---
"You," he said to one of the front-line men. "Read the ledger on the desk."
The man blinked once, then turned his head toward Mira's work table. The ledger sat half-open a good distance away, the writing too small for normal eyes to read from there.
The transformed man narrowed his new red eyes.
Then startled.
He actually leaned back a fraction and said, "I can."
Mira, who had been watching all this with increasing awareness that she was now standing inside history whether she wanted to or not, lowered her gaze toward the ledger automatically as if protecting the page from being seen better.
"What can you read?" Sekhmet asked.
The man swallowed, focused again, and slowly recited the upper line of entries. Not perfectly. But close enough to prove the point.
Sekhmet turned to another.
"You. Go to the door. Tell me how many people are waiting outside without stepping through it."
