“There is no need to fear me, priestess. I promise that I will not bite. Unless, of course, you wish it.”
My headache finally diminished to a dull throb and I allowed my eyes to lift from the incredibly tanned ankles attached to the feet in front of me to the man’s muscular legs. Amon’s brother wore a pleated white skirt almost exactly like Amon’s when I’d first met him. Glancing around, I saw Amon down on one knee near the sarcophagus. He was breathing heavily, his arms trembling.
I gathered my legs under me to stand and the laughing man offered a hand, drawing me up close to him. When I tried to push away to go to Amon, he said, “Let him gather his strength. Raising us saps his energy and his was depleted to begin with.” Over his shoulder, he added, “I was almost in danger of rising ugly.”
He smiled at Amon and then leaned closer to me. My breath caught as he boldly wrapped an arm around me. I was too weak to push him away. “Between you and me, I am far too handsome for him to ruin my appearance too much,” he said with a wink.
Because my nose was practically pressed against his bare chest, I couldn’t help but agree. The creature I’d feared was now very nicely formed. Where a hollow rib cage had been, he sported a brawny chest. The spindly arms folded across the torso had become strong and powerful limbs that held me firmly yet gently. A clacking jaw was transformed into a roguish smile, and the sightless orbs had become chocolate-brown eyes glinting with teasing mirth.
Like Amon, he came into the world with a shaved head, wearing nothing but a white skirt, and he was every bit as handsome. Though it was obvious from their golden skin that they were from a sunny climate, the similarity stopped there.
They were both physically fit, so much so that if they’d arrived on Muscle Beach, they’d fit right in, but Amon was bigger, more solid than his brother. Their coloring was different and their bone structure, too. Where Amon’s face was open, I could tell that this man hid things behind his eyes and affable demeanor.
I was standing there, frowning at the cleft in his chin, which was decidedly absent from Amon’s, when the man addressed Dr. Hassan. “What a delightful gift you have laid before me, old one,” he said, though he never took his eyes off me. “It almost makes up for the incredibly poor feast.”
“Yes.” Dr. Hassan rushed over to us. “I beg your forgiveness. You see, there were extenuating circumstances—”
Amon interrupted, though he wasn’t fully recovered by any means. The deep hollows beneath his eyes and his paleness told me he needed my energy, but instead of replenishing himself, he took my hand and pulled me away from his brother. “Lily is not a priestess and she is not here as your plaything, Asten,” he warned.
The god of the stars narrowed his eyes, the smile never leaving his face as he looked at his brother. He glanced down at our entwined hands. “Ah, I see. She is yours.”
Amon frowned. “She is neither mine nor yours. Nor is she attached to anyone else. She belongs to herself.”
“Does she?” Asten folded his arms across his chest. “Well then, a girl who belongs to herself has the freedom to choose whomever she wishes.” He took my hand and kissed the back of it. “I look forward to the challenge of convincing you to spend your wishes on me,” he said with a mischievous wink.
Sighing, Amon said, “Asten, this is Lily, and this is our vizier, Dr. Hassan.”
“It is nice to meet you.” Dr. Hassan strode forward and bowed his head.
“Yes, yes,” Asten answered. “Perhaps you can worship me later. My brother tells me time is of the essence.”
“It is,” Amon said gravely.
“Very well.” Asten crouched down near the offering Dr. Hassan had set up. “So”—the embodiment of the god of the stars reached down and plucked an apple from the small pile of food—“how much time do we have until the ceremony?”
After polishing the apple on his white skirt, which he lifted scandalously high, Asten bit into the crisp fruit, carefully wiping the dripping juice from his lip with his thumb while smiling at me. He held out the fruit and said, “I did promise to offer you a bite.” The whole production was so over-the-top flirtatious that it made me giggle uncharacteristically.
The idea that I had been so frightened of him before seemed silly now.
“No thank you,” I said with a grin.
“There is enough for two and not a worm to be seen. Will you reconsider?”
“No, I’m good. You go ahead.”
“Very well. But the fruit would have been all the sweeter had your lips pressed against it.”
“That is enough,” Amon interrupted. “You will cease your insipid provocations.”
Asten clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Come now. Surely, there is time for a little celebrating?”
Shifting uncomfortably, Amon said, “There is not, Brother. The Dark One has sent his minions and he grows strong.”
Finishing the apple, Asten tossed the core toward Dr. Hassan, who scrambled to clean up after him. “What do you mean?” he asked as he took in Amon’s clothes and then looked at me again. Shrewdly, he pressed, “When did you rise, Brother?”
Instead of answering him, Amon addressed Dr. Hassan. “Osahar, gather our things so that we may leave as soon as possible.”
“Right away, Great One…I mean, Amon.”
“Thank you.”
Asten stared at his brother intently. “What has happened, Amon? Please tell me.”
“I rose several days ago. I am sorry that the time of your rising is so short, but we have only a few days to locate Ahmose and subdue the Dark One before he gains enough power to stop us.”
“Locate Ahmose? You do not know where he is? Then, where have you been?”
Amon raised his hand and Asten stopped asking questions. “There is much to tell you, but time is short. We will talk on the journey.” Amon glanced at me and rubbed his thumb lightly against my cheekbone. “We must raise Ahmose, and quickly,” he added.
Asten seemed to sober at his brother’s obvious distress and gripped his arm. “I will do what I must, Brother. We will find him. We are in death, as we were in life.”
“In death and in life, Asten.”
I’d just bent over to pick up my bag when the cavern suddenly shook. I stumbled against Amon, who caught me easily. The shaking ceased abruptly, and I was about to ask Dr. Hassan if there were earthquakes in the area when the mountain rumbled again.
A hot wind blew through the cavern, creeping over my skin and then retreating. “Are you doing this?” I hissed at Amon. The sound of heavy breathing brought the fetid breeze again.
He shook his head, and with a searing inhale the air was sucked out of the cavern. My lungs tightened and I gripped Amon’s arm as the torches wavered and then flickered out, casting us into complete darkness. Amon and Asten lit their bodies, and when they did, I felt the cool rush of oxygen enter my lungs. Asten’s white light far outshone Amon’s golden skin, and it became clear just how drained Amon was. His eyes gleamed green in the darkness, while Asten’s were amber.
Dust rained down on us. Something moved just beneath the rock. Slowly, the hidden thing writhed and undulated, like a giant snake slithering beneath desert sand, circling to one side of the cave and then the other as the walls bulged.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“I do not know,” Amon replied.
Just then, thousands of fissures broke open in the wall, releasing thin strands of light and setting the entire cavern aglow.
“It’s beautiful!” I whispered.
“I do not think I would describe it the same way,” Amon said as the glow intensified and began wriggling. Skinny, glowing shoestrings twisted through the holes and dropped by the hundreds onto the cavern floor.
“Those aren’t—”
“They are,” Amon answered me. “Worms.”
“This is very creepy.” I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. “Is this what normally happens when you wake him?” I jerked my thumb toward Asten.
&nb
sp; The god of the stars spoke up. “Thousands of beautiful women? Yes. Thousands of insects whose only purpose is to lure fish? No.”
“Guys?” I said, taking a few steps backward. “They’re still coming.” Long, luminous worms of all descriptions were writhing in ever-growing piles, and it wouldn’t be long before we were buried beneath them. “Can we get out of here?” I asked. “You know, before our bones get picked as clean as Asten’s?”
“You are not a very proper devotee to speak of me thus, are you?” Asten commented.
“I never said I was.”
“I don’t think these worms are what we should be worried about,” Dr. Hassan interjected.
“No?” Amon said. “What is your worry, then, Doctor?”
Rumbling shook the mountain once again, and this time a giant crack appeared in the ceiling. Rocks and debris tumbled down, destroying Asten’s sarcophagus and shattering the canopic jars. Out of the crack emerged a creature that belonged in a science-fiction movie—a worm the size of Godzilla.
Its gray skin oozed. The front half was all mouth with sharp, circular teeth that went back as far as I could see. As if sensing fresh meat, it angled its body toward us and squirmed farther into the cavern, its gaping mouth opening and closing, the sharp teeth clacking together like scissors.
Dr. Hassan gulped. “That’s what I was worried about.”
“Run!” Amon cried as he grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the other end of the cavern. Dr. Hassan and Asten followed close on our heels.
Rocks fell all around us, and the creature emitted a frustrated screech before whipping in our direction, its razor teeth cutting through the space we’d recently vacated. The monster couldn’t seem to wriggle out any farther from its hole, so it retreated, burrowing back into the mountain.
Even though rock separated us, the creature seemed to know exactly where we were. Amon said he thought it could hear us, and sure enough, when we stopped running, it stopped, too. Quietly, we made our way deeper into the cave, and for a brief time I thought we’d lost it, but Dr. Hassan accidentally brushed against a stalagmite, sending pieces of crumbling rock tumbling to the ground. With a loud cry that echoed from every direction, the giant worm chased after us and closed in fast.
Debris tumbled down as another crack appeared in the ceiling. It wasn’t big enough for the worm’s body to fit through, but a long purple tongue protruded, tasting the air directly around us. Catching our scent, the creature screamed and beat its body against the rock, trying desperately to break through.
“This way!” Amon cried as the top of the worm’s head pushed through the crevice, tearing chunks of flesh. Its mouth snapped vainly as we ran past it to another section of the cavern and hid behind some rocks. I panted from our short run, still feeling the effects of Amon’s power drain. The worm tunneled into the mountain, its body quaking the cave as it moved.
“We have reached a dead end,” Asten said quietly.
“What do we do?” I hissed, panicked that I would shortly become worm food. “We only have two adder stones!”
“It is too late to escape,” Asten murmured, almost gleefully. “Perhaps the time has come for us to fight.” Amon’s brother called upon the sand and it rose into the air, forming a bow and a quiver of arrows with diamond heads. “Will you join me?” Asten asked Amon. The god of the stars seemed completely unafraid and rather pleased at having the opportunity to test out his recently re-formed body. Amon, however, was hesitant.
“My powers are weak, Asten. I must get Lily to safety. She is my priority.”
Asten stopped examining his newly made weapon and turned to his brother, studying him for a moment. “I see.” With a brief glance at me, he added, “I believe she will be safe enough. You know the creature wants us, not a mortal.”
“No. He will come after her. He has already sent his shadowy beasts once and they have a taste for her flesh now.”
Asten raised his eyebrow and smiled brazenly. “I can hardly blame them,” he said in an aside before giving me a puzzled glance. “But I confess that I do not understand why—”
“I will explain when our situation is not so dire,” Amon interrupted, uttering the words quietly while watching the walls for signs of the creature.
Amon’s light was barely visible in the darkness, and even if I weren’t suffering its aftereffects, it would have been very obvious that raising Asten had used up most of Amon’s reserved strength. I wasn’t sure how he was going to survive raising another brother and finishing the ceremony, let alone fight a giant monster, when he had so little power remaining.
I was about to offer more of my energy, especially if he intended to go after the worm from hell, when Asten grasped Amon’s shoulder and said, “If you cannot wage war as a god, then fight as a man, Brother. Just leave the rest up to me.”
Amon looked my way, blowing out a shaky breath, and then clasped his brother’s arm. He nodded and said in a hushed tone, “It is good to have you back, Asten.”
Asten grinned as he placed the quiver across his back. “It is good to be back, and to have a back, now that I think about it. Of course, I am also grateful for my fully re-formed front, since I am partial to it,” he said with a cheeky glance in my direction. “Shall we, Amon?”
In response, Amon twitched his fingers at the sand, millions and millions of little particles rose and became a pair of curved swords. There was an audible gasp from Dr. Hassan, who exclaimed excitedly, “The golden scimitars of Amun-Ra!” I tried to shush him before the worm heard us, but he continued, “To see them with my own mortal eyes is a blessing beyond anything I’ve ever dreamed of!”
Sure enough, the mountain rumbled as Dr. Hassan neared the end of his sentence. He clapped his hands to his mouth. “I am sorry,” he whispered.
Farther down the corridor, great stones fell, releasing grit and debris. The four of us hunched, preparing for an attack. Amon raised his swords and Asten nocked a diamond-headed arrow. No one said anything as the creature quieted, unable to find a point of entry bigger than an apple.
With a flourish, Asten whipped his hands in circles. A sparkling black mist rose at his feet and soon enveloped us. Tiny lights winked on and off like fireflies. It looked like we were floating in space surrounded by thousands of miniature stars. I reached out to touch one and caught it between my fingers. As I rubbed my thumb over it, the star sparked, bursting on my fingertip with a tiny tingle of energy. “Ow!” I whispered.
“Did your mother not warn you to avoid reaching into the fire pit?” Asten remarked as he drove the mist around us in a circle.
“Something like that,” I murmured. “Will it find us?”
“Not at the moment, but even I, as powerful and attractive as I may be, cannot keep this up forever.”
“It is good to see you have not lost your magic touch, Asten,” said Amon as he handed his swords to Dr. Hassan to hold. You would have thought he’d handed off a child, with all the care Oscar held them with.
The god of the stars merely gave Amon a how-could-you-even-doubt-it look in response, but the arrogant attitude disappeared as he watched his brother.
Amon clasped his brother’s shoulder and continued, “I have an idea of how we can escape, but it will be dangerous.”
“Danger will be invigorating after a thousand years of tedium,” Asten replied as he carefully controlled the firefly smoke.
“It will require precise coordination.”
“Tell me what you require,” Asten said.
“First, we must separate. Draw the creature away from Lily and Dr. Hassan.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a—”
Asten interrupted me. “Very well. What next?”
“We will return to the original entry point where you were raised and lure the monster after us. There is a waterfall not too far from that area of the cavern, so the rock will be more porous.”
“Ah, then it is your wish for the creature to break through.”
“Guys, now I know
that definitely isn’t a good—”
Amon continued on as if I weren’t speaking. “If we can cause it to break a big enough section of the rock, then we can make our escape through the opening.”
Asten gripped his brother’s shoulder. “Are you strong enough?”
“For that much, yes.”
“Then let us proceed.”
Amon finally turned to me. “When you hear the ceiling collapse, make your way to me as quickly as possible.”
“But—”
“Take this.” Asten handed me a pale rock. “You will need the light.” He cupped his hands over the rock and whispered some words, lighting the stone from within. With a little squeeze of his hand, he took his bow from my shoulder and started making his way down the corridor, creating as much noise as possible.
With a small smile, Amon brushed his thumb lightly against my cheek and took his golden scimitars from Dr. Hassan. Following his brother, Amon ran, hollering and beating against the walls after he got a distance away from us. The mountain rumbled as the worm withdrew its probing feeler, screeched, and took off after Amon and Asten.
“They’re going to get themselves killed,” I mumbled as I folded my arms and tried to rub away the goose bumps that had risen when Amon and his warmth had left.
“Yes. Eventually,” Dr. Hassan responded.
“You seem at ease with all this,” I groused. “Aren’t you worried about anything? Not even your own life?”
Dr. Hassan took the shining stone from me with a wave of dismissal. “My life is of no consequence,” he said. “Every wonder I’ve seen, every magical moment is a gift I treasure and I count myself fortunate just to have lived long enough to see it. If I die today, I will journey to the afterlife as a happy and blessed man.”
“Yeah, well, I have a few more things I’d like to do in life before I give up, so to speak.”
“Yes, of course. You are young. You have not had time to even consider your dreams, let alone realize them.”
Slowly, the glittering mist surrounding us dissipated, and the sounds of the brothers taunting the giant creature reached our ears. “We’re going to make it, right?” I asked, worried about Amon and Asten fighting the demon worm.
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