by Jasmine Walt
“Nuin?” I asked, and though my voice was hushed, it echoed all around me. I spun in place, taking in the crystalline beauty of everything. It was as though I was in a small cavern fashioned entirely from quartz, the barely opaque walls resembling the frozen stream of a waterfall. Stepping toward the nearest surface, I watched in awe as everything within the chamber shifted with me, like it was an exoskeleton.
“Nuin? Where are you?” I asked in his language. Glancing up at the ceiling, I was almost surprised not to find any stalactites. I added, “Where am I? The At?”
“Why, dear Alexandra, you are in a time of my own creation. While only your ba can enter the At, your entire being is here.”
I spun again, facing the direction his voice had come from, but Nuin was nowhere in sight. “How did I get here?” I asked into empty space.
“By my power, of course,” Nuin’s disembodied voice answered. “I left the tiniest sliver buried deep within you the first time I visited you, when I solidified your role as the Meswett. It awakened when you touched the chest.”
To my complete and utter shock, Nuin stepped out of the wall. He didn’t step through the wall, as if it were composed of nothing more substantial than smoke, but seemed to emerge from it. It was almost like he was made from the wall, his shape taking on form and color as he broke free from its hold.
Hundreds of questions whirled in my mind, but Nuin’s presence made them impossible to grasp. He stood several steps away, resplendent in exotic, ancient robes of white, gold, and teal. He was naked of jewelry, but then, beside the brilliant colors swirling around in his eyes, any precious metals or gemstones would lose their splendor. As he moved closer to me, I couldn’t help but notice that, unlike me, he wasn’t anchored to the chamber. He moved, and the walls stayed put.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again,” I said, sounding teary. My God, I forgot how much he looks like Marcus!
Nuin reached out and cupped the side of my face with his hand. “I didn’t know until a few moments ago . . . I just left you in the At, watching yourself play as a child. It was never certain you would make it this far. Indeed, it was not the most likely outcome.”
Leaning into his hand, I frowned. “But the prophecy—your prophecy—it said I would get into the chest.”
“No, dear Alexandra; it says that you, and only you, could get into the chest, not that you would.” As I lost myself in his luminous, multicolored eyes, he continued, “There were other routes I could have taken, other bloodlines I could have pursued that would have produced a Meswett with slightly higher odds of making it this far.”
“What?” I asked, pulling away from his hand. Suddenly, I felt cold and alone. “So it didn’t have to be me? You could have chosen to dump all of this torture and pain and danger on someone else?”
Nuin watched and, smiling, nodded. “Yes. That is precisely what I’m telling you. And though I gave you a life with pain and danger, I also led you down a path toward the purest, strongest connection possible between two sentient beings. Very few have experienced such intense, beautiful emotions. Most would tear the world apart just to feel such a thing for a few moments. You and Heru may have it for eternity.”
“May,” I repeated. “Set will kill him if I don’t hand over your power. And then what? Then I have nothing . . . then I die too.”
“Ah—but that is precisely why I chose you over all the other possible Meswetts. There may have been others who were more likely to make it this far, but few had any real chance of successfully navigating what comes next,” he explained cryptically.
“This doesn’t make any sense. I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yes,” he said calmly. “You have some idea.”
I fidgeted, shifting from foot to foot, and watched the cavern move with me. “You mean the choice from the prophecy—to obey Set or to defy him. Is that what you’re talking about?”
Nuin nodded. “That’s part of it.”
Wrapping my arms around my middle, I turned away from him and hung my head. “If you’re counting on me to reject Set’s demands at all costs, you bet on the wrong horse,” I said softly.
“I did not make an unwise wager. Everything that has happened between my time and yours has happened to bring you and Heru together. You had to be created—his perfect match—to ensure the strongest bonding possible. The two of you are essential to the past, present, and future. Of all the possible Nejeret–Nejerette pairings, only the two of you have a chance at succeeding.” He paused his confounding explanation and rested a hand on my shoulder. “I know what you fear, Alexandra.”
I turned my head to look into his kaleidoscope eyes, and he squeezed my shoulder. “You are not afraid that Set will threaten Heru’s life. You expect it. What you fear is that you may lose him, no matter your choice.”
Breathing in a slow, deep breath, I bowed my head. How did he know? Even if I agreed to hand the ankh-At to Set, there was no reason to believe my father wouldn’t just kill Marcus anyway. Once he had Nuin’s power, he could travel to any time and take out anybody he pleased by simply ensuring that person was never born. What would prevent him from doing that to Marcus? And then there was the actual power transfer to think about. Was the ankh-At something physical, a talisman of sorts, that contained the power? Or was it the power itself? Would Nuin give me a power-containing object, or would he imbue me with it directly? How would I pass it on to Set? Would he have to kill me to take the power, thus killing Marcus, too?
“What’s going to happen?” I asked, my voice small and childlike.
“I only know all possible futures, not which one will truly come to pass.” Nuin’s resignation and hints of sadness worried me.
“At least . . . can you tell me . . .” I began, but had to take several heaving breaths before I could finish the thought. “Is there a chance that everything will work out okay? That the good guys will win and we’ll all live happily ever after?”
Nuin said nothing for a while, and I thought I had my answer. Finally, he spoke. “If you weren’t the best possible chance for everything to work out the way I need it to, I would not have chosen you.”
“You mean—”
“I mean exactly what I said,” Nuin interrupted. “In truth, I wish I could tell you more. I’m sorry, Alexandra, but doing so ruins your chances of succeeding. Here.” He pulled an object out from the neck of his robes and held it up before me.
About the size and shape of a sand dollar, a brilliantly glowing pendant hung from a long, silver chain. It shone with wispy, ever-changing swirls of every color, just like Nuin’s eyes always had. I quickly glanced up into his eyes, and though they were a remarkably luminous shade of amber, they were now just normal eyes.
“I thought silver fitting for your coloring,” he said with uncommon reserve.
Letting my hands drop to my sides, I breathed, “Is that—”
“The ankh-At? My power? Yes. You must take it and return to your time. The medallion is fashioned from the essence of the At. It will feel odd when you touch it,” he warned, draping the power-filled amulet around my neck.
“What do you mean—oh!” I said as soon as he tucked the dangling disk into the neck of my tank top. I was suddenly overwhelmed by a rush of softly tingling electricity. “What . . . what . . . ?”
“It’s the power. It’s entering you,” he explained.
“But what if I don’t want it?” I screeched, frantic and uncomfortable.
“Irrelevant. You need it. Are you ready to return to Heru?” he asked.
“I don’t know how,” I told him, fearing I would be stuck in the quartz prison for eternity.
“Just walk into the wall.”
“I can’t . . . it won’t let me,” I said, remembering the way the chamber had moved with me.
“It will now,” Nuin said, giving me a gentle push toward the wall. To my utter amazement, the cavern stayed in place as I moved.
“What did you do?”
<
br /> “Nothing. You must return to Heru now, my Alexandra. You’re still anchored to your own timeline, and events there are reaching a critical point.” He moved me even closer to the wall and I noticed that it glowed with a soft iridescence.
“Will I see you again?” I asked as my fingers pressed into the warm, comforting substance.
“If everything works out, you will,” Nuin said, pushing me further into the malleable wall. As my entire body was enveloped in the iridescent glow, once again, the overwhelming feeling of peace settled over me, mixing with the tingling feeling of Nuin’s power.
Distantly, I heard Nuin say, “When you return to your time, you must give the amulet to Heru so he can absorb the male half of my power.”
I floated in a state of baffled calm for what felt like eternity. And then, suddenly, everything changed. The peaceful, iridescent glow gave way to artificially lit, bright colors. The gentle warmth gave way to cool, dry air. The soft hum gave way to angry voices . . . to yelling.
“WHERE DID SHE TAKE IT?” shouted the man nearest me. Set. He stood on the other side of the now-blackened chest, his back to me. He was pointing two pistols . . . at two different people.
A young woman was huddled on the ground near his feet. She was shaking with silent sobs, her face frozen in terror as she stared down the barrel of one gun. Oh my God, Jenny!
Several paces beyond Set, Marcus stood with his hands outstretched, placating my enraged father. The second gun was aimed at his forehead. Nejerets could recover from many things, but a gunshot to the head wasn’t one of them.
Neffe, Alexander, Dominic, and Kat were all being restrained by black-clad men. Knowing that few humans could match a Nejeret in speed, strength, and skill, I assumed the men were Nejerets as well. This is just swell . . .
Miraculously, nobody had noticed my abrupt arrival. I removed my hands from the chest’s apparently charred surface, and for the first time in all the chaos, noticed that the tingling had stopped. Is the power transfer complete? Shouldn’t I feel different? Did it even work?
I yanked the amulet out of my tank top by its chain and stared. It still swirled with luminous colors, but lacked the reds, yellows, and oranges it had once contained. Interesting . . .
“If you don’t tell me where she went, I’ll kill her sister. And if you still refuse to answer, I’ll kill your daughter,” Set said, boiling with raging hysteria.
“I’d really prefer it if you didn’t,” I said, my voice strong, resonant. It had the desired effect.
Every set of eyes snapped to me. I latched onto Set’s, black as onyx, holding them without fear.
“You want Nuin’s power?” I pulled the chain over my head, held the glowing amulet in my hand, and raised my arm. “Catch.”
Set’s expression changed from shock to excitement as I spoke, and then to pure, unbridled fury as he saw the trajectory of the amulet . . . of Nuin’s power. It arced over him and landed with a faint thump in Marcus’s hand.
“NO!” Set screamed. “You little bitch! How dare you! Traitorous . . . ungrateful whore! That’s mine!” Before I knew what was happening, he raised his left hand, which had drooped, and shot Marcus directly between the eyes.
It was my turn to scream. But I didn’t. I just stood, numb with shock, as Marcus’s body went limp and crumpled to the floor. Far slower than I expected, his blood spilled out and pooled on the polished limestone, glossy and thick.
But Nuin said . . . Nuin said . . . Nuin told me to give it to Marcus . . .
Marcus can’t be . . . Marcus isn’t . . . how can he be . . . dead?
“Now it’s mine,” Set’s poisonous voice broke through my shock.
Marcus is dead?
I watched Set stroll over to Marcus’s limp body and exchange one of his guns for the shining amulet, plucking it from Marcus’s limp hand. His face turned rapturous as the other half of Nuin’s power oozed into him—the male half.
Marcus is dead.
Screaming, I launched myself at my father. My rage and sorrow were so great that I no longer had room for anything else. I had one purpose—to destroy him.
He didn’t see me coming. He couldn’t see me coming. One second, I was standing next to the chest, screaming. In the same second, at the exact same moment, I was in front of him tearing the remaining pistol from his grasp. It was impossible, how I’d moved, but it didn’t matter, not when I carried Nuin’s power in my body. Tendrils of the fabric of the At swirled around me like smoke, a part of me.
“How—?”
Set didn’t have time to finish the question. I shoved his gun against the side of his head and pulled the trigger. I didn’t even watch him fall, I just yanked the amulet from his hand and turned.
Suddenly, in another flash of rainbow smoke, I was kneeling beside Marcus. I’d moved too fast again, going directly from one place to another, completely skipping everything in between.
Marcus . . . my Marcus . . . he can’t be dead!
Keening, I rocked beside his body. I felt hollow. Numb. Wrong. Broken. It was familiar. I’d done this thousands of times before. But he wouldn’t come back this time. No other version of Marcus would suddenly appear. Marcus was gone.
I won’t let him be dead!
I needed him. I couldn’t live without him. My body would literally die, deprived of his bonding pheromone. But beyond that, I didn’t want to live without him. The sorrow was too much. I was drowning in the missing. Death would be a relief. I would prefer death.
Staring at his body, hearing my moaning wail, I realized I was wrong. I would prefer life with Marcus to death without him. I had to do something else. I had to do something. Lucky for me, I could do something else.
I screamed.
Like ripples on the surface of a pond, time wavered around me, and stilled.
I screamed again.
Everything shivered. Slowly, in flashes, the scene changed. The people around me acted out the past thirty seconds in reverse. They were jerky, like the unnatural movements of a reanimated corpse.
Set stood. Marcus is still dead.
Set replaced the amulet in Marcus’s hand. Marcus is still dead.
Marcus regained his feet, his face surprised as he stared at the amulet in his hand. Marcus is alive!
That was when things had been going well. That was the perfect moment.
With a shiver, time halted again. I spared a moment to stare at Marcus, to watch his features once again alight with life, before dealing with the pressing issue—Set’s pistols.
I had to do it right. I didn’t know how I was controlling the power, or if I could even do it again. If I only had one chance, I couldn’t waste it.
Tentatively, I approached Set’s immobile form. His arms had drooped from their earlier positions when he thought I was tossing him the ankh-At; one pistol was at his side, the other aimed at the floor in front of him. Trying to remove the weapons was futile. They were locked in his time-frozen grasp. Attempting to shove Marcus out of the bullet’s future trajectory proved equally impossible.
I glanced back at myself—or where I should have been, behind the shrine—and was momentarily stunned. I was gone. Had I displaced myself in the timeline? Could only one of me occupy a specific time at once? But then, amidst the confounding thoughts, an idea flickered into existence.
Once time restarted, everyone would expect me to be there, by the shrine. Exactly as I had been after I’d tossed the amulet to Marcus. But, if I stood in front of Set and knocked the gun out of his hand before he processed my change in position, I might be able to save Marcus . . . to change the future.
Standing in front of my father, I wrapped my hands around his wrist and pushed down.
When I released my hold on time, the world resumed. Set was definitely surprised. His hand only raised partially. Unfortunately, he still pulled the trigger; he just didn’t shoot Marcus in the head.
The crack of the gun firing shocked me so much that I barely felt it . . . at first. I took a single bre
ath, and let it out with a horrible wail as lightning bolts of pain shot through my abdomen.
“Lex!” Marcus shouted, lunging toward us in time to catch me on my way to the polished limestone floor.
“I’ll take that,” Set said, but I couldn’t spare a thought to figure out what the hell he was talking about. Marcus had torn off his shirt and was holding it against my stomach, making the pain more intense. Around us, the domed chamber was full of harsh voices and rushing bodies. People were fighting and shouting out in pain.
“LET’S GO!” Set yelled. “Jenny, come!”
“No!” my sister shouted. “Fuck you, you bastard! Lex!”
“Jenny,” I gasped between clenched teeth. I refused to look at my middle, which felt like it was on fire. I couldn’t let Set steal my sister again.
“Shhh . . .” Marcus murmured, hovering over me.
I heard Set mutter, “Not worth the trouble,” then shout, “Move, you imbeciles!” just before Jenny scooted to my side.
“Oh God, Lex!” my sister exclaimed, touching my face and leaning close. She looked up at Marcus. “Is she going to be okay?”
A soft clink barely registered as I stared into Jenny’s frightened eyes. The second clink caught my attention enough to draw my eyes away. As my gaze flitted around the huge chamber, I noticed little pieces of the dome’s beautiful decoration raining to the floor. They were followed by larger pieces of what looked like very ancient, very hard plaster. The shouting and gunshots had disrupted the stability of the dome.
“Marcus,” I rasped, but he didn’t turn his attention to me. He was watching something I couldn’t see. “Marcus!” That time, he did look. “We need to leave. Now.” A large, heavy-sounding chunk crashed on the floor a few feet away, spraying the three of us with dust and debris. Marcus got the point.
He scooped me up and shouted, “Dom, get the others out of here! This place is coming down!” Without looking back to make sure his order was followed, Marcus sprinted out of the chamber and along the curving, ankh-shaped passageway. He didn’t stop when we made it to the chapel.
