Silas wavered, glancing back and forth between his cousin and me. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Anubis held a squirming Shadow in his arms. My heart relaxed knowing he was okay.
The room held in suspended wait, none of us truly knowing what the right move was. Horus chuckled and tightened his arm around me, but not the blade.
“I guess she doesn’t mean as much to you as I thought,” he taunted his brother.
That was it. I was tired of being held at knife point or constantly being thrust to the median of danger. I was done feeling helpless. I bent my knee and brought the heel of my boot crushing down on Horus’ sandaled feet. His body tensed as he seethed in pain and I took the opportunity to run for the exit. Silas tossed me his bag and I gripped it tightly as I ran for an escape.
But it wasn’t enough.
A blast of cold energy bounced off the walls, reverberating back and knocking me to the floor. My ears rang and I struggled to look behind me, only to witness Horus let out another blow of power, and watched the others smash into the stone walls, causing cracks to form all the way to the ceiling as they crumbled to the floor.
I pushed to my feet, determined to keep running, but Horus leaped across the room and snatched the bag from my arms. I tried to grab at it, but he swatted me away and hastily ripped into it to retrieve the cube. His fingers worked quickly to twist the different sides and I realized it was designed like a Rubik’s cube.
“Brother!” Silas cried and pushed to his feet. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”
I don’t know what brought it on, but my ears warmed as the room dimmed around me. It was just me and Horus, standing together in a void space suspended in motion. A strange sense of calmness washed over me, and I gently laid a hand on Horus’ arm, our eyes locking.
“You’ll kill us all,” I whispered firmly.
As if entranced by the sudden tender touch, he waited a beat, the cube still unopened but now pulsing with energy like a heartbeat. Our eyes unblinking as they remained fixed together. A drop of hope entered my veins and I clung to it with a clawing desperation, banking on Horus doing the right thing. Willing him to do so.
But the cube itself made one last click that cut through the silence of anticipation and we both looked at it with wide eyes while a single grain of sand fell from it. A sliver of regret flashed in his bulbous brown eyes and he dropped the cube. The sound a clamor of metal on stone. Four heaving sets of lungs filled the echoed space with uncertainty as we waited, unknowing and helpless as to what to expect.
At first, nothing happened, but then the air changed. Sucking in on itself and syphoning the oxygen from the room. Sand billowed in from the only door that led to the exit, blowing and twirling, scratching my baked skin. I held up an arm to shield my face and Silas ran to my side as Horus stood as still as a statue, enwrapped in his own doing.
Silas enveloped me in his arms, protecting me from the storm of sand that now whipped around the cavern. Anubis, with Shadow in his grasp, huddled in. We waited, for that was all we could do. Horus stood between us and the exit and I knew we could easily blow past him, but the amount of sand increased, and I couldn’t even open my eyes. All I could do was brace myself against Silas’ warm chest.
The air tightened to the point where my lungs burned for breath, but I didn’t dare open my mouth. Sand filled my nostrils and blinded my senses until I nearly reached a breaking point. But in that moment, that split second between holding on by a thread and giving up, everything stopped, and the bits of sand fell from the air.
I gasped for a fresh breath, filled my lungs and opened my eyes to look up at Silas whose expression paled as he stared over my head. I spun in his hold and froze. There, in the middle of the massive space stood a figure, taller than anyone else in the room. The shape of a man formed in sand, girthy shoulders heaved in anger, and he slowly turned to face us as his skin smoothed to a soft brown.
Set.
He stood between us and Horus, rage vibrating around him. His intense stare examined the room, changing and narrowing as his gaze fell on Horus. I could see the pieces of his new reality clicking into place. The god turned and grimaced at the sight of his son, not even granting him the dignity of a greeting after so many thousands of years, then sizing up Silas with curiosity. This was a body he’d never seen before. His stare dropped to the amulet around Silas’ neck and realization flashed across his face as his mouth turned up in a scowl.
“Where,” his deep voice boomed off the walls, “Is. Isis?”
Chapter Eighteen
“Father!” Anubis pleaded, but didn’t dare step away from his place near the back of the room with us.
My heart sank as I witnessed the fear in his helpless expression, in the way he barely moved. A fear no son should have towards his father. Any doubt I had in my mind about where he stood on the status of Set fled my mind.
“You can’t do this,” he continued. “You must calm down.”
“Calm down?” Set’s words grinded against my ears. Then he chuckled, low and menacing. “My treacherous son. I assume it wasn’t you who freed me?”
Anubis’ ear flattened against his head. “No, I’m afraid not.”
“It was I who freed you, Uncle,” Horus piped in, stealing Set’s attention.
Silas held me close and whispered in my ear. “You need to get out of here. Sneak back into that hallway. Take the portal doors back to the colony.”
My lips pinched together. “No, I’m not leaving you.”
A lock of hair fell down over the sweat beads on his pinched forehead. “Then you’re a fool. To stay here would be suicide, Andie. I can’t let you do that.”
“Then what was the point of making me a soul stone?” I said in a lowered, cautious tone.
Anubis eyed his father deep in conversation with Horus on the other side of the room while he inched back toward us. He leaned in and whispered, “We need to get out of here now.”
I thumbed at Silas. “Mr. Heroic here won’t come.”
Silas sighed and looked to his cousin with intent. “Take her.”
Without missing a beat, Anubis grabbed me. I tried to protest but his large hand cupped my mouth, stifling any sort of sound that could catch the attention of Set. Dragging me along, we turned the corner to the closeted hallway behind us and slinked into darkness where it let me go.
“Shhh,” he said quickly, stopping me from any sort of retort. He crouched down and peeked around the corner where the others still remained. “I wouldn’t leave him either, Andie. Trust that. I’ll grab him the first chance I can, and we’ll jump into those portal doors.”
Every ounce of air I inhaled was painful as I struggled to calm the fear that coursed through me. My body wanted to hyperventilate, but I drummed up whatever ounce of bravery I had in me to wait. Shadow gripped the sleeve of my jacket and I gave him a reassuring pat on the head. I scrunched up next to Anubis and joined him in watching his family standing off in a triad of angst.
“Uncle,” Horus iterated, “I’ve brought you back to your elemental form. If you’ll allow, I‘d like to aid you in the search for your physical body. My mother has hidden–”
“Silence!” The sound of Set’s voice was like stone against stone. His arm shot out and he summoned a surge of power that flung Horus into the wall. “I’ve been trapped for thousands of years. Now I shall take what is mine. Revenge. I’ll bring down a reign of chaos and destruction on this planet so mighty that they’ll bow at my feet before I kill them all.”
“Set, please, if you’d just–” Another wave of energy pushed toward Silas, but he jumped out of the way, bracing himself just a few feet from where we squat in the dark.
Horus scrambled to his feet. “Uncle, I think if you just listen to what I have to say–”
“Enough! There is nothing you can say that I want to hear. It’s time I got my revenge, first with the gods that disgracefully share my blood.” Set sneered as new sand appeared and twirled around his form, helping him to grow eve
n larger. His figure loomed over the room, inches from the vaulted ceiling, and he stalked toward Horus with an evil chuckle. “Starting with you, dear nephew.”
I watched as pure shock possessed my body, just as Silas and Anubis did, while Set summoned a whirlwind of air and sand, catching Horus in a tornado that lifted him from the floor. He choked and gasped for air, clawing at his throat while his legs flailed beneath him. I couldn’t watch, my eyes averted to Silas but that was just as painful to witness. He stood helplessly as he watched the life being squeezed from his brother. Torment twisted in his glossy expression and I ached to reach out to him. To drag him into the shadows with us where I could keep him safe. But I knew now…
He’d never leave his brother.
My calves burned as I remained crouched next to Anubis, but I didn’t dare move. Fear and disbelief of the tragic events playing out before my very eyes held me firmly in place. Horus’ elaborate plan turned on him in an instant and now he was suffering through the last moments of his life. As much as I hated him, it was hard to watch. Tears stung the rims of my eyes and silently spilled over. Set clenched his power, constricting Horus in one last crushing hold and he leaned in as the billowing sand began to quieten. I saw his lips moving near Horus’ face and I strained to hear the last words he muttered.
“Our secret dies with you.”
Horus’ body went limp and Set tossed him aside like a piece of trash as he turned to a grieving Silas. Would he do the same to the man I loved? Would I be forced to watch him suffer the same fate as his brother?
“Why?” Silas cried. “You don’t have to do this!”
Set sniveled. “Oh, but I want to.”
A deep, raspy chuckle rumbled from the god’s sandy throat and he bent down to rip Horus’ now glowing soul stone from around his neck. He let it sit in his hand, as if testing the weight of it, then crushed his fingers around it.
“No!” The sound squeezed from Silas’ mouth with an innocent rawness.
But it was no use. The stone cracked in the god’s grip and two pieces fell to the floor. Dull and lifeless. Silas dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands. I covered my mouth with a trembling hand as I watched. Set took a couple of steps toward him but then stopped. As if another thought fled through his mind. Then, in another heinous whirlwind of sand and air, Set reduced himself to his pure elemental form and fled the room in a massive wave of living sand.
Immediately, the integrity of the ancient chamber began to falter and everything around us started to shake. Bits of stone crumbled away from the cracks in the walls, crashing to the floor. Anubis bolted to his feet and ran to Silas.
“Come on!” he yelled. “We have to get out!”
But Silas pushed him away and fumbled over to where his brother’s lifeless body lay in a heap on the floor. Anubis hurried after him, and Silas scooped Horus into his arms before turning and rushing back toward the shadowed hallway where I waited anxiously.
The exit on the other side of the cavernous room had already closed off, buried in chunks of stone. The trough of fire broke open and oil spilled onto the floor, igniting everything in a fiery inferno. The cave in was quickly making its way in our direction and I ushered them to move faster.
“Come on! Come on!” I yelled through the chaos and waved my arm frantically.
Anubis and Silas met me in the darkness and together we all filed into one of the jagged rectangular cut-outs in the wall. Shadow hopped up into my arms and we squeezed together, my eyes pressed shut while more and more stone crumbled around us. The inside of the portal let out a shrieking cracking noise and I yelped as I forced my mind to think of where to go.
The colony. Safety. Home.
Just as the last of the temple fell, everything went stark quiet until we were spit out on the other end and we tumbled forward into a hallway in the colony. The three of us collapsed on the floor, heaving for air, and letting the rapid events that just unfolded organize in our minds.
Shadow scampered over to Silas, whose back curved in a hunch over his brother’s dead body. On wobbly arms, I pushed myself up and crawled over to him. Anubis lay on his back, staring at the ceiling in shock. I let him have his peace.
My hand slid over Silas’ tense back. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re all okay.”
“How can you say that?” His watery eyes glistened in the dim torchlight.
“Silas, this isn’t your fault.”
“But it is,” he replied weakly. “It’s always my fault when it comes to my brother, and now he’s gone.” A sob bubbled from his throat. “Completely gone.”
Anubis sat up with a deep sigh. “Maybe not completely.”
Our heads whipped in his direction. “What do you mean?”
“We should find your mother soon, before my father gets a chance. Bring her here to safety,” he suggested curtly. Then held out his closed fist. “But also, so she can fix this.” His fingers bloomed and, in his palm, sat the two broken pieces of a rock.
Horus’ soul stone.
Chapter Nineteen
Paranoia consumed me as I wore wear lines in the floor of my quarters. Shadow perched on my bed and gnawed at some bread he stole from the Great Hall. Strangely, having him nearby gave me a sense of calmness. A sliver, really. But it was all I had. I kept forcing myself to look at him when the swirling thoughts became too much.
It’d been over an hour since Silas and Anubis left to retrieve Isis and I long passed the level of simply worried. I was full blown freaking out. One half of me plunged into the disaster at hand. How far had Set’s rage spread? What were the casualties already? But the other half of me, the one rooted in my own personal fear, worried about bringing Horus back to life. Would he come to his senses and be on our side? Or would we have two homicidal maniacs on our hands?
No, some spark in the back of my mind knew that, no matter how horrible Horus was, he’d never want the people of Egypt to die. He desired their affection far too much. The two overwhelming routes of possibilities tugged me every which way and I struggled to hold it together.
I stormed over to the bed and Shadow crawled into my lap as I rocked back and forth. I held him tight to my chest, almost too tight. He squirmed, but never complained and he released a slow warmth that soothed my chest.
“Does Horus even deserve to be saved?” I asked my reptilian friend. “After everything he’s done. How he…” My lip trembled at the thought. “How he tortured me for hours. Put a knife to my throat. Held me prisoner for nearly two days.”
I swallowed nervously and then yelped as a knock rapped at the door. I dropped Shadow on the blanket and leaped for the handle, hauling it open to find Silas. Disheveled and breathy. He leaned against the door frame and regarded me without a word.
“A-are you okay?” I asked. “What happened? Is your mom safe?”
He tipped his head and motioned down the hall. “She’s fine. I’ll explain everything later.” Silas stood straight with a deep, exhausted sigh. “They’re all waiting in my father’s temple.”
“Wait,” I replied, and he looked at me with surprise. “Can we talk first?”
Silas waited a beat then nodded. “Of course.”
He followed me inside and I shut the door before spinning around to face him. “I’m worried about bringing your brother back. I understand that you, for god knows why, love him. I do, I truly do.” I rubbed my palms against the patchy surface of my jeans. “But he also tortured me. I’m…I’m scared of him, Silas. What if he continues to manipulate you through me? What would that even mean? What would he do to me to get what he wants?”
His hands held firmly to his hips as he stared at the floor between us. I let him stew the words in his head. Finally, he raked his fingers through his wavy hair. “You’re right.”
“What?” I wasn’t expecting him to cave so soon.
“I know the logic and truth in what you’re saying,” Silas explained. “But he’s still my brother. My counterpart. My blood. We share something that n
o other Star People share. I’m made from him, Andie. Without Horus I’m weaker, and definitely won’t stand a chance of defeating Set.”
I guffawed and half turned away, arms crossed. “You don’t stand a chance regardless, remember? Isis said, only an Elder God can defeat another Elder God.”
“Well maybe two younger ones can,” he snapped impatiently.
My brows pinched together. “Are you serious? Anubis? He’d fight against his own father?”
My respect for the guy was building fast. The past two days, he’d shown where his true loyalty lay. Time and time again.
“Of course,” he said dismissively and arched a brow at me. “Was that ever in question?”
I shook my head. Exhaustion was creeping in, my body begged for sleep. “Look, I get it. I know what it’s like to feel as if a part of you is missing.” He didn’t reply and I heaved a reluctant sigh. “Okay, let’s do it.”
“Are you sure?” His face was a mask of confusion.
I slid my hands over his crossed arms and smiled warmly up at his weary face. “If it makes you happy.”
His fingers brushed my cheek, tucking my hair behind my ear as he leaned in to touch his lips to mine. A simple, but tender move and my heart settled in knowing I could give him this. I could find a way to be okay with Horus’ existence, if it meant so much to him.
I just prayed I wouldn’t come to regret it.
We headed for Osiris’ temple where Anubis and Isis stood by the stone platform that held up Horus’ slack body. It was so weird, seeing him like that. A shell. A lifeless form. He seemed so harmless in this state.
“Andie,” Isis spoke my name with a certain motherly sadness. But she greeted me with a smile. “It’s good to see you again.” She softly turned her head and her fingers grazed her dead son’s face. “I just wish it were under better circumstances.”
I noticed then, her dishevelled appearance. Still the ever-ethereal beauty she always was, but with wiry tendrils of wind-blown hair out of place, taught skin around her tired eyes. She also nursed her arm as if it were causing her pain.
Tempest Minds: A Time Travel Fantasy Romance (Kingdom of Sand & Stars Book 2) Page 12
