by P. J. Hoover
Um, no. Not if I had anything to say about it.
I shifted the tiniest bit and my foot accidentally scraped against the sandy ground. It had to be almost inaudible, but Tia’s eyes flicked in my direction.
I held my breath and tried to make myself invisible. No, I didn’t have powers of invisibility, but it couldn’t hurt to wish for it.
“You guys better get going,” she said to her brothers. Which meant either I’d been wrong and she hadn’t heard me, or she wasn’t going to turn me in. At least not yet.
“You’re not coming?” B asked.
She shook her head. “I’m going to check the sarcophagus.”
Wait, sarcophagus? Nothing about a sarcophagus made me happy.
“Whatever,” Seth said. “Enjoy your last days on Earth, Little Sis.”
Okay, so my older brother and I had argued, but I now realized it could have been way worse. I watched the Seti brothers leave through the tunnel they’d come out of, and then Tia spun in my direction and stomped with her combat boots over to the column I hid behind.
“What are you doing here?” she said. “Are you a total moron?”
I stepped out from behind the painted column. “It’s great to see you again, too.”
Tia hit me on the shoulder, which actually kind of hurt. “Seriously. You need to leave.”
I was attempting not to get distracted by her, but she looked really nice. I figured it wasn’t the time or place to tell her, though.
“No. I need to get the knife. I’m assuming you know about it, just like you seem to know about everything. I get it now. The whole reason you knew the answer to that trivia question about Seti the First being buried around D.C.? It’s because you’re a member of the Cult of Set.”
Tia didn’t deny a thing. I’d been totally duped.
“Tut, I’m not kidding. You are in huge danger here. Don’t you get that?”
I tried to pretend she actually cared, because she was kind of acting like she did. But I couldn’t get past her part in all this.
“Great Osiris, I can’t believe you’re really related to them,” I said.
“Please don’t remind me.” She scuffed the ground with the toe of her boot. “And watch that name around here. It’s grounds for execution.”
“What? Osiris?”
“Shhh…,” Tia said, glancing around like someone might be listening. But the cavern was empty. We were alone.
“Osiris. Osiris. Osiris,” I said. “Look, I said it three times and I’m still alive.”
Tia looked at me like I was acting like a five-year-old. Maybe I was.
“It’s your life,” she said.
“You forget I’m not a fan of Set. Unlike you. You’re seriously one of them?”
“Things aren’t exactly how they look,” she said.
Her phone buzzed. How did she get cell coverage when my phone wasn’t good for anything except playing solitaire? I checked it again, but still had no signal.
“What’s it say?” I said as she read the screen.
Tia stuffed her phone in a pocket of her cargo pants. “I need to get back. And you need to leave. Now.” She pointed in the direction I’d come from.
I had no intention of leaving.
“Wait,” I said. “Do you know where the knife is?”
“No.”
She’d answered way too quickly.
“You’re lying.”
“Look,” Tia said. “I need to finish up here and get back, or Horemheb will come check on me himself.”
Just his name made me almost choke on my own bile.
“Tell me, please,” I said. I wasn’t beneath begging. This was an immortal lifetime of revenge we were talking about.
“No.”
Tia hurried over to the other side of the cavern and ended up in front of a giant sarcophagus. It stood on a platform twelve steps off the ground and was carved of solid granite. The lid lay to the side. Tia climbed the steps and dipped some sort of test tube into the coffin. And she pulled out what could only be natron. I forced myself not to breathe.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Tia said.
Her brothers had mentioned mummification. Was Tia really going to get mummified? Maybe this was her sarcophagus.
I climbed halfway up the steps to join her. “If you help me get the knife, I promise I’ll make it up to you. I’ll help you get out of here, if you’re trying to escape. I can hide you.”
Tia fixed her eyes on me. “Hide me? Are you kidding? I can leave anytime I want.”
“But I heard them. They’re going to mummify you.”
Tia scowled. “No, they aren’t. But come to think of it, there is something you can help me with.”
“What?” I said.
She put a lid on the test tube full of natron. I held my breath.
“How about this?” Tia said. “Stay here, right by the river. I’ll be back in an hour. You help me with one small little thing, and then I’ll show you where the knife is.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?” I said.
Tia crossed her arms, making all her bracelets jingle. “Because I’m irresistible?”
“And I thought I was the humble one.”
“Right,” Tia said. “I’m sure humility is the first thing you learn as pharaoh.”
Her statement, though sarcastic, was dead-on. Learning that my place in life was above the common person was part of pharaoh training. I’d always tried to be humble, but when you’re the most important person in an entire country, it’s difficult.
The thing was that I did want to trust Tia. I wanted to believe she was different from her brothers. Because something about her told me this was the case. She hadn’t turned me in. And even though she was clearly part of the Cult of Set, she had been talking to Isis. There was something more about her. Something she kept secret. Like she had a greater purpose in life that had yet to be revealed.
“Fine,” I said. I’d waited three thousand years. I could wait another hour.
Tia smiled, and it spread into her eyes and lit up her face. “Perfect. I’ll be back before you know it.”
Her combat boots echoed as she marched away, through an archway and down a long tunnel. I watched until I couldn’t see her anymore.
And then I waited.
An hour went by.
No Tia.
I gave her five more minutes, then five more. And then I decided she wasn’t coming back.
So I snuck off down the same tunnel where she’d gone.
19
WHERE I DISCOVER THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD
The tunnel ended at a door, and through the door was a hallway. All signs of the river and underground cavern disappeared. Even the humidity vanished, as if moisture was being sucked from the air. Pretty soon I was sneaking down hallways that looked like the basement of some office building, except for the fact that at every possible place imaginable, be it alcove or wall or floor, there were images of Set. Seriously, how many icons did Set need? It’s not like he was a good-looking god or anything. With a head like that, I wouldn’t want my face plastered all over every wall and ceiling.
I kept moving, peering in each side corridor, but most led to dead ends or storage closets. I came to an interior window and ducked under it to peek inside. It was some kind of lab, and there was an army of people in scrubs working with test tubes and needles and chemicals. I had no clue what they were doing, and I didn’t want to find out.
I continued down the corridor, but when I heard voices off to my right, I turned left the first chance I got. Ahead of me was a wooden door four times as tall as I was. And no, I was not short. It reminded me of doors like we used to have back in my palace in Egypt. I crept forward and placed my ear to it, but there was no sound from inside. So I pushed on it and it swung open.
It was like I was back in ancient Egypt. I mean, everything reminded me of my palace back when I’d been pharaoh. There was a royal bed, a spotted cheetah sof
a at the foot of the bed, a statue of Anubis up near the headboard. The curtains around the bed were drawn back and a fake skylight even cast light down from above. Torches had been lit and placed on the walls, lighting up every treasure around the place. But instead of images of me like there had been back when I was on the throne, Horemheb’s face was plastered everywhere. This had to be his room. Just the thought made me want to take a shower.
My side twinged and I lifted my shirt. The red scar flared, which was weird because it should have been completely healed. It had almost vanished after Isis healed me. I pressed on the scar. At least it didn’t hurt.
I shifted my attention to a golden desk that was pushed up against the far wall. Lying on top of it was a full-color drawing of a pyramid about half the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It glistened in gold, and at its peak sat a crystal larger than a sarcophagus. The strangest thing about it—no, scratch that. There were two really strange things about it. First, the date at the top right of the drawing read, YEAR ONE: FIRST REVIVAL DYNASTY. And second, there were some hieroglyphs sketched around the base of the pyramid. Most of them were general stuff anyone could find in the Book of the Dead. But the one that caught my eye was this one:
I knew these hieroglyphs as well as I knew my own name, and for a good reason. They were my name. Tutankhamun. The pyramid was for me.
I lifted the top drawing and found more spread across the desk. My scarab heart skipped as I recognized the giant golden pyramid as the main feature on the sketches. But the sketches were of more than just the pyramid. They showed an entire city with the pyramid at its center. And not just any city. They showed Washington, D.C. I’d lived here long enough to recognize it anywhere—even with all sorts of Egyptian structures drawn overtop already existing buildings. The pyramid was on the Mall near the Archives building, and where Capitol Hill currently stood was drawn an obelisk twice as high as the Washington Monument. On the side of the obelisk a giant scarab had been inscribed. And where the White House normally sat just north of the giant Ellipse park was a palace with all kinds of columns and Egyptian statues instead.
Did the Cult of Set seriously think they could build Egyptian stuff all over the District?
With each second that passed, the unease doubled inside me. The Cult of Set was creepy, sure. But this place, with its natron-filled sarcophagus and subterranean medical laboratory, felt sinister. There was so much going on here, and I had no idea what it all was.
I had to find the knife, eliminate Horemheb, and then get the heck out of here.
The door opened. I jumped halfway across the room, scattering the sketches everywhere.
“Scared?” Tia asked.
Thank Amun it was only her. Horemheb catching me here could not end up good. At least not until I got the knife.
I tried to calm my heart—which had also jumped out of control. “I don’t get scared.”
Tia raised an eyebrow. “Not even of Set?”
“Please. I’m an immortal. What would I have to worry about?”
“Getting your heart cut out?” she said.
Yeah, there was that.
She pulled me from the room and shut the door behind us. “What part of stay by the river didn’t you understand?” she asked after she led me to a side hallway off the main corridor.
“You were late,” I said. “I got bored.”
She balled her hands into fists of frustration. “Not so smart, Tut. Did it even occur to you once that there might be a security system around here?”
Um, no. So I hadn’t given it a thought. I’d been too focused on the knife.
I pressed my palm to my forehead. Security could be on their way here right now. “Do your brothers know I’m here?”
“Not yet,” she said. “I managed to sabotage the video footage.”
“I guess I should thank you for that?”
“Yes, you should.” Tia whipped her head around, looking behind us to make sure no one was following. I got a huge whiff of her lotus blossom perfume. Just the scent of it helped clear my mind of my growing list of problems.
“Um, thanks,” I said, and then I noticed her hair. “Wasn’t the streak in your hair blue earlier?”
Tia reached up and grabbed it, almost like she was trying to cover it. “Maybe.”
“It’s orange now,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Yeah, so what about it?”
“Were you coloring your hair?” I said. “Is that why you were late? You left me by the river with your crazy brothers running around trying to capture me, and you went off to color your hair?”
Tia lowered her hand and met my eye. “I color it every day. If I skipped, they might notice. And if they noticed, they might think something was wrong. And if they thought something was wrong, it might make them suspicious.”
She’d obviously given the whole hair-coloring thing lots of thought. And seeing as how she was allegedly trying to help me, I decided not to press the issue.
“It looks nice,” I said, forcing myself not to look down, even though my whole face heated up.
Tia’s mouth sweetened into an amazing smile. “Thanks, Tut.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, clearing my throat. “So are you going to show me where the knife is, or what?”
She leaned toward me, maybe a little closer than she needed to. Or maybe that was my imagination. “I said I would. But first you have to promise to help me.”
I attempted to get my brain back on the task at hand. “With what?”
“A quest.”
I busted out laughing. “Oh, come on. What kind of quest?”
Tia didn’t laugh. “A quest to reunite the gods.”
I realized she was serious. Not to mention ridiculous.
“What do you mean, reunite the gods?” I said. “Half of them hate each other, and the other half think that half don’t deserve to be gods in the first place. Controversy is a pillar of their existence.”
“Exactly!” Tia’s face beamed with excitement as she spoke. “They need to put all that aside. They need to be reunited. And the time for that is now. This is the dawn of a new age.”
I narrowed my eyes. Tia was crazy if she thought her plan was even possible. “And you’re the one who’s going to do that?”
“Why not me?” Tia said.
“Because you’re not immortal,” I said.
“And that’s a requirement?” Tia asked.
I figured since it was an unattainable task, there were no defined requirements.
“Okay, fine. You want to reunite the gods. What’s your plan for this great reunification?”
Tia’s eyes lit up and she started holding out the different pendants from around her neck. “I steal sacred items of each of the gods. You know every god has one specific item that is the primary source of their power. Each item I get, I deliver to … well, I can’t tell you that part because I’m sworn to secrecy.”
“By who?”
“Didn’t you just hear me?” Tia said. “I can’t tell you. Anyway, once I get all these sacred objects, the power of the gods will weaken until they have no choice but to seek them out. And when they do, the … person … I’m working with will call the gods to order and only restore their power once they agree to new terms.”
“And these new terms are getting along?” It was a ridiculous plan. So ridiculous that I wondered if it could actually work.
“Exactly,” Tia said, smiling because I got it. Like with the hair coloring, she’d given this god-reuniting plan a bunch of thought, too. “So are you going to help me or not?”
Helping her with her quest did mean I’d get to spend a little extra time with her. And I’d get the knife. But stealing stuff from the gods? I wasn’t sure I wanted to get mixed up in that. Gods got angry. And held grudges for millennia.
Sort of like me. I’d been holding hatred against Horemheb in my heart for thousands of years. The difference was that my grudge was totally legitimate. He’d given me a reason to hate hi
m. He’d killed my family and taken away my entire world.
“I don’t know,” I said. “The gods will get pretty upset if you start taking things from them.”
“They’ll never know who took them,” Tia said. “And anyway, you’re not getting your precious little knife unless you promise to help me.”
That was the important carrot being dangled in front of me.
“Fine.” I figured that, since hanging around with Tia was awesome, I could at least go along with her plan.
“Perfect,” she said. “Just follow my lead.”
The way Tia moved made me think this wasn’t the first time she’d snuck around. She evaded cameras, pointing them out as we went, and took back hallways all around the place. As the darkness closed in, I followed her in silence. When she turned, I turned. When she stopped, I stopped. The last thing I wanted to do was get lost. With the maze of corridors she led me through, I’d never find my way anywhere without her.
“Why are you so good at sneaking around?” I asked. Marble columns surrounded us at every turn, and the black tile floor was shellacked so deeply, I could see my reflection in it. And along the walls, myths had been painted—except they all seemed to show Set being victorious over some other god—most of the time Horus.
“My brothers,” she said.
“You hide from them?”
“Only when they’re trying to kill me.”
“You’re kidding.…”
“Do you really think so?” Tia said.
Given the whole mummification talk, I guessed she wasn’t lying.
“So how many people are in your psychotic cult anyway?” I asked after we hid from five guys who were polishing the floors.
“Whatever, Tut. It’s not like Horus is any better than Set.”
“Set killed his brother,” I said.
“Set is misunderstood.”
Misunderstood was not the word I’d use to describe Set. Fratricidally sadistic was way more appropriate.
“Anyway, there are enough,” she said. “At least enough for my brother’s plans.”
“To take over D.C.?” I laughed. “Like that’s going to happen.”
“Crazier things have happened in the past,” Tia said. “And Seti 142-A is sure the world is ready for a change. That’s why my plan has to work. We can’t have Set, or any Egyptian god, for that matter, taking over D.C.”
