by Jean Murray
“And you seem surprised?” Kit asked, raising her eyebrows again.
“Yes, I mean he’s usually so composed.”
Kit shook her head. “Think. Could it be that he has the hots for one particular red head? And he doesn’t like the fact that another man, or god in this case, is muscling in on the girl he likes?”
Kendra’s mouth dropped open. Bomani likes me? “But…”
“But what? You’re beautiful. Why wouldn’t he like you? Plus, you have the innocent, school girl look. Guys can’t resist that.”
A music video with a singer with blonde pigtails, short plaid shirt, and knee-highs flashed through Kendra’s brain. She looked at the clothes she was wearing. Oversized sweatshirt and pants with her sorority letters monogramed in the front. Not what she would consider sexy. Kit on the other hand exuded sexuality in a way she could only wish to imagine.
Her sister caught her self-assessment. “There is a lot to be said about leaving things up to the imagination. You don’t necessarily have to flaunt it to get men to want it. And the fact that you don’t know how gorgeous you are adds to the wow-factor.”
Kendra searched her sister’s face to see if she was trying to be nice, but in Kit’s typical fashion she was as honest as the expression on her face. But what her sister said didn’t stack up against the years of no dates and barely turning a male’s eye. She wasn’t a virgin because she wanted to be virtuous and wait until her wedding day. The opportunity never presented itself in an acceptable manner. The last guy she was with in college threw up all over the bed minutes before they were going to do the deed. After a while she gave up.
Kendra fingered through her tangled hair. She did not feel or look sexy one bit. “I think you overestimate my qualities, dear sister. I’m a virgin remember.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but maybe there’s a reason it never worked out before. Asar’s always saying there are no coincidences, only fates determined by the gods. Maybe there’s a reason you are who you are.”
She attempted to digest her sister’s words. She had asked herself that same question in the cell prior to countering Kepi’s spell. The polar opposite of what the goddess represented. Her blood was the key to unlocking his tomb and awakening the sleeping god. She had performed a spell even Inpu couldn’t break. Amazing really.
After a few moments of silence, her sister stood up and cleared her throat. “Well, I’ll go into the other room and slit my throat, because that sounded like I actually knew what I was talking about. Please don’t tell anyone.” Kit flashed her Cheshire smile and sauntered out the archway. “Call, if you need anything.”
Kendra used every muscle to push her body off the floor and strip off her sweats and top. She walked over to the mirror where Bakari pulled the open a portal trick. She looked at her reflection trying to find the characteristic that everyone else saw but she couldn’t.
Her hair looked like a bird’s nest. The curls were lax and matted into big clumps where the blood had dried. It was going to take her forever to get the tangles out. Her face looked pale and sunken. Even the small scattering of freckles on her nose and cheeks were faded. She traced the length of her collar bone to her sternum and then turned to the side. In her opinion nothing stood out except her birthmark which strikingly resembled a butterfly. At least her tummy was flat and her butt had a nice curve to it, she guessed. Her B-cup breasts, so so. Her legs were toned and tight. All those years of dance and dreaming to become a ballerina hadn’t gone to waste. A very uncoordinated ballerina.
Where did that little girl go?
She wondered some days. Her life’s dreams had been consumed by academia. If her nose wasn’t in a book, she was in the field at some archeological site up to her elbows in dust and decaying artifacts. She hadn’t returned to her job as the antiquities specialist at the American Museum of Art in weeks now. After the battle at Thebes against the goddess and Menthu, she opted for a sabbatical. Based on how she looked, she needed it.
With a heavy sigh, she left her woes at the edge of the bath. She sank into the shimmering warm water and submerged herself completely before something else crazy happened to her. Her father always said she was a magnet for danger. Now she could add dangerous gods to the list.
Chapter Twenty
Kendra woke to her sister’s singing. Apparently, Kit believed the acoustics lent well to her version of the Black Eyed Peas. She rolled over to see the pillow next to her smashed into a small ball. Kit had cleared her bed of all the books, changed the sheets and combed all the tangles out of Kendra’s hair the night before. Her sister stayed by her side through the night. She could think of only one other occasion they had spent this much time together and that was when their dad fell ill five years ago after unearthing a tomb at an archeological site. At the time they had blamed their father’s illness on some parasitic organism in the musty crypt.
At this particular site, Lilly and their father had found a sarcophagus key next to the tomb that was very unusual. After falling ill their dad expired in the hospital two weeks later, only to get up off the morgue table and attack an attendant. Instead of some unknown disease their father’s illness turned out to be a curse that changed humans into revens for Kepi’s undead army. Lilly’s demi-god blood had activated the spell that released the goddess and unleashed the curse. They have been fighting the reven infestations ever since.
Kit sauntered out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around her head. Kendra envied her sister’s unabashed display. She couldn’t fault her. Her sister had a beautiful body and proudly displayed it every chance she got.
“I’m out of here,” Kit said, as she pulled on her Nehebkau uniform of black leather and her weapons belt slung low around her hips. Her white towel fell to the floor and Kit quickly combed through her long, black hair. “We are rounding up another nest of revens in Miami.”
“Are we making a dent in the numbers?” Kendra asked. They had recovered the gate key, shut the Gates of the Underworld and recovered Asar’s soul. The two instruments that permitted the goddess to raise her army. Now that the gates were closed, no additional souls should be resurrected.
Kit flopped onto the bed. A look of exhaustion plagued her exotic features. “Once I think we’re gaining ground, a new bunch crops up in a different location. It’s a little less each time, but the curse is still contagious.”
“With the gates closed no new revens should be created, right?”
“I need to talk to Lilly and Asar. We kill one reven only to have another one appear. I think the cursed souls are being reused somehow. The goddess’ curse infected enough humans in the world to cause a significant problem. We need to somehow release their souls permanently. Allow them to shift over to the Underworld.”
“Let them join with their body,” Kendra said quietly.
“I guess so, that’s your realm not mine. I just kill the fuckers.” Kit pushed up and headed for the door. “I’ll be gone for a few days. Will you be okay?”
“Yeah, I need to meet with Inpu today to prepare dad’s body.” Normally, the funerary rites were done shortly after death, but Bakari had been her priority. Since that objective was complete there was no reason to delay any further. Kendra knew better than to ask her sister if she wanted to attend. Kit wanted nothing to do with their father or mother for that matter.
“Good luck with that.” With a dismissive wave and severe frown her sister disappeared out the door.
Kendra rolled off the bed and dressed quickly. She decided on a fitted cream thermal shirt, a tan pair of cargo pants, and a dark plum fleece hoodie. She had to meet up with Inpu in the dungeon. Her father’s body had to be prepared in such a way as to ensure immortality after death, assuming his soul could navigate its way through the Underworld to the gates of Aaru.
The journey was a treacherous path with demons whose sole purpose was to distract the deceased and prolong their suffering. The demons and malevolent gods fed off the dead’s’ fears and ins
ecurities, confusing and blinding the souls to the path to salvation and rebirth. Apep, the Egyptian equivalent of the devil, dominated the void between death and paradise.
If the soul was unable to rejoin with the body, the deceased would wander aimlessly as shadows in the Underworld. She could only hope her father, an Egyptian Archeologist, could make it through. If Asar hadn’t combined his and Lilly’s powers to break the bond of the curse from his soul, their father would have been doomed never to reach the afterlife. Never finding peace, along with the rest of the revens they had exterminated over the years.
Her mind drifted to Bakari. No one came to get her after he kicked everyone out of his room. He still didn’t look well. A prickle of disappointment settled into her heart. Did he not need her now that he was out of his tomb? And, what about his mark on her soul? She needed to find the answer.
A soft knock at the door brought Kendra out of the bathroom. She walked in her bare feet to the door and cracked it open. Nebt, the Underworld goddess, smiled and lifted a large white box in her hands. “May I come in?”
Kendra opened the large door wider. The sentry stationed at his post held his hand against the surface to permit the goddess to gain entry. Feeling a little more like herself, Kendra smiled at the guardian. “Thank you.” He nodded and returned his attention to the hallway.
Sorrow filled her heart. She had known Ari less than the five minute walk to the dungeon, but it still didn’t lessen the sense of his loss. He was one of Bomani’s men. She shook her head and followed Nebt to her bed.
Nebt laid the box on the white down duvet. The goddess’ gaze strayed to the stack of books beside the bed. Kendra held her breath. She carelessly left the book from the vault in the stack. Although it had the same appearance as the other books, Kendra worried that Nebt could sense its presence.
“I can help clear those for you. No need to clutter your room with such things now that Bakari is awake.”
Kendra jammed herself between the goddess and the books. Nebt’s offer surprised her. Most gods relied on their servants to do those chores. “Bomani is going to help me.” Maybe. She had not seen him since last night when Asar sent him away. Kendra met Nebt’s gaze. “How’s Bakari?”
Nebt lifted her chin. “I do not know. He has refused visitation and my counsel. It is probably best that you stay away until he calls for you.”
An ache tightened in Kendra’s chest. Would he ever call for her, she wondered. “What is this?” Kendra asked, trying to hide the pain of rejection.
“A gift from Inpu and me. Open it,” Nebt said, gesturing to the box with barely tamped excitement.
“You didn’t have to give me…” Kendra gasped. Inside the box laid a beautiful white robe with gold embroidery along the collar and cuffs. She lifted it up out of the box and held it against her chest. A braided gold belt finished it off. The priestess robe brushed the tips of her toes and the sleeve cuff matched her arm length perfectly.
Kendra quickly stripped off her hoodie, slipped her arms in the robe and cinched the tasseled belt around her waist. “Oh, it’s beautiful.”
Nebt grabbed Kendra’s hand and pulled her over to the large mirror in the bathroom. The goddess straightened Kendra’s collar and retied the belt in the proper position. She turned Kendra to face the mirror and brushed her hands across her shoulders. “You look absolutely wonderful.”
“Do you really think I can wear this? I’m not even a priest. Inpu has had centuries of training before he received his.”
“An apprentice must be properly dressed for instruction.”
“Apprentice?”
“Yes.”
Kendra exhaled in a low whistle and covered her pounding heart with her hand. “I would be so honored.” Tears actually burned her eyes, she was so happy. On a scale of life changing events, this blew her Doctorate out of the water.
Nebt smiled. “Good. He is waiting for you in the dungeon. Are you ready for this?”
“Yes.”
The goddess’ eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”
Kendra should have known better than to hide her uneasiness from a god who could read her soul at a mere touch of a hand. So used to putting up a front for her sisters and others, she didn’t blink at lying to Nebt.
“Sorry. I performed over one hundred of these funerary preparations for my research. You’d think I’d be used to it.”
Nebt grabbed her gently by the forearms. “Yes, that may be the case, but none were your father. No one will think less of you if you defer to Inpu. It is probably best that you are not present.”
A part of her wanted to take the out. The vision of seeing her father lying on the slab of stone and then cutting into his flesh to remove his organs made her nauseous.
Nebt walked toward the door. “I will tell Inpu to proceed without you. You are making the right choice. No child should have to do this to their father.”
“Wait.” Kendra straightened her spine and took a deep breath. She could do this. She would do this. Out of respect for her father she would force herself to be at his side. His soul depended on her to make this choice.
“Tell your husband, I’ll be there.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Kendra breathed deep and took those last fateful steps into the open cell that held her father’s sarcophagus. The tomb had already been moved off to the side. A white linen sheet draped over her father’s corpse and the funerary surgical instruments lay in an orderly line on the alter. The fine fabric had a transparency which allowed her to see his brown hair and pale skin color, but not much else. Thank God.
She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. This wasn’t like the lab, where the smell of formaldehyde permeated the air and florescent lights burned bright. Heck no. The cell was a crypt with cold dark stone and only torches to chase away the darkness.
A wave of dizziness made her stumble. She had been holding her breath for fear of smelling the stench of decay. She exhaled forcefully and then inhaled slow and deep. She braced herself against the impending odor.
Huh!
Her curiosity propelled her the rest of the distance. She looked inquisitively at Inpu.
“Interesting is it not? Almost sterile.”
She leaned over her father’s body and inhaled. Again, nothing. “How’s that possible?” It completely defied the stages of organic material breakdown. Her father lived in reven form for over five years until Lilly pierced his heart with her sword and that was over a month ago. Revens were the epitome of zombies in horror movies. Rotting corpses with insatiable appetites for their previous form, living humans. It’s what made spreading the curse so effective.
Her father should be nothing but bones and strings of decayed tissue, but there he lay completely intact. Or so, she assumed based on what she saw through the cloth. She walked over to the sarcophagus and looked inside. “Was anything special done when his tomb was sealed?”
“I oversaw his entombment. I did nothing extra. Fascinating though, I have never seen anything like it.”
“Lilly’s power has healing properties. Maybe it induced some type of stasis?”
“I think you should examine the body.”
Kendra cringed. Was she ever going to get through this? She couldn’t bring herself to lift the shroud, let alone cut into his flesh. She wondered how a family could ever stand there and identify the body of a loved one in the morgue.
Okay, she needed to be logical and objective. Yeah, right.
She forced herself toward the foot of the alter. Yes, let’s start at the feet, she cajoled herself. She pushed up the large open sleeves to her white gown and grabbed the bottom edges of the white linen and folded the cloth to expose his body from the knees down. See, I can do this.
She walked around to the other side. Leaning in she narrowed her eyes. Gone was the mottled gray skin with tracks of red veins, typical of a reven. His skin was perfectly intact. She reached out to turn his leg, but then retracted it. Not quite ready to go there and afr
aid of what she might see—a nightmare she’d rather avoid.
“Would you mind? I want to see the underside of the leg.”
Inpu slid his hand under the ankle and knee and lifted the extremity. The limb gave no resistance.
“No lividity. No rigor mortis,” she said stunned. Only dirt stained the soles of his feet.
Kendra took a seat and looked at the priest. “Can you pull the drape back, but still keep his face covered?”
A sympathetic looked crossed the Underworld god’s expression. “Let me know when we need to stop and take a break.”
A tear traversed her cheek. “I never got to say goodbye to him.” She wiped the moisture away. She didn’t know why she picked that moment to reveal her regret, but it was something that was eating at her insides. “They kept his condition a secret from me.”
Inpu sat next to her. “Your sisters no doubt wanted to protect you.” He remained quiet a few moments before continuing. “It is never too late to say goodbye. Would you like a few moments alone?”
“Maybe a few.” She wiped both cheeks and sniffled.
He smiled gently before rising to leave. “I will be outside if you need me.”
“Thank you.”
Inpu bowed and then departed the cell.
Kendra felt as if she had aged one hundred years in an instant. It took all her effort to approach the alter. Inpu had pulled back the cloth as she requested. He’d been thoughtful enough to provide modesty to her father’s nakedness.
She marveled at the integrity of his body. Although his skin was pale, it didn’t look like the pasty yellow laboratory bodies or the grayness of a revens. His skin retained a peach undertone. Thin dark hair still covered his arms, chest and legs. The only mark on his body was the two inch horizontal entrance wound over his heart. Despite the explosive energy that was released from Lilly’s body, there was not one burn mark to be found. Unlike Kepi’s whose had smoldered black.
She wanted to say her goodbyes, but couldn’t do it without looking him in the face. God help her, she couldn’t find the strength to remove the sheet. She turned to fetch Inpu and found Lilly standing in the doorway. Sorrow beset her sister’s beauty. She wore a flowing white gown with her blonde hair falling freely around her shoulders.
