The Chaos of Stars

She transcended generations, transcended cultures, spread her influence and worship past the borders of the plot of earth and sky that gave birth to her. She carved a huge sphere of worship and power, and then she carved a tiny, deeply protected bubble to feed herself and those she loved. She would change, she would diminish. Still, she would last forever.

But if we learn anything from my family, it’s that sometimes even things that last forever don’t last forever.

DON’T PANIC. DON’T PANIC. IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY.

I emailed Mother before we left, finally giving her the actual details of my dreams. It’s close. Too close. I take deep breaths, looking at myself in the sun-visor mirror of the car. I manage not to look terrified, which is good. “Sirus, can you help me book a flight home?”

He stops at a light, glancing at me incredulously. “Really?”

“I want to come back here. I mean, if it’s okay. But something bad is coming, and . . . is it weird that I’m worried about Mother?”

He smiles. “It’s a little weird, yeah. Mom can take care of herself. But I know she’ll appreciate it. And of course you can come back. We can book a round-trip ticket, if it’ll make you feel better.”

I smile. It does make me feel better. Everything will work out.

As Sirus’s car goes over a speed bump, I put in my other earring, the beaten gold discs hanging down and tickling my neck. The earrings match my belt, square pieces of linked gold resting along my hips, and my trusty gold sandals complete the accessories. I wanted something for my wrists, but nothing felt right.

And . . . I’m wearing white. It’s a sleeveless dress with a draped cowl-neck. The hem sweeps the floor, but with a slit that traces up to my midthigh. My mother gave it to me for my last birthday, and I’ve never worn it. I threw it into the suitcase on a whim when I was leaving; I never wanted to put it on because I thought I’d look like Isis. With my jewelry and kohl-rimmed cat-eye makeup, I do look like an Egyptian goddess. But I look like myself as an Egyptian goddess, which feels fitting tonight.

“I’ll be back in an hour with Deena,” Sirus says, pulling to an illegal stop in front of the museum. Deena hasn’t been feeling well; she took today off work, which apparently never happens. “We can’t wait to see what you did.” He smiles proudly, and I smile back. “It’d better be good, though, considering you’ve been so busy that you haven’t done a thing on the nursery.”

“Last time I checked, I still have a mont

h.” I cringe. Not if I go back to Egypt. “Well, I have good help. We’ll get it done.”

I get out of the car and take a deep breath. Throwing my shoulders back, I march up the stairs and knock on the blue doors, locked until the invitation-only opening gala starts. One of the security guys opens it, and his eyes go wide before he steps to the side to let me through.

I walk past the open entry and up the red stairs. Tyler squeals when she sees me—she’s putting the finishing touches on the tables lining the walls. They’re covered with white tablecloths, and several have bartenders behind them lining up bottles of wine. The nitpicky part of my brain thinks they really ought to have rich, dark beer if they want to celebrate ancient Egypt, but I suppose it’s not as classy.

“So . . .” Tyler waves her hands at the tables. Each one has a tall stone vase of reeds on either end.

“Perfect! You nailed it.”

“Have you seen the room yet?”

“No! Have you?” My stomach twists with nerves.

“No one has.”

I take a deep breath, then scrunch up my nose. “We should wait for Ry. We couldn’t have done this without him.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that, or he’ll never let you live it down,” she says, her eyes twinkling as she looks over my shoulder.

“It’s true. He was amazing. If it—” Suddenly it hits me what she must be looking at that is so entertaining. “I take it back. It was all me. I let you and Ry help out of the goodness of my heart. I would have finished days ago without you two getting in my way.”

“Is that so?” Ry says, and I turn around. I’m glad I’ve already steeled my face into a mock scowl, because otherwise my jaw would drop, and that would be inexcusable. He’s in a deep-blue dress shirt, top button undone, and black pin-striped slacks. No one should be able to look equally good in jeans and a tee as they do dressed up.

“You look,” he says, his eyes drinking me in the way I want to drink him in, “absolutely amazing.”

I smirk. “You look rather pretty yourself.”

“And Tyler looks devastatingly gorgeous,” Tyler says. “Why, thank you, Tyler!”

I rip my eyes away from Ry and tug Tyler’s ash-blond ponytail. “That goes without saying. I love your hair like this, by the way. Now let’s go see our room.”

I take a deep breath and then open the double doors wide. The floodlights are gone, and the room is completely black save for the light seeping in from behind me. “Here goes,” I whisper, reaching down and flipping the switch on the power strip hidden next to the door. Tyler draws in a sharp breath and I close my eyes, waiting just a few seconds before I straighten and open them.

The stars glimmer around us, creating the illusion of space in the darkness. The displays are each bathed in a warm glow, standing out like islands of light in eternity, just how I’d envisioned.