“I know you,” I say.
The man nods.
“That’s Geb,” Mom whispers. “Your father.”
No. My father is currently holding me in his arms. The man is familiar, I won’t deny it. But he isn’t my dad. He isn’t the man who taught me how to ride a bike and dried my tears when people were mean to me. “No, he isn’t.”
“Nisha,” she warns, the ring of her honey-like voice soothing my heart and mind. “Don’t disrespect your elders. I taught you better than that, didn’t I?”
She taught me to respect everyone. “I’m sorry. It’s just—”
“She’s confused,” a strong, eerily familiar female voice says. It belongs to the black-haired woman standing next to Geb. She has the most stunning blue eyes I’ve ever seen. They exceed Horus’s Eye in beauty. “Her memories of our time together are limited. She cannot be blamed for doubting us.”
Memories. One comes flooding back. Me in that carriage, not wanting to go wherever they wanted to take me.
Dad, my real dad, steps forward. “We love you, Nisha.” He gestures at the man and woman, at him and Mom. “All of us. And that’s all that matters, all you need to know for now.”
“Don’t question love,” Amara says as she appears in the hallway. “Embrace it.”
Easier said than done. I manage to keep my curiosity about my new and old parents under control, but one thing I can’t let go. “Why are you here?” The question is directed at Mom and Dad—the Blakes—and Amara.
It’s the black-haired woman who answers. “Those who are worthy will be reunited with their loved ones in the afterlife, my child.” She flashes me a brilliant teeth. “If you lived by Ma’at, you will die with Ma’at.”
I swear I’ve heard her voice before, and not just in a vision. I heard it here, in the Underworld.
It hits like a bolt of lightning. “It was you in Gua’s tomb, wasn’t it? The bluish flame. That was you.”
She smiles. “Yes, my child, it was me.”
Once that riddle is solved, I recall what she just said. “Those worthy are reunited with their loved ones in the afterlife.”
“Hold on a second.” I look back and forth between my mom and the woman. “Does that mean we get to stay together?”
“That depends,” Geb replies.
“On what?” I say, already feeling sad at the prospect of saying goodbye to my parents a second time.
“On you,” Dad answers softly.
“I don’t understand.” I’m so confused, my head is pounding.
The black-haired woman I assume is Nut steps forward, her smile going strong. “You have a choice to make, sweet child of mine.” She points at my parents and Amara. “Stay here in the Field of Reeds with your parents until the circle of life starts again.”
I squint and Mom catches it. “Until you’re reborn,” she explains, stroking my hair.
Nut nods. “Or reclaim your immortality and accept your place in the Ennead.”
“What you’re saying is I can either get that stupid immortality back or stay with my parents?”
“Yes,” they all reply at once.
“No!” I am frustrated and angry. “You can’t ask me to make that choice.”
“Nisha.” Dad casts me a dark look. “Yelling at Nut won’t change the facts.”
“But—”
He shakes his head. “No buts. You survived the Trials, braved all hurdles.” He offers me an apologetic smile. “Now you must brave this last trial.”
I close my eyes. Izzy, trapped in the hourglass prison, invades my mind. Seth might have promised not to harm Izzy even if I fail. However, I’m pretty sure he won’t keep his word if I voluntarily walk away from immortality. No, he will kill my cousin or worse, spend all eternity torturing her.
I open my eyes. I will never see my parents and Amara again if I chose immortality. All those nights I lay in my bed, begging the universe to bring them back, would be wasted. I’d lose them again, this time for good.
Geb gazes out the window. “Come and see.”
I walk over to him. Just like Seth predicted, there’s another obelisk. It’s on our lawn, the sun slowly setting behind it.
“You must choose,” Geb urges.
I can’t.
Mom is beside me. “Every decision you make comes with consequences, my little princess. Regret will be part of every path. The only way to overcome it is by following your heart.”
“She’s right,” Nut says. “Your heart knows what’s right and wrong. Just listen to what it has to say.”
I burst into laughter. “Do none of you remember what happened the last time I listened to my heart?” Seth was corrupted by evil, and I had to kill him. Oh, and let’s not forget the thousands of lives lost because of that very decision.
“Listen to me,” Dad says in his no-bullshit voice. “You are the bravest and strongest girl I know. You took every lemon life gave you and turned it into lemonade. Whatever you think you did wrong, you made up for it a million times.”
Tears run freely. “I can’t choose between you guys and Izzy.” Breathing is impossible.
Geb takes my hand, guiding me out of the house to the obelisk. I immediately catch sight of the inscription Seth mentioned, the one that would get us both back our immortality. “We all wish there was another way,” Geb says, “but there isn’t.”
Part of me wants to stay in the Field of Reeds with my parents and Amara. The other begs me to help Izzy. Which part will win the battle, I really can’t tell.
“Speak your choice,” Geb roars.
Izzy
Chapter 49
Blaze
We’ve been floating down the Nile forever, watching the sun slowly descend.
We’ve been quiet, lost in our own tragedies. All of us engaged in our own battles. Even the ram-headed creature.
He stands at the far end of the boat, gazing at the darkening sky as water pummels the boat. Since I laid my truth bare, he won’t even look at me. I don’t blame him. A man who falls in love with his best friend’s lover, and assists her in his murder, isn’t the best company. Even the boys and my sister had judging looks for me.
I can’t sit still anymore. A bad feeling settles in my stomach. It’s half a minute to midnight, and I can no longer suppress my anxiety.
“What are you doing?” Jade asks as I get up.
Something. Anything. Or I’ll go mad. “I’ll be right back,” I say before I approach the creature.
“Medjay,” Ram-head greets me. “What can I do for you?”
I cast a look at the crazy waves, crashing against the boat. “How long till we get to Izzy?”
Ram-head drinks in the shore. “The desert is close. We’re almost there.”
“The desert?”
Ram-head nods. “My lord, Seth had his men take her to his kingdom to keep her safe.”
I almost laugh at the absurdity of this statement. “Why does he care?” I blow out a frustrated breath. “He was the one who abducted her.”
“My lord has given the princess his word.” Ram-head looks me in the eye. “He will honor his promise to her. He always has.” I’m not oblivious to the underlying accusation. Seth is a man of honor. I’m not. I could argue that he’s also a psychopath who slaughters people for fun, but it’d only make me sound like a kid who’s trying to put the blame on someone else.
A few moments pass, then I find the courage to ask, “Why are you helping us?” He’s clearly Team Seth, so why take us to Izzy? Why not throw us overboard?
He stares at the darkening firmament. “Our commander has been planning this for a very long time. He patiently waited thousands of years to be reunited with his love. But time and loneliness are two blinding enemies. They mess with your rationality and make you insensible to consequences.”
“I don’t follow.”
Ram-head meets my gaze. “He Who Created Us All built your world and ours on the principle of order. The laws of the Ennead are meant to keep chaos at bay. It�
��s why the gods were against the reunion of Princess Nebt-Het and Seth in the first place. They knew that sooner or later, a human would die. They also knew that love won’t accept separation. They were right. Seth did the Trials, and with the help of Nebt-Het, he succeeded. But he was never meant to be a god. When he claimed his immortality, the balance of order was tipped, and chaos was released.”
I remember the drug-induced visions. Seth changed after he became a god. He wasn’t the kind friend who had saved me from the desert. He was longing for power, starving for a fight. His strength came in handy when we fought Chaos, but….
Chaos.
My eyes almost pop. “Are you saying Chaos was released because Seth succeeded in the Trials?”
Ram-head says nothing,
That’s okay. I don’t think I would have heard him over the thundering of my heart. “But if that’s true, what happens if Nisha succeeds? What happens if she finishes the Trials, reclaiming the immortality of both?”
Ram-Man draws a pained breath. “The end, mighty Medjay.”
I need to know exactly what that means, but he points. “We reached our destination.” The boat hits the shore. “It’s time we go separate ways.”
We get off the ferry, taking in the dunes and sand. I’m still occupied with what the ferryman said.
Oz is staying on mission. “How are we supposed to find Izzy?” He scans the dead land. “This place is massive.”
Ram-head smiles at Oz, then bows. “You, my lord, share a special connection with your loved one. Follow your heart, and it’ll take you right to her.”
He steps back on his boat and orders his rowers to set a new course. Before the ferry vanishes, he turns to me and shouts, “Sometimes old bonds are renewed. Think about it, Medjay. You defeated Chaos once. You can do it again.”
“What is he talking about?” Jade inquires, eyes narrowed.
Not in the mood to tell her what Ram-head told me—that the girl I love might possibly set a course for the end of the world because she’s trying to save her cousin—I shrug it off. “No idea.”
She doesn’t believe a single word I’m saying. Luckily, Oz comes to the rescue. “Guys!” He waves us over. “What are you waiting for?”
I haven’t got the slightest idea how my people survived living in the desert.
All of us are beat. We struggle to move tired feet. Among us, there’s only one person still going strong.
Oz jogs ahead. He doesn’t stop to consider which path to take. He moves about this godforsaken place as if he has a map engraved in his brain.
“I could use a break,” says Jade.
“Us too,” admit the boys.
Will nods. “Yeah.”
They look to me for help, as if I could stop Oz. I’m certain no one can, but for their sake I’m willing to give it a try. “Oz?” I yell, my voice carried by on the wind. “We—”
“There!” he screams. “She’s there.”
All I see are sand and dunes. I jog after him, using my last ounce of energy in my feet. “Wait up!”
He keeps running, ignoring our pleas.
“What the hell are you doing?” I choke out when I finally catch up to him.
He stops on top of a dune and points at a massive hourglass the size of a bloody house. Inside, submerged up to her chin, is Izzy. I only recognize her from the strand of rainbow hair lying on the sand.
“Shit.” It doesn’t take a genius to tell she’s out of time.
We run toward the hourglass. The instant we reach Izzy’s prison, Oz tries to break the glass with his fists, hitting the bloody thing so hard, his skin tears. Shaggy, Scooby, Will, and I join him. I believe we break a few of our bones in the assault. The glass, however, remains unharmed.
Izzy’s head is under the sand. Any second, she’ll—
“Guys,” Jade yells. “Stop.” She grabs my shoulder. “Blaze, stop.”
“She’s dying,” I argue.
Jade steps aside. “So are we,” she says, pointing at a man with garnet eyes, holding a gold spear and leading an army toward us.
“Seth,” I whisper.
He flashes me a bitter smile. “Hello, old friend.” He aims his spear at my throat. “It’s been a while, huh?”
Not long enough.
Oz pushes past me, murder in his eyes. “You did this to her. Let her go!”
Seth’s gaze remains on me, even as he addresses Oz. “Calm down, brother.” The Ruler of the Underworld grins wickedly. “I swore an oath. I intend to keep it.”
He pulls a black wax figure out from behind his back and moves to the hourglass. His army aims their sickle swords at us, daring us to touch their master.
Oz doesn’t care about swords and undead soldiers. He doesn’t give two shits about the Ruler of the Underworld, either. Fearless, he places himself between the hourglass and Seth. “Not a step closer.”
Seth chuckles and pushes Oz out of the way. He rests a hand on the hourglass and whispers something in the ears of the figure. A second later, it breaks, and so does the glass. Sand pours out like an avalanche.
Izzy is on her knees, gasping for air.
He freed her.
Oz is beside her in a heartbeat. He holds her so tight, the world could go up in flames and he wouldn’t let go.
“Why?” I ask, surprised.
Seth is in my face, the figure replaced by his spear. “Because unlike you, I keep my promises.”
“Where is Nisha?” My muscles tighten.
He laughs like a damn hyena.
“Tell me,” I scream, not caring about his spear at my throat. “Tell me where she is or—”
“You’ll kill me?” His eyes narrow. “You already have, remember?”
I launch myself at him, my hands circling his throat. The earth shakes. Cracks open around us, devouring some of Seth’s soldiers like a hungry beast.
“What is happening?” Shaggy yells.
A gigantic black mass darkens the sky. Night isn’t as black as this thing.
Seth is on his knees, eyes closed. Energy radiates off him. Pure red light circles him like an unbreakable armor. When he opens his eyes again, they’re redder, burning with an indestructible flame.
He’s immortal. Nisha did it. She finished the Trials.
I’m half relieved she’s still alive, half petrified this is the end, like Ram-head predicted.
More soldiers are swallowed by the earth. Those remaining bow to the god who has returned to full strength. We’re torn between the spectacle occurring down here and the one in the sky.
The black mass is coming closer. The ground shakes more violently. Lightning cuts across the sky, ripping an opening in the firmament.
Seth, too, is dumbstruck. “No,” he whispers. “That can’t be.”
The black mass escapes through the opening. The rip heals. The firmament is red, then purple, and eventually black. The sand eats soldier after soldier.
“We have to go,” Jade yells.
“Go where?” Seth asks, the shock of what just happened so much bigger than his happiness over his reclaimed immortality.
“Anywhere but here,” my sister barks, not afraid of a god so vicious other gods feared him.
Seth meets Jade’s eyes. “There’s nowhere to go, witch.”
“But—”
“You don’t understand.” He points at the spot where the opening occurred. “What you just witnessed was Apep, escaping from the Underworld.”
“We should do the same,” Shaggy says, voice trembling. “Escape, I mean.”
“We can’t,” Seth says sharply. “The laws of the Ennead are clear. Should Chaos arise, the gates to the Underworld will be locked.”
“To keep the gods safe,” I add, not entirely sure how I know that. I just do.
“What does that mean?” Oz asks, an arm around Izzy, who is still struggling to breathe.
Seth exhales sharply. “It means we’re trapped.”
“And Chaos is unleashed on our world.”
I saw what that thing can do in my vision. It will destroy the land of the living just because it can.
About the Author
Nadine aka Dini is a traveler at heart. She considers the world her home and practically lives out of her suitcases. When she’s not glaring at a blank page or abusing her poor keyboard, she spends her time reading, watching movies (preferably horror), pretends to work out, and hangs out with friends and family. Poor girl also suffers from a serious Marvel superhero addiction. So, if you run into her at night, wearing black, know she’s secretly dreaming of being the infamous Black Widow.
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Book of the Dead (Gods of Egypt 2) Page 26
