snoop through some conspiracy theories and crazy talk and see if you can root out any seeds of truth.”
Cameron groaned. “Oh, man. Information I can deal with, crazy talk is not my specialty.”
“But you’ll do it for me, right?”
“What is it?”
Crowley laughed at Cameron’s resigned tone and relayed the key points of Shepherd’s story. “So what it boils down to,” he concluded, “is that we need to know the most likely location of this actual Lost City, starting with the Haunted Canyon area Shepherd mentioned.”
“If it even exists.”
“Yeah, if it exists,” Crowley admitted. “I think there’s something to it, even if it’s been blown out of all proportion by the retellings of the story. I bet there’s something, even if it’s just some weird caves. We need to know and we need to go there.”
“Okay. Leave it with me. I’ll start digging.”
“You’re worth your weight in gold, Cam.”
Cameron laughed. “I’ll eat extra doughnuts in case I ever need to cash myself in.” He hung up without another word and Crowley smiled as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.
“We need to get back out there under our own steam,” Rose said. “We can’t have tour guides or park staff know that we’re snooping about.”
“True, but I’m too tired to drive through the night. Let’s get a good rest here and we can head off early tomorrow. Hopefully Cameron will come through with some directions by then.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. You think we’ll catch up with Lily in the Haunted Canyon?”
Crowley shrugged, shook his head. “No idea. But I do think we’re more likely to get some solid leads there than anywhere else we’ve looked so far. You want to head up to the room?”
Rose gave him a sidelong glance, seeming to measure his intent. He winced internally. If nothing had happened last night, drunk and footloose, it was unlikely that anything would happen now. But he wished she would talk to him. Something was eating at her and he wanted to help.
“I feel like moving around, not being cooped up,” she said.
“Okay. You want to wander through the casino?”
“Sure.”
As they walked, Crowley let his gaze roam over the grandiose décor. The Egyptian gods and architecture seemed foreboding now, oppressive. Not so much cheap and tacky, but as though they had a weight of intent. Maybe portent.
“I wonder why Lily decided to stay here,” he said.
“That’s an odd question,” Rose said. “Why not stay here?”
“Well, it’s not one of the nicer casinos. It’s at the south end of the strip, away from the action. If she was only interested in learning about the Lost City, why not stay in a more affordable hotel off the strip?”
Rose looked around, frowned. “That’s a good point, actually. But this one is very much her theme.”
“If she’s really that into Egypt, the real history, it seems to me she wouldn’t think staying here was cool.”
Rose considered that a moment. Eventually she said, “That’s true, I suppose. The Lily I know would probably roll her eyes at this décor. But who knows? Maybe she just wanted to have a bit of fun.”
“Although I wonder if there’s something more here. Are there any Egypt-themed exhibits currently running?”
Rose shook her head. “Just the Human Body and the Titanic.”
Crowley stopped short, something tickling at his memory. His brow creased in thought.
“What is it?” Rose asked.
“The Titanic. It rings a bell.” He thought harder, then it came to him. “That’s right! I once heard a tale of a cursed mummy that brought death and disaster to everyone who possessed it as it made its way out of Egypt and on to England. Finally, an Egyptologist purchased it and arranged for it to be shipped to the States. On board...” He grinned at Rose.
“The Titanic?” she ventured. She gave him a mocking look. “Really? A cursed mummy sank the Titanic?”
Crowley grinned. “May I remind you that we’re currently on the hunt for a lost Egyptian city in the Grand Canyon?”
“Touché,” she replied.
“Maybe Lily knew about that legend and she stayed here to check it out more. Two birds and all that? Perhaps we should check it out, too.”
“Might as well,” Rose said. “We’ve nothing better to do.”
Crowley gave her a sly look, deciding to push his luck. “We had fun last night, even though I ended up on the floor after all. We could always, you know...”
Rose looked at him levelly, eyes slightly haunted. She opened her mouth, her expression like she was about to say something serious, then shook her head. “Not now, Jake.”
He wondered what she might have been about to say before she changed her mind. He sighed. “Okay then. But I wish you’d talk to me.”
“I will. But for now, let’s go.”
They headed over to the exhibits and paid their admission. Inside the Titanic exhibit were numerous artifacts from the sunken ship, in glass cases and on tables, each labeled with whatever details were deemed relevant. As they wandered through, signs and videos told the story of the ill-fated voyage. Letters and articles gave names and faces to the dead, the weight of history and humanity entangled. Crowley knew the story well, he’d taught aspects of it numerous times, but it was only when he saw the actual, physical articles that the history came off the page and into his heart. These were real people, this was a real event. It was too easy to think of history like stories, no more than a tale to be told. But that was the beauty of history. It happened, it shaped everything that came after. These people lived this story in every cold, wet detail.
Rose took some time to admire an impressive replica of the grand staircase. Glossy wood swept down from either side to a final central descent, brass edges glittering on every step. A bronze statue of a toga-clad boy holding aloft a torch stood at the bottom. “Imagine it,” she said quietly as Crowley came to stand beside her. “Imagine the people, gliding up and down there. Imagine the dresses!”
He kept silent. Eventually they moved on.
In one display, visitors were invited to press their hand against a block of ice for as long as they could, in order to understand what the passengers felt when they plunged into the icy water.
“Challenge you?” Crowley said, with an impish grin.
Rose smirked. “Sure. Let’s see what you got, soldier boy.”
They counted to three, then each planted a palm flat to the ice. Both acquitted themselves well, but Rose finally gave up with a muttered curse, whipping her hand away and rubbing her palm vigorously against her leg to warm it up.
To prove a point, Crowley kept his hand there for several more seconds, smiling at her, before slowly removing it and wiping it gently on his jacket to dry it.
“What are you?” Rose asked, brow creased. “Some sort of Buddhist monk?”
He grinned. “Not exactly.”
Her frown deepened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He wiggled his fingers like a stage magician. “An enigma wrapped in a mystery, that’s me.”
She slapped his shoulder. “You’re a bellend, that’s what you are.”
They both laughed and Crowley was pleased the mood was genuinely lightened from the discomfort before. They were comfortable with each other, relaxed good friends, even if they might never be anything more. Much as Crowley wished there could be more, he was glad of the friendship and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it.
He pointed. “Check it out.”
The exhibit space was capped off with a large section of the Titanic’s hull. They entered the room, kept dark to recreate the night the ship went down, with only enough concealed lighting to allow them to see the artifact. It gave Crowley a chill to consider that night, April 14th, 1912, the sudden panic and alarm in the darkness.
As they admired it, Crowley noticed an employee standing in the corner, keeping an eye on things. He wondered how much the staff might know of the exhibit’s history. He saw no harm in asking.
He nudged Rose and they approached the employee.
“Hi there.”
The woman smiled. “Hello.” Her name badge said Janet.
“This is quite the exhibit here,” Crowley said.
“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Janet said. “One of those moments in history that almost everyone in the world knows something about. Everyone’s heard of it.”
“How much more do you know?” Crowley asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there are a lot of stories surrounding the main event, aren’t there? The cursed mummy story, for example. You heard about that one?”
Janet laughed softly. “I have, actually. That, in fact, is quite a story.”