“Now then,” Seth said with a warped smile on his face, “where were we?”
“Ah yes,” Seth said. “The mystery woman.”
My inner New York socialite noticed that Seth’s hands dangled several inches below his sleeves. Apparently, he’d been growing while in the obelisk. Either that, or he just had no sense of style or didn’t care about his attire. I studied his face and observed that there was something off, something almost gangly about him. Like he was a late-blooming teen that still hadn’t quite reached adulthood. Or perhaps he just had one of those faces that always made him look younger than he actually was. Like one of those actors who could still take on roles as high school students far into his twenties and thirties.
Hadn’t Seth been alive for centuries? Was that how immortal puberty worked? Wow, that sucked. The idea that I’d be stuck wearing braces and battling acne for centuries was horrifying. I’d probably want to lash out at everyone around me, too. Seth had not one but two cowlicks, and as Isis cowered before him, he made repeated attempts to smooth down his hair. He didn’t seem to be aware that he was doing it. His fingers twitched, and his pale blue eyes frequently shifted to the woman at his feet.
His body seemed strong enough, but his too-long limbs didn’t seem to be coordinated at all. To Tia he resembled a gangly male cub, all roar and posturing with nothing to back it up. Ashleigh wondered if his appearance was a result of his imprisonment. She reminded me that her form had changed while she was hidden inside the fairy tree. He’d probably been starving while trapped inside the obelisk.
Seth narrowed his hard-as-flint eyes and attempted a condescending laugh, but instead snorted and froze as if shocked that such a sound had come from his body. My lips twitched. He immediately noticed my reaction and gnashed his teeth. Red embarrassment crept up his face, and I could see the moment when his embarrassment changed to anger.
Without consciously moving, I took a step back until I could feel Amon’s steady presence behind me. The rage roiling through Seth’s form was something powerful. He was like a terrible thundercloud preparing to unleash his fury. A wise man would take notice, board up his windows, and seek shelter.
Now I understood why Seth preferred to take on the forms of animals instead of his immortal body. As an animal, he felt powerful, comfortable, and proud, but as a man he felt awkward and self-conscious. The animals’ faces were masks that he wore to hide his imperfections. It made a sick kind of sense when considering the all-too-perfect family he’d grown up with.
Asten looked nothing like Seth. In fact, Asten carried himself more like Anubis and his brothers than he did the man who’d actually brought him into the world. It was a relief in many ways to see how different they were. They weren’t just different in looks. With the right skin care regimen, a good haircut, and tailored clothes, Seth wouldn’t be too hard on the eyes. But, to me, attractiveness was centered on the inside. When considering that, Seth was repulsive.
The problem was, Seth was powerful. And worse, he was cruel. Maybe the reasons he’d become that way weren’t entirely his own fault. Seth had a nervous tic and a need to be adored and appreciated whether he deserved it or not. A lot of teen boys were the same way. They’d abuse their girlfriends or bully those they considered weak because it made them feel powerful. I’d just never imagined a god would be like that.
“Did you think,” Seth began, interrupting my assessment, “that I would simply forget about my offspring?” He reached down and stroked Isis’s broken wing. She winced in pain. “I found Asten’s birth mother and tortured her wandering spirit enough to learn what I needed to know. She was much more useful in death than she was in life, for she’d been spying on her godling son. It came as no surprise to me that Anubis had saved the child. He does have a weakness for puppies, lost kittens, and abandoned infants.
“After gleaning the information I needed, I enacted my plan to have the three princes killed, and yes, even knowing one of them was my son. I used the priest Runihura to whisper in her ear that the only way for me to be killed was if a son of my blood wielded the knife. I knew she’d then do her best to steer him in my direction if my plans went awry and he lived. Of course, there was never any danger of him actually killing me, but it would be easy enough then to motivate him when the time was right.
“He didn’t, of course—live, that is. Runihura killed him as instructed. Unfortunately, the gods intervened and trapped the life energy before it could return to the Waters of Chaos. Shortly after that, I was imprisoned in the obelisk and have been whiling away the years plotting my revenge. And, well, here you are.”
He offered a smile that seemed almost genuine, and I realized it was. He was happy to be the center of attention. This was his big moment. His final curtain call. Seth was soaking up every second of limelight he could. I managed to slap an interested expression on my face and asked, “So why did you send his mother in a dream? It seems like everything was going your way. What changed?”
“The scheming of the gods is what changed. It was a good thing I’d taken the precaution with Asten’s mother. You see, I knew there was a chance, albeit a slim one, that you lot could have actually stopped me.”
Now, this I wanted to hear. “Oh?” I said simply, knowing he wouldn’t be able to resist the opportunity to expound upon his own achievements and wisdom.
“Once I realized what Isis had done, yoking the three boys together, I knew I had to cancel out her spell.” He wrapped his hand around Isis’s neck and squeezed. “You know, darling, that your spells are meant to work for me, not against me.”
“Yes, Seth,” she mumbled wearily.
“What was that?” Seth asked, tightening his fingers.
“I mean, yes, husband,” she said and offered him a thin smile.
“That’s better,” he said. He lifted his hands from her neck to stroke her long hair absentmindedly. “Now then, where was I? Oh yes. When my sky-demons brought Asten to me, I held him prisoner for a time, not revealing myself to him so I could decide what steps to take. I couldn’t break the yoke myself. Isis’s spell was too powerful. Only a Son of Egypt could break it. I couldn’t risk open confrontation when all of you were bound together in such a way. There was too big of a risk for me.
“But then my lovely wife appeared—my first wife, Nephthys, that is. It didn’t take much threatening on my part to convince her that helping me was in her best interest. In fact, now that I think on it, she seemed very willing to make amends for all the trouble she’d caused me. I suppose it’s only right that a woman should miss her estranged husband.” He turned to look at Nephthys, who lay on the ground, her ethereal face framed by the waters flowing past. “Perhaps I shall reconsider killing her. It might be nice to pit my two wives against each other.
“So as I was saying,” he said, turning back to us, “I imprisoned Nephthys with Asten and, in very dramatic fashion, she confessed to him that I was his true father and that to kill me, he’d have to kill himself.”
Seth chuckled. “She also warned him that severing the yoke was paramount. That if he killed himself while yoked to his brothers, they would share the same fate. Asten, noble creature that he is, believed wholeheartedly that killing himself would save all of you and would weaken me to the point of death.”
I glanced at the form of Nephthys. She’d betrayed us. I couldn’t believe she would do that to us, to her own family. Did she really have that much loyalty toward her husband? Perhaps she was jealous of Isis, but Nephthys more than anyone seemed to lead the way in taking the battle to Seth. His story made sense, but it just didn’t feel right. Something was off.
“But why go through with it?” I asked. “Why let him kill himself? Once Asten was unyoked, there was no need to destroy him. You weren’t able to absorb his life energy anyway. Anubis captured it in the canopic jars. Why would you even suggest he lift the bow?” I sneered in disgust. “Only a monster would do such a thing.”
“You are a simple girl, young sphinx; therefore I
don’t expect you to fully understand the game of the gods. You’re just a player, a pawn, tossed onto the board to distract me as the other pieces play out their parts. I’d thought you would amount to much more than what I see, but I have to say, I’m fairly disappointed. Anubis knows why Asten had to die. Don’t you, Anubis?”
Anubis glanced at the god. “Because he was my son?”
Seth laughed so hard a tear formed at the corner of his eye. “Do you think I really care about Asten’s parentage? His death gives me even more pleasure knowing it hurts you. That’s why I sent one of my followers to lead him to a manufactured family that was terrible enough to break the most stalwart of souls. But no, my too-large, dumb friend. That is not the reason. Surely you know the real one.”
Seth paused for a moment, waiting, and then his mouth stretched into a wide smile. “Or perhaps you don’t. Between us,” Seth said to me in a stage whisper, “Anubis wasn’t granted the biggest brain in the cosmos.”
Anubis took a menacing step forward, but Seth held up a hand. “Now, now. There’s no need to get brutish. You might want to check your jars, though. I’m not sure even you, the mighty god of the dead, are aware of everything that’s happened.”
Anubis wouldn’t break eye contact with Seth. Instead of doing Seth’s bidding, his black sword materialized in his hand. “I’ve grown weary listening to you boast,” Anubis said. “I believe I’ll cut out your tongue first.”
In a mocking answer, Seth clucked his tongue and wagged a finger then pointed to the canopic jars near my feet. Since Anubis wouldn’t move, I did. Kneeling down, I lifted the jar with the head of an ibis and broke the seal. The inside of the jar was dark and empty. I stared into it for a full minute, waiting for a white light to appear, then raised my head in alarm and locked eyes with Amon. “Nothing’s inside,” I said.
Amon shifted nervously. “That’s not possible, Lily. We saw the energy go inside.” Since Apep seemed content to wait upon Seth’s command. Amon knelt next to me. He opened the second jar, the third, and the fourth.
“Do you see?” Seth said. “Asten’s energy is mine. It made me powerful enough to break the shackles chaining me. Now I can draw upon the power of unmaking, taking it in as never before!” Seth clucked, mocking our despair. “There, there. You should take heart in knowing he saw his own demise in the Dreams That Could Have Been. I guess that makes my son more powerful than the lot of you. Of course, that doesn’t do much for him, now, does it?”
“No. It’s not possible. I…I saved his hair so you could remake him!” I said to Amon. Reaching for Amon’s hand, I dropped Asten’s hair into it and closed his fingers over the strands. “Try,” I begged. “Try to fashion him a new body.”
“Yes,” Seth said, glee written all over his face. “Let’s see you try.”
Anubis’s mouth was set in a grim line, the thick muscles of his neck were bunched as if he was readying himself to leap. Isis wouldn’t even look at us, and Horus just stared blankly at his mother. He looked like a man who’d just lost everything, which is exactly how I felt.
Amon closed his eyes and lifted his hands, murmuring a spell. The hair lifted in the air as magic gathered around him, but then the light dimmed and dispersed. The hair scattered in the winds stirred by the Waters of Chaos.
“No!” I cried as I desperately grasped for the hair, but it flew away and melted into the churning fog before I could snatch it back.
Amon caught me, pulling me into his chest, and I collapsed against him, sobbing. “There is nothing I can do,” he murmured against my ear. “Asten is gone.”
Seth grinned. “Why do you think I had you all brought here? This is a place of creation, but it is also a place of unmaking. Canopic jars, no matter how magical, cannot prevent the natural process of birth and death that occurs here. The Waters of Chaos drained the jars, just as it drained the energy from every creature who died in your tiny unicorn war. I was able to absorb all of that energy, including Asten’s. Now all I have to do is finish off the rest of you.”
Furious, I turned to him. My fingers became talons, the extra knuckle growing immediately as my claws emerged. Their sharp tips glistened in the reflected light of the Waters of Chaos. Vaguely, I heard a cry. “Lily, no!”
But I wasn’t Lily anymore. I was sphinx, and the creature standing before me had killed my mate, causing a second and final death. My only purpose in life now was to cause his murderer the same. With a vicious snarl, I sprang, my cat eyes narrowing on the pulse at his throat. I sunk my claws deeply into his shoulders and opened my mouth.
Seth screamed and bucked as I lowered my lips to the vulnerable spot at his neck, preparing to rip him open with my teeth, fangs or not, but he threw me off. I slid many meters backward, claws digging into the surface but finding no purchase. My other companions sprang. The snake attacked. Horus ran to his mother, pulling her away from a distracted Seth, who was being cornered on all sides.
I summoned my wings to brake myself on the slick surface and then ran a few steps before soaring into the air. While I gathered the energy from the cosmos, I watched helplessly as my companions faltered. Seth was attempting to unmake Horus, but Horus’s mother kept her hand on his shoulder, chanting a spell that seemed to slow the process. So far only his forearm had turned to dust.
Meanwhile, Apep had managed to bite Anubis on the shoulder. When he scrambled from the slick surface to rejoin the fight, he was knocked aside again. The poison began to work, and the powerful god staggered to his knees. This time, he didn’t get up. Apep’s coils wrapped around Ahmose, suffocating him while Amon hacked viciously at the monster’s neck. Black blood dripped on the surface of the waters and disappeared with a hiss. The unmaking of Horus was progressing, and Seth summoned his remaining sky-demons. Having no other choice, I clapped my wings. The flying gargoyles burst into flame, the ashes raining down on the warriors below.
I opened my wings, hovering, cursing the fact that I’d had to expend my energy on the flying army instead of blasting Seth. While energy gathered, I sensed a stirring in the air around me. Something tore at my arm and another wound opened on my leg. The Biloko were back as well. I pulled my knives from their harnesses and slashed wildly. But they continued coming.
Horus had collapsed against his mother. His leg was missing to the knee. Ahmose had either passed out or he’d been bitten, too. I screamed in pain as claws tore into one of my wings, and I dropped my knives. Slowly, I drifted down, my wings unable to hold me up any longer. Instinctively, I raised my hands upward, and a burst of light shot into the air turning the dark space green, then silver, then bronze. I heard the screams of hundreds of Biloko as they were destroyed by the light from the heart scarabs I carried. As quickly as it came, the energy left me. I was drained, my power exhausted.
Tears filled my eyes as I dropped and saw Apep toss aside Ahmose and butt against Amon, throwing him up in the air. He spun wildly, and before he could right himself, Apep bit down into his chest. Amon screamed, and I did, too, as I saw the fang emerge out of Amon’s back.
The snake shook his head vigorously and Amon detached, falling with a heavy thump onto the shimmering Waters of Chaos. My whole body was numb when my feet touched down. Even Horus’s screams didn’t register in my mind. I looked across the expanse to see a gleeful Seth hovering over Isis and Horus. Apep was opening his jaws, preparing to strike again, but I could no longer hear them. Even Tia’s and Ashleigh’s voices were lost to me. Or perhaps they had become as senseless as I was.
As my mind and body floated away, I began to make out the smallest of whispers. I looked up and realized it was the stars themselves. They were speaking to me. Telling me someone’s name.
But naming was something Wasret did. Not me. Still the whispers pressed against my mind. Liberator, they said. It is time for the Liberator to rise.
“Liberator,” I echoed. My lips forming the word. “The Liberator is the key.” Suddenly, I remembered Dr. Hassan’s words: The person for whom this rite remained o
n Earth is a person who hadn’t even been born at the time the name was inscribed on the wall. It is the name the stars have whispered to us over the eons.
The stars were whispering a name now. Liberator, they said again and again.
There is an ancient prophecy regarding chaos, Ma’at’s voice spoke in my mind. It says that there will come a time when chaos reigns the cosmos. Harmony will be lost. Order will fragment. The power of the gods will be trapped in a spider’s web. That is the time when the Liberator will appear.
I knew then who the Liberator was. It was she and she alone who could defeat Seth.
Tilting back my head, I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around Tia and Ashleigh, drawing them in close to me. All my life I’d lived trapped in a cage of my own making, too afraid to disappoint others and be the person I wished to be, but I was no longer that girl. More than anything I wanted to be with the one I loved, to explore the life just beyond my grasp, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’d never know what I could have been, what Amon and I could have been, but at least I’d gotten a taste of it.
I reassured my two sisters, Sometimes sacrifices must be made, and we must give up the thing we want most in the world so that others might live contented and happy. “Wasret,” I said, murmuring the words to the stars above. “We are ready. We summon you by the name whispered across the cosmos. We summon the Liberator.”
A burst of bright light enveloped us. “Thank you, Lily, Tia, Ashleigh. Your sacrifice will be woven among the stars,” said a voice we all recognized. A cold wind passed me, and I rose from the place I’d been drifting. For a moment I was aware of Tia and Ashleigh clinging to me tightly, and then I was aware of nothing.
I inhaled, breathing in the scents of blood, life, energy, loss, death, pain, and ambition. They were tangy and sharp, spicy and sweet. Centering myself in my new form, I opened my eyes and took in the scene before me. Ahmose lay nearby, barely breathing. His lungs were crushed, and one of his organs had ruptured. His right leg was broken in two places.