Tia, I pleaded. We need his help. If he doesn’t take us where we need to go, Amon dies. The world ends. Chaos reigns. You don’t want that. I know you don’t. You’ve got to trust me. I promise I won’t do anything without consulting you first.
“I do trust you,” she murmured quietly, much more at ease now that the stallion had moved farther away from us.
Good. Then give me back control.
She hesitated only a moment, but the instant she made the decision to give in, I felt it. Tia, feeling slightly guilty, retreated deeply into my mind and hid like a kitten under a bed.
“Wait!” I cried out, in charge of my own voice again. I quickly stowed the blades at my back and held out a hand to the retreating horse.
He approached cautiously, doubtfully, like a reluctant colt after a treat, and then backed away quickly, nearly sitting on his haunches. Neighing, he shook his head as if something was bothering him.
I do not know what game you play, young sphinx, but I am not in the habit of offering my services to just anyone.
“I know. I’m sorry.” Taking a few slow steps in his direction, I stretched out my fingertips, and he, almost reluctantly, closed the distance. When he seemed comfortable enough, I patted his cheek and he pressed his head against my shoulder in response.
He blew a soft breath through my hair. You may speak, he said in my mind quietly.
“I have a passenger with me,” I explained. “And she seems to be concerned and somewhat fearful regarding your intentions.”
Tia hissed, sulky and unhappy about my saying that she was afraid.
A passenger? What do you mean by this?
Clearing my throat, uncomfortable, I wrung my hands and said, “The spell to make me a sphinx worked, but the consciousness of the lioness that merged with me so we could achieve this power is still a part of me.”
The stallion bounced and I quickly backed away as he reared up on his hind legs and pawed the air, nickering loudly. His hooves gouged the sand, kicking it up until it was as agitated as he was. You have brought a lioness here? This is unacceptable. Remove her from your form immediately.
“Remove her?” I laughed uneasily. “Even if I could, which I can’t, I wouldn’t.”
The horse twisted his head to peer at me. Now I understand why you said the things you did. He sighed deeply. I am sorry, then, Innocent One, but as much as I crave your association, I cannot take you on your journey. He turned to leave, flicking his tail.
“Don’t go!” I called out, and placed a hand on his back. “Please,” I begged. “We both know that we cannot accomplish our goal without you.”
I sensed that he wasn’t as eager to leave us as he had been a moment ago.
I do not like lions, the stallion said finally, obviously torn at the idea of stranding us there. But if she will remain quiet on the journey, I will agree to take you to Duat.
I patted him happily and kissed his warm cheek.
If you agree to grant me a boon, he added as he knelt before me.
At the same moment I murmured, “Of course,” Tia screamed in my mind, No!
But it was too late. The bargain was already made. She knew it and broke down into torrential sobs. I prayed my own instincts were right.
As I climbed on the back of a unicorn, I thought how silly I’d been to think I was prepared. There was no anticipating something like this. My life was now beautiful, marvelous, unanticipated, unscripted madness. It’s one of the things that attracted me to Amon. There was a loveliness to the unexpected, and the more I was a part of it, the more I craved it. I would never be the same girl again, and it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it should have.
Nebu got to his feet and I held tightly to his mane as he headed over to the uncovered tomb. Though there was uncertainty and danger ahead, I felt ready for it. I didn’t look back. Not at Dr. Hassan. Not at the African landscape. Not at the world I knew. And not at the girl I used to be. Lilliana Young was gone. I was someone, something altogether new.
He will betray your trust, Tia said, interrupting my thoughts.
But Amon promised he’d send help, I replied. He wouldn’t have sent someone who would hurt us.
Unicorns only help themselves to the vulnerable and innocent, she muttered moodily.
Are you sure he’s really a unicorn? I asked, still doubtful.
She sighed impatiently. I will tell you their story when we are alone. I do not want him to hear my thoughts.
All right, I said to her secretly. We’ll be careful.
Hold to me tightly, said Nebu, lest you fall and are lost in the Land Between.
“The Land Between?” I questioned, but there wasn’t time for him to answer because he reared up and leapt into the dark bubble we’d opened in the tomb. And just like that, the world we knew was left behind. With a snap, the bubble closed around us and I could see nothing, hear nothing but the powerful breathing of the stallion as he ran.
I squeezed my eyes tightly, threading my fingers through his silky mane as I pressed my thighs against his sides and prayed that I wouldn’t fall off. The last place I wanted to end up was lost in the abyss we were in.
After what felt like an hour, I saw a light ahead and we sped toward it. The brightness grew and rocky soil materialized ahead. We dashed forward as fast as lightning, and with a crack of Nebu’s thunderous hooves that echoed in the sky above us, we struck land. Beams of pink and purple, orange and yellow filtered over the stony landscape, lighting it softly, serenely, with the barest touch of color.
The terrain reminded me of the great rock canyons of the Wild West. Pink pinnacles rose over horseshoe-shaped plateaus made of sandstone and shale that must have been formed by ancient rivers and colorful lake sediments. Pale stripes of minerals in different colors graced each peak and mound of stone. We passed wide arches and impossible rock formations that had been so eroded it was a wonder they still stood.
I saw no signs of wildlife or people, but there were plants and trees that peeked out from crevices and behind arches. The fresh scent of a desert just after a thunderstorm wafted over me. Though the landscape was bathed in soft light, the sky was dark, illuminated only by the thousands of stars overhead, and I realized then that the dreamy quality of pastel light on the sepia terrain had been created by them.
“It’s beautiful. Do you live here?” I asked.
No. This is a part of the Land Between. We have passed through the first barrier and have entered the second. This is the Place Where Dreams Are Born.
“Interesting. Will we fall asleep here, then?”
No! To sleep in the Place Where Dreams Are Born is to forfeit your life and become a dream. You will cease to exist unless a mortal conjures you in his slumber.
It didn’t sound too bad when I thought about it. It was a good way to die if you had to. Plus, I could rely on Amon dreaming about me at least once in a while.
It is imperative that you remain awake while we are in this realm, he warned.
“Then perhaps you should tell us a story,” I suggested as I patted him.
Okay, I will tell you one of my favorites: the story of Geb and Nut.
As he regaled me with the familiar story, I heard Amon’s voice instead of Nebu’s. I closed my eyes and pictured his handsome face, his lips next to my ear, as Nebu narrated the story of a god and goddess and of a love so strong it took tremendous power to separate the two beings. Even then, with the vast heavens between them, they clung to each other by their fingertips and their gazes remained always fixed upon the one they loved. I wiped away a tear leaking from the corner of my eye, and before I knew it, Nebu stretched out his legs, lengthening his stride.
“What’s happening?” I called out.
We have reached the far side of the Place Where Dreams Are Born. We’ve passed the second barrier and are about to embark upon the third and final one. We’re at the drop-off.
“The drop-off? What do you mean, ‘the drop-off’?”
Before he could expl
ain further, I saw exactly what he meant. The hard sepia dusted terrain abruptly ended and beyond it was nothing but star-studded night, like we’d reached the end of the world. A place where ships would sail right over the edge of the earth and into the unknown.
“Nebu!” I cried.
Tia screeched inside my head, and if she’d had claws, she would have dug them into my spine.
All will be well, Lady Sphinx. Hold on tightly, the unicorn said.
With that, the muscles of the stallion’s back shifted beneath me, and great golden wings sprouted behind my legs. With an immense thrust, Nebu’s hooves left the ground just as we reached the edge of the cliff. He leapt into the sky, legs pumping and heavy wings beating against the wind, taking us higher.
I was on the back of a broken unicorn, an immortal desert stallion. I felt not unlike Bellerophon, who’d dared to ride his beloved horse, Pegasus, up Mt. Olympus to confront the gods. He had failed and was struck down on the journey, but I wasn’t going to let that happen to us. With eyes wide-open, I scanned the sky. Our destination loomed somewhere ahead, just beyond the stars.
The ground fell far beneath us, and I had to soothe and calm Tia as best I could even though the height caused me alarm as well. Thankfully, Nebu ascended slowly, keeping us as level as he possibly could. The higher we rose, the colder it got. Tia cowered inside me, trembling, even though it was my arms that were prickly with goose bumps and my nose that had lost feeling.
When I asked Nebu if we were going to freeze and die due to lack of oxygen, he replied, You are a sphinx now. You cannot perish from something as simple as frostbite. Besides, you will be warm again soon enough. Remember, our destination is the home of the sun god.
If Amun-Ra’s home was anything like being near Amon, I had nothing to worry about. Amon generated warmth like a space heater. Just thinking about him made me feel like I’d wrapped a thick blanket around my shoulders. The little shivers in my muscles subsided. Perhaps my fears are more of a mental thing than physical, I thought.
And regarding your question about oxygen, you misunderstand when we are.
“Don’t you mean where we are?”
I mean when. To you this must feel like the atmosphere of your own Earth. The stars surrounding us would represent something like space. But we are not in the place your mind tells you. Just because you inhale and exhale does not mean there is oxygen, and we are not in the when we left.
“Then what am I breathing, exactly? And if we’re not a where, then when are we?” I asked.
You are breathing in the light of the stars, and I don’t mean the stars in your universe. Stars have a different meaning here. To answer the second part of your question, we are Between Time.
“That’s why you called it a Land Between. You didn’t mean between places; you meant between times.”
Yes. That’s right.
I sensed Nebu was pleased with my ability to understand what he was saying.
Tia was no longer listening. Her brain couldn’t process metaphysical discussions such as this. She was a huntress. A warrior. Her instincts told her something was very wrong and she didn’t belong in the place we were. A cat needed to feel the ground beneath her paws. She needed to tread known paths and terrain. She had no desire to discover anything about the realm we’d found ourselves in.
Curious, I asked him, “Is this how Anubis travels as well? He journeys between time?”
Yes. All the gods travel in this manner.
“But not the Sons of Egypt, right?”
The Sons of Egypt do have the ability to manipulate time, but to travel in the dark space Between takes a physical toll on them. The gods are not affected in the same way.
“That brings up a question I’ve been meaning to ask for quite a while. Why don’t the gods do their own dirty work? I mean, why give Amon and his brothers the responsibility for something that the gods caused to happen in the first place? They’re the ones who banished Seth. They should clean up their own messes.”
Nebu’s wings twitched and he shook his head as if he were uncomfortable. I dare not speculate on the why. I have my theories on the subject, of course, but it’s not my place to say anything.
“Well, you can bet I’m planning on saying something. It’s unfair what they expect. Their so-called gifts are really just cop-outs.”
Feeling chilled again, I rubbed my hands together and blew on them to warm them up.
The discomfort you feel at this time is nothing compared to the physical challenges you will face in the netherworld, you know, Nebu said.
“Now you tell me,” I murmured.
Surely you didn’t think this journey would be easy.
“No. I guess my human side is showing, isn’t it? I’m feeling a little too much like Lily Young and not enough like a sphinx at the moment.”
Perhaps you should ask your lioness for help.
“What? How?”
She can help you regulate your body temperature.
“Really?”
Tia heard his suggestion and her presence bubbled up to fill my frame. A blessed warmth came with it, as if she’d wrapped me in the fur coat of a lion. I was still in charge of my body, but she stayed with me now, right below the surface, despite her fear of being airborne.
Thank you, I said to her silently.
I apologize for allowing your suffering to continue. I was not aware that I could stop it.
It’s okay. We’re learning as we go.
“Thank you,” I said to the stallion. “We’re feeling much better now.”
You’re welcome. Just remember that anytime you need to access the power of the sphinx, you will need to do it together. To harness it requires you to be unified in your desires.
“That’s good to know.”
Are you ready, Lady Sphinx? Nebu asked.
“Ready? For what?”
To enter Duat.
“Oh, that. Umm, sure?”
The unicorn banked and then pressed forward slowly. It looked as if we were entering a horizontal black pool of water. The stars remained fixed but the space between them shimmered like liquid vinyl. Nebu’s head and chest disappeared, encompassed by the opaque sludge. It reminded me of being absorbed into the giant worm’s mountain where Dr. Hassan had stored Asten’s sarcophagus.
As the liquid closed over my legs and flowed up the rest of my body, I couldn’t help taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. I’d been absorbed and/or crushed by one too many things since I’d met Amon. Between quicksand, a suffocating lioness, mountains, a stone box, and now the gateway to Duat, I was surprised that I didn’t have a worse problem with claustrophobia than I did. Each experience felt like a tiny death. And now that I was a cat, at least partially, I wondered if this was going to use up one of my nine lives.
It’s a myth, Tia’s inner voice said.
What is? I answered, desperate for a distraction as the blackness closed over my head.
That cats have nine lives. They don’t. They get one, just like every other creature. The exception being your mate, of course.
Finally the darkness lifted away and we beheld a paradise arrayed in all its glory. We’d entered a new world—one more beautiful and lush than I’d ever seen. A vast ocean shimmered beneath us with the soft golden rays of a perfect sunset. It reflected Nebu’s thick wings, my bare white legs on his back, and the green of my dress.
Strange seabirds called out to each other as they dove, trying to catch dinner in a school of fish with scales that flashed brightly under the water’s surface. Other, larger animals I couldn’t see spouted thick mists of water, then quickly disappeared beneath the ocean surface. The balmy breeze carried on it the scents of a turquoise ocean, golden sands, bright citrus, and tropical flowers, all baked by a summer sun.
The unicorn dipped lower, dragging his feet in the wake; the water, so warm it could have been from a hot spring, splashed over my sandaled feet. Ahead of us was an island surrounded by low tangerine clouds, and jutting up from the b
illowing mass was a golden city. Carved obelisks, arched bridges, gleaming towers, massive statues, and impressive pyramids with gilded capstones that shone in the waning sunlight dotted the landscape. Though it was sunset, the light generating from each building was easily enough to rival a full moon.
“Is this Duat?” I asked.
Nebu nickered lightly. No. The city before us is only a part of Duat. It is the Heart of the Sun—the home of Amun-Ra—otherwise known as Heliopolis. To gain entrance to the afterlife and the netherworld, you’ll need to travel to the far side of Duat, to the place where the sun sets in the evening.
“The sun is setting now. Can we get there before nightfall?”
We cannot. Even if I could manage to get you there in time, you would not be allowed to obtain passage on the Cosmic River without first calling upon Amun-Ra. He must grant permission to ride on the celestial barque. Without the leave of He Who Came Into Being by Himself, the Protector of the Untraveled Road, you would not be allowed to even remain within the borders of Heliopolis.
Nebu beat his wings and flew above a great wall that surrounded the city, and I could see the movement of people between the buildings down below.
“Who are they?” I asked.
Some are lesser gods. Some are servants who have pledged an eternal devotion to Amun-Ra. Others are his creations.
“Creations? You mean like children?”
In a manner of speaking, yes. Like the unicorn, there are a vast number of creatures formed by the cosmos, and even a few created by Amun-Ra or the other members of the pantheon. Many of them live here in Heliopolis in peace.
“So they’re not human, then?”
Some are. Some were.
I dared not ask for more details about that. At least not yet. It was all a little too much for me. “So where are we headed? The capitol building?”
We will attempt to gain entrance at the gateway to Amun-Ra’s palatial home. Can you see it there at the top of the hill?
The area of the city where we were headed held the most exquisite, most dazzling buildings I’d ever seen. A colossal temple crowned with an obelisk, carved in the form of a great bird, rose from a mountainside, capped with a sparkling miniature pyramid.